British streamer Preach Gaming has not received an invite to the World of Warcraft Dragonflight alpha, prompting thoughts he’s been blacklisted by Blizzard.
One year ago, Preach stopped his coverage of World of Warcraft (WoW) over the Activision Blizzard harassment controversy and the state of the game, before switching to Final Fantasy 14 and other games.
But while Preach has played WoW on and off since then off-stream, it seems he’s not in Blizzard’s good books right now. And while some streamers have received access to the Dragonflight expansion’s alpha, Preach doesn’t.
“As you’re probably aware, the Dragonflight alpha has launched, along with a bunch of interviews that got some people very excited,” Preach said in a recent stream.
“I do not have the Dragonflight alpha – big surprise. As much as I was expecting not to get it, and had been warned by somebody at Blizzard when I made my video [last year] that I was not going to cover World of Warcraft on a regular basis anymore, that they were pissed at me, and a bit salty about that, I am still a little pissed off, and I didn’t think I would be.
“But when I didn’t get [the alpha], I was like, ‘fuck you man!’ (laughs)
“I can’t help it, I have no right to be pissed off but I am, I’m out of the cool people’s club. Of all the people you’d want to try and bring back into WoW, I’d be one of them… but there it is! There is no alpha [for me], it’s gone.
“But that doesnt’ change the fact that the alpha has some really cool shit.”
Fellow WoW and MMO streamer Asmongold reacted to the Preach clip, with many of his followers slating Blizzard for blacklisting Preach.
“Anything Preach has done, I have done that and gone even further,” Asmongold said. “I support Preach, I think this [blacklisting] is bad for the industry, it’s bad for viewers, it’s harmful for everyone involved. Otherwise you open yourself up to playing favourites, you create a culture of not getting certain feedback, and it’s bad for everybody. I hope they do give Preach the alpha.”
Update: Preach has since posted this tweet in response to fellow UK content creator MrGM, hinting that he may have been given access to the Dragonflight alpha after all.
Preach once had his invite to a content creator summit rescinded following an in-game potion issue. He has been open with his views on the game, and has interviewed devs in the past, demonstrating a bit of a rollercoaster relationship with Blizzard over the years.
Last month, Preach blasted Diablo Immortal’s microtransactions, saying: “I want nothing but death for this game.”
In other Preach-related news, last month tickets to his annual gaming convention Preachcon sold out, with the event returning to Manchester as an in-person event for the first time since the pandemic.
WoW Dragonflight alpha builds hype amongst streamers and fans
Dragonflight is the latest expansion for World of Warcraft and is due to launch later this year.
The Dragon Isles feature four new zones for players to adventure through on their journey to the new level cap of 70: the Waking Shores, the Ohn’ahran Plains, the Azure Span and the Thaldraszus.
Dragonriding, a new method of aerial movement, lets players fly through the skies of each new area in style atop customisable Dragon Isles Drakes. The isles are home to the all-new playable Dracthyr allied race, who mix the magics of the dragonflights with ranged damage and healer specializations as a solely dedicated Evoker hero class that start off at level 58.
The expansion introduces an extensive overhaul of the game’s character talent system, and there are also updates to in-game professions with new work order and specialization systems, on top of a modernized and streamlined Heads Up Display (HUD) and User Interface (UI). Group loot is also set to return in raids.
This time last year, the Activision Blizzard harassment scandal was making a lot of headlines and fan support for WoW and other Blizzard games was at a low.
But interest and support for WoW seems to have improved since Microsoft’s announcement to acquire Activision Blizzard earlier this year.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
