World of Warcraft players might be one of the most competitive communities in its genre by a significant margin, boasting a formidable e-sports scene in both PvE and PvP tournaments, and now the inclusion of Dragonriding in Dragonflight has sparked their interest for a completely new type of leaderboard. It's no secret that World of Warcraft players have been obsessed with Dragonriding ever since the new expansion launched, and it may well be that future zones will be created with Dragonriding in mind, but there is one aspect of Dragonriding that saw its roots in Mists of Pandaria: the dragonback races.
When Cloud Serpents were introduced in Mists of Pandaria, they were the new shiny mount family that everyone wanted to get their hands on – the nether drakes and the proto-drakes of Pandaria. Blizzard locked them behind Pandaria's rare world boss drops as well as a reputation grind, as players were forced to hatch, train, and compete with their Cloud Serpents on the way to adulthood for several weeks. One of these daily quests ended up being the foundation for Dragonriding races that players see today, and now that the system is fully fleshed out, World of Warcraft fans are in want of a public leaderboard.
Whether for bragging rights, replayability, or just scratching that competitive itch – World of Warcraft players have made their stance known all across social media, with most recently a Reddit post by brewwtv sparking the latest discussion. The current state of Dragonriding races is very insular and player-focused, offering them a personal challenge to test their Dragonriding skills by competing for Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals. While fun, it is a system of limited scope, and many people feel that it has yet to live up to its full potential.
According to players, the solution is simple: making the current Dragonriding leaderboards public, and supporting the system with creative new maps to keep the content fresh. On paper, it would let World of Warcraft players compete among their friends or try to stay within the top hundred spots on their server, by effectively having a new challenge in the game not tied to any endgame progression – perhaps what Torghast in Shadowlands should have been.
Whether Blizzard Entertainment chooses to develop Dragonriding races further remains to be seen, but one can't deny that it would be a natural system to expand in Dragonflight's upcoming patch content. For now, players will at least have the inaugural season of Dragonflight to keep them busy, as Mythic Keystones and the Vault of the Incarnates raid release on December 12th.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is available now on PC.