Blizzard has launched alpha testing of World of Warcraft: Dragonflight. The first phase of alpha testing focuses on several features of the upcoming expansion, including one of the four new zones – the ice peaks of the Azure Span. It also adds dragon riding, a completely new method of travel.
And that includes the first race/class combination in World of Warcraft, the Drachhyr Evokers. Players can create both human and dragon forms, choose between Alliance and Horde, and choose to be a healer or deal ranged damage.
In an interview with IGN, Blizzard production director Patrick Dawson said that the Dragonflight alpha test will be relatively short for several reasons:
In previous alpha versions… we had a process that lasted two, two and a half months, where different things appeared on the network in a random and less structured way. You may get one zone and then have to wait two or three weeks, or maybe longer, to get the next zone. Systems won’t run at a constant speed and all that.
But… one of the models we liked was how we do things like raid testing. What we do is we open a boss that people can focus on, everyone plays that boss, we get great, focused feedback on it, and then we close it and move on to the next boss. Similarly, we looked at our alpha strategy and said, “How can we get that kind of feedback from the alpha?” And the answer was: instead of a long alpha, let’s shorten it a bit and focus the feedback. about specific things every week.
Dawson also said that Blizzard has saved some surprises for the launch this December.
