The big patch 10.1 of World of Warcraft is live. We reveal what’s in the latest update and what you need to pay attention to.
Although World of Warcraft Dragonflight has already had two smaller content updates, the first “real” patch has now finally been released. Patch 10.1 Embers of Neltharion is live with today’s maintenance (03.05.2023) and brings a lot of new content. You have a week to play the new story and prepare for the start of season 2 of Dragonflight.
What’s in patch 10.1? The first major patch is packed with new content that we will briefly list here. You can find more details on all the specifics in our comprehensive overview of patch 10.1: Embers of Neltharion.
- Zaralek Caverns – A completely new area that is slightly larger than Zereth Mortis and lies beneath the Dragon Isles. Here, new activities and story quests await.
- New faction: Niffen of Loam – These mole-like creatures rely on their sense of smell and offer new rewards, but also a lot of small mini-games and quests.
- New gearing system – Gear can now almost always be upgraded and the currency for this can be obtained from pretty much all game content.
- New raid: Aberrus, Crucible of Shadows – The new raid with 9 bosses opens its doors on 10.05 and features a new tier set.
- Guilds are now “cross-faction”: Horde guilds can recruit Alliance players, and Alliance guilds can recruit Horde characters.
- New season with new dungeons – season 2 of Dragonflight starts on 10.05 and brings 8 new dungeons into the Mythic+ rotation.
- Attacks from Fyrakk – The primal incarnation Fyrakk begins its attacks on the Dragon Isle and must be fended off.
Aside from that, there is of course the usual program “around”. Starting next Tuesday, the “Race to World First” will again commence with the hunt for the first kill of Sarkareth on Mythic difficulty.
Do you have to have played the old content? No. To jump into patch 10.1 and the Zaralek Caverns, the previous content does not need to be played. From a story perspective, it is certainly sensible to know the previous events, but that doesn’t prevent you from heading directly to the Zaralek Caverns and completing the quests there. New characters at level 70 will briefly be taken to the Forbidden Island, where solid gear awaits quite easily, but that can also be skipped if desired.
However, keep in mind that the enemies in the Zaralek Caverns are a bit stronger than in the rest of Dragonflight. A completely fresh character at level 70 may therefore have some difficulties with the enemies there.
Veterans with gear of item level 400 or higher should simply steamroll through the enemies and have no difficulties whatsoever.
Right now, you can also grab a super-rare toy – but only for a few days!
