Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Seasz]

Ptr build coming up yet?

[Nagawithlegs]

The only hot water Blizz would get into is if there can be a considerable case made against them that the expansion was planned to be three major patches and they lied/went on their word. All that has been mentioned is "it's not another WoD' which can be construed as anything from "it's not an unfinished expansion" to "it's not a camera patch and a single patch".

[Sondrelk]

Personally I don't see what a 9.2.5 patch can accomplish that a 10.0 pre-patch couldn't do the exact same thing. Perhaps the solution here is to simply have the pre-patch arrive earlier than usual. I know for SL people were desiring the pre-patch to be at least 2 months before the actual expansion launch, and were disappointed that didn't happen.

I'm not being a devil's advocate here, I really just think that if 10.0 has the possibility to be looked at much more fondly than SL, than they should look at every opportunity to cram spare content into its life cycle rather than SL, beyond the point of doing what's absolutely needed to revive faith in the company regarding SL and get people back to playing it and being excited for 10.0.

A minor patch in the drought could accomplish lasting much longer than a pre-patch. Afterall, a minor patch like that can last for easily upwards of 5-6 months. A pre-patch meanwhile doesnt really last longer than a month, even Cata with it's longest ever pre-patch was only so long because they split the content in pre-cata and post-cata EK/Kalimdor.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Personally I don't see what a 9.2.5 patch can accomplish that a 10.0 pre-patch couldn't do the exact same thing. Perhaps the solution here is to simply have the pre-patch arrive earlier than usual. I know for SL people were desiring the pre-patch to be at least 2 months before the actual expansion launch, and were disappointed that didn't happen.

That's exactly it. A 10.0 requires the next expansion to be done by the time you release it. A 9.2.5 you can drop somwhere in the middle of the wait for 10.0, which could be everything from 8 to 14+ months after 9.2 (if we don't see a 9.3), and that is just going by historical data. .5 patches could also be hot fixes, it doesn't really matter how you label it.

[Dracullus]

That's exactly it. A 10.0 requires the next expansion to be done by the time you release it. A 9.2.5 you can drop somwhere in the middle of the wait for 10.0, which could be everything from 8 to 14+ months after 9.2 (if we don't see a 9.3), and that is just going by historical data. .5 patches could also be hot fixes, it doesn't really matter how you label it.

Yep. I think if we pull all 8.3 hotfixes together it's on par with 7.3.5.

[AngerFork]

Personally I don't see what a 9.2.5 patch can accomplish that a 10.0 pre-patch couldn't do the exact same thing. Perhaps the solution here is to simply have the pre-patch arrive earlier than usual. I know for SL people were desiring the pre-patch to be at least 2 months before the actual expansion launch, and were disappointed that didn't happen.

I'm not being a devil's advocate here, I really just think that if 10.0 has the possibility to be looked at much more fondly than SL, than they should look at every opportunity to cram spare content into its life cycle rather than SL, beyond the point of doing what's absolutely needed to revive faith in the company regarding SL and get people back to playing it and being excited for 10.0.

So as an example, the priority should be looking like:

1.) Re-establish connection with community and make 9.1.5. the "we're sorry" patch and get people at least cautiously optimistic about the future of WoW if it's not possible to get them to re-sub for 9.1.5 itself.

2.) Put the lion's share of development effort into an epic 9.2 with a lot of content and heavy systems changes that fundamentally alters SL in a way that 9.1.5 cannot, and have that be their gambit for getting many people to re-sub so they can tie in that momentum into 10.0.

3.) Beyond that, stop development on SL and refocus all efforts into 10.0 and beyond.

The problem with this plan is that waiting between 9.2 & 10.0 is going to take a long time. It's part of what Blizz has constantly gotten hit by in every expansion...the long wait between the final raid patch & the next expansion coming out. Not having a 9.2.5 means not having something to keep the momentum going, and WoW feeds on momentum strongly. Having a 9.2.5 gives at least a small bump to keep players a bit more interested and/or with things to do until 10.0 comes out.

I'm not saying it has to be huge, but it should do something to keep the players interested. A couple story quests, maybe some heritage armor, perhaps even an early release of a new BG or races/classes if any are slated for 10.0. After all, look how good 7.3.5 did with the Allied Races & Seething Shore to keep people playing until BfA was released.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Yep. I think if we pull all 8.3 hotfixes together it's on par with 7.3.5.

They chopped some BfA features that were already finished out and sold them early to drive pre-order sales (mostly allied races). I guess they could do the same, but it would hardly be the same as some customizations as we originally talked about.

[Nagawithlegs]

Apparently a good number of story devs are hinting about the patch. I think its very possible it will have a story continuation, just not part of the "campaign".

[Dracullus]

Apparently a good number of story devs are hinting about the patch. I think its very possible it will have a story continuation, just not part of the "campaign".

Most likely some interaction with Sylvanas while Primus is totally working on key to Sepulcher and it must take 7 months.

[Sondrelk]

Apparently a good number of story devs are hinting about the patch. I think its very possible it will have a story continuation, just not part of the "campaign".

It could be tied to Renown, honestly. Just add a flag at Renown 80 to go back to Oribos for a single quest where you see Sylvanas wake up and tell everyone where the Jailer is going.

Maybe we could actually get a motivation for once, that would be neat.

[Marlamin]

PTR is going down.

[therumblings]

PTR is going down.

At last!

[Pheraz]

At last!

Nice!!! Is it available in the EU at the same time as US?

[therumblings]

Nice!!! Is it available in the EU at the same time as US?

I think the PTR has no region so yeah, but I'm not 100%

[Cosmic Janitor]

Nice!!! Is it available in the EU at the same time as US?

Wasn't the PTR consolidated a couple years ago? It's the same server isn't it?

[Yarathir]

PTR is going down.

At least it's early today and not 3AM my time lmao.

[micwini]

Hmm that shutdown was around 9:15, but no PTR yet. How long does it normally take to deploy?

[Marlamin]

Hmm that shutdown was around 9:15, but no PTR yet. How long does it normally take to deploy?

Can take 15 minutes or many many hours. Seeing this is the first build, it might be a bit.

[Pheraz]

Can take 15 minutes or many many hours. Seeing this is the first build, it might be a bit.

Are you just staring at battle.net or is there any other way if the build is coming?

[Yarathir]

Are you just staring at battle.net or is there any other way if the build is coming?

I think there's some patch sniffers that can sorta see it before you are able to see it on the actual battle.net client but holy shit I am illiterate when it comes to that.