Battle for Azeroth Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[thunderinggolf]

https://twitter.com/olandgren/status/918303950045978626

Hmmmmm. I wonder what <thing> is....

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Unrelated possibly but I looked at the Chronicle maps of the Black Empire. The colors on the image for each Old God is their respective are. I'm wondering if it's influence or that's how big they technically are. If that is the case, Y'shaarj was the biggest(Before getting killed that is

[KayRule]

Vindicaar is probably a prototype, you can bet the ship will have more features than the Vindicaar.

I also think the Invasion Points tech are a prototype for something exploration-related. Maybe we get missions to board ships or explore unknown islands, and Invasion Points tech is used to send us to a non-instanced, non-Open World are in which there's a ship in open sea or a new island for us to explore/loot, with a chance of meeting other players there. Maybe we can even capture ships to upgrade ours. So, we begin with a small ship, and later capture bigger ones, with their own layouts.

fuck I HOPE SO

[Hitei]

Interesting theory on invasion points; I think you're on to something. They definitely didn't add all these new mechanics for one content patch. Although, since like I said the phone app is pretty strong evidence that the Garrison/Class Hall system will remain, it makes it a bit tricky to discern a theme based off how the mechanics work beyond "going places".

South Seas seem likely, but the system could also work in a spaceship, giant underground drill, floating garrison, etc.

Although, I've been expecting Azshara "next" every expansion since BC so I'll be skeptical of South Seas regardless of how much information points is there...

It's an interesting theory, although I don't think they really added the mechanic just for 7.3. The invasion points are basically just a teleporting version of the invasion-invasions from 7.2 and the Legion prepatch, where you got sharded into an active phase when you entered, completed some phases, and then if you left and re-entered the area you'd get sharded back into a new phase.

Random island "invasion points" would be neat, for a while at least.

I'm more interested in seeing what they do with the Endless Halls tech. Polished and with mobs, it could make some pretty neat randomized dungeons and caves.

[Smokinya]

Interesting theory on invasion points; I think you're on to something. They definitely didn't add all these new mechanics for one content patch. Although, since like I said the phone app is pretty strong evidence that the Garrison/Class Hall system will remain, it makes it a bit tricky to discern a theme based off how the mechanics work beyond "going places".

South Seas seem likely, but the system could also work in a spaceship, giant underground drill, floating garrison, etc.

Although, I've been expecting Azshara "next" every expansion since BC so I'll be skeptical of South Seas regardless of how much information points is there...

I know that feel. I was in Disney World when we were all on that Dark Below hype. I would come back to the hotel at night and feverishly read the forums to see what everyone was going on about. So sad we got WoD instead (WoD was a great concept, just poorly executed).

[Chickat]

At this point, they'd have to do something absolutely insane to surprise me with the setting.

That's not to say they can't surprise me with the specifics, but the way I see it, all of these would be possible in some way:

- World revamp/Cataclysm 2 expansion.

- Aqir expansion.

- Old God dimension expansion.

- South Seas expansion.

- Nazjatar-only expansion.

- Undermine-only expansion.

- Zandalar-only expansion.

- Kul Tiras-only expansion.

- Planet-hopping expansion.

- K'aresh-only expansion.

- Nihilam-only expansion.

- Xoroth-only expansion.

- Planet of the Dreadlords-only expansion.

- Random piece of land in the Twisting Nether (MU Goria?) expansion.

- The Void expansion.

- The Light/evil Naaru expansion.

- White Lady/Blue Child expansion.

- Southrend/other side of Azeroth/some new continent expansion.

- Infinite Dragonflight/general timetravelling expansion.

- Emerald Dream expansion.

- Dragon Isles expansion.

Obviously some are more likely than others, but as I said, they'd have to do something extreme not to fall somewhere on that list.

Expansion where we go back in time to ancient pandaria with Pandaren slaves mogu empire, and more mantis stuff. Would be truly surprising tbh. I wouldnt mind it tbh, but people would riot.

[ChronoSul]

At this point, they'd have to do something absolutely insane to surprise me with the setting.

That's not to say they can't surprise me with the specifics, but the way I see it, all of these would be possible in some way:

- World revamp/Cataclysm 2 expansion.

- Aqir expansion.

- Old God dimension expansion.

- South Seas expansion.

- Nazjatar-only expansion.

- Undermine-only expansion.

- Zandalar-only expansion.

- Kul Tiras-only expansion.

- Planet-hopping expansion.

- K'aresh-only expansion.

- Nihilam-only expansion.

- Xoroth-only expansion.

- Planet of the Dreadlords-only expansion.

- Random piece of land in the Twisting Nether (MU Goria?) expansion.

- The Void expansion.

- The Light/evil Naaru expansion.

- White Lady/Blue Child expansion.

- Southrend/other side of Azeroth/some new continent expansion.

- Infinite Dragonflight/general timetravelling expansion.

- Emerald Dream expansion.

- Dragon Isles expansion.

Obviously some are more likely than others, but as I said, they'd have to do something extreme not to fall somewhere on that list.

Ive always wanted a moon expansion for some reason idk what the plot of it could be but it would probably be atleast something not to predictable

[Fahrad Wagner]

I wish Blizzcon was here already. It’s gonna be awesooooome!

[rda]

Probably have to work with Gul'dan to stop the Goblins from drilling too deep and destroying it and seeing just how he became the Warlock we knew him as in NH.

About Gul'dan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd1lXxXdUMY

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Are there any ideas for new features?

The class halls were an evolution of the garrison, but Legion brought us the concept of Artifact weapons. What do you think a new gameplay feature would be? Or do you think the next xpac will just have more of the same as what we have now, but with a few tweaks?

I wrote a post on that some pages ago.

There are plenty of ideas in general, but since - in my opinion - Blizzard have been significantly reducing the amount of development effort spent on WoW, we will likely not get much in the way of big new things. We will get - in my opinion - a replacement infinite grind for the artifact which gives you more power every week, extensions and minor improvements to mythic instances, and some twists for world quests (ie, putting them down into normally low-level zones like Feralas temporarily adding a level 120 cultist camp or whatever could be such a twist). The area with the largest potential for big new things is - in my opinion - the regular re-re-re-re-redesign of classes which will likely be of higher scale than usual this time for multiple reasons. There are a number of things they can do there, including partly redoing the traditional roles, and this area - in my opinion - is the only one with potential for serious changes and improvements.

One other thing that seems possible is player-chosen factions, possibly temporary ones - like choosing between Light and Dark or whatever which gives players ways to regroup from hard-set H and A into whatever they want, dynamically. This could be made big (faction-specific activities / hubs / in-world PVP for objectives that switch sides when you take them = Wintergrasp but on the scale of a continent, etc), however since, as I said, they have been significantly reducing the amount of development effort spent on WoW, the chance of it being made big is - in my opinion - tiny.

[rda]

Woosh

Your head

LOL. I understood what you were saying, I just wasn't interested much and at the same time I was impressed by the kill (which, yes, is a completely different topic) so I posted the link as a reply instead of as a standalone post. My head is alright.

[Nyel]

I get ya on this, not a fan of the Garrison model at all. It lost it's charm mid way through Legion.

I mean it's not a bad feature it's just been overused now and it really isn't fun anymore.

Even if garrisons go away, core features likely won't. I doubt they would have out development time into a mission companion app if they didn't plan on using it for a while.

You're right, it won't go away...

[rda]

By the way, while we are discussing mythic+, here is a good summary for the invitational that just completed:

http://www.wowhead.com/news=273238/m...p-8-and-finals

This is useful for those who haven't been watching the streams - whether because you were finding them boring or because you didn't have the time - but still want to know what happened and some details on how. The link above contains brief write-ups for the quarters / semis / finals, they are much faster to skim through than the videos.

The invitational was perhaps as successful as it could have been under the circumstances, but realistically, this isn't much.

What's unequivocal: they will keep mythic+ as a system and will keep the tournament.

What's very likely: they will try to get more people interested in the tournament. They will likely have some extensions to mythic+ themselves (certainly some new affixes, possibly one or two fancy new modes - maybe brawl-like, this week we all have to be jumping to get rid of some pesky buff that is slowing us down, the other week it's something else, etc).

I just hope they don't try to make it one of the central features of the expansion because the potential isn't very high.

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Even if garrisons go away, core features likely won't. I doubt they would have out development time into a mission companion app if they didn't plan on using it for a while.

That's actually where there might be growth.

Since they acquired King, both Activision and Blizzard are jealous like hell of King's MAUs and phone apps are great for bulking that up. Ideally, they (Blizzard devs working on WoW) would like to have a part of the game which (a) would make sense to play, (b) would be accessible for phone apps, and (c) would still be limited enough to not require a paying sub. Hey, maybe that's what they will put into the "ships". That could triple MAUs with very little effort.

[Lahis]

Since they acquired King, both Activision and Blizzard are jealous like hell of King's MAUs and phone apps are great for bulking that up. Ideally, they (Blizzard devs working on WoW) would like to have a part of the game which (a) would make sense to play, (b) would be accessible for phone apps, and (c) would still be limited enough to not require a paying sub. Hey, maybe that's what they will put into the "ships". That could triple MAUs with very little effort.

But what would be the monetizing model on the app? MAUs don't benefit you much if all they do is spend bandwidth.

[rda]

But what would be the monetizing model on the app? MAUs don't benefit you much if all they do is spend bandwidth.

No monetizing besides keeping you tied to the game and not forgetting about it and maybe sometimes resubbing. MAUs look good in reports. Looking good in reports is an important goal right behind actually doing good. It is not more important than doing good, but it is very important especially because doing good consistently is very hard (including because the expectations helpfully adjust to make it harder every time you beat them).

[Deleted]

I think by the traditional definition of “WoW content drought”, it almost all depends on what “small patch after Antorus” means. Xpac would have to release next November or later for it to be a year long tier. That’s definitely not guaranteed.

Bigger concern is how long Argus lasts? It has lengthy content if you want to exploit it to max (extremely few would’ve finished it by now) but, it’s not something that would last anywhere near a year. Need something relatively good to release around March or so and it’s be just about perfect.

Won't happen unless we have a Cataclysm type of scenario where the game was pushed back months from the original date.

[In Ogres We Trust]

By the way, while we are discussing mythic+, here is a good summary for the invitational that just completed:

http://www.wowhead.com/news=273238/m...p-8-and-finals

This is useful for those who haven't been watching the streams - whether because you were finding them boring or because you didn't have the time - but still want to know what happened and some details on how. The link above contains brief write-ups for the quarters / semis / finals, they are much faster to skim through than the videos.

The invitational was perhaps as successful as it could have been under the circumstances, but realistically, this isn't much.

What's unequivocal: they will keep mythic+ as a system and will keep the tournament.

What's very likely: they will try to get more people interested in the tournament. They will likely have some extensions to mythic+ themselves (certainly some new affixes, possibly one or two fancy new modes - maybe brawl-like, this week we all have to be jumping to get rid of some pesky buff that is slowing us down, the other week it's something else, etc).

I just hope they don't try to make it one of the central features of the expansion because the potential isn't very high.

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That's actually where there might be growth.

Since they acquired King, both Activision and Blizzard are jealous like hell of King's MAUs and phone apps are great for bulking that up. Ideally, they (Blizzard devs working on WoW) would like to have a part of the game which (a) would make sense to play, (b) would be accessible for phone apps, and (c) would still be limited enough to not require a paying sub. Hey, maybe that's what they will put into the "ships". That could triple MAUs with very little effort.

Since they own the company, why would they be jealous of King? Also, since the market is moving towards PC mobility - and the applications associated with it - it would be the height of foolishness not to monetize their IPs for the applicable markets.

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I'm bored as fooooooooooooooook; we need some news!

[Eurhetemec]

There are plenty of ideas in general, but since - in my opinion - Blizzard have been significantly reducing the amount of development effort spent on WoW, we will likely not get much in the way of big new things.

Significantly reducing as compared to when? My understanding is that the current WoW dev team is more or less the largest it's been since Vanilla, and much larger than TBC/Wrath/Cata.

Plus it feels me to me based on your previous examples of "big" vs. "little" features doesn't necessarily line up with the amount of development effort, art assets and so on. IIRC you put garrisons as "big" and "class halls" (presumably including class stories etc.) as "little", but the former required more balancing and systems design (because Garrisons got into every aspect of the game), but way, way, way, way less art design, level design, story design, quest design, lore writing, and so on.

Honestly I rather see fewer systems like Garrisons, and more like Class Halls, if that's big/little.

[DeicideUH]

It's an interesting theory, although I don't think they really added the mechanic just for 7.3. The invasion points are basically just a teleporting version of the invasion-invasions from 7.2 and the Legion prepatch, where you got sharded into an active phase when you entered, completed some phases, and then if you left and re-entered the area you'd get sharded back into a new phase.

Actually, Invasion points work differently from from 7.2 invasions. They are just small non-instanced maps that use a lot of sharding to separate populations.

I could see them used for small islands, forgotten troll temples, enemy ships and other such scenario-like events, in which you port in, do your stuff and get your loot.

Yes, they'll get old pretty quick, but Blizzard can always add more variety as the expansion goes, and it would compliment well the idea of having a boat and explore. Some could be boss-like fights, others would be puzzle-based, another is just your usual 3-phase fight against mobs...

[Shadochi]

Actually, Invasion points work differently from from 7.2 invasions. They are just small non-instanced maps that use a lot of sharding to separate populations.

I could see them used for small islands, forgotten troll temples, enemy ships and other such scenario-like events, in which you port in, do your stuff and get your loot.

Yes, they'll get old pretty quick, but Blizzard can always add more variety as the expansion goes, and it would compliment well the idea of having a boat and explore. Some could be boss-like fights, others would be puzzle-based, another is just your usual 3-phase fight against mobs...

What if they combined the 7.3 invasion tech with the 7.3 secret mount procedural room tech (a lot easier ofc). Would be something cool then.

[Scornedfury]

Off topic but I've been thinking about this a lot. Its never told what happens at the end of a world souls life cycle , the transition to titans. If Azeroth does become a titan, what of the inhabitants of said world? And/or how long does it usually/normally take?

I'm sorry if this was already discussed and/Or answered. Was just thinking of this while ivr been reading chronicles pt 2.