World of Warcraft Expansion Dragonflight Leaks Early
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Blizzard Entertainment's official website inadvertently outed the title of World of Warcraft's next expansion, Dragonflight, which the publisher plans to reveal in full later this month. Barring 2021's Burning Crusades Classic, the 2020 release of Shadowlands constitutes World of Warcraft's last major expansion. The first year of Shadowlands didn't instill much confidence in long-time fans, many of whom felt letdown by various delays and disappointing updates that seemingly pointed to a lack of direction.
Shadowlands' arrival initially reinvigorated interest in the experience in many respects; however, the high of new content drops failed to last very long. Newly added features such as the Covenant divided the community, lengthy droughts between updates encouraged more than a fair few players to step away, and abuse allegations against Activision Blizzard left countless World of Warcraft faithful reeling. A mass exodus from WoW ultimately culminated in Final Fantasy XIV receiving an incredible player count boost, too. But Blizzard's forthcoming announcement of an all-new World of Warcraft expansion could be what the MMO needs to regain some of its footing.
Source code on Blizzard's official World of Warcraft website (via Wowhead) suggests the next expansion will bear the title of Dragonflight. The code in question makes mention of pre-purchase options for Dragonflight Base, Heroic, and Epic editions, none of which Blizzard has formally unveiled. References to a currently inactive URL - dragonflight.blizzard.com - were also found, further hinting at what could come next for the long-running MMO. This all aligns with Wowhead's datamined findings from earlier in the year, wherein the website stumbled across encrypted items tied to a Green Dragon mount, pet, and dragon-centric spell effects. The website speculates that such extras may serve as bonus rewards for Dragonflight's unannounced Deluxe Edition.
Blizzard Entertainment plans to showcase the next World of Warcraft expansion in just a couple of weeks on Tuesday, April 19. Though all of the above information should be taken with a grain of salt, the leaked details indicate that WoW fans shouldn't be surprised if talk of dragons takes center stage during the reveal.
Details about the supposed Dragonflight expansion isn't all Blizzard has up its sleeve, either. In May, the publisher will begin unveiling specifics about its newest Warcraft-branded mobile experience. At the time of writing, what the content will entail remains a mystery. It's been years in the making, though, so the rapidly decreasing wait time is no doubt music to the ears of many.
World of Warcraft is playable on PC.
Source: Wowhead, Superduperbals/Reddit