Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Ersula]

I actually like this route, I would definitely start a new character just to lvl up through it all.

Just an entire new levelling experience would be fantastic, especially if they reworked all the classes... honestly a soft reboot I would be absolutely perfectly fine with.

The Lightbound expansion leak is actually insane because it's proposing that they would do a massive revamp of the leveling experience in 9.0 just to massively revamp it AGAIN in 10.0

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BFA had way more than 2.

Okay you got me there. I forgot most of those because I was extremely checked out from the story of BFA. But there is a simple explanation for not getting as many of those in Shadowlands: The guy & his studio that does their fully rendered cinematics was busy making Arcane during Shadowlands production. So instead we got more in-game model cinematics from Terron Gregory this expansion.

[Nyel]

10.0 is a soft reboot called Lightbound. Lordaeron is the main setting with a new leveling experience. It is its own continent so old Lordaeron still exists. New Lordaeron has a different shape since the zones aren’t 1:1. The New Lordaeron has been built up in a way that mixes both the Cataclysm revamp and the way Draenor was built off of Outland. The foundation for 10.0 has been worked on since after Legion, which is why people have datamined so many human related architecture over the years. It was originally going to be 9.0 with Shadowlands being the following expansion but some delays when working on Lordaeron in 2017 led to Shadowlands being made first. Lightbound was originally supposed to help build up the Jailor, the Shadowlands, and the mystery of the First Ones. Exile’s Reach originally was going to be about Lightbound ogres from Highmaul invading Azeroth rather than necromancers.

No other zones offer experience anymore. There is a leveling phase and a max level phase. Level 60 characters have things to do in all zones except for Exile’s Reach which was added in Shadowlands. Player cities in brackets.

01-10: Exile’s Reach
01-10: Arathor (Stormgarde)
01-10: Ebon Enclave (New Avalon)
10-20: Hillsbrad Foothills
10-20: The Channel Islands
20-30: Silverpine Forest
20-30: Zul’Dare
30-40: Alterac Mountains (Alterac)
30-40: Eastern Highlands (Hammerfall)
40-45: The Hinterlands (Aerie Peak)
40-45: Scarlet Coast
45-50: Gilneas (Gilneas)
45-50: Crushridge
50-53: Eastweald (Stratholme)
52-55: Tol Barad
54-57: The Ghostlands
56-59: Sunwell Isle
58-60: Zul’Aman
60-60: The Dragon Isles
60-60: Lordaeron
60-60: Quel’thalas

Level squish to 50. The original goal was to squish the levels back to 10 so even old players would have to level through all of Lordaeron's story, but now that Shadowlands brought in a squish already it's believed there would be a very negative response to going even further next time. The total level squishing and Chromie time was never intended to be a permanent change but instead a temporary band-aid while the new leveling system was worked on. Similarly old profession recipes and their related resources are becoming cosmetic only, making Lordaeron the only viable place for gameplay-enhancing profession work.

There are new dungeons from 15-60 (all with heroic and mythic level 60 versions). It's not yet decided whether old dungeons will be available to new players yet or if only the new dungeons will reward experience and gear.

Main story is focused on the Lightbound; a coalition of Yrel’s orc and draenei forces, Calia Menethil’s ‘new’ forsaken, Turalyon’s Alliance (which has conquered Silvermoon with the help of Liadrin), and the Scarlet Brotherhood. They are all working to drain Azeroth’s world soul to empower Xe’ra. The first raid is in a rebuilt holy Lordaeron City.

3 new neutral races; Dracona, Amani Trolls, Alteracis.

Classes and professions getting completely reworked. There are now no limits on how many professions you can have per character and progress is shared across all characters. Some classes are being merged making 5-6 spec classes with some shared traits and abilities. The number is being lowered from 12 to 8 classes. A few new specs for the classes that were not merged with another.

Cross faction guilds and grouping. No city, town, or quest in Lordaeron is faction locked. Previous expansion content is still faction locked.

New battleground set in Kul Tiras. Sides are auto-balanced and not Horde vs. Alliance. Previous battlegrounds are so far unchanged.

Even if it's fake, this is the way I would like to see WoW embrace and progress in the future. It would be a brave decision, but that's something WoW desperately needs.

[Edlarel]

The real leak

Turns out this year the real leak was the friends we made along the way.

[Raetary]

No real wildly known title yet, internally known as "the new beginnings"

Lol.
The reveal is next month, the name is already set.

[Catastrophy349]

I would like to share my very own bit of head-canon. To be completely upfront and honest, these ideas are my own and created based on a few questions asked by the community.

What if:
1). Steve Danuser has said, many times, the words “wait and see.” When Blizzard announced the roadmap for the Warcraft universe, someone commented that they would like to be excited; however, they are worried because of how the Sepulcher (Shadowlands ending) concluded. His response was basically something along the lines of “Well, I say this because I can’t provide specificity without giving away potential spoilers. As for the ending of Shadowlands, it will have a conclusion (The Jailer cinematic was not it).”

Analysis:
1). Many think that the “Epilogue: Judgement” chapter of the 9.2 story has been omitted and put into a 9.2.5 patch. However, I don’t believe this. In an interview posted on Wowhead (I linked it yesterday), Danuser says that the chapter was purposely removed from the PTR not to spoil Sylvanas’ story and how the campaign ends in 9.2. He said that he was excited for players to see what happens. Now, the 7/8 chapter releases on LIVE next week, March 22, 2022. IF I am correct, the 8/8 chapter would release on March 29, 2022 (the following week since each week is a new chapter), to conclude the campaign and Sylvanas’ story. What else releases on March 29, 2022? The Sylvanas Book.

Yes, you may be asking “Well, if the 8/8 chapter releases on the 29th, why is it hidden from the achievements/campaign section of our quest journal?”

You would be correct; however, I think this is intentional to build HYPE/suspense for when it finally does go LIVE. Furthermore, depending on what is said in the Sylvanas book, there could be a connection with the 8/8 chapter.

To conclude my crazy head-canon, Danuser’s “wait and see” comments would make a lot more sense. Of course, I could be incredibly wrong; however, I strongly believe in my justification. Time will tell.

[ExiHext]

Even if it's fake, this is the way I would like to see WoW embrace and progress in the future. It would be a brave decision, but that's something WoW desperately needs.

If you want to alienate the playerbase...sure, that's the way to go.

[Fahrad Wagner]

Even if it's fake, this is the way I would like to see WoW embrace and progress in the future. It would be a brave decision, but that's something WoW desperately needs.

I agree, investing resources in remaking the old world into a bigger, better, more immersive HD experience would benefit the whole Warcraft universe.
Suramar-like Lordaeron and Silvermoon, bigger and wilder Barrens, a revamped and hostile Un'Goro Crater, a reclaimed large-scale Gilneas... so many great zones that deserve to be brought up to speed and scaled up.

If you want to alienate the playerbase...sure, that's the way to go.

Why would that alienate the playerbase? I am not being sassy here, just asking to understand your full thought.

[Sondrelk]

I agree, investing resources in remaking the old world into a bigger, better, more immersive HD experience would benefit the whole Warcraft universe.
Suramar-like Lordaeron and Silvermoon, bigger and wilder Barrens, a revamped and hostile Un'Goro Crater, a reclaimed large-scale Gilneas... so many great zones that deserve to be brought up to speed and scaled up.

While it isn't necessarily an issue, it is inevitable as WoW went along that increasingly large amounts of the game would become irrelevant. And now we are at the point where no expansion could ever come close to the absolute wealth of content that keeps getting added to the trashheap.

We could still have content in Stormheim for instance. Running around fighting Vrykul and Kvaldir, riding storm drakes into battle and drinking mead with Odyn.
We could have dailies in Westfall detailing helping farmers grow crops and prevent Defias uprisings.

Wow desperately needs something to make more of itself relevant for longer. Currently it's only really propped up by transmog runs of old raids and dungeons, when it should at least have Timewalking as a baseline activity to gain tangible rewards from old content.
Legion Timewalking shows good strides in a better direction, and hopefully the devs will keep adding content to older events to make them worthwhile as more than just easy catch-up gear.

[Edward Wu]

They ruined Bolvar for no reason in SL to prop up that dumb bitch Sylvanas, and took a low blow to Arthas for the final insult.

Danuser and his team are utter human garbage. I do not say that lightly. The sheer lack of regard and care for the standing lore and its fans is palpable.

[Le Conceptuel]

They ruined Bolvar for no reason in SL to prop up that dumb bitch Sylvanas, and took a low blow to Arthas for the final insult.

Danuser and his team are utter human garbage. I do not say that lightly. The sheer lack of regard and care for the standing lore and its fans is palpable.

*Writes poorly.*

"Actual human garbage. Serious disgrace. My priorities are not skewed in the slightest."

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Why would that alienate the playerbase? I am not being sassy here, just asking to understand your full thought.

Anything that isn't literally first alpha build no changes is going to alienate the playerbase, if my reading of MMO-Champion posts is correct and informed.

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Why are we still pitching in the random idea that the First Ones are order beings, despite clearly...not being that?

Some of us are still coping and trying to pretend this story won't be entirely built on oneupsmanshp and retcons.

[Ersula]

They ruined Bolvar for no reason in SL to prop up that dumb bitch Sylvanas, and took a low blow to Arthas for the final insult.

The way people latch on to any mediocre white male character in warcraft is inspiring, honestly

[Polybius]

Why would that alienate the playerbase? I am not being sassy here, just asking to understand your full thought.

Think he mistyped 'me'.

[ChairmanKaga]

But there is a simple explanation for not getting as many of those in Shadowlands: The guy & his studio that does their fully rendered cinematics was busy making Arcane during Shadowlands production. So instead we got more in-game model cinematics from Terron Gregory this expansion.

What studio are you talking about?

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Notice how after EoD leak was confirmed fake and we got nothing substantial left, the new "leaks" spawned look aimless, chaotic and instantly fake detectable. Im pretty sure we wont get any actual leaks up till last couple days before April 19th.

I don't even think EoD did that.

I think a lot of people were banking on the Raid Finale to give us some direction and we got jack shit.

We're kinda in the exact same spot we were before the Bolvar still leaked last go around. This has equal odds of being dragons as it does being evil birds from outer space.

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Even if it's fake, this is the way I would like to see WoW embrace and progress in the future. It would be a brave decision, but that's something WoW desperately needs.

It's probably fake, but it's also the exact kind of "We heard your complaints and completely misunderstood the assignment" flop that I'd expect from Ion & Daneuser.

[Osmeric]

as it does being evil birds from outer space.

No game-vs-game comparisons!

[Yossarian]

The only real leak:
— No real wildly known title yet, internally known as "the new beginnings"

— No full world revamp, but some zones and many sub-zones are revamped or updated since many events and world quest-like content happening all over the world. Showcase revamped locations are Lordraeron and Tanaris.

— Dragon Isles are endgame zone, very reminiscent of shrines in Dragonblight

— No new races, AR or classes at the start. Instead we get slight class revamp, manly focused on specs which are much softer now and many of which are merged and/or expended. Showcase is Mage which have frost and fire combined while arcane expanded to accommodate buff/debuff and other support stuff; and Warrior which have arms and prot combined while fury I'd completely reworked.

— Talents also reworked and present much more significant choices for your playstyle.

— More emphasis on diverse and fun gear and also craft professions.

— demo/alpha targeted briefly after announcement with Tanaris and only couple of classes available.

some other leak of the past months came up with Tanaris being revamped and at the beginning of the expansion, not referring specifically to the Caverns of Time
I don't remember which leak it was, if already debunked or not

could be a real hint? or this is just a reproposition of that old fake leak?

[Nokster10]

The way people latch on to any mediocre white male character in warcraft is inspiring, honestly

Pretty sure race and skin color has nothing to do with it, but nice try, racist.

[Shadochi]

some other leak of the past months came up with Tanaris being revamped and at the beginning of the expansion, not referring specifically to the Caverns of Time
I don't remember which leak it was, if already debunked or not

could be a real hint? or this is just a reproposition of that old fake leak?

Revamped Gadgetzan has been a wish for some time to be more equal to the Heartstone giant city. That would also require a revamp of Tanaris to bring it inline with the larger city. And with Tanaris being the homezone of Caverns of Time, a prominent dragon location, it has always in some way also found its way in a Dragon expansion that has been a topic for past couple of cycles. Also works as a connection point to bridge the theme between dragons and tinkers.

This is just what I remember based on memory of the previous few expansion discussion cycles. @Fahrad Wagner might remeber something I'm forgetting

[Seasz]

They ruined Bolvar for no reason in SL to prop up that dumb bitch Sylvanas, and took a low blow to Arthas for the final insult.

Danuser and his team are utter human garbage. I do not say that lightly. The sheer lack of regard and care for the standing lore and its fans is palpable.

Incelthas deserved that and even less

[Fahrad Wagner]

Revamped Gadgetzan has been a wish for some time to be more equal to the Heartstone giant city. That would also require a revamp of Tanaris to bring it inline with the larger city. And with Tanaris being the homezone of Caverns of Time, a prominent dragon location, it has always in some way also found its way in a Dragon expansion that has been a topic for past couple of cycles. Also works as a connection point to bridge the theme between dragons and tinkers.

This is just what I remember based on memory of the previous few expansion discussion cycles. @Fahrad Wagner might remeber something I'm forgetting

This is it mainly yes, ever since Mean Streets of Gadgetzan came out in HS many in the community have wished for a Gadgetzan à la Suramar kind of zone. However if zone are to be revamped, I would think they would come up with zones for which assets are already available? Which is not the case for Tanaris as 1. goblin assets were not updated 2. Farraki assets were not updated aside from a gong present in Zuldazar 3. the architecture of the Cavern of Times is quite unique and challenging too. That being said, they could also revamp that zone and create new assets from scratch, if that zone is to be used as a complete new zone and not just some side-dish revamped zones. It would be very interesting to see anyway, and could be the bridge between a new Tinker class and a new Dragon expansion (both themes have been mixed up in many leaks lately).

That being said I believe none of the leaks are real so far, real leaks tend to pop up much closer to the announcement date, so I wouldn't expect anything to leak before at least another two or three weeks.