Dragonflight doesn't feel like Warcraft

Community General Discussion
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Yeah, I guess it’s time for another weekly “Dragonflight bad” post of mine. Though it might not be bad necessarily.

Ultimately, I guess this is subjective, there are different definitions of what feels like Warcraft to each person, but to me Dragonflight doesn’t feel like Warcraft at all. Shadowlands didn’t feel like Warcraft either, which was understandable considering we were in a totally different realm, a parallel universe of sorts with the beings we’ve never seen before. Everyone thought going back to Azeroth is gonna solve that. But, to me at least, it didn’t. Dragonflight feels even less like Warcraft than Shadowlands did.

The best example I can think of are the Tuskarr. First we met the Tuskarr in Warcraft 3. They didn’t have a big role, if a role at all, but we’ve met them, seen their culture and what they’re all about. After that came WotLK where we meet the Turskarr again. And we know they’re the same Tuskarr from Warcraft 3 (and in lore they are, truth be told). Everything that made Tuskarr in Warcraft 3 was there in WotLK. Then we get to the Dragon Isle, and the Tuskarr there feel almost nothing like the Tuskarr from WotLK. They look and feel like the Tuskarr from a different universe. I mean sure, they look cool and cute, they’re culture is nice, soup is fun in the beginning at least, etc… but they’re nothing like the Tuskarr from other Warcraft games. Their looks, story, society and stuff feel like they hardly fit into a Warcraft game. I can’t exactly explain it in words. But, you can see it yourselves I guess, go to Iskaara and then to Northrend, quest a little in both and you’ll see what I mean.

The exact same thing can be said about the Centaur and the Dragonflights and Dragonkin too… even Gnolls and Furbolgs (though to a lesser extent). I was thinking why is this? Is it just me? Ultimately I started playing Warcraft in Warcraft 3, and that game made this world for me. I know all the characters and story and lore and stuff from Warcraft 3 have been overused over and over again, and there isn’t really pretty much a single line from that game that hasn’t been made an expansion of already.

But than again, I look at Pandaria, Zandalar, Suramar, etc… places and stories that have nothing to do with Warcraft 3, but felt like Warcraft 100%. When you journey or play through them, you know 100% you’re playing a World of Warcraft in a Warcraft game. Yes, Warcraft 3 is overused and expanded, but Azeroth (and Outland) that came out of that game can still be the same Azeroth (and Outland) that came out of that game in both look and feel. Dragon Isles failed to deliver that, at least for me.

Again, sorry for the long post and this rant.

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Firstly, this is true and my perspective on DF is from quite an unusual position. I can’t do Dragonriding very well. I can use to to travel short distances and hop over obstacles. It’s better than no flying at all (as we had in Revendreth).

So, I agree with you given my perspective. The world doesn’t feel any closer to Azeroth than SL did. I use Flight master to get around and those flights can be quite long (time to alt-tab and read the forums) so it’s a bit like the traveling between zones in SL to me. It’s disjointed and fragmented into little areas where I go to a quest.

I have seen suggestions of either remaking Azeroth or forming larger zones out of existing ones (Stormwind, Elwynn, Westfall, Duskwood and Redridge in one zone etc.) so that we can use Dragon riding everywhere.
This fills me with dread even though these are just mere suggestions from players on the forums or youtubers on their channels.

I realise I’m in a tiny minority on this one though. Most players like Dragon riding.

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It’s not felt like true Warcraft to me since the original before TBC.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not good. It evolves, changes flavours. In its current form i must admit I do feel like it’s pretty close, just without the slightly darker, dingier vibe I remember walking through blackrock, BWL, AQ etc.

It feels as close as I’ve seen them ever get to the original feeling, just brighter. That’s my view

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Dragon riding is great because its way faster than epic flying mount, i don’t know why someone would like normal flying mounts instead. Maybe if they have some super rare collection of mounts they use, but dragon riding is best thing ever.

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Here’s why: a lot of the people (perhaps even most) who made the old Warcraft games have since moved on, either to other teams within the company, or simply outside Blizzard.

All the franchises are still maintained by the same company, but not (generally speaking) by the same people.

It’s a little bit like The Lord of the Rings.

  • Tolkien wrote the books, and defined what LotR is.
  • His son Christopher picked up where he had left off, and carried on his legacy. Because of how close they were, newer books read almost the same as if J.R.R. had written them himself.
  • Peter Jackson made a trilogy of movies. You still recognise the general look and feel of the LotR universe, and the story is mostly the same. But now Peter Jackson’s personality has started to seep through here and there. Not only that, but his medium (film) is different, audiences have changed a bit, and so on. Clear changes to the story have been made. Let’s not even begin discussing Jackson’s The Hobbit.
  • Then Amazon comes in and makes a TV series, and suddenly even more seems different from Tolkien’s vision. You recognise the general story from the Silmarillion (which Christopher Tolkien edited, I know) and many characters and locations feel familiar. But as was reported in many reviews and online commentary, this show arguably strays even further from the tone and style of Tolkien.
  • In-between all of these, there have been multiple songs, paintings, games, plays, and so on, each doing its thing to interpret Tolkien’s world.

So when it comes to Warcraft, and really any other franchise, my advice would be to either simply adapt and embrace the new material, or opt out and just keep your treasured favourites forever. Warcraft 1, 2, and 3 aren’t going away. Nor is Classic.

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I didn’t play Warcraft 3, so I cannot compare. Although, I enjoy the story expansion.
Ok, we have different Tuskarrs, but who said there was only one type of Tuskarrs in the World.

It’s nice to see that story continues.

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I dont think dragonflight is bad for new players. If youve been playing wow for a long time, your expectations from every new patch are high than the new players so you are getting disappointed.

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Don’t worry
When Warcraft III. came out it doesn’t felt Warcraft at all
The feeling will pass and you will got used to it

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It is a bit funny and ironic pople hold Jackson’s movies so high regard, considering how he butchered the books…
Sauron as a massive flaming eye, Frodo’s age and social status relationship with Sam, the Army of the Dead in Minas Tirith, the Scouring of the Shire and Saruman’s death…
…not to mention what he had done with Isildur and more importantly Denethor - I mean the Steward of Gondor was basically a damn tragic Hero and even Sauron could’t bend his will (not like Saruman’s) via the Palantír and he only broke at the very end…
Just to name a few…

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Who is the target audience for DF?

There are nostalgic elements smuggled into the game that may appeal to the older (meaning gameplay time, not age) players, but I am not sure if it would rekindle the bonfire of hype of old, more like an ember glimmering, barely holding on.

Maybe new, younger players, who would welcome the woke parts put into the game? I don’t know. There are couple of videos, articles out there saying how difficult is for new players to get into the game, which is no wonder considering WoW nearly 20 years old.

My personal opinion is that if they keep on the mayor direction they currently heading, they fall inbetween the 2 chairs, as the saying goes. They will loose the old players, who are the majority of the playerbase, and they will fail to keep the new players interest in the game for a longer time.

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Sir, Americans dont feel very french, belgian, spanish, British or Norwegian to me either so I fail to see your point.

The races of the Dragon Isles have been isolated from their racial equals of other continents for 10 thousand years. They dont feel like the races we know because they are NOT the races we know, but a foreign version of them. Similar to how Europeans migrated to the US like 500 years ago and made their own culture, the Tuskarr of Dragon Isles have made their own culture separate from the main continental Tuskarr etc.

Now, I havent played the wc3 campaign nor can I say much for your feelings, but Dragonflight very much still feel like World of Warcraft to me, with professions revamped and improved.

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I said several times during Shadowlands that Shadowlands not only didn’t feel like Azeroth - which was legit, because it wasn’t - but it didn’t feel like Warcraft. So I’m 100% with you there.

Dragonflight … not so much. The land, the zones, feel a lot like Northrend - but a faded version. There are too many pixels, and not nearly enough heart. So I’m going to say that it does feel like Warcraft, but a diluted, faded, pale imitation. Still pleasant though.

The characters, though … the characters are a problem. Leave aside all the woke causes clumsily inserted for Twitter Likes. I agree with you that even the rest do feel a bit off. The Aspects are definitely off - I am really annoyed what they did to Kalec, who is one of my favourite side-characters, and the whole Nozdormu/Chromie thing in the cinematic felt way off. I also find myself actively repulsed by the Dracthyr.

I will happily buy into Chrìstóphèr’s head-canon about the Tuskarr and Centaur:

Yeah, cultural drift could explain it. I think it’s more likely that the current employees wanted to get kudos for their creativity, and so adulterated The Original with some preferred traits of their own.

It’s not a good sign, though, to think that they either have lost their grasp on the original vision, or feel that they can do better.

I would say that DF is not actually not-Warcraft, but it has drifted.

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A few people here are mentioning wokeness in DF. But I’m struggling to think of any major “woke” parts. It might just be that I haven’t registered it or that I simply haven’t seen those bits yet. But I’d genuinely like to know what elements of it people consider are woke?

I’m not trying to cause an argument, or say that anybody’s interpretation of the game is wrong, I’m just genuinely curious

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:hook: :question: :fish:

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The zones are absolutely enormous which isn’t ususal for expansion wow like but we have a fast travel mode. But I do get you there in that respect.

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