Several members of the press and fansites, including Blizzplanet, were invited to a Zoom presentation and an interview with Steve Danuser (narrative director) and Morgan Day (associate game director) to discuss details of Dragonflight Patch 10.1: Embers of Neltharion and feature updates. This Zoom presentation event happened on March 7 at 3:50pm and the group interview at 4:30pm (EST / New York).
There is a lot to unpack, so let’s guide you through what we watched in the presentation and several highlights on what to expect in the upcoming patch.
Some of the press and fansites that attended the same time-slots of this presentation and group interview:
- Blizzplanet
- Shacknews
- MMORPG
- Wowhead
- BlizzWatch
- Dot Esports
- Windows Central
- eSports.GG
- MMO-Champion
- Techradar
Patch 10.0.7
In order to introduce us into 10.1, for story continuum context, Aramis from Blizzard PR showcased a Patch 10.0.7 cinematic screening. Here is a summary of that 10.0.7 cinematic:
Sarkareth and his Sundered Flame are in the Forbidden Reach looking toward the sky and behold that Raszageth’s induced storm that has kept the zone sealed from visitors has receded. Shortly after, The Incarnates arrive to the Forbidden Reach: Iridikron the Stonescaled, Vyranoth the Frozenheart, and Fyrakk the Blazing.
The Dracthyr hide in the bushes and spy upon the Incarnates. Here we jaw-drop as the Incarnates transform into very unique humanoid-visages.
The Incarnates discuss Raszageth’s death and how they wish to avenge her. Iridikon doesn’t want to make Raszageth’s mistake. She subestimated the Dragon Aspects and their allies, and that was her downfall. Iridrikon has arrived to the Forbidden Reach to even the scales to their favor.
Vyranoth points out the Dragon Aspects hid many secrets from the Incarnates and even from each other. As she says this, they enter one of Neltharion’s vaults beneath the earth. Neltharion’s sentries emerge from the ground to attack, but the Incarnates easily defeat them.
In this vault, they discover knowledge about the location of Neltharion’s secret laboratory: Aberrus. This turns out to be the 10.1 Raid dungeon. Iridikron isn’t interested in Aberrus itself, but in the molten lava that powers it.
Dragonflight Patch 10.0.7 will go live on March 21. Our champions will aid the dracthyr in returning to the Forbidden Reach, where they learn that the road to the dracthyr finding their place on Azeroth leads underground. The Primal Incarnates have arrived to the Forbidden Reach in search of an ancient secret that may give them an edge to destroy the Dragon Aspects and their allies.
| DRAGONFLIGHT 10.1: EMBERS OF NELTHARION | |||
| 1. Presentation | 2. Q&A | 3. Concept Art | 4. 41 Screenshots |
PATCH 10.1: EMBERS OF NELTHARION – PRESENTATION
Maria Hamilton (lead quest designer) commenced the presentation with a peek into Dragonflight Patch 10.1: Embers of Neltharion with a recap of the initial Dragonflight story campaign:
- The champions of Azeroth aid the dragonflights in restoring their Oathstones across the Dragon Isles, reaffirming their purpose and commitment to Azeroth.
- Alexstrasza travels to Tyrhold to find she is still unable to restore the power of the Aspects at the Mother Oathstone.
- Our champions and the dragonflights face off with and defeat the first escaped Primal Incarnate, Raszageth the Storm-Eater.
- But not before Raszageth successfully frees her imprisoned kin: Iridikron the Stonescaled, Vyranoth the Frozenheart, and Fyrakk the Blazing — who vow to unleash their fury upon the Dragon Isles.
- But hope is not lost! A passionate affirmation from Kalecgos inspires a renewed belief that whatever challenges lie ahead, they shall face them… together.
Moving forward, after the Primal Incarnates discover the location of Neltharion’s laboratory, players will go underground into the new zone: Zaralek Cavern. The former Ebon Scales leader, now turned Sundered Flame leader: Sarkareth, followed the Primal Incarnates into the depths of Zaralek Cavern, to claim Neltharion’s legacy.
There are three different biomes within the Zaralek Cavern zone:
- Sulfur pools and dangerous vapors from caustic chemicals are the dumping grounds for the failed experiments of Neltharion’s Lab.
- The crystalline cavern features stalactites and stalagmites with both rock and crystal formations.
- The volcanic region to the north features lava flows, bubbling pools, and twisted spirals of hardened lava. It is here where the Djaradin Elders make their home.
The new Zaralek Cavern zone in the Dragon Isles is bigger than Zereth Mortis in Shadowlands. Players can bring their Dragonriding Mounts to the new zone, and there won’t be any re-learning how to fly there. In fact, there is no loading screens. You can fly across the Dragon Isles, and enter Zaralek Cavern seamlessly. There are three entrances into the Zaralek Cavern. These entry points are found in Ohn’ahran Plains, Azure Span and Thaldraszus.
NEW MOUNTS
Traverse the Zaralek Cavern with a brand-new Cloud-Serpent-like dragonriding drake mount, and new Dragon Glyphs. One of the Dragon Glyphs discussed allows you to regenerate Vigor merely by gliding in low ground — in addition to the Glyph that allowed you to do the same while at high speeds in the skies; and new dragonriding mount customizations.
NEW RENOWN FACTION: NIFFEN
Dragonflight 10.1 will introduce a new Renown Faction track. The Niffen are a small mole humanoids that have limited sight, and rely on their smelling senses. Expect some smell jokes in their dialogues.
Other races we will find in the Zaralek Cavern zone: Drogbar and Djaradin Elders. Among zone creatures we will find: fiery mouse, crystalline snails, some sort of rocky gargoyle, a new rock/lava themed variant of the flying stingrays we saw in Nazjatar, and a new bird type with fiery feather tips. Opinion: Some of these might become Battle Pets and Mounts.
The Primal Incarnate named Fyrakk will seek new allies in the Djaradin Elders, and possibly other factions to rain his fiery wrath upon the Dragon Isles.
NEW & UPDATED ACTIVITIES
Zaralek Cavern
The new Zaralek Cavern zone will offer several features:
- New campaign chapters
- New renown track with the Niffen.
- Niffen cave diving and exploration.
- Snail Racing!
Dragon Isles
Blizzard Entertainment is not only adding a new Zone, there will be updates to the other Dragon Isles zones.
- Fyrakk Assaults on the Dragon Isles – similar to the Naga assaults in Battle for Azeroth, or the Legion Assaults.
- New Blue Dragonflight story quests in the Dragon Isles.
- Next chapter of the Tyr reforged quests.
We will learn why not all of the Blue Dragonflight dragons heed Kalecgos’ call in Azure Span. There are other Blue Dragons elsewhere in Azeroth. During the Q&A, it felt as though Steve Danuser hinted at some story yet to be revealed in the future. Read more in the Q&A further ahead in this recap article.
We will also learn through the Tyr reforged quests what is happening with Tyr. Last time, we uncovered the creation of a new empty shell that looks exactly like Tyr. Opinion: I think eventually players will witness the return of Tyr, or at least an earlier AI backup of his former self.
Some of the Outdoor Content will reward gear items and weapons that look like rewards inspired from Blackwing Lair.
SEASON 2
Raid
Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible is the new Raid dungeon featuring 9 new bosses. Aberrus is the secret Neltharion Laboratory where he originally created this darkest experiments, including the creation of his Elementium armor, and where the Dracthyr were created. Aberrus is also where Neltharion succumbed to the whispers of the Old gods.
Among the 9 Raid Bosses, we will face a fire Hydra, the leader of the Sundered Flame who is seeking to claim Neltharion’s legacy, a fire elemental, an Elementium dragon, a dragonkin commander, and Blizzard doesn’t want to reveal yet 4 new powerful enemies that will become Raid Bosses for this encounter.
Mythic Dungeons
The remaining Dragonflight dungeons will join the Mythic+ dungeon rotation:
- Brackenhide Hollow
- Halls of Infusion
- Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr
- Neltharus
In addition, 4 dungeons from previous expansions will be added to the Mythic dungeon rotation:
- Freehold (Battle for Azeroth)
- The Underrot (Battle for Azeroth)
- Neltharion’s Lair (Legion)
- Vortex Pinnacle (Cataclysm)
The Seasonal Affixes are still in development and wil be available for testing later in the PTR 10.1 cycle
NEW & UPDATED OUTDOOR CONTENT
Fyrakk Assaults
Similar to the primalist invasions currently available, or the Naga assaults (Battle for Azeroth), the Fyrakk Assaults will introduce new rewards including gear, weapons, achievements and more.
Dragonriding Updates
Zaralek Cavern will offer new Dragon Glyphs to find, abilities to learn, new races to complete, and a new cloud serpent-inspired drake.
New Quests
Both Zaralek Cavern and the Dragon Isles aboveground will provide new campaign quests as well as continue questlines from previous Dragon Isles stories that followed the Blue Dragonflight and the reformation of Tyr.
SYSTEM UPDATES
- Cross-Faction Guilds — your Guild can now have members of the Alliance and the Horde.
- Class balance and tuning.
- Heads-up Display and User Interface changes (Group manager, raid frames, quest tracker, quest bang, edit mode++)
- Heirloom Armor updates (providing updated level scaling to level 70).
In the navigation table below you can read the Q&A highlights, concept art and 41 screenshots of the Zaralek Cavern zone. You can view other high-resolution images not shared in this article over at the official website.
| DRAGONFLIGHT 10.1: EMBERS OF NELTHARION | |||
| 1. Presentation | 2. Q&A | 3. Concept Art | 4. 41 Screenshots |
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