After months of waiting, World of Warcraft's newest hero class Dracthyr is now available. This is the third hero class added since World of Warcraft launched, but the first race class hybrid that Blizzard has ever attempted. They bring with them an assortment of new abilities including the brand-new empowered spell types, and they also have an entirely new intro questline for players to complete. This questline is the first taste of the Dragonflight story on live servers, and it goes a long way to setting the stage for the turbulent expansion that will follow.
The Dracthyr questline both set up the new big bad proto-dragon Raszageth, and helped introduce players to this brand-new class. It also reintroduced many of the Dragon Aspects after they crept into the shadows at the end of Cataclysm, and gave players their first good look at the Dragon Isles outside of the beta. There was a lot covered in this seven chapter questline, and it had a lot to prove to the playerbase after the controversial Shadowlands story ended earlier this year.
The War Creche
The Dracthyr intro questline began with the player waking up inside a mysterious chamber known as the War Creche. What is exactly happening was a mystery, but the player had to quickly get to work saving their fellow Dracthyr trapped within. While they rushed around saving everyone, they had to defeat various constructs and guardians that wanted to kep them within the Creche. The dragon Lapisagos tried his hardest to keep the Dracthyr contained, but they were able to take him out and they escaped into the Forbidden Reach.
Old Weryn Grounds
Once the Dracthyr escaped the War Creche, the game spent much of the second chapter teaching the player how to actually use the Dracthyr's abilities. They are given some of their main abilities like Soar, and they got to try out the brand-new Empowered spell type. This spell type lets players hold down the button to charge it up for even more damage, and so far it seems like a pretty cool addition. The Dracthyr also investigated a mysterious beacon near their Creche, and discovered that every Creche was in danger.
The Healing Wings
The Dracthyr went off to the Support Creche in an attempt to free their fellow Dracthyr trapped within. They attempted to head in with the help of Scalecommander Cinderthresh, but were quickly overcome with toxic smoke and fumes. Once they woke up, the player was tasked with collecting various items to help protect against these fumes. They also helped heal injured Dracthyr and Drakonids that had made it out already.
The player then went back into the Support Creche with the newly created Toxin Antidote. They had to push through the fumes to save as many people as they could. Inside, they met other Dracthyr named Rethenash, Tenezeth, and Katrinasa. Once they were able to save members of the Creche, they went back to Scalecommander Emberthal at the Old Weryn Grounds.
The Ebon Scales
The Dracthyr went to the Siege Creche in hopes that they could save even more lives. This Creche was under siege by Primalist forces, and the Dracthyr have to try their hardest to dispatch them. Some Dracthyr vaguely remember fighting this foe before, but many had no idea who these Primalist really were. After they thwarted the Primalist attack, the player reported everything that they witnessed to Emberthal.
Members of the black dragonflight, Wrathion and Ebyssian, appeared shortly after. They told the Dracthyr that their creator Neltharion had become the infamous Deathwing and perished. They also revealed that they had been called there by a world-ending force, and that they must do all they can to prevent it.
Froststone Vault
The player chose their specialization, and then went to the Froststone Vault to protect something called the Dracthyr Legacy. They had to defend against a Primalist attack alongside the blue Dragon Aspect Malygos's Drakonids as well as Wrathion and Ebyssian. However, even the combined forces of the Dracthyr and the Aspects were not enough to stop the Primalists. The leader of the Primalists, the Proto-Drake Raszageth appeared and created a massive storm of destruction.
Wrath of the Storm-Eater
The Dracthyr and Drakonids were forced to flee the storm as the Primalists gave chase. They had to fight through large groups of enemies, and the player had to protect Wrathion and Ebyssian as they were overwhelmed. The army retreated all the way to the Old Weyrn Grounds, and they began to stage a much larger evacuation of The Forbidden Reach with the help of the Bronze Dragon Aspect Nozdormu. Wrathion chose to bring every Alliance Dracthyr to Stormwind City while the Horde Dracthyr were guided by Ebyssian to Orgrimmar. They hoped that they could warn the other races about the coming storms, and maybe gather a strong enough force to stop the Primalists
The Final Chapter
The final chapter of the campaign has two different stories depending upon what faction the player joined, but they both contain pretty much the same content. After the Dracthyr successfully escaped The Forbidden Reach, they arrived at either Stormwind City or Orgrimmar. They were met with hostility at the gates of the cities, but were soon let in with the help of their black Dragonflight guides. The player must grow accustomed to the layout of the city, and the black Dragonflight representatives showed them how the Horde or Alliance Councils reacted to their invitation to the Dragon Isles. The player then adopted a visage form, and the starting zone questline concludes.
Players can then participate in the Primalist Storms pre-patch event as they wait for Dragonflight to launch. If the intro questline has shown players anything, it is that the champions of Azeroth may have their hands full on the Dragon Isles. Players will just have to wait and see what is in store for them during Dragonflight, and how it changes World of Warcraft forever.
World of Warcraft is available now on PC with Dragonflight releasing on November 28.