In Dragonflight, the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft, the seasons for mythic keystone dungeons (“Mythic+”) will operate a bit differently than you may know. Game Director Ion Hazzikostas elaborated in an interview on what this will look like. MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus sees issues here.
How does Mythic+ work in Dragonflight? In Dragonflight, only 4 of the expected 8 new dungeons will be included in the Mythic+ rotation in the first season. 4 more dungeons will come from previous expansions. In Season 2, there will be rotation.
Blizzard is already experimenting with the system with Season 4 of Shadowlands, which is still upcoming. There, 2 dungeons from 3 old expansions will return, over which fans were allowed to vote earlier.
The voting resulted in a rather unpleasant outcome for me, as the worst dungeon is returning in Shadowlands. For Dragonflight, the outlook is even worse as some of the best dungeons are being directly excluded.
Dungeons older than “Mists of Pandaria” won’t return for now
Which dungeons are coming back? During a “Twitter Space“, Ion Hazzikostas and Story Lead Steve Danuser spoke with two editors from wowhead. They discussed Mythic+, among other things.
In the conversation, it was mentioned that only certain dungeons meet the criteria at all. When asked if Classic dungeons would return, Hazzikostas replied:
That is unlikely. Perhaps, in a world where we completely overhaul the old dungeons, as we did in previous expansions, a corresponding version [of the dungeon] could meet the demands in terms of visual fidelity and mechanical complexity. But these dungeons are unsuitable for modern gameplay.
I think the team has drawn the line internally around Mists of Pandaria and later in terms of feeling how we design dungeons today. That doesn’t mean we can’t go back further, but we would have to fundamentally overhaul dungeons if we do.
Ion Hazzikostas in the Twitter Space
This means: Dungeons from Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King will not return for now – and if they do, they will not be as you remember them. The two expansions are the two highest-rated on Metacritic and absolute fan favorites.
Also excluded are Shadowlands and Battle for Azeroth, as they are still “too new.” They want to provide variety and keep the seasons fresh. Currently, only dungeons from Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor, and Legion will return. At least one of the most popular expansions is included.
Everything you need to know about Dragonflight can be found here in our 2-minute video:
No Timewalking, but adapted dungeons
How do the new versions of the dungeons work? Unlike Timewalking events, as you know them from Retail WoW, the old dungeons won’t be exactly like “they used to be.” There will be adjustments.
Previously, there was already the Challenge Mode, which was later transformed into Mythic+. Hazzikostas explains that the dungeons still need to be modified to meet the demands of the modern M+. However, we do not yet know how exactly.
The big difference is that the Challenge Mode is based on heroic difficulty, but Mythic+ is based on mythic. Previously, there were only cosmetic rewards; today, there are also new and powerful items for endgame.
Is this a problem? More or less, because already in Shadowlands there is the issue that some old items are better than new ones. For instance, a trinket from the Vault of the Wardens (Legion) is the strongest option for some DPS classes, even at a low item level.
The problematic part here is that the corresponding dungeon is only accessible every few weeks, and so you only have a short time to get the item. To ensure this doesn’t happen, Hazzikostas promises adjustments to items. Each class should be able to benefit from the dungeons.
In any case, the system is supposed to provide more variety, not just a “slightly different route through the dungeon” when a new affix is added. They want to focus on long-term diversity. However, there are still further promises regarding loot:
