wow World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Expansion Leaks Recap

[Starym 3,779]

 

Update: the expansion has now been officially announced and it is indeed Dragonflight! Read up on the actual info here.

With the latest WoW expansion being revealed later today we thought we'd take a look back at the most likely outcome for the announcement, as Dragonflight is the most credible leak we've seen so far, but there are several elements and separate leaks of the name to take a look at.

It all started with a pretty official source, as the World of Warcraft site's source code added the names of the "base", "heroic" and "epic" versions of a product named Dragonflight for a short while:

Source: MMO Champion forums.

With the Dragon Isles having been floated as a possible/probable location for 10.0 many times already, the name really gained a lot of traction, especially considering its source. However, it was still possible for this to be a misdirect on Blizzard's end or something else entirely (the Warcraft mobile game, a Hearthstone-related product, or any number of other things), so the name itself wasn't quite a confirmation yet.

Then came another leak, and it was one of the most credible-looking ones so far as it presented a very high quality logo and some key art, and was certainly the best one we'd seen out of all the supposed leaks, even without the Dragonflight name connected to the previous site source discovery.

Source: Stalrore.

Another thing the above leak had going for it is that it was made within a couple hours of the Dragonflight name leak from the site, so if it was a fake, it was one very speedily made one with a very high level of quality (not to mention the really great presentation with the promotional material being printed and cut). With these two leaks combined, Dragonflight is very much the front-runner and is certainly what we're expecting to see today, as it all does look like an (at least partially) intended leak ahead of the announcement.

This next part, however, is not quite as likely. Among the many leaks we've seen over the past months there was one from back in February that used the same expansion name as the above. The early Dragonflight leak covers quite a lot of supposed features and story, from Chromatus being the main villain, no level cap increase, new professions, "micro classes", and more - and seen without the Dragonflight name does not really seem all that credible. Here are some of the highlights, a lot of them fairly hard to believe:

• The level cap will not be increased and everything is described as max level content.
• 6 disconnected zones (with 2 of them being revamped - these two actually also turned out to be correct as they are being changed in 9.2.5 already).
  • Lordaeron is supposedly getting a revamp with updates to Tirisfal Glades and Plaguelands, with the focus on Scarlet/Light.
  • Quel'thalas (Eversong/Ghostlands) is supposed to be revamped too with Silvermoon City becoming hostile, just like Suramar.
• Dragon Isles are described as "one zone split into multiple maps, located between the Broken Isles and Northrend".
• Player housing is in the works.
• Two new professions: Carpenter and Logger.
• Undermine - a fully underground city beneath Kezan with criminals and an Uncrowned story. Another underground zone named "Uldaz" should contain a Titan/Elune story.
• The Order Halls will receive new questlines that you pick like Covenants with different themed rewards.
• "Class skins" for existing classes are supposedly coming. The leak also describes how class skins would work for multiple classes.
  • Dark Ranger Skin with Hunters comes with "dark spell effects and undead tames instead of animals".
  • Necromancer Skin for Warlocks comes with "Plagues instead of curses and summons undead instead of demons".
  • Nightmare Skin for Druids introduces "corrupted spell effects and animal forms like snakes and spiders that work like existing forms".
  • Dragonsworn Skin for Shamans with "Draconic spell effects and forms".
  • Warden Skin for Demon Hunters with "Arcane and Holy Magic instead of Fel".
• 4 micro-classes (1 per specialization) instead of a whole new class with 3 specializations. I
  • Dragon Knight with just 1 Tank specialization. Uses Two-Handed weapons, fire, Plate Armor, and shouts.
  • Tinker class with just 1 DPS specialization. Uses guns, Mail Armor, gadgets, and mech suits.
  • Minstrel class with only 1 available Healer specialization. Uses Leather Armor, lutes, violins, and pan flutes.
  • Chronomancer class with just 1 Healer specialization. Uses Cloth Armor, time, and sand Magic. 

You can read the full thing over on the MMO Champion forums.

We'll find out the truth soon enough, but the Dragonflight name, the logo, and art piece seem like a pretty safe bet at this point, while the actual features of the expansion are very much up in the air. There's also the fact that Blizzard keeps referring to the event today as a look/discussion of "the future of  Warcraft", so we may be getting more than "just" the next expansion reveal (in addition to the fairly obvious WoLK classic announcement).

[Lithari 194]

Hmmmmmmmm, doesn't seem that interesting......but i think anything will be better than Shadowlands.

[Pregrowth 46]

1 hour ago, Lithari said:

Hmmmmmmmm, doesn't seem that interesting......but i think anything will be better than Shadowlands.

Yea bro, agreed

[KOL2024 1]

1 hour ago, Lithari said:

Hmmmmmmmm, doesn't seem that interesting......but i think anything will be better than Shadowlands.

Remember when we were all saying anything will be better than Battle for Azeroth?

[Ken007 75]

I would love this and it would give me a ton of stuff to play through. It just seems a little too good to be true.