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All you need to know about the WoW Dragonflight update

(c) ilkleygazette.co.uk

World of Warcraft announces new expansion for the first time in five years: Dragonflight

The Demon Hunter Hero class was the last class dropped in World of Warcraft (WoW), back in the Legion expansion. Now, it’s been five years since Legion and WoW is currently preparing for its next expansion: Dragonflight.

The new expansion features five new zones, a HUD, profession, and talents revamp, and a flying-based movement system. However, what players are both most excited about and divided about is the release of a new class/race duo based on dragons: the Dracthyr Evokers. 

The Dragon Isles were the center of the dragon’s kingdom once upon a time, but much of their magic was drained by the Burning Legion during one of their invasions of Azeroth. They didn’t leave the Dragon Isles without watchers, though, and these are ready to contact the flights to return to their ancestral home. The five new zones available in Dragonflight include The Waking Shores, the Ohn’ahran Plains, the Azure Span, Tahldraszus, Valdrakken, and the Forbidden Reach: the training grounds of the Dracthyr.

The Dracthyr Evokers are the first class-race combo in WoW. This means that if you choose the Dracthyr as a starting race, you’ll only be able to choose the Evoker as a class. They start out at level 58 and are sent straight into Dragonflight content after they begin. They can be in either the Horde or the Alliance.

Dragonflight Expansion World of Warcraft
Dragonflight Expansion © World of Warcraft

The Dracthyr Evoker has two available specs: Devastation, which is mid-range DPS, and Preservation, a Healing spec. They’ll have cloth, leather, and mail as available armor.

What makes them stand out is that they can switch freely between a humanoid form and a draconic form to battle their foes. They are locked into their draconic form in combat, glide through obstacles and channel the power of the five Dragonflights to maximize their effects.

The new travel system is Dragonriding, which allows you to befriend four types of dragons in the Dragon Isles: Porto-Dragon, a Piero-Dragon, a Wyvern, and a Drake. They can be taught to master maneuvers such as momentum, gravity, and fighting against exhaustion. You can even customize your dragons at max levels.

You can pre-order the Dragonflight expansion and all available editions starting at the Base Edition ($49.99), including a pre-purchase edition of WoW: Dragonflight, a Drakks pet, and a pre-purchase bonus item.

 

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Featured Gaming & Tech

Wimbledon Dives into the Metaverse Thanks to the Virtual Hill

Wimbledon Virtual Hill
The Virtual Hill © Wimbledon

The world’s oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament has been virtualized as part of the Metaverse

It’s not only luxury fashion and tech brands diving into the Metaverse. Now, visitors can venture into Wimbledon’s virtual hill. The All England Lawn Club has released a virtual mirror experience for Wimbledon’s iconic viewing spot, brought to users worldwide by American Express.

A user recounted their experience on the Wimbledon Virtual Hill, mentioning how there’s also a feature for playing tennis with other players. There’s a picnic space and you can also find a virtual replica of Sir Andy Murray who will guide you around the hill. Amex cardholders can access an exclusive experience with Sir Andy Murray, in which you join in a quest to take a selfie with him.

Upon arriving, you’ll witness interesting video highlights from the tournaments on the screen scattered throughout the location. The Wimbledon World also features a gift shop where you can exchange WimbledCoins, a crypto token, for digital items. Some of these include clothing items from Ralph Lauren’s 2022 Wimbledon Collection.

The Virtual Hill is what’s known as a metaverse-style socially interactive experience, where visitors can create a virtual camp on Wimbledon’s mound. Fun games and Metaverse experiences are also available for those visiting the virtual Wimbledon. A trivia activity tests users’ Wimbledon knowledge and helps them learn more about its history.

Wimbledon Virtual Hill
The Virtual Hill © Wimbledon

And, there’s an attractive social aspect to Virtual Hill, where users can visit it with family and friends, allowing them to experience the reimagined iconic fan destination together. They have the option to react to the live matches with emojis and even share the moments directly on social media. They can take on daily missions that involve answering the quizzes correctly or finding the hidden treasures scattered throughout the Hill.

Another available experience is the ‘Up Up We Go’ virtual air balloon, which provides visitors with a beautiful aerial view of the Hill and allows them to scout for hidden items in the mound.

Most importantly, creating virtual experiences such as the Virtual Hill drives the Metaverse one step closer to mainstream appropriation as a channel for important events in the sports industry. 

NFTs, the Metaverse, and sports have always gone hand-in-hand. One of the biggest NFT marketplaces, NBA Top Shot Marketplace, exclusively features NBA-related content and digital assets. We’re witnessing a digital revolution of the sports industry in Web3, and things seem to be getting more exciting as we progress into virtual realities.

For more information on accessing Virtual Hill, check out this link to their webpage.

Categories
Featured Gaming & Tech

Axie Infinity: Can you actually earn money?

Axie Infinity Game
Axie Infinity © Sky Mavis

Axie Infinity sounds great, but is it realistic?

Axie Infinity is the most famous NFT video game. It’s so famous that in some countries, Axie gamers have literally quit their jobs to become full-time Axie Infinity players and replaced their fiat currency income with crypto.

It boils down to a game that admittedly took inspiration from Pokémon and the cool FaceBook games that saw players collect dragons to fight against each other. They call them Axies and there are nine different types of Axies, each costing an amount of ETH (Ethereum). Ethereum is a cryptocurrency that also has value in fiat currency. This means each Axie you buy or sell is worth real money. To start playing Axie Infinity, you need to obtain three Axies.

And, with some Axies reaching several hundred or even thousand dollars in pricing, it used to be a high entry bar. That was until Sky Mavis developed a scholarship program for those who didn’t have the crypto required to start playing. But, once you’re set up on Axie Infinity, can you actually make a substantial amount of money?

Recently, on Reddit’s AxieInfinity subreddit, a poll was held for people to comment if they had made any substantial income playing Axie Infinity. Out of the 1300 respondents, 586 said yes, and 727 said no. One of the most notable answers was a player who mentioned investing 1.2 ETH to obtain over 70 Axies and 15 Scholars. Another user mentions how it’s possible to earn roughly $10 a day by winning most of your arena matches and finishing your daily quests. This could take four to eight hours, depending on the player’s skill.

So, considering how Axie Infinity is a game and not a job, the money you could earn playing Axie as a side hustle could be some good extra income. But, it’s not necessarily a livable income in many developed countries. Having said that, it’s still better than nothing for just playing two to three hours a day you’d otherwise be using for other games.

Axie Infinity Game
Axie Infinity © Sky Mavis

Unfortunately, several players don’t describe Axie Infinity as a fun game if you don’t have many Axies. Players seem to be more motivated to play for the income and not the experience, seeing the experience as a shock absorber for the monotony usually present in office jobs.

For comparison, freelance bidding sites sell freelance gigs for two-digit prices that’d otherwise be in the mid-hundreds of dollars in more developed countries. Usually, workers from third-world countries with lower wages populate these platforms as these lower prices could easily add up to a month’s rent where they live.

The best way to earn money on Axie Infinity is by earning Ethereum tokens known as Small Love Potions (SLP). You obtain these by completing your daily quests or winning battles in the Arena Mode, which is also considered the most challenging method for obtaining SLP as you have to fight other players. When you earn them, you can trade them for ETH. As ETH is a cryptocurrency, SLP could translate into fiat currency. If you have higher-level Axies, you can earn more SLP.

Axie Infinity is the poster-child game for play-to-earn decentralized models. Should other games innovate on the concept, it might herald a new age of creator economy in Web3, where people work by playing instead of working at the office 9-to-5s.