Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[TheFirstOnes]

Absolutely not. Pretty much all social medias were way more active back in BfA.

The storyline of BfA, while garbage, was objectively more hype and generated more internet traffic than this one.

I also browse the EU official forum and it's dead now, while back in BfA between 8.1 and 8.2 (where we are now) it was far, far, far more active with way more activity.

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And for the record, before anyone tries to say "oh but the pandemic!!! there wasn't pandemic during bfa that's why!!!", it is time to stop blaming outside circumstances and simply admit that Shadowlands' story is trash and boring. You're not given a reason to care about these furries, smurfs, and vampires that came out of nowhere, while you were given a reason to care about Alliance, Horde, Kul Tiras, Zandalar, Night elves, Forsaken, etc.

If anything you'd think the pandemic would make people use the forums more due to lockdowns, but that clearly isn't the case here

BFA's story was absolute dogshit and the only people that were hyped for it either simply knew it was an Old God expac (Like me), or they wanted the old WoW feel back, which was obviously never going to be the case.

[Revamp Man]

Shadowlands was "delayed" by one month. One month. 9.1 was delayed more than Shadowlands was. And they don't have to cut 9.3 because of the initial Shadowlands delay.

Having to produce more content for Shadowlands (from 9.1 to 9.x) automatically means you're having to invest more time and ressources into it. Having to produce less content for Shadowlands (from 9.1 to 9.x) automatically means you can support or even accelerate development elsewhere as you're saving time and ressources. Make it make sense please.

See right here
The initial date we received DURING THE DELAY got delayed by a month
9.1 was already in production before 9.0 launch as well unless you believe that they wait until after the launch of an expansion and patch to work on the next one.

As for taking someone from one team (SL) and moving them to another (10.0 and 10.1) that doesn’t speed anything up otherwise we would have seen legion faster due to them doubling the team size

The argument over investing more time and money is meaningless when each patch generates revenue
“But expansion sales generate more”
You’ll say
Which is true
But taking sources from point A and placing them on point B doesn’t save anything


But the months spent on a patch generates
Subs
Tokens
Sales
Mounts
Pets

So why screw up the production pipeline to meet some arbitrary date that you can’t meet anyways

[TheFirstOnes]

Y'all do realize they can simply do 2 Patches cause SL is a VERY clear cut expac, yes? Nothing relating to delays or any fucking thing like that, just...ya know...

CAUSE IT'S A VERY SIMPLE EXPAC. Hell, 9.2 is basically predictable at this rate.

[Makorus]

See right here
The initial date we received DURING THE DELAY got delayed by a month
9.1 was already in production before 9.0 launch as well unless you believe that they wait until after the launch of an expansion and patch to work on the next one.

"The specific details of the patch, such as twists and turns, raid bosses, and even some major narrative moments came together at the end of last year and the beginning of this year."

That's literally from an interview.

[Sondrelk]

BFA's story was absolute dogshit and the only people that were hyped for it either simply knew it was an Old God expac (Like me), or they wanted the old WoW feel back, which was obviously never going to be the case.

I dunno, I feel more people were invested in the BfA story simply because it had more to work with.
I was adamant that Blizzard would not shoot themselves in the foot by having 8.3 be N'zoth focused, and I debated that at length both before and after.

With Shadowlands meanwhile noone is interested in discussing it because there really isn't anything substantial to discuss. And once the expansion loses inertia it's difficult to get it going again, especially when 9.1 is only a slight continuation of 9.0, there isn't really anything intriguing to discuss going forwards either. There isn't well known areas like Nyalotha or a potential Thunder Bluff or Teldrassil raid like BfA could have ended up with.

[Revamp Man]

"The specific details of the patch, such as twists and turns, raid bosses, and even some major narrative moments came together at the end of last year and the beginning of this year."

That's literally from an interview.

Came together is not the same as “we just started”

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I dunno, I feel more people were invested in the BfA story simply because it had more to work with.
I was adamant that Blizzard would not shoot themselves in the foot by having 8.3 be N'zoth focused, and I debated that at length both before and after.

With Shadowlands meanwhile noone is interested in discussing it because there really isn't anything substantial to discuss. And once the expansion loses inertia it's difficult to get it going again, especially when 9.1 is only a slight continuation of 9.0, there isn't really anything intriguing to discuss going forwards either. There isn't well known areas like Nyalotha or a potential Thunder Bluff or Teldrassil raid like BfA could have ended up with.

I wish they didn’t scrap archeology

Their excuse “we won’t be exploring the past” got thrown out the window in the first patch

Shadowlands story can’t even be speculated about because it is so shallow they can change it in a month

[Sondrelk]

Came together is not the same as “we just started”

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I wish they didn’t scrap archeology

Their excuse “we won’t be exploring the past” got thrown out the window in the first patch

Shadowlands story can’t even be speculated about because it is so shallow they can change it in a month

Archaeololgy was overrated, it was only kept aloft from the occasional mount or unique weapon.
The only time it actually felt warranted was back in Cata when it was pretty much the sole reason to go and explore revamped zones when you were max level. Ever since then it has been the most shallow of mechanics. If taking a break from it is what will help the devs make it interesting again then I welcome that.

It's not really that SL story is prone to change, it is just that there is so little we knew from before that the discussion is almost solely on how it retcons or otherwise diminishes previous lore, as opposed to BfA discussing Nazjatar or Ny'alotha.

[therumblings]

Archaeology "not making sense in the Shadowlands" according to Blizzard, then making Korthia an entire zone all about archaeology and discovering ancient relics, even remaking the pristine showcase room, is the funniest thing ever.

[Raetary]

Archaeology "not making sense in the Shadowlands" according to Blizzard, then making Korthia an entire zone all about archaeology and discovering ancient relics, even remaking the pristine showcase room, is the funniest thing ever.

You don't even need Korthia for that, half the brokers run around looking for ancient texts and relics.
The Shadowlands are filled with signs and sights of each realms history.

"We won’t be exploring the past" omegalul, we've been doing exactly that since day one.

[Kiivar86]

Archaeology's been such an afterthought anyway, this is pretty much just putting a bullet in the back of its head at this point.

[Revamp Man]

Archaeololgy was overrated, it was only kept aloft from the occasional mount or unique weapon.
The only time it actually felt warranted was back in Cata when it was pretty much the sole reason to go and explore revamped zones when you were max level. Ever since then it has been the most shallow of mechanics. If taking a break from it is what will help the devs make it interesting again then I welcome that.

It's not really that SL story is prone to change, it is just that there is so little we knew from before that the discussion is almost solely on how it retcons or otherwise diminishes previous lore, as opposed to BfA discussing Nazjatar or Ny'alotha.

I mean all professions only provide that
I liked some of the toys and the lore behind a few of the items was interesting

Shadowlands: choose your covenant it’s meaningful and deep and swapping will cause them to look at you like traitors

Also shadowlands: we are all siblings and will happily help each other out…but the maw walker can’t

Also shadowlands: a maw walker?? There’s been some in the past but none recently

Also also shadowlands: a maw walker??? The prophecy is coming true

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Archaeology's been such an afterthought anyway, this is pretty much just putting a bullet in the back of its head at this point.

But it was a fun little side project

Just like the brawler’s guild

[Makabreska]

I member guildies being mad about Cata Archeology, since it randomly dropped a BiS 2H sword. Other than that, it was super forgettable prof.

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But it was a fun little side project

Just like the brawler’s guild

Brawlers Guild fights had at least a big does of imagination behind them. Hexos was great.

[huth]

"The specific details of the patch, such as twists and turns, raid bosses, and even some major narrative moments came together at the end of last year and the beginning of this year."

That's literally from an interview.

That's nailing down the last parts. You can't do that before you have most of the work done.

[Sondrelk]

I mean all professions only provide that
I liked some of the toys and the lore behind a few of the items was interesting

Shadowlands: choose your covenant it’s meaningful and deep and swapping will cause them to look at you like traitors

Also shadowlands: we are all siblings and will happily help each other out…but the maw walker can’t

Also shadowlands: a maw walker?? There’s been some in the past but none recently

Also also shadowlands: a maw walker??? The prophecy is coming true

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But it was a fun little side project

Just like the brawler’s guild

Other professions are also infinitely less of a hassle. Archaeology meanwhile is the most tedious minigame in the game. Other professions were at the point Archaeology was, but then they got more stuff added to make them more unique and integrated into the game.

Brawlers guild is also more fun as gameplay. Archaeology is both mostly pointless and also not particularly fun. Getting neat little tidbits of lore is fun and all, but Archaeology needs both to have a more tangible benefit to gameplay, as well as generally being more fun to actually do.

As I said, in Cataclysm it was as good as it was going to get in that respect. It had absolutely immense amounts of possible digsites, and with the revamped world, going back to see it was a reason in itself.

[Kiivar86]

But it was a fun little side project

Just like the brawler’s guild

It had been but as time went on less and less work was put into it. Fewer toys (and few toys to begin with), solves, etc. I felt like it was about dead in Legion when they did that two week single solve rotation thing.

Archaeology is also mind numbingly boring. I'd rather fish, even.

If they bring it back, they really need to improve how it works because god. I feel like I lost my mind back in MoP getting every pristine artifact.

Though it was worth it for that title. Favorite title ever.

edit: wasn't even aware there were new things for it in BfA.

[huth]

It had been but as time went on less and less work was put into it. Fewer toys (and few toys to begin with), solves, etc. I felt like it was about dead in Legion when they did that two week single solve rotation thing.

Archaeology is also mind numbingly boring. I'd rather fish, even.

If they bring it back, they really need to improve how it works because god. I feel like I lost my mind back in MoP getting every pristine artifact.

Though it was worth it for that title. Favorite title ever.

edit: wasn't even aware there were new things for it in BfA.

The base gameplay loop was always extremely lacking. I think it would work better as a collection of puzzles of various types, like nonograms, jigsaw puzzles and stuff like that, rather than just a currency collector.

[Kiivar86]

The base gameplay loop was always extremely lacking. I think it would work better as a collection of puzzles of various types, like nonograms, jigsaw puzzles and stuff like that, rather than just a currency collector.

I'd be down for that. Use the various little minigame stuff they've done already, would be kinda neat.

At least it'd engage more than that stupid tripod.

[rainhard]

Archaeology "not making sense in the Shadowlands" according to Blizzard, then making Korthia an entire zone all about archaeology and discovering ancient relics, even remaking the pristine showcase room, is the funniest thing ever.

Feels like korthia is the archeology of the shadowlands, sucks the relics feel so few though, really liked the rank 5 ones.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Feels like korthia is the archeology of the shadowlands, sucks the relics feel so few though, really liked the rank 5 ones.

Holy shit. I played alot each day and I'm at best 2/3 to rank 5. Did you grind chests and rares each day until they stopped dropping research?

[Kereberus]

I'm not even close to rank 5, and I played daily. I must be doing something horribly wrong.