Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Darkarath]

Slightly OT but is anyone else nearly more excited about the potential in the new Warcraft mobile game than they are about 10.0?

WoW gets a new setting and story with the expansion, but the gameplay remains much the same.

This new game could offer fresh gameplay and tie into WoW proper for its rewards and stuff.

I am very interested in this game. Although I think that Blizzard is being pretty stupid in making them mobile only, especially having Genshin Impact as an example.

Diablo Immortal and the Warcraft mobile game should be cross-platform. I think that especially with Diablo, they are scared that Immortal could overshadow Diablo 4 if available in several platforms, which I am pretty sure that will happen even if It is only in mobile.

Focusing in the Warcraft mobile game, I thought about It quite a lot. It will not be a strategy game, because Blizz abandoned that genre. It will not be a Diablo kind of game, as they already have Diablo Immortal for that, and It will not be a card game, as we already have Hearthstone. It cannot be just a Warcraft MMO in mobile, as It would kill WoW. So what options do we have?

A Warcraft Genshin Impact, and man, that would be absolutely amazing. Imagine being able to play as Jaina, Arthas, Kael'thas, Thrall... Each with a different skill set, exploring Azeroth in a new way. I am pretty sure that this kind of game would kill WoW if available on PC too.

[Syegfryed]

Keep faction quest/mog/city/achievement restrictions, but let people be able to group and talk to each other to do content

problem with that is how not everyone want to do raids and dungeons or even Bgs/arenas with the enemy faction, and not everyone want to be forced into war mode to not have that.

[Makabreska]

problem with that is how not everyone want to do raids and dungeons or even Bgs/arenas with the enemy faction, and not everyone want to be forced into war mode to not have that.

Well, that's their own problem. And I'm pretty sure that players who absolutely refuse to play with filthy Vulperas are in vast minority. People got used to things that actually changed gameplay, like talents rework or Master Looter gone, they will get used to such a minuscule thing like teaming up with opposite faction (that kept happening story wise since Vanilla).

[Raetary]

problem with that is how not everyone want to do raids and dungeons or even Bgs/arenas with the enemy faction, and not everyone want to be forced into war mode to not have that.

Those people are utterly irrelevant.
If CFP is ever implemented, any and all players will eventually be forced into playing with the opposite faction, just from community pressure alone.

The few people that 'don't want to play with the other faction' are going to have to do that regardless.
Either directly because no soul is gonna want to stomach waiting for the group leader to filter for specific faction players, or indirectly because the majority of groups are absolutely gonna be mixed.

[Nyel]

Isn't the Warcraft mobile game just a rumour as of now?

[nutcrackit]

"Truce mode" seems redundant. I believe what they should do now is "Adventurer mode" Which is the default state of the game. You can talk with and group cross faction. any LFD and LFR content is automatically cross faction. You cannot enter the opposite faction capitals and towns nor interact with their NPCs. Guilds become cross faction. Communities can be selected as either faction specific or neutral. LFG posts can be selected as cross faction or faction locked.

War mode exists and would not change but it does need more support for it with more content.

A third mode to add would be timewalking mode. Basically works like chromie time where all content outside the current expansion scales to you. I do believe blizzard should also invest in AI that automatically fills out the rest of your group with the missing roles when in timewalking mode and doing dungeons and raids. It shouldn't be hard to program them to do the mechanics automatically. Complex ones can just be ignored as far as they are concerned so they don't die from them. What I mean by that is if a mechanic requires them to jump they won't jump but they take no damage.

[Edward Wu]

Factions will still maintain their identities even if full cross faction grouping is allowed. Horde and Alliance are integral to WarCrafts brand at this point. Its not going anywhere.

Sure yeah. There's plenty of ways to keep thematic AvH tension while allowing play for gameplay-related reasons only.

I'd much rather play Alliance but I can't because I like being able to actually do content and right now it I jump on my Alli toon it'll take about 30mins to find a solid M+ group whereas Horde it takes me 5 mins. Its fucked.

This is basically the crux of it. A faction merge would actually do a lot to revitalizing the Alliance playerbase and make more people play it because the pressure to play a Horde character would be gone. A lot of people feel the same way.

[Nyel]

No, it has been announced in various ways. Job listings, statements from senior leadership and so on. I think one of the quarterly conference calls might have mentioned it as well?

It has been in the works for years, which is nuts IMO. They have to announce it soon.

Edit:
https://nordic.ign.com/news/43427/bl...in-development

Ah, okay.

Well, Diablo Immortal has been cooking for 3.5 years after its announcement (Blizzcon 2018), so I wouldn't expect a Warcraft mobile game anytime soon.

[Khaza-R]

Isn't the Warcraft mobile game just a rumour as of now?

I wouldn't call them rumors at this point since Kotick confirmed there's actually more than one WarCraft mobile game in development.

[Vasoka]

Alright, when are we expecting a 10.0 announcement? I'm literally falling asleep at this point. Are we gonna get SOMETHING?

[Edward Wu]

The funny thing is statistics show that mobile gaming already peaked and is starting to lose popularity, especially with devs who now largely prefer PC development over anything else, compared to a few years ago. Players are starting to follow suit.

Blizzard is late to the party with everything lol.

[Nyel]

Alright, when are we expecting a 10.0 announcement? I'm literally falling asleep at this point. Are we gonna get SOMETHING?

In my opinion: March or April. February is booked for 9.2.

[Fahrad Wagner]

In my opinion: March or April. February is booked for 9.2.

I agree, the way I see things:

• 9.2 release date announced in 1 or 2 weeks from now for a release late February/early-March 2022 at the latest.
• 10.0 reveal mid-march including a 9.2.5 presentation
• 9.2.5 release in July/August 2022
• 10.0 release for November 2022

[Shadochi]

Ah, okay.

Well, Diablo Immortal has been cooking for 3.5 years after its announcement (Blizzcon 2018), so I wouldn't expect a Warcraft mobile game anytime soon.

I really hope we will get a mobile pet battle game. Then I might bother with the pet system while on the toilet/at work

- - - Updated - - -

I agree, the way I see things:

• 9.2 release date announced in 1 or 2 weeks from now for a release late February/early-March 2022 at the latest.
• 10.0 reveal mid-march including a 9.2.5 presentation
• 9.2.5 release in July/August 2022
• 10.0 release for November 2022

I agree, what people also need to understand is that we can't determine an expansion release date based on the announcement date. If they are delaying the announcement for 9.2 story to resolve it doesn't mean that they aren't at they point of development they would usually be at this period of an expansion. Imo we will probably get slightly bigger first few releases of Alpha. Development might be a bit behind but I doubt when they announce 10.0 it will be at the same stage that previous expansion were during the November announcement. Seeing how they probably cut a SL patch for 10.0 dev.

[Nyel]

I agree, the way I see things:

• 9.2 release date announced in 1 or 2 weeks from now for a release late February/early-March 2022 at the latest.
• 10.0 reveal mid-march including a 9.2.5 presentation
• 9.2.5 release in July/August 2022
• 10.0 release for November 2022

I still wish I could be optimistic for an expansion release in 2022, but it seems so out of line with their schedule now. If 9.2 gets a late February release and 10.0 comes in late November, we'd be looking at a final tier of 9 months, which is very short in general WoW terms, but in Shadowlands terms it would be almost on par with the length of the 9.1 tier.

And they need to have the alpha to be open asap and beta would shortly need to follow after the announcement. My hopes are high, but reality might not match that.

[Gaidax]

I am sure that Blizz will do everything they can to release expansion in 2022. Whether they manage or not is another story.

[Dracullus]

I don't think 2022 expac is likely, but Q1 2023 for sure (Q2/Q3 if it's revamp expac).

If they want Christmas cash grab, there is always Wrath, much safer option, without any risk of delay. Release Zul'Aman ~April, Sunwell ~July and Wrath is ready for December. Wrath won't be another Vanilla Classic, but I expect bigger hype than TBC. Hell, I will even play it myself, I wanted to revisit old zones, but quit Vanilla after I realized they'll continue it and 3.0 environment is just more fun way to do it.

[Catastrophy349]

I don't think 2022 expac is likely, but Q1 2023 for sure (Q2/Q3 if it's revamp expac).

If they want Christmas cash grab, there is always Wrath, much safer option, without any risk of delay. Release Zul'Aman ~April, Sunwell ~July and Wrath is ready for December. Wrath won't be another Vanilla Classic, but I expect bigger hype than TBC. Hell, I will even play it myself, I wanted to revisit old zones, but quit Vanilla after I realized they'll continue it and 3.0 environment is just more fun way to do it.

Exactly. Looking at past expansions, Legion was announced at Blizzcon and went to Alpha almost right after. Alternatively, Shadowlands was announced at Blizzcon and didn’t hit alpha until almost 4-5 months later. Blizzard could announce 10.0 and go right to alpha or simply tease us and wait “if they are behind a bit to start alpha testing for public.”

As for releasing in 2022, who cares. I rather it be “ready when it’s ready.” I’ll wait as long as needed for 10.0 if it means coming out in a better state/lots of content.

Lastly, I can almost definitely see Wrath Classic+ coming out before the end of 2022 (November is Wrath anniversary month). Would be a great way to hold people over until 10.0 releases and still make them money.

[Makabreska]

i am sure that blizz will do everything they can to release expansion in 2022. Whether they manage or not is another story.

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ we have to give blizz our energy ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

[Richardbro]

10.0 is absolutely coming in 2022. They will release it half assed and buggy if need be but it is coming. I don't see them breaking the 2 year release cycle for another 100 years, even if only 100, 000 players are still playing.