A hot phase is just ahead for WoW fans: just last week, Wrath of the Lich King, the most popular WoW expansion, was relaunched and in November the release of the new add-on World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is imminent.
However, what could also get hot is your hardware – because as Blizzard has now announcedthe system requirements increase massively with Dragonflight.
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WoW: Dragonflight – Visually stunning trailer has more dragons than a meadow in autumn
WoW Dragonflight sometimes doubles the system requirements
Blizzard has made many graphical improvements to World of Warcraft over the years, including adding DirectX 12 support and various ray tracing options to the game with the latest add-on. With the release of Dragonflight, however, the demands on your hardware will increase by leaps and bounds – and if you’re on an older system, it might even be the case that you won’t be able to play in the future.
Storage
While it was only recommended for previous extensions, an SSD with Dragonflight becomes mandatory did. Even if the expansion can certainly be started from an HDD, the resulting loading times will probably be a big cut in your gaming experience.
The memory requirements have also been significantly increased: both the minimum and the recommended one random access memory have been doubled compared to Shadowlands (8GB and 16GB compared to 4GB and 8GB).
graphic card
As for the graphics card, one is DX12-capable GPU now also mandatory. Blizzard states that gamers will need at least an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 900 series, 4th Gen AMD GCN, or Intel Iris Xe GPU. Previously, gamers could play the latest expansion with a GeForce GTX 760 2GB, AMD Radeon RX 560 2GB, or Intel UHD Graphics 630.
CPU
The CPU requirements have also been increased, as Blizzard now requires at least a 4-core CPU with a clock speed of 3 Ghz, such as an Intel Core Haswell or an AMD Ryzen. For comparison: Shadowlands can be played with dual core CPUs like Intel i5-3450 or AMD FX 8300 CPU.
more on the subject
Alluded to: After 7 hours in WoW Dragonflight, our hopes are high
Our WoW expert Mary played Dragonflight for you in the alpha and after seven hours of play is hopeful that the new expansion could be really good. You can read why this is the case in their detailed preview.
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