Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Aeluron Lightsong]

That would explain a lot. Korthia just seemed at odds with being told that it's been hidden and untouched until its capture in the same patch. Also it was really weird that we find out the sigil is being protected by magic that not even Zovaal can break but doesn't stop us from taking it to safety, and for some reason we immediately rush to break this protection ourselves. That could easily be a side effect of a different plot that was altered at the last minute. It comes across like a classic "villain tricks the hero into bringing the item right to them", except in this case we literally knew that bringing the item could only make things easier for the villain but do it anyway.

With the trend of "Make the player character help the villain unintentionally" from BFA, its not surprising granted I wish there was more room to do that for...roleplay purposes. Korthia though feels very disconnected in comparison to SoD. I dunno, Im enjoying myself but it feels completely irrelevant in the 9.1 story.

[Nathanyel]

[...] unless they merged everything to a single map file, [...]

If that's what it takes, so be it Quel'thalas and the Azuremyst Islands are overdue to be merged anyway, let's expand that merge!

Might cause issues though if the new zones are in the same map, with people active there plus people levelling alts or just idling in the old cities... No idea whether the world server could handle it.

[Shadochi]

It might be useful to sort of lay out everything we haven't done yet. An interesting element of World of Warcraft in my opinion is that so far we have yet to go anywhere truly new when it comes to the main continent/setting of an expansion (independent zones and dungeons are a different matter). I think part of the reason the infamous "zone list" kept getting brought up long after it stopped remotely resembling our expansions is because a lot of people don't realize how long things like the Elemental Planes, Argus, or the Shadowlands have existed in the lore.

So from off the top of my head, here are known locations we haven't explored at all, or have only explored in explicitly limited previews:
The Emerald Dream
K'aresh
The rest of Kezan/Undermine
Dragon Isles (basically has no actual lore, but it's technically canonical)
Other cosmic home realms

Am I missing anything else?

Other Side of Azeroth (not confirmed nor denied, I think on few occasions it was asked the devs left it vague)
Uldorus. Uldaz. (These could be just names for facilities we visited, like the one with the Priest mount)
Blingtron War
Formation of the Infinite Dragonflight
Deaths of Chromie
Yrel/AU
Banana Island (Telabim)
Elemental plane of Water
Zul'Dare
Ogrezonia
Goria
Farahlon


Searching for what else I might've missed I came across this and this



Also just look at the popularity the second link has.
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If that's what it takes, so be it

Might cause issues though if the new zones are in the same map, with people active there plus people levelling alts or just idling in the old cities... No idea whether the world server could handle it.

Tbh they could probably shard it to take care of that. But it would still take a lotta time to merge everything

[Edward Wu]

Kinda hoping if we do get some draconic race for 10.0 that they either look like this, or are like 10.0 leak says, humanoid with extra customization, and then look like pic related for their big racial.

[Jokubas]

Other Side of Azeroth (not confirmed nor denied, I think on few occasions it was asked the devs left it vague)
Uldorus. Uldaz. (These could be just names for facilities we visited, like the one with the Priest mount)
Blingtron War
Formation of the Infinite Dragonflight
Deaths of Chromie
Yrel/AU
Banana Island (Telabim)
Elemental plane of Water
Zul'Dare
Ogrezonia
Goria
Farahlon

Ah, okay. I had missed those other Titan facilities.

I'll start with just locations for now, but let's try to organize them.

More Likely to be Grounded
Kezan/Undermine
Zul'Dare
Tel'Abim
Ogre Continent
Should we count Plunder Isle? (I'm remembering things as we do this)

More Fantastic
K'aresh
Abyssal Maw
The Emerald Dream
Other Cosmic Home Realms

In Between
Dragon Isles
Other Titan Facilities
Farahlon
Edit: A full Azjol-Nerub

Does that sound good? Then I guess the question is to which of these is most likely to cross over with the store items and datamined files. I think that still might limit us mostly to either the Emerald Dream or the Dragon Isles, although any of the ones which don't really have much in the way of lore (Zul'Dare, Tel'Abim, etc.) could always suddenly be fleshed out in such a direction.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Underground Azeroth is one to >.>

[Shadochi]

Ah, okay. I had missed those other Titan facilities.

I'll start with just locations for now, but let's try to organize them.

More Likely to be Grounded
Kezan/Undermine
Zul'Dare
Tel'Abim
Ogre Continent
Should we count Plunder Isle? (I'm remembering things as we do this)

More Fantastic
K'aresh
Abyssal Maw
The Emerald Dream
Other Cosmic Home Realms

In Between
Dragon Isles
Other Titan Facilities
Farahlon

Does that sound good? Then I guess the question is to which of these is most likely to cross over with the store items and datamined files. I think that still might limit us mostly to either the Emerald Dream or the Dragon Isles, although any of the ones which don't really have much in the way of lore (Zul'Dare, Tel'Abim, etc.) could always suddenly be fleshed out in such a direction.

To be honest any Azeroth based zone could fit in with the Emerald Drake mount as they could just make up that something of great importance for a new Green Aspect is there, or a facility to repair the Dream.

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Underground Azeroth is one to >.>

True, tho when people mention Underground Azeroth they are usually referring to a collection of zones we have and have not explored yet (Nerubian kingdom, Undermine). And not an actual single zone. What we are trying to do is bring out individual zones where we know their names.

[Jokubas]

To be honest any Azeroth based zone could fit in with the Emerald Drake mount as they could just make up that something of great importance for a new Green Aspect is there, or a facility to repair the Dream.

Yeah, I even thought about mentioning a Titan facility as one of the more likely ones.

There are other ways you can break it down, too. For instance, disregarding the store items or anything else, I think we can rule out some of them for now.

Kezan/Undermine, for instance, is something I still want to be able to fully visit since it's one of the last early development islands/continents that's not actually available. However, I don't really see them doing a goblin-focused expansion any time soon*. It could show up as part of another expansion, but most expansions these days are hyper-focused and prefer turning islands into full continents rather than using the islands as islands. Although I notice with some amusement that between an explorable Kezan, Tel'Abim, Zul'Dare, Plunder Isle, and arguably the Abyssal Maw, a "South Seas" expansion could happen all over again.

For now I don't really see Tel'Abim, Zul'Dare, or Plunder Isle being independent settings yet either, though. They could do anything with them, but when it comes to blank slates, I think the Dragon Isles has more hype behind it and the bare bones lore is more of a draw.

I don't see the Ogre Continent any time soon either. I think ogres are a solid choice for a playable race, but even I don't think enough people are interested in them on the level to carry an expansion theme. The Continent could be used in the Yrel plot (as one way to avoid just using a slightly modified Draenor again), but nothing is leaning that direction right now.

Farahlon is almost worse. They salvaged what defined Farahlon in order to spice up Gorgrond. That does make it another blank slate, but it's the one island I'm not sure if they'd be willing to inflate to continent size since we have its Outland counterpart to compare it to (but I guess I wouldn't be surprised to just be told Netherstorm is merely what's left of a continent).

K'aresh is off the table if we're de-escalating, but who knows how that will play out.

*Disclaimer: Obviously new lore could change the context of any possible location or theme.

[Shadochi]

Yeah, I even thought about mentioning a Titan facility as one of the more likely ones.

There are other ways you can break it down, too. For instance, disregarding the store items or anything else, I think we can rule out some of them for now.

Kezan/Undermine, for instance, is something I still want to be able to fully visit since it's one of the last early development islands/continents that's not actually available. However, I don't really see them doing a goblin-focused expansion any time soon*. It could show up as part of another expansion, but most expansions these days are hyper-focused and prefer turning islands into full continents rather than using the islands as islands. Although I notice with some amusement that between an explorable Kezan, Tel'Abim, Zul'Dare, Plunder Isle, and arguably the Abyssal Maw, a "South Seas" expansion could happen all over again.

For now I don't really see Tel'Abim, Zul'Dare, or Plunder Isle being independent settings yet either, though. They could do anything with them, but when it comes to blank slates, I think the Dragon Isles has more hype behind it and the bare bones lore is more of a draw.

I don't see the Ogre Continent any time soon either. I think ogres are a solid choice for a playable race, but even I don't think enough people are interested in them on the level to carry an expansion theme. The Continent could be used in the Yrel plot (as one way to avoid just using a slightly modified Draenor again), but nothing is leaning that direction right now.

Farahlon is almost worse. They salvaged what defined Farahlon in order to spice up Gorgrond. That does make it another blank slate, but it's the one island I'm not sure if they'd be willing to inflate to continent size since we have its Outland counterpart to compare it to (but I guess I wouldn't be surprised to just be told Netherstorm is merely what's left of a continent).

K'aresh is off the table if we're de-escalating, but who knows how that will play out.

*Disclaimer: Obviously new lore could change the context of any possible location or theme.

To be honest Ogre stuff even on Azeroth isn't completely out of the question since in the New Leveling Experience zone (Exiles Reach is it called?) we do go against Ogres and their Necromancers raising dead dragons... DRAGONS

[TheFirstOnes]

Ah, okay. I had missed those other Titan facilities.

I'll start with just locations for now, but let's try to organize them.

More Likely to be Grounded
Kezan/Undermine
Zul'Dare
Tel'Abim
Ogre Continent
Should we count Plunder Isle? (I'm remembering things as we do this)

More Fantastic
K'aresh
Abyssal Maw
The Emerald Dream
Other Cosmic Home Realms

In Between
Dragon Isles
Other Titan Facilities
Farahlon
Edit: A full Azjol-Nerub

Does that sound good? Then I guess the question is to which of these is most likely to cross over with the store items and datamined files. I think that still might limit us mostly to either the Emerald Dream or the Dragon Isles, although any of the ones which don't really have much in the way of lore (Zul'Dare, Tel'Abim, etc.) could always suddenly be fleshed out in such a direction.

I’ll list my thoughts on how each ordeal could work:

More Likely to be Grounded
Kezan/Undermine- Megadungeon prolly

Zul'Dare- Raid or dungeon area

Tel'Abim- Hopefully a new expedition thing? Idfk maybe a zone also

Ogre Continent- Retconned into Highmaul

Should we count Plunder Isle? (I'm remembering things as we do this)- Yes. But may work just like the Broken Shore

More Fantastic
K'aresh- Patch zone or invasion area like Argus or the smaller world invasion points, but for the void prolly.

Abyssal Maw- Raid or dungeon? Azshara could try and enslave Neptulon the tidehunter. Would be cool to see.

The Emerald Dream- Meh. Would be dumb, unless they want us to explore even further into the Dreams origin with Elune and the WQ’s relationship as sisters

Other Cosmic Home Realms- Most likely gonna occur as genuine expacs or something like that.

In Between:

Dragon Isles- Most likely next expac.

Other Titan Facilities- Prolly one of them exist within the Dragon Isles. Hell it’s very likely to be a raid, tbh. Hope to see some void, chromatic and infinite connections there. And maybe Void Lord hints and Sargeras implications cause I wanna kick his ass soon lol

Farahlon- Patch zone prolly

Edit: A full Azjol-Nerub- Didn’t we…finish that?

[Edward Wu]

Tel'Abim sounds like a great candidate for a Hearthstone expansion, not a WoW one, honestly.

[TheFirstOnes]

Tel'Abum sounds like a great candidate for a Hearthstone expansion, not a WoW one, honestly.

Rare W, I agree!

[Revamp Man]

Get ready for a lot of dragons and old god stuff.

If they didn’t change it so OGs were essentially just mortal and could die I’d agree

I really do want to see us fighting like some random dragon boss and then instead of dying he goes through a void portal and we hear yoggy because he’s not truly dead because he had his “soul” placed in a very big very corrupted corpse

[Edward Wu]

I really, really hope it's not some Gardens of Life expansion as an essentially direct sequel to Shadowlands, that would elicit crushing disappointment on my part.

My preference now is Dragon-themed and I'd be okay with Void-themed on the side, but not in-your-face. A return of Xalatath wouldn't be unwelcome. Wrathion vs. Xalatath would be cool as an expansion-long tug-of-war.

[Jokubas]

Tel'Abim- Hopefully a new expedition thing? Idfk maybe a zone also

Ogre Continent- Retconned into Highmaul

Tel'Abim would have made a better sacrifice to the Island Expeditions than Crestfall. I really don't see Tel'Abim being its own thing. As a zone in an expansion that lets islands be zones instead of continents? Sure. Otherwise, while they could up and tell us that Tel'Abim is actually the location of, say, Uldaz and the facility recently reactivated and it's this island covered in crazy titan stuff... I don't think it's very likely. I listed Tel'Abim purely because it's a location we know about that we've never been to, not out of any likelihood of it being anything major. ;P

As for the ogre continent, I think you're right. I've gone into a lot of detail about this before, but from piecing together information from interviews, in-development maps, and the original website, we know that early in development it was only outposts that the ogres had on the main continent, implying that the "ogre continent" was the home of the empire. After working to offset orc fatigue, however, they upped the ogre presence, primarily by putting the seat of the empire in Nagrand, effectively retconning the ogre continent away.

There hasn't been any direct reference to it since, though they clearly have been keeping the option open (the Chronicle makes continent plural once). Like any of the other blank slates, they can always bring it back and flesh it out in any way they wish, but right now that's really the extent of what it is.

[Varx]

All remaining draconic threats left that will most likely make an appearance.

Sinestra, twilight dragonflight, and the twilight's hammer.

Are active during the shaman order campaign.


Goriana.

Flew off to who knows where after us killing black horn.


Chromatus.

Was defeated and imprisoned.


Murozond.

Nozdormu has yet to go crazy and form the MU infinites.



Galakrond.

Will most likely be rez'ed or fought via time travel

[Golden Yak]

All remaining draconic threats left that will most likely make an appearance.

A lot of these would actually be rad.

[Ersula]

Also, it would have been a fitting punishment even if players loved it. A weekly gathering of souls is 20, and Sylvanas is going to have to save millions.

So like 6 months? I mean its a fitting punishment, but I will think it's funny when she's back before 11.0

A regular player could farm 100-500 souls in a day. Plus its probably a lot easier with the mawsworn becoming suddenly unemployed.

[Alanar]

Other Side of Azeroth (not confirmed nor denied, I think on few occasions it was asked the devs left it vague)
Uldorus. Uldaz. (These could be just names for facilities we visited, like the one with the Priest mount)
Blingtron War
Formation of the Infinite Dragonflight
Deaths of Chromie
Yrel/AU
Banana Island (Telabim)
Elemental plane of Water
Zul'Dare
Ogrezonia
Goria
Farahlon


Searching for what else I might've missed I came across this and this



Also just look at the popularity the second link has.
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Tbh they could probably shard it to take care of that. But it would still take a lotta time to merge everything

What about that that big pirate island with the bog duke..
Only saw few art pieces with huge cliffs and wild water.
Almost like that first pokemon film, mewtwo island.

Some crazy pirate raid on full force doesnt sound to bad. Lots of room for full massive squid sheneanigins etc.

[Ersula]

All remaining draconic threats left that will most likely make an appearance.

All corrupted dragons have been killed. Wrathion was pretty thorough. And Murozond no longer exists without Nozdormu's dragon soul.

Though did someone say Vassal of Life & Eyes of Green?