How World of Warcraft: Dragonflight plans to keep flying high

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World of Warcraft is in the midst of an era of good feelings with its Dragonflight expansion, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Blizzard.

The studio faced a good amount of player dissatisfaction during the two proceeding expansions, Shadowlands and Battle for Azeroth. But Dragonflight’s focus on a lighter, more traditional fantasy story and aesthetic has won over many players.

Now, Blizzard is preparing the expansion’s biggest update patch yet with 10.1, Embers of Neltharion. As is usual for these big patches, it will add a new zone for players to quest and explore in. It’ll also bring a new raid tier and season for Mythic+ dungeons. But the patch also includes some surprises, like cross-faction guilds and, um (checks notes) … snail racing.

I recently had a chance to talk with World of Warcraft game director Ion Hazzikostas and executive producer Holly Longdale about the state of World of Warcraft, the success of the Dragonflight expansion and the new content in Embers of Neltharion.

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But before that, I did want to ask about reports that Activision Blizzard is forcing employees back to offices. Below is an edited transcript of our interview.

GamesBeat: There have been reports about Activision Blizzard employees going back to work at the office. How is that going to impact the WoW team?

Ion Hazzikostas: It’s an extension of a conversation that’s really happening across the entire industry. It’s not just Blizzard, or