Dragonflight Season 4 brings with it a variety of changes, including new adjustments to dungeons, their progression, and rewards.
In the Player Feedback Loop
As a part of ongoing development in Dragonflight, the development team identified three issues to address based on community feedback regarding the dungeon system as it is:
- Heroic dungeons are barely distinct from Normal dungeons at maximum level, and that distinction mostly only matters during a few days after players first reach max level.
- "Mythic 0" dungeons rapidly lose relevance a few weeks into an expansion, once the M+ season starts, with occasional exceptions for the weekly event quest.
- The only truly endgame dungeon mode (M+) currently revolves around a timer. This means that other than new mega-dungeons, there isn't really a place for endgame players who enjoy a more methodical dungeon pacing and gameplay.
Given the combination of two underutilized difficulties, and a gap in meeting player demand, we're restructuring dungeon difficulty and rewards in Season 4:
- Heroic difficulty and rewards will move up to roughly the current level of Mythic 0. These dungeons will remain available to queue into via Group Finder (default hotkey: “I”), though the item level requirement to queue will also go up accordingly.
- Mythic 0 difficulty and rewards will move up to roughly the current level of Mythic 8-10 (this is a bit hand-wavy - numerically it's close to M10 but not having a timer at all or affixes really offsets that quite a bit).
- The existing Mythic+ system will pick up where that leaves off, such that a Mythic 5 in Season 4 is roughly equivalent in difficulty, rewards, and M+ Rating awarded, to a Mythic 15 today.
Here's a visualization of the change (light blue circles represent where new affixes appear, going from M2/M7/M14 in the current world to M2/M5/M10 in the new one):
No Timer Like the Present
Season 4 changes will apply to all eight of the Dragonflight dungeons. As a part of these adjustments, we have a few goals in mind:
- Recalibrate core difficulties to align with seasonal player experience and progression.
- Serve the community who enjoys dungeon content but feels that Mythic+ content isn’t for them due to the pressures of taking part.
- Create a better environment in Mythic dungeons to prepare more players to take part in Mythic+.
One of the most notable changes players can look forward to is the removal of the timer for Mythic Keystone dungeons for what are currently 0 and 10. Players can run through these dungeons at their own pace without the need to watch the clock while still honing their skills.
Here’s a look at the changes for each difficulty:
- Normal
- This difficulty is unchanged.
- Heroic
- The tuning and rewards of this difficulty are increasing to be equivalent to a baseline Mythic (Mythic 0) dungeon in the current system.
- Mythic difficulty changes and mechanics will not be present in this difficulty.
- This remains a queueable experience.
- Mythic
- The tuning and rewards of this difficulty are increasing to the equivalent of a +10 dungeon with affixes in the current system.
- There are no timers, affixes, or limitations on changing specializations or talents while in the dungeon.
- The goal is to create a mega-dungeon like difficulty for this experience. This difficulty should present a meaningful challenge and provide commensurate rewards without the pressures of the current Mythic+ system.
- Mythic 0 is still on a weekly lockout under this model.
- Mythic+
- The Mythic+ system will have rewards up to level 10, with +2 starting from what would regularly be a +11 in the current Mythic+ system.
- A +5 should be as hard as a +15 and +10 should be as hard as a +20 in the current Mythic+ system etc.
- Affixes would slot in at +2, +5, and +10
- +2 - Fortified/Tyrannical
- +5 - Entangling / Incorporeal etc.
- +10 - Bursting / Bolstering etc.
- Dungeon ratings should be equivalent to what they represent in the current system.
- There should be a smaller range of keystone levels to find groups for, and more meaningful progression between each level.
- The Mythic+ system will have rewards up to level 10, with +2 starting from what would regularly be a +11 in the current Mythic+ system.
To the Victors Go the Spoils
It’s important to note that the basic structure of dungeon rewards is not changing significantly, so what you would have earned for completing a Mythic 0 will be earnable in the Heroic difficulty dungeon instead. Here is a basic rundown of what you can expect:
Initial Upgrade Level |
Item Level |
Dungeon Awards |
Dungeon Awards |
Item Level |
Dungeon Awards |
Dungeon Awards |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Explorer 1/8 |
415 |
454 |
||||
Explorer 2/8 |
418 |
457 |
||||
Explorer 3/8 |
421 |
Normal Dungeons |
460 |
Normal Dungeons |
||
Explorer 4/8 |
424 |
463 |
||||
Adventurer 1/8 |
428 |
Heroic Dungeons |
467 |
|||
Adventurer 2/8 |
431 |
470 |
||||
Adventurer 3/8 |
434 |
473 |
||||
Adventurer 4/8 |
437 |
Mythic 0 |
476 |
Heroic Dungeons |
||
Veteran 1/8 |
441 |
Mythic +2 |
Heroic Dungeons |
480 |
||
Veteran 2/8 |
444 |
Mythic +3 & +4 |
483 |
|||
Veteran 3/8 |
447 |
Mythic +5 & +6 |
486 |
|||
Veteran 4/8 |
450 |
Mythic +7 & +8 |
Mythic 0 |
489 |
Heroic Dungeons |
|
Champion 1/8 |
454 |
Mythic +9 & +10 |
Mythic +2 |
493 |
Mythic 0 |
|
Champion 2/8 |
457 |
Mythic +11 & +12 |
Mythic +3 |
496 |
Mythic +2 |
|
Champion 3/8 |
460 |
Mythic +13 & +14 |
Mythic +4 & +5 |
499 |
Mythic +3 & +4 |
|
Champion 4/8 |
463 |
Mythic +15 & +16 |
Mythic +6 & +7 |
502 |
Mythic +5 & +6 |
|
Hero 1/6 |
467 |
Mythic +17 & +18 |
Mythic +8 & +9 |
506 |
Mythic +7 & +8 |
Mythic 0 |
Hero 2/6 |
470 |
Mythic +19 and up |
Mythic +10 & +11 |
509 |
Mythic +9 and up |
Mythic +2 & +3 |
Hero 3/6 |
473 |
Mythic +12 & +13 & +14 |
512 |
Mythic +4 & +5 |
||
Hero 4/6 |
476 |
Mythic +15 & +16 & +17 |
515 |
Mythic +6 & +7 |
||
Myth 1/4 |
480 |
Mythic +18 & +19 |
519 |
Mythic +8 & +9 |
||
Myth 2/4 |
483 |
Mythic +20 and up |
522 |
Mythic +10 and up |
Crest and Flightstone rewards are changing to match the same difficulty with only some minor adjustments.
- Flightstone earnings for any given Mythic+ will match the equally challenging Mythic+ from previous seasons. This means that a Mythic +2 in Season 4 will give the same number of Flightstones as a Mythic +12 in Season 3 currently does. The rewards will continue to match difficulty, even if what we’re calling those difficulty changes.
- Bonus Flightstone awards for increasing any party member’s Mythic+ score remain unchanged.
- Whelpling Crests are no longer available from Mythic+ dungeons, as those difficulties no longer exist. Players can continue to collect Whelpling Crests from many outdoor sources.
- Players will earn 10 Drake Crests on successful completion of a Mythic 0 dungeon, as there is no timer to beat.
- Wyrm Crests will be available in Mythic +2 to Mythic +5 dungeons in the same quantities as existing Mythic+ dungeons.
- Aspect Crests will be available in any Mythic difficulty from +6 and up, also in the same quantities as existing Mythic+ dungeons.
We believe these changes provide new opportunities for players to experience Mythic and Mythic+ dungeons while providing additional challenges for endgame players in the future. We look forward to your feedback and we’ll see you in the dungeons when Dragonflight Season 4 goes live in the future.