World of Warcraft: Dragonflight has just released its 10.1 patch, also known as the Embers of Neltharion content update. As with any new release, there are bound to be a few hiccups along the way, but this particular patch had quite a few perplexing surprises. Many of World of Warcraft's players were left scratching their heads as they encountered a number of bugs, glitches, and miscommunications from Blizzard.
Players are encouraged to scrutinize new content before it has released in the Public Test Realm, but there are always some irregularities that slip through the cracks. Embers of Neltharion came with a discount for WoW: Dragonflight, and despite its massive new zone and tons of content, it wasn't necessarily all that players were expecting. There were a few bugs that some may have considered game-breaking and others that were just incredibly odd.
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The most interesting and perhaps hilarious addition to the game was the mailbox bug. Every single WoW player logged on to the game once the patch had loaded and noticed they had mail waiting for them. When they visited their nearest mailbox, they saw that there were two items inside waiting for them: a single Vibrant Shard, used for the enchanting profession, and one piece of Wildercloth, used by World of Warcraft's tailoring crafters to make clothing.
Neither of these items is by any means rare or even useful to most players at this stage, but the accompanying note explained that they had been recovered on the player's behalf. If a player forgets to loot a certain item of importance, they will receive it in their mail as a package from an ethereal called Thaumaturge Vashreen. World of Warcraft players were more than a little perplexed when all of their characters, across all the game's realms and servers, had simultaneously been sent their supposedly "recovered" profession materials at the same time.
While the mailbox bug was essentially harmless, if a little confusing, there were some glitches in patch 10.1. that impacted World of Warcraft's gameplay. Some players found they no longer had certain Dragonriding abilities or were even unable to progress in the Embers of Neltharion storyline. A few more obscure bugs were also uncovered, such as Pandaren players not being able to apply a race-change purchase, or anima going missing in various Covenant Reservoirs from World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. What's more, one of the new shop transmogs was mistakenly added to the Trading Post, and players who purchased it found that it completely glitched out when worn.
Another change that threw players for a loop wasn't a bug per se, but it certainly appeared to be. The Winding Slitherdrake is the newest Dragonriding WoW mount to be added to the game, and it was blatantly advertised as a feature that players could access the same day the patch arrived. However, when Embers of Neltharion went live, the Slitherdrake was nowhere to be found, despite its various customizations being attainable.
World of Warcraft players were understandably annoyed since they were all under the impression that the drake would be attainable immediately. Blizzard later confirmed that the drake would take another week to arrive, as it was part of a story campaign quest that would progress after the following weekly reset. Communication was further botched by a Blizzard representative who mistakenly misnamed the chapters of the Embers of Neltharion campaign that were required before obtaining the mount, which only confused things further.
Dragonflight is proving to be a favored expansion among players, and these bugs are likely to be forgotten in due time. However, at the moment, players are left to wonder how these glitches are created and, more importantly, how they make it into the live game at all. These hiccups are to be expected in a game as massive as World of Warcraft, but it can still be a big disappointment when it happens.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is available now for PC.
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