Battle for Azeroth Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Zoibert the Bear]

The only way you're getting those in this game is if they remove the subscription

I agree with this, having real-money lootboxes on top a subscription fee on top of store items would be greedy even by Activision standards.

- - - Updated - - -

This. Post-Exalted rep boxes are already loot boxes, with a time-gated mechanic tied to. We are just missing a cool animation when you open them and the Hearthstone Innkeeper shouting "LEGEEEENDARY" when you loot a mount.

To be fair, I looted one of the Lightforged elekks from the Army of Light lootbox yesterday and the animation (loot panel thingy) and sound are already pretty exciting.

Now I just wish it had been the Storm Dragon.

[Deleted]

I swear, if we get new elf races instead other new types or characters that could be a real new option I'm gonna be so mad that I'll use my wow sub money to finally paint all my Warhammer minis and kick the ass of my friend that plays fucking elves.

Now, seriously, could be cool if we get the garrisons right in this exp, still not buying the class hall at all, I don't like it (is better than the garrison but still not good to me)

[Nerovar]

I agree with this, having real-money lootboxes on top a subscription fee on top of store items would be greedy even by Activision standards.

You underestimate their power. Look at games like SWTOR, ESO etc. these games still have subscription models that are widely used because, while the game itself might be free, many of the features are either locked behind certain paywalls or are restricted in a way that gives you a serious disadvantage. This way many people end up paying a subscription fee while still buying lootboxes every once in a while.

[DeicideUH]

I agree with this, having real-money lootboxes on top a subscription fee on top of store items would be greedy even by Activision standards.

- - - Updated - - -



To be fair, I looted one of the Lightforged elekks from the Army of Light lootbox yesterday and the animation (loot panel thingy) and sound are already pretty exciting.

Now I just wish it had been the Storm Dragon.

How I hate farming these mounts...
All my WoW burnout right now is due to having to farm those reputations. Were it not for the mounts, I'd have a lot more time to level my alts and do other stuff. I'm not against the idea of reputation loot boxes, but the drop rate should be increased, damn it. So far, I only got the nightfallen carpet, and that was the mount I was least interested in (and still no fox hunt invitation, so I can't even stop doing the nightfallen emissary).

[Nerovar]

How I hate farming these mounts...
All my WoW burnout right now is due to having to farm those reputations. Were it not for the mounts, I'd have a lot more time to level my alts and do other stuff. I'm not against the idea of reputation loot boxes, but the drop rate should be increased, damn it. So far, I only got the nightfallen carpet, and that was the mount I was least interested in (and still no fox hunt invitation, so I can't even stop doing the nightfallen emissary).

Sounds like an awful lot of fun.

[Lynkeus]

You underestimate their power. Look at games like SWTOR, ESO etc. these games still have subscription models that are widely used because, while the game itself might be free, many of the features are either locked behind certain paywalls or are restricted in a way that gives you a serious disadvantage. This way many people end up paying a subscription fee while still buying lootboxes every once in a while.

Definetly agree with you. I played ESO for 2 months for example and you really really want to get that sub because of reagent bag, and they also give you some crowns to spend on shop too, so you do not feel too much cheated. So, it actually could happen. There are examples.

[Deleted]

How I hate farming these mounts...
All my WoW burnout right now is due to having to farm those reputations. Were it not for the mounts, I'd have a lot more time to level my alts and do other stuff. I'm not against the idea of reputation loot boxes, but the drop rate should be increased, damn it. So far, I only got the nightfallen carpet, and that was the mount I was least interested in (and still no fox hunt invitation, so I can't even stop doing the nightfallen emissary).

They should implement a Bad Luck Protection on these boxes, or a token for every open box that you can trade for the mount/toys etc... They are a long term goal, not supposed to be farmed (but knowing gamers they will grind their brains out to obtain these mounts, Blizzard needs to protect their playerbase from themselves).

[Zoibert the Bear]

How I hate farming these mounts...
All my WoW burnout right now is due to having to farm those reputations. Were it not for the mounts, I'd have a lot more time to level my alts and do other stuff. I'm not against the idea of reputation loot boxes, but the drop rate should be increased, damn it. So far, I only got the nightfallen carpet, and that was the mount I was least interested in (and still no fox hunt invitation, so I can't even stop doing the nightfallen emissary).

I haven't gotten the damned Fox either, only Dreamweavers, Nightfallen and Army of Light mount, and Wardens toy.

This is doing emissaries EVERY DAY and Withered army training every time it's up.

If Blizzard taps into this frustration and offers pay-for loot boxes... Oh my wallet...

[Lahis]

When you play all halloween event and still not a single halloween skin drops it doesn't feels great at all. <- just happening to me right now, this year I only get shit ton of player icons and other stupid things.

But I understand that it's not about the opening of the box, just my bad luck (one reasong why I hate them)

Just buy 100... or 200. Blizzard will love you for shilling the price of one (or two) full priced games to get few cosmetics in their shooter.

[Deleted]

I haven't gotten the damned Fox either, only Dreamweavers, Nightfallen and Army of Light mount, and Wardens toy.

This is doing emissaries EVERY DAY and Withered army training every time it's up.

If Blizzard taps into this frustration and offers pay-for loot boxes... Oh my wallet...

I have made the Withered Scenario everytime its up and no rank 3 Engineering Googles yet -_-. I am okay with loot boxes AS LONG AS these boxes can be adquired by in-game means (be it gold, rep tokens, pvp marks...)

[Deleted]

THis is different, we are dealing with sub-races (or, if you prefer, alt-races) now. They won't have unique skeletons/animations.



Alleria has a custom model based on blood elf model. Just like Sylvanas, Alextrasza or Ysera. Pay attention to her animations and proportions, it's essentially a modified blood elf.

I think "void" elves (which may be a temporary name, at least I hope so) will use blood elf models, but with a few differences. Kinda like a Lightforged Draenei uses a draenei model with unique custom options and skins.

If I were to guess, I'd expect:
- Share with blood elf only the lighter skin tones, but also has unique paler skin colors, maybe even white or bluish skin.
- Unique eye glow. Either bright blue like Alleria's, or purple.
- Probably will have options for tattoos, runes, body paint or void taint over their skin, kinda like Alleria's body paint. If we can choose color, it will probably be dark blue (like Alleria's), black or purple. (I think blood elves may get similar body paint, but theirs would be red, green, light blue or gold).
- Unique hair colors, like light blue, deep blue or purple.

Essentially, something like this:

(This is an alternative skin for Tyrande in HotS)

Conceptually, I imagine these void elves are an opposite to the Nightborne. The Nightborne are elves that are "dawning": closer to night elves in appearance, but to the blood elves in culture, and moving towards the blood elves. The supposed void elves are "dusking": closer to blood elves in appearance, but are moving towards the night elves. As such, their "light" (not in the sense of the holy power in-lore, just appearance) is dimming.

At least, that's how I theorize they could be.

This just makes me believe the leak that got sniped for being spam by the forum filter more. Night/Void elves form a new coalition and Blood Elves/Nightborne form one. Maybe the Nightborne that join the Blood Elves want to study the Sunwell and its powers. And the former High Elves gain more affinity for the night amd darkness and such. I don't know why but that leak just sounds legit to me.

Sadly i can't find it anymore. Would love it if someone had a pic or link. The only error I saw is that it said the Alliance would get Void and High Elves. But that might have been a mistake on the leakers part.

It also featured things like racial campaigns and faction campaings that involve recruiting races into your faction and somr sort of Artifact proggression system where you choose a magic school or affinity to allign yourself with (not just void/light)

It had just the right crazy bullshit and believability to me.

[Lahis]

Limited time events and RNG don't mix well. At all.

Oh they do. That is the whole point. When the event is nearing it's end and people haven't gotten their favorite skin from freebies, they feel pressured to buy few dozen boxes to get it.


And Blizzard laughs all the way to the bank.

[Eurhetemec]

People who bitched about simply have no idea what they had and I hope it goes on to have the respect it deserves in the future. The grimdarkification of WoW was so overbearing in Cataclysm and yet people still decided to whinge at, god forbid, retreating back to the usual tone Warcraft has always had.

I think there were a lot of legit reasons to criticise MoP, but I agree tone wasn't really one of them, except in that it was inconsistent even by WoW standards, but even that's not really super-legit, because Cataclysm's tone was significantly more inconsistent.

I feel like WoW recovered from being "grimdarkified", though. Despite all the horrors of the legion and so on, I don't find Legion itself to be a particularly "grimdark" expansion. Oddly enough, the tone in WoD seemed darker than Legion, overall.

WoW has also always had both silly and serious stuff. It's only when they're juxtaposed in an awkward way (which Cataclysm did constantly, but MoP rarely did - it mostly separated them) that things get problematic. It's also fine to slide from one thing to another, so long as it's done well. If we get South Seas, they should be able to manage both serious "ghost pirates" and silly "ghost pirates" without making things seem "un-WoW".

Nine times out of ten, if someone complains about something being too kiddy/whimsical/whatever, it's always because they themselves are just insecure.

That is pure truth, I agree. As one gets older, it becomes more and more obvious too. No-one complains louder and longer about "kiddy" than people who are afraid of being seen as a kid - i.e. people who are older teens, early twenties, or people who have hobbies others perceive as juvenile and that they're insecure about.

[Spaze]

That "as long as" is what people are talking about.

Nine times out of ten, if someone complains about something being too kiddy/whimsical/whatever, it's always because they themselves are just insecure.

sad but 100% true

[DeicideUH]

They should implement a Bad Luck Protection on these boxes, or a token for every open box that you can trade for the mount/toys etc... They are a long term goal, not supposed to be farmed (but knowing gamers they will grind their brains out to obtain these mounts, Blizzard needs to protect their playerbase from themselves).

They could use Curious coins for that.

The problem with these mounts is that, if you are unlucky, you may still be farming them even after Legion is over.

The fact that I've been farming them with 3 characters for all this time and still got only one mount out of the deal is really sad.

Sounds like an awful lot of fun.

It's as fun as it sounds.
Wasn't a problem for the first two or three months. Such an activity shouldn't take that long. If at least I had gotten any mount, I'd be able to ignore activity tied to that reputation. Instead, I got exactly the one mount from the one reputation that has a second mount (that's been in the game even longer) so I still need to farm it. Damn.

I haven't gotten the damned Fox either, only Dreamweavers, Nightfallen and Army of Light mount, and Wardens toy.

This is doing emissaries EVERY DAY and Withered army training every time it's up.

If Blizzard taps into this frustration and offers pay-for loot boxes... Oh my wallet...

You got a lot. I didn't get the Warden toy. Only rewards I got so far were the nightfallen carpet and the Legionfall pet (but I never cared for the later, it meant anything to me).

[FlemmMinis]

All this talk about lootboxes and I' m here, thinking achievement points might finally get some use .

[DeicideUH]

This just makes me believe the leak that got sniped for being spam by the forum filter more. Night/Void elves form a new coalition and Blood Elves/Nightborne form one. Maybe the Nightborne that join the Blood Elves want to study the Sunwell and its powers. And the former High Elves gain more affinity for the night amd darkness and such. I don't know why but that leak just sounds legit to me.

Sadly i can't find it anymore. Would love it if someone had a pic or link. The only error I saw is that it said the Alliance would get Void and High Elves. But that might have been a mistake on the leakers part.

It also featured things like racial campaigns and faction campaings that involve recruiting races into your faction and somr sort of Artifact proggression system where you choose a magic school or affinity to allign yourself with (not just void/light)

It had just the right crazy bullshit and believability to me.

I'd love if next expansion was race-focused, just like Legion was class-focused early on.
Recruiting more races is essentially what I expect we will be doing in the story patches that we are getting post-Antorus and prior to next expansion.

[Eurhetemec]

Id unsubscribe straight up. I don't have a problem with them and don't see them as toxic but I'm not going to play a subscription mmo that doesn't include customization in that sub.

Cash Shop is different imo because that's extra stuff that doesn't affect the baseline content at all. Even the pets are balanced and kept in line for pet battles.

WoW's current cash shop is different to other MMOs.

However, the cash shop of other MMOs absolute does affect the baseline content. The best example is GW2. For every boring weapon skin that becomes available in the game, literally 10 or 15 or even 20 more exotic/impressive ones will become available via their lootboxes. For every dubious armour set that likewise appears in the game, 10 or 15 or more outfits and armour sets will appear in the cash shop.

It's very clear at least 90% of the art team's work on item designs is going directly into the cash shop with GW2. That's maybe an extreme example, but pretty much every game with a cash shop shows signs of the same thing, significant amounts of art team effort being diverted that way.

For now, with WoW, the effort is insignificant, something like 1-1.5% of their effort. Which is fine. If lootboxes came in though, they'd need to fill them. 1-2% of the art team could not do that. We'd be talking more like 20%, 30%, or more. Personally I'm not okay with a game charging me $15/month diverting that much of the art team into lootboxes, and I don't think they're so incredibly profitable that WoW would just hire a bigger art team (there's no sign they have). It also eliminates ideas from the "idea pool", because once something has been done as a lootbox filler, it's unlikely to be done again as in-game content.

If WoW introduced cosmetic lootboxes, even if they included X amount with the sub, I would see it as the beginning of the end of me playing. I probably wouldn't quit immediately, because as with other games that have gone that way, the impact isn't always felt immediately, indeed it's often quite delayed. But I believe we'd see increasingly less art-heavy content and increasingly simple art for in-game content, as lootbox stuff got to be more and more elaborate. People would say "Oh the tier set is okay but it's a bit dull", and suddenly we'd see some really fancy stuff in the lootboxes - not directly competing with the tier set - it would be a different style, I'm sure, but more complex, more attractive, and so on.

I doubt any of it would be P2W, I strongly suspect 90% of it would be cosmetic, and the rest would be QoL stuff, but every QoL feature that's a lootbox deal is a QoL feature they'll never implement in the base game, and I've already discussed cosmetics.

I feel pretty certain that within 2 years of lootboxes coming in, they'd be the dominant way the game introduced transmog-looks, and that virtually all new, good transmog stuff would be from them. Mounts, battle-pets, and toys would follow. First only 10% of new mounts over a given time would be lootbox derived, then it'd be 20%, then 30% and so on - probably never go over 50%, but...

So I sincerely hope Blizzard stay away from that one.

[Nerovar]

I'd love if next expansion was race-focused, just like Legion was class-focused early on.
Recruiting more races is essentially what I expect we will be doing in the story patches that we are getting post-Antorus and prior to next expansion.

World of Warcraft - Race War

[SkyTides]

All this talk about lootboxes and I' m here, thinking achievement points might finally get some use .

I know right...Let us use them as currency for cosmetic things!