9.0 General Discussion

[Shadochi]

its hilarious tht they think that.

like i said cross group is fine and even make sene lore-wise, cause your player have more autonomy in a degree, but everything beyond that is bs.

Unless it's a raid like BoD that you are trying to cross group for whatever farm you're running (or ICC).

Crossgrouping would look weird in old raids that have differences for ally and horde characters but I guess they could just make it so it's based on the RL's faction.

[Jalham]

legacy

level 60 cap
account wide leveling system at level 60, similar to paragon levels
much more parallel content in future updates, instead of restarting the treadmill each time
eastern kingdoms, kalimdor, northrend revamp
quel'thalas added to ek map
azuremyst isles added to kalimdor map
tyrande, calia, anduin, chromie, thrall, and bolvar are the major story players in 9.0
the old gods as we know them are defeated, but similar threats still loom
formal alliance and horde faction split gone
each race begins with varying reputation standings with the other races
raise reputations through traditional questing and ambassador system
story focus is on the races of azeroth, choices and consequences
guild halls in major cities
guild levels return in addition to guild quests and campaigns
night elves claim dire maul
forsaken claim stratholme
gilneas reclaimed
bilgewater harbor renamed bilgewater bay, large goblin city similar to a system of oil rigs
some classes receiving additional and/or reworked specializations
unholy death knights reworked into summoners and rdps
cinder death knights focus on dots
combat rogue returns as evasion tank
priest reworked, 1 holy dps 1 shadow dps, 1 holy healing 1 shadow healing
paladin rdps using a combination of fire and holy
shaman tank, still very early in conceptual stage
mop style talents stay, but new passive bonus tree similar to the old style returns
world pvp is effectively abandoned outside of special world events
bg pvp is explained in universe as being consensual gladiator style matches for entertainment/training, think olympics or professional sports
profession and itemization overhaul
crafters may now customize and personalize gear
crating experience system and "talent tree"
3 raids planned for launch currently, one for each major continent of the expansion
pristine realms are still being considered internally as a way to temporarily revitalize the game, possibly rewarding seasonal items similar to diablo 3 and starcraft war chests

wait and see

Didn't Tyrande say they going back to Hyjal ?

[Shadochi]

If Blizz does a world revamp, I hope they place all the outdoors dungeons to actually be also a part of the world and not magic portals that just teleport you to something that isn't there (including stuff like dungeons that are half out and half in, sure just make the doors for the in part closed but show its actually in the world)

[protip]

If Blizz does a world revamp, I hope they place all the outdoors dungeons to actually be also a part of the world and not magic portals that just teleport you to something that isn't there (including stuff like dungeons that are half out and half in, sure just make the doors for the in part closed but show its actually in the world)

I'd love to see a world revamp, but for things like SFK, I don't need to see a scale model in the game world because it takes up a lot of space and leaves two conflicting representations of what exists in that space. On the other hand, for something like the Stonecore where you walk into a tower and end up in a cave, I'd like to see an entrance that at least looks like you're going into the same sort of environment as the dungeon. I won't cry about that either way, though, I just want new players to see a game that matches the standards of current content.

[Hellspawn]

Didn't Tyrande say they going back to Hyjal ?

Yes but Shandris could still move with the civilians to Feralas, she was stationed there in Vanilla.
Also with currently existing assets it would be probably easier to redo Eldre'thalas then rebuild something that looks more like Darnassus.

... but I would still say that Hyjal seems more likely.

[FlemmMinis]

legacy

level 60 cap
account wide leveling system at level 60, similar to paragon levels
much more parallel content in future updates, instead of restarting the treadmill each time
eastern kingdoms, kalimdor, northrend revamp
quel'thalas added to ek map
azuremyst isles added to kalimdor map
tyrande, calia, anduin, chromie, thrall, and bolvar are the major story players in 9.0
the old gods as we know them are defeated, but similar threats still loom
formal alliance and horde faction split gone
each race begins with varying reputation standings with the other races
raise reputations through traditional questing and ambassador system
story focus is on the races of azeroth, choices and consequences
guild halls in major cities
guild levels return in addition to guild quests and campaigns
night elves claim dire maul
forsaken claim stratholme
gilneas reclaimed
bilgewater harbor renamed bilgewater bay, large goblin city similar to a system of oil rigs
some classes receiving additional and/or reworked specializations
unholy death knights reworked into summoners and rdps
cinder death knights focus on dots
combat rogue returns as evasion tank
priest reworked, 1 holy dps 1 shadow dps, 1 holy healing 1 shadow healing
paladin rdps using a combination of fire and holy
shaman tank, still very early in conceptual stage
mop style talents stay, but new passive bonus tree similar to the old style returns
world pvp is effectively abandoned outside of special world events
bg pvp is explained in universe as being consensual gladiator style matches for entertainment/training, think olympics or professional sports
profession and itemization overhaul
crafters may now customize and personalize gear
crating experience system and "talent tree"
3 raids planned for launch currently, one for each major continent of the expansion
pristine realms are still being considered internally as a way to temporarily revitalize the game, possibly rewarding seasonal items similar to diablo 3 and starcraft war chests

wait and see

I like this one.

[Foxierowan]

It's pretty clear there's going to be some sort of DK/Lich/Scourge/Shadowlands stuff.

If you are interested you can read my brief ideas here foxierowan.wordpress.com/2019/10/11/the-lich-king-2

[Nathanyel]

Crossgrouping would look weird in old raids that have differences for ally and horde characters but I guess they could just make it so it's based on the RL's faction.

You already said it. Party members of the other faction could get transformed into the leader's faction, with the tech already used in BoD or Mercenary Mode.
Events, dialogue, bosses (e.g. the Hall of Stasis in The Nexus) depend on the leader.
Questgivers at the entrance could be personally phased, giving the quests for your faction.

The only instance that actually has different loot per faction is Trial of the Crusader (the raid, while the dungeon has regular shared loot) so they'd need to implement something that auto-converts items when they're traded - if that wouldn't happen already anyway, like in a faction change. We can't know since cross-faction trading wasn't possible - that raid had some BoEs, how do they perform since the shared Auction House?

How many instances with true faction-specific differences (not counting quest[giver]s) are there, anyway?

• The Nexus
• Trial of the Champion
• Trial of the Crusader
• Icecrown Citadel: Gunship Battle and Deathbringer Saurfang intro/outro
• Some cutscenes in Siege of Orgrimmar, and Alliance skips one room of trash, I guess
• Nighthold, Gul'dan intro speech
• Battle of Dazar'Alor

Did I miss something? Either way, not that many special cases (even less with actual gameplay ramifications) that should be tested/adjusted individually once the generic system is finished.

[Syegfryed]

this thing about reworked class could be very true, they did rework heavily Survival to be melee, i can see they putting unholy as ranged, since they want so fucking much put the necromancer deep in unholy butthole, its the only way to go, adding a fire spec make then keep going with the bullshit of limiting frost to DW

[Pheraz]

That could just mean no new dedicated PvP zones. Not that BfA had any either, or rather, Warmode made the whole continent a PvP area.

And on the contrary, the addition of Warmode fits perfectly with a lore-wise ceasefire or peace: if you want to PvP, you can do so, as one of the radicalists on either side, otherwise you're mechanically on a PvE realm and can maybe even group with the other faction for non-instanced content.

You have a point. But warmode actually works for getting into war. Especially when faction assaults are on. Holy smoke had really some awesome world PvP moments there.

- - - Updated - - -

this thing about reworked class could be very true, they did rework heavily Survival to be melee, i can see they putting unholy as ranged, since they want so fucking much put the necromancer deep in unholy butthole, its the only way to go, adding a fire spec make then keep going with the bullshit of limiting frost to DW

That would be nice, because unholy currently feels very strange (to me).

[Renley]

Didn't Tyrande say they going back to Hyjal ?

I assumed they were going back there as a temporary home, as they didn't want to rely on the Alliance. Shandris also didn't seem that thrilled about Tyrande's plan, so I wouldn't be surprised if only Tyrande and her whatever shadow moon warriors go there, while Shandris leads the rest somewhere else.

Edit: Either way, it's odd that the Night Elves will be living someplace else, but when we level one, we're still doing so in the past/non burnt tree. This shit is getting bonkers with leveling, story is just all over the place. Really hoping this is something that further points to a revamp coming to smooth out some of these issues.

[huth]

You already said it. Party members of the other faction could get transformed into the leader's faction, with the tech already used in BoD or Mercenary Mode.
Events, dialogue, bosses (e.g. the Hall of Stasis in The Nexus) depend on the leader.
Questgivers at the entrance could be personally phased, giving the quests for your faction.

I'd fix it to whatever condition they pick upon the instance being created on the server, so it only changes if you reset. Otherwise you could get weird issues when changing the leader.

[Sondrelk]

That would be nice, because unholy currently feels very strange (to me).

Personally i have always felt that Unholy really does not mesh with the whole melee aspect. The parts that for me at least feels good is when you infect a mob and watch the plague spread across a large pack of enemies, especially when you talent into the explosiosn and such and see the damage rise.

Beyond that though, the only ability that really requires Unholy to be Melee at this time is festering strike, other than that the spec coudl easily be converted as is into a ranged spec, would open up quite some nice opportunities for gearing as well, seeing as currently only Healadin uses the intellect plate gear.

We will have to see. Dream scenario is Unholy becoming ranged, and armor being transmoggable regardless of type, meaning you could actually create teh ideal Necromancer spec by transmogging an Unholy DK into cloth, especially the mythic Dazar'alor set.

[Vakir]

With Sylvanas as the cover girl for Blizzcon, I am struggling to believe any leak that doesn't prominently figure her into the story/setting.

[Sondrelk]

With Sylvanas as the cover girl for Blizzcon, I am struggling to believe any leak that doesn't prominently figure her into the story/setting.

Given the loose plot threads left i would assume the main hook of the expansion is finding Sylvanas and bringing her to justice.

Hopefully this means a world revamp as we search through the entirety of EK and Kalimdor, but more likely it will just be a boring chase where we find out she is in the Dragon isles or something. Either that or we go to Dragon isles for unrelated events and the Sylvanas chase happens over time almost unrelated to the main plot.

[Nagawithlegs]

I've said it once and I'll say it again:

Alexstraza vs Bolvar and Tyrande vs Sylvanas. Life fighting Death on multiple fronts.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

I've said it once and I'll say it again:

Alexstraza vs Bolvar and Tyrande vs Sylvanas. Life fighting Death on multiple fronts.

I'm more partial to Sylvanas vs Bolvar and Sylvanas vs Alexstraza and Sylvanas vs Tyrande.

[George Costanza]

The more you like a leak the less likely it is :P.

[Nathanyel]

You have a point. But warmode actually works for getting into war. Especially when faction assaults are on. Holy smoke had really some awesome world PvP moments there.

That doesn't contradict what I said Warmode is for open PvP that isn't limited by the lore.

I'd fix it to whatever condition they pick upon the instance being created on the server, so it only changes if you reset. Otherwise you could get weird issues when changing the leader.

Yes, obviously. Probably meant to state this somewhere, but forgot. No random phase shifts because the leader changed.
Could also be determined by the first person entering, but for instances entered via the Group Finder, that'd be random, or just the party member with index 1 (a.k.a. leader) anyway.

You should be able to control this in a deterministic manner.

[Syegfryed]

That would be nice, because unholy currently feels very strange (to me).

both frost and unholy feel awful to me, the gameplay and the skills