Patch 10.1.5 brings Whelp Daycare, and is anyone else a bit nervous about this?

While the new Whelp Daycare coming to World of Warcraft in patch 10.1.5 sounds both fun and adorable, I’m not sure that the mortal races can be trusted with the responsibility of raising baby Dragons safely and reliably. Now, I’m not saying the Whelp Daycare is a bad idea in terms of gameplay. In fact, I think it’ll be awesome and I’ll love it. I am absolutely down with helping to raise five little baby whelps, and I can’t wait to have an alternate way to gain renown (although based on the wording, I’m not sure if I’ll be gaining renown or teaching the Dragons to gain renown). I will be waiting with bated breath to find out what the words, “and more” mean in the announcement post, because I’m sure whatever it is, it’ll only raise my excitement levels that much more.

But to be honest, I’m not sure that this wild and chaotic assortment of people is in any way shape or form ready for taking care of these innocent, potentially fragile baby Dragons? Keep in mind, until Dragonflight we were witnessing the end of Dragonkind — Whelps were few and far between and in some cases Dragon eggs were said to not even be able to hatch any more. Every baby Dragon is a precious treasure. Anyone who did the Ruby Life Pools and found themselves desperately trying to fix a duck toy for a little Whelp knows this.

But as a colleague of mine once said, we are the destroyers of all good things. We blew up the Jade Serpent’s new body in Pandaria and followed that up by blowing up the entire Vale of Eternal Blossoms. We bring chaos in our wake like it’s our chief export. So while I am very much all in for patch 10.1.5 and helping the Little Scales Daycare raise these Whelps, I also kind of want to ensure that there’s some responsible adult around supervising us. Because man, I once took an orphan to various battlegrounds just for an achievement. There isn’t a lot of precedent for us being the safest bunch to hang around with, and kids can get hurt without dragging them to a literal active warzone. And even without wanton recklessness, I’m not sure basic dragonrearing is in my skillset. What do you even feed a baby Dragon?

Nevertheless, patch 10.1.5 will give us all the chance to prove we can be trusted with the fate of five baby Dragons that are more precious than mountains of gold or heaps of jewels. Honestly, how bad could we be at this — and please, don’t answer that.

Initially published May 11, 2023. Updated July 10, 2023.