Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Why would a Titan and a eternal be considered Sisters? They are sorta separate in their domains. Eonar might be a "Life Titan"(Not literally mind you but the theme as she's been portrayed as) and well the winter Queen is an eternal and not really have much connection with each other.

[TheFirstOnes]

Why would a Titan and a eternal be considered Sisters? They are sorta separate in their domains. Eonar might be a "Life Titan"(Not literally mind you but the theme as she's been portrayed as) and well the winter Queen is an eternal and not really have much connection with each other.

The Titans and other Cosmic Pantheons appear to be connected in a way, Ysera was stated by the Winter Queen to be "a work of her sisters", and Ysera was empowered and amped up by Eonar through the Titan Keeper Freya, and Ardenweald is apparently the polar opposite of the Emerald Dream (The Dream being made by Freya, who held the powers of Eonar at the time). Doesn't help that there are legit Titan themed legendaries within the Shadowlands, one of them (Being specific to Eonar) being sold by the Wild Hunt's quartermasters.

Also, Elune is connected to multiple forces. She's hinted as being apart of the Light, she's got her own named Pillar of Creation, she's connected to Life, and she's connected to Death. No reason to assume other guys, such as the Winter Queen and Eonar can't be connected to other Cosmic powers aswell. Maybe Eonar can be a representative that's apart of the Pantheon of Life, but she mostly reigns as part of the Pantheon of Order? Idk tho.

I had this theory in that Elune is a First One, and that the Winter Queen and Eonar were moreso her daughters.

[Kiivar86]

Really wonder what the bosses in the Torghast raid will end up being.

Kel'thuzad, the Eye of the Jailer, Sylvanas, the Terragrue...

I'd say Helya's a likely fight again, too. Maybe throw in Nathanos so we can put him down...again (and hopefully for good). Can't think of anyone else offhand at present but I'm sure there's some.

Anyone else wonder about those cosmetic sets though? For one how you get all the different tints seeing as we are likely not getting massive upgrades to the Covenant sanctums.
Secondly I do wonder if there will be more variety than shown during Blizzcon. Of all the ones shown Venthyr gets 2 almost completely different variants, whereas Necrolords gets a set that might as well just be cloth.

I think the Venthyr one is so you can choose between a dress/robe or a suit. And what's wrong with the Necrolord one? With cosmetic sets it doesn't really matter, I mean cloth classes who play Lightforged Draenei get a set that's basically plate looking.

[crusadernero]

Well the current version of flying would definitely have to go for a world revamp to truly work, so I guess in that sense it might be a lost cause.

As for Blizzard comptetence I am willing to take a risk on it possibly working rather than nothing.

If Blizzard were to rework the whole of EK/K, I think flying would be needed. Such a huge landmass. Yes I know it works in classic, but retail has had flying since BC. Once they opened for that, it was over. They cant get around it.

Having relevant and lasting content out in the world has always been a huge challenge. The best we have had are WQs with various importance in each xpac. Right now in SL they are utterly useless and not really worth your time. Thats WQs just for four zones. Imagine having to create lasting content for whole of EK/K.

A revamp would in the end only serve as a upgraded leveling path. Which at this point aint really needed, cause players can just jump into the newest leveling experience. Or pick whatever xpac they want.

I'd love for BLizz to do it, but I have lost hope now. BEst we can hope for is good zones in future xpacs.


BTW - they had a huge chance in SL to create fun and engaging world content surrounding the covenants. They didnt do that, and doubled down on abilities for each of them. The possibilties are endless with these covenants. Instead we got the bascis and a "choice" on what to pick.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

engaging world content surrounding the covenants.

Such as ....what exactly? You didn't exactly say what big chance Blizzard had. I agree there needs to be more outdoor content but what exactly were you even expecting with Covenants.

[Sondrelk]

Kel'thuzad, the Eye of the Jailer, Sylvanas, the Terragrue...

I'd say Helya's a likely fight again, too. Maybe throw in Nathanos so we can put him down...again (and hopefully for good). Can't think of anyone else offhand at present but I'm sure there's some.



I think the Venthyr one is so you can choose between a dress/robe or a suit. And what's wrong with the Necrolord one? With cosmetic sets it doesn't really matter, I mean cloth classes who play Lightforged Draenei get a set that's basically plate looking.

Nothing inherently wrong with the necro set, it's a perfect set if you want to look like a WC3 necromancer. The problem I have is that my hunter doesn't really want to look like a necromancer, and the other covenant sets are far more neutral in what class it fits best.

Though I will wait and see. I really don't use full sets anyways, so I am willing to make happy if a few of the pieces can be used creatively.

[TheFirstOnes]

Kel'thuzad, the Eye of the Jailer, Sylvanas, the Terragrue...

I'd say Helya's a likely fight again, too. Maybe throw in Nathanos so we can put him down...again (and hopefully for good). Can't think of anyone else offhand at present but I'm sure there's some.



I think the Venthyr one is so you can choose between a dress/robe or a suit. And what's wrong with the Necrolord one? With cosmetic sets it doesn't really matter, I mean cloth classes who play Lightforged Draenei get a set that's basically plate looking.

Nathanos will likely be in the Sanctum.

Also, you can't think of ANYONE offhand? Maybe not...a certain little...demon that, oh idk, was not seen throughout Legion outside of the Broken Shore? A demon who is highly connected with Death and...led Arthas to pick up Frostmourne to begin with? A Dreadlord who may or may not be connected to Ner'zhul's torment at the Sanctum?

Ya know...a lil guy named...MAL'GANIS?!

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Wanna know what's funny? When Denathrius gets fucked, he says "But I am ETERNAL!"

Meanwhile, when we're fighting Mal'ganis, who's disguised as Barean Westwind, he says this: “I am Mal'Ganis. I AM ETERNAL!”

Uhuh...*adds to his Dreadlord and Venthyr connection list*

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OH, AND TO ADD ON ALL OF THIS! I GOT A LITTLE TREAT FOR YOU ALL!

Reminder that the Dreadlord homeworld got destroyed by Illidan during TBC. He's in Northrend, WHY? WE DON'T FUCKING KNOW! He's also...ALSO saying he has to regain strength from "the homeworld", and I DOUBT that's Argus. He ALSOOOOOOOOOO states that he'll have his revenge on the LK, and us! SO HIM LOOKING AFTER NER'ZHUL'S TORMENT AT THE SANCTUM OF DOMINATION WOULD BE A PERFECT FUCKIN REUNION!!!!

EURIKA! I FUCKING SOLVED THIS SHIT!!!!

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Let's fucking GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

[ohwell]

WoD didn't have Covid and work from home restrictions so don't count SL out yet. Seems pretty presumptive to think its going the way of WoD.





Not really, they haven't been on a yearly expansion goal since WoD and they stopped doing that since then. If anything the major content patches will be like BFA/Legion for the time being.

Covid should have only set them back marginally if they had half a brain. Tired excuse is tired. The gaming industry is one that should have been minimally impacted by covid except in terms of manufacturing hardware similar to how PS/XBox/Switch had happen and that was also due to the demand increase from people staying home with nothing to do. All 3 of those companies were back on track by the summer. So with Blizzard it's either negligence or ignorance if they're going to use covid as an excuse.

[therumblings]

I'm expecting the PTR up Tuesday, or the week after at the latest. It needs to be up asap to release within a reasonable timeframe.

[razorpax]

Covid should have only set them back marginally if they had half a brain. Tired excuse is tired. The gaming industry is one that should have been minimally impacted by covid except in terms of manufacturing hardware similar to how PS/XBox/Switch had happen and that was also due to the demand increase from people staying home with nothing to do. All 3 of those companies were back on track by the summer. So with Blizzard it's either negligence or ignorance if they're going to use covid as an excuse.

SL almost had no voice acting
They also lost work time due to the wild fire

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I'm expecting the PTR up Tuesday, or the week after at the latest. It needs to be up asap to release within a reasonable timeframe.

If not tomorrow I’ll eat a ghost pepper taqui

[ohwell]

SL almost had no voice acting
They also lost work time due to the wild fire

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If not tomorrow I’ll eat a ghost pepper taqui

I would definitely concede about the fires as I didn't remember that, but it really depends on where their employees lived as it wasn't a statewide impact necessarily. There were a few RELATIVELY close to Anaheim which I'm fairly certain their main building is located, but people in CA commute ridiculously especially in the tech industry(there's quite a few documentaries about people commuting hours to and from work where it's basically get home eat sleep and not see family while working for these companies since they can't afford to live where their base of operation is). So in the long run, yeah there could have definitely been an impact.

[Revamp Man]

I would definitely concede about the fires as I didn't remember that, but it really depends on where their employees lived as it wasn't a statewide impact necessarily. There were a few RELATIVELY close to Anaheim which I'm fairly certain their main building is located, but people in CA commute ridiculously especially in the tech industry(there's quite a few documentaries about people commuting hours to and from work where it's basically get home eat sleep and not see family while working for these companies since they can't afford to live where their base of operation is). So in the long run, yeah there could have definitely been an impact.

a large majority of their devs were effected because they live near the main offices and the wildfires effected the surrounding 20 miles because of smoke

[Nyel]

2 different teams bud
One game won’t effect the other

Has nothing to do with different teams, it's the same game and the playerbase somehow overlaps. Just look at BfA vs. Classic, it was all very well-timed that it doesn't overlap, especially in the first months. It will be the same this time and as I said, TBC launch > 9.1 when it comes to $$$.

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Covid should have only set them back marginally if they had half a brain. Tired excuse is tired. The gaming industry is one that should have been minimally impacted by covid except in terms of manufacturing hardware similar to how PS/XBox/Switch had happen and that was also due to the demand increase from people staying home with nothing to do. All 3 of those companies were back on track by the summer. So with Blizzard it's either negligence or ignorance if they're going to use covid as an excuse.

This. We're dealing with COVID for one year now and by this time companies, especially in this industry, should have applied to the circumstances already. Other MMORPG / gaming companies have and are able to deal with it, and we're talking about Blizzard, which is a multi billion dollar company. So there's really not much of a COVID excuse left.

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So another thing, the 9.1 raid is basically the Maw raid we were expecting already, so what will the final raid of Shadowlands be? Oribos, as many of us were already guessing? Or something entirely different?

[Cosmic Janitor]

So another thing, the 9.1 raid is basically the Maw raid we were expecting already, so what will the final raid of Shadowlands be? Oribos, as many of us were already guessing? Or something entirely different?

Well since the final boss is the banshee bitch, we won't be fighting the MK-wannabe yet. His story is that he is looking for some keys in 9.1 and we already knew that he was trying to especape the maw, so it was always kinda clear that we wouldn't be fighting him in the maw/torghast. Since then the story would a be a straight line from A to B, which even for Blizzard is a no-no, they kinda have to add at least some twist/turn into the story here. So he will likely achieve his goal, fuck off to some First Ones place or as you said Oribos, and plot his doomsday nonsense there. The real question here is more if we will get an intermission raid in 9.2 or will it already be the final one. I guess this will in part be answered by wether people will come back to see Sylvanas' escape her overdue reckoning or if they will be okay by being disapointed with the youtube video. I certainly wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard cut the expansion "short" (as in skimp out on a full 3 major patches) due to covid, especially with next year being the best bet for wide spread re-opening of travel bans etc and timeline for 9.3 coinciding with spring/summer 2022. They might just eat the loss and work on the next one for a winter '22 release.

[Sondrelk]

Has nothing to do with different teams, it's the same game and the playerbase somehow overlaps. Just look at BfA vs. Classic, it was all very well-timed that it doesn't overlap, especially in the first months. It will be the same this time and as I said, TBC launch > 9.1 when it comes to $$$.

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This. We're dealing with COVID for one year now and by this time companies, especially in this industry, should have applied to the circumstances already. Other MMORPG / gaming companies have and are able to deal with it, and we're talking about Blizzard, which is a multi billion dollar company. So there's really not much of a COVID excuse left.

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So another thing, the 9.1 raid is basically the Maw raid we were expecting already, so what will the final raid of Shadowlands be? Oribos, as many of us were already guessing? Or something entirely different?

Developers can be expected to adapt, but it would be naive to think that it can be done quickly for that many people.
Not everyone have good setups for a home office, not every developer can as easily take the custom hardware back home either for that matter.
Even beyond that though there is no real substitute for an integrated work environment. Constant feedback is very easy if you work in the same room as everyone else, not so much if you have to join a zoom call or send emails.



As for the final raid I imagine it will be back on Azeroth. We have seen Icecrown from the Maw this entire expansion, seems odd to not make use of that again.

[Tiradon]

These Heroic hotfixes to help the causal guilds and pugs pushing Curve is welcome in my opinion, keeps the subs flowing even if it's only for a week or two and to keep people t o try Mythic

[Edward Wu]

So after I get back from work today, there might be a juicy PTR update waiting for me? Let's go.

[huth]

Has nothing to do with different teams, it's the same game and the playerbase somehow overlaps. Just look at BfA vs. Classic, it was all very well-timed that it doesn't overlap, especially in the first months. It will be the same this time and as I said, TBC launch > 9.1 when it comes to $$$.

While in importance, TBC is higher, it's also easier to delay. They have to adhere to a fairly fixed schedule with the patch, Classic won't significantly suffer from having to wait for TBC a bit longer.

[Kiivar86]

Nathanos will likely be in the Sanctum.

Also, you can't think of ANYONE offhand? Maybe not...a certain little...demon that, oh idk, was not seen throughout Legion outside of the Broken Shore? A demon who is highly connected with Death and...led Arthas to pick up Frostmourne to begin with? A Dreadlord who may or may not be connected to Ner'zhul's torment at the Sanctum?

Ya know...a lil guy named...MAL'GANIS?!

Truth be told I keep forgetting about the Nathrezim thing. He could certainly be there, yeah.

[Nyel]

While in importance, TBC is higher, it's also easier to delay. They have to adhere to a fairly fixed schedule with the patch, Classic won't significantly suffer from having to wait for TBC a bit longer.

I agree that they are more flexible with TBC launch, but we got the news that the beta is likely coming up very soon, most likely even before 9.1. And we have these new strings that suggest the 2.0 launch in May, which might be the pre-patch that unlocks the two new races - which brings the real TBC launch to June I guess, at least somewhere around that time. TBC and 9.1 won't launch both in the same month or just 2-3 weeks apart, so... what will come first is the real question.

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Well since the final boss is the banshee bitch, we won't be fighting the MK-wannabe yet. His story is that he is looking for some keys in 9.1 and we already knew that he was trying to especape the maw, so it was always kinda clear that we wouldn't be fighting him in the maw/torghast. Since then the story would a be a straight line from A to B, which even for Blizzard is a no-no, they kinda have to add at least some twist/turn into the story here. So he will likely achieve his goal, fuck off to some First Ones place or as you said Oribos, and plot his doomsday nonsense there. The real question here is more if we will get an intermission raid in 9.2 or will it already be the final one. I guess this will in part be answered by wether people will come back to see Sylvanas' escape her overdue reckoning or if they will be okay by being disapointed with the youtube video. I certainly wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard cut the expansion "short" (as in skimp out on a full 3 major patches) due to covid, especially with next year being the best bet for wide spread re-opening of travel bans etc and timeline for 9.3 coinciding with spring/summer 2022. They might just eat the loss and work on the next one for a winter '22 release.

Yeah, I think the later 9.1 comes, the more likely is it that we won't see 9.3 at all as the next expansion is undoubtly scheduled for Q3/4 2022. I'd even say they want to go back to another August release date next year which makes 9.3 even more unlikely. I mean, we can play the schedule game, just in reverse (every content patch has a lifetime of at least 6 months, 8.1 to 8.2 was 6.5 months and 8.2 to 8.3 was 7 months):

10.0: August-November 2022 (launch of the new expansion)
9.3: June-July 2022
9.2: November-December 2021
9.1: May - July 2021

I just don't see how they would fit three content patches into this expansion when 9.1 is still at least 2 months away. At this point in time BfA already got 8.1.