Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Sondrelk]

So seeing as we are closing in on the time when the expansion would normally be close to "ending". What systems would people like to see added in the next major patch to make the game even easier like usual?
Specifically in this case what would be a fitting capstone system to really give players that extra boost we usually get in the final patch of the game?

[huth]

So seeing as we are closing in on the time when the expansion would normally be close to "ending". What systems would people like to see added in the next major patch to make the game even easier like usual?
Specifically in this case what would be a fitting capstone system to really give players that extra boost we usually get in the final patch of the game?

Ending? Did you hit your head? Even under normal circumstances, we'd still have about a year to go.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I hope we trade bdsm sockets for a second legendary slot "soon" (as in early next year..). Then we could at least start to make some interesting builds besides the cooky cutter rubbish.

[huth]

I hope we trade bdsm sockets for a second legendary slot "soon" (as in early next year..). Then we could at least start to make some interesting builds besides the cooky cutter rubbish.

Let's be honest, it'd be less than a week before we have two legendary Cookie Cutter builds.

[Sondrelk]

Ending? Did you hit your head? Even under normal circumstances, we'd still have about a year to go.

Ending as in what would normally be the final patch. The last major patch that could add extra systems like corrupted gear or such.

- - - Updated - - -

I hope we trade bdsm sockets for a second legendary slot "soon" (as in early next year..). Then we could at least start to make some interesting builds besides the cooky cutter rubbish.

I am actually surprised Blizzard didnt partition legendary effects into Throughput and Utility, then make it possible to have one of each. It would require combining effects on pieces not normally available, but it would add some extra incentive to actually gather and use the utility abilities that would otherwise be left useless forever.

[Luck4]

Ending? Did you hit your head? Even under normal circumstances, we'd still have about a year to go.

Yeah, and usually the last patch lasts for nearly a year, so the point stands.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Yeah, and usually the last patch lasts for nearly a year, so the point stands.

It really doesn't. SL has a timeline that is full of things that are unprecedented...cause we're still in a pandemic, work from home etc etc.

[Luck4]

It really doesn't. SL has a timeline that is full of things that are unprecedented...cause we're still in a pandemic, work from home

It's true, which means that 9.2 can be released after 8 months of 9.1, in February, and can last for over a year. I really hope 9.2 is good because I don't see the next expansion coming out before December 2022.

Btw, I noticed something really interesting. So, Blizzard recently added on PTR weather effects to capital cities, everybody knows that, and also they made a hotfix for 9.1.0 to enable it as well. But why do they look so different? What is the point of making a new rain skybox for an old zone that already had one older but working version ready to go?



The 9.1.0 version is the same all the way back from vanilla:

[Sondrelk]

It's true, which means that 9.2 can be released after 8 months of 9.1, in February, and can last for over a year. I really hope 9.2 is good because I don't see the next expansion coming out before December 2022.

Btw, I noticed something really interesting. So, Blizzard recently added on PTR weather effects to capital cities, everybody knows that, and also they made a hotfix for 9.1.0 to enable it as well. But why do they look so different? What is the point of making a new rain skybox for an old zone that already had one older but working version ready to go?

Well the obvious answer is that they had the tech, just not the skybox. And noone is going to care enough to demand a hotfix to add a new skybox texture to an old zone.

The less obvious, but also possible answer is that the skybox is only a part of a larger weather change coming later, and Blizzard is adding the stuff piecemeal when they have the individual pieces ready.

[Nyel]

So seeing as we are closing in on the time when the expansion would normally be close to "ending". What systems would people like to see added in the next major patch to make the game even easier like usual?
Specifically in this case what would be a fitting capstone system to really give players that extra boost we usually get in the final patch of the game?

I really don't understand why we can't mix Covenant stuff, especially now after they pulled the ripcord and Ion stated that Covenants really don't matter anymore. What I mean? Being alligned with Venthyr, but having the option to use a Kyrian Soulbind. If the Covenant system doesn't get "removed" all together in 9.2 and they just call it Shadowlands XYZ where you can freely pick your Covenant skill, Covenant hub and Soulbind - but that might be too much overall.

And yes, there's basically no reason why we can't wear two legendaries at the same time by now (or at least, with 9.2). Besides that? No idea what they could introduce as new "systems" when players definitely grow old of them very quickly, especially after the poor reception that corruption got in 8.3.

Besides that: the more interesting question is when will they announce the next expansion - is an announcement in February during Blizzconline too late to result in a Q4/22 release date? I don't think so, but I'm not entirely sure about their alpha - beta progress. If Alpha goes live shortly after Blizzconline, they would have 8-9 months of expansion testing available, which seems to be enough?

[therumblings]

I don't think covenants in 9.0-9.1 were that bad of a system, but yeah I think at this point combining some covenant stuff is a good choice. For example, instead of just making the mounts/mogs account wide, make them earnable all on the same character regardless of covenant choice.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I don't think covenants in 9.0-9.1 were that bad of a system, but yeah I think at this point combining some covenant stuff is a good choice. For example, instead of just making the mounts/mogs account wide, make them earnable all on the same character regardless of covenant choice.

Isn't that what the 80 unlock does?

Nyels complaint is easily addressed: Conduits, soulbinds and abilities were clearly made and balanced (even if poorly) for one another. Wildy mixing them is just would take too much effort from Blizzard's side.

[Sondrelk]

Isn't that what the 80 unlock does?

Nyels complaint is easily addressed: Conduits, soulbinds and abilities were clearly made and balanced (even if poorly) for one another. Wildy mixing them is just would take too much effort from Blizzard's side.

I think it would pose a problem specifically for soulbinds that have abilities dependent on using a specific covenant ability. How would you for instance manage if you could combine the Warrior venthyr execute with a Necrolord soulbind that buffs you when using what is supposed to be a 2-minute ability. It would either be wildly unbalanced, or require large amounts of balancing.

[therumblings]

Isn't that what the 80 unlock does?

From my understanding it just enables them to be used across all characters, but not earned (like mount drops and such). Conduits, Soulbinds, Abilities, and stuff like that can easily be distributed across all covenants, kinda like new talents.

I think it would pose a problem specifically for soulbinds that have abilities dependent on using a specific covenant ability. How would you for instance manage if you could combine the Warrior venthyr execute with a Necrolord soulbind that buffs you when using what is supposed to be a 2-minute ability. It would either be wildly unbalanced, or require large amounts of balancing.

This is also true, they'd probably have to spend too much time balancing it and which is why it was easier to let players covenant swap without any penalty.

[Sondrelk]

From my understanding it just enables them to be used across all characters, but not earned (like mount drops and such). Conduits, Soulbinds, Abilities, and stuff like that can easily be distributed across all covenants, kinda like new talents.

I kinda hope that is the next step honestly. Keep the covenant abilities and soulbinds bundled together, but allow players to gather all different covenant rewards without having to change anything. Otherwise the ideal solution currently for someone gathering cosmetics on a single character is to potentially just swap constantly, without a penallty there is no reason to stick to a single covenant unless you have literally completed everything, and even then it would still be a benefit to activate the specific teleport networks if you want to do emissaries.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I think it would pose a problem specifically for soulbinds that have abilities dependent on using a specific covenant ability. How would you for instance manage if you could combine the Warrior venthyr execute with a Necrolord soulbind that buffs you when using what is supposed to be a 2-minute ability. It would either be wildly unbalanced, or require large amounts of balancing.

Yeah. I think stuff like Pelagos's orbs already do account for that to some degree, as they just last way shorter on a mage with a 30 sec CD compared to a hunter with 3 minutes, but it would still be a headache and I'm sure there are tons of fringe cases. Hence it's obvious why we don't get that.

- - - Updated - - -

I kinda hope that is the next step honestly. Keep the covenant abilities and soulbinds bundled together, but allow players to gather all different covenant rewards without having to change anything. Otherwise the ideal solution currently for someone gathering cosmetics on a single character is to potentially just swap constantly, without a penallty there is no reason to stick to a single covenant unless you have literally completed everything, and even then it would still be a benefit to activate the specific teleport networks if you want to do emissaries.

So is it confirmed that the 80 unlock does just account wide? The blue post made it sound alot different. The switching is a base feature irrc. I really don't want to install the PTR client just to look that up.

[Nyel]

I wouldn't really say it was a complaint, just an idea on how to open up the system more. Balancing seems as wack as ever, so not sure about it. They might not even allow this for all Soulbinds, but maybe one specific Soulbind per Covenant that's Covenant agnostic. From a lore point with 9.1.5 - as Ion said - it makes no sense that Covenant stuff is mutually exclusive as we are one big Covenant now. From a gameplay perspective... I do understand they don't want to waste too much time on it anymore.

So yes, in the end you're right about it from gameplay mechanics.

[Sondrelk]

You think a Kyrian skill + Kyrian soulbind is more balanced than a Kyrian skill + Nightfae soulbind? How so?

Many of the soulbinds are balanced around things like the Necrolord ability being 2 minutes , while a Kyrian soulbind might be balanced around an ability with half or less of that time. If you allow combining them then you would need to either rebalance it, which is a lot of work, or accept that some combinations will be absolutely broken.
As I mentioned, Necrolord warriors have a 2 minutes cooldown, with it they get a soulbind ability that gives something like 5% extra strength for 15 seconds or something like that. The Venthyr ability meanwhile does not have a cooldown, and while that exact combo might be inherently nerfed because of the limitations of executre there are still 2 other warrior abilities that are shorter than the 2 minute one. One of them I believe is only a minute, which would mean the effect of the Soulbind ability is effectively doubled.

- - - Updated - - -

So is it confirmed that the 80 unlock does just account wide? The blue post made it sound alot different. The switching is a base feature irrc. I really don't want to install the PTR client just to look that up.

Just went to check, and it seems that the mechanic for sharing cosmetics is not yet available. Not completely discounting the possibility that this happens because of most cosmetics being deleted when you copy a character of course, but I got Kyrian to Renown 80, swapped to Necrolord, got that to Renown 80, and when I went back to Kyrian again Adrestes still called me a traitor, and the transmog ensembles I had aquired from Necrolord Renown was nowhere to be seen.

- - - Updated - - -

Just realized I forgot to check mounts. The interface is definitely buggy at the moment, you cannot even see other covenant mounts for some reason, but I managed to keep the selection for one of the mounts open as I swapped, and it seems like the way the system works is that you only gain access to a covenants cosmetics permanently at Renown 80, before that the same limitations apply.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Just went to check, and it seems that the mechanic for sharing cosmetics is not yet available. Not completely discounting the possibility that this happens because of most cosmetics being deleted when you copy a character of course, but I got Kyrian to Renown 80, swapped to Necrolord, got that to Renown 80, and when I went back to Kyrian again Adrestes still called me a traitor, and the transmog ensembles I had aquired from Necrolord Renown was nowhere to be seen.

- - - Updated - - -

Just realized I forgot to check mounts. The interface is definitely buggy at the moment, you cannot even see other covenant mounts for some reason, but I managed to keep the selection for one of the mounts open as I swapped, and it seems like the way the system works is that you only gain access to a covenants cosmetics permanently at Renown 80, before that the same limitations apply.

Hmm that definitely seems not entirely implemented yet. I hope they put a tiny bit of effort in it and make it not super janky.

I was hoping I could just walk into other covenants and spend some anima there, I didn't really want to switch covenant whenever I want to deposit some anima..

[Sondrelk]

Hmm that definitely seems not entirely implemented yet. I hope they put a tiny bit of effort in it and make it not super janky.

I was hoping I could just walk into other covenants and spend some anima there, I didn't really want to switch covenant whenever I want to deposit some anima..

That would probably be the ideal at some point, but I guess until that is potentially added we have to make do with going back to Oribos to swap covenants whenever you want to gather cosmetics at a different one.