In three weeks,World of Warcraftwill welcome its ninth expansion,Dragonflight. The latest expansion will introduce players to The Dragon Isles, usher in a new playable race and class—the Dracthyr Evoker—and bring its ever-popular flying mechanic to the forefront of theWorld of Warcraftexperience. In the interim, eager fans are scrambling to get a leg up on their peers beforeDragonflightreleases.
Before the official release, theDragonflightpre-patch has already introduced a handful of interesting changes for players to tackle. Not only are there new race and class combinations, but the pre-patch has also brought a handful of UI and accessibility options that players should check out before they start committing to their pre-patch efforts.
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Leveling Alts is the Most Worthy Investment of Players' Time
For all the knocks againstShadowlands, one highlight of the expansion is that it offers one of the quickest leveling experiences. During the next three weeks, casual players have plenty of opportunity to bring their existing alt characters up to speed, and more hardcore players could even start and level an entirely new character. With the upcomingchanges toWorld of Warcraft’s PvP gear, gone are the days of alt characters being obsolete in PvP scenarios due to their relatively poor gear. Now, players can theoretically hold a roster of class and race combinations that are more or less interchangeable with one another.
Not only willDragonflightbring massive changes toWorld of Warcraft’s PvP system, but the PvE experience will also be streamlined with the introduction ofincreased Renown gains for alt characters. LikeShadowlands,Dragonflightwill have a Renown system play a central role in character progression, but the boosts available to alt characters will be significant, which should considerably cut down on the grind.
Players Should Focus on Gold Not Gear
In theDragonflightbeta,World of Warcraftincreased players' health and monster damagesubstantially. Long-time fans should take this as a herald of the incoming changes. WhenDragonflightdrops, the once-BiS gear that players have spent countless hours earning will likely be immediately outshone by even the introductory quest gear available in the new expansion. Now is a perfect time, then, to auction and vendor that hard-earned gear. While the gear will quickly become obsolete, the gold earned from selling it can be useful for getting a head start during the next expansion.
With the impending changes to theprofession system inWorld of Warcraft, it’s also the best time for players to have cash on hand to snap up the necessary materials, reagents, and blueprints they may need to progress. WhenDragonflightreleases, the prices at the auction house will be extremely high as players are busy leveling and only a limited supply of new gear hits the market, but players that have prepared beforehand by hoarding gold will be well positioned to take advantage and get a leg up on the competition.
It’s the Last Chance for Certain Achievements
With thePrimal Stones pre-patch eventset to begin in a week, it’s time to bid farewell toShadowlands. It’s difficult to say with certainty all the achievements may become unattainable, as there may be unintended consequences of the switch between expansions, but Blizzard has already laid out a few titles and achievements which are going away for good. The majority of these pertain to Mythic+ dungeon content as well as Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds, and achievement-focused players may want to take their last shot at getting them.
Even though they may not be phased out during the transition toDragonflight, it may still be worthwhile for players to go back and collect mounts inShadowlands, as it’s unlikely most players will want to spend a significant amount of time doingShadowlandscontent afterDragonflightdrops.
