Bellular claims Dragonflight failed in big way but next WoW expansion may hold the answer

This year, Blizzard Entertainment pushed out five amazing patches for Dragonflight with the sixth one, Patch 10.2, being well on the way. There are no time-gated systems or borrowed power, but there’s been an increasing sentiment that fans grew indifferent toward the game. Dragonflight was supposed to mark the beginning of the third era of WoW, but streamer Bellular doesn’t think this is true and believes two previous expansions, Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands, wore fans out.

Bellular says Dragonflight is still a good expansion, but lacks pizzazz and the flair needed to truly be the expansion that will make fans forgive Blizzard for the past two expansions. 

“I’m saying that the tone of the world, the feeling of the world, the cool shit that happens when you’re doing stuff on your character—it’s just not there,” Bellular explained. 

Generally speaking, Dragonflight feels like a completely safe expansion where we don’t see any lore experimentation, no major systems that would sweep you off your feet, or any other risky moves that actually made you fall in love with this game. Dragonflight did introduce a ton of quality-of-life changes like the new talent and ping systems, Dragonriding, and decent gearing system, but there’s a big “but.”

“WoW hasn’t grown in the big sense,” Bellular said. “Where are Class Order Halls as an evergreen system, where’s player housing as an evergreen system…why are there no new maps, why are there no new reward[s]?”

It’s true that Dragonflight is loaded with content, but if you take a closer look at it, it’s all tied to this expansion, and it’s more-or-less one and the same thing. For example, there isn’t much difference between the Time Rift events and Dreamsurges, both are open-world events rewarding transmogs, catch-up gear, and mounts, and they become uninteresting once you go through them once or twice. 

“I think what’s happened is that [Blizzard has] become extremely defensive in their design. So, to me, it seems like they learned from Artifacts, and now they are gonna take a swing at something and try to do a new feature that’s perhaps evergreen,” Bellular added.

But, there’s still some hope left for WoW, at least according to Bellular. The next expansion, which will be announced at BlizzCon 2023, taking place Nov. 3 to 4, has to be the one packed with legendary content, exciting features that players want, and that extra something. 

“I think with Dragonflight they needed to get their house in order and while they were getting their house in order, said Bellular. “If they are doing world revamp guided by Metzen who at least knows what Warcraft should be feeling like, we could actually be going somewhere.”

Blizzard has to make the next expansion matter, especially because it might not get another chance from the long-standing fans who have been patient for years, always hoping the game will get better. Dragonflight isn’t a banger of an expansion, it’s just a step in the right direction, and, hopefully, Blizzard will capitalize on this and take WoW to the next level.