Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Sondrelk]

I have a feeling they will introduce Upright Forsaken rigs to coincide with their new capital/leadership in 10.0. This will give both sides a human looking and an elf race.

Why does every Horde race suddenly need to be upright? What is next if Forsaken get it? Upright Trolls? Upright Tauren?

Making them stand upright would remove part of their visual identity. Forsaken are literally zombies, you don't usually see those standing upright.

[Nagawithlegs]

Why does every Horde race suddenly need to be upright? What is next if Forsaken get it? Upright Trolls? Upright Tauren?

Making them stand upright would remove part of their visual identity. Forsaken are literally zombies, you don't usually see those standing upright.

Nathanos/Derek/Calia all point to their new identity including “dead humans” as opposed to the crippled zombies of Scourge-era Forsaken. While Nathan and Calia have some magic BS involved, Derek is a regular Forsaken... pointing to them getting the option of being less rotted looking in the future.

It makes sense for them to diversify post-Sylvanas.

[Edward Wu]

Why does every Horde race suddenly need to be upright? What is next if Forsaken get it? Upright Trolls? Upright Tauren?

Making them stand upright would remove part of their visual identity. Forsaken are literally zombies, you don't usually see those standing upright.

People want it. They should do it. Nothing more needs to be thought about. We already have upright Forsaken back in BfA, and making this another opt-in choice impacts absolutely nobody who doesn't want it.

[username993720]

Why does every Horde race suddenly need to be upright? What is next if Forsaken get it? Upright Trolls? Upright Tauren?

Making them stand upright would remove part of their visual identity. Forsaken are literally zombies, you don't usually see those standing upright.

Nathanos/Derek/Calia all point to their new identity including “dead humans” as opposed to the crippled zombies of Scourge-era Forsaken. While Nathan and Calia have some magic BS involved, Derek is a regular Forsaken... pointing to them getting the option of being less rotted looking in the future.

It makes sense for them to diversify post-Sylvanas.

Calia and Derek would be their own race, an allied race.

[Nagawithlegs]

Calia and Derek would be their own race, an allied race.

Derek is a regular Forsaken though. Calia is the only Naaru-rezzed Forsaken and the jurys out on whether or not there will be any more... the Nine are dead and they will probably have to explain where more Forsaken come from. Though I admit they could just say that there are no more Forsaken being made postBFA.

Odyns Valkyr and/or Maldraxxus could make sense.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Derek is a regular Forsaken though. Calia is the only Naaru-rezzed Forsaken and the jurys out on whether or not there will be any more... the Nine are dead and they will probably have to explain where more Forsaken come from. Though I admit they could just say that there are no more Forsaken being made postBFA.

Odyns Valkyr and/or Maldraxxus could make sense.

Unless they revamp the leveling/starter experience again (unlikely with the island) I very much doubt they have to explain that, the last time it was only needed because it was cata by that point and frankly even the vanilla version of Forsaken didn't make any sense, given that it was 10 years parst TFT; why would forsaken still be getting up at that point?

[Paperfox]

If you believe nothing else, all I ask is that you believe that we are trying our best given the circumstances. There are a lot of very talented, very passionate, and very caring people that work here, but we're all being viewed through an unfair lens right now because of the actions and inaction of certain individuals in management.

I do agree with this. I also believe that the devs and Ion (to a lesser or greater degree) are being blamed for things that are outside of their control. ActiBlizz is a corporation and you do only that which you are told to do. If you're told to paint clouds, then you paint clouds. Ion et al really do have to worry about Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), other metrics and budgets. I would say that it is the responsibility rests with those in the executive team.

SL is the first expansion which has given me the impression that it was created solely for the benefit of the shareholders, whereas the other ones were created to make the shareholders happy by making the customers/players happy. Most of this pre-dates the lawsuit and all the recent turmoil.

There are certain things that I prefer WoW over FF14, yet will the final boss be a catgirl (Miqo'te)?

[Nagawithlegs]

Unless they revamp the leveling/starter experience again (unlikely with the island) I very much doubt they have to explain that, the last time it was only needed because it was cata by that point and frankly even the vanilla version of Forsaken didn't make any sense, given that it was 10 years parst TFT; why would forsaken still be getting up at that point?

I'm fairly sure they wouldn't have bothered with Teldrassil/Undercity getting nuked if they weren't planning on changing up those races and their capitals.

Considering it's fairly likely 10.0 will be a new story not connected heavily to a previous one like BFA - SL I can see new Forsaken quests fitting into the 10-60 leveling range. I can't see Blizzard making new players go through BFA or SL, hence why it's very possible we will have new EK/Kalimdor quests for leveling.

[username993720]

Derek is a regular Forsaken though. Calia is the only Naaru-rezzed Forsaken and the jurys out on whether or not there will be any more... the Nine are dead and they will probably have to explain where more Forsaken come from. Though I admit they could just say that there are no more Forsaken being made postBFA.

Odyns Valkyr and/or Maldraxxus could make sense.

And yet, he still looks like Calia. They are different from the playable Forsaken, as they use the Human skeletal rig. Therefore, they are a perfect Forsaken allied race (which, were missing from BfA).

[damonskye]

I still believe we're going to time jump... when we get back to Azeroth in 10.0 a LOT of time will have passed. Expect a redesign of the world (again).

The clues have been there since the beginning, too. Remember our very first visit to the Maw in the SL opening quests; Jaina said she'd escaped and recaptured "countless times". That was the first of MANY clues that time passes differently in the Shadowlands than it does in the rest of the world.

[username993720]

I still believe we're going to time jump... when we get back to Azeroth in 10.0 a LOT of time will have passed. Expect a redesign of the world (again).

The clues have been there since the beginning, too. Remember our very first visit to the Maw in the SL opening quests; Jaina said she'd escaped and recaptured "countless times". That was the first of MANY clues that time passes differently in the Shadowlands than it does in the rest of the world.

Yes, but the other way around.
While a lot of time would have passed in the Shadowlands, a mere fraction of it would actually pass on Azeroth. Hence, why Jaina felt like she was there for eternity, while in reality she was captured not so long ago.

[Nagawithlegs]

Yes, but the other way around.
While a lot of time would have passed in the Shadowlands, a mere fraction of it would actually pass on Azeroth. Hence, why Jaina felt like she was there for eternity, while in reality she was captured not so long ago.

But now that we are in the SL, we should be experiencing the same thing Jaina did.

I don't think we're going to have a huge timeskip but a year or two passing makes sense.

[Dracullus]

I wonder why they even put this blue post this week if no PTR followed. Maybe they're checking community reaction and pick couple more customizations that could still be implemented in final builds of 9.1.5 PTR?

[Lady Atia]

I wonder why they even put this blue post this week if no PTR followed. Maybe they're checking community reaction and pick couple more customizations that could still be implemented in final builds of 9.1.5 PTR?

I'm quite sure we will get an announcement for 9.1.5. next week ^^

[Sondrelk]

I wonder why they even put this blue post this week if no PTR followed. Maybe they're checking community reaction and pick couple more customizations that could still be implemented in final builds of 9.1.5 PTR?

They could be attempting to tide players over while they get something slightly more impressive together for a 9.1.5 reveal.

Just a blue post containing bare-minimum stuff like "Return of Brawler's guild" and "Sylvanas questline", isnt nearly as exciting as one with pictures and choice words regarding the actual content.
Could for instance be that they intend to announce more heritage armor stuff, but doesnt want the reveal to be "Nelf and Forsaken Heritage armor" with some concept art underneath, and would rather get a firm grasp on what the heritage questline will be, and how the armor looks in-game.

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SL is the first expansion which has given me the impression that it was created solely for the benefit of the shareholders, whereas the other ones were created to make the shareholders happy by making the customers/players happy. Most of this pre-dates the lawsuit and all the recent turmoil.

I wouldnt go that far. Each expansion feels artificial in some way or another. In WoD that feeling came across in how clearly unfinished the expansion was, and in Legion the multitude of poorly thought out systems made it seem more like the developers were throwing stuff at the wall rather than having a clear vision.

SL has made several strides in good directions, I just think the thinks the expansion does bad are things the game doesnt usually fail so spectacularly. Things like making players engaged in the characters, or interested in running around looking at stuff.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I'm fairly sure they wouldn't have bothered with Teldrassil/Undercity getting nuked if they weren't planning on changing up those races and their capitals.

Considering it's fairly likely 10.0 will be a new story not connected heavily to a previous one like BFA - SL I can see new Forsaken quests fitting into the 10-60 leveling range. I can't see Blizzard making new players go through BFA or SL, hence why it's very possible we will have new EK/Kalimdor quests for leveling.

I think they just nuked them for the shock factor and they have no plans to actually address them being homeless, unless they can do it cheaply on the side. In the same vein I very much doubt they do no want to keep the BfA and SL experience around. I'm not sure if they planned to keep BfA as the start, since it shows off the faction stuff a bit, or if they always planned to make the previous expansion the leveling content, though I'm fairly certain they will try to keep everything at 60 for max level. Since SL is so far out there I doubt they will go with the later though.

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And yet, he still looks like Calia. They are different from the playable Forsaken, as they use the Human skeletal rig. Therefore, they are a perfect Forsaken allied race (which, were missing from BfA).

Derek looks nothing like calia, other than he is a human. Calina is in pristine condition with light filled eyes etc, Derek is a rotting human from the bottom of the sea (which was bogus obviously, given how long he was down there...).

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But now that we are in the SL, we should be experiencing the same thing Jaina did.

I don't think we're going to have a huge timeskip but a year or two passing makes sense.

It's the opposite still, we experience a year, the others don't, for people in OG/SW only weeks might have passed.

[Pheraz]

I think the new options do not come because the subs dropped, but because the management changed.
I really think that it is GOOD that the old people are gone. I am pretty sure Ion was the last one to be convinced that more options for VEs are good.

[Dracullus]

Many things created current situation:

1) SL, at least compared to Legion/BfA is big shift from grind to raid log, which is always bad idea (but maybe it must happen every few expacs). Overall both BfA and SL take away more and more crazy stuff invented by Legion - but many of this crazy stuff were keeping people in game, even if they complained.

Also, after they took all grind from Legion-like systems, all that is left is a shell, so no wonder many people feel systems in general are pointless. Renown/soulbinds almost fall from the sky, artifact was earned (at least on main).

2) Covid + all possible reasons that delayed launch and especially patches.

3) Too much focus on Sylvanas and taking away from players opportunity to kill her.

4) Lawsuit (duh).

5) Most funny thing - no content droughts similar to MoPs or WoDs. Even during longest one - from 8.3 to 9.0 - there was some Classic content + Blizzard manage this period very well with various buffs and changes to 8.3 + lockdown keep people in game. Last big break taken by many players (+ content creators, that have huge part in shaping general opinion) was 6.2->7.0. It's not coincidence so many have great memories from Legion launch.

I don't see anything that is caused by shareholders/Activision with exception of one thing - timing. SL should be delayed to let's say March 2021, so devs would similar progress with patches like during Legion. It would solve both 2) and maybe 5) problems. But still general design of SL and story would stay.

By the way, lawsuit explain why TBC was so rushed. I bet they either wanted push things ASAP or some negotiations with Cali took place.

[Revamp Man]

Why does every Horde race suddenly need to be upright? What is next if Forsaken get it? Upright Trolls? Upright Tauren?

Making them stand upright would remove part of their visual identity. Forsaken are literally zombies, you don't usually see those standing upright.

Tbh you don’t see them at all lol

[Sondrelk]

Tbh you don’t see them at all lol

Shush, logic isnt taken well to 'round these parts.