WoW Dragonflight Alpha - Encrypted Build 10.0.0.43342

[Wonderment2]

This was actually soon :L

[exochaft]

It is not unlikely that it will launch in late November/December this year. Why? Like you said, it has been in development for a while now. We are also not seeing any huge systems like Covenants, Azerite Gear, Soul Binds, etc. That will require extensive testing. We will see an overhaul on a few systems that are already in game. Ion has stated that they want to push out the new talent system ASAP to give sites like WoWHead time to create calculators for players. I'm hopeful that it will launch this year, because unless they have some really cool stuff in the pre-order/9.2.5 patch (Expanding class/race combos, a new allied race), I cannot foresee 9.2 content lasting the rest of the year without a lot of backlash.

Here's the reading between the lines with what Blizz said: everything can be true, and they could still be much further out from release than most people think. Working on Dragonflight since before Shadowlands is veeeery loose in terms of what it could (and likely) means. You can have a general idea of theme for an expansion two or three years ago and consider it "working on" said expansion. Art assets can be done well in advance compared to systems and designs. Just realizing that there was a huge reversal in many systems and concepts going from Shadowlands to Dragonflight should be enough to tell people that there's a lot that wasn't planned prior to Shadowlands... and all the pushback during Shadowlands probably changed quite a few things with Dragonflight.

[SniperCT]

See, for instance, removing the LFD tool and saying "Well, there is retail if you want that experience".

Honestly I still think that's a mistake. It certainly is a factor (not the only one though) in determining if I'll even bother playing wrath classic.

[valkhy]

You folks are looking at Classic and Retail as the same communities. They've made pretty clear they don't view them as such. Wrath and Retail likely won't impact each other if they release in a major way.

See, for instance, removing the LFD tool and saying "Well, there is retail if you want that experience".

Well even if some part of the classic community is only classic, there is one part which is retails players which are bored and want some fun.
You can't deny that a lot of ppl play classic when it's "grey" period on retail.

LFD removal is for classic only community since a lot of ppl (classic and retail) think LFD tool is the cause social died (which is not but just ppl not wanting to connect anymore and want only instant play skipping drama ect., which has been a thing since a lot of popular games like LoL appeared).

- - - Updated - - -

Honestly I still think that's a mistake. It certainly is a factor (not the only one though) in determining if I'll even bother playing wrath classic.

It's wrath, it doesn't matter.
You don't have to farm 10 dungeon a day.
Nf is small and you ll have your 270% flying mount.

But hey guess you ll have to spam in dala to find your group huh. Real social experience and bonding here.

[SniperCT]

Well even if some part of the classic community is only classic, there is one part which is retails players which are bored and want some fun.
You can't deny that a lot of ppl play classic when it's "grey" period on retail.

LFD removal is for classic only community since a lot of ppl (classic and retail) think LFD tool is the cause social died (which is not but just ppl not wanting to connect anymore and want only instant play skipping drama ect., which has been a thing since a lot of popular games like LoL appeared).

- - - Updated - - -



It's wrath, it doesn't matter.
You don't have to farm 10 dungeon a day.
Nf is small and you ll have your 270% flying mount.

But hey guess you ll have to spam in dala to find your group huh. Real social experience and bonding here.

I made some good friends in wrath thanks to the LFD. Ended up rolling an alt on their server and raiding with them for cataclysm. So yeah, it was a really great social experience and bonding, thank you! Plus it was way easier to get dungeons going even with full/nearfull guild groups.

I also just really enjoyed the experience of being able to work on a bunch of alts and do dungeons on them without having to spend too much time getting a group set up. My experience in classic and TBC classic has basically just been...not bothering to run dungeons at all, getting bored and going back to other games. Though I'm trying to give leveling up some alts in retail again a shot.

[LostSinclair]

And suddenly Nov 22 doesn't seem as far fetched anymore. Can't wait for new info to start rolling in.

[Ringthane]

So what? Can we play it? No? Then what does it matter? Of course there are alpha builds.

Get back to me when there's a build I can play and I'll try to care.

[Sensa1]

And suddenly Nov 22 doesn't seem as far fetched anymore. Can't wait for new info to start rolling in.

I don't understand the hype for a nov/dec release. We've had 3 consecutive retail expansions that were rushed out the door with lipstick on a pig reworkings of borrowed powers and not much else going for them. The majority were unhappy with the final product. And, yet, the moment they announce a new expansion everyone, seemingly, wants it rushed out the door yet again.

Additionally, all those who excused Blizzard's efforts in Shadowlands due to the pandemic logically have to admit that the work on the next expansion would have been similarly impacted.

Also, if you do the math its about a year, on average, from hitting wowdev to release which would be march/april 2023.

If they release Dragonflight before 2023 its almost guaranteed to be a piece of crap.

to paraphrase Brack "You think you want a 2022 release but you don't"

[Atriel]

I don't understand the hype for a nov/dec release. We've had 3 consecutive retail expansions that were rushed out the door with lipstick on a pig reworkings of borrowed powers and not much else going for them. The majority were unhappy with the final product. And, yet, the moment they announce a new expansion everyone, seemingly, wants it rushed out the door yet again.

Additionally, all those who excused Blizzard's efforts in Shadowlands due to the pandemic logically have to admit that the work on the next expansion would have been similarly impacted.

Also, if you do the math its about a year, on average, from hitting wowdev to release which would be march/april 2023.

If they release Dragonflight before 2023 its almost guaranteed to be a piece of crap.

to paraphrase Brack "You think you want a 2022 release but you don't"

Because the notion of 9.2 for the remainder of the year is awful to think about. We don't have the same looming threat of a shit system at launch, because, well, there really isn't one now. We have a revamped Talent tree, which, is not all that different than what we have now, or what we have had in the past. We have profession update, which isn't anything too crazy to test at face value. The UI update... does that really need extensive testing? The dragon riding system is probably the most grand of the new systems, and even then, it won't be much different than the existing system of jumping into a vehicle and getting a 4 button UI for glide/descend/frilly ability.

With all that down, all that is left is class testing, and if they don't do any HUGE shake-ups for classes, there won't be much testing needed either. Like, I understand that people are all apprehensive at them releasing an "Unfinished" product, but the whole intention of this expansion was to double-down on existing systems to update instead of adding in a brand-new, extensive system. It absolutely could be tested in full by the end of year if they start Alpha in May.

To add: Those that use the added season 4 as a reason why they can't release the expansion this year, you do realize that they never stated how long the season would go, and also that it is filler and not anything unique. It could run from Aug/Sept. until the expansion launch in late Nov/Dec and still give players something to do for a few months. An expansion launch is > some filler season.

[SinR]

So it begins

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Because the notion of 9.2 for the remainder of the year is awful to think about. We don't have the same looming threat of a shit system at launch, because, well, there really isn't one now. We have a revamped Talent tree, which, is not all that different than what we have now, or what we have had in the past. We have profession update, which isn't anything too crazy to test at face value. The UI update... does that really need extensive testing? The dragon riding system is probably the most grand of the new systems, and even then, it won't be much different than the existing system of jumping into a vehicle and getting a 4 button UI for glide/descend/frilly ability.

With all that down, all that is left is class testing, and if they don't do any HUGE shake-ups for classes, there won't be much testing needed either. Like, I understand that people are all apprehensive at them releasing an "Unfinished" product, but the whole intention of this expansion was to double-down on existing systems to update instead of adding in a brand-new, extensive system. It absolutely could be tested in full by the end of year if they start Alpha in May.

To add: Those that use the added season 4 as a reason why they can't release the expansion this year, you do realize that they never stated how long the season would go, and also that it is filler and not anything unique. It could run from Aug/Sept. until the expansion launch in late Nov/Dec and still give players something to do for a few months. An expansion launch is > some filler season.

I would think talent revamp would warrant some decent class changes but umm all right.

[Ferlion]

I don't understand the hype for a nov/dec release. We've had 3 consecutive retail expansions that were rushed out the door with lipstick on a pig reworkings of borrowed powers and not much else going for them. The majority were unhappy with the final product. And, yet, the moment they announce a new expansion everyone, seemingly, wants it rushed out the door yet again.

Additionally, all those who excused Blizzard's efforts in Shadowlands due to the pandemic logically have to admit that the work on the next expansion would have been similarly impacted.

Also, if you do the math its about a year, on average, from hitting wowdev to release which would be march/april 2023.

If they release Dragonflight before 2023 its almost guaranteed to be a piece of crap.

to paraphrase Brack "You think you want a 2022 release but you don't"

The thing about this is most of what was wrong with Shadowlands and BFA isn't actually quality. Story aside, which Blizzard has always been spotty on, it's been Dev decisions where feedback literally didn't matter.

The zones, mechanics, gameplay (even if unpopular), music, micro-stories, etc were all well received in the sense that it all worked. It wasnt buggy. It wasn't something more time would fix.
Blizzard's issue is never quality. It's never really buggy, though bugs do exist. It's never incomplete gameplay. It's never poor zone and sound design.
It's never something a longer beta period will actually help.

Time is not going to fix them thinking a bad system is good.

Shadowlands is a weird mix of overtuning everything (and again, they absolutely refused to address that until it was way too late, but that's a dev decision. It was their choice.) and poor story, which absolutely WAS an issue. But art wise, raid wise, thematics, mechanics..

All the systems work well mechanically, just not really in a way the player base is happy with.

Peoples complaints with WoW largely miss the mark. Blizzard quality is as good as ever. Everything always works. It's extremely polished.

It's just not what players want. Which is why them responding so much to 9.2 has been so surprising.

[Atriel]

I would think talent revamp would warrant some decent class changes but umm all right.

Spoilers: It won't. It will add the usual % based stat increases scattered in with the existing talents we have now. They will likely scatter in branching augments, such as "Regrowth: Increases HoT speed" or you can choose "Regrowth: Gets rid of HoT for a bigger heal, has a CD".

Class changes such as a complete overhaul on the class, like how Shadow Priest just got a big update, etc.

They also want the talents out ASAP to give WoWHead and other sites time to create calculators for them.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Spoilers: It won't. It will add the usual % based stat increases scattered in with the existing talents we have now. They will likely scatter in branching augments, such as "Regrowth: Increases HoT speed" or you can choose "Regrowth: Gets rid of HoT for a bigger heal, has a CD".

Class changes such as a complete overhaul on the class, like how Shadow Priest just got a big update, etc.

They also want the talents out ASAP to give WoWHead and other sites time to create calculators for them.

Still seems overly confident about that.

[SniperCT]

The thing about this is most of what was wrong with Shadowlands and BFA isn't actually quality. Story aside, which Blizzard has always been spotty on, it's been Dev decisions where feedback literally didn't matter.

The zones, mechanics, gameplay (even if unpopular), music, micro-stories, etc were all well received in the sense that it all worked. It wasnt buggy. It wasn't something more time would fix.
Blizzard's issue is never quality. It's never really buggy, though bugs do exist. It's never incomplete gameplay. It's never poor zone and sound design.
It's never something a longer beta period will actually help.

Time is not going to fix them thinking a bad system is good.

Shadowlands is a weird mix of overtuning everything (and again, they absolutely refused to address that until it was way too late, but that's a dev decision. It was their choice.) and poor story, which absolutely WAS an issue. But art wise, raid wise, thematics, mechanics..

All the systems work well mechanically, just not really in a way the player base is happy with.

Peoples complaints with WoW largely miss the mark. Blizzard quality is as good as ever. Everything always works. It's extremely polished.

It's just not what players want. Which is why them responding so much to 9.2 has been so surprising.

I agree with pretty much everything said here.

[Sensa1]

Because the notion of 9.2 for the remainder of the year is awful to think about. We don't have the same looming threat of a shit system at launch, because, well, there really isn't one now. We have a revamped Talent tree, which, is not all that different than what we have now, or what we have had in the past. We have profession update, which isn't anything too crazy to test at face value. The UI update... does that really need extensive testing? The dragon riding system is probably the most grand of the new systems, and even then, it won't be much different than the existing system of jumping into a vehicle and getting a 4 button UI for glide/descend/frilly ability.

With all that down, all that is left is class testing, and if they don't do any HUGE shake-ups for classes, there won't be much testing needed either. Like, I understand that people are all apprehensive at them releasing an "Unfinished" product, but the whole intention of this expansion was to double-down on existing systems to update instead of adding in a brand-new, extensive system. It absolutely could be tested in full by the end of year if they start Alpha in May.

To add: Those that use the added season 4 as a reason why they can't release the expansion this year, you do realize that they never stated how long the season would go, and also that it is filler and not anything unique. It could run from Aug/Sept. until the expansion launch in late Nov/Dec and still give players something to do for a few months. An expansion launch is > some filler season.

I would posit that the 3rd expansion involving borrowed powers required only cosmetic lipstick on a pig renamed borrowed powers involving minimal coding effort because they were using the same basic code as the past 2 expansion - the borrowed power "engine" had already been developed. I would also posit, conversely, that creating a new talent system that will be robust enough to last for several expansions and extensively reworking all professions will require a lot more coding and testing than the 3rd expansion with the 3rd iteration of borrowed powers did.

[LostSinclair]

I would think talent revamp would warrant some decent class changes but umm all right.

It was stated they plan to get Talents rushed out the door and into player hands asap. Like before Beta if possible, so the theorycrafters and what not can start sifting through it. I think it might go faster than we think.

[Mhyroth]

Anything released in 2022 will be a complete and utter mess.
There are currently no systems (that we know about), but that doesn't mean it can't be released full of broken things.

[Magicon]

So it begins

best comment xD

[Unholyground]

I have gotten Beta/Alpha every time since Legion. Hopefully I get in again!