BfA Patch Speculation thread (8.3 and later).

[Shampro]

Sounds like he's trying to make his theory seem legit.

What? How does that work? This was talked about last week. Seems more to me like you're dismissing it because....idk reasons.

[Seasz]

So when can we expect the build to hit PTR? @Simca @Marlamin

[Renley]

Sounds like he's trying to make his theory seem legit.

Shadowlands isn't my theory. Unless the he you're talking about isn't me, and you're referencing original poster of Shadowlands? But if so, this makes no sense as Shadowlands post came out before these 8.2.5 notes.

[Marlamin]

So when can we expect the build to hit PTR? @Simca @Marlamin

Between now and sometime in the future

(Probably tomorrow, I hope)

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Shadowlands isn't my theory.

I wasn't saying that, I assumed that was the dude that has his account name as Shadowlands.

[Shampro]

I wasn't saying that, I assumed that was the dude that has his account name as Shadowlands.

That dude wasn't the one who leaked it, it was someone in 4chan.

[Hitei]

*tinfoil hat* Shadowlands mentioned level squish postponed due to upcoming scaling tech. 8.2.5 dev notes mention testing of new upcoming scaling tech. Coincidence? Probably. But color me intrigued.

The two are unrelated. The 8.2.5 scaling is just existing scaling, i.e. gear can scale up to a specific level. Gear already does this (timewalking, a "level 15" quest reward in westfall scaling up to 60 if you do that zone at 60) and then the ability to level scale down (timewalking)

None of that counteracts stat/level/itemlevel squish. Which happens not because of old expansion stuff, but because in a current expansion you have to have upgrades from tier to tier, and then the next expansion has to upgrade over that. You can't normalize a current expansion's ilevel because then there's no such thing as upgrades. So you still steadily build up stats/item level and need to periodically collapse all the previous expansion stuff to a small margin so that the next expansion can continue to expand.

Also this has kinda absolutely nothing to do with the level squish idea, which isn't about scaling, it's about 130 being a lot of levels and the lack of 120 rewards making those levels feel unrewarding, none of which is solved by reward scaling or being able to scale down. So it makes no sense to postpone it for a scaling system. Kind of a fundamental flaw in the shadowlands ""leak""--no form of scaling is going to solve those two primary issues that are motivating level squish. You are still going to have 130 levels, and you're still going to not have enough talent tiers or spells to make 130 levels feel impactful, scaling isn't going to give you more spells or reduce levels.

[Renley]

I wasn't saying that, I assumed that was the dude that has his account name as Shadowlands.

Ohhh, I see. No idea who that is. I meant the Shadowlands leak from last week. I'm sure it's a coincidence, but it is intriguing that we got new level scaling tech out of seemingly nowhere. At least, I can't recall any hint of something like this coming(outside of squish).

- - - Updated - - -

The two are unrelated. The 8.2.5 scaling is just existing scaling, i.e. gear can scale up to a specific level. Gear already does this (timewalking, a "level 15" quest reward in westfall scaling up to 60 if you do that zone at 60) and then the ability to level scale down (timewalking)

None of that counteracts stat/level/itemlevel squish. Which happens not because of old expansion stuff, but because in a current expansion you have to have upgrades from tier to tier, and then the next expansion has to upgrade over that. You can't normalize a current expansion's ilevel because then there's no such thing as upgrades. So you still steadily build up stats/item level and need to periodically collapse all the previous expansion stuff to a small margin so that the next expansion can continue to expand.

Also this has kinda absolutely nothing to do with the level squish idea, which isn't about scaling, it's about 130 being a lot of levels and the lack of 120 rewards making those levels feel unrewarding, none of which is solved by reward scaling or being able to scale down. So it makes no sense to postpone it for a scaling system. Kind of a fundamental flaw in the shadowlands ""leak""--no form of scaling is going to solve those two primary issues that are motivating level squish. You are still going to have 130 levels, and you're still going to not have enough talent tiers or spells to make 130 levels feel impactful, scaling isn't going to give you more spells or reduce levels.

I assumed if it was being postponed as stated, it would be more for technical issues on the back end, not one system counteracting another.

Also, not sure what isn't new about the tech. Party Sync adjusting quest phases for the entire group, adjusting what abilities/essences/traits/etc you have access to, replaying completed quest content for more rewards, etc is very new tech.

[Briselody]

As soon as the build is on the PTR the data miners will strip it bare for everyone to see. I suspect the next steps of the war campaign will be datamined as well.

Hopefully they announce some kind of press release or dev talk on Thursday to tell us the rest of 8.2.5's content.

New game systems are interesting and good for the game going forward but don't really give us anything new to do.

And getting spoilers from datamining is pretty anti-climactic, which they've hopefully realized by this point is going to happen whether they want it to or not.

[Hitei]

I assumed if it was being postponed as stated, it would be more for technical issues on the back end, not one system counteracting another.

Also, not sure what isn't new about the tech. Party Sync adjusting quest phases for the entire group, adjusting what abilities/essences/traits/etc you have access to, replaying completed quest content for more rewards, etc is very new tech.

Party sync (Phasing tech, not scaling tech) and the ability to redo quests (not scaling) are the new techs here. The scaling is just exist timewalking and leveling revamp scaling. The point is that the leak claimed that the reason for no squishing was new scaling tech.

So it makes zero sense for this to be that rumored scaling tech, when nothing here is A) new scaling tech or B) does anything to prevent squishes.

Hopefully they announce some kind of press release or dev talk on Thursday to tell us the rest of 8.2.5's content.

New game systems are interesting and good for the game going forward but don't really give us anything new to do.

And getting spoilers from datamining is pretty anti-climactic, which they've hopefully realized by this point is going to happen whether they want it to or not.

So don't look at the datamining stuff? I'm confused. You want them to talk about new content and you don't want them to spoil new content? We know there's going to be magni/war campaign quests. Like there have been in every other patch.

[Briselody]

So don't look at the datamining stuff? I'm confused. You want them to talk about new content and you don't want them to spoil new content? We know there's going to be magni/war campaign quests. Like there have been in every other patch.

I mean, sure, I could stay off of all forums and media for WoW for the next six months to avoid spoilers. That seems fun.

I'm saying I'd rather they just cover the big things coming in the patch in some kind of announcement (like they did for 8.1 and heritage armor), because that's more exciting than seeing new datamined strings being posted on WoWhead. And they know everything is going to be spoiled as soon as unlocked PTR clients are available so they'd be better served by hyping it up a bit themselves.

With the conclusion of 8.2 we really have no idea what the rest of BfA will be like.

[DeicideUH]

The PTR notes are about some of the features available in the first build.
So, it's still fine to speculate.

We will probably get a much clearer idea when all that juicy datamining starts leaking out and we take a look at new maps, strings, icons, models and such.

[Renley]

Party sync (Phasing tech, not scaling tech) and the ability to redo quests (not scaling) are the new techs here. The scaling is just exist timewalking and leveling revamp scaling. The point is that the leak claimed that the reason for no squishing was new scaling tech.

So it makes zero sense for this to be that rumored scaling tech, when nothing here is A) new scaling tech or B) does anything to prevent squishes.

Fair on the phasing VS scaling. There is new scaling tech though, even if you personally consider it minor. Currently, you can have your level scaled in dungeons only. All that does though is lower your relative stats. 8.2.5 scaling via Party Sync essentially delevels you temporarily in the world and instances, removing abilities, passives, talents, powers(traits/essences), etc that you would not have at that level you have scaled to. That is 100% new scaling tech.

Would that prevent a squish? No idea, I'm not a game engineer/developer. But I do know things can be complicated, so I at least recognize the potential for that to be a thing.

[Hitei]

I mean, sure, I could stay off of all forums and media for WoW for the next six months to avoid spoilers. That seems fun.

I'm saying I'd rather they just cover the big things coming in the patch in some kind of announcement (like they did for 8.1 and heritage armor), because that's more exciting than seeing new datamined strings being posted on WoWhead. And they know everything is going to be spoiled as soon as unlocked PTR clients are available so they'd be better served by hyping it up a bit themselves.

Why would you need to? Just don't look at the stuff. Even in this post you pretty much point out its your own fault.

that's more exciting than seeing new datamined strings being posted on WoWhead

All you have to do is not look at these strings. The only part of the entire 8.2 magni stuff I knew about before hand was that there's something involving the void. Because that's all I looked at. I followed beta and was constantly posting in this thread, but the only thing spoiled about Horde side war campaign for me was that Jaina's brother gets brought back and Voss being actively Horde. If you don't want to spoil things for yourself, don't. It isn't hard.

[Marlamin]

Why would you need to? Just don't look at the stuff. Even in this post you pretty much point out its your own fault.

All you have to do is not look at these strings. The only part of the entire 8.2 magni stuff I knew about before hand was that there's something involving the void. Because that's all I looked at. I followed beta and was constantly posting in this thread, but the only thing spoiled about Horde side war campaign for me was that Jaina's brother gets brought back and Voss being actively Horde. If you don't want to spoil things for yourself, don't. It isn't hard.

Keep in mind spoilers are fine in this thread and can be posted without tags.

[Nyel]

So this is it for 8.2.5? Sure they haven’t announced everything like continuation of the war campaign or whatever but new allied races would have already been mentioned, right?

So if we’ll get Mechagnomes and Vulpera they both might be pre-purchase allied races in 8.3(.5). Would still fit good with a Tinker pre purchase on top.

[Briselody]

Why would you need to? Just don't look at the stuff. Even in this post you pretty much point out its your own fault.

All you have to do is not look at these strings. The only part of the entire 8.2 magni stuff I knew about before hand was that there's something involving the void. Because that's all I looked at. I followed beta and was constantly posting in this thread, but the only thing spoiled about Horde side war campaign for me was that Jaina's brother gets brought back and Voss being actively Horde. If you don't want to spoil things for yourself, don't. It isn't hard.

Jesus dude, I was just saying I hope they do a feature announcement, because those are more fun than reading datamining.

Really didn't need six posts of analysis.

[Shampro]

I mean, even if they add a few campaign quests, that isn't anything mind blowing or substantial at all. Looks pretty bear bones so far outside of the November event.

[DeicideUH]

So this is it for 8.2.5? Sure they haven’t announced everything like continuation of the war campaign or whatever but new allied races would have already been mentioned, right?

They announced some of what will be available in the first build. If vulpera/mechagnomes aren't available in it, they don't need to announce it.

If there's any allied races in this patch, one would expect Blizzard to make a big announcement about it rather than quietly posting in their forums. I'm still expecting a stream this week.

Anyway, datamining should show the goods. If allied races are in, we will find strings, maps, icons and other stuff about it.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Party Sync sounds like Blizz is finally copying the best part of FF14. Level Syncing/Duty Roulettes.


Also the quest changes seems like step 1 in the mythical Major Leveling Revamp that got leaked. Maybe they are going to go full world level-agnostic after all.