Will Dragonflight be the big salvation for World of Warcraft? Many of you are optimistic – but the critics have many questions.
It has been almost a week since the announcement of the next expansion of World of Warcraft. Along with an elaborate CGI trailer, the first features of “Dragonflight” were discussed. We then immediately launched a survey to find out how Dragonflight was received by you, the readers of MeinMMO.
You participated in the survey in large numbers – more than 2,000 votes were cast, painting a fairly clear picture: Most WoW fans are positive, but there is also criticism.
27% are rather positive
The response option “Rather good” was just slightly ahead – with a total of 556 votes. This group looks forward to the upcoming WoW expansion positively, but still has some points of criticism or unresolved questions that could cloud (or improve) the overall impression.
EliazVance writes:
After almost two decades with WoW, I have learned that “big addon features” are usually disappointing. However, what never disappoints are the zones, the gameplay, dungeons, raids, and for me personally […]: PvP.
Accordingly, I am glad that this time they are focusing on core features. Then hopefully there will also be more long-term improvements in the upcoming patches instead of just repairing the addon feature that will be dropped soon after.
In short: Am I hyped? Not yet. But I am still looking forward to it. I’m excited about the prospect of more World of Warcraft, detail improvements, and new stories. […]
Similarly, Leyaa expresses some concerns:
[…] I find the expansion so far solid, but nothing more. I quite like the appearance of the Dracthyr. Dragonriding definitely fits into the expansion, but it will probably be put aside afterwards – which is why my motivation for WoW in general is not that high.
They are constantly tinkering with classes and talents.
I am still skeptical about UI revamps. The current interface has charm and has largely remained the same in terms of appearance over the years. I hope the new changes do not break too much with the style just to seem “new” and “fresh”.
27% are completely convinced
Also at 27%, but with 4 fewer votes (552 votes), is the response option “Very good, all my expectations are fully met”. A little more than a quarter is therefore excited by the new cinematic and the presented content. Especially the revamp of talents, the new class, and a return to more traditional themes are praised.
Interestingly, the “purely positive” votes, despite accounting for 27%, were represented only a little in the comments.
For example, Yakup Caner wrote on Facebook (after we removed 12 emojis from the comment):
I’m looking forward to it!!! I’m super excited!!! But!!!
I hope the developers take as much time as possible to make it good …
In general, this seems to be the biggest concern for many fans that the addon will ultimately seem rushed. Because Christian Heeger also states:
So far it sounds very good. I hope they take their time with it so that it will be good.
18 % are undecided
Both good and bad aspects are seen by still 18% (366 votes) in Dragonflight. For them, the presentation had a few good points, while others seemed bad or boring. The cinematic was criticized every now and then, which many consider one of the worse videos. But also the features divide some fans – some would have hoped for more innovations.
Phinphin writes about this in our comments:
Partly, partly. Having a few nice ideas is not enough when the ideas are poorly implemented. And especially Blizzard has often shown with the expansions that even the big (well-sounding) expansion features are often very poorly thought out.
I found the announcement very superficial. Just to say that they listen to the community and to throw in a few tidbits is not enough for me. […]
That’s why I hope that what has been shown is only a fraction of the overhaul or that the presented changes are so profound that they have massive impacts on gameplay.
9 % find nothing good about Dragonflight
With 9% and 180 votes, there is also a part of our readers who finds absolutely nothing good about Dragonflight. For them, the entire announcement was garbage and only a sign that World of Warcraft continues to decline. The promised features do not elicit any excitement and generally they feel the developers are not taking enough risks. The removal of flying angers some and the new race of Dracthyr does not appeal to everyone:
Koronus writes:
The Dracthyr are ugly to me, and a temporary transformation into a dragonspawn would have fit better. I also dislike that you need a new dragon there. For example, I got the uncorrupted voidwing with effort, and then I can’t even use it there.
Junior GreyFivenine puts it even more drastically on Facebook:
Same crap every time. It will hold a month at most, and then that’s it again.
9 % are rather negative
With also 9%, but 5 fewer votes (175 votes), there are also some WoW veterans who are “rather negative” but still have a spark of hope. Although the announcement did not convince them, and many aspects seem rather annoying, they want to keep the possibility open of being convinced. The uncertainty in many aspects also dampens expectations. The appearance of the Dracthyr is also criticized – for some, it simply does not fit into the WoW universe or seems “cheap”.
Nico wrote:
I am a bit negatively inclined. The world looks cool, but it usually always does. New race is fine. New class is also good, though I’m personally less interested. Talents and professions are of course a good start, but there is too little information about it. Above all, how well are the talent trees balanced? Do the professions, despite specialization, make sense in the long term?
And otherwise, there’s nothing that I would say excites me. There are still so many unanswered questions.
10 % do not want to form an opinion yet
The remaining 10% (208 votes) have not yet formed an opinion about Dragonflight. They can either not engage with what has been shown so far or want to wait until they can get hands-on with the expansion themselves. After all, on paper, many things can sound great and fun, which ultimately turns out to be tedious.
What we at MeinMMO think about the announcement, we have explained in the podcast:
The tendency is positive, but many players still want to be convinced
If you combine the numbers from the different categories, an interesting overall picture emerges:
- 54% are rather positive or very positive towards the expansion.
- 28% are uncertain or have not yet formed a definitive opinion.
- 18% are negative or very negative.
Thus, Dragonflight has already convinced more than half of the participants enough that they will definitely give the addon a chance. However, one should not forget that just over one in four players is still skeptical or uncertain, while around one-fifth of WoW fans can hardly find anything or nothing to get excited about in Dragonflight. In the coming weeks and months, Blizzard needs to demonstrate that they can also convince the skeptics.
The seemingly imminent launch of an alpha and beta test could be a good way to provide more clarity and also answer the questions that have thus far remained unanswered. You can sign up for the Dragonflight beta here.
Did you expect this outcome? Or did you think that Dragonflight would perform significantly better or worse?
