Battle for Azeroth Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Phunkle]

actually i was doing some quests while doing my nightborne and quite a few of them can be fixed by just adding a neutral npc.

For example if Garrosh was replaced by a korkron guard who told her, NOT that the warchief would disapprove, but that raising the undead is anthema to the horde's ideals and values of honor and to 'watch herself bitch" that would keep the quest intact.

similarly in ashenvale you are tasked with using demon magic to fight alliance, then send an apology to the 'warchief'. i turned it into saurfang despite it being addressed to 'hellscream"

all that it would require is them changing it to where you turn it into an orc general in the valley of honor .

changes like these and any future leadership changes woudlnt alter the quests at all

That's not the actual issue though.

The main reason why the early zones need an overhaul (at least questing wise) is because they are focused too much on Deathwing or the Cataclysm. Then, at lvl 60 you go fight Arthas or Illidan and after that it's back to Deathwing or Pandaria.

I don't need another revamp like Cata where zones were geographically changed - but the questing needs adjustment. Even if it's just the addition of Cavern of Time shenanigans in order to make some sense of all that time jumping nonsense.

[Deleted]

A lot of it could be fixed fairly easily by making the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor zones scale to 80 instead of just 60, making Outland and Northrend optional and meaning that you don't have to jump back in time when you hit 60. I'm sure there's enough quests to carry you all the way there if you went through both continents, and those who want to level through the old 60-80 zones could still do that if they wanted.

Course it's not a perfect fix, but it'd mean that you'd logically go from Cata to MoP to WoD to Legion to BfA without any weird time-jumps. Might be strange for some of the allied races since they might not have existed in lore during those time periods, but nothing short of a complete revamp could really fix that.

Also got me thinking, with the ability to skip Outland and Pandaria nowadays, they could in theory revamp the whole 1-90 experience by "only" updating EK, Kalimdor and Northrend.

[Gurluas]

Does anyone have an image of the unfinished Male Vulpera character model?
It doesn't have textures but there is a male Vulpera in the character folder where the new female one is.

[Chickat]

Ooooo...

That's a -good- point.

I think when they do update the world it shouldnt focus on the current expansion. Should just be generic but fun stories so they stand the test of time and make sense in any expansion. Phase out OL, Northrend, Cata, and MoP and make them optional. Old continents now go to 90.

[Steampunkette]

I think when they do update the world it shouldnt focus on the current expansion. Should just be generic but fun stories so they stand the test of time and make sense in any expansion. Phase out OL, Northrend, Cata, and MoP and make them optional. Old continents now go to 90.

I'd love that, to be honest? But I'd also love another expansion that takes us back to Northrend (And updates the maps and models) with a new storyline. Or Pandaria.

I could even see Outland being a Springboard for a Void-Themed expansion by moving the Vindicaar to that broken-ass planet to save time and fuel getting to a nearby Void-World. What would be -really- nice is if Netherstorm's Area 52 became the neutral hub-city for both sides and the place the Horde and Alliance fly from, without there actually being -any- story in Outland and the "Continent" we go to being a void-world... where we -lose-.

And then the Patch-Content all happening on Outland. Netherstorm, Blade's Edge, and even Shattrath under assault from Void-Beings with content focused on fighting back and stopping the void Counter-Attack through the rest of the expansion...

... man I would love that.

[Blayze]

I'd love that, to be honest? But I'd also love another expansion that takes us back to Northrend (And updates the maps and models) with a new storyline. Or Pandaria.

I could even see Outland being a Springboard for a Void-Themed expansion by moving the Vindicaar to that broken-ass planet to save time and fuel getting to a nearby Void-World. What would be -really- nice is if Netherstorm's Area 52 became the neutral hub-city for both sides and the place the Horde and Alliance fly from, without there actually being -any- story in Outland and the "Continent" we go to being a void-world... where we -lose-.

And then the Patch-Content all happening on Outland. Netherstorm, Blade's Edge, and even Shattrath under assault from Void-Beings with content focused on fighting back and stopping the void Counter-Attack through the rest of the expansion...

... man I would love that.

Anger of the Crypt Lords. I'd play it.

[Fahrad Wagner]

I think when they do update the world it shouldnt focus on the current expansion. Should just be generic but fun stories so they stand the test of time and make sense in any expansion. Phase out OL, Northrend, Cata, and MoP and make them optional. Old continents now go to 90.

That's precisely how it should be done.

[Whatever Dude]

The only thing making me think a world revamp isn't coming is that I can't think of an expansion theme where we still stay on Azeroth. I feel like we're going back out to space again in the next expansion and doing the whole Light vs. Shadow shtick.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

The only thing making me think a world revamp isn't coming is that I can't think of an expansion theme where we still stay on Azeroth. I feel like we're going back out to space again in the next expansion and doing the whole Light vs. Shadow shtick.

That battle is inevitable but I think Blizzard will put it off as long as possible.

[Kohtra]

The only thing making me think a world revamp isn't coming is that I can't think of an expansion theme where we still stay on Azeroth. I feel like we're going back out to space again in the next expansion and doing the whole Light vs. Shadow shtick.

I'm wondering if they plan on just slowly updating the old world zone by zone over the next couple of years. Arathi Highlands might be getting an update thanks to the new warzone there, and now there's hints of Westfall getting an update too.

[Phunkle]

I'm wondering if they plan on just slowly updating the old world zone by zone over the next couple of years. Arathi Highlands might be getting an update thanks to the new warzone there, and now there's hints of Westfall getting an update too.

That was my initial thought as well, but I'm not sure how well this would resonate with the playerbase. Especially new players. A difference in graphical quality for different continents is very much bearable, but imagine going from 2004 Elwynn into 2018 Westfall and then back to 2004 Duskwood.

[Bashkar]

I'm wondering if they plan on just slowly updating the old world zone by zone over the next couple of years. Arathi Highlands might be getting an update thanks to the new warzone there, and now there's hints of Westfall getting an update too.

They have the tech available to make significant changes to a zone for story purposes without removing the old one permanently (Silithus most recently) - we can maintain the old-world plot lines and phase in new zones after specific quests / level thresholds.

Allows them to repurpose zones, minimizing development timelines on new content, without being too disruptive. Definitely see high level zone updates - no real need to update older ones especially with the scaling tech now.

[Steampunkette]

I think we're going to see an old world revamp sooner than later if only to update things for Classic WoW's HD Remaster release.

Maybe piecemeal, like Arathi and Westfall. But definitely sooner than later because this way they can have the server architecture team for WoW Classic busy working on THAT while double-dipping their art teams to work on both projects at the same time to provide assets either one can use.

Expect WoW Classic's Sylvanas Windrunner to not look like a Night Elf for no apparent reason, for example.

The limitations they faced in 2004 are in many ways lifted. It would be foolish to retie their hands.

[Deleted]

Duskwood's in a dire need of an overhaul too tbh, especially after Legion and what happened during one of the rogue intro quests, namely the assassination artifact one. The entire town gets butchered by cultists and I imagine a lot of players still don't know about it.

[Steampunkette]

So you expect a remaster, not a relaunch

100%.

The original server plates were sold off or given away as collector's items, and while they made a joke about wanting them back at Blizzcon, it would be -vastly- outdated technology.

They could spend years digging through the spaghetti code of the modern game and the modern server architecture, as well as the login portals, to try and "Cut Away" all the new stuff. Go through saved datafiles in the hopes of getting back all of the old Vanilla Art Assets that have likely been deleted since they were obsolete, and such... but the amount of work required to do that would be prohibitively expensive for the value created.

No. Instead they're going to take the game we've got, now, rebuild the old map with new art assets, rebuild the old gameplay systems and restrictions, and then release it as that Remastered version.

The art will look different, and behind the scenes the electronics and the software will be different. But the client-facing mechanics will be back to their old selves based on what degree of "Old Selves" the playerbase and the developers reach based on the feedback outreach they intend to do. Stuff like "How Vanilla is Vanilla? Ahn Qiraj? Earlier?" Things of that nature.

[Chickat]

100%.

The original server plates were sold off or given away as collector's items, and while they made a joke about wanting them back at Blizzcon, it would be -vastly- outdated technology.

They could spend years digging through the spaghetti code of the modern game and the modern server architecture, as well as the login portals, to try and "Cut Away" all the new stuff. Go through saved datafiles in the hopes of getting back all of the old Vanilla Art Assets that have likely been deleted since they were obsolete, and such... but the amount of work required to do that would be prohibitively expensive for the value created.

No. Instead they're going to take the game we've got, now, rebuild the old map with new art assets, rebuild the old gameplay systems and restrictions, and then release it as that Remastered version.

The art will look different, and behind the scenes the electronics and the software will be different. But the client-facing mechanics will be back to their old selves based on what degree of "Old Selves" the playerbase and the developers reach based on the feedback outreach they intend to do. Stuff like "How Vanilla is Vanilla? Ahn Qiraj? Earlier?" Things of that nature.

That sounds really good.

[Steampunkette]

That sounds really good.

Don't it? Who would really, earnestly, prefer this:



To this:



The former would make people who aren't already slavering for WoW Classic kind of roll their eyes at it. The latter might actually secure more players. New Players. Kids picking up the game to play with their parents who used to play Vanilla and are delighted to play it, again.

Remaster is the best course, top to bottom.

[rcshaggy]

I honestly like the newer version...
That's just me....

[Makabreska]

100%.

The original server plates were sold off or given away as collector's items, and while they made a joke about wanting them back at Blizzcon, it would be -vastly- outdated technology.

They could spend years digging through the spaghetti code of the modern game and the modern server architecture, as well as the login portals, to try and "Cut Away" all the new stuff. Go through saved datafiles in the hopes of getting back all of the old Vanilla Art Assets that have likely been deleted since they were obsolete, and such... but the amount of work required to do that would be prohibitively expensive for the value created.

No. Instead they're going to take the game we've got, now, rebuild the old map with new art assets, rebuild the old gameplay systems and restrictions, and then release it as that Remastered version.

The art will look different, and behind the scenes the electronics and the software will be different. But the client-facing mechanics will be back to their old selves based on what degree of "Old Selves" the playerbase and the developers reach based on the feedback outreach they intend to do. Stuff like "How Vanilla is Vanilla? Ahn Qiraj? Earlier?" Things of that nature.

Oh the rage would be immense. You can have exactly same game as vanilla, but if graphics will be updated, peeps will cry "BLIZZ LIED TO US, THAT'S NOT VANILLA". They won't accept ANY changes. But then again, should Blizz let them dictate how WoW Classic should look like?

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Oh the rage would be immense. You can have exactly same game as vanilla, but if graphics will be updated, peeps will cry "BLIZZ LIED TO US, THAT'S NOT VANILLA". They won't accept ANY changes. But then again, should Blizz let them dictate how WoW Classic should look like?

Considering some of the many Vanilla threads. Some of them are willing to have some gameplay changes that weren't vanilla.