A note on the World of Warcraft PTR suggests that Dragonflight has already ended with patch 10.2 – at least as far as major updates are concerned.
In World of Warcraft, most players are waiting impatiently for the next big patch 10.2: Guardians of the Dream. The story of Dragonflight continues there and finally comes to the big showdown with Fyrakk, the incarnation of fire. At the same time, night elves are looking forward to finally having a new home if the World Tree can be saved from the attack.
But an item on the PTR now seems to confirm what many have already feared: Patch 10.2 is likely to be Dragonflight’s last major patch.
What was found? The colleagues at wowhead have found a new item on the PTR of Patch 10.2, the “Dreambound Augment Rune”. This is a reusable item that, when used, increases primary attributes (Agility, Intelligence, and Strength) by 87 for one hour. The rune has a purchase price of 100,000 gold – twice as expensive as it was in Shadowlands.
Why does the item mean the end of Dragonflight? If you look at the last expansions of World of Warcraft, such a permanent rune was only ever introduced in the last major content patch. This was the case in Korthia (Shadowlands), but also with the Black Empire (Battle for Azeroth) and Argus (Legion).
If Blizzard sticks to previous plans, then patch 10.2 will be the last major patch for Dragonflight – i.e. the last new area and also the last new raid.
With all of this, please note that this is not guaranteed. Even though Blizzard has only brought this rune to the last raid tier in the past, this time it could be different. However, if you look at the history of the last expansions, then it is a clear indication that Amirdrassil will be the last raid and that we can then look forward to the next expansion.
Is there more to come after patch 10.2? Yes. At least the story should continue for a while. Therefore, one can probably assume that 10.2.3 or 10.2.5 will be released, which will at least bring new quests and perhaps one or two cinematics.
By the way, we’ll find out what happens next in World of Warcraft in just a few weeks. Because there will be “a lot about Warcraft” at BlizzCon 2023.