Preach: "A NEW Era for WoW" - Inside Blizzard HQ

[Rageonit]

This.

I mean there are many things they never promised, but alt friendliness is easily one of the worst offenders of "Actually has been promised many times but never delivered".

You might not enjoy their "small steps" approach (but in the light of the very video that's supposedly being commented here it makes sense that they didn't go full-friendly in SL just yet), but in SL you could: skip most of the questlines for unlocking stuff; buy items for Renown catchup and Conduit catchup (plus they've introduced plenty of Renown catchups rather early on); buy easy catchup gear in later patches. The most grindy thing were the Legendaries, granted - but we don't have to do anything like that in DF, and even more things are BoA (like Renown rewards). So yeah, just because you think they didn't do enough immediatelly doesn't mean that they were not making things easier for alts - only they did it gradually instead of doing everything at once.

[Nerovar]

Not a fan of the hypocrisy of Preach coming back to WoW after announcing he was done; but I admittedly thought this was a marketing piece on Blizzard's part. Learning he paid for everything himself does offer a level of sincerity to this piece. It's clear that there are still benefits for Blizzard allowing him this level of access ("We've changed!") but more than anything I'm just glad this happened.

It's not necessarily hypocritical to say something and then change your mind later on. Hypocrisy would be if he stated that he can't play WoW anymore because it violates some principle of his only for him to return and make excuses why it's now acceptable all of a sudden.

[Al Gorefiend]

This.

I mean there are many things they never promised, but alt friendliness is easily one of the worst offenders of "Actually has been promised many times but never delivered".

Seems subjective what alt friendliness looks like. I think lately its friendlier than ever.

[thunder4o]

Yeah you heard Felplague, get on your knees and grovel at their grace.

Blizzard has given us account wide progress on certain things and another bag slot.

Which is your main game or games you play ? Just really wonder after i see you hate so hard on Blizzard

[Archy]

The only thing I'm doing is defending my personal view that his actions were hypocritical. I do not intend to paint the guy as a devious opportunist but there are corollaries with the timeline of events which, to me, are beyond the scope of simple coincidence. I'm not looking to throw the guy under the bus, I'm expressing the reasons I have reservations about the way he decides which content to cover.

Why do make up things then? Like "One video which dwarfs the entire back catalogue of every video he'd made up to that point and every video since."? It takes like 30 seconds to check that. This video isn't even under his top 20. You're either dishonest or you don't care enough to check anything, let alone something like a timeline.

I think the propaganda is way overblown here. The big secret is they’re making the game more difficult than ever by making it massively harder to get gear in m+. All the rest is mostly fluff. Yes alt friendliness is nice, but if the main mode most people use to gear is nerfed to the ground, that’s gonna be the headline.

How is that a bad thing? Not everybody needs everything. Let it be a normal thing that not everybody can get full M+ gear. That gives people a reason to strive for something. Your gamplay isn't affected at all by not having the best gear available.

[Rexosaurus]

Blizzard has said a lot of things in the last 5-6 years. And have done a lot of other things instead.

Just because people don't believe them based on their plethora of broken promises doesn't mean people didn't hear yet another set of promises.

We've just lost the good will to actually believe them before seeing it actually happen.

Yeah I can't overstate this enough, and it goes beyond just the past 5-6 years.

WoW's development cycle has pretty much always been marred by promises of features that haven't come true or design philosophies that are implemented and then reversed one or two expansions later, if not sooner. And not just about one part of the game either. That constantly shifting narrative has permeated class design, character races, endgame, PvP, side activities, professions, player customization, and the story. The only thing that they've been consistent about during WoW's entire run, is that they're inconsistent. If you take WoW's developers at their word at this point then I'd argue that you're a little naive or you're blindly optimistic.

And I know that not everyone on their team has been there for the whole ride, but that's the reputation that Blizzard has now accumulated over the years. They're gonna have to show me that they can follow a plan and execute it if they want me to believe the things that they're saying right off the bat and spend my time on the game. And I hope they do, but until then, I'm gonna be skeptical of anything they say regarding the direction they're going in.

[Baraden]

I mean I make more money from other games if push comes to shove but alright?
Also lol.. I feel you 100% have not watched the video, as have most of the people here...

You are free to bring negativity, but speaking most of the things here are "wont watch preach is XYZ" and people saying the opposite of what was actually said in said video...

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Bag type and slot- this is a major change, as it makes professions much more manageable, of course it is not content
Rep/renown- fuck it I could explain it but I mean im not gunna waste a long ass time writing when i could just link this
New profession overhaul- yes, its fucking amazing, and the fact you dont even understand that means you havent even tried
Crafting orders- I mean yes, but by that logic M+ should be lumped in with raiding cause both are PVE>

I forgot to include dragon riding and races, so there is that aswell.
also "New race/class" is not typical expansion stuff, not every expac relases one, nor BOTH.
mop was the only prior to release a new class and race at the same time.

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I had to stop because this made me audibly chuckle
nothing in any of the classes ever added to wow was ever distinct or something we havent already seen, nothing. what does that have to do with it being a new class or not? and yes I have played it, been playing it for literally 5 months. it is great, but I main a lock and will continue to.
They can wear armor, just not in their dragon form, can boomkin, bears and feral wear armor? Of course they like dracthyr "could" but it is a hassel to make them fit these rather obscene proportions, for dracthyr is is the extremly streched out body, putting chest armor onto them is a mess, as is gloves and legs, because armor was not made for something this tall that is not also extremly bulky. worgen near this problem but their hunch helps hide it, especially with their broad shoulders.

also i fucking love "one of the laziest races"
when this race has by far the most customization of any race ever, more customization the nall the allied races combined.



lol profession overhaul and crafting orders are not the same feature, the AH and Professions are separate, of course they both have to do with professions, but as said above, that is like saying M+ and raiding are the same feature, because they are both PVE.



"UI Overhaul buggy" so is every feature at launch usually, hell I played swtor at launch. nevermind the fact swtor makes you fucking pay real life money for access to customize your UI, and even makes you PAY REAL MONEY TO BUY EXTRA ACTION BARS.
but yeah sure, go off I guess. Also I find it funny you make it weird that wow coppied being able to customize your UI from swtor, when swtor entire was nothing but a wow clone.. ok? Nor is swtor the game to invent ui customization, hell addon creators were doing it 8 years before swtor.

"Extremly underwhelming feature" our main progression for the world and its story, yeah world of warcraft, who the fuck cares about the WORLD, pfft.

"big =/= better draenor was huge" Yeah and draenor was amazing, idk if you know but wod was FULL of good shit, just because an expansion has good stuff does not mean it is perfect, wod was awful, but that was because garrisons discourged you from going out into the world, and it suffered from lack of new content. meanwhile wod classes were amazing, raiding pog, pvp great, garrisons themselves were great, and the leveling experience was one of the best.

"new two yearly arena" what?
We got 3 arean in bfa, 3 in SL, and 1 so far in DF, hell our last arena was added less then a year ago, the fuck you on about?

And again, dragon riding is fucking amazing.

Look at how mad he got when I mentioned SWTOR

It's unbeliavable how deranged you get to defend this shit game and it's abuser company lol

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I mean I make more money from other games if push comes to shove but alright?
Also lol.. I feel you 100% have not watched the video, as have most of the people here...

You are free to bring negativity, but speaking most of the things here are "wont watch preach is XYZ" and people saying the opposite of what was actually said in said video...

- - - Updated - - -



Bag type and slot- this is a major change, as it makes professions much more manageable, of course it is not content
Rep/renown- fuck it I could explain it but I mean im not gunna waste a long ass time writing when i could just link this
New profession overhaul- yes, its fucking amazing, and the fact you dont even understand that means you havent even tried
Crafting orders- I mean yes, but by that logic M+ should be lumped in with raiding cause both are PVE>

I forgot to include dragon riding and races, so there is that aswell.
also "New race/class" is not typical expansion stuff, not every expac relases one, nor BOTH.
mop was the only prior to release a new class and race at the same time.

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I had to stop because this made me audibly chuckle
nothing in any of the classes ever added to wow was ever distinct or something we havent already seen, nothing. what does that have to do with it being a new class or not? and yes I have played it, been playing it for literally 5 months. it is great, but I main a lock and will continue to.
They can wear armor, just not in their dragon form, can boomkin, bears and feral wear armor? Of course they like dracthyr "could" but it is a hassel to make them fit these rather obscene proportions, for dracthyr is is the extremly streched out body, putting chest armor onto them is a mess, as is gloves and legs, because armor was not made for something this tall that is not also extremly bulky. worgen near this problem but their hunch helps hide it, especially with their broad shoulders.

also i fucking love "one of the laziest races"
when this race has by far the most customization of any race ever, more customization the nall the allied races combined.



lol profession overhaul and crafting orders are not the same feature, the AH and Professions are separate, of course they both have to do with professions, but as said above, that is like saying M+ and raiding are the same feature, because they are both PVE.



"UI Overhaul buggy" so is every feature at launch usually, hell I played swtor at launch. nevermind the fact swtor makes you fucking pay real life money for access to customize your UI, and even makes you PAY REAL MONEY TO BUY EXTRA ACTION BARS.
but yeah sure, go off I guess. Also I find it funny you make it weird that wow coppied being able to customize your UI from swtor, when swtor entire was nothing but a wow clone.. ok? Nor is swtor the game to invent ui customization, hell addon creators were doing it 8 years before swtor.

"Extremly underwhelming feature" our main progression for the world and its story, yeah world of warcraft, who the fuck cares about the WORLD, pfft.

"big =/= better draenor was huge" Yeah and draenor was amazing, idk if you know but wod was FULL of good shit, just because an expansion has good stuff does not mean it is perfect, wod was awful, but that was because garrisons discourged you from going out into the world, and it suffered from lack of new content. meanwhile wod classes were amazing, raiding pog, pvp great, garrisons themselves were great, and the leveling experience was one of the best.

"new two yearly arena" what?
We got 3 arean in bfa, 3 in SL, and 1 so far in DF, hell our last arena was added less then a year ago, the fuck you on about?

And again, dragon riding is fucking amazing.

Death Knights had runes, which were a unique resource we'd never had, plus they were a fan favorite people had wanted since vailla
Monks were arguably fairly dull for a new class (as much as I like them)
Demon Hunters had glide and double jump

You'll notice Dracthyr takes from both Death Knights and DH - essence is just runes, and they have a glide - neither of which is original to them
Aside from that they play like a extremely dull caster with a really wonky range which I guarantee they will change at some point up to 40 yrds - the only unqiue thing they have is empowered spells, which aren't even that unique because usually you'll only want to use the rank 1 version anyway

As for the appearance itself - you are not a boomkin, you are a druid of X race, so this is an extremely stupid point frankly. The visage from is just the human female and blood elf male model with a few tweaks - which is hardly anything special - the actual new and exciting race that you'll be seeing most of your play time is extremely limited with armor - no matter how you cope plenty of races that make armor tricky, tauren, worgen, undead - make it work - the only reason they haven't bothered is pure laziness because people like you give them a pass again and again

I like how your reply gets increasingly unhinged - I don't know why the fact people rightly see this piece of shit game for what it is bothers you so much - talk about sunk cost fallacy; you are the poster child for it.

[Aliven]

Small changes can have big effects, I mean literally called the butterfly effect.

A simple change as much as being able to interact with things with a hotkey has MASSIVE effects on gameplay, you can play without needing to use your cursor entirely, you no longer need to click anything, you literally dont need a mouse anymore, you can walk up to an ore node, press your hotkey, and it will mine it. you can walk up to an npc, one that is COVERED in other players, and even though you can't see them? you press your hotkey you will talk to them.

OK, im sorry, i try to stay away from the conversation but what you are describing is AT BEST minor addon worthy. There are addons who change how you play on actually fundamental lvl like using controller.

I mean, there is dragon riding, profession overhaul and talent trees and that it from major gameplay changes, this that actually change how you play on a fundamental lvl.

[Relapses]

Why do make up things then? Like "One video which dwarfs the entire back catalogue of every video he'd made up to that point and every video since."? It takes like 30 seconds to check that. This video isn't even under his top 20. You're either dishonest or you don't care enough to check anything, let alone something like a timeline.

You're right -- I should have said "in the last two years." Even said, most of those other videos are older than the average age of a MMO-C poster and the broader point still remains.

[schwarzkopf]

DF seems pretty bare bones from what ive seen.

I imagine anyone who has seen nothing would find it bare bones.

[chaoticcrono]

I imagine anyone who has seen nothing would find it bare bones.

It's not my fault thats all they have to show ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[thunder4o]

It's not my fault thats all they have to show ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Usually people that say there is nothing in the game or new expansion/patches are bare bones,are the ones that are really bad at the game.

[ognomad]

In my opinion it shouldn't matter where you get your gear whether it's PVP or PVE both gear choices should be viable in each other's content you shouldn't be forced to do one over the other if it's something you like to do. whether you don't like doing PVP or you don't like doing PVE it shouldn't be a closed door for people that enjoy both.

[TENTACLELUVR]

Okay, I'll bite.

Talent rework

Not an inherently positive thing. Mixed reception at best, as you'll see across MMO-C and WoW forums. Instead of swapping 1 or 2 things per-fight, now we have to consider the entire tree - and the entire trees of our group/raid members - because basic class mechanics like interrupts and self-heals lock you out of other, more fun, talent points. They just made the system more complex for no real benefit.

New class/race

Par for an expansion which, again, has mixed reception at best. Evoker and Dracthyr are locked to each other, so there's less customization and player expression. I think they fell short of the expectations of a Dragon-related playable race. Had Dracthyr been playable as other classes and had unique racials that set them apart from an RP standpoint, I would feel differently. At the moment their racials may as well be considered Evoker baseline abilities.

Renown/reputation 2.0

Again not an inherently positive thing, this is just describing how content is gated.

World events

Might be a good thing to you, but WoW's world events and world quests are horrible from my point of view. They're the same as normal quests, minus the questgiver aspect. RIFT did world events better back in 2011. GW2 continues to impress with theirs.

Dragon isles, dungeons, raids, ya know yeah the normal stuff

None of this is inherently good either. It's just replacing the old with the new. Or else people would regularly run Warlords of Draenor, BFA, and Shadowlands content. What is actually there that's worth doing? Are the zones memorable? Is the space well-utilized? Do the dungeons/raids involve RNG mechanics to pad out the content?

Profession overhaul, literally the best professions have ever been

I strongly disagree. It might be new and shiny but, having played a few games with similar systems, it doesn't work out well. The only time the specializations will matter is in the 24 hours post-launch before crafters have an army of alts maxed out.

Dragonriding

Mount collectors aren't happy about this one and the novelty is lost pretty quickly, historically speaking. Remember vehicle-based combat in Wrath? I hope they branch out and create more mount types for existing mounts suited for different types of terrain like GW2 has.

Crafting orders

It's good that they are finally adding this - and removing a small social aspect of crafting - but it's likely because the massive amounts of expected gold investment for a single item would be too risky and scam-laden otherwise. (e.g. New World)
I can't imagine a BiS/endgame piece would be cheap to craft.

And most important of all, no mandatory grinds, no shitty systems, artifact, azerite or anima power.

But no mandatory grinds? Don't you have to level Dragonriding to effectively travel around the zones because your old flying has been removed? M+ still exists and now crafting talents exist.

And no it's not the same old thing with extra steps you have actual talent trees for professions now. And multiple sepcilations, something only a couple professions had back in the day, and they were super basic. And seriously did you somehow miss the whole professions have skill trees and gear thing?

So instead of being able to make money as soon as I get Elixir spec and the right recipe, now I have to grind up the levels while crafting with suboptimal yields when the market will be based off of maxed crafters? Sounds to me like mandatory content that effectively removes crafting as a competitive option until you are maxed out. I don't understand how the crafting changes are seen as positive.

All in all it seems that people here believe replacing something old with something new is good.
I disagree and I don't see a lot of additions in Dragonflight, just a lot of replacements that are long overdue.
It's like a grocery store that hasn't taken the trash out for several years suddenly takes the trash out all at once. That might technically be an improvement but I wouldn't call it adding a good thing. More like removing a bad thing, which is what most of the changes in Dragonflight seem like.

Oh yeah, and no Archeology in the archeology expansion, lol.

[PixelFox]

The best way to approach everything in life is with lowered expectations. It's the best strategy for achieving happiness.

Sit with the "dwarf". Ride along with the caravan. Climb in the air to the top of the biggest effing mountain you've ever seen.

And I will say relax and don't rush because that makes it like 10x better, but I know people will never take that advice. The same as trying to tell any 16-year-old anything about the world lol.

[Rageonit]

Okay, I'll bite.

Snip.
So basically your point is, you can't add anything to the game that will make everybody happy. How did you figure it out, exactly? Do you really think listing all the expansion features and then finding groups of people that won't like them is clever? Wow.
Next time I'll have to review a horror movie, I will let people know that comedy lovers weren't super thrilled with it. Big brains.

[WarTV]

wasnt this the same guy who made me feel like I am encouraging female abuse at work by playing a blizzard game?
No thanks, passing on his content.

[ClassicPeon]

World of Warcraft is really an amazing game.

It has somehow managed to retain a large part of its consumer base despite mountains upon mountains of bullshit. I don't know if I should be more impressed with Blizzard or more disgusted with its consumers.

Its interesting how you can say that yet still be a fan of NFL - a sport that literally plays for 10 minutes and then has 20 minutes of BS commercials and is laughed at in every single country on earth except yours.

[Relapses]

It's not necessarily hypocritical to say something and then change your mind later on. Hypocrisy would be if he stated that he can't play WoW anymore because it violates some principle of his only for him to return and make excuses why it's now acceptable all of a sudden.

This is, like, my opinion so you're free to disagree but flip-flopping when it's beneficial only to your audience and the performance of your YouTube channel is slightly hypocritical no matter how you dice it. I think his decision to stop WoW content had a lot more to do with getting benched in his guild and the blow to his ego then it did anything to do with the lawsuit which is why I'm pretty cynical about his triumphant return.

And, importantly -- for I think the hundredth time I've said it in this thread -- this particular piece was incredibly well-done and deserves to be praised. My distaste for Preach as a content creator does not mean I think he should stop creating content or that I do not appreciate his obvious passion for this game.

[Yarathir]

Yeah you heard Felplague, get on your knees and grovel at their grace.

Blizzard has given us account wide progress on certain things and another bag slot.

I just can't wait until next expansions rears its head and everything they are praising about DF now will be thrown under the bus so we can pretend [new expansion will save us from the mediocrity of Dragonflight, WoW is saved and better than ever].