As the mists surrounding the Dragon Isles slowly rise to unveil the land that’s been hidden from the rest of Azeroth for over 20,000 years, we—the elite soldiers of Azeroth—are already beyond ourselves as we get the first glances of the stunningly beautiful domain of the ancient knowledge, dragon aspects, Dracthyr Evokers, and Dragonriding. Since the dragon-themed World of Warcraft expansion couldn’t come soon enough, we were all with incredible enthusiasm waiting for the news of when will our potentially new favorite expansion launch.
On Oct. 18, Blizzard Entertainment shared not only the official date for Dragonflight pre-patch but also a launch roadmap outlining save-the-dates for this year. In this roadmap, Blizzard revealed the dates of pre-patch, Dracthyr launch, expansion launch, and lastly, the raid launch.
So, let’s take a look at all the currently revealed important Dragonflight dates so that you can take time off work and spend days falling in love with World of Warcraft once again.
Dragonflight release schedule
Phase one
The first hints of Dragonflight are hitting the live server on Oct. 25 with the official pre-patch. The pre-patch will come live together with the incredible talent system revamp that is the biggest talent overhaul we’ve seen since Mists of Pandaria. Designed in the spitting image of the Classic talent system, the new and improved talent system will finally give players more freedom to be creative with their builds and optimize their playstyle according to their preferences.
On Oct. 25, we’re also getting a bunch of HUD UI changes that will reduce the need for UI addons. With these UI and HUD changes going live, players can now customize their UI with only a few clicks of a button without needing to read comprehensive addon descriptions. On top of this, the modernized version of UI will still keep its old charms and personality.
Next, Blizzard is including a whole variety of accessibility features that will have a huge impact on your day-to-day gameplay, like “press and hold” spellcasting, interact keys, gamepad support, and more.
To spice up the PvP during the pre-patch event, Rated Solo Shuffle is coming to the game. Initially functioning as a PvP Brawl, Rated Solo Shuffle will give the avid PvPers an opportunity to work toward seasonal rewards, achievements, mounts, weekly vault progress, and Conquest, essentially functioning in the same manner as Rated battlegrounds and arenas. Although Dragonflight-specific ratings and rewards will only become obtainable once Dragonflight Season one begins, the progress earned during the pre-patch still counts toward those amazing rewards. Besides that, once the pre-patch hits the live servers, cross-faction play will also be enabled in Rated Solo Shuffle.
Finally, the Dragonflight pre-patch will introduce new class and race combinations to increase diversity and allow for even more creativity during character creation. So, once the pre-patch goes live, all races can create and play Rogue, Priest, and Mage.
Phase two
Phase two of the Dragonflight pre-patch begins on Nov. 15. Once the date comes, the WoW community can finally create their own Dracthyr Evokers, the first-ever race and class combination. Packed with tons of customizations, Dracthyr Evokers will have two specializations at the release with one being the healing one, and the other DPS one—Preservation and Devastation. Although they are dragonkin, they can easily switch from their humanoid visage into a draconic form. They normally start at level 58 in a dragonkin-exclusive zone, the Forbidden Reach in the Dragon Isles.
So, with the introduction of Dracthyr Evokers to WoW, Nov. 15 will also mark the official opening of a new starting zone, The Forbidden Reach. Designed by Neltharion the Earth-Warder to create his own army of dragonkin soldiers, the Forbidden Reach today is an oasis for aspiring Dracthyr Evokers who strive to, one day, fight alongside Horde or Alliance.
Phase two is also introducing a new, yet familiar dungeon, Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr. Located in the same spot as the previous iteration of the dungeon, Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr will now feature ancient knowledge left there purposefully by the titans.
Since there’s no pre-patch in WoW’s history without an accompanying event, phase two will launch the Primal Storms event. Although there’s little known about the event, we know that it comes with a new set of quests and world events as you attempt to repel the forces of Primalists.
Phase three
On Nov. 28, the wait will finally come to an end as Dragonflight will launch globally with a series of new features. The first and the most important feature is easily the Dragon Isles. There, you can find the Waking Shores, the Azure Span, Ohn’aran Plains, and Thaldraszus.
Dragonflight launching means we’re getting loads of new mounts, achievements, pets, and other cosmetics that won’t collect themselves.
Since the revamped professions aren’t going live anytime before the official expansion launch, we’re getting the overhauled profession system on Nov. 28. This includes new quality and crafting systems, materials, and, most importantly, profession-specific gear.
One of the most exciting and beloved features of Dragonflight is, without a doubt, Dragonriding. Once the expansion goes live, and you complete the mandatory quests to unlock this feature, you’ll be able to soar the skies of Dragon Isles in an exhilarating fashion.
This will also include the release of seven dungeons—Ruby Life Pools, Brackenhide Hollow, the Nokhud Offensive, Neltharus, the Azure Vault, Halls of Infusion, Algeth’ar Academy. Although you can complete these dungeons in normal and heroic mode, all of these dungeons won’t be available for Mythic+ runs until later in the expansion when they rotate to the Mythic+ dungeon pool.
Phase three release at the following times on Nov. 28:
- Los Angeles: 3pm PST
- Austin: 5pm CT
- New York: 6pm EST
- London: 11pm GMT
- Paris: 12am CET (Nov. 29)
- Seoul: 8am KST (Nov. 29)
- Sydney: 10am AEDT (Nov. 29)
Phase four
The final phase of the year will come live on Dec. 13. With that, the first raid of Dragonflight will open its doors to both world first raiders and casual raiders since all raid difficulties—normal, heroic, and mythic—are opening simultaneously. Although this means a lack of finetuning and balancing during the Christmas season, the Race for World First will definitely be one of the most exciting ones we witnessed in years.
Other than Vault of Incarnates launching on Dec. 13, Dragonflight season one will finally start. In other words, we can enter Mythic+ dungeons and start working towards our Keystone Master achievement. Mythic+ dungeon pool in season one will include the following dungeons: Ruby Life Pools, the Nokhud Offensive, the Azure Vault, Algeth’ar Academy, Halls of Valor (Legion dungeon), Court of Stars (Legion dungeon), Shadowmoon Burial Grounds (Warlords of Draenor dungeon), and Temple of the Jade Serpent (MoP dungeon). Other than that, season one for PvPers also begins on Dec. 13 as they once again prove their talent in the arena grounds.
