I recently described World of Warcraft as "a promising new foundation for a very old MMO" in an 80% review: in a recent 80% review (opens in new tab), I described Dragonflight as "a promising new foundation for a very old MMO." Blizzard seems to see it the same way: in an update called "Dragonflight in 2023 (opens in new tab)," the studio presented its plans for next year's Dragonflight, saying that old expansions like Legion are still "fondly remembered" by fans and that recent releases has not reached that level, he admitted.

Blizzard plans to deliver six content patches to Dragonflight over the course of 2023, including two major updates with new zones, raids, and season rewards. Between these major updates, the company also hopes to secure a number of new world events, dungeons, story chapters, cinematics, and other new content.

"WoW expansions are not fleeting events, they are a journey. We know that the good and bad of an expansion depends on the lasting quality of its entire arc," says Holly Longdale, Executive Producer.

"Years after its release, Legion fondly recalls the 11-week stream of content updates that served as the framework for its first year as much as the artifact weapons and Cadgar's brilliant dad gags.

"As we plan the way forward after the release of Dragonflight, we have kept in mind that we owe it to our players to nurture this living world and, frankly, we need to do better than we have in recent times...Our goal for Dragonflight is to create a world that is more than just a game, but a world that is a living, breathing world, always be to have something very close at hand, and that a new update will hit our testing realm soon after the last update is released and in your hands.

The update to add Trading Post to Dragonflight will go live in early 2023, and the next update, which will include a new quest campaign and repeatable world content, will hit the PTR shortly after that. This update will mark the beginning of the next major chapter in Dragonflight.

This is the current roadmap:

Of course, not everything is set in stone at this point: Longdale said there will be a content update in late 2023 that will fill in between major updates, but he has not yet promised anything specific.

"The goal is simply to provide more Warcraft. More stories, more content, more rewards, more events, more technical improvements, and less downtime between them. I don't want to spoil everything and I'm sure there will be at least a couple of surprises that no one is expecting." And some of the details are simply yet to be determined.

For those interested in Dragonflight but not yet ready to play, Blizzard today announced that all players with a "World of Warcraft" subscription or valid Game Time will be able to try the expansion's trial version (new tab ) is now available to all players with a "World of Warcraft" subscription or valid Game Time. However, for a limited time: the trial version of Dragonflight will be available until January 2, 2023, after which time players will need to purchase the expansion to continue playing.