Dragonflight shows endless love for old zones

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is coming to an end and with the sequel fast approaching, it’s important to maintain the game’s current success. One of the reasons for Dragonflight’s huge popularity was its steady influx of new content, and this was largely thanks to its willingness to invigorate the old with the new.

With nearly twenty years of quests, zones and instances created since then World of WarcraftIn the beginning, few players can say they have experienced everything. Blizzard has slowly realized in recent years that such a huge MMO can be its own support system. Especially when you consider new players in the game, using old content is a no-brainer.

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Dragonflight has redefined old content in WoW

Stand out from the many iterations of Classic WowDragonflight wasn’t so heavy-handed with reusing old content. It did this by seamlessly integrating it into modern systems like Mythic+ and Dragonriding. The former was extremely well received and the current dungeon mixing system from years ago was introduced at the end of Shadowlands.

Mythic+ Dungeons have kept their list fresh

Since then, Dragonflight has provided Mythic+ players with a list of old and new dungeons, with dungeons from yesteryear carefully reworked to match the increasing difficulty of Mythic progression. This provides a real change of pace, as Dragonflight’s own dungeons, while new, can’t stay with players for two whole years. People can quickly hate instances they’ve had to go through over and over again, so using old dungeons is ironically a great way to bring in fresh content.

Experience the old zones of WoW from the saddle of a dragon

Dragon Riding and its competitive counterpart, Dragon Racing, have taken Azeroth’s skies by storm. By allowing players to complete timed courses while zooming through Dragon Flight zones, they were able to test their skills in the new dynamic flight system and experience the full range of the Dragon Isles’ living landscape.

Of course, it didn’t take long before special events were added where players went wild over World of Warcraftin the other realms as well. The Kalimdor Cup, followed by the Eastern Kingdoms, Outland, and Northrend Cups, introduced dragon racing courses on those continents as well. If players wanted to collect the cosmetic rewards of these limited-time events, they had to travel to said locations and thoroughly experience each of their zones.

Reviving the past can have a huge impact on players

For newer players who have never been to these areas, it would have been an engaging way to race through mysterious and fascinating landscapes, sparking a desire to take a closer look at old expansions. For experienced players, flying over these zones will undoubtedly evoke nostalgic feelings, linking newly developed flight skills with happy memories.

Optional events can use old content to keep players entertained

Additionally, limited-time events like Plunderstorm allowed players to mess around in Arathi Highlands, an iconic location where major battles were fought in years past. Mists of Pandaria: Remix, a three-month event that is still ongoing, basically let players loose on the content of this expansion, albeit with some wild changes. This unique take on Wow gives players something new to do while they wait for The War Within’s pre-patch, and comes with an avalanche of collectibles.

Reintroduce removed content in a sneaky way

WoW: Dragon Flight also allowed players to find a secret way to unlock the Classic dungeon Scholomance in its original form and collect its unique transmogs. Classic Naxxramas will likely follow as well, although the secrets to unlocking this legendary instance have not yet been revealed by the community. World of Warcraft has long made use of secrets hidden in old areas, but this is the first time that old versions of instances will be permanently unlocked.

All in all, Dragonflight has taken every opportunity to incorporate old content to keep players entertained. Simply recycling past activities is not nearly as appealing to players, so it was important to keep them entertained with a modern Wow Flair.

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight

Approved

28 November 2022

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