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

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Well, they're just going to offer the same shtick while making sure it is as cost effective as possible.

There's no real issues with that if you believe consuming the current status quo is worth your money.

You can't really tame the masses to not consume bad products that are robbing you blind in reality. As we've seen in this very thread it is easy to deflect with the sales numbers for each expansion as a got'cha to people criticizing the anti-consumerist agenda that has been on full display for the past three expansions.

Again, it is what it is.

[Tyris Flare]

This entire thing is kabuki for morons to think that this time will be different without understanding that the underlying issue is capitalism and how WoW as a product cannot grow anymore and as such has to conserve budget while milking the remaining audience as we've seen.

.

Setting everything else aside, the team is larger than ever and they bought a new studio with 100 people to help work on WoW. How is that conserving budget?

[FelPlague]

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.

I already mentioned all of those and they dismissed them, that is the point.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Setting everything else aside, the team is larger than ever and they bought a new studio with 100 people to help work on WoW. How is that conserving budget?

Considering how ridiculous that whole PR stunt was to put attention on increased resources. Again, we've never seen any resource increase mean jack in WoW's entire history. Bobby Kotick literally in Quarterly Earnings Reports has repeatedly talked about increased development resources that have never manifested itself into actual game content for World of Warcraft since Legion days.

There's also no reason to believe that Blizzard East will survive once the Microsoft deal fails, either.

It just genuinely felt like a PR push to deflect from the problem of the base product of Dragonflight looking rather empty and also to provide cover during post-launch negativity.

[FelPlague]

Okay, I'll bite.

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.


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.


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


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.


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?


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.

1- "Talent trees have a mixed reception" they have been fucking overwhelmingly positive, yeah of course there is gunna be people complaining, that does not make it a "mixed reception" you could give someone fucking gold and they would cry it is too heavy

2- "part for an expansion" funny it is par for an expansion, speaking this has only happened in 1 expansion prior, mop.

3- it is literally a positive thing... in every way "how content is gated" yeah, you need to play the game to fucking earn stuff, what trhe fuck you on about?

4- i played a fuck load of rift and gw2, their events are the exact same, and yeah, literally ANYTHING you do could just be a "normal quest minus the questgiver aspect" what is the point? what would they possibly do that would not be a "quest minus the quest giver" like what? literally anything and everything they could possibly do could be a quest... Please tell me what they could do, that would not just be a quest minus a quest giver.

5- holy fuck "new raids, dungeons, and zones are not good cause they replace old with new" ok so this is a troll.

6- this one is just fucking dumb, no one is going to make 20 alts to get all the different specializations of a profession, you even admit you know nothing about how the professions work but just guess based on "other games"

7- holy fuck what are you on about?

8- "Don't you have to LEVEL DRAGON RIDING" alright so you don't know anything about the expac, lolololololololololololol

9- more you showing off how you know oddly nothing about the expac but just wont stop talking like you are an expert in the field?

10- yeah no one fucking likes archeology, I did, but it is so boring, glad it is gone.

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I've never watched Preach, but hey, I'm guessing he made money leaving, and will probably make money returning... More power to him

Nah he loses money returning, he was doing far better as a variety streamer actually, hell even bought an office space for him and his staff to upgrade.

[Yarathir]

I mean a lot of people didnt like wows attempts to expand. Every new system besides arguably the mage tower has been an utter failure that blizzard made a chore to boost participation.

I think a lot of people are happier with the three pillars of game play dungeons,raids,and pvp.

I think it's more strange that after nearly 20 years people want the same game to change drastically...

I think they more so want it to offer more than raids, mythic dungeons and killing "rare" mobs daily in Korthia for a 0.1% drop chance recolor mount.

Offer more than that, and also not make that system immediately a vital and pivotal progression path that forces your participation unless you want to fall behind on the game as a whole.

[FelPlague]

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].

Haha no, I played shadowlands from alpha, and I spoke well of its faults and its benefits, hell shadowlands had some decent framework, but it was some last minute changes, the refusal to pull the ripcord for so long, and the slow patch cycle that killed it.


this is the thing, shadowlands, bfa, they had these warning signs throughout the alpha and beta, things we knew would be trouble, problems, and make the game bad if they were not adressed.


Dragonflight? Nothing, everything has been tip top, nothing is just an awful choice, of course some people may not like this or that, but there is no azerite gear refarming or having to spam islands, unfun warfronts required.

there is no chorghast, there is no locked in covenants.

[NotBigzo]

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.

What's even funnier is that you think this is some kind of Burn.

The NFL has worldwide acclaim, with regular season games being played in London, Berlin, and Mexcio City. No Euro athlethes can even come close to competing in it, and the Super Bowl brings in more views and money globally than your shitty Soccer teams.

Sit down Euro. Let the grown-ups talk.

[Sanguinerd]

Can't believe people are actually falling for this thinking it's not scripted.. "oh he paid for it himself so it must be legit" what a joke, we're only seeing what they want us to see and Preach is nothing more than a puppet chasing a paycheck. It's been clear for years his content is void of any passion since gaming is just a job for him now but FF was clearly not paying enough so he's back to WoW.

Won't be long before he'll start making whiny videos complaining again and then make another dramatic video saying he's quitting. Rinse and repeat for the next expansion.

He keeps acting like HIS opinion of WoW is the correct one too and Blizzard are fools for not listening to his amazing feedback..

[Arlette]

Dragonflight? Nothing, everything has been tip top

True. They do have another bag slot.

[- Zephox -]

What's even funnier is that you think this is some kind of Burn.

The NFL has worldwide acclaim, with regular season games being played in London, Berlin, and Mexcio City. No Euro athlethes can even come close to competing in it, and the Super Bowl brings in more views and money globally than your shitty Soccer teams.

Sit down Euro. Let the grown-ups talk.

I will have to agree. Let the grown-ups talk so you get back to bed!

https://en.as.com/nfl/super-bowl-vs-...rting-event-n/
https://infogram.com/uefa-champions-...gjk92e1lgo3p16

https://www.goal.com/en/news/super-b...7db8809dbd0a6d

https://www.wearemiq.com/blog/what-m...-league-final/

[Nerdkartoffl]

What's even funnier is that you think this is some kind of Burn.

The NFL has worldwide acclaim, with regular season games being played in London, Berlin, and Mexcio City. No Euro athlethes can even come close to competing in it, and the Super Bowl brings in more views and money globally than your shitty Soccer teams.

Sit down Euro. Let the grown-ups talk.

Discussing which sport is better is the same as comparing which terminal illness is less harmful.

Sports are the same as gladiator games in old days. The pleberians need something to look at, so that they dont see what is really going on around the world/in their own country.

Being a sportsfan is a good indicator of low IQ.
So dont try to be a smartass and do something useful with your time.

[thunder4o]

What's even funnier is that you think this is some kind of Burn.

The NFL has worldwide acclaim, with regular season games being played in London, Berlin, and Mexcio City. No Euro athlethes can even come close to competing in it, and the Super Bowl brings in more views and money globally than your shitty Soccer teams.

Sit down Euro. Let the grown-ups talk.

https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/men...2018-world-cup

vs https://www.statista.com/statistics/...tv-viewership/

1.12 bil vs barely 100 mil
Dont talk to the king of sports you lil wanna be sport.
AND ITS CALLED FOOTBALL

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Can't believe people are actually falling for this thinking it's not scripted.. "oh he paid for it himself so it must be legit" what a joke, we're only seeing what they want us to see and Preach is nothing more than a puppet chasing a paycheck. It's been clear for years his content is void of any passion since gaming is just a job for him now but FF was clearly not paying enough so he's back to WoW.

Won't be long before he'll start making whiny videos complaining again and then make another dramatic video saying he's quitting. Rinse and repeat for the next expansion.

He keeps acting like HIS opinion of WoW is the correct one too and Blizzard are fools for not listening to his amazing feedback..

Couldnt say it any better!

[Tyris Flare]

Considering how ridiculous that whole PR stunt was to put attention on increased resources. Again, we've never seen any resource increase mean jack in WoW's entire history. Bobby Kotick literally in Quarterly Earnings Reports has repeatedly talked about increased development resources that have never manifested itself into actual game content for World of Warcraft since Legion days.

There's also no reason to believe that Blizzard East will survive once the Microsoft deal fails, either.

It just genuinely felt like a PR push to deflect from the problem of the base product of Dragonflight looking rather empty and also to provide cover during post-launch negativity.

What PR stunt are you talking about? I mean the studio isn't fake or anything lol, it's real people who are actually doing stuff. Or are you talking about something else?

[FelPlague]

True. They do have another bag slot.

I am glad your thick skull was able to retain atleast something, one day you will learn the rest.

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Can't believe people are actually falling for this thinking it's not scripted.. "oh he paid for it himself so it must be legit" what a joke, we're only seeing what they want us to see and Preach is nothing more than a puppet chasing a paycheck. It's been clear for years his content is void of any passion since gaming is just a job for him now but FF was clearly not paying enough so he's back to WoW.

Won't be long before he'll start making whiny videos complaining again and then make another dramatic video saying he's quitting. Rinse and repeat for the next expansion.

He keeps acting like HIS opinion of WoW is the correct one too and Blizzard are fools for not listening to his amazing feedback..

Yeah he totally scripted the interview with people who don't even work at blizzard anymore, nevermind the fact they literally showed recordings of it all on stream, if you really think they memeorized entire interviews you must think highly of them.

"Preach is just chasing a paycheck"
if he was, he would not be playing wow, he does far better as a variety streamer.

"His content is void of passion" I don't even watch him anymore I don't have the time, but come the fuck on this is hilariously false.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

What PR stunt are you talking about? I mean the studio isn't fake or anything lol, it's real people who are actually doing stuff. Or are you talking about something else?

I mean, they may exist but the idea that they are for increased content production is ludicruous. It's too late for them to be integrated into the Dragonflight product. Those resources are more likely to be a 11.0 thing and they were just marketed as a 10.0 addition when that is not the case beyond the PR of Blizzard Entertainment.

[FelPlague]

I mean, they may exist but the idea that they are for increased content production is ludicruous. It's too late for them to be integrated into the Dragonflight product. Those resources are more likely to be a 11.0 thing and they were just marketed as a 10.0 addition when that is not the case beyond the PR of Blizzard Entertainment.

they were hired 6 months ago, they are working on patch content.


idk if you know but right now the FEATURES of 11.0 are being worked on now, not being made, but their ideas, their concepts, their general working is being worked on, they wont start working on the actual expansions game development for atleast another 6 monthsish, and evne then it is very bare bones to get the framework down.

but currently 10.1 is being worked on, 10.2, 10.3, etc. so yeah they 100% are working on dragonflight, of course not launch, but they are working on adding MORE content to dragonflight.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I don't believe that content development is happening at Blizzard beyond the lunchbox style of "Raid Tier, Megadungeon and Timeless Isle reiterations". I don't see how people can be blind in this regard. It is remarkably obvious that we are not getting anything else from the developers beyond sprinklings when they need the narrative to shift.

Again, this idea that the 100 Team is utilized for Patch content is frankly insane. They are not, they are utilized for 11.0 and beyond. Patch Content is already ahead in scheduling.

[FelPlague]

I don't believe that content development is happening at Blizzard beyond the lunchbox style of "Raid Tier, Megadungeon and Timeless Isle reiterations". I don't see how people can be blind in this regard. It is remarkably obvious that we are not getting anything else from the developers beyond sprinklings when they need the narrative to shift.

Again, this idea that the 100 Team is utilized for Patch content is frankly insane. They are not, they are utilized for 11.0 and beyond. Patch Content is already ahead in scheduling.

So you think for the last 6 months they have just been sitting doing nothing, and they will continue to be so for the next 6 months?
They are not developing the next expansion yet, they are working on the concepts, the systems the story, the artwork, and getting the framework down.

like do you seriously think all of the expansions patches are done, and now they are working on the next expac?

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

So you think for the last 6 months they have just been sitting doing nothing, and they will continue to be so for the next 6 months?
They are not developing the next expansion yet, they are working on the concepts, the systems the story, the artwork, and getting the framework down.

like do you seriously think all of the expansions patches are done, and now they are working on the next expac?

I don't believe that the 100 Team is really that important in the first place based on what its staff consisted of. This whole thing was just super overblown because Dragonflight is an empty base product and they needed to hint that there would be more content in later patches even though they know that is false. It was an obvious marketing PR stunt to change the narrative about the lack of content that was present at the time and to move the needle beyond launch.

Again, I just don't see the 100 staff members doing much of anything. They may have been foundationally meant to create a Blizzard East but that fell through with the deal failing and so they may be closed down later on.

I do not think they are relevant to Patch Content even if Blizzard tells you something. They have every reason to lie to consumers and that is very important to keep in mind.

Again, no one knows the production schedules and where they are at. Its' all guesswork that suits ones fancy, essentially. I just do not believe that the 100 staff members will be integrated for Dragonflight patch content with so much training and preparation to work with the toolset being necessary.