World of Warcraft Dragonflight, meet the dragons!.
On November 29, Blizzard Entertainment will launch World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, the ninth expansion for the acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
Read on for an in-depth dive into all things dragon – from design concepts to skills and knowledge:
Where it all started
The Dragon Isles were the heart of the Dragon’s Kingdom, until they were called away during the Legion’s initial attacks on Azeroth, which led to the great Sundering of the land and saw much of the magic drained from the islands.
Now the Dragon Isles are awakening and bubbling with magic once again. The dragons are ready to reclaim their legacy as the rightful protectors of Azeroth. However, the islands have undoubtedly changed over the last 10,000 years, with new challenges and the re-emergence of old enemies.
Players travel the islands, help the dragons and uncover long-forgotten secrets.
A new draconian race
The expansion adds a new draconic race, the Dracthyr. Players can switch between a humanoid face and draconic form to defeat enemies and overcome obstacles, both of which can be customized during character creation. There are nearly countless ways for players to customize Dracthyr, including a selection of tails, scales, horns, and snouts. The wide variety of customizations for Dractyr is the most robust currently available in the game.
The Earth-Warder Neltharion, former aspect of the black dragon flight later known by his more infamous name, Deathwing, created the adaptable Dracthyr with a unique intelligence not embedded in previous Dragonkin. Dracthyr is an ancient race of humanoid dragon kins who can harness the powers of the five primary dragon flights. For example, by using the powers of the bronze dragon flight, they can manipulate time to heal ally wounds. The armies of the Dracthyr are divided into specialized units called weyrns. They are expert soldiers who use their abilities to serve the Earth-Warder and defend Dragonkind. Exploiting their unique skills is a long process, but those who master their skills can effortlessly switch between skills and become real Evokers.
Dracthyr gets its own unique playable class, the Evoker, in which players must choose their allegiance, the Horde or the Alliance. Evokers have two main specializations: destruction and preservation, which means they can fight from the air with fiery breath attacks and use magical abilities for healing to strengthen their allies.
Players will be introduced to the story of the Dracthyr in a brand new starting experience and will be able to practice the new skills before exploring the Dragon Isles. Dracathyr is available to players from level 58, with their own unique starting zone in the Forbidden Reach.
Dractyr armor concept
In the concept phase, it was important to ensure that the armor could be modular so that the player had enough options to choose from that they could mix and match. When designing the armor detail, we used smooth shapes and pointed silhouette changes, avoiding straight lines, to give the dracthyr their own unique look that stood out from other cultures in World of Warcraft.
Ariel Fain – Senior character artist
Dractyr armor concept
This concept was created to showcase customizable armor for our new race/class combination, the Dracthyr. It mainly focused on visualizing the class fantasy of a mid-range draconic warrior.
Our other character artist, Ariel Fain, designed some dracthyr armor before mine, so I wanted to make sure that the new armor I was designing could combine with her armor. So, of course, the design is heavily inspired by Ariel’s armor and other cool weapons and props the art team has been working on. There’s a certain form language with the pieces, so I wanted every little detail to convey that feeling, including the chain mail.
Sukjoo Choi – Senior character artist
Meet the dragons
The Dragon Aspects, also known as Great Aspects, are the leaders of the five dragon flights. They are immensely powerful, intelligent and ancient creatures that have been powered by the Titans to protect Azeroth.
The models for the Dragon Aspects hadn’t been updated since Cataclysm, so Dragonflight gave the team a chance to refresh them. They started with conceptual art to re-imagine what the leaders of each dragon flight would look like in today’s WoW art style – read on for more!
Alexstrasza Visage Concept
Nozdormu Visage concept
Nozdormu, also known as the Ageless, is the aspect of the bronze dragon flight. He was authorized to act as Azeroth’s guardian and has been involved in many battles, including the War of the Ancients and the defeat of Deathwing.
“My goal was to make Nozdormu’s design recognizably similar to the older design, while simplifying some design elements and drawing more attention to others. I liked the scales around his waist and neck and wanted to emphasize them in the new design and give them their own geometry in the 3D model. My favorite part of the new design is the asymmetrical shirt that covers one shoulder, something I thought would help Nozdormu feel unique, along with incorporating its iconic shoulder pads into the design.
Alexstrasza Visage is a Life-Biner and guardian of everything in Azeroth. She is the aspect of the red dragon flight and was one of the five dragons empowered by the titans with some of the power of the Pantheon. Alexstrasza was also crowned queen of all dragons. “Working on Alexstrasza for Dragonflight was really exciting – I love this character and she has a very special place in my heart. She has had so many great looks over the years in many games, books, fan art and cosplay. For Dragonflight, we wanted to give her a regal, extravagant look as she returns in an active role as Queen of the Dragons. We also wanted to make sure that her new armor didn’t seem too heavy and that she kept that elegance she’s known for. This was the final drawing for Alexstrasza’s new look (some features were further modified as I worked on the model).”
Natacha Nielsen – Character Artist
Kalecgos Visage Concept
Kalecgos, also known as Kalec in his mortal form, is the former aspect of the blue dragon flight. In his mortal form, Kalec appears as half-elf and half-human with blue hair, representative of the fusion of the dragon and human worlds.
“For the updated Kalecgos model, we wanted to keep familiar elements from its original design while emphasizing its magical side. I decided to dress him up in something more elegant, adorned with arcane runes befitting an archmage of the Kirin Tor and leader of the blue dragon flight. His mortal face is that of a half-elf, so this new model gave us the opportunity to make that a distinctive feature of his appearance.”
Cody Harder – Character Artist
Nozdormu Visage Concept
Nozdormu, also known as the Timeless One, is the aspect of the bronze dragon flight. He was authorized to act as Azeroth’s guardian and has been involved in many battles, including the War of the Ancients and the defeat of Deathwing.
“My goal was to make Nozdormu’s design recognizably similar to the older design, while simplifying some design elements and drawing more attention to others. I liked the scales around his waist and neck and wanted to emphasize them in the new design and give them their own geometry in the 3D model. My favorite part of the new design is the asymmetrical shirt that covers one shoulder, something I thought would help Nozdormu feel unique, along with incorporating its iconic shoulder pads into the design.
