Dungeon Changes Coming in Dragonflight Season 4

Dungeon Changes Coming in Dragonflight Season 4

We don’t have an exact date yet for when Dragonflight Season 4 will launch. On the 2024 roadmap, it appears after 10.2.6 (the mystery patch that Blizzard has been keeping to themselves) and the start of The War Within Alpha. But we know that Season 4 will include Fated Raids, and now Blizzard has shared their plans for dungeon changes in the upcoming season.

One problem they’ve noticed with the dungeon tiers is that the mid-range dungeons – Heroic and Mythic 0 levels – tend to feel pretty irrelevant past the initial leveling phase, and even more so this late in the expansion. This has been the case for the last several expansions, but they’re now making an effort to correct this problem by raising the difficulty and rewards for all dungeons above the Normal difficulty level:

  • Heroic dungeons will become equivalent to the current Mythic 0 level in terms of both difficulty and rewards.
  • Mythic 0 dungeons will be bumped up to roughly the equivalent of Mythic 10, but minus the timer, which means they’ll be slightly easier.
  • Mythic+ dungeons will be bumped up about 10 levels as well, so a Mythic 1 will be as challenging/rewarding as a current Mythic 11, and so on.

This should also help reduce the level bloat that Mythic+ dungeons have seen, where the top runs are now in the 30s. In turn, it should make the range smaller and finding groups easier.

Blizzard hopes that this recalibration will also help players who aren’t experienced with Mythic dungeons or who don’t feel comfortable with the pressure of a timer to enjoy 5-player content and get something out of it, since the current system is heavily tilted toward Mythic+.

Blizzard – (Source)

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.

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
(S3)
Dungeon Awards
(S3 End-of-Run)
Dungeon Awards
(S3 Great Vault)
Item Level
(S4)
Dungeon Awards
(S4 End-of-Run)
Dungeon Awards
(S4 Great Vault)
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.

About the Author

Luxrah

I've been playing World of Warcraft on and off since vanilla, usually as a healer or caster and often as a guild leader. I play both retail and classic. I also love RPGs, sandboxes, and sims.

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