You can already try out some of the biggest new features of WoW: Dragonflight – and you don’t even need beta access! The Pre-Patch 10.0 has been uploaded to the PTR and can now be tested by everyone.

What can you try out on the PTR? Above all, the major system changes are already playable in the pre-patch, which is primarily the reworked talent system, which has been fundamentally reworked. But also all other class changes are playable and can be tried out.

What’s happening with the talent system? In Dragonflight, each class gets multiple talent trees similar to those from the vanilla era of World of Warcraft. Each specialization has two talent trees, each with its own points.

• The 1st talent tree is tied to the class and offers general characteristics that this class basically brings (priest, warrior, mage, etc.).
• The 2nd talent tree is tied to the particular specialization, bringing spells and abilities that belong to a particular specialization (fire, frost, arcane, etc.).

The specialization tree contains many abilities that WoW players have known for years. Almost all abilities that belong to the absolute base rotation of a class have to be unlocked here. However, there are also many interesting innovations and recurring talents, such as those from previous expansions. Numerous Pact abilities from Shadowlands can be found there, but also, for example, old Azerite powers or abilities of the former artifact weapons from Legion.

How to check it out? If you want to take a look at the new talent system and the other changes of the pre-patch in Dragonflight, you have to download the corresponding client for the test realm. This is easily done in the Battle.net app.

• Go to the World of Warcraft page in the app.
• Clicks the drop-down menu under “Game version and account”.
• Under “In Development”, select the “Public Test Realm (PTR)” version.
• Click on “Install” or “Update” – depending on whether you already have a PTR version.

After the installation is complete, you can start the game and log into the PTR yourself and create a character to try out the new features.

Note, however, that anything you earn on the PTR or in the Dragonflight beta will not carry over to the live game. Your characters will be deleted at the end of the trial period and will have no effect on your live version.

So when does the patch go live? There is no concrete release date for the pre-patch yet. However, at least a rough release date can be estimated since we know a few key dates:

• Dragonflight is still supposed to launch in 2022, so at the end of December at the latest, but could also be released in November.
• The pre-patch usually runs for 4 to 6 weeks before the expansion release.

This means that the pre-patch will probably be released in mid-October at the earliest, or late November at the latest. With this you can at least roughly plan.

Have you tried out the PTR yet? How do you like the new talents?