Battle for Azeroth Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Drekmar]

Oh gosh, get ready for people to start hyping up the announcement for today again because of Asmongold's stream title.

WoW streamers in 2017... ResidentSleeper

[Ashenhoof]

I hope next expansion wont have ap grinds,legendarys and triple RNG

I hope it does, just to spite people like you.

[Marlamin]

Ah, might've been that. I remember reading something about it when the first Legion alpha build came out in Nov 2015.

I'm interested into the source of them working on Azsuna in 6.1 (I believe you 100% just would like to read a bit more into the details)

Right, this might get a bit technical but I'll keep it as light as possible.

With the introduction of the CASC filesystem in WoD, Blizzard gives each file an ID as soon as it is checked into the internal content repository by an artist. This applies for everything except executables and other files that are "built" (dlls, osx binaries, etc). We call these IDs "filedata IDs" or "root IDs" (root being the files in which these are defined). To reiterate, IDs are not connected to the date they were released to the public, but the date they were checked in.

I have a browser of said files available here if you want to check out the following information for yourself. You can enter IDs I mention in the search bar on top of the table.

Now, the first file ID I can find this quick for Legion is 980733:

world/expansion06/doodads/aszuna/7az_rockwalls_01.blp

If you go to the page where the ID range around 980733 is specified (page 18284, enter it in the bottom page input) you can see other Legion assets as well. Scrolling back a few pages before (18272) you can see them working on trollraid2 (only noticed how close this is now, see a few posts back!), content introduced in 6.0 Beta. A few pages later (18297) they're still working on 6.0 stuff, things added the next few hundred (or even next few thousand) pages are still files belong to content made for/during 6.0 alpha/beta. The further you go forwards in the list, the more 7.x content you see which means portions of teams slowly went to work on 7.0 when they were done with their workload for 6.0.

- Sidenote -
It's again worth nothing that ID 1085148, the Kul Tiras lighthouse (world/wmo/brokenisles/azsuna/7az_kultiras_lighthouse.wmo) that showed up in 7.0 Beta was added during 6.0.2 PTR which could insinuate that a very early version of Azsuna (the az in 7az) had a Kul Tiras lighthouse in it. Pretty crazy.

So it seems like a handful of artists were fleshing out the very foundations of Azsuna (the first zone developed for Legion) during 6.0 beta.

Based on this I'm claiming that as soon as 8.0 comes out, we could look at the IDs files added during 7.0 beta and find some preliminary work already being done on 8.0 content. Right now those are just missing IDs, but those will get partially filled in with 8.0 stuff when it releases. The rest of the IDs that stay empty is content that they imported but never released to the public. This can be anything from developer only files to scrapped content that'll never see the light of day.

Now, I've been messing with this kind of stuff for many years and have been on top of the CASC filesystem since it was introduced so I'm pretty confident of the things I'm saying and have the data to back it up. All data on that page is from Blizzard's files.

I'm currently not able to write more information on this, and kind of want to generate stats on the amount of missing IDs that were there pre-7.0 and the amount filled in when the first 7.0 build was released. Based on this we might be able to find a pattern and see how much stuff is missing now that will get filled in when 8.0 ships. Hopefully this was understandable.

There's probably a bunch of questions about this and if you quote my post (but remove the most contents) I can find the answers later if I suddenly get really busy through my notifications.

[Shadochi]

-snip-

Interesting read.

I've messed with wow CASC explorers in the past tho I could never get a hang of it or find a good source to learn about the WoW filesystem online.
But I did understand most of what you said and what you plan on doing.

While we can't predict the state of the next expansion by Blizzard's INTENTIONAL patch releases and announcements, we can based on the UNINTENTIONAL missing ID's and the amount of Legion assets present in WoD files (as missing ID's at the time)
make an educated guess on how many of the missing ID's in Legion files belong to the next expansion.

[Tartys]

Void theme in the next expansion sounds interesting but please not for every zone.

Void is the new fel... we dont have every "fel" zone so for the Void! But I'm quite sure that Alleria/shadow and Turalyon/light will be part of some mecanics in the next expac

Btw, we can summarize what we know by now - for sure - about 8.0?

- Jaina is not a dreadlord

- The void situation in Mac'Aree is definitely a theme that will continue into the next expansion

- Turalyon and Alleria will be relevant in the next expansion

- Dragon Aspects will be relevant in the next expansion too

- Kul'tiras equip / new map showed (datamined)


I forget something?

[Wyrel]

Void is the new fel... we dont have every "fel" zone so for the Void! But I'm quite sure that Alleria/shadow and Turalyon/light will be part of some mecanics in the next expac

Btw, we can summarize what we know by now - for sure - about 8.0?

- Jaina is not a dreadlord

- The void situation in Mac'Aree is definitely a theme that will continue into the next expansion

- Turalyon and Alleria will be relevant in the next expansion

- Dragon Aspects will be relevant in the next expansion too

- Kul'tiras equip / new map showed (datamined)


I forget something?

I wouldn't bet on the Dragon thing.

[Deleted]

I just read the interview from Blizzplanet, and unless I'm mentioning something, he only mentions 7.3 as the last raid tier. Also, he mentioned Jaina again during both interviews (Blizzplanet and the Blizzard HQ), so that could be a major clue towards the next expansion.

- - - Updated - - -



Hmm...

Well, we could still get several minor patches, but I still believe they should have included the original "Thal'Dranath" as a zone (albeit, since the Broken Shore is now Thal'Dranath, with a different name).

P.S. The relevant quote is from the other PCGames link.

still with small patches there won't be any raids or zones.

[RippedLife]

cant wait to hear what 7.3 is all about

[Valysar]

Argus maybe They've never spoke about this patch

[Hitei]

Void is the new fel... we dont have every "fel" zone so for the Void! But I'm quite sure that Alleria/shadow and Turalyon/light will be part of some mecanics in the next expac

Btw, we can summarize what we know by now - for sure - about 8.0?

- Jaina is not a dreadlord

- The void situation in Mac'Aree is definitely a theme that will continue into the next expansion

- Turalyon and Alleria will be relevant in the next expansion

- Dragon Aspects will be relevant in the next expansion too

- Kul'tiras equip / new map showed (datamined)


I forget something?

We don't know that the aspects will be involved, just that dragons will make some form of apperance. I also don't know that we'll see Turalleria necessarily next expansion. Just in the future.

And keep in mind that the (main) map doesn't appear to be a map of Kul Tiras itself.

[Azalar]

Void is the new fel... we dont have every "fel" zone so for the Void! But I'm quite sure that Alleria/shadow and Turalyon/light will be part of some mecanics in the next expac

Btw, we can summarize what we know by now - for sure - about 8.0?

- Jaina is not a dreadlord

- The void situation in Mac'Aree is definitely a theme that will continue into the next expansion

- Turalyon and Alleria will be relevant in the next expansion

- Dragon Aspects will be relevant in the next expansion too

- Kul'tiras equip / new map showed (datamined)


I forget something?

The bad thing is... the Void is such a vague term. It could be Old Gods, it could be Void Lords, it could be some mass hysteria and paranoia outbreak as leaks suggest without showing neither of the previous two.

Dragons are also vague, it could be an Infinite Dragonflight arc (they're related to the Void too), it could be Alexstrasza's death (I bet she's the following to die), it could be more Chromie stuff.

Also Kul'Tiras. How do you set Void theme in Kul'Tiras? D:

I just don't know how can Turalyon and Alleria fit within this either.

[Fahrad Wagner]

-snip-

Thank you Marlamin, this was sooooo interesting and so well explained!

EDIT: So if I understood well, right now there are files about 8.0 but you can't see them and only will be able to when they release 8.0?

[Lahis]

Also Kul'Tiras. How do you set Void theme in Kul'Tiras? D:

[Shadochi]

Thank you Marlamin, this was sooooo interesting and so well explained!

EDIT: So if I understood well, right now there are files about 8.0 but you can't see them and only will be able to when they release 8.0?

The actual files aren't there, but the ID entry for the file is there (missing ID's are ID entries without files) so when 8.0 files get released some of those missing ID's are gonna be filled in with the corresponding file, while others will remain unpopulated (cut content that never made it into the live game)

[Marlamin]

Thank you Marlamin, this was sooooo interesting and so well explained!

EDIT: So if I understood well, right now there are files about 8.0 but you can't see them and only will be able to when they release 8.0?

The content mapped to any currently missing/skipped file IDs could be held back until 8.0 releases, yes. They could also not show up at all if it's developer only/test stuff/abandoned content. I'm very curious to see how far back the 8.0 IDs go back into 7.x content when it releases.

EDIT: Shadochi explains it better!

[Fahrad Wagner]

The bad thing is... the Void is such a vague term. It could be Old Gods, it could be Void Lords, it could be some mass hysteria and paranoia outbreak as leaks suggest without showing neither of the previous two.

Dragons are also vague, it could be an Infinite Dragonflight arc (they're related to the Void too), it could be Alexstrasza's death (I bet she's the following to die), it could be more Chromie stuff.

Also Kul'Tiras. How do you set Void theme in Kul'Tiras? D:

I just don't know how can Turalyon and Alleria fit within this either.

Kul'Tiras could be infiltrated by cultists and in prey to madness. The Old Gods are quite an easy-going threat to accomodate with any type of lore really.

[HordeFanboy]

I hope it does, just to spite people like you.

If it does majority of the playerbase will quit.

[Fahrad Wagner]

The actual files aren't there, but the ID entry for the file is there (missing ID's are ID entries without files) so when 8.0 files get released some of those missing ID's are gonna be filled in with the corresponding file, while others will remain unpopulated (cut content that never made it into the live game)

The content mapped to any currently missing/skipped file IDs could be held back until 8.0 releases, yes. They could also not show up at all if it's developer only/test stuff/abandoned content. I'm very curious to see how far back the 8.0 IDs go back into 7.x content when it releases.

EDIT: Shadochi explains it better!

Okay thanks guys, now I understand it a bit better. I'm quite convinced Blizzard started 8.0 a looooong time ago, but I guess we won't have this answer until it's out hehe!

[Nyel]

Kul'Tiras could be infiltrated by cultists and in prey to madness. The Old Gods are quite an easy-going threat to accomodate with any type of lore really.

I just wish Kul'Tiras is like Shadow Highlands in Cataclysm. That was so cool. Or like Darkshore described in the Stormrage novel...

[Soulwind]

The content mapped to any currently missing/skipped file IDs could be held back until 8.0 releases, yes. They could also not show up at all if it's developer only/test stuff/abandoned content. I'm very curious to see how far back the 8.0 IDs go back into 7.x content when it releases.

EDIT: Shadochi explains it better!

The thing with that is that they could just add as many IDs as they think will be necessary (probably more) in the early stages of development, and we wouldn't know how many of them have been already populated in the internal builds.

Say the latest ID for this expansion is 5000 (random number) and they add 2000 more, predicting they'll need around 1500. You'd say "they're really far ahead, and the expansion is the largest one yet!", but you wouldn't know how many of those, if any, have been used in development and how many are still empty.

Mostly, it just confirms that they are working on the next expansion, but that much we know.