For the first time, Blizzard issues a World of Warcraft roadmap spanning an entire year
Quest marker.
Blizzard has issued a World of Warcraft roadmap spanning an entire year.
In a move welcomed by fans of the 18-year-old massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Blizzard told players what to expect throughout 2023 and the road ahead for recently-released expansion Dragonflight.
Six content updates are set to go live throughout 2023, Blizzard said in a blog post, the first of which is right around the corner and adds the recently-announced Trading Post, new transmog options for grey and white gear, and additional world content.
While plans change and release windows often slip, it's good to see Blizzard lay down a marker with this commitment to World of Warcraft players. As a lapsed WoW player myself, I find it remarkable Blizzard has finally done this all these years after launch.
"In planning out the road ahead following the release of Dragonflight, we've been mindful of the duty we owe our players to nurture this living world and, frankly, the need to do better than we have at times in the recent past," executive producer Holly Longdale admitted.
"Our goal for Dragonflight is that there should always be something right around the corner, with a new update hitting our test realms shortly after the last one is live and in your hands."
The six content patches should be "fairly evenly spaced" over the course of 2023, Longdale said, and include two major updates with new zones, raids and seasonal rewards.
In between, expect new world events, system updates, new dungeons, and new narrative chapters and cinematics.
By all accounts, Dragonflight has been well-received after a period in which rivals such as Final Fantasy 14 pulled players away from Blizzard's MMO. While Activision Blizzard has yet to announce sales or player count information for Dragonflight, it seems World of Warcraft has at least changed the narrative, and with Blizzard veteran Chris Metzen's returns to Warcraft six years after his retirement, it feels like WoW is finally heading in the right direction.