Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Makorus]

I mostly want revamp because I want the story to be told in the world. I am entirely OK with continents like MoP as long as they make sense and the things they add enhance and enrich the lore instead of making it cheaper or outright retconing it. I am still e.g. not OK with Broken Isles .

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Btw question. What do you think the added zones will be during Dragonflight? Will we discover more islands? Perhaps limited revamps of 2-3 zones? Maybe some elemental plane we have spend very limited time in like Skywall or Abyssal Maw? Something else entirely (e.g. Uldorus)?

I got a feeling a revamped Dragonblight might be on the table. Maybe we will get another underground zone as a result of the whatever happens in Uldaman as well.

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Could totally see a return to Deepholme involving Wrathions storyline. Besides that? Maybe we'll get an Emerald Dream patch... and I think some kind of nexus-like / The Eye zone for the Blue Dragonflight seems cool, too. Another Caverns of Time thing for Bronze could happen as well. But honestly, I do not expect more than one brand new zone and the usage of another "old" (aka Deepholme / Caverns of Time) zone.

I still find it teribble that there is no floating zone. This was their one chance to make that happen and they simply don't although it would add SO MUCH. Imagine the zone floating in the middle of the continent and you can just jump down or fly down to the other continens (no f* fake loading screens this time, this made Shadowlands terribly unimmersive).

With Dragonriding, I think a flying zone would have been really really cool. You slowly progress further and further up as you upgrade your dragon and your skills.. Probably would have worked well at launch, dunno if it would work as a patch zone.

[Hyrja]

So I was watching Towelliee earlier today, and he said that the current wowdev build is very likely the build that we'll get and that he was told that alpha starts super soon.

[Valysar]

Alpha is "soon" since DF reveal it seems

[Catastrophy349]

I got a feeling a revamped Dragonblight might be on the table. Maybe we will get another underground zone as a result of the whatever happens in Uldaman as well.

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With Dragonriding, I think a flying zone would have been really really cool. You slowly progress further and further up as you upgrade your dragon and your skills.. Probably would have worked well at launch, dunno if it would work as a patch zone.

Here’s what I “think” or “hope” will happen to your point (copium/hopium alert):

1). While none of the current Dragon Isles zones are “floating” by your definition, I’m optimistic that the verticality of these zones will make them “almost feel” floating. For example, my guess is that Dragon-riding is going to be crucial to everything in the expansion: travel, completing quests, maybe even dungeons/raids only being accessible through flight.

2). To further point 1, from looking at the media photos/videos from the announcement, we could see many floating rocks/areas across the zones. These are “likely only accessible” through Dragon-riding (hence your floating continent/zone idea). So, while we may not get a “floating Dragon Isles” or “zones” exactly, this could be their interpretation.

3). Lastly, Dragon-riding is supposed to improve through a talent tree (or similar system) over time. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get either “invisible barriers” preventing us from reaching certain content until our skill is higher OR, quite simply, we can see on our screen areas that are “inaccessible” until our skill is higher.

All in all, Dragon-riding “could” be incredible; I hope it doesn’t fall flat.

[Lady Atia]

Could totally see a return to Deepholme involving Wrathions storyline. Besides that? Maybe we'll get an Emerald Dream patch... and I think some kind of nexus-like / The Eye zone for the Blue Dragonflight seems cool, too. Another Caverns of Time thing for Bronze could happen as well. But honestly, I do not expect more than one brand new zone and the usage of another "old" (aka Deepholme / Caverns of Time) zone.

I still find it teribble that there is no floating zone. This was their one chance to make that happen and they simply don't although it would add SO MUCH. Imagine the zone floating in the middle of the continent and you can just jump down or fly down to the other continens (no f* fake loading screens this time, this made Shadowlands terribly unimmersive).

Floating Zones would have been too similiar to Shadowlands. You know, the realm where everything was basically floating isles haha.

Also Steve Danuser already teased that the Emerald Dream would be more explored with Dragonflight (and we also have Ysera as a pin for the CE which implies her story will actually continue).

[Marcellus1986]

So I was watching Towelliee earlier today, and he said that the current wowdev build is very likely the build that we'll get and that he was told that alpha starts super soon.

Super soon could mean 2 months from now. They need hype around this expansion… 2 talent reveals and 3 months of silence isn’t cutting it.

[Makorus]

Super soon could mean 2 months from now. They need hype around this expansion… 2 talent reveals and 3 months of silence isn’t cutting it.

Why do they need hype now exactly?

[Nyel]

With Dragonriding, I think a flying zone would have been really really cool. You slowly progress further and further up as you upgrade your dragon and your skills.. Probably would have worked well at launch, dunno if it would work as a patch zone.

Honestly, a floating endgame zone (aka the max level zone they teased) makes the most sense due to Dragonriding. In the four zones you're leveling in you get better with Dragonriding and then boom at max level you get a questline or whatever that rewards the skill to ascend to the max level zone with Dragonriding. Missed opportunity.

I mean for me it sounds absolutely logical that - if you incorporate something like Dragonriding - your zones are in the air or floating. It would have been so much cooler to have this feature used on a continent that's actually floating instead of being just another island on the ocean with some floating rocks or whatever.

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Floating Zones would have been too similiar to Shadowlands. You know, the realm where everything was basically floating isles haha.

Also Steve Danuser already teased that the Emerald Dream would be more explored with Dragonflight (and we also have Ysera as a pin for the CE which implies her story will actually continue).

Technically floating but practically the entire world building of the Shadowlands was a major disaster (due to zones being disconnected and that terrible "ride" through space from zone to zone). For the Dragon Isles it totally could have worked WITH a dedicated gameplay feature revolving around that.

[Lady Atia]

Honestly, a floating endgame zone (aka the max level zone they teased) makes the most sense due to Dragonriding. In the four zones you're leveling in you get better with Dragonriding and then boom at max level you get a questline or whatever that rewards the skill to ascend to the max level zone with Dragonriding. Missed opportunity.

I mean for me it sounds absolutely logical that - if you incorporate something like Dragonriding - your zones are in the air or floating. It would have been so much cooler to have this feature used on a continent that's actually floating instead of being just another island on the ocean with some floating rocks or whatever.

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Technically floating but practically the entire world building of the Shadowlands was a major disaster (due to zones being disconnected and that terrible "ride" through space from zone to zone). For the Dragon Isles it totally could have worked WITH a dedicated gameplay feature revolving around that.

It would still have felt the same right after Shadowlands, sadly. I could see it for patch content though since we will have had some break from the "big floating isles" concept.

[Kiivar86]

Didn't they say something about how we'd return to the starter zone for Dracthyr at some point?

Even if they didn't, feels like a safe bet for a patch zone.

[Marlamin]

Super soon could mean 2 months from now.

I feel like (pure gut feeling) it's a matter of days, maybe a week or two at most, at this point. The vendor build means (in my book) that they're closer to wider external testing. If nothing comes up testing wise that's a huge blocker (and what Towelliee said would match up with that), I feel like me taking time off the second week of July was a pretty good guess.

[Catastrophy349]

I feel like (pure gut feeling) it's a matter of days, maybe a week or two at most, at this point. The vendor build means (in my book) that they're closer to wider external testing. If nothing comes up testing wise that's a huge blocker (and what Towelliee said would match up with that), I feel like me taking time off the second week of July was a pretty good guess.

Yeah, at this point we are days to a couple weeks away. At this point, we are so close to the Fourth of July holiday in the states, too. All in all, and looking at past precedent, it's less Soon(TM) and more Soon (literally any time).

[Marlamin]

Yeah, at this point we are days to a couple weeks away. At this point, we are so close to the Fourth of July holiday in the states, too. All in all, and looking at past precedent, it's less Soon(TM) and more Soon (literally any time).

Yep, I personally hit the "don't put phone on DND at night" level on Tuesday, just in case..

[Makorus]

Honestly, a floating endgame zone (aka the max level zone they teased) makes the most sense due to Dragonriding. In the four zones you're leveling in you get better with Dragonriding and then boom at max level you get a questline or whatever that rewards the skill to ascend to the max level zone with Dragonriding. Missed opportunity.

I mean for me it sounds absolutely logical that - if you incorporate something like Dragonriding - your zones are in the air or floating. It would have been so much cooler to have this feature used on a continent that's actually floating instead of being just another island on the ocean with some floating rocks or whatever.

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Technically floating but practically the entire world building of the Shadowlands was a major disaster (due to zones being disconnected and that terrible "ride" through space from zone to zone). For the Dragon Isles it totally could have worked WITH a dedicated gameplay feature revolving around that.

A zone similar to Bloodstone Fen from GW2 would have been really cool. Maybe not quite as... boring as it is in GW2, but the concept of it.

[Dracullus]

Why do they need hype now exactly?

I remember many complains how Shadowlands lacks hype and no one cares about Alpha because OMG TBC SURVEY. I also remember breaking most PC sales on release record from 2012.

[Khaza-R]

I remember many complains how Shadowlands lacks hype and no one cares about Alpha because OMG TBC SURVEY. I also remember breaking most PC sales on release record from 2012.

I feel like only the trailer for SLs was hype deflating. But that's also highly subjective to how you felt about Sylvanas at that point.

Either way, hype isn't a good metric for the quality of an expansion. WoD was the most hype I remember feeling from the devs and the community after a BlizzCon announcement and we all know how that turned out. MoP was one of the most maligned expansions being the first time one of the trailers got more dislikes than likes on TY. But it turned out being one of the most well regarded expansions to date.

[Nyel]

I remember many complains how Shadowlands lacks hype and no one cares about Alpha because OMG TBC SURVEY. I also remember breaking most PC sales on release record from 2012.

Please name me one PC exclusive game that could achieve something similar. Right, none. Maybe Lost Ark could have been it, but that game is free. Same about League of Legends and Co. So don't be so fixated and eroused by this "record" all the time in this thread. All of the major IPs are available on all platforms, which makes this record not as impressive as it seems because it almost exclusively has been set by WoW expansions. And there is no PC only game that you need to purchase every now and then that's as big as WoW. Diablo III back in 2012 achieved this because it was PC exclusive for quite some time as well.

Elden Ring, CoD, FIFA, Pokémon - all of these and many more games would have shattered that record already, but those games are all available on half a dozen platforms most of the time. Or are record-breakers on their singular platform like Pokémon or Animal Crossing.

[Makorus]

Please name me one PC exclusive game that could achieve something similar. Right, none. Maybe Lost Ark could have been it, but that game is free. Same about League of Legends and Co. So don't be so fixated and eroused by this "record" all the time in this thread. All of the major IPs are available on all platforms, which makes this record not as impressive as it seems because it almost exclusively has been set by WoW expansions. And there is no PC only game that you need to purchase every now and then that's as big as WoW. Diablo III back in 2012 achieved this because it was PC exclusive for quite some time as well.

Elden Ring, CoD, FIFA, Pokémon - all of these and many more games would have shattered that record already, but those games are all available on half a dozen platforms most of the time. Or are record-breakers on their singular platform like Pokémon or Animal Crossing.

I mean, I don't know why you are trying to downplay that.

The quickest selling exclusive on the PS4 was TLOU2 with 4 Million sales during its opening weekend.

Shadowlands had 3.7 Million on launch day. Sure, not as much, but certainly not as bad or irrelevant as you pretend it is.

Legends Arceus sold 6.7 Million in a week, but comparing Switch sales and especially Pokemon sales to PS4 sales or WoW sales is stupid. It's actually really hard to find launch day sales. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the best selling Switch game, yet only sold 1.2 Million on launch day.

[Kiivar86]

Legends Arceus sold 6.7 Million in a week, but comparing Switch sales and especially Pokemon sales to PS4 sales or WoW sales is stupid.

It is kinda fascinating to do so though, especially when you factor in how Pokemon is the highest grossing media franchise in the world while Warcraft is 40th (just below Space Invaders and just above League of Legends though LoL's estimated total revenue now is a decimal point higher, interestingly).

So yeah, on the one hand comparing it to the the sale of a game in the world's highest grossing media franchise is a bit much, but on the other hand its a good comparison in that it sold pretty damn well for something 39 ranks below Pokemon.

(Also I just find it fascinating to link the list and see where things are ranked)

[Nyel]

I mean, I don't know why you are trying to downplay that.

The quickest selling exclusive on the PS4 was TLOU2 with 4 Million sales during its opening weekend.

Shadowlands had 3.7 Million on launch day. Sure, not as much, but certainly not as bad or irrelevant as you pretend it is.

Legends Arceus sold 6.7 Million in a week, but comparing Switch sales and especially Pokemon sales to PS4 sales or WoW sales is stupid. It's actually really hard to find launch day sales. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the best selling Switch game, yet only sold 1.2 Million on launch day.

I'm not trying to downplay it, just saying that there simply is no competition to break or shatter these records. Competition in that regard does not exist.

The problem with the 3.7 million on launch day is that we don't know if they count pre-orders into that. And you could pre-order Shadowlands for several months. On top of that, Shadowlands not really is a game itself, it's an expansion to an existing game. That's not my own argument, I just read it in another article about the record before I wrote my post. So releasing an expansion for a subscription based game with supposedly several million players is not as impressive as a game like Diablo III breaking that record - that's why several WoW expansions (and only them) set and broke this record anyway. It's pretty much a Blizzard-exclusive milestone overall, which doesn't make it less of a record, but it's just less impressive when there is no competition.

Why is comparing Pokémon sales to WoW stupid? Bigger fanbase? Sure, but what else can we compare it to? See, that's the major problem of bringing up this record again and again.

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It is kinda fascinating to do so though, especially when you factor in how Pokemon is the highest grossing media franchise in the world while Warcraft is 40th (just below Space Invaders and just above League of Legends though LoL's estimated total revenue now is a decimal point higher, interestingly).

So yeah, on the one hand comparing it to the the sale of a game in the world's highest grossing media franchise is a bit much, but on the other hand its a good comparison in that it sold pretty damn well for something 39 ranks below Pokemon.

(Also I just find it fascinating to link the list and see where things are ranked)

Warcraft is pretty much limited to being a video game. There's very few merchandise and other stuff. So its placement is no surprise at all. In video game regards it's still one of the best selling video game franchises anyway.

Pokémon has toys, trading cards, thousands (at least feels like that) anime episodes and movies etc. - the same can be said about many other video game franchises. Warcraft has nothing like that. One financially rather underwhelming Hollywood movie and that's it. All their revenue comes from the game itself.