Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Varodoc]

I can appreciate "Void is a Tool" but they haven't explained why that Tool was specifically never used successfully yet. Well, outside of the Stormwind Nightmare.

Alleria just kinda snapped her fingers and boom she can control the Void. There was no arc about her struggling with the same thing that plenty of others even just in WoW's lifespan have succumbed to, the whispers and the corruption.

What is important to remember is that, unlike every other mortal up to that point, Alleria was lucky enough to meet Locus-Walker, an ancient being who studied and wielded the Void at an exceptional level. We see in Mac'aree through a questline that Locus-Walker was training Alleria to wield the Void as a weapon. And at the culmination of the story, when Alleria absorbs the Void Naaru at the source of Mac'aree, the Locus-Walker tells her that she has become the weapon itself.

Alleria is very cunning, resourceful, and dedicated to the goal, but we must not underestimate the importance of Locus-Walker; as a teacher, mentor, and above all else, a genuine friend to Alleria. I think Locus-Walker is one of the most ominous, but also wholesome, characters in WoW. He selflessly helped Alleria control her powers (powers she accidentally took while on a Legion world) and he is a true friend to her. To the point that he is now training Alleria's disciples, the Ren'dorei.

[Jokubas]

I don't even know where to begin how I feel about this.

Disappointed, certainly. I think the line was crossed so hard this time, though, I'm just laughing.

I really didn't expect them to pull the "I'm a secret good guy trying to save you from a bigger mystery threat" again. I really didn't. They did that so much leading up to the Jailer that they really had me convinced that the Jailer was finally the bigger mystery threat.

Maybe this means that N'Zoth was trying to warn us about this new mystery threat and not the Jailer after all? That still doesn't explain any of his actions. If anything it just makes them worse. Now both N'Zoth and the Jailer openly did evil they knew we would try to kill them for, instead of just asking for our help, when both of their goals were apparently heroic all along. >_>

There was a time when I really hated the "bad guy reveals upon their defeat that they were actually a good guy doing necessary evils to stop something worse" cliche, but it got played out so much that I thought it finally died. I absolutely cannot believe we're getting that plot right now, especially after everything that led up to it.

The only thing that kinda upsets me right now and isn't just making me face palm, is that it's continuing the modern tv show writing trend of "never resolve, always tease" that makes modern stories a complete drag to watch. There's nothing to ever enjoy anymore, because anything that should be satisfying is swept under a rug in favor of what's next. It's supposed to keep you addicted, but instead it just makes me exhausted. If there wasn't a game connected to this story that I occasionally feel like playing, I would have abandoned this years ago like I have most similar tv shows.

I wasn't expecting anything grand for this cutscene, but I just rewatched some of the cutscenes leading up to this yesterday (not because the ending was coming, but because I was showing some context to someone else) and I actually started to look forward a bit to the idea of the Jailer finally getting comeuppance for all the evil he's done. Instead, he just falls pathetically on the ground and still gets to act like we failed, and no one gets to feel good about it.

That's not even getting into the fact that we're apparently still escalating. This isn't a surprise for many, but the method highlights it so much that it almost feels like a joke at this point.

They can still keep me busy for awhile if I get to play some ogres or get a spellbreaker, but I don't expect to be engaged in this story anymore. I don't want to sound mean about it, but this comes off like a checklist of everything that ruins stories for me in modern storytelling. The only upside is that it's only the bland, exhausting type of modern storytelling, not the hateful, mock-you-for-caring modern storytelling.

[username993720]

Not to mention the similarities to Archimonde's Death:


And the closing of a portal:

[Hitei]

I can appreciate "Void is a Tool" but they haven't explained why that Tool was specifically never used successfully yet. Well, outside of the Stormwind Nightmare.

Alleria just kinda snapped her fingers and boom she can control the Void. There was no arc about her struggling with the same thing that plenty of others even just in WoW's lifespan have succumbed to, the whispers and the corruption.

It's used successfully by a variety of people.

Forgotten Shadow uses it relatively fine, the Shadowmoon Orcs use it perfectly fine, the Arakkoa use it fine but were driven insane by a third party. The Twilight's Hammer are unhinged by use it effectively. The Nathrezim were able to mess around with it fine. Rogues and Warlocks both dip their toes into it, though warlocks have the instability of fel to deal with. Warsong shamans in outland use it to more forcibly enslave the Elements.

[pacotaco]

It looks decent at least and like I said I did kinda like the other leaders showing up (especially Denathrius basically taunting him or whatever it was). But yeah, as I kept saying, don't expect much. We got at best a "I was just holding them back" sort of thing.

Yeah, I think it's OK, and if you think about it... Whatever is coming was enough to scare him and try to redo the cosmos in the chance to have a chance. It certainly is ominous.

[Polybius]

"Dont worry everyone, We'll zoom out even more and make everything we've already developed even more irrelevant! Welcome to Dragonball!"

Sums up the recent expansion to the story. We didn’t need the First Ones, we just needed the writers to take things slow and flesh out characters. It’s why i’m pointedly against a Light v. Void expansion, way too soon to blow their load.

[Le Conceptuel]

I can appreciate "Void is a Tool" but they haven't explained why that Tool was specifically never used successfully yet. Well, outside of the Stormwind Nightmare.

Alleria just kinda snapped her fingers and boom she can control the Void. There was no arc about her struggling with the same thing that plenty of others even just in WoW's lifespan have succumbed to, the whispers and the corruption.

I'd say I prefer the idea of it being made into a philosophy, as with the Forgotten Shadow. Currently, they're not really showing it as something you have to comprehend philosophically—it's just another edgy magic thing right now.

[Hyrja]

How did we go from something like the Legion end cinematic to this crap?
SL is such a fail.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

I really hope we don't get another cosmic expansion right away.

How can us MMO-C lifers hope to stand against what is to come if we stand so divided?

[Polybius]

To be fair, they did start seeding something about a seventh force a little while ago, at least in Korthia (something along the lines of "the seventh desires what the six hold fast" or something to that extent).

It was pretty much a certainty.

It’s consistency. The seventh force is the team of writers and devs.

[presuntex]

New cinematic on wow head

[Nyel]

Now after all this... I still don't understand why they had to waste N'zoth and Azshara in BfA. Like... why? What was the purpose? To just finish their stories? Nothing related to N'zoth led to the Shadowlands, only the small bits and pieces with Sylvanas (that still were omnipresent). Now we got this expansion that had nothing to do with the big bad of BfA and where are we heading now? Such a mess.

[LordKharon]

God am i glad its finally over! 2 years wasted. A fitting ending to a bad expansion. The clock is ticking for Danuser...

[Polybius]

Did the jailer fight use the weird Zovaal talk during the raid btw if anyone was paying attention or are those yet to come?

Yes. And it’s cringeworthy.

[Sondrelk]

Now after all this... I still don't understand why they had to waste N'zoth and Azshara in BfA. Like... why? What was the purpose? To just finish their stories? Nothing related to N'zoth led to the Shadowlands, only the small bits and pieces with Sylvanas (that still were omnipresent). Now we got this expansion that had nothing to do with the big bad of BfA and where are we heading now? Such a mess.

I can only assume this is another situation similar to the Star Wars sequels, competing sets of writers desperate to make their own mark on the story at the expense of what is already established.
N'zoth was killed to build up the Jailer, and now the Jailer is killed to no longer have to deal with him.

[Jokubas]

There were two things I liked about this cutscene, although even both of those have a catch (I mean, the video itself is fine, and it's at least an ending unlike N'Zoth).

Implying the Forge of Souls was built for Zovaal's plan all along is the sort of thing the expansion should have been doing all along if it wanted to sell us on the idea that he was truly manipulating events this whole time and it was great to see at all. The downside is that this comes so late, and involves something that was never really notable to begin with, that it doesn't really solve the problem of mostly telling, not showing, that he was involved in these things.

Finally, finally showing Zovaal's backstory and motivation. Again, the problem is that this comes far too late. It also still leaves open so many questions. When exactly did this happen? What's the timeline for this threat and how did he know? So his siblings didn't like his solution of remaking reality to stop this threat, but what's their plan to stop it? Do they have one? Why haven't they mentioned any of this?

It's less about the writing, but I guess maybe I can count it as a third thing. I liked the visuals for his death, at least. It was a neat effect. Ever since we got the model, I was looking forward to him becoming an inert robot (I just wish it got to feel more like we got to punish him for his atrocities, instead of him just getting to feel sorry for not saving everyone). It was also nice seeing his face again, he looked so much better just having a face.

[Alanar]

There was literally an expansion dedicated to its opposite force, Death. We dealt with death in WotLK. There's no reason why ED wouldn't be its own expansion after Shadowlands came up with 6 original zones.

Like I said.. the ED threat that was looming has been dealt with. Idk what else we would need to do there. Being opposit force is all dandy, but outside some green dragon shenenigens and some callbacks, I dont see the point in an full blown thing. What do you want to do in the ED?

[Teriz]

Now after all this... I still don't understand why they had to waste N'zoth and Azshara in BfA. Like... why? What was the purpose? To just finish their stories? Nothing related to N'zoth led to the Shadowlands, only the small bits and pieces with Sylvanas (that still were omnipresent). Now we got this expansion that had nothing to do with the big bad of BfA and where are we heading now? Such a mess.

All I can hope for is that Empire of Dragons is real and Xal’alath comes in and wrecks shit with her void-powered dragon slaves in honor of Nzoth.

[Feitori]

You know, I love when stories keep setting up new mysteries, but it's frustrating when they do that without also providing satisfying answers.

[TriHard]

God am i glad its finally over! 2 years wasted. A fitting ending to a bad expansion. The clock is ticking for Danuser...

I mean you didn't have to play Shadowlands at all, there were far better MMOs out there to play during this expansion