wow-dragonflight-price

Pre-orders are now open for Dragonflight, but it's the most expensive expansion to date.

We’re not entirely sure why Blizzard have decided to go full-throttle with monetization despite the severe recent backlash over a particular mobile game. But it looks like the WoW developers are doubling down with a recent decision on the Dragonflight price, sending some WoW players into a nosedive.

The Dragonflight price was unveiled as Blizzard finally opened up pre-orders, over two months after its initial reveal. And it was quickly apparent that, despite the ongoing money-related ire directed at Blizzard, the developer was happy to hike the price of the base expansion pack to $50, up from Shadowlands’ $40.

In fairness, this price is in line with other AAA titles currently on the market. But a sour taste begins to form when considering that 1) Dragonflight is an expansion, not a standalone game, and 2) the initial cost is in addition to the monthly subscription.

There is some debate over whether Dragonflight contains enough content to be worthy of a full-game price tag. Some WoW-playing sceptics are certain that the failure of Dragonflight will mark the final death knell for WoW. And setting the price of the expansion in line with the likes of Elden Ring only maximizes the pressure on Blizzard to deliver something that’s truly worth the cost.

Moreover, the $50 base edition is the cheapest version that players can buy. Three more expensive editions are also available to pre-order, each mirroring the $10 increase compared to similar tiers for Shadowlands. Already twitter accounts raffling off copies are gathering thousands of followers.

Each edition, including Base, comes with a Drakks pet when pre-ordered. Other editions will earn the following rewards:

• Heroic ($70): Tangled Dreamweaver flying mount, Murkastrasza pet and a level 60 character boost.
• Epic ($90): All of the above plus 30 days of game time, the Timewalkers Hearthstone Effect, the Diadem of the Spell-Keeper’s head-slot transmog and the Wings of Awakening back-slot transmog with five color variants.
• Collector’s ($130): All of the above plus a Dragonflight art book, five Dragon Aspect pins, and a Dragonflight mousepad.

Anyone keen on pre-ordering Dragonflight, price hike be damned, can do so via the official World of Warcraft website.