Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Dracullus]

Don't forget today build doesn't exclude tomorrow annoucement + release build. Still I don't expect it this week though.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Obviously the Dragon Isles have been a HOT idea for many expansions now. However, all jokes/fake leaks aside, do we REALLY think the next expansion will be the Dragon Isles? I'm just curious what everyone thinks.

I've always liked the name/idea of the Dragon Isles, for sure. Not sure if I want them to be an entire expansion (like continent) though. Maybe a 10.1/10.2 zone we visit?

I always get excited for ANY/ALL new WoW expansions. Hasn't been a single one I have NOT been excited for. So, what do we think? I'm ready for anything!

Way I see it, it's Dragon Isles or they lied about a grounded expansion and it's Lifelands.

There's nothing else left.

[huth]

What does this mean? It's just a picture of a fake old leak from 2015?

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Nevermind! Tis a joke! hahaha

Found the new guy. Anybody remember where we left the rope after last time?

[Veya30]

Way I see it, it's Dragon Isles or they lied about a grounded expansion and it's Lifelands.

There's nothing else left.

Lifelands? Isn't it Gardens of Life?

[Raetary]

Lifelands? Isn't it Gardens of Life?

Yes.

The Gardens are the Lifelands.
Just liek Pandaria is Pandaland.

[Catastrophy349]

Way I see it, it's Dragon Isles or they lied about a grounded expansion and it's Lifelands.

There's nothing else left.

Yes and No. While there may only be a few places they can go from SL with the current lore/past cliffhangers, it's Blizzard. Shadowlands has shown us that they can/will retcon anything. With that being said, 10.0 onward can literally be anything they want. So, I wouldn't be set on only Dragons/Lifelands being the options.

If we get Dragon Isles, I think the idea of them being floating islands would be really cool! Not just thematically but also because it would be weird if we just miraculously ignored them on the map for so long (like some other islands/continents...hmm). Floating islands would be a great way to write it into the lore and would be interesting as hell, too!

They can retcon anything though so no matter what, GET HYPE!

[micwini]

Hopefully this build finally contains some music. Feel like we're getting close to a release date for the patch, but still no music somehow.

[Jokubas]

I guess it depends on how grounded we're talking about. I'd love an expansion that deals with mundane threats, like the balance of power shifting because with all these wars and cosmic threats finally over, people start to go their own separate ways and some drama ensues, like the Night Elves becoming their own faction again and perhaps the Forsaken following suit to become a fourth faction (like the Scourge in Warcraft III).

However, I'd be totally fine with something like Battle for Azeroth when it comes to the leveling zones. I found Kul Tiras and Zandalar to be fascinating deep dives into previously established Warcraft cultures with quests that usually didn't even have anything to do with either N'Zoth or the faction war. The fact that we go to a cosmic realm in the final raid was more a waste of that realm than it ruined the relatability of the questing.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

No need for any races to go their separate ways, people are close to the factions, no need to break that mold(bending that mold is fine though see cross factioning).

I'm not really wanting anything specifically aside from Underground expansion but thats not grounded(lol). I dunno, I just don't have a particular direction I'd "like" but I think they should do more world building to extend Warcraft's life(As in leave more threads to pull on when some close).

[Catastrophy349]

What do we want to see for the leveling experience? Linear storytelling (WoD/SL)? Choose where we go (Legion/BFA)? Something entirely different (new)? What about number of zones (does it matter)? 4 again? 5? 8? 3? Also, if Dragon Isles is floating in the air, could we get a Cataclysm leveling experience (80-85 with flying in each of the new zones)? Would people like that?

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Yes and No. While there may only be a few places they can go from SL with the current lore/past cliffhangers, it's Blizzard. Shadowlands has shown us that they can/will retcon anything. With that being said, 10.0 onward can literally be anything they want. So, I wouldn't be set on only Dragons/Lifelands being the options.

If we get Dragon Isles, I think the idea of them being floating islands would be really cool! Not just thematically but also because it would be weird if we just miraculously ignored them on the map for so long (like some other islands/continents...hmm). Floating islands would be a great way to write it into the lore and would be interesting as hell, too!

They can retcon anything though so no matter what, GET HYPE!

Blizz is remarkably willing to retcon anything, but after 18 years they're gonna have to prove to me they're willing to pull off the biggest retcon of all if they want me to believe there's anything left on Azeroth other than the Dragon Isles.

They're gonna have to give us the Dark Side of Azeroth.

[micwini]

What do we want to see for the leveling experience? Linear storytelling (WoD/SL)? Choose where we go (Legion/BFA)? Something entirely different (new)? What about number of zones (does it matter)? 4 again? 5? 8? 3? Also, if Dragon Isles is floating in the air, could we get a Cataclysm leveling experience (80-85 with flying in each of the new zones)? Would people like that?

With the amount of zones they are doing right now, linear. Leveling story in Legion and BFA was incoherent. It was slightly better in BFA because the 3 zones on both sides culminated into 1 questline. I still it lacks some oof moments. I found SL leveling better than BFA and Legion the first time around. Not so much for repeats tho. I'd like a world revamp where we use a lot more zones to level in. That makes for a bit more room so you could start in 1 zone, then do 3 in any order after, then 2 in any order after, then 1 to culminate or something. The same way as you'd have bosses in raidwings.

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Blizz is remarkably willing to retcon anything, but after 18 years they're gonna have to prove to me they're willing to pull off the biggest retcon of all if they want me to believe there's anything left on Azeroth other than the Dragon Isles.

They're gonna have to give us the Dark Side of Azeroth.

Even better: We're going to go to Azeroths moon and find out Garrosh is still alive and rebuilding the Iron Horde.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

With the amount of zones they are doing right now, linear. Leveling story in Legion and BFA was incoherent. It was slightly better in BFA because the 3 zones on both sides culminated into 1 questline. I still it lacks some oof moments. I found SL leveling better than BFA and Legion the first time around. Not so much for repeats tho. I'd like a world revamp where we use a lot more zones to level in. That makes for a bit more room so you could start in 1 zone, then do 3 in any order after, then 2 in any order after, then 1 to culminate or something. The same way as you'd have bosses in raidwings.

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Even better: We're going to go to Azeroths moon and find out Garrosh is still alive and rebuilding the Iron Horde.

Elune is in the moon!

[Catastrophy349]

[QUOTE=micwini;53579053]With the amount of zones they are doing right now, linear. Leveling story in Legion and BFA was incoherent. It was slightly better in BFA because the 3 zones on both sides culminated into 1 questline. I still it lacks some oof moments. I found SL leveling better than BFA and Legion the first time around. Not so much for repeats tho. I'd like a world revamp where we use a lot more zones to level in. That makes for a bit more room so you could start in 1 zone, then do 3 in any order after, then 2 in any order after, then 1 to culminate or something. The same way as you'd have bosses in raidwings.

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I would love to see a linear storyline. However, at the end of it, I would like to see a zone similar to Suramar that we unlock more and more over time with new stories, etc. Lots of stuff to do. A culmination of the leveling zones so to speak. The Maw sucked!

[Raetary]

Even better: We're going to go to Azeroths moon and find out Garrosh is still alive and rebuilding the Iron Horde.

World of Warcraft: The Cosmonauts of Elunor

[Jokubas]

No need for any races to go their separate ways, people are close to the factions, no need to break that mold(bending that mold is fine though see cross factioning).

Well it was sort of a wish list. ;P
It would take awhile to fully explain myself, but long story kinda short in order to give some context, the one elephant in the room for me still with how Blizzard discussed cross-faction play is that while Orcs/Horde and Humans/Alliance might be iconic to Warcraft, there's more to Warcraft than just them and if you're going to reference Warcraft III like in the interview, Warcraft III had four factions. To this day, Night Elf and Forsaken (which aren't literally Scourge but fill the Undead slot) players tend to have the strongest Alliance/Horde-independent identity and it's often one of their biggest complaints about how the story treats them (or sometimes more importantly, doesn't). As it is, the Horde (as a group of multiple races) and the Alliance didn't exist until Warcraft II, and in Warcraft III Thrall formed an entirely new Horde out of different races (or different tribes of those races) and most of the original Alliance nations had gone their separate ways since the war. I think it would be better for the story and for race identity to expand the definition of faction.

Blizz is remarkably willing to retcon anything, but after 18 years they're gonna have to prove to me they're willing to pull off the biggest retcon of all if they want me to believe there's anything left on Azeroth other than the Dragon Isles.

They're gonna have to give us the Dark Side of Azeroth.

We made a pretty big list of places we haven't been to yet awhile back. Some of them are small, but they could either be paired up or retconned. Putting together a fully explorable Kezan/Undermine, Plunder Isle, Tel'Abim, Darkspear Islands, Zul'Dare etc. could make a whole new "South Seas" expansion, but with the tendency to turn islands into continents, any of them are possible. Some of them may not sound compelling, but that's what retcons are for. We could "find out" that Tel'Abim was actually this secret Titan complex all along disguised as an innocuous island, and it's been full of interesting and varied peoples that we befriend or combat. Ogrezonia was a joke, but there's even places like Balor still that they could do anything with. I wouldn't necessarily want them to expand these places, just offering up the option. ;P

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

We made a pretty big list of places we haven't been to yet awhile back. Some of them are small, but they could either be paired up or retconned. Putting together a fully explorable Kezan/Undermine, Plunder Isle, Tel'Abim, Darkspear Islands, Zul'Dare etc. could make a whole new "South Seas" expansion, but with the tendency to turn islands into continents, any of them are possible. Some of them may not sound compelling, but that's what retcons are for. We could "find out" that Tel'Abim was actually this secret Titan complex all along disguised as an innocuous island, and it's been full of interesting and varied peoples that we befriend or combat. Ogrezonia was a joke, but there's even places like Balor still that they could do anything with. I wouldn't necessarily want them to expand these places, just offering up the option. ;P

I've given up on "South Seas." Most of those places were visited in some form or another via BFA. I know a lot of folks (well, mostly Teriz) talk about an Undermine expansion. But I think if you asked Blizz, they'd say that story is closed as of THE MOTHERLODE!.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I don't think ret-cons are required for new lands but ok whatevs(Dragon Isles not included). Yes a new hidden continent or even a continent that comes up to sea isn't that bad either but I know this place wouldn't accept it :/

[Teriz]

I guess it depends on how grounded we're talking about. I'd love an expansion that deals with mundane threats, like the balance of power shifting because with all these wars and cosmic threats finally over, people start to go their own separate ways and some drama ensues, like the Night Elves becoming their own faction again and perhaps the Forsaken following suit to become a fourth faction (like the Scourge in Warcraft III).

However, I'd be totally fine with something like Battle for Azeroth when it comes to the leveling zones. I found Kul Tiras and Zandalar to be fascinating deep dives into previously established Warcraft cultures with quests that usually didn't even have anything to do with either N'Zoth or the faction war. The fact that we go to a cosmic realm in the final raid was more a waste of that realm than it ruined the relatability of the questing.

Kul'tiras was my favorite leveling experience since Pandaria. I really enjoyed those zones, and hope to see something similar in another "grounded" expansion.

I would love to see Undermine or Gadgetzan be focused on, with large urban centers similar to Borealis, Dazar'alor, and Suramar.

[Futhark]

World of Warcraft: The Cosmonauts of Elunor

I'd love to go to the moon(s). I used to stare at the skybox on Argus for minutes at a time.