The first build for the Dragonflight expansion is now live on the Public Test Realm of World of Warcraft. This marks a major milestone on the path towards the release of Dragonflight, and means more World of Warcraft players can experience elements of the coming expansion and provide feedback to improve them.The Public Test Realm is a special client all active World of Warcraft players can access to playtest content still in development by Blizzard, be it patches or expansions. This PTR testing is separate from the Dragonflight beta, which is still only open to select individuals invited by World of Warcraft.This new Dragonflight Pre-Expansion Patch now live on the Public Test Realm introduces the new Talent Tree system coming back to World of Warcraft in the next expansion. Additionally, players can make Mage, Priest, and Rogue characters of any playable race in World of Warcraft. In addition to adjustments coming to PvP talents, World of Warcraft’s PTR also now has the new, sleek HUD UI coming in Dragonflight.
Players with an active World of Warcraft subscription can install the client for the Public Test Realm through their Battle.net launcher. In order to log in, players will also have to make a PTR account. This can be done via the Games & Subscriptions page on the Battle.net website.
Dragonflight hitting the PTR is a big deal, and players are excited to install the client and play around with the talents and UI updates. Though they cannot yet play a dracthyr Evoker or explore the Dragon Isles on the Dragonflight PTR yet, they will likely have the chance to do so as beta content gradually makes its way to the Public Test Realm over the course of subsequent patches. With milestones passing every day, World of Warcraft fans are truly starting to get hyped about the impending expansion.
That said, there are still concerns about if Dragonflight will be truly ready. World of Warcraft fans have been jilted by half-baked expansion launches in the past, and Dragonflight’s announcement and launch within the same year has many worried the game will be released in a half-finished state like Warlords of Draenor. However, World of Warcraft seems committed to delivering a quality expansion before 2023, and has reportedly been working on Dragonflight for a while. With less than four months left in the year, players won’t have to wait long to see if World of Warcraft can reach its goal, and if Dragonflight is everything they hope it to be.
World of Warcraft is available now on PC, with Dragonflight launching later this year.
Source: Blizzard Forums/WoW, Battle.net/Games and Subscriptions