Legion Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[schwarzkopf]

or they call the Alpha Family & Friends: Alpha.

Ah - I wasn't referring to what they called it, I was referring to what it is. Significant difference there.

[Deleted]

I seriously want blizzard to add more hair styles and hair colours for all races, who says a night elf can't have black coloured hair? :_: or red, purple, pink and e.tc. ( I know death knights can have those colours as their hair colour but for the other classes )

[George Costanza]

Yes, WotLK had most zones, BUT:
Crystalsong, is there even any real content? Not sure, I think most time I spent there was after Cata with archeology. And what was used for max-level content were small pockets mostly.

Legion plans to use full 4 zones for both levelling and max-level content because of the scaling + one purely max-level zone.
Not to count 20-ish scenarios for artifacts and possibly more later.

WotLK system changes:
Achievements
Phasing technology (I believe)
Pet and Mount collection v1.0
Inscription and glyph system

Legion systems:
Transmogrification v2.0
Artifact weapons
Zone scaling
Honor system v3.0 + PvP changes (PvP talents, gear scaled down etc.)
One of the biggest class and spec revamps ever
***
Edit: About pre-patch, as US-based company I would think that if they time it for the movie, they will for the US date. Which means - two months to go.

Fixed.
Removed things like Calendar and barber shop, and the improved flame graphics. as well as social improvements and "Small but nice stuff"
also do note: Wrath introduced a system which would later develop into the raiding system of cataclysm and later flexible raids, which was the 10 and 25 man thing, the expansion as a whole including all patches introduced. dungeon finder, and catch up mechanics. as well as heroic mode. and some nice class changes (energy regen being 1 energy/0.1s baseline for instance instead of 20 every 2 sec and made that more fluid.)
mostly because I find them to not add that much other than being QoL stuff.

And aside from that, Social Improvement stuff isn't something that is in the alpha.

I also am not sure about the end game stuff. the only endgame that is present currently is Dungeons and raids. and pvp. but other than that. we Simply cannot know. People thought that WoD would add sooo many stuff for endgame but the truth was, there wasnt it was all a player made illusion.

I still remember myself repeatedly telling people "You only login do one daily, then that is it. nothing more. Dungeons become obsolete, within WEEKS , sure Legion MIGHT fix that. but we simply cant know until that system is out. Just because there is a POSSIBILITY doesnt mean that it WILL happen.

It is merely a Possibility. No matter what Blizzard "Promises" or shows.

nothing is set in stone yet. for most part. The only things that is testable on alpha has been LEVELING zones artifact quests (which you could combine and call it leveling), and pve instance, and pvp.

Nothing more. Just those 3 things. we dont know anything else.

Class halls are STARTING to pop up they have not been fully testable. I hope. Because As far as we have seen they are MERELY garrisons but in class minizones and nothing more than that.

Not sure how many times this needs to be said.

[Phunkle]

New Flamestrike Animation looks pretty legit.

[Saiona]

Well, by the end of May, I'm sure Blizzard will have firm dates set and more information to release so they can tie them together. There is nothing stating they have to release at the same time, in fact, Blizzard has gone on record stating the opposite, in that their release dates are not going to be tied together.

They would be retarded not to tie in 7.0 with the movie. We have made very good explanations as to why for weeks you people just choose to ignore them

[Bohannon]

Sure they've said that, they kinda have to. That doesn't mean they still arent aiming to have it out by then. If you're lead dev would you want those potential customers to jump into a version of the game that is almost universally reviled by the existing audience? Is Tanaan Jungle and WoD Garrisons going to convince those people to stick around for the next expansion? And if it does, is it wise to bring those people into the game, have them learn its existing systems and classes, and then completely pull the rug out from under them a month later?

Now Im not saying that they will have it out be then. Im just saying that it makes more sense to have it out by then.

Um, something tells me they were aiming for it releasing like a couple months ago. Either way your entire argument is based on false assumptions. Any new player that is turned off by changes they were informed were going to happen when they saw the movie, will probably not be making it passed the level 20 free experience so they are entirely negligible to anyone at blizzard. If the movie is good, people will come to play. If Legion is good, they will not have retention issues. Before 6.0 came out massive numbers of players were coming back to the game for the expansion. People left because WoD was bad, not because of changes to classes and systems.

- - - Updated - - -

They would be retarded not to tie in 7.0 with the movie. We have made very good explanations as to why for weeks you people just choose to ignore them

Or, you know, can release the game when it's ready and make billions of dollars regardless.

[Flazian]

Sure they've said that, they kinda have to. That doesn't mean they still arent aiming to have it out by then. If you're lead dev would you want those potential customers to jump into a version of the game that is almost universally reviled by the existing audience? Is Tanaan Jungle and WoD Garrisons going to convince those people to stick around for the next expansion? And if it does, is it wise to bring those people into the game, have them learn its existing systems and classes, and then completely pull the rug out from under them a month later?

Now Im not saying that they will have it out be then. Im just saying that it makes more sense to have it out by then.

That's a great deal of hyperbole. Look, for people who have been playing the game for a long time, I agree that this is probably the low point of WoW. Even during the worst lull in WoW's history before now, during Cata, we had ample outside content to screw around with. Atm, we don't have much WoD stuff to do and if you have most shit done already there isn't much else to do than log on and do your carries and log off for the week. Maybe gear up an alt if you're ambitious. But for new players there's an assload of content. I've gotten a few people back in/introduced to the game and they're having a blast. This ranges from a few of my friends who are anywhere from a CoD hero to experienced gamers to my 12 year old brother, and they've no complaints. The hearthstone event introduced some players and I've seen mostly good results from that as well. This is actually a great game if you haven't played before since it has had years of polishkng and comtent build-up.

And I would definitely not say universally reviled. I don't like how my favorite game is right now, but I don't hate it. I just know it could be better by a great deal. I would say we are in perpetual disappointment right now.

[kiruz]

Anyone won from here at gamestar.de giveaway? They claiming that giveaway ended, but im not sure if they sent keys already.

[maxje98]

Anyone won from here at gamestar.de giveaway? They claiming that giveaway ended, but im not sure if they sent keys already.

I haven't heard anything about it yet. I didn't received any mail from them yet.

[stormgust]

No, it makes business sense regardless. You don't launch a worldwide blockbuster movie and not have tie in marketing to the source property that your still trying to sell. Whether it works or not is irrelevant since Blizzard has to operate under the assumption that it would, especially if they really end up giving away the game to all movie goers.

Possible deter part of the established/returning player base by rushing again, just to have a chance at getting some new people interested, which then aren't even certain to continue playing (rather, extremely unlikely - it's for free, it's a 10 year old game. If by this date they did not pay for it, they won't in the future).

They could also be giving away the game for free, just to make the movie not entirely a failure (the effect of "I get something for FREE, even though I don't want it).

I think 2 months should be more than enough time. 6.1 took 6 weeks

Or swap it around, even the glorious no content patch took 6 weeks to test, so why should an expansion prepatch take less time than that, when it actually offers content (not yet tested on alpha)?

and 6.2 took 10 weeks, I dont know exactly whats in the pre-event but I cant imagine it takes as long as a full raid to test.

[/quote]
We don't specifically know what it's going to be, but something along the lines of "largest to date" and "Legion invasion", we have seen some bits of it appearing on alpha (zone markers).

Less than two months doesn't seem reasonable? That's at least as much time, if not more, than any previous pre-patch had.

Neither of the past repatches had much of a preevent to test.

And all classes are already in that state.

That's why Blood DK's are up for another round of talent changes in the upcoming build? Though, why they're doing this is beyond me, as blood isn't among the specs with significant core mechanic revision, yet is significantly more iterations on their talents than any other spec in game [and it's not that blood is the only spec with an across the board bland/boring/useless talent tree].

They specificially left Destrolocks for last because they're seeing relatively little change

Relatively little change is still four entirely new rows of talents, all of which destro players would expect to get at least some alterration based on actual gameplay expirience. And unless they drop their "no major changes throughout the expansion" design paradigm (honestly, did anything good come out of this?), this just does not seem fair to players of that spec (i.e. being possible stuck with garbage, which you couldn't provide any feedback on, for about two years).

[Tartys]

Ah - I wasn't referring to what they called it, I was referring to what it is. Significant difference there.

But it is irrilevant... especially for all the players who are await the Beta announcement with their key in the hands.

[Feril]

New Flamestrike Animation looks pretty legit.

Wow that's... incredibly cool! º_º

With Hot Streak making Flamestrike instant, it's going to be really fun and rewarding visually Right now I have to rely solely on Meteor to feel like I'm casting cool area thingies.

I hope they also change Blizzard and Arcane Explosion. They look blander than bland.

Also, I love the high res targeting reticle. I wish they'd make a different targeting reticle for each class (maybe class color colored), but high res looks good for now

[Raiju]

Possible deter part of the established/returning player base by rushing again, just to have a chance at getting some new people interested, which then aren't even certain to continue playing (rather, extremely unlikely - it's for free, it's a 10 year old game. If by this date they did not pay for it, they won't in the future).

You what now? Trying to hit new markets who previously thought the game was for geeks until they saw the movie is exactly what the business people at blizzard will be going for. The only question is IF the content will be complete enough to release.

That's why Blood DK's are up for another round of talent changes in the upcoming build? Though, why they're doing this is beyond me, as blood isn't among the specs with significant core mechanic revision, yet is significantly more iterations on their talents than any other spec in game [and it's not that blood is the only spec with an across the board bland/boring/useless talent tree].

Given blood dk's are experiencing a mass exodus of players due to the changes, yeah it's pretty bad. Other dull specs like Vengeance actually show promise. Blood DK really doesn't right now.

Relatively little change is still four entirely new rows of talents, all of which destro players would expect to get at least some alterration based on actual gameplay expirience. And unless they drop their "no major changes throughout the expansion" design paradigm (honestly, did anything good come out of this?), this just does not seem fair to players of that spec (i.e. being possible stuck with garbage, which you couldn't provide any feedback on, for about two years).

They test fixes/new mechanics through tier sets, so in a way we do get the "major changes" there.

[Deleted]

The animations and spells (whats left... ) looks really good. Props on that, but man some classes look oversimplified and shallow. Glad I got all classes at 100, so I can ignore some of the speccs/classes!

Also a question to the people playing Alpha, how does the new Garrison esquee quests feel? My friend said you actually go out and explore things. How much truth is there to that?

Thank you

[thilicen]

New Flamestrike Animation looks pretty legit.

Damn that's awesome..

[Nayami]

New Flamestrike Animation looks pretty legit.

Don't mind me, just quoting this humongous GIF for a third time because I can't snip

[Raetary]

do you purposely try to be an annoying or is it just an unfortunate aspect of your personality

a bit of both.

[thilicen]

Don't mind me, just quoting this humongous GIF for a third time because I can't snip

Life just ain't fair bro.

[Deleted]

So a release date is on everyones lips but a "more open" beta is very likely sooner rather then later. The reason they likely havent called it beta is because blizz feel they have to release about a million keys because of the expectation of beta( looking at you mop).They will try to tie it into the movie but they could easily just give you a pet or something all this speculation is based on the fact that they are giving away game time with the movie ticket. I find this very unlikely for eu and will probs only be out in the US due restrictions localization and varying release schedule. You must remember that alot of for wows players are EU and eastern countries the us is a small contingent .All this release day arguments are based on a survey that was just market research that was purely in a conceptual stage. Legion beta will be soon of this I am sure but release date is very much up in the air.


I base the beta prediction as sites have keys which is usually followed by a mass stress test invite by blizzard basing that on past expansions except mop which had a promotion tied to it. They coulkd also just give beta accesss from the movie we have no idea what they may do the longer they take the more money they lose. However I figure overwatch's release is strategically placed aswell as heartstones next expansion. which are both in april-may I figure these will be used to fill void left by the content gap as dev time is being taken slowly again as blizz really want to do the expac right after the travesty that was Wod and it is crucial that they win back some lost consumer trust

[Deleted]

Damn that Flamestrike animation is lit yo!