Blizzard has officially announced the next expansion forWorld of Warcraftwill beDragonflight, and reception among the MMO’s community has been divided. While the announcement event forDragonflightwent well,World of Warcraftplayers have questions regarding storytelling and design that linger from previous expansions. Twitch streamer Asmongold recently vocalized these criticisms, answering why he believedDragonflightis struggling to pick up momentum in a way the previousWorld of Warcraftexpansions haven’t.
The topic that caught the attention of Asmongold during a recent stream was tied to YouTube views forWorld of Warcraft’s past three expansion announcement trailers.Battle for Azeroth’s cinematic trailer is said to have had 6.5 million views after seven days,Shadowlandshad 4.7 million, and nowDragonflightis falling short of 2 million. The implication being thatDragonflight’s announcement has significantly less hype surrounding its reveal than evenWorld of Warcraft’s past two heavily criticized expansions.
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Asmongold explains to his viewers that the “truth” isWorld of Warcraftplayers are “tired of getting fooled.” He says that players feel like they’ve been fooled twice withBattle for AzerothandShadowlandspromising meaningful changes and improvements but otherwise delivering the same kind of experience thatWorld of Warcraftplayers are frustrated with. As such, thoseWorld of Warcraftplayers are taking a wait-and-see approach toDragonflight.
Dragonflight, in Asmongold’s eyes, is an expansion that’s going to have to “earn back [World of Warcraft’s] audience.” He believes that this could take a year, in thatDragonflightisn’t going to be the initial success that prior expansions have been and that it will take time to persuadeWorld of Warcraftplayers to return. In that regard, Asmongold comparesDragonflightto theLegionexpansion, which he says took time to bring players back after their disappointment inWarlords of Draenor.
That’s also what Asmongold calls a “best-case scenario” forDragonflight. It’s just one possibility that could happen and what Blizzard should be trying to do, in Asmongold’s opinion. The unsaid worst-case scenario would be that Blizzard doesn’t earn backWorld of Warcraft’s audience, andDragonflightcontinues a downward trend for the MMO.
Asmongold has said before that he is excited forDragonflightfollowing the expansion’s announcement event, but also that he’s going to wait and see before making any firm statements. To be fair,Asmongoldpreviously said that he was “done” withWorld of Warcraftprior toDragonflight’s unveiling, so his current attitude toward the MMO is a dramatic improvement. Blizzard clearly has its work cut out for itself, though.
