Battle for Azeroth Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[TheProphetLord]

WoD's biggest problem was a sudden change of direction too late in development imo. Same goes to Worgen's beautyful faces...Yes, let's hope they don't change of mind with whatever they are doing at this stage.

I don't mind the female Worgen face tbh, although I did notice the other day the fact they have eyes while the males just glow. So maybe fix that and maybe not have the male models hunched over.

Looks at Orcs too...

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

You're very sure of your arguments aren't you? Nothing is dissasembled when we know nothing. We don't know how much time will pass between 7.3 and 8.0, we don't know how they're going to be handled, we don't know. So acting like it's over and done because one assumption or the other was made is foolish.

A thousand years after she joined the Army of the Light (from her perspective, due to how time works inside the Nether), Alleria encountered Locus-Walker while both of them were imprisoned by the Legion on Niskara. She had left the Army five hundred years before this after using the Void to save herself and her husband Turalyon from dying on Argus.

When Locus-Walker was captured by the Legion, the wrappings containing his energy body had been destroyed. After Alleria used his teachings to kill the inquisitor torturing them, Locus-Walker opened a Void rift for them to escape. On the other side was utter nothingness, the Void itself. Their first lesson was about maintaining Alleria's sanity while using the Void's power. Throughout her training Locus-Walker delved into her memories. He explained to her the duality of Light and Shadow, how the Light cannot see the whole of destiny because it alone is not responsible for it; likewise, the shadow cannot see all of destiny either.

Yes, I am. Because A Thousand Years of War basically confirms that this isn't something you can do in the span of even one year. And that's without mentioning the fact that she had to eat an entire Void Naaru to achieve Void Form.

[GoodUsername55]

I mean I've disassembled that logic before.

In short summation, the only way they can be followers of Alleria is if Blizz pulls some "Time flows differently" BS and for them they've trained 1,000 years while for us it's been like 2 months.

There are no elves in the nether, what i'm suggesting is that she forms a new type of high elf society, obviously they weren't her followers for very long.

[GutsTheWarrior]

Who do I pray to for some solid leaks? Lurking this thread the only answer I've come to is Taylor Swift

[GoodUsername55]

Changing their name implies they'll be different somehow. Even if it's just eye color.
Considering high elves are already 10% of blood elves (and blood elves are 10% of original thalassian), I can't imagine a "race" that is a fraction of the high elves. I feel like void elf is just the new "cool" name for high elves, but if that's the case, they should just keep it "high elves".

Maybe they aren't called high elves in the files, because if they were, it would be painfully obvious they'd be a subrace and subraces confirmed. Atleast this way it is ambiguous.

[EbaumsTipster]

Void Elves aren't High Elves because Blood Elves aren't High Elves. They're unique. Blizzard wouldn't add just "regular" Elves when the other kinds of elves so far are rich in culture and identity.

[DeicideUH]

Who do I pray to for some solid leaks? Lurking this thread the only answer I've come to is Taylor Swift

Small chance of a real leak this week as Blizzard starts working on the stages.
Bigger chance next week, as we may have a copyright leak, and more people will be working to leave everything ready for Blizzcon.

[Shadochi]

Who do I pray to for some solid leaks? Lurking this thread the only answer I've come to is Taylor Swift

I heard that a certain uncle's brother's son has some info, but I'm not at liberty to disclose it.



- - - Updated - - -

Small chance of a real leak this week as Blizzard starts working on the stages.
Bigger chance next week, as we may have a copyright leak, and more people will be working to leave everything ready for Blizzcon.

To clarify, stage work starts on friday, so that's the earliest we could start seeing more genuine leaks.

[DeicideUH]

Maybe they aren't called high elves in the files, because if they were, it would be painfully obvious they'd be a subrace and subraces confirmed. Atleast this way it is ambiguous.

It's a possibility, and the one I'm hoping for. But, without confirmation, all we have is "void elves" for now.

Void Elves aren't High Elves because Blood Elves aren't High Elves. They're unique. Blizzard wouldn't add just "regular" Elves when the other kinds of elves so far are rich in culture and identity.

We are discussing this. THe name change implies they'll be different somehow.
Problem is that high elves are already very few. Imagine a race that is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the original thalassian elves!

- - - Updated - - -

To clarify, stage work starts on friday, so that's the earliest we could start seeing more genuine leaks.

Thanks for the clarification.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Maybe they aren't called high elves in the files, because if they were, it would be painfully obvious they'd be a subrace and subraces confirmed. Atleast this way it is ambiguous.

Honestly, I'm not unconvinced we aren't looking at a test for something in 9.0, or a failed test. We've seen this before, after all. Remember when Rommath was going to be part of the Twilight's Hammer?

We've also seen Blizz leave things in the game files before that betrays a new race. They weren't even in the game, but people found the Hallow's End mask files for Worgen and Goblins.

And Blizz had to scrub out the Kul'tiras names and Zandalar names because we were good at finding stuff.

Why leave these four races in if they really were relevant to 8.0? They knew in the past that we could find this stuff easily, and they already had to emergency scrub stuff they left in on accident in 7.3.

[TheProphetLord]

To clarify, stage work starts on friday, so that's the earliest we could start seeing more genuine leaks.

We are also likely to get more hints dropping from people over on twitter as well as on the VT. Blizzard seem to be pushing that a lot this year so we might get some more clues on there.

[Makorus]

Honestly, I'm not unconvinced we aren't looking at a test for something in 9.0, or a failed test. We've seen this before, after all. Remember when Rommath was going to be part of the Twilight's Hammer?

We've also seen Blizz leave things in the game files before that betrays a new race. They weren't even in the game, but people found the Hallow's End mask files for Worgen and Goblins.

And Blizz had to scrub out the Kul'tiras names and Zandalar names because we were good at finding stuff.

Why leave these four races in if they really were relevant to 8.0? They knew in the past that we could find this stuff easily, and they already had to emergency scrub stuff they left in on accident in 7.3.

Dunno why people talk about Zandalar names when it was literally just files from MoP.

[Shadochi]

We are also likely to get more hints dropping from people over on twitter as well as on the VT. Blizzard seem to be pushing that a lot this year so we might get some more clues on there.

Honestly, with all the Seas hints (including the Garfield song tweet) I almost want it not to be South Seas.

[Darkhallows]

Yes, I am. Because A Thousand Years of War basically confirms that this isn't something you can do in the span of even one year. And that's without mentioning the fact that she had to eat an entire Void Naaru to achieve Void Form.

I don't see anything in that quote about how long it actually takes to master. Like, if I'm missing it, bold it, but the time it references just tells how long Alleria was apart from the Army. She met Locus-Walker relatively recently, it looks like, by that. Like, that quote is fairly useless for understanding how long it would actually take to master Alleria's powers. So I'm not seeing why you're so convinced.

Secondly, Alleria just ate a void god Naaru, and has all of its power. What she'll do with it, or if it'll be used at all, is yet to be seen, but it's *possible* she could use that to give some other High Elves her power. Locus-Walker doesn't even technically need to be involved in whatever Void Elves are involved in, though it would make sense if he was.

The amount of time is irrelevant really. However much time will pass that the story needs to pass.

My entire point is you can't make assumptions about how things will play out when the variables are all over the place.

[Shadochi]

Dunno why people talk about Zandalar names when it was literally just files from MoP.

References to which got removed seemingly without a reason in the same build they did the same stuff to the KulTiras armor icons.

[Jokubas]

This whole new development has me... concerned? Underwhelmed? We don't know the details of any of this yet, but I'd rather be disappointed now and surprised positively later than be in denial now and have to accept it in the end. Obviously, I'd be disappointed if we don't get new races, but I have wanted subraces before so it's not a complete loss.

But this existing potential list already has me annoyed for two major reasons.

1) Nightborne on the Horde
I know a lot of people have said they saw this coming for a variety of reasons, and I braced for it, but I hoped it wouldn't be true. If the nightborne end up exclusively Horde, it's ridiculous on several levels. First off, they are literally the same elves that the playable night elves knew in the past. Malfurion and Tyrande and a bunch of the major characters grew up in Suramar. Some of the Shen'dralar that joined the Alliance in Cataclysm are probably their old colleagues. It's weird that those elves, after being freed from the Legion, would just happily accept fighting their own friends and family just because some distantly related descendants said that their allies weren't that bad (which is also ridiculous because the Horde has caused the blood elves way more trouble than the Alliance, where only one person ever gave them trouble). Also, both the Horde and Alliance helped liberate Suramar (with the high elves and night elves helping from the Alliance side). What kind of slap in the face would it be for the nightborne to, again, say, thanks, but now we're going to try killing you in the next war?

Finally, it's ridiculous that the nightborne even need to join a side to begin with. This is yet another problem I have with the faction dynamic. Is it impossible for any nation to remain independent on Azeroth without being a villain? I could buy some nightborne leaving their homeland to join up with the factions that helped them, but it should be a choice like the Pandaren.

2) Void Elves
If this ends up being a thing, we don't really have context for it right now. Alleria is the only thing that could maybe be classified as a void elf, and not only is her method of becoming such essentially one-of-a-kind, she still mostly appears as a high elf, only having an optional transformation form. A lot of people assume this would be a way of Alliance getting high elves, and I think it's ridiculous. There's absolutely no reason to invent something new for that. Pandaren already set a precedent of a race being available on both factions, and high elves should have some subtle customization differences anyway (namely, different eye color, but you could extend that to other color preferences).

Not only that, but this also repeats the age-old problem of, Horde gets something established and well-liked by the fandom, Alliance gets stuck with something invented on the spot that no one has an attachment to. This even makes me say, you're really inventing another kind of elf? And I don't normally care about that.

[EbaumsTipster]

Dunno why people talk about Zandalar names when it was literally just files from MoP.

Zandalar files were hidden at the same time as the Kul'tiras armor, despite the Zandalar items being from MoP and being untouched since then.

[Fahrad Wagner]

Honestly, with all the Seas hints (including the Garfield song tweet) I almost want it not to be South Seas.

Same! I just want to be surprised yet satisfied.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

References to which got removed seemingly without a reason in the same build they did the same stuff to the KulTiras armor icons.

This. They got scrubbed in the same pass.

While those files may not mean anything, the fact they killed Zandalar along with Kul'tiras likely means they have something for Zandalar they don't want us to find.

And the fact they didn't scrub Chrraces means one of two things:

1. This doesn't mean anything for 8.0
2. These entries are actually used in the game now, which vastly diminishes the odds of them meaning anything for 8.0.

[Renley]

Dunno why people talk about Zandalar names when it was literally just files from MoP.

Because Blizzard doesn't scrub file names like that(at least not very often, that we know of). They tend to leave everything in(see massive unused items from expansions on wowhead). The fact that they scrubbed them and the Kultiras names/armor at the same time is highly suggestive. That, along with the armored raptor mount found in the files, hints at Vol'jins story continuing, and pointers at South Seas expansion....