What do you think of Dragonflight’s Time Rifts? How would you like to see them improved?

Dragonflight patch 10.1.5 brought a bunch of new content, but my favorite are probably the new Time Rifts, and not just because of the gazillion rewards you can get from them. Playing around with Azeroth’s history — and not always taking it seriously — is an improvement over the similar Legion Invasions that they’re modeled on, as confronting Banshee Queen Vereesa Windrunner is a lot more mind-blowing than Random Demon Name #4.

It’s not just the lorebending that’s a trip with Time Rifts. Using the Community Feast mechanics (with Soridormi taking on the role of Chef Kinook) has added a layer of frenetic energy that I’m enjoying. While the chaos can drive players batty some times — sometimes you can only get 10 seconds to kill a named NPC based on your speed completing other tasks — it ensures that you’re always doing something even if sometimes you end up doing something you weren’t supposed to be doing. Fortunately the credit system is generous so that the only things keeping you from maxing out your Paracausal Flakes is lack of local participation or showing up a minute or two late.

Like all things, though, they’re not perfect. I won’t rehash the technical problems that players have run into with Time Rifts because the development team is trying to fix them. That said, there are some improvements that can be made. For one thing, not every player enjoys chaos in their World of Warcraft experience and I think it would benefit more players if the reward system were reversed — get the epic box at 2500 credit, the rare box at 5000, and then uncommon boxes every 2500 afterwards. That way those who want to play more methodically won’t feel like they’re being punished, and players that want to do everything everywhere all at once can keep getting Paracausal Flakes instead of hitting the limit and sitting around waiting for the boss rift to open.

The other thing I’d like to see added is a way of exploring these alternate Azeroths more. The quests add some detail (Alexstrasza meeting her Azmerloth counterpart is fantastic), but I want to dive a little deeper. How is Vereesa a Banshee Queen instead of just a Banshee? Did she rebel against Arthas — is it even Arthas in Azmourne? — or was she restored to her body by the Lich King? It’d be great if the boss rooms came with their own history books scattered about for players to read.

Are you enjoying Time Rifts? What do you like about them, and what are you not fond of? Do you feel there are too many rewards to choose from, and which ones are your favorite? And did you let Soridormi stroke your fur?