Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Chickat]

I'm pretty sure that the Incubus and the Dracthyr were developed at the same time. Also there's nothing wrong with a race sharing the same skeleton as a pet as long as it has the necessary animations, which they clearly do.

Also I gotta say, that white Dracthyr form looks great.

Yeah, they have a similar idle and running animation. Everything else is obviously going to be new.

[ercarp]

Umm I feel like its a non issue and people just want to whine tbh. They have unique casting, dancing, emotes etc that every race has. They just run the same and idle the same. Its a non issue.

I guess it's going to be subjective at the end of the day. Personally I think it does make the race seem a bit cheaper since they haven't done this in the past. Usually brand new races come with brand new skeletons.

That said, this is not that big of an issue for me as long as they address all the other problems with the race. I mean, it's not like we can run around as incubi as the player character so the experience of using those animations ourselves is still unique.

[Chickat]

I think it sounds like a lot.

Revamped talents at this scope are going to need a ton of balancing work to begin with, a lot more than the extra talent rows & soulbinds needed for Shadowlands. Every spec will need this, all 38 of them. Given how intricate some of those talent rows looked, it's possible some of these specs are getting overhauled pending how many abilities are in the trees instead of baseline with the class.

Dragon Riding shouldn't be super intense, we've already seen most of the pieces elsewhere. But there are complications. The customizations sound a lot like the Mechagon mounts with custom colors & the unlocking abilities sound similar to Pocopoc, but there will still need to be testing of each new talent added...both in how it works & given that this is early flying, how easy this makes it to break the game. We still have the falling DC bug which could be a nightmare with the dive bombing aspect of this new system, so one has to think that will need a glance.

Dracthyr Evokers will need a bunch of work. Balancing, adjusting abilities, determining racials & class abilities (as much as there's really any reason to separate them), bugs with the starting zone, etc. Not to mention the whole charging spell aspect of the class.

UI revamp is going to need a lot of testing. Do the bars lock up? Is it possible to make UI pieces unrecoverable? How well is that spec saving going, and is there a way to copy those settings to alts? Profession revamp is going to need a ton as well, given how much this differs from the norm.

It's maybe not as much as Legion, but there's still a bunch here IMO.

Yeah Id compare it to Shadowlands systems wise like I said. Not as much as Legion or BFA tho.

[Local Ardenweald Faerie]

I guess it's going to be subjective at the end of the day. Personally I think it does make the race seem a bit cheaper since they haven't done this in the past. Usually brand new races come with brand new skeletons.

That said, this is not that big of an issue for me as long as they address all the other problems with the race. I mean, it's not like we can run around as incubi ourselves so the experience of using those animations ourselves is still unique.

I know this is a different situation, but when Garrosh got his new model in 5.3, people correctly speculated that it was a precursor for something more; indeed, he became the base for the new Orc models in Warlords.

They've done this before, using a new skeleton as an experiment for a new race and stuff. It's just a bit weird that they used a pet instead of a cool NPC this time.

[ercarp]

Kinda disappointing, but I guess it's a step in the right direction. I really hope they take all the feedback we have.

Well, the thing is, the bulky body type was there all along but it was so subtle we didn't even notice it. That's a very clear sign that it needs to be tweaked quite a bit.

- - - Updated - - -

I know this is a different situation, but when Garrosh got his new model in 5.3, people correctly speculated that it was a precursor for something more; indeed, he became the base for the new Orc models in Warlords.

They've done this before, using a new skeleton as an experiment for a new race and stuff. It's just a bit weird that they used a pet instead of a cool NPC this time.

Definitely. I know I'll be thinking about that in the back of my mind whenever I see one of these things running by.

[huth]

I think its similar in scope to Shadowlands systems wise. Sure we have no torghast, but they said leggos might come back. Crafting revamp and gathering revamp are as big as leggo crafting. Covenants are turning into reps. Surely not as big of a system, but still big. Talents are comparable to the Soulbind system.

Shadowlands was actually really feature light if you think about it. It had mega locked reps and torghast. Thats about it.
Dragonflight looks to have and improve on everything shadowlands had minus torghast.

Crafting revamp is a lot bigger than Leggo crafting. Leggo crafting isn't really much different from regular SL crafting, just the interface is different. Wouldn't be surprised if under the hood, it works the same (i.e. Legendary powers are just another "optional reagent", except one that doesn't get used up).

DF totally changes up how crafting is being done and how the outcome is determined, and also adds a whole new level of specialising to it. (Ion mentioned in one interview that you can't just specialise in, say, leather armour, but even in a specific slot, so you can have a master leather helmet crafter on your server.)

[Chickat]

We have no idea how those talents look like. Assuming most of them will be +3% damage, -5% damage taking and +2% crit, there's not much to test anyway.

True. I think its going to be similar to current talent trees but with a bit more freedom to choose which off specabilities you want. Probably wont effect the spec talent tree much, just the base class one. I think its a fantastic idea by the way. You can have a loadout for a ton of specific niche use cases. 5 different loadouts for 1 raid depending on bosses. Different one for each dungeon or affix. Different ones for bgs vs world PVP vs arenas. Different ones for world questing vs rare hunting. If they let you have enough loadout slots there could be 20 different loadouts you would want per spec. Thats awesome. Obviosuly there will be a cookie cutter spec for most raid bosses or dungeons, but you will have a different loadout for aoe, cleave, single target fights. Maybe you want to spec into healing for a healer fight, maybe you are melee and spec into ranged dps or dot damage for a fight with an air faze. It has a ton of potential.

[Malorne the White Stag]

https://warcraft.blizzplanet.com/blo...-and-tina-wang

Some fantastic Dracthyr stuff here:

- dragon form customization DOES involve torso width being slender or bulkier, as well as different shapes of the face
- you will be able to see tabards, belts AND shoulders in dragon form (with some armor we've seen also being customized in barbershop)


They also make it clear that you are stuck in dragon form for combat, and they double down on dracthyrs being evokers and evokers being dracthyr, so opening it up to other classes is absolutely not in the cards

Well, this is some good news. Still really disappointed with the one class thing.

[Dismayxz]

You might be over selling it slightly. They say you can fly then show a clip of moving in a straight line. So it looks like the flying might be simply abilities you trigger and similar to things we already have examples of in the game for "airborne" attacks.

The interview literally references the Dragonriding in relation to this. He might be overselling, I agree with that. But it does sound like until a certain point in your Dragonriding training, you are just as fine on a Drakthyr, because they can at the very least nosedive and fly for a bit.

[Chickat]

Yep. Top it off with a flight form that allows you to do dragonflight without a mount, and it's game, set, match.

Yeah, and the Dragon form is growing on me. Its kind of noble and cute. Sure its not that badass, but they do like very regal.

[rhorle]

WoW never had a fixed expansion release window in the first place. They've been all over the place.

Isn't that the release window then? August to December? The only expansion to release outside of that was TBC which got delayed to January.

[Chickat]

Didn't Ion say in the Hazelnutty interview that they want the rep for Centaurs, Explorer's League, Reliquary and others to be like Covenants? Where you see what you will unlock once you reach that level with them.

Oh I wasn't aware of a hazle interview.

[huth]

Yeah Id compare it to Shadowlands systems wise like I said. Not as much as Legion or BFA tho.

They also need to be future proofed since most of these are long-term items rather than just DF expansion features.

[Chickat]

I guess it's going to be subjective at the end of the day. Personally I think it does make the race seem a bit cheaper since they haven't done this in the past. Usually brand new races come with brand new skeletons.

That said, this is not that big of an issue for me as long as they address all the other problems with the race. I mean, it's not like we can run around as incubi as the player character so the experience of using those animations ourselves is still unique.

Yeah, but if its true, it means they adapted the Drakthyr race for Incubus. Sure it looks lazy for the uninformed, but it means they made a custom or heavily modified skeleton and used it for a creature model after.

- - - Updated - - -

Crafting revamp is a lot bigger than Leggo crafting. Leggo crafting isn't really much different from regular SL crafting, just the interface is different. Wouldn't be surprised if under the hood, it works the same (i.e. Legendary powers are just another "optional reagent", except one that doesn't get used up).

DF totally changes up how crafting is being done and how the outcome is determined, and also adds a whole new level of specialising to it. (Ion mentioned in one interview that you can't just specialise in, say, leather armour, but even in a specific slot, so you can have a master leather helmet crafter on your server.)

Yeah, that's true. I wasn't thinking about the specializations and crafting gear/stats.

[rhorle]

The interview literally references the Dragonriding in relation to this. He might be overselling, I agree with that. But it does sound like until a certain point in your Dragonriding training, you are just as fine on a Drakthyr, because they can at the very least nosedive and fly for a bit.

Dragon riding is different then flying around in combat. They haven't elaborated on how much, if any, combat will be done with the Dragon Riding system. Everything they have referenced about mounts could simply be PR talk for flying down, dismounting, and "ambushing" a target.

[huth]

Isn't that the release window then? August to December? The only expansion to release outside of that was TBC which got delayed to January.

That's not a window, that's half a year. The amount of switching around doesn't suggest they're aiming for any date in particular.

[Ersula]

So, the minor patch is in fact a minor patch.

What a twist, who could've predicted that?!

Not this minor. They've never just did a minor patch to add, like I said, things that could just be hotfixed in, which is all 9.2.5 on the PTR has been so far. So far 9.2.5 is sub-sub-minor patch.

We're only two builds in: That's hardly finished.

[Shadochi]

Yeah, but if its true, it means they adapted the Drakthyr race for Incubus. Sure it looks lazy for the uninformed, but it means they made a custom or heavily modified skeleton and used it for a creature model after.

- - - Updated - - -



Yeah, that's true. I wasn't thinking about the specializations and crafting gear/stats.

Also to add that the incubus is one forms for one of the pets, youll be seeing dracthyr more ofthen than them

[huth]

Yeah, but if its true, it means they adapted the Drakthyr race for Incubus. Sure it looks lazy for the uninformed, but it means they made a custom or heavily modified skeleton and used it for a creature model after.

Would fit with that it feels like they made the Incubus on relatively short notice, which seems odd for such a high quality rig.

[infinitemeridian]

I am disappointed that Torghast is being left behind. The concept behind it was always great - an ever-evolving, randomized area for you to do some crazy stuff with your class. Purely cosmetic rewards. It's probably the best feature that they've added since M+ that had potential to morph into a core "pillar" of content for solo people (or group).

Just add some sort of Bronze dragon Tower that you plan to update every expac - different halls take you through different timelines and biomes and enemy types. Add more every expac. New challenges, greatly expand the rewards, etc.

More so than covenants, more so than islands / warfronts, Torghast had the most potential and a shame it's being completely flushed down the toilet.