Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Kiivar86]

And the general consensus / speculation so far is that it's dragon isles due to the dragon bundle?

Seems so.

Personally I'm expecting something out of left field.

[Therougetitan]

And the general consensus / speculation so far is that it's dragon isles due to the dragon bundle?

It was theorized to be dragon isle a couple weeks before that because of some encrypted green drake mount

[Vasoka]

Sounds cool. Guess fanatic Yrel Light Crusade idea went out the window.

[AngerFork]

Alright, real talk. When do you ppl think they'll announce 10.0? And in what manner? Given that xpacs were always announced at Blizzcon / Gamescon so far.

Personally, I think we're looking at either a mid-March or a mid-April announcement date, & I suspect that is partially why Blizzcon is not happening in 2022. The key to this IMO is the Sylvanas book that is currently set to come out on March 29th. As is, we likely will be getting more context on Sylvanas' actions & who she will be in the future, but we likely won't get much that will spoil the expansion. The real key here is if Blizz wants to properly close out the Sylvanas stuff before announcing the new direction for WoW, or whether Blizz will hope for a bump from a 10.0 expansion to raise book sales. Mid-April is probably the safer bet here, just in case 9.2 comes out late & more room is needed for World First to happen.

And the general consensus / speculation so far is that it's dragon isles due to the dragon bundle?

Dragon Bundle probably leans more towards Dragon Isles, but we've arguably had signs in a few different directions. The Sunwarmed Furline could well be a sign of plot elements involving the Light. The Sapphire Skyblazer (along with it's orange twin) continuously talks about hotter, which also points to something like the Light. But neither is a direct creation of the Light while the Dragon Bundle absolutely points towards Dragon Isles.

At this point, I feel either one could be the next expansion plot. I could even see a case where the Light is the main antagonist, but we have to visit the Dragon Isles to find a way to push against it.

[draugril]

The Shadowlands races are a good idea, but why they care about the world of the living would need to be developed. The Dreadlords going back & forth between the veil caused all this in the first place so I can't imagine many would think letting people come & go as they please would be allowed.

Considering the latest build has new Sylvanas clicky lines, it seems like she's really sticking around: Perhaps as faction leader of undead elves? The Lilian/Calia scene at the end of BFA does feel like an allied race quest: complete with unique racial mount.

Personal preference aside, my real issue with Shadowlands races becoming an ongoing feature of the setting would be just what their new role would be. The very order of the cosmos would have to be shifted to accommodate their ongoing and independent role in the mortal world. And ongoing plots would now need to factor in the specific proclivities and resources that these races have.

Or they could just go the Lightforged route and make them playable while ignoring everything about them that should have been a paradigm shift but functionally changed nothing. Sylvanas's plot doesn't really work if she gets nuked by a space laser, I suppose.

I still can’t get over “the jailer is cunning and deceptive” when he was always “I shall remake reality and any resistance will be wiped out and forced to serve”

Honestly, I still can't get over the misleading comments around who burnt down the tree when it was simply its face value. Sylvanas burnt it down. Due to an emotional outburst. But then it turns out that she was fueling the Jailer. Then why did it require that emotional outburst? Just... such inconsistencies bordering on retconning from one patch to the next.

If they want to do big, bombastic stories, great! They're fun! But they're giving us the Lost treatment with cliffhangers that are resolved by mystery boxes that are resolved by cliffhangers ad nauseum. That's not the type of storytelling that I'm coming to WoW to experience, and even if I was, they're terrible at it.

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Personally, I think we're looking at either a mid-March or a mid-April announcement date, & I suspect that is partially why Blizzcon is not happening in 2022. The key to this IMO is the Sylvanas book that is currently set to come out on March 29th.

Yep. If they had an announcement to make, you better believe that Blizzcon would not have been cancelled. As the store mounts have shown, mass marketing trumps optics that comparatively few care about.

[Makabreska]

Sounds cool. Guess fanatic Yrel Light Crusade idea went out the window.

For now...

[Khaza-R]

And the general consensus / speculation so far is that it's dragon isles due to the dragon bundle?

Dragon Isles has been a popular fan theory for a while now. There's really no evidence at all backing it at this point.

But its not unheard of Blizzard taking fan concepts and running with them to create something new.

[Teriz]

Dragon Isles has been a popular fan theory for a while now. There's really no evidence at all backing it at this point.

But its not unheard of Blizzard taking fan concepts and running with them to create something new.

Dragon Isles was planned for vanilla WoW.

Wrathion is searching for them.

[Khaza-R]

Dragon Isles was planned for vanilla WoW.

Wrathion is searching for them.

I talking about it in the context as the setting for an expansion.

[draugril]

I talking about it in the context as the setting for an expansion.

There was less evidence for MoP and SL.

[Chickat]

Im a tad stupid when it comes to when ptr started but isn’t normal testing 10-12 weeks?

As for 10.0 we know that the announcement was likely planned for blizzconline and then replanned for whatever replacement they had set up to include live events that we haven’t heard about since.

If I had to venture a guess I would say 9.2 early February
10.0 announced in March
Then it gets tricky because they said 9.3 isn’t planned but it’s a possibility so that makes me think a ruby sanctum style patch if 10.0 is behind.
If there’s a 9.3 then alpha hits around June launching in February
No 9.3 means alpha in April with launch in November again which is awful

I seriously doubt they do a 9.3.

I have a question though for everyone in this thread. What if the devs came out and told us they were behind on the next expansion. That it is ambitious but not ready to announce yet. They are doing a 9.3 patch with a lot of half finished cut content. No relationship to Shadowlands at all.

We get, Abyssal Maw dungeon. Farahlon zone. Shat raid from WoD.

All this content was over halfway done, but was cut for time. They don't have time to make new content, so they are releasing a bunch of random content with very little story. Juts lots of content and rares to hold us over till Q2 2023. How would you all feel about that?

They could lightly wrap it into one package, and say the infinite Dragonflight is messing with the timeways, and we need to drive them back from these locations in order to preserve the timeways. Something super simple like that. No big story. No seeding for future stuff. Just rares, world quests, old cut unused armor assets, weapons, mount recolors. Loads of rewards on already finished unreleased content.

[AngerFork]

I seriously doubt they do a 9.3.

I have a question though for everyone in this thread. What if the devs came out and told us they were behind on the next expansion. That it is ambitious but not ready to announce yet.

I'd applaud them for their honesty. It would show that they've learned a bunch from their community & really want to try to bring WoW back. It might be nice to have a small WoW patch with a couple small items to tide us over, but not necessary. Perhaps a good small story bridge between SL & the next expansion with a couple good Allied Races...

They are doing a 9.3 patch with a lot of half finished cut content. No relationship to Shadowlands at all.

We get, Abyssal Maw dungeon. Farahlon zone. Shat raid from WoD.

All this content was over halfway done, but was cut for time. They don't have time to make new content, so they are releasing a bunch of random content with very little story. Juts lots of content and rares to hold us over till Q2 2023. How would you all feel about that?

They could lightly wrap it into one package, and say the infinite Dragonflight is messing with the timeways, and we need to drive them back from these locations in order to preserve the timeways. Something super simple like that. No big story. No seeding for future stuff. Just rares, world quests, old cut unused armor assets, weapons, mount recolors. Loads of rewards on already finished unreleased content.

...wait, what? Why? Why did you spend more time on something this intricate rather than working on the next expansion? I know some of it was half done, but...this all took a ton of time still I'd imagine.

Really, I'm not sure why they would go this far over the top. Even if they simplified a Shattrath raid to something like 3-4 bosses, that's still quite a bit of time to tune/balance/prep at all levels. Bringing in Farahlon would also feel really weird at this point. Narratively, why am I actually going back to AU Draenor which is already mostly a dead world (according to the Mag'har storyline) to raid Shattrath & then diving into Vash'jir to visit the Abyssal Maw? Even half done, there's a ton of work to be done on each of these, work that I'd rather see towards giving us a good future experience with 10.0.

[Teriz]

I talking about it in the context as the setting for an expansion.

You mean in terms of general lore?

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_Isles

[Ersula]

I do feel like we'll get an old school dungeons & or Dragon expansion. Don't be disappointed if it's not called "dragon isles." Not sure what about it is left to use ideas from. Dragons all in all aren't that interesting & all the concept art of Dragon Isles has already been reused

[Revamp Man]

I seriously doubt they do a 9.3.

I have a question though for everyone in this thread. What if the devs came out and told us they were behind on the next expansion. That it is ambitious but not ready to announce yet. They are doing a 9.3 patch with a lot of half finished cut content. No relationship to Shadowlands at all.

We get, Abyssal Maw dungeon. Farahlon zone. Shat raid from WoD.

All this content was over halfway done, but was cut for time. They don't have time to make new content, so they are releasing a bunch of random content with very little story. Juts lots of content and rares to hold us over till Q2 2023. How would you all feel about that?

They could lightly wrap it into one package, and say the infinite Dragonflight is messing with the timeways, and we need to drive them back from these locations in order to preserve the timeways. Something super simple like that. No big story. No seeding for future stuff. Just rares, world quests, old cut unused armor assets, weapons, mount recolors. Loads of rewards on already finished unreleased content.

I would be 100% down for that personally I believe that every expansion could have a greatest hits as a final patch
Like a raid with four bosses that is voted by the players out of every boss so far in the game and then a few fun little quest in an old zone to get cosmetics

If they came out and said that they were behind I would be OK with waiting I just want to know what is coming because I did not like shadow lands in terms of the scene when it was announced and I wasn’t too excited to get on the beta when I got access

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I do feel like we'll get an old school dungeons & or Dragon expansion. Don't be disappointed if it's not called "dragon isles." Not sure what about it is left to use ideas from. Dragons all in all aren't that interesting & all the concept art of Dragon Isles has already been reused

Well we do still have the big reveal about who is the true heir to the menethil throne

I know that it’s slowly been working up to some giant twist and reveal that no one would ever guess but if you spend five seconds you know that it’s going to be that little girl that just so happens to be kind of prominent whose family history is as vague as another character as family history

[Makabreska]

I know that it’s slowly been working up to some giant twist and reveal that no one would ever guess but if you spend five seconds you know that it’s going to be that little girl that just so happens to be kind of prominent whose family history is as vague as another character as family history

What? Where this "big reveal" came from? Saw literally no one talking about it/being excited about it.

[Revamp Man]

What? Where this "big reveal" came from? Saw literally no one talking about it/being excited about it.

The pamphlets in elwyn talking about the scarlet crusade rising with the true king of lordaeron

Meanwhile we have the now dead queen never specify if her child was a boy or girl only that she lost track of her child and husband

We also have Talia and Bolvar who never mention the name of her mother and Talia is also pushed as a romantic interest for Anduin.

Callia was hiding her noble lineage and said she had a simple life with a soldier.

My guess is that the scarlet crusade is being manipulated by a black dragon and Talia will be revealed as the true heir thus leading to the legacy of Arthas being married into the legacy of Varian.

[Hitei]

I do feel like we'll get an old school dungeons & or Dragon expansion. Don't be disappointed if it's not called "dragon isles." Not sure what about it is left to use ideas from. Dragons all in all aren't that interesting & all the concept art of Dragon Isles has already been reused

"all the concept art" was one 15+ years out of date concept piece that had nothing to do with the Dragon Isles beyond them originally planning to slap an old god temple there.

Like with every other expansion, they will come up with new ideas for how they want the Isles to look and the things they want on them, and then make them based on those ideas. Dragons, between them, cover pretty much every feasible zone type there is and a wide variety of magic types, aesthetics and themes. There are few things in the game with as much variety and coverage as dragons, and their inherently magical nature, as well as the magical nature of the Isles, means that they can be as outlandish as they want with anything there.

To begin with, a good 85-90% of every expansion is brand new stuff not previously associated with the location and its lore. Most of the time all that gets carried over are names of places.

[Revamp Man]

Galakrond returns bigger and badder
We have no aspects, fewer keepers, and in terms of power our forces are still recovering from recent events

Wrathion has discovered a new way to empower the aspects and it lies in the dragon isles a floating land mass

We need to find nozdormu to help us locate them. If he helps us he becomes moruzond because in helping us it prevents his original death soon to be at the hands of galakrond. He helps us by searching the time ways and is twisted before our eyes and leaves

With galakrond screwing up the world slowly due to his new body the scarlet crusade uses this to their advantage and tries to blame anduin and install their own king supposedly the heir to lordaeron but is actually a black dragon in disguise and the last surviving whelp of onyxia.

The dragons on the isles don’t like outsiders ever since they originally lifted the isles into the sky away from the troubles of the mortals below.

[TheFirstOnes]

I do feel like we'll get an old school dungeons & or Dragon expansion. Don't be disappointed if it's not called "dragon isles." Not sure what about it is left to use ideas from. Dragons all in all aren't that interesting & all the concept art of Dragon Isles has already been reused

Not interesting? The fuck? You do realize this could be a perfect tie in expansion to the more Cosmic side of things yeah? Dragons + Civil War on Azeroth with invasion of SW being the prepatch or summ? Fuck yeah. Also Helya ain’t dead and I’m sure the forces of Zovaal would have contingencies in case Zovaal’s attempt at destroying the Cosmos + the chart failed.