Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I meant considered a flop by the players not by capitalistic metrics. Cata, wod, bfa and sl made bank but are still considered flop eras

This forum isn't the the playerbase.

[ExiHext]

Prepare to be unflopped sir.

I wouldn't be opposed but I still strongly recommend lowering expectations in that regard...

[Kiria]

I wouldn’t consider Sylvanas slaughtering a bunch of Nightelves and rezzing them as undead Hunters to be “pushing DRs very hard”.

There was also a lot of Story beats which were creating a buildup for them, Don't just dismiss all that because it doesnt align with your fantasies.

[mysticmisty]

You mean actual players? Or people in online spaces that dont play but have really strong opinions as to why theyre right and anyone who disagrees is wrong?

That sounds more aggressive than Im going for but hopefully you get what I mean.

I see what your saying but I’m just saying that cata and wod had players leaving in much higher numbers than the prior expansions and the devs themselves recognised the issues with bfa and Sl

I personally loved wods raids and bfas zones but that doesn’t mist over the lack of content and the misguided/disliked systems.

[huth]

I see what your saying but I’m just saying that cata and wod had players leaving in much higher numbers than the prior expansions and the devs themselves recognised the issues with bfa and Sl

I personally loved wods raids and bfas zones but that doesn’t excuse the lack of content and misguided and disliked systems.

How would you know? They never gave us numbers on that. We only got total active subscriptions, not how many new subscriptions were created and old ones expired.

The drop in WoD was also immediately preceeded by a massive spike in subs. It only dropped back to normal levels and then continued to slowly shrink at roughly the same rate as before the spike.

Neither of these are valid indicators for the correlations you claim.

[micwini]

I wouldn't be opposed but I still strongly recommend lowering expectations in that regard...

If I set my expectations low, I can't be dissappointed. If I can't be dissappointed, I can't be mad at blizzard.
This is the way.

[Teriz]

There was also a lot of Story beats which were creating a buildup for them, Don't just dismiss all that because it doesnt align with your fantasies.

Considering that the current expansion has been nothing short of the "Sylvanas show" and we didn't get a Dark Ranger class, I feel that it's perfectly fair to completely dismiss "all of that".

[Nyel]

Look from $$ standpoint. WOTLK will make the most money.

That's definitely true and for 2023 they are pretty set on high financial results due to the next WoW expansion and WotLK Classic. It's basically their big $$$ year.

- - - Updated - - -

Speculation -
If 10.0 doesn’t have a graphically updated Kalimdor and eastern kingdoms with player housing in main zones it’s gonna be a FLOP

Nah, it will just be another lame a** boring expansion like BfA and Shadowlands.

[loras]

There was also a lot of Story beats which were creating a buildup for them, Don't just dismiss all that because it doesnt align with your fantasies.

...Does their absence not imply that it's you who is dismissing their hunteriness because it doesn't align with your fantasies?
I mean hunters actually exist, dark rangers are absent despite BfA and SL featuring Sylvanas prominently.

[Teriz]

We haven't been on Azeroth at all and we're in a time bubble right now. Any storylines that existed at the end of BFA and havent been brought up in SL are just on pause.

The expansion didn't begin that way though, and that would have been an opportune time to introduce them into the game; when the heroes entered the Shadowlands to pursue Sylvanas. You could even set that up as "In order to catch a Dark Ranger, we'll need to use a Dark Ranger!", and there you go; Class justified! Especially with Tyrande hunting Sylvanas down and killing Nathanos in the process.

But instead, we got nothing.

[Zankai27]

The expansion didn't begin that way though, and that would have been an opportune time to introduce them into the game; when the heroes entered the Shadowlands to pursue Sylvanas. You could even set that up as "In order to catch a Dark Ranger, we'll need to use a Dark Ranger!", and there you go; Class justified! Especially with Tyrande hunting Sylvanas down and killing Nathanos in the process.

But instead, we got nothing.

It's a shame too, the setup was perfect. You could even give them Dark Ranged Phys spec/Maw-themed Spell DPS spec/Song-based healing spec with Banshee flavor and it would've felt perfect. Alas.

[Teriz]

It's a shame too, the setup was perfect. You could even give them Dark Ranged Phys spec/Maw-themed Spell DPS spec/Song-based healing spec with Banshee flavor and it would've felt perfect. Alas.

The lack of a Dark Ranger class in Shadowlands and Hunters being the only ones who can access Sylvanas' bow and abilities is pretty much the nail in the coffin for that class concept IMO. We'll see how correct that view is soon enough.

[Zankai27]

The lack of a Dark Ranger class in Shadowlands and Hunters being the only ones who can access Sylvanas' bow and abilities is pretty much the nail in the coffin for that class concept IMO. We'll see how correct that view is soon enough.

It's true; definitely shows it's not on their radar. Obviously, lore for DRs could change and they would just update the bow and quiver to be usable by DRs or just make it irrelevant since they're legendaries stuck in the past, but yeah.

Goddamn I wish the dev team had more drive and creativity.

[Teriz]

It's true; definitely shows it's not on their radar. Obviously, lore for DRs could change and they would just update the bow and quiver to be usable by DRs or just make it irrelevant since they're legendaries stuck in the past, but yeah.

Goddamn I wish the dev team had more drive and creativity.

Honestly, I believe this really traces back to when Blizzard made one of the Hunter specs melee. They have been struggling with the class ever since, and I really think they have a mechanical issue with designing physical ranged classes similar to the Hunter class. When people were tossing around the DR concept, I kept asking myself "If Blizzard is having a hard time with the existing Hunter class, how in the world are they going to design a Dark Ranger class that would fundamentally use similar mechanics?" I really think that is the crux of the problem, and probably why you're more than likely just going to see DR concepts and abilities migrate into the Hunter class.

[Ersula]

It's true; definitely shows it's not on their radar. Obviously, lore for DRs could change and they would just update the bow and quiver to be usable by DRs or just make it irrelevant since they're legendaries stuck in the past, but yeah.

Goddamn I wish the dev team had more drive and creativity.

I'm still hoping for an undead elf allied race they've been waiting until the end of the Sylvanas storyline to implement. That makes more sense than a class really. A ranger can be a warrior, hunter or rogue & Rangers weren't the only elves raised during the third war.

[bagina]

I'm still hoping for an undead elf allied race they've been waiting until the end of the Sylvanas storyline to implement. That makes more sense than a class really. A ranger can be a warrior, hunter or rogue & Rangers weren't the only elves raised during the third war.

They should just add other races as Undead customisation options.

[Zankai27]

Dark Rangers are a specific concept though; it's perfectly serviceable as a class idea with lots to explore, and has more to offer as a class than just a race. I do agree we should get Undead Elves though. I'm still pissed about how they did the San'layn in BFA (and that the Horde doesn't even fucking know about it)

[micwini]

They could still add dark rangers and have sylvanas be their classleader like illidan is for DH

[Ersula]

They should just add other races as Undead customisation options.

That's valid & would be a cool concept for a class, but unlike Death Knights & Demon Hunters, Dark Rangers don't have anything unique that isn't already represented in game. We've seen them have Spider pets, hell there's even Dark Rangers in the Hunter Order Hall. The Legion story line is so explicit about "rangers are just a kind of Hunter" its hard to ignore.

[Revamp Man]

I honestly think dark ranger was planned but it got scrapped early because they had no clue what the expansion was going to look like