9.X Patches & 10.0 Speculation Thread

[Ersula]

Removing any story spoilers does improve the experience for anyone. We can see all the stuff at the same time instead of having a part of the community being on the PTR while the other part isn't. PTR should be about testing systems only, not playing the full game in advance.

I don't believe that. In my adult life, my experience has been you can't get anyone to try something new based on word of mouth; its actually spoilers that is the thing that intrigues anyone enough to actually watch or play anything. And the angst of being "spoiled" is just someone confusing the sentiment of not being able to enjoy a first-time experience twice.

And then there is the problem of how almost all new systems are introduced through the story. Maybe they can, hypothetically, introduce a whole allied race without testing it, which might work out once, but that's the sort of thing that's only going to work out some of the time. Ion literally said "we didn't publicly test the last few bosses in Sepulcher, and people really enjoyed that." What? What is he basing that statement on? The reaction to new content within the fandom wasn't noticeably different. As for the cinematic, Raid groups in which I was in experiencing it live were either making fun of how bad it was or skipping it entirely. The only difference was the point in time in which the fandom was reacting: A later point in time, which seems no different than their business model of time-gating, which is a predatory business model when it comes to a subscription based service.

I don't think anyone prefers this new version of wow where all news comes directly from Ion's uncharismatic face.

[Sondrelk]

I don't believe that. In my adult life, my experience has been you can't get anyone to try something new based on word of mouth; its actually spoilers that is the thing that intrigues anyone enough to actually watch or play anything. And the angst of being "spoiled" is just someone confusing the sentiment of not being able to enjoy a first-time experience twice.

WoW PTR spoilers are not the good kind though. The good kinds of spoilers are what we could call leaks, which is a smaller bit of fragmented info devoid of context. The reason this is why is because it promotes speculation.
The kind of spoilers we get on PTR is just a long and drawn out parade of learning all the interesting bits of story, just told out of order and without the emotional investment.

[Lady Atia]

I don't believe that. In my adult life, my experience has been you can't get anyone to try something new based on word of mouth; its actually spoilers that is the thing that intrigues anyone enough to actually watch or play anything. And the angst of being "spoiled" is just someone confusing the sentiment of not being able to enjoy a first-time experience twice.

And then there is the problem of how almost all new systems are introduced through the story. Maybe they can, hypothetically, introduce a whole allied race without testing it, which might work out once, but that's the sort of thing that's only going to work out some of the time. Ion literally said "we didn't publicly test the last few bosses in Sepulcher, and people really enjoyed that." What? What is he basing that statement on? The reaction to new content within the fandom wasn't noticeably different. As for the cinematic, Raid groups in which I was in experiencing it live were either making fun of how bad it was or skipping it entirely. The only difference was the point in time in which the fandom was reacting: A later point in time, which seems no different than their business model of time-gating, which is a predatory business model when it comes to a subscription based service.

I don't think anyone prefers this new version of wow where all news comes directly from Ion's uncharismatic face.

I did enjoy the way they released Sepulcher. It's so much cooler to go in blind than have to watch perfect guides beforehand. Hope they continue that for the future raids!

[AngerFork]

To each their own, but I think this looks amazing.

--Image--

On it's own, sure. So do the DH Metamorphosis models. The problem though is that when you can't add in your own transmog styles & the like, the character doesn't really feel like it's yours so much as like you are playing a copy. As much as the dev team can add in some armor designs to their customizations, none of them will make the character feel like a true in-game representation as much as some sort of way to have armor/transmog affect the character design.

Sure you can customize the visage form, but with how little that will be in combat it won't feel quite the same.

Even something like wearing the tabards/belts you have or stuff like that would give some sort of custom character feel, moreso than just static models with a few set-up designs.

[Nyel]

Looks much too Blood Elven.

Look at that face, it's hideous. The rest... well, it's a derpy dragon. People are allowed to like that, to me it screams LAZY from top to bottom.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I did enjoy the way they released Sepulcher. It's so much cooler to go in blind than have to watch perfect guides beforehand. Hope they continue that for the future raids!

Going in blind is cool....


Unless its overtuned....which it was(Still kinda is IMO). The less spoilers the better though.

[Teriz]

On it's own, sure. So do the DH Metamorphosis models. The problem though is that when you can't add in your own transmog styles & the like, the character doesn't really feel like it's yours so much as like you are playing a copy. As much as the dev team can add in some armor designs to their customizations, none of them will make the character feel like a true in-game representation as much as some sort of way to have armor/transmog affect the character design.

Sure you can customize the visage form, but with how little that will be in combat it won't feel quite the same.

Even something like wearing the tabards/belts you have or stuff like that would give some sort of custom character feel, moreso than just static models with a few set-up designs.

You can also customize the Dracthyr form. Supposedly, they're going to have tons of customizations for it to the point that no 2 are going to look alike.

[Sondrelk]

You can also customize the Dracthyr form. Supposedly, they're going to have tons of customizations for it to the point that no 2 are going to look alike.

It's rare to find two humans who look entirely different in real life, or indeed if you use the randomizer feature in WoW. But without clothes and distinguishing features you wouldnt really be able to immedaitely spot two different ones if they just stood around in their underwear.

The color will be the biggest difference, and being able to transmog shoudlers and belts will help massively, but it's not really a full substitute for the real thing.

[Berkilak]

Look at that face, it's hideous. The rest... well, it's a derpy dragon. People are allowed to like that, to me it screams LAZY from top to bottom.

All the more reason to cover it up with armour.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

All the more reason to cover it up with armour.

Its not lazy though, far from it.

[Ersula]

I did enjoy the way they released Sepulcher. It's so much cooler to go in blind than have to watch perfect guides beforehand. Hope they continue that for the future raids!

But that's how they used to handle spoilers, which felt natural to game development: Watch the raid get completed in real time & get treated to a raid cinematic that has huge story implications.

Now they're encrypting random questlines & making the raid cinematic finale be information we should have had months earlier.

Its like night & day.

[Sondrelk]

But that's how they used to handle spoilers, which felt natural to game development: Watch the raid get completed in real time & get treated to a raid cinematic that has huge story implications.

Now they're encrypting random questlines & making the raid cinematic finale be information we should have had months earlier.

Its like night & day.

What are you on about? The better way to experience a raid for the first time is fragmented and in a datamined cinematic? Am I getting that right?

[Ersula]

What are you on about? The better way to experience a raid for the first time is fragmented and in a datamined cinematic? Am I getting that right?

The best way to experience a raid is the way we experienced raids during the first 7 expansions. They should only encrypt cinematics. I thought my point was pretty clear.

[Sondrelk]

The best way to experience a raid is the way we experienced raids during the first 7 expansions. They should only encrypt cinematics. I thought my point was pretty clear.

What's wrong with not knowing what happens right before and after the cinematic?

[Ersula]

What's wrong with not knowing what happens right before and after the cinematic?

(Gestures to the last 20 pages of people having nothing better to discuss than dragon shoulder width) That's what's wrong with it.

[Sondrelk]

(Gestures to the last 20 pages of people having nothing better to discuss than dragon shoulder width) That's what's wrong with it.

People don't debate story stuff because there currently isnt anything to debate, that would be true even if the Sepulcher was fully datamined.

Besides, people didnt discuss story beats less in SL compared to BfA because less was datamined. People discussed it less because there was less story, and the story generally wasnt that engaging.

[huth]

(Gestures to the last 20 pages of people having nothing better to discuss than dragon shoulder width) That's what's wrong with it.

Except that would still happen anyway, and did happen before as well. So you've got absolutely nothing.

[Makabreska]

(Gestures to the last 20 pages of people having nothing better to discuss than dragon shoulder width) That's what's wrong with it.

Ye, dude. Do you realize people here discuss many weird things, and Dracthyr are currently the hottest and most shown topic of the xpac? Ofc you don't realize.

[Au-burn]

What works for dragons and their body build won't necessarily work for humanoid dragonshits. Those ugly spider lizards should get bulkier all around model alternative. Their shoulders and everything else makes them look like weak wimpy fartstains.

[Lady Atia]

The best way to experience a raid is the way we experienced raids during the first 7 expansions. They should only encrypt cinematics. I thought my point was pretty clear.

Well, I'm glad Blizzard is changing. Because the way we experienced raids during the first 7 expansions was bad in comparison to SotFO and clearly a remnant of the "old guard".