Dragonflight 10.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Teriz]

No way Evokers are getting a new spec without Blizzard telling us about it more up front, seems kind of unrealistic to me. Maybe eventually.

Nothing stops Blizzard from doing it, and it would be huge news that could help them drive up interest and sales.

[Nightshade711]

Who's to say there's not gonna be testing?

Once again, this is the first PTR build.

Counterpoint: They literally just completely redesigned Ret in the middle of the expansion in a minor patch.

Because there’s not a single new datamined spell for Evokers.
So they’re either encrypted… they’re adding classes to Dracthyr… or it’s just a simple class questline with some other reward. (Like maybe unlocking Adamant Vigil customization options like Emberthal’s skin tone.)

[FelPlague]

I think that was only to establish the Titans were gone.

Feel like skildar forgot that was a temporary thing. He literally eats it. Has a vision, then burps and it's gone.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I would believe this is the devs straight up trolling dataminers before I believe this is an actual new spec. Just using deliberately weird wording to aim discussion towards a new spec when it more likely means something less drastic.

In this era it seems highly unlikely they are going to fuck around like this. I think a lot of this is just careful thought seeding.

Make people think positive things might happen later on by essentially giving it some time.

I don't personally believe in this Third Spec nonsense though. It just does seem a bit excessive.

[Revamp Man]

Reminder, you are answering to the guy who just happens to react negatively to anything Blizz adds to the game.

I mean tbf recently there's fewer negative things

Dudes going through withdraw

[Cheezits]

https://twitter.com/stiven_srb/statu...xvHZHFljvN8ivg

HD dwarf guard

[Throren]

God I love that new HD dwarf armour, I need it so bad

[Aeluron Lightsong]

They are just HDifying everything aren't they.

[Le Conceptuel]

Dwarven guards have been updated :

https://twitter.com/Stiven_SRB/statu...57843867365382

I believe the theory they are working on a revamp is likely.

As I said, I wouldn't be so optimistic. I think it's realistically likely that there's just going to be Dwarf-themed content soon, especially after the mention of a new Dwarven subrace.

[Kiivar86]

There was mention of stuff labeled "frontier", house wise and the like.

Avaloren would certainly count as a frontier, I'd think.

(I'm just really excited for whatever Avaloren could be)

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

The main issue with a world revamp is the comparative amount of effort that would have to go into such an expansion compared to others—it's a relatively high amount of effort for a dubious amount of reward. Although I'm all for it, I can certainly see why it hasn't come around yet. As for the number of assets, they seem to be interested in doing this sort of thing piecemeal rather than all at once. We also did get some hints re: a new Dwarven race and city, so our good old-fashioned Ironforge Dwarves may become more prominent when the plot gets into a position to focus on the new Dwarven subrace.

I've always thought that a *partial* World Revamp could work, with the remaining zones being left for later patch content and expansions.

Ostensibly they need to create a current 1-70 leveling experience that really helps sells new players Azeroth as a setting, and then a max Level set of zones. For the later maybe it would be best to sacrifice a portion of Azeroth to whatever invasion du jour. Let's say, AU Draenor attacks, soy they completely terraform/occupy zones on both Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingoms (Say Silithus, Feralas and Desolace in Kalimdor and Blasted Lands, Swamp of Sorrows and Redridge for the Eastern Kingdoms)

Ideally tho, whatever threat "takes" these zones should remain to a degree, with their occupations or remnants of it becoming part of the status quo going forward.

IMO the only way to justify a world Revamp is making EK and Kalimdor actually relevant, and you kinda have to tie some of the zones to the expansion cap leveling. And of course, also using the continents to create a new leveling experience with new player experience in mind; an experience that is evergreen and not linked to the lore of the current expansion.

[Ashana Darkmoon]

With shadowpriest changes confirmed for 10.1 which class do you think is also on the list to receive bigger changes?

For me personally its boomie that still needs a lot of work. Too much ramp up time, to reliant on mastery/dots and tier set, to little single target damage, maybe the worst keystone talents of all classes. Also stellar flare may be the most unfun button to press in the game.

Also i hope for fire mage changes to make living bomb usable again. I just miss this spell being fun (or good).

Moonkin was the best ranged spec the entire tier lol

Not saying there aren't some design issues but effectiveness is bonkers.

[Luck4]

I'm loving all the lore surrounding Neltharion. I thought they would go full into the new Incarnate/Primalist stuff, but they're adding more context to Deathwing which felt shallow back in Cataclysm, so in a way, Dragonflight is fixing Cataclysm for me, and I'm really glad for that.

I don't know if this is gonna happen, but I wish we could see him ingame before being corrupted as a dragon. I mean, this is something I was hoping to see ever since the Well of Eternity raid/dungeon was announced, but sadly they decided to use his Deathwing model. =/



The lore is finally getting interesting again, last time I was interested was in Legion.

Btw, now that Vortex Pinnacle (Cata DG) is happening can we please get Grim Batol?!

...

Side note: Any World Revamp hints in 10.1? Asking for a friend.

[Villager720]

I can’t understate how wildly different 10.1 feels to Korthia.

It contains more new armor sets models from outdoor content than 9.1 brought in the raid.
Wild.

[Worldshaper]

Re: the world revamp debate, I still don't think they'll do "partial" updates (like, 1-2 zones at a time every couple of years). That would mean the entire world would need decades to be finished, at this rate. The first updated zones would be ancient before the last ones are done.

Such an approach also wouldn't let them make meaningful changes, like completely rebuild the terrain around Hyjal or finally fix the way Silvermoon is implemented.

What I can believe, however, is that they use live content as an excuse to update older assets. For example, creating the assets for Ashenvale, The Barrens, Darkshore, Arathi Highlands and so on during BfA was much more economical when they at the same time used it for small BfA content, such as Warfronts and an updated BG.

If there is a new Dwarf scenario or event coming in 10.1.7 for example, it's a two birds one stone type of situation. Blizzard gets to add some cool filler content in DF that moves the story forward and make dwarf players happy, AND it gives them some new assets for their hypothetical "revamp team".

So let's say there is a second team doing a revamp in the background. They're essentially creating a new game, within the game, and have to work in secret for a few years just like they would on any game project.

During BfA, maybe they were focused on certain areas in their revamp. They might have been building the forests around Mount Hyjal, and then the Barrens, Desolace, etc. So WoW's main team found a way to incorporate such content into the main game. Warfronts, BGs, etc. Or it could be the other way around, or a mix. Both teams are lead by Ion and they both decide together how they can maximise the potential from future expansions.

Then there's zones within Zandalar, and suddenly they've got some more assets for Stranglethorn, Tanaris, the aforementioned Desolace, etc.

Not to mention all the coastal, underwater, and piratey stuff. Oh and swamp stuff.

SL added some gothic stuff they can probably rework into Gilneas assets easily, and lots of assets for places like Moonglade, northern Lordaeron, and more.

DF is a treasure trove obviously, due to how natural and old school it looks. Lots of grassy stuff, lava, elemental, ice, pine forests, and more. I can think of a dozen zones they could use all of that in. Silverpine? Dun Morough? Blasted Lands? Searing Gorge?

I would honestly be shocked if they don't announce a revamp at BlizzCon. It doesn't even have to be the theme of the next expansion. It can simply be a nice extra thing for the 20th anniversary next year. A love letter to Azeroth, and us.

[BaumanKing]

https://twitter.com/stiven_srb/statu...xvHZHFljvN8ivg

HD dwarf guard

This looks so cool. HD, but the aesthetic is still the same. I hope deathguards and sentinels will be next. Maybe even bluffwatchers. Damn, the trading post opened up so many possibilities, I love it.

[Luck4]

I would honestly be shocked if they don't announce a revamp at BlizzCon. It doesn't even have to be the theme of the next expansion. It can simply be a nice extra thing for the 20th anniversary next year. A love letter to Azeroth, and us.

Me too, but I'm having this feeling since the BFA announcement back in 2017, so...

Also, the models added back in Legion and BFA are starting to age "if" they were created with a "behind the scenes" revamp in mind since the scope for a revamp is so huge that makes it feel almost like a parallel/side project.

Yet, now more than ever the revamp is needed, may it be for gameplay reasons, graphics, lore progression, world-building, housing, cohesiveness, name it, as Tom Chilton said in a Cataclysm interview back in 2010:

"our inspiration is mostly driven by gameplay needs, at least in this case. In this case, what we felt like was after five years of having worked on the game and having the quality of the content go up over time because not only are our designers more experienced than we were before we launched World of Warcraft but also our tools have gotten better, our technology has gotten better, so we can do more new and compelling content that we couldn't do in the past." ... "We felt like it was important for both the long-term longevity of the game, the long-term health of the game, and I say this for players that have been playing the game for a very long time and new players that are coming into the game that were experiencing content that was below the quality level of what we felt today. So we felt it was a really important time to go back and refresh the old world and update it to our current quality standards."

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...lysm-Interview
https://web.archive.org/web/20220314...i/791,dok.html

[Le Conceptuel]

This looks so cool. HD, but the aesthetic is still the same. I hope deathguards and sentinels will be next. Maybe even bluffwatchers. Damn, the trading post opened up so many possibilities, I love it.

Indeed. It's a very good upgrade, but generally is the same thing we know and love.

[ExiHext]

Lol @ that roll of old dragon. Definitely not ready yet. Also, wake me up when I can do a roll on Mimiron's Head.

Don't care about DR before I cannot do it on my paladin class hall charger.

[Super Dickmann]

Dramatically, at least one of them needs to be alive so Iridikron can betray them.

Honestly for all my complaints, Blizzard has slowly been building some long term villains. BfA left us Azshara. SL left us Denathrius. Having one of the Primals survive would not be a bad idea. They need a supporting cast that can do b-plots to fill in the zones. E.g. how many zones historically have had some naga invading on a random corner? Remove Azshara and you don't get that (or you are forced to take up story space to introduce new leadership). If Fyrakk survives this we can have random dragon mobs showing up in any future zone and when asked we can say Fyrakk did it. My hope was that they'd have used Sarkareth+Chromatus to give us a chromatic Dragonflight as a long term villain but Fyrakk can work (Iridikron probably is going to die and open the story for the next expac, Vyranoth is more likely to get betrayed/redeemed because she seems more rational plus she is female).

I take it as pretty much given that Vyranoth will change sides or be eaten. Her being a woman gives her cover in as much as we already killed the other woman in the trio and the others are a dice throw. Fyrakk isn't dying this patch, but the Shadowflame aesthetic may end up ending up with him being corrupted and sticking with Iridikron. Alternatively, he can get eaten. I don't really see him making it out of this expansion any more than Iridikron, which is a shame since we've been woefully short a classic giant fire dragon running around doing chaos. It also keeps a more straightforward recurring threat source compared to baddies like the Knaifu, Azshara or Denny D, which are all schemers of some description.

Imagine if we had not killed Illidan, Vashj, Kael, Arthas in the first couple of expansions but got to keep them around so they could be involved in future plots, how much more interesting the story could have been.

If only, if anything the Scourge was by far the best handled because in every one of its focus expansions and bits it has always remained as an organisation afterwards.

@Le Conceptuel

When it comes to a council fight, my go-to would actually be facing them in humanoid forms as a group in some side dungeon or something of the like, making the objective something other than a straight win. Let them show off those kits and how they work as an ensemble mechanically, before they inevitably get separated by Iridikron betraying them. Given his buff both Fyrakk and Iridikron look likely to have their own separate fights, but Vyranoth might get out of it.