Final Tier Signs
This subject is gaining traction with the WoW community for two distinct reasons.
Ahead of the Curve Reward
The first piece of evidence was datamined a couple of weeks ago, which is a cosmetic reward from defeating the final raid boss on heroic mode. Whereas in the past this reward took shape as a mount, this time around it seems that it will be a Dragonriding manuscript, Renewed Proto-Drake: Embodiment of Shadowflame. This item is a reward from a questline that is received the first time you defeat Fyrakk on Heroic or Mythic difficulty.
While not confirmed by Blizzard, it is likely that this manuscript won’t be obtainable once the next expansion launches.
Augment Rune
The second piece that cemented the theory is the addition of the permanent augment rune from the Patch 10.2 reputation. Once you reach Renown 18 with the new Dream Wardens faction, you are able to purchase Dreambound Augment Rune for the hefty sum of .
Ever since the first version of augment runes in Warlords of Draenor, the final tier of each expansion features a non-consumable version of the rune.
With those two elements, it is clear how one can assume Patch 10.2 and Season 3 will be the final raids of Dragonflight, but… does that mean the end of the expansion?
What Comes Next
Early in our datamining coverage of Patch 10.2, we found an extra Gladiator mount model. Every Tier or Season in Dragonflight so far has been themed around one of the major flights, Red, Black, and now Green with Season 3. This extra gladiator mount, however, is clearly themed after the Blue Dragonflight. This might be yet another unused mount asset… or, it could be a slip-up and be the Season 4 Gladiator mount.
In interviews and commentary about Shadowlands, Blizzard mentioned many times that Shadowlands’ Fated Season 4 was well accepted and represented a good bridge to have more content to the game while the developers worked on the next expansion. This likely means that the Fated experiment might happen again for Dragonflight, meaning we might have a Season 4 in Dragonflight using Dragonflight’s past raids.
WoW 2024 Timeline and Next Expansion
Knowing all of that where does this leave us? With the information we have about Dragonflight seasons and Shadowlands Season 4, this likely means we will have the following release schedule:
- Early November 2023: Patch 10.2 and Season 3
- May 2024: Patch 10.3 and Season 4
- September 2024: Patch 11.0
- November 2024: Next Expansion Releases
This timeline comes from the assumption that Dragonflight seasons have a somewhat fixed duration of six months, which is unlikely to change for its last season. However, Season 4, similarly to Shadowlands, will likely be shorter, probably four months instead of six.
Other points that we can add are minor patches, which have been adding a lot of content to the game between seasons. So expanding on the timeline above we get:
- Early November 2023: Patch 10.2 and Season 3
- January 2024: Patch 10.2.5
- March 2024: Patch 10.2.7
- May 2024: Patch 10.3 and Season 4
- July 2024: Patch 10.3.5
- September 2024: Patch 11.0
- November 2024: Next Expansion Releases
Three Tier Expansions
With this and how Blizzard seems to be dedicated to delivering more streamlined content, it is likely that the next expansion will feature a similar structure from Dragonflight and Shadowlands, with three tiers, or seasons, of content, followed by a “celebration” season at the end highlighting all the content from the expansion.
With that being the case, how do you feel about this structure that Shadowlands and Dragonflight followed, do you like it or would you like shorter or longer expansions?
