Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Raetary]

You can see the Nazjatar art in the background...

Anyway, its clearly Zin'azshari themed.
Which is a literal sunken city.

Hence why the hero portrait is regular Azshara and not her Naga form.

[Vakir]

Also, this week's acid trip cutscene on top of being fairly fun, also further leans into the upcoming Dragon retcon. The Oracle interfaces in several languages, Draconic being one of them. Dragons are likely to be tied more directly to elementals and from there to Life.

Yeah, I remembered it later in the thread - that proto-dragons are evolved elementals.

Maybe that means expanding from them that they'll be less boring but...(X) Doubt.

[GabrielKnight]

Someone sent me this recently, seems legit.

https://imgur.com/uG8hUuB

So basically Taelia starts to bitch too much and Bolvar goes ape shit. There's like 126 writers working on it right now, especifically chosen because they're black or women.

[Varodoc]

You can see Nazjatar in the background...

Anyway, its clearly Zin'azshari themed.
Which is a literal sunken city.

That's fine, I'm just telling you that, regardless of what the city looks like, "Sunken City" as a moniker is associated with Ny'alotha.

"In the Sunken City, he lays dreaming".

Ny'alotha was also shown underwater in the Warbringers: Azshara cinematic. Azshara sees N'Zoth and his city while drowning.

[elbleuet]

Someone sent me recently, seems legit.

https://imgur.com/uG8hUuB

So basically Taelia starts to bitch too much and Bolvar goes ape shit. There's like 126 writers working on it right now, especifically chosen because they're black or women.

I refuse to click on this link even if I feel like to.

[Super Dickmann]

Yeah, I remembered it later in the thread - that proto-dragons are evolved elementals.

Maybe that means expanding from them that they'll be less boring but...(X) Doubt.

WoW dragons are aggressively boring, but the elementals themselves are essentially less interesting versions of the D&D elemental planes. Genuinely, the win might be in going simpler. Chromatus as a direct Tiamat riff who wants to kill everyone who isn't a dragon is simple and works for at the very least a raid end boss.

[Nyel]

Ah Yes, Nazjatar, the city of N'Zoth's minions, located next to N'Zoth's prison.

What is this hinting about the future of WoW?

- - - Updated - - -

And btw, Ny'alotha, and not Nazjatar, is consistently referred to as the "Sunken City":

In the sunken city, he lays dreaming. (Puzzle-box of Yogg-Saron, referring to Ny'alotha and N'Zoth)

Vol'zith the Whisperer ability, Grasp of the Sunken City

Nothing, like every Hearthstone expansion before. There's no correlation. And their teaser for the Hearthstone expansion was a submarine in the ocean - doesn't make sense in regards of Nyalotha as it's not a sunken (aka underwater) city and it's just a metaphor, even if it was showed as such in the Azshara clip.

[Izalla]

Which one was there will be dragons? Was that galakaros? I liked that one.

It was the most barebones bland one that got cross faction grouping correct. I adore the Galakaros leak and I am already mad at the OP for putting such ideas in my head.

[Vakir]

Also there's been plenty of concurrent Hearthstone sets that have fuck all to do with upcoming expansions. If anything they're usually one expac behind. Ashes of Outland after Legion, the war trilogy after BFA, etc.

[Skildar]

WoW dragons are aggressively boring, but the elementals themselves are essentially less interesting versions of the D&D elemental planes. Genuinely, the win might be in going simpler. Chromatus as a direct Tiamat riff who wants to kill everyone who isn't a dragon is simple and works for at the very least a raid end boss.

warcraft dragons are very interesting in the books (at least knaak's books) but as soon as they're part of any storyline in wow they loose all that made them interesting and charismatic. But that doesn't mean that they are not able to bring something worthwhile to the warcraft story

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I don't know Dragon Lore lost me after Cataclysm with the Age of Mortals. It just felt like afterwards the Dragons were made seemingly powerless or massacred and it really did not sit well with me. It's why I have no interest in Dragon Isle at all. Especially since the main character will most likely be Wrathion who was the big start of the major decline in the lore and who's only characteristic of savior complex has led us down to further stupidity whereas it has led to worse outcomes for everyone else on Azeroth while doing his work.

So you can imagine how thrilled I am to help him throughout the entire next expansion, possibly.

[Izalla]

Right, but then you have people here complaining that one of the flaws of Cataclysm is that the main villain was a big dumb dragon... but at the same time, they want Galakrond or Chromatus as main villain of 10.0??? Literally Deathwing was smarter than both of them combined since he was at least smart enough to manipulate the Alliance of Lordaeron for some time. So people complain that Deathwing was a bad villain but then they want an even dumber dragon as villain of 10.0

There's a reason why people want N'Zoth to come back, and it's because he had charisma, a quality that 90% of the WoW villains lack.

The big dumb dragon part wasn't exactly the problem so much as exactly what you highlighted here: he wasn't supposed to be a big dumb dragon, he was supposed to be clever and sneaky and manipulative and turned into just a big brute who smashed things randomly for the drama. If he wasn't Deathwing, a character with an established past and history, and was just a big new beast the real enemy was using to attack us (like Mythraxx being just a tool of G'huun) then it probably wouldn't have been so disappointing. People expected to actually get Deathwing, not just random angry dragon with no personality as just a tool of N'zoth. The N'zoth hints during Cata were great, it really felt like we were dealing with him as an unseen enemy, but Deathwing's character was thrown out the window so they could use him as N'zoth's battering ram and nothing more.

I don't see why they couldn't have done both, maybe had him start out smarter and scheming but steadily becoming more unstable and unhinged as the expac went on until he was gone completely insane with no semblance of Neltharion left by the Dragon Soul raid as N'zoth pumped him with more and more Old God juice. It also would have fit better better just having him break shit and walk away if there was actually strategy and manipulation going on in his destruction early on (like deliberately targeting Westfall to cause the desperate people to turn to the Defias again and cause problems for Stormwind, or to wreak havoc with the areas around Orgrimmar to force the orcs into desperation where seizing night elf resources is inevitable). But this was a time before they tried to cohesively build their stories steadily over patches like they do now so we kinds just jumped from one story beat to the next and Deathwing was just a big dumb dragon from the start.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

It also seems like narratively they saw how many resonated with Galakronds' character and hence we've got the new spooky villain in the background that basically is Galakrond but on an even bigger scale which seems to me that they want to utilize his character by using a different character since Galakrond is dead and the whole ressurection of Galakrond did not happen.

Obviously, I think the whole character which only characteristic is to consume things is not very interesting. It is disappointing that they are going in that direction, but it is what it is. I am also uncertain how they can characterize the villain in any way shape or form since it will just "consume". There isn't much to do with the character and as such he will probably be even more mysterious and without any voice lines beyond "groarr" or something silly like that.

Their obsession with Marvel really got them good, honestly. They do recognize how boring Galactus is, right?

[username993720]

The face palm is on you big man.

It's flying over your head, but this has been said like 3 times already.

Yes ofc they can create 6 new areas in the ED out of thin air and come up with another pantheon, but this time it's LIFE.. so with that in mind, I ask you again, do you really think that is such a good idea and not try to do some worldbuilding first?

Sure.
But, you need to acknowledge that there's plenty of material to work with other than just red colors and Satyrs.

I can't imagine clearing out the maw of souls will be as time consuming as say, Illidan standing vigil over Sargeras for all of eternity. She could be back halfway into the next expansion.

Sylvanas: "Guys, i'm done! Guys...?"
Horde and Alliance Leaders: "Oh shit, she's back. Hmmm... go clean the stables or something."

[Vakir]

Other than aesthetic (because they're giant flying reptiles that breathe elements), I dunno anyone who doesn't find dragons boring at this stage in the story.

I'm just trying to find a way to cope with it because of the emerald dragon datamine.

I can't imagine clearing out the maw of souls will be as time consuming as say, Illidan standing vigil over Sargeras for all of eternity. She could be back halfway into the next expansion.

If that's the case, which it won't be, doesn't that imply it's not a significant enough penance?

Why give a karmic consequence in the first place if it turns out to be the most lukewarm shit?

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I still genuinely believe that we will help Sylvanas in the Maw and finish up her judgment and then she will just swoop to Azeroth and chill at Windrunner Spire drinking tea with her sisters and eating mana cakes.

There's no shot in hell that she's left in the Maw unless her being locked behind in the Shadowlands and her becoming some weird cosmic traveller type character for later on. But, I still don't believe that stasis argument as it would not make sense with the Narrative Teams' current ambitions.

[Vakir]

I still genuinely believe that we will help Sylvanas in the Maw and finish up her judgment and then she will just swoop to Azeroth and chill at Windrunner Spire drinking tea with her sisters and eating mana cakes.

But why tho. One final fuck you?

[Super Dickmann]

warcraft dragons are very interesting in the books (at least knaak's books) but as soon as they're part of any storyline in wow they loose all that made them interesting and charismatic. But that doesn't mean that they are not able to bring something worthwhile to the warcraft story

On paper, the idea of making most dragons friendly guardians of different aspects of the world is interesting. But for the needs of the MMO they have to actually be able to get into some kind of conflict, which is antithetical to having only one flight, the black one, be hostile. So you're left with an endless procession of other dragon types going mad and failing or creating new purple dragonflight variants who's only trait is that they're hostile. It isn't helped by how their designs are simply visually boring with every flight being a straight recolor of the next and their most obtuse powers being nixed after Cataclysm. This isn't helped by dragons in Warcraft not having threat or mystique because in the Knaak and up to Cataclysm-era they were basically everywhere and we've kicked their asses countless times.

@Foreign Exchange Ztudent

I'll withdraw all good things I've said about Shadowlands if Sylvanas features in the next expansion and declare a fatwah on every future script. Shelving Sylvanas in the Maw to free souls and find Nathanos is about as good an ending this shambles of a character arc can produce.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

But why tho. One final fuck you?

I mean, I don't know what is going on in Team 2s' head anymore. They seem to basically have moved to be completely unpredictable in their actions as of late. I expect therefore more decisions that makes completely zero sense to occur as it seems extremely likely to continue in that direction for the foreseeable future.

It doesn't make much sense to me to leave Sylvanas in the Shadowlands unless the Narrative Team are forced to move her out of the story due to higher ups. Obviously, if we follow patterns she would become some type of Alleria type character but again it is already done.

The likeliest scenario is that we help her during the 9.2.5 Epilogue Campaign and she just wooshes into nothingness. They could leave that to interpretation on both cosmic side or Azerothian side. Maybe some sort of speech before she vanishes after she's got ball form Nathanos by her side or some shtick.

At least that's what I would do and hopefully they don't put her in the next Expansion Cinematic!

@Foreign Exchange Ztudent

I'll withdraw all good things I've said about Shadowlands if Sylvanas features in the next expansion and declare a fatwah on every future script. Shelving Sylvanas in the Maw to free souls and find Nathanos is about as good an ending this shambles of a character arc can produce.

Absolutely, I would really want the whole stasis theory to be true instead and she's actually just going to become some sort of Cosmic Explorer type that shows up later on within gods knows how many expansions as it would at least leave her stuck and out of the canon for a while since it is unlikely that the Narrative Team would kill her at this point in time.

The best option is that we never ended up in the current narrative awkwardness in the first place and the Narrative Team killed her before she ended up in a situation where there's no active threat that can end her life since Tyrande was deactivated and turned into a meek kitten subservient to a goddess that is a robot who decided not to help because she wanted to help her sister who hated her because she was allegedly "kidnapped"/"Ran away".

[Pheraz]

But why tho. One final fuck you?

I fear the worst when it comes to Sylvanas. Just watch post-anduin-boss-fight-cinematic. She is already chaotic good. She runs to anduin and screams "annnduinn". She tried to rescue him. We will be annoyed by Sylvanas for at least one more expansion maybe until someone at blizzard really stands up to steve danuser and says "hey! please stop this! the players and us... we've seen enough sylvanas. it's enough. please stop!"