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World of Warcraft: Dragonflight keeps dragon-riding to Dragon Isles... for now

The rest of Azeroth appears to be a no-fly zone, at least for the time being.

Ozzie Mejia

April 20, 2022 1:15 PM

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All-new horizons opened up with the reveal of World of Warcraft: Dragonflight. The skies are now open for exploration, as players can now ride actual dragons and explore the skies of the Dragon Isles. Theoretically, however, shouldn't the whole realm of Azeroth be open season for air travel? Video Editor Greg Burke recently joined a group interview and asked just that. Blizzard's development team noted that dragon-flight will be restricted to the Dragon Isles, but that may not necessarily be the case forever.

"For now, dragon-riding is exclusive to the Dragon Isles," Senior Gameplay Designer Jackie Wiley told Shacknews. "It's us trying a new way of locomotion. The physics-based flying will be limited to the Dragon Isles for now and on your Dragon Isles Drake, because there's a ton of animation support for it, to help it feel as dynamic as it is to play it. But, looking forward, we'll definitely be looking forward to player feedback of, 'This new form of locomotion is really cool,' would we want to see it in other places, are there other forms of locomotion that players would be excited to see? This is just the beginning of the conversation."

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight will feature dragon-riding for the first time in the MMORPG's 18-year history. Players can pick up their own personal Dragon Isles Drake to take to the skies, where they'll be able to explore all five of the Dragon Isles' leveling zones. This will operate separately from the standard mounts that players may have grown accustomed to over the past two decades. In the same vein, players can pick up new dragon-riding skills over the course of the time in Dragonflight.

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is the latest expansion in the long-running story of Azeroth. The expansion will feature an all-new storyline, a new region, a new playable race and class, and much more. Look for it to arrive later this year. We'll have more to say about World of Warcraft: Dragonflight in the days ahead, so stay tuned to Shacknews for the latest news, interviews, and updates.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?