Ducks – WoW Dragonflight

Ducks

Location: Waking Shores

Note: There’s another surprise to find here as well: ducks! At long last, you’ll get to observe them in their natural habitat as they take flight in the very skies where the greatest of creatures are bound to soar.

Ducks are aquatic birds native to the Dragon Isles. They are perhaps the most mysterious creatures in the Isles, as no one knows where they come from or what they're planning. They are elusive and have erratic, difficult-to-track migratory patterns, leading some explorers to incorrectly believe that they didn't exist.

Notes and trivia

• Their design is a cross between the male mallard and the male wood duck, combined with elements of ratites similar to the tallstrider.
• Despite the in-universe presence of duck-shaped toys and decoys and the expression "sitting ducks", the birds themselves were completely absent from World of Warcraft for most of the game's history. This became the source of a running gag, with both players and Blizzard poking fun at the non-existence of ducks.
  • The 7.8.0 Patch Notes from 2017 April Fools mentions that hunters will get the ability to tame ducks.
  • When asked about ducks in a Twitter Q&A at gamescom 2017, Ion Hazzikostas replied "I'm sorry, I don't understand the question. What's a duck?"
  • In the Shadowlands quest An Escapist Novel, the player character finds a book describing a mortal soul's dramatic and eventful life. After some initial doubt, they conclude that the events described within could be true, but they then note: "what is a 'duck' this book speaks of? That part sounds fake."
  • The patch 9.4.0 notes from 2022 April Fools mentions that druids will receive the ability to shapeshift into a duck, but that when they cast Aspect of the Duck, they vanish entirely. The patch notes' author then asks: "What's a duck?"
  • During the Dragonflight expansion reveal stream, after showcasing the ducks of the Waking Shores, Senior Game Designer Josh Augustine stated that Blizzard had finally cracked the technology to add ducks to the game.
  • Their mythical status is referenced in the descriptions of the Secretive Frogduck and Viridescent Duck pets.
• Rona Greenteeth on Darkmoon Island sells [Forsaken Foie Gras] and claims that there are both ducks and geese in Tirisfal Glades, but it's strongly implied that the foie gras is actually made of Forsaken flesh.