Sometimes it helps to complain. The community of World of Warcraft was able to save something that had existed for 18 years: the silver dragon.
Several weeks ago, we reported that World of Warcraft was saying goodbye to one of its most famous and beloved interface elements: the silver dragon. The outcry from the community was enormous, and Blizzard quickly responded. In the latest version of the beta for Dragonflight , the silver dragon is back and gives the rare enemies the charm of the past.
What is the silver dragon? The “Silver Dragon” is an interface element that has existed since the very early days of World of Warcraft. It marked a “Rare Spawn” on the enemy’s nameplate – meaning an enemy that is rare in the game world and has a long respawn time of hours or even days. At first glance, it was clear: this is a special opponent that offers special loot.
However, with the overhaul of the interface in Patch 10.0, the silver dragon was removed. Special enemies are now only recognizable by a small star marking, which many do not even notice.
What has happened now? In the latest build of the beta for Dragonflight, the silver dragon is back and is at least present again as part of the interface elements. It has been visually redesigned and is now significantly higher resolution compared to the “old” dragon, which had been around for 18 years. Whether the “new” silver dragon will be an additional option or the new “standard” in the future is still unclear. However, it is probably a good sign that the silver dragon is back in the game data – it will likely be used again in the future.
This is how the community reacts: In the World of Warcraft subreddit, this small detail change is being discussed extensively and is almost universally received positively. There were over 3,000 upvotes for the thread, with a positive approval rating of a whopping 97%. Some of the comments on it are:
- “Wow, Blizzard is listening to the community instead of pushing their own ideas that no one liked? I’m impressed. Maybe this will be a good expansion after all.”
- “Thank Elune! The little star symbol on the enemy portrait was so easy to overlook… and so boring.”
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“ - “It was strange to remove a dragon from a dragon expansion anyway.”
This is one of many examples where the developers of World of Warcraft have listened to the community in recent months and have reverted unpopular changes. It is to be hoped that this trend will continue even after the release of Dragonflight.
If you want more of the “old interface” back, we have that for you here.
