Summary

  • Dracthyr players can be excited as World of Warcraft reworks the Soar racial ability to match its original alpha version, making them the best class for farming old raids.
  • Blizzard initially nerfed the Soar ability due to its unfair advantage, but as dragonriding became a prominent feature, it no longer made sense to keep Soar nerfed.
  • Patch 10.2.5, titled Seeds of Renewal, will introduce a new version of Soar for Dracthyr players, along with two new passive abilities, Empowered Soaring and Expedited Takeoff, making Soar a true alternative to dragonriding in the game.

Dracthyr players can rejoice, as World of Warcraft is reworking the Soar racial ability to be more in line with its original Alpha version. During the development of Dragonflight, World of Warcraft players had a chance to test out the new Evoker class (exclusively restricted to Dracthyr), and while its abilities proved enticing, the real excitement came from being able to use Soar outside the Dragon Isles to easily fly from one location to the next. This made Dracthyr Evokers the best class to farm old raids in World of Warcraft – at least from a convenience standpoint.

Of course, this did present an unfair advantage against other World of Warcraft classes, and Blizzard eventually chose to nerf the Soar ability in time for launch. While the community lamented the change at first, Dragonflight itself provided good enough content overall, with dragonriding especially being a highlight among players. The developers were clearly evaluating dragonriding in World of Warcraft as a potential evergreen feature by using the Dragon Isles as one big testing ground.

World of Warcraft Is Giving Dracthyr a Soar Upgrade in Patch 10.2.5

As dragonriding opened up over the course of the expansion, and Dynamic Flight was announced as a feature for The War Within, Blizzard realized that Soar no longer made sense to remain in its nerfed state. To that end, Patch 10.2.5 – titled Seeds of Renewal – will introduce a new version of Soar for the Dracthyr, with the details announced through the latest PTR Patch Notes on the official World of Warcraft forums. Namely, not only will dragonriding be available across all zones that support flight, but Dracthyr will also be getting two new passive abilities, Empowered Soaring and Expedited Takeoff, which will upgrade their Soar to become a true alternative to dragonriding in World of Warcraft.

wow world of warcraft dragonflight new soar dracthyr dragonriding

Dracthyr players will be able to receive the new Soar upgrade by completing the Forbidden Reach starting experience, and then unlocking dragonriding as a feature. Doing so will reduce Soar's cooldown from 5 minutes to 10 seconds, and enable all dragonriding abilities (such as Vigor) for Dracthyr characters whenever they are soaring. The changes have already made their way to the Public Test Realms, so World of Warcraft players can test the new feature by downloading the PTR client.

While there is no release date for Seeds of Renewal, it is expected to launch many features and quality-of-life changes that were teased at BlizzCon 2023, such as Follower Dungeons, new appearance options, and even a visual update for the old Covenant abilities from Shadowlands to better match each individual class. Moreover, World of Warcraft players can look forward to reclaiming Gilneas with Genn Greymane leading the charge, as Blizzard slowly sets the stage for the Worldsoul Saga.

World of Warcraft Patch 10.2.5 Dracthyr Patch Notes:

  • DRACTHYR
    • New Passive Ability: Empowered Soaring – Soar is now equivalent to dragonriding, granting access to vigor and all dragonriding abilities.
    • New Passive Ability: Expedited Takeoff – Soar’s cooldown is reduced to 10 seconds.
      • Developers’ note: Soar dragonriding will become available after learning dragonriding on the account and the Evoker has completed the Forbidden Reach starting experience.

    • Familiar Skies (Racial) has been removed.

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World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Tag Page Cover Art

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight
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MMORPG
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Systems
PC-1
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Top Critic Avg: 84 /100 Critics Rec: 100%
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Released
November 28, 2022
ESRB
t
Developer(s)
Blizzard, Activision
Publisher(s)
Blizzard, Activision
Engine
Unreal Engine 5
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Cross-Platform Play
mac, windows
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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World of Warcraft: Dragonflight was developed by Blizzard Entertainment and is the ninth expansion pack for the iconic massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft.

Dragonflight features an overhauled user interface, raises the level cap to 70, and introduces a new race and class. 

Franchise
Warcraft
Platform(s)
PC
Genre(s)
MMORPG