Phase 2 of Pre-Patch 10.0 for WoW: Dragonflight has been running for a few days and with it the new elemental invasions and Dracthyr are in play. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus has been in Azeroth all weekend and is surprised at how quickly and easily you can now prepare for Dragonflight.
The Dragonflight pre-event is just awesome. Admittedly, the story is pretty boring and doesn’t offer much variety. But that has hardly been the case at any pre-event so far.
What is this event? Since phase 2 of the pre-patch, the elemental invasions have been in play, where rifts open up in various areas in Azeroth, where cultists call wild elementals into the world. The event then culminates in a big boss fight about every 20 minutes.
The event is designed to prepare new characters for the new Dragonflight expansion in the most efficient way, and that’s what makes it great. On my first try, I managed level 50-55 in just under half an hour. It’s much faster at lower levels.
In the event I also equipped my Rufer, which I want to play as my main in Dragonflight. Here’s gameplay from the alpha:
3 minutes of gameplay for Rufer, the new class in WoW Dragonflight
Even faster than the 78% before phase 2
Why is it so fast? The keyword here is “Hyperspawn”. The enemies reappear so quickly that there is always something to fight. During the invasions, there are “normal” and “elite” opponents that scale with your own level.
While only 5 players can get a maximum of loot and experience from the small enemies, everyone can join the fight against an elite. Both give tons of experience and more overall than you could get from questing in the same amount of time.
Since the required experience points for levels 10-60 have also been adjusted, leveling is even faster than with the completely absurd bonus of 78% experience with the Winds of Wisdom. Just remember to activate the +18% of Birthday available until the release of Dragonflight.
I can’t say whether the events are the fastest method. It depends too much on your class how many opponents you can mark for you. Absolute level pros can reach level 60 in about 3 hours, but they also need a lot of preparation. Anyone can do the event without any prior knowledge.
If you want to know why these invasions appear in the first place, the dragon aspects in the introductory quest provide some insight. Here’s the cinematic:
WoW Cinematic: The Unleashed Storm
These are the pros and cons: From my experience with meanwhile 6 characters that I pulled through the event, there are two points that I find rather annoying:
On the other hand, the event can also be easily done “on the side”. Even if you don’t manage to mark enough of the small adds for yourself, the elite opponents always give you a lot of experience. It is enough to stand in one place and comfortably bombard everything within range with spells.
To do this, you collect heaps of Primeval Essences, which can be exchanged for an additional 6th bag and 252 gear for level 60. It’s not insanely strong, but enough to visit dungeons if you want to. Especially in the new Uldaman there are already 278 items to farm on normal and you can easily get through with the catch-up gear from the event.
As a bonus, you also get a special item from the bosses: clouded essences. Once you have the essence of each of the four bosses, you can use them to create a new heirloom trinket for future characters. You can’t level more comfortably right now.
By the way, just before the weekend I spoke to the developers of Dragonflight about the endgame, features and lore of the new expansion:
Interview with WoW Developer: “Dragonflight features will forever improve the future of WoW”