As players explore the Dragon Isles in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, it isn't hard to notice several major changes that have been made to the game, from the new areas to dragonriding to the talent trees. But not all the changes made with the expansion are the sort that will immediately jump out at players for their first trip through the Isles.
Once some more time is spent in the game, however, these little touches will start to be more apparent. Players who know about them ahead of time can derive even more satisfaction from the expansion as a whole even during their first time through. Sometimes it really is the little things that make all the difference.
7 Revamped Reputation & Renown Makes Gains Clearer And Easier
Anyone who has played World of Warcraft for an appreciable length of time will attest to the importance of reputation gains and generally working with factions to improve their impressions of player characters. And Dragonflight definitely possesses some of those traditional reputations, such as the reputation for the dueling halves of the Black Dragonflight. However, the major factions work differently.
The four major factions on the Dragon Isles (Dragonscale Expedition, Valdrakken Accord, Maruuk Centaur, and Iskaara Tuskaar) are all tracked through a modified version of the Renown system from Shadowlands. Players earn reputation points that eventually translate to a new Renown rank with greater rewards available. Reputation for minor factions such as the aforementioned Black Dragonflight heads are also changed and simplified. This makes it easier to track and understand progress rather than using the classic four reputation ranks that have been in the game for ages.
6 Level Cap Activities Start Earlier
The level cap in Dragonflight is 70, but players don't have to reach that round number to start taking part in the game's endgame activities. In fact, for players who follow the main story campaign exclusively and generally avoid side activities, it's entirely possible to plow straight through and wind up finishing everything around level 68. This is followed by a meeting and an opening of gameplay from the queen of the Red Dragonflight.
The Dragon Isles are replete with world quests, weekly quests and events, sidequests, and other things to keep players busy. This ultimately means that players have more time to engage with the level cap activities and get a feel for the island, rather than rushing straight to the level cap. And since there's far more to be done than is needed for reaching the cap, even on the first time through, this is a welcome change.
5 Dragonriding Progress Is Account-Wide
While Dragonflight avoids the dreaded "borrowed power" of prior expansions, it does still have a unique system of mobility expansions in the case of dragonriding. Players collect glyphs hidden throughout the isles to make their dragons fly faster and longer. But there's no need to dread getting the glyphs a second time on an alt, because all progress with dragonriding is account-wide.
This change ensures that players can bring alts to the islands after reaching the level cap for the first time without having to tediously re-level or explore and can instead focus on taking part in other activities, a welcome change to be sure. Once a character sets foot on the island, that character benefits from every previous exploration in tangible and lasting ways.
4 Players Can Wear Glasses Now
Glasses are a popular cosmetic item in a variety of MMORPGs. It may be because the players wear glasses, because they're a relatable real-world item, or just because they remind everyone of anime characters. But for a long time, player characters in World of Warcraft have had to deal with uncorrected vision and no stylish frames to enjoy. That has finally changed with Dragonflight.
Not only are glasses among the bits of special gear available to players with the Inscription profession, they can also be crafted by Jewelcrafters and unlocked as cosmetic appearances account-wide. Anyone who wishes to have their characters look smart enough to chat with the magic-loving Blue Dragonflight, or just enjoy stylish vision correction, will now have an option to do just that.
3 More Storage With Reagent Bags
All the revisions to the crafting mechanics in Dragonflight make for a major change to how the game works as a whole. But there is a minor change to go along with the expanded variety of items available for crafting. The new reagent bags can first be acquired fairly early in the main campaign questline, but larger bags are available elsewhere in the expansion.
Obviously, the easiest way to avoid having bags get overloaded is to avoid picking up too many items, but anyone who takes part in crafting has long had to deal with numerous items that are not always easy to store in compact form. For non-dedicated crafters, these bags still provide a useful function as they store the cloth, meat, and other valuable items picked up along the way just the same. This saves time spent sorting through bags (and the Bronze Dragonflight appreciates saving time).
2 New Weekly Community Activities
Doing things with other people in an MMORPG is part of the fun, whether players are showing off their unique characters or just enjoying a sense of camraderie and togetherness. Fostering community is even a key aspect of the Green Dragonflight's general charge and renewal of its oath. And players get to have more community fostered with weekly community activities in Dragonflight.
At launch, there are three weekly community events to take part in: the Siege on Dragonbane Keep, the Centaur Grand Hunts, and the Community Feasts. Each one is on a reliable timer and offers a big reward once per week for the Siege and Feasts, or three times per week for the Grand Hunts. They're a different take on reliable standbys like regular daily quests while offering new engagement for fans.
1 Easier Weekly Quest Progress
The main weekly quest in Dragonflight is in many ways similar to how Callings and Emissary quests worked in prior expansions, but it's also distinct. Players are tasked with earning reputation with the main factions on the Dragon Isles, and... that's it. At a glance, this may seem like it actually reduces player options. But between this and the new weekly activities, players have a wider variety of options.
Shadowlands experimented with regular meta-quests that required something other than simply clearing world quests. Meanwhile, Dragonflight allows players only slightly fewer weekly rewards. It is even less punishing and more flexible in terms of what players do on a weekly basis. It's a minor change that opens up a wider variety of playstyles through the game, and that should be welcome for anyone who worried about missing a day or two of Calling quests inconveniently.