Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Valysar]

Let's hope that with all the new wings everywhere, they give DH new wings skins...

[Nymrohd]

Or just a traditional raid with rooms, outdoors and corridors. Where did we have seen it before? :v

I just think there is a specific fantasy in fighting a huge creature. Question is how to do it justice. Imagine if for instance we fight Galakrond while using Dragonriding. Not as vehicle combat; we'd still be using our abilities. Just instead of our movement skills we use the dragons.

[micwini]

Weve been saying that for 6-8 years. At this point it feels like copium, but I want it so badly.

I can see it like this:
- 10.0 Intro raid, finishing up Dragon Isle zone story
- 10.1 Furthering general Dragonflight story. End boss of the raid is whatever caused the blue shit in the water. It causes nozdormu to become murozond
- 10.2 Caverns of time raid. We try to prevent Nozdormu from becoming infinite. At the end boss (whoever that could be) Murozond pops up and transports us back in time pre sundering 'permanently' 10.000 years ago.
- 10.3 Few zones, like argus in the pre-sundering world. The raid has us trying to get back to the present. Last boss is Murozond. After his defeat we will be victorious. We will return to the present, only to find out we overshot and are actually 5-10 years in the future..... World revamp.

[Makabreska]

I just think there is a specific fantasy in fighting a huge creature. Question is how to do it justice. Imagine if for instance we fight Galakrond while using Dragonriding. Not as vehicle combat; we'd still be using our abilities. Just instead of our movement skills we use the dragons.

We wont get a massive boss model due to technical limitations. N'zoth was huge, but it was all skybox. If they wont divide him into parts and innards, then it wont be very spectacular.

[Vyomesh2]

I can see it like this:
- 10.0 Intro raid, finishing up Dragon Isle zone story
- 10.1 Furthering general Dragonflight story. End boss of the raid is whatever caused the blue shit in the water. It causes nozdormu to become murozond
- 10.2 Caverns of time raid. We try to prevent Nozdormu from becoming infinite. At the end boss (whoever that could be) Murozond pops up and transports us back in time pre sundering 'permanently' 10.000 years ago.
- 10.3 Few zones, like argus in the pre-sundering world. The raid has us trying to get back to the present. Last boss is Murozond. After his defeat we will be victorious. We will return to the present, only to find out we overshot and are actually 5-10 years in the future..... World revamp.

World of Wacraft: A Realm Reborn.

[micwini]

World of Wacraft: A Realm Reborn.

Awakenings!

[Vyomesh2]

Awakenings!

They could even milk a World Revamp Expansion into two expansions!
World of Warcraft: Eastern Kingdoms
World of Warcraft: Kalimdor

[Teriz]

Any word yet on when Preorders are going to drop?

[micwini]

Any word yet on when Preorders are going to drop?

I think preorders arent up yet because if they do, they have to put an ultimate date for when it releases. Like for SL it was "on or before 31-12-2020. I think the reason we can't preorder yet, is because they are on the fence whether its going to be On or before 31-12-2022 Or something like 31-03-2023. I reckon maybe its a big deal whether that ultimatum is at the end of this year or beginning of next year.
It could also be signal that they want to build trust and if they did preorders instantly it would seem like they would just do some good PR to get sales in. But this one is a bit copium.

[rhorle]

I think preorders arent up yet because if they do, they have to put an ultimate date for when it releases.

They can put any date they want though. They are not legally required to deliver by the end of the year they first offer it for sale. December 31st is just a default date entered into point of sale systems because they require some kind of date. They could have it for the year 2032 and it would still work just fine.

[micwini]

They can put any date they want though. They are not legally required to deliver by the end of the year they first offer it for sale. December 31st is just a default date entered into point of sale systems because they require some kind of date. They could have it for the year 2032 and it would still work just fine.

Yea I know, but maybe they are still deciding on end of this year or early next year. Maybe that it has some important financial consequences or something and they just don't know yet.

[Jodmos]

I think preorders arent up yet because if they do, they have to put an ultimate date for when it releases. Like for SL it was "on or before 31-12-2020. I think the reason we can't preorder yet, is because they are on the fence whether its going to be On or before 31-12-2022 Or something like 31-03-2023. I reckon maybe its a big deal whether that ultimatum is at the end of this year or beginning of next year.
It could also be signal that they want to build trust and if they did preorders instantly it would seem like they would just do some good PR to get sales in. But this one is a bit copium.

I don't think that last one is as far off as you may think. They showed very little at the reveal really. Most of it was gushing over each other and what they had done but without actually showing anything that a player could see and understand were the system is headed. I don't think this expansion is as far on as others have been when revealed by some margin.

[rhorle]

Yea I know, but maybe they are still deciding on end of this year or early next year. Maybe that it has some important financial consequences or something and they just don't know yet.

They could still choose a specific release date after pre-orders go live though. That is why companies pick the 31st because it allows them a bunch of time to delay if needed. They can also delay to the next year and at worst they have to offer a refund.

There is little reason to speculate on why pre-orders are not live yet because it could be anything.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't think that last one is as far off as you may think. They showed very little at the reveal really. Most of it was gushing over each other and what they had done but without actually showing anything that a player could see and understand were the system is headed. I don't think this expansion is as far on as others have been when revealed by some margin.

Which is normal for a "reveal". Even when at a full fledged blizzcon we don't get much more then they showed.

[Chickat]

Once again I completely agree. Damn shame. People look at wow content as a zero sum game. "If someone gets something they liked must mean I didn't get something I like." This game has 18 years of diverse additions. Sometimes you get something that appeals more to you, sometimes you don't, you can't expect the game to cater to your specific desires every single time.

And its totally okay to wait another round for something you like. The devs have even said they are okay with people taking breaks from the game. Its healthy. If 10.0 doesn't seem to be your jam check back in 2 years. Theres hundreds or thousands of other good games out there in the mean time.

[Alexjimithing]

I actually don't think DF is *that early* in development.

I mean if you go to the email they emailed out the URL says, 'Dragonflight Pre Purchase' and as we know from the leak they've already got the different editions planned out.

I personally think they're trying to extend the news cycle on Dragonflight- drip news for a bit, do a 9.2.5 breakdown that also highlights the preorder features, then open preorders.

Who knows though.

[Nightshade711]

They can put any date they want though. They are not legally required to deliver by the end of the year they first offer it for sale. December 31st is just a default date entered into point of sale systems because they require some kind of date. They could have it for the year 2032 and it would still work just fine.

True.
And before like with Legion they’ve even pushed back release dates if I’m not mistaken.

I’m thinking they might still be on the fence for some of the preorder/deluxe edition bonuses.

Like there might be an allied race they’re discussing. Or perhaps they’re even still trying to figure out if the Dracthyr Evokers will be ready in time to be an early addition like Allied Races were.
They are 100% coming in prepatch, but I wonder if they’re trying to consider moving them to 9.2.5 to keep sub counts up like the BfA allied races.

[wowrefugee]

but I wonder if they’re trying to consider moving them to 9.2.5 to keep sub counts up like the BfA allied races.

I really don't think this is in the cards, for one reason:

They would have to create talents for them using the existing system (and balance them around it), and then scrap it for pre-patch using the new talent tree.

[Chickat]

And why are they doing? why they are giving som many customizations for the elf form?



Such a small indie company who get so low income

Im not sure what their budget is tbh. Activison as of this moment controls their game budgets. Just because a game makes 1b a year doesn't mean its going to get anywhere close to that to make an expansion. They probably get 20-50m a year to make WoW. Another 50-100m a year at most for marketing.

If the WoW team is 300 large. Thats probably bigger than they are, but lets roll with it. The average Salary is 80k a year. Some are a bit smaller, some a bit larger, but that's probably about average. Thats 24m dollars a year. Meaning they only allocate 50-60m max for each expansion development. People act like devs spend a billion dollars on game dev. they spend 5-10% gross income back into development. Thats it.

Hopefully Microsoft is willing to pump a bit more money into WoW. Id like to see them first of all give all game devs a 20-50% raise. Then increase WoWs budget by 50-100%. Meaning it would expand the WoW team to like 400 people with each making 100k a year average.

[micwini]

I really don't think this is in the cards, for one reason:

They would have to create talents for them using the existing system (and balance them around it), and then scrap it for pre-patch using the new talent tree.

Yep. There is no way they implement DE's before prepatch because of this reason.

[Chickat]

How can anyone get back to the old ways when the previous expansion destroyed and nullified everything in the established universe, pinning everything under the control of a single person that was never mentioned before?
How can there be any tension left when DEATH has become little more than an old people's retirement home, where you can go and visit them every now and then?
How can anyone look at developers in light of sincerity, when they've been shown to be worthless incompetent contemptuous frauds?
How can anyone think that Blizzard is promoting female characters, while at the same time stripping them of agency and taking away the feminine appeal with which they were originally introduced?

To me, after being a customer for almost 20 years, Blizzard is dead, and Guildwars 2 is the only thing that's keeping me in the MMO field (especially because it's free).

Guild Wars 2 gets even less content than WOW though? Plus there is no gear grind. Cool looking MMO, but not my cup of tea.