Everything we know about World of Warcraft: Dragonflight

The announcement has come and gone and the early leaks have proven true—World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is the game's ninth expansion. After the announcement stream, it's clear that WoW's next expansion is going all-in on dragons: playable dragons, and rideable dragons, and playable dragons riding rideable dragons too. We'll be headed to their sacred homeland the Dragon Isles where Alliance and Horde will both face some newly-awakened ancient mysteries.

While Dragonflight doesn't have a release date yet, there will be another major game patch before it lands. Until we know that detail, there's plenty of other information about the next expansion to go through, from new areas, races, interface updates, and talent system changes. Here's what we know about World of Warcraft's next expansion, our thoughts about when it could launch, and everything that's been confirmed so far.

When is the WoW: Dragonflight release date?

During the Dragonflight announcement stream, Blizzard didn't confirm a release window but did mention that the expansion will be entering an alpha phase soon. Historically, most expansions have launched between August and December, the only exception being Wrath of the Lich King, which arrived in January back in 2007.

The final Shadowlands patch, the 9.2.5 update, is currently on the PTR (public test realm) so we're expecting it to launch somewhere around July or August, 2022. That would mean we shouldn't expect the new expansion to land until the end of 2022 at the very earliest, though a release date for the beginning of 2023 seems more likely.

Quick facts on WoW: Dragonflight

• Level cap: 70
• New playable race: Dracthyr, which are Dragons, obviously
• New mounts: Also dragons
• New zones: Four new zones, one new starter zone
• System overhauls: HUD rework, new talent system, professions updates

WoW's new playable dragon race is also its own class

Yup, you can play as a dragon in the next WoW expansion. The Dracthyr have a draconic form and a humanoid form, both of which you can customize when creating your Dracthyr character.

Dragons are so special though, that Blizzard say they didn't really fit any of the existing classes. Dracthyr are getting their own unique playable class: the Evoker. All Dracthyr are Evokers and all Evokers are Dracthyr—though you can choose to be Horde or Alliance.

They have serious physical attacks like flying overhead with dragon breath, unleashing wind with their wings, and also their magical abilities which focus on ranged DPS or on healing.

Here are some other Dracthyr details:

• Dracthyr start at level 58
• Dracthyr wear mail armor.
• They have their own starting zone.

WoW: Dragonflight's new zones and story

The new area coming in the Dragonflight expansion is the Dragon Isles homeland of dragonkind. It's divided into four new zones: Waking Shores, Ohn’ahran Plains, Azure Span, and the ancient Thaldraszus.

The Dragon Isles were always a mysterious part of WoW's lore, and now you'll be flying face-first into all its ancient secrets. During the reveal stream, Blizzard explained that the Dragon Isles were the center of the dragon kingdom when the world was new. Long ago, the sundering of Azaroth into its continents sent magic into a dormant state that forced dragonkind to leave the Isles behind. No points for guessing that the elemental energy of dragons isn't staying dormant much longer.

In addition to dragons themselves, there are several other mortal races that you'll run into on the Isles. The half-giant elemental Djaradin are old enemies of the dragons. The walrus-like Tuskarr are making a return appearance as well. Blizzard also mention an old civilization of Centaurs living in the Isles.

Dragon riding looks way better than flying

Dragonflight is really into dragons, so much that you won't just be able to play as one. You can also have a dragon as a mount called the Dragon Isle Drake. Blizzard explained that your drake mount is customizable with different appearance unlocks (snouts, horns, tails, and more) and skills for making them fly further and faster.

Unlike flight as it exists in WoW so far, dragon riding is a bit more involved. Blizzard say that riding your drake is something new, a very different way of getting around. Blizzard's developers talked about how momentum and gravity are coming into play with dragon riding, with all new animations for diving and barrel rolling around the Isles.

What about Sylvanas? 

She'll probably be too tied up with grinding her (endless) weekly Maw quest to pay much attention to the next expansion, sadly.