World of Warcraft’s Dracthyr Evoker is fun, but something’s missing

The big change in the world of World of Warcraft’s ninth expansion, Dragonflight, is the Dracthyr Evoker — the third “hero class” and fourth class overall to be added to the game since its 2004 launch, and the first ever locked combination of race and class. Evoker, which is a spell-slinging warrior from the Dracthyr ranks, is a hybrid humanoid/dragon race.

However Dragonflight launches today, Nov. 28, Dracthyr were added in one of the expansion’s recent pre-patches, and I’ve been playing around with the Evoker since. Specializing as either a damage-dealer or a healer, it’s a fun class with a lot of mobility and utility, a relatively streamlined set of skills, and some interesting tweaks that make it feel punchier, and mildly more modern, to play than many WoW classes. But there is something about the whole Dracthyr package — the concept, the look, the lore, the special introductory quests on the Forbidden Reach — that I find wanting. You can read more about it here. WoW’s overstated standards, it’s curiously flavorless.

There’s no denying that the Evoker is fun to play, though, or that it makes the most of its unique opportunity to mesh the form of your character’s race to the function of their class. Dracthyr, like all dragons in the Warcraft universe, are shape-shifters who can adopt the aspect, or visage, of one of Azeroth’s humanoid races — in this case, a notably sexy one, based on the female human or male blood elf models. But in combat, they default to their true form: a bipedal dragon-person with wings and a tail, rather like a handsome gargoyle who’s been to the gym.

A Dracthyr human-dragon hybrid casts a spell that ruptures the ground in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Dracthyrs are unique because they have wings. WoWTo date, this is the best class. The Evoker is able to repel their enemies with their tails and wings. However, the wings allow for two amazing mobility skills. Hover allows the Evoker to move quickly around the battlefield and without using attack skills. Soar lets the Evoker fly high in the air and allows it to learn the new Dragonriding flying skill. This allows the player to cover large distances at great speed without mounting up (albeit on a five-minute cooldown) — a huge plus when questing. Many players are considering switching to Evokers as their primary character because of Soar.

The Evoker, a Dragon-themed variant on an offensive spellcaster and an archetype, is an archetype. WoW is hardly short of — although it’s the first ranged class of any sort to be added to the game since launch. Deep Breath and splash are the best features of the Evoker. It also has a satisfying area-of effect attack called Deep Breath that sends them through the air, lighting fire on any enemies below. The focus is on an economical, fast-paced skill rotation that hinges on a couple Empower spells, which can be charged up by holding down the hotkey — a new mechanic in WoWIt adds an intriguing element to risk-versus rewards when optimizing damage output.

The Evoker is as new and fresh as one can expect for an upgrade to an 18-year old game. But still, if you take a step back and look at the whole concept of this race-class combo, something’s off.

It’s important to look at the Dracthyr in the context of WoW’s previous two hero classes. The Hero classes are higher than regular classes and designed for players who have experience. They also come with unique abilities. They are all extravagant fantasies that have deep roots in Warcraft history. The Demon Hunter is an elven warrior with diabolical powers, while the Death Knight is an undead supersoldier. Each of them had served as units in the Warcraft lore. Warcraft 2 3The strategy games that came before them WoW, and they have strong ties to two of the universe’s most memorable character arcs: Arthas, the Lich King in the Death Knight’s case, and Illidan Stormrage in the Demon Hunter’s. They gained a compelling narrative dimension from these connections. Extremely Warcraft, none-more-metal designs.

Concept art of Dracthyr in their dragon form

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Concept art of the Dracthyr’s heads in dragon form

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Concept art of the Dracthyr’s heads in their humanoid visage form

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Concept art of the Dracthyr in their humanoid Visage form

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

By contrast, the Dracthyr feel like an afterthought — because they are. The community has generally welcomed the idea of a expansion centered around Dragons. But there’s no precedent for the Dracthyr themselves, and they have clearly been invented to fill a hole. Their introductory story bends over backwards to explain why they have never been mentioned before — rather less successfully than that of the secretive Pandaren, who made the journey from in-joke to canon in 2012’s Mists in Pandaria — and attempts to retrofit a link to Neltharion, aka Deathwing, the mad black dragon and big bad of 2010’s Cataclysm. These gestures are a bit trite at the moment. (It’s possible that storylines within the expansion itself will flesh out the Dracthyr’s backstory in a more satisfying way.)

The Dracthyr’s look is a result of this lack of inspiration. It has a conventional and somewhat boring appearance, but it can be customized with an amazing array of options. Or should it be scaley? The Warcraft-influenced Warcraft flavour that was characteristic of some Warcraft products is absent. WoW’s other original, newly invented races, like the Draenei (noble space fauns) or the Worgen (Victorian werewolves).

Even the mechanically excellent class design of the Evoker feels like it’s lacking that secret Warcraft ingredient. You’re a dragon that can heal or blast magic; cool. But that’s not quite as hardcore as an undead tank drawing on the power of corrupted blood, is it? Nor is it as unique as a keg-chugging, drunken master of a martial artist — the Brewmaster specialization of the Monk class, which was added in Mists in PandariaThis is still one the best and funniest mashups around. WoW pop-culture canon.

It is easy to imagine the Dracthyr Evoker appearing in fantasy games. That’s not true of WoW’s other hero classes, or indeed many of its vanilla races and classes. The craft in its design is still there, and it’s understandable that, after 18 years, this game might finally be starting to run out of ideas. But it’s still a bit of a shame.

#World #Warcrafts #Dracthyr #Evoker #fun #somethings #missing