World of Warcraft will go underground in Dragonflight’s first big patch

polygon.com:

World of Warcraft is delving deep beneath the Dragon Isles in its first major content patch, Embers of Neltharion. Patch 10.1, which does not currently have a release date, takes players to the Zaralek Cavern, a vast expanse under the Dragon Isles where the Earth Aspect once kept his secret laboratories. Players will have to face off against the remaining Incarnates, powerful elemental villains with a long-standing grudge against the Aspects. In their downtime, the heroes of Azeroth can hang out with cute little mole friends and visit the snail races.

“This story and setting represents the convergence of a lot of different threads, which all share the common theme of legacy,” says Ion Hazzikostas, game director on World of Warcraft, in a call with Polygon. Our friends, the Dragon Aspects, are racing to the laboratory against the villainous incarnates. Meanwhile, Dracthyr on both sides of the conflict want to investigate the laboratory and find their own origins.

Embers of Neltharion brings three major updates to the game. First is the Zaralek Cavern, which has three distinct biomes: There are sulfur pools, plagued with caustic chemicals, where Neltharion (also known as the raid boss Deathwing) dumped his failed experiment. There are also massive crystalline stretches with stalactites and ethereal teal lighting. Finally, there are natural volcanoes and pools of lava. It’s not all danger and doom; players will meet the drogbar (last seen in Legion) and a rad new race of mole people called the Niffen with a new renown track.

Hazzikostas notes that there were technical challenges in creating the Cavern. “A lot of work has been done by our engineers over the last couple of years to — sorry, forgive this analogy — lay the