Phase 2 of Pre-Patch 10.0 for WoW: Dragonflight has been ongoing for a few days, introducing new element invasions and Dracthyr into the game. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus spent the entire weekend in Azeroth and is surprised at how quickly and easily one can now prepare for Dragonflight.
The Dragonflight pre-event is simply amazing. Admittedly, the story is quite boring and doesn’t offer much variety. But that’s hardly been the case with previous pre-events.
What kind of event is this? Since Phase 2 of the pre-patch, element invasions have been active in the game, where rifts open in various areas of Azeroth, allowing cultists to summon wild elementals into the world. The event culminates in a major boss fight about every 20 minutes.
The event is designed to prepare new characters as efficiently as possible for the new expansion Dragonflight, and it does this excellently. In my first attempt, I reached level 50-55 in just under half an hour. It goes even faster at lower levels.
During the event, I also equipped my Caller, whom I want to play as my main in Dragonflight. Here’s some gameplay from the Alpha:
Even faster than with the 78% before Phase 2
Why is it so fast? The keyword here is “Hyperspawn.” Enemies respawn so quickly that there is always something to fight. During the invasions, “normal” and “elite” enemies appear that scale with your own level.
While only 5 players can loot and gain experience from the smaller enemies, everyone can participate in the fight against an elite. Both yield a ton of experience, and overall more than what you could gain in the same time through quests.
As the required experience points for levels 10-60 have also been adjusted, leveling goes even faster than with the completely absurd bonus of 78% experience additional with the Winds of Wisdom. Just remember to activate the +18% from the birthday event, which is available until the release of Dragonflight.
I can’t say if the events are the fastest method; it heavily depends on your class and how many enemies you can tag for yourself. Absolute leveling pros can reach level 60 in about 3 hours, but they need a lot of preparation for that. The event can be completed by anyone without any prerequisite knowledge.
If you want to know why these invasions are even happening, the dragon aspects provide a bit of insight in the introductory quest. Here’s the cinematic for it:
Here are the pros and cons: From my experience with 6 characters that I’ve leveled through the event, there are two points that I find rather annoying:
- You collect very little new gear and therefore become hardly stronger if you don’t wear heirlooms or if you “overlevel” them. This means: the earlier you start grinding there, the weaker you will be in the end.
- The events are incredibly repetitive; the same thing happens over and over again, and those who don’t like grinding will probably find it boring.
On the other hand, the event can also be done quite casually “on the side.” Even if you can’t tag enough of the small adds for yourself, the elite enemies always give decent experience. It’s enough to stand at one spot and leisurely bombard everything in range with spells.
You also collect heaps of Primal Essences, which can be exchanged for an additional 6th bag and 252 gear for level 60. It’s not crazy strong, but enough to visit dungeons if you want to. In the new Uldaman, there are already 278 items to farm on normal mode, and with the catch-up gear from the event, you can easily manage it.
As a bonus, you also receive a special item from the bosses: tainted essences. If you have the essence from each of the four bosses, you can create a new heirloom trinket for later characters. One cannot level up more pleasantly than this.
By the way, I spoke with the developers of Dragonflight just before the weekend about endgame, features, and lore of the new expansion:
WoW developers in interview: “Features of Dragonflight will forever improve the future of WoW”
