Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Oh sad. What exactly did they change with the dark ranger helm? Will it look worse now on certain distances or what?

From what Marl says that sounds like it, yeah. At a distance it'll render a lower quality version to save on resources.

[Marlamin]

Oh sad. What exactly did they change with the dark ranger helm? Will it look worse now on certain distances or what?

It'll probably look a bit lower detail at a distance, but the point of it being at longer distance means it won't be noticable (look up "level of detail" which was they pretty much added these skins for).

[Lady Atia]

It'll probably look a bit lower detail at a distance, but the point of it being at longer distance means it won't be noticable (look up "level of detail" which was they pretty much added these skins for).

Mhm weird. Is that change for all levels of graphics or just for lower ones? Like, have they ever nerfed graphics before??

[Marlamin]

Also, a note in general, with influencers still repeatedly talking about stuff without giving or bothering to figure out any context and making statements that can be interpreted in many ways (e.g. "many new skin files added"), don't let that kind of stuff hit the "hype centers" of the brain.

Do your due diligence before talking about it/spreading it, and if you don't know how to, wait for others to do so before generating/spreading hype around something you don't actually understand. Would save quite a few people from getting hyped up over nothing, which happens far too often in here.

Mhm weird. Is that change for all levels of graphics or just for lower ones? Like, have they ever nerfed graphics before??

This is an extremely common thing that happens pretty much every time they touch a model that doesn't have these files/level of detail levels generated yet (like these models which haven't been touched since they were added in 8.1). Not something that really affects anything in the end unless they messed with the original model, calling it "nerfed graphics" is vastly misinterpreting what happened.

[TriHard]

I'm not caught up but is something cool happening or are people just discussing random stuff now?

[Veluren]

Pre-order Evoker would be my pipe dream, but I know I've said (Maybe in this thread as well) I can't see it happening with a playerbase so obsessed with the meta and blizzard trying so hard to push M+ seasons as an Esport, a new class into the mix, much less one thrown in as a hail mary with no public testing, would be too much of a shakeup and cause too much chaos.

[Mutineer]

Yeah, they're 10.0 at the earliest it seems, which I suppose is 6-10 months away?

[Merryck]

Pre-order Evoker would be my pipe dream, but I know I've said (Maybe in this thread as well) I can't see it happening with a playerbase so obsessed with the meta and blizzard trying so hard to push M+ seasons as an Esport, a new class into the mix, much less one thrown in as a hail mary with no public testing, would be too much of a shakeup and cause too much chaos.

They would need to design talents for them which wouldn't be worth it since they would only be used for around 4-6 months, assuming they came out in Season 4. The time to design those talents, figuring out the scaling and tier sets, just for season 4, would be better spent developing them for Dragonflight.

[Revamp Man]

Is it though? There are a lot of raid fights where you certainly dont need interrupts on everyone.

But don't you remember all the interrupts and CC on shriekwing

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Sure gonna be fun to run a keystone with people who didn't pick their interrupt.

If people don't have the interrupt they either
1. Forgot to swap talent builds
OR
2. Should get kicked

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We will get evoker in 10.0 as part of pre-order bonus
Even that won't happen for another 6 months minimum

[Tyrien]

There is no way that Evoker or Dracthyr are coming before 10.0. They will most likely sell it as a preorder bonus, dressed up as ‘Early Access to Dracthyr *when 10.0 hits’. Remember just because they will go live with 10.0, doesn’t mean everyone gets access to them, you still have to buy Dragonflight, so prepatch will give early access to those who preorder before the release date.

This was the same case with Demon Hunters in Legion and I see no reason why they would change that for Evokers.

Besides the obvious fact that it is entirely pointless for them to work on a temporary talent system which will be changed anyway.

When preorders do go live, I highly expect the only ‘features’ we get are some transmog, a mount and maybe a cool hearthstone effect, just like we had for Shadowlands.

I think this time around, season 4 is meant to give us the extra ‘fun bit of content’ to tide us over to 10.0.

I would expect we get a release date reveal in August around Gamescom and then preorders go live along with the start of season 4.

I reckon in these coming weeks around the typical ‘E3 time’ is when we will see Alpha. But first we need to see the new talents for each class. Was hoping to see two more yesterday but they don’t usually post ‘news’ on a Monday. So I expect to see more talents this week and once they are all out, we get alpha.

But also this is all speculation, so who knows what they might do.

[Luck4]

We aren't losing anything from not having a full world revamp.

We're losing Azeroth world-building, lore development behind most playable races, the usability of those places when it fits current expansion lore, all the stuff that happened in books and on ingame texts since Cataclysm, possible new battlegrounds, new incursions from old enemies, new NPC factions, new cities/villages, old enemy factions like Scarlet Crusade/Scourge/Twilight Hammer/Bloodsail Buccaneers/Grimtotem/ and even the Burning Legion.

You fail to see how good would be to see smalls hubs of every playable race spread across Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, Vulpera caravans in the Barrens to Tanaris, Gadgetzan revamped into a neutral city, Nightborne settlement in Azshara, Mag'har Iron Horde machinery, Gilneas as a city, a new World Tree for Night Elves, Lordaeron city as the main hub for the Forsaken, Quel'thalas restored, Exodar rebuilt as a proper Draenei city, Draenei/Lightforged machinery, Alterac Mountain and its kingdom rebuilt as a new hostile zone, Plaguelands cleansed, new Zandalari harbors in Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, Drust incursions in Duskwood, feral Worgen in Kalimdor, Pandaren farms in Westfall and the Barrens, Void Elf hubs replacing the old High Elf ones, Kul'tirans taking control of Southshore/Menethil Harbor, Highmountain settlements in Stonetalon Peak/Mount Hyjal, Gnomeragan restored with the help of Mechagnomes, Arakkoa/Ethereals in Azeroth.

The list goes on, it's a shame that instead of a World Revamp we'll keep going to alien places such as Zerethi Mortis, while a vast and majestic world rots with the lack of creativity from Blizzard.

Not to mention that everything I suggested above already has assets ready to use from recent expansions, unlike a new expansion where they need to make nearly everything from scratch.

The moment they do a revamp all of your problems start building again because they can't do one every expansion.

The problem will not start again anytime soon if they make an evergreen revamp, bringing the world back to Vanilla standards with local threats and lore about the zone instead of a major threat destroying everything. Not to mention the graphical revamp. WoW hasn't changed much graphically speaking since Mists of Pandaria (2012). Look at this comparison:







A revamp now, graphically speaking, would last until the game's shutdown.

Not to mention all of the things you list as problems didn't even get addressed with Cataclysm the last time they did a revamp and you want them to do even more while still providing enough content for end-game.

This time around they need to make the revamped zones the end-game zones and only add new raids and dungeons on top of it, Cataclysm failed because Blizzard revamped thousands of quests, many old zones, and on top of that, five completely new zones with hundreds of new quests.

[ExiHext]

We still didn't hear about improved legos in season 4. I guess that is at least one thing that's in those ptr patches.

[rhorle]

The list goes on, it's a shame that instead of a World Revamp we'll keep going to alien places such as Zerethi Mortis, while a vast and majestic world rots with the lack of creativity from Blizzard.

So you haven't heard about the next expansion taking place on the Dragon Isles I take it? What you want unrealistic for any game and proven to be unrealistic for Blizzard. They can't keep updating old zones to make them "living" that keep up with the story and stuff. At some point it would go back to the way it is now post-cataclysm revamp. You again ignore how a world revamp is wasted resources when we have Chromie time that doesn't even require players to visit those zones. Making the revamped zones end-game zones won't be a full world revamp. It is impossible to do what you want in just one expansion of end-game zones. If you tackle it in multiple expansions then all of the problems you say exists now start all over again.

It is also silly to think that a full world revamp wouldn't require new assets to be created. Even more so when it is the focus of end-game zones. You can't just copy and paste the last few expansions assets and get what you claim you want. Lol.

As for graphical quality. MoP required a 2004(minimum) and a 2007 (recommended) . Shadowlands requires a 2013 (minimum) and a 2016 (recommended). You can compare landscape shots all you want but the graphical quality has improved over the years just by the change in system specifications for graphics cards. It also indicates that any graphical revamp wouldn't last until the game shuts down. Because only a fool thinks it will shut down any time soon.

[Luck4]

The World that you want revamped isn't even the default starting experience for new players.

And the only reason behind it is because Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, are terribly outdated graphically speaking.

And NO, it has nothing to do with lore continuity, as new players will be directed to Zandalar/Kul'tiras in Dragonflight and then to Dragon Isles, without even stepping in Shadowlands.

[rhorle]

And the only reason behind it is because Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, are terribly outdated graphically speaking.

Wrong. Blizzard has said that it has nothing to do with graphics but with the mechanics and quest design. They want new players to have a modern experience that reflects how the latest expansion will play when those players get to level cap. It doesn't matter anyways because no matter the reasons it is pointless to do a cata style revamp for optional zones.

[Luck4]

As for graphical quality. MoP required a 2004(minimum) and a 2007 (recommended) . Shadowlands requires a 2013 (minimum) and a 2016 (recommended). You can compare landscape shots all you want but the graphical quality has improved over the years just by the change in system specifications for graphics cards. It also indicates that any graphical revamp wouldn't last until the game shuts down. Because only a fool thinks it will shut down any time soon.

Okay, now you're posting in bad faith, my point isn't that we hadn't graphical updates since Mists of Pandaria, but the fact that they're less noticeable nowadays because WoW is reaching the graphical limit of its engine.

For instance one of the new Dragonflight zones (10.0) looks pretty close to Gorgrond (6.0), two zones that are nearly ten years apart from each other.



But let's compare Alterac Mountains, a place that had a texture resolution uplift in Cataclysm, with Kun-lai and Drustvar:



2012 VS 2018 VS 2004 (2010 Remaster)

There's a HUGE gap between Alterac compared with the other two.

[rhorle]

Okay, now you're posting in bad faith, my point isn't that we hadn't graphical updates since Mists of Pandaria, but the fact that they're less noticeable nowadays because WoW is reaching the graphical limit of its engine.

It isn't reaching any limit of its engine. Blizzard has overhauled it over the years and can do so again when needed. I'm not arguing in bad faith just because I don't agree with your claims.

[Luck4]

Blizzard has said that it has nothing to do with graphics but with the mechanics and quest design.

Sure...

They want new players to have a modern experience

Obviously a "modern experience" doesn't include better graphics.

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It isn't reaching any limit of its engine. Blizzard has overhauled it over the years and can do so again when needed. I'm not arguing in bad faith just because I don't agree with your claims.

You're not even reading my posts. I'm giving graphical comparisons that you refuse to acknowledge.

[rhorle]

Obviously a "modern experience" doesn't include better graphics.

Better graphics are included by default because of it being a recent expansion. For one that keeps doing comparison I didn't think that was something that had to be pointed out.

You're not even reading my posts. I'm giving graphical comparisons that you refuse to acknowledge.

Which have nothing to do with the graphical limitations of the engine or WoW nearing its maximum lifetime quality. I've read your posts. I don't need to line by line address everything to know that your comparisons don't mean what you think they mean.

[Luck4]

Better graphics are included by default because of it being a recent expansion. For one that keeps doing comparison I didn't think that was something that had to be pointed out.

Yeah, I wonder why they didn't keep the 2004 graphics until now, since the new player doesn't care about it. I mean, people never asked for player character models revamp or anything. It's really weird.

Btw, talking about player models there's an interesting line from Chris Robinson about the "limitless" WoW engine, at 10:53 of the WOD Art panel.



Anyway, I'm not going to derail this thread further, other people will see these comments and they can judge by themselves what they wanna believe in.