Eagle-eyed viewers of the Blizzard website have found information regarding the next long-awaited next expansion to follow Shadowlands to World of Warcraft.
When will the next World of Warcraft expansion be released?
The next expansion for World of Warcraft will be called “World of Warcraft: Dragonflight” and is expected to be announced on April 19.
Blizzard typically releases new expansions every two years and as Shadowlands arrived in 2020, fans of the long-running MMO epic are due for another full-fledged expansion this year. Unfortunately, as with many companies, as well as those in the gaming space, the pandemic has negatively affected Blizzard’s development cycle.
The much-publicized lawsuit filed against Activision Blizzard over alleged discrimination and harassment could yet delay the new expansion until early in 2023.
World of Warcraft’s website (via Wowhead) accidentally revealed details about the expansion ahead of time before the official announcement of the expansion’s release date next week on April 19. The pre-purchase options for “World of Warcraft: Dragonflight” are showing Base, Heroic, and Epic – this suggests that there will be multiple tiers for this expansion, exactly like Shadowlands.
Most leaks are pointing to “dragonflight.blizzard.com,” which isn’t yet active but has web certifications that have been registered all but confirming the theme and name for the next expansion.
Additionally, several dragon-related items were found earlier this year, including a pet and a new mount. Some are speculating that this may be a bonus for the Epic or Heroic editions of the Dragonflight expansion. The answer to all this and more will probably emerge in the coming weeks.
Shadowlands Patch 9.2.5 is scheduled to be released soon.
The release date for what will probably be the final big patch for Shadowlands is expected to be around July or August. Taking that into account, we shouldn’t expect the new expansion until the end of 2022 at the earliest, though we may see its release at the start of 2023 with the previous issues probably pushing it back and making that a more realistic timeframe to expect it.
Generally, expansions have been released between August and December, with the exception of Wrath of the Lich King, which launched in January 2007.
Check back with us on April 19th when we get official confirmation and hopefully some more juicy titbits on the next big installment for World of Warcraft.