Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Hitei]

I suspect many of the zereth mortis prototype animals may hint at future creatures. These are supposed to be prototype archetypes of various animals yet represent several animals we have yet to see. Axolotls, wombats, that new bird rig, new snail rig and wolves with what appears to be a new basic silhouette...
I strongly suspect the next expac's new zones will have fleshy non-robot versions of all of these designs. The wombats in particular have me stumped. You can see on the model that they have spiky fur or quills (translucent and glowing on the prototype bot) on their neck, something real wombats dont have. This to me suggests they designed a warcraft style wombat asset for the next expac first and then made a robot version of it later to use in 9.2. The same goes for the axolotl and the birds. The bird rig was also used for a store mount first, something they are known to do with rigs and models they've been working on for the next expac.

I have no clue what the new expansion is going to be about, but it will have wombats of some fashion in it and that's all I need honestly.

So I guess we're going down unda!

Pretty sure the wombats are just bears.

The recent fan fic did point out something I think would be interesting. We essentially lose all of our power lore wise and our status as heroes which means we can go back to slaying boars and dragons

This has always been silly, because we never stopped doing that.

[Lahis]

This look really bad
Score: 1/10

But the worse it looks, the more likely it is the truth.

[LordKharon]

How the hell people still think we will get an expac announcement today? Why should Blizz take the spotlight away from 9.2? Why bunch up the few real big things they have for most of 2022 (9.2 and 10 announce)? That makes NO sense to me.

Next week is patch week then we get the raid and after that we get the annoucement. A few weeks of positive news for Blizz (hopefully), then the wait for 9.2.5, then the loooong wait for 10.0...

[Zankai27]

I missed this comment before, but yeah, I largely agree with all of this. Again, the issues with distinguishing the Hunter class' specs more than likely played a significant role in the decision to not bring the DR into WoW. Further, Dark Ranger concepts are better served making the existing Hunter class more interesting/varied.

I disagree on principle as I've already laid out ways I think DR could be perfectly laid out and made fully unique from Hunter using the unique aspects it already has.

Abilities like Wailing Arrow, Black Arrow, Withering Fire, and ones themed after HotS Sylvanas would make up a lot of the ranged weapon spec. Secondarily, you'd have a spell DPS spec with some CC abilities and debuffs based around the Jailer arc with domination magic. Finally, a healer spec based on songs with Banshee inspiration. It's something that touches all aspects of Sylvanas' arc and brings them forward as things to identify Dark Rangers going forward.

I could make an actually mechanically competent spec but I've put all my energy into Dragonsworn and my upcoming Blademaster concept. I might still do it eventually though.

I've always hated, *hated* how DR elements are shoehorned into Hunter. They're always put in there one or two abilities tops, and do nothing but dilute the Hunter identity and then they're taken away again. (The same way that adding tech elements to Survival only dilutes Hunters and is much better suited for Tinkers)

Now, I agree that I don't think Blizzard cars enough to make DRs their own thing, but there's absolutely a market for it and eventually it could easily happen and feel perfectly unique. I'm not going to pin OG Survival's failure on why it doesn't exist, that's just nonsensical when so many years have now passed and there's plenty of other inspiration for DRs to pull from.

[Chickat]

How the hell you found it lol? Google images? Or you are actually both the leaker and the debunker?

Yeah, I reverse image searched but couldn't find anything.

[Syegfryed]

And at least a dozen other things. That's not terribly helpfull, just putting overly much emphasis on your personally preferred direction.

There is more emphasis in this one direction because its where more hints are at it, don't act like there is more hints for other kind of expansion, even if Yrel was hint, a "light enemy" or anything else was minor in comparison.

Thats my point, all the hints leading to a dragon expansion have been focused in expansion prior to SL, and not in SL. As I said beyond Ysera (who will stay dead and makes sense to be in SL) that Pirate dragon and Draconic in Zereth (among many other languages IIRC), there aren't any other hints at dragons, compared to much more in previous expansion but event then the dragons were never truly in the spotlight, just something that pops up while the main storyline unfolds (wrathion was on the edge there but still he was more relevant because of his character and not other dragons)

usually those kind of hints start earlier even as 2 expansions back though, as shadowlands was hint even far behind Legion with Odyn/sylvanas/helya story

"dragons appearing" by itself is not a hint, but what they do and what they set up for later is

[Makorus]

So, you want the Jailer to lose, do nothing, and we just defeat him? Wouldn't that be worse? All that build up and Blizzard telling us that this all stems from WC3 lore, threads and fates, and everything that has happened is due to the Jailer just to kill him and that's it?

Lol, if Azeroth dies, then that's the story development of the last three expansions made completely pointless.

It's like making Luke unceremoniously die against Jabba the Hutt in RotJ.

[Soulwind]

Yeah, I reverse image searched but couldn't find anything.

Well, it's there.

[Revamp Man]

Pretty sure the wombats are just bears.


This has always been silly, because we never stopped doing that.

We went from random hero
To class master
To faction commander
To fabled being of the first ones

[Nyel]

You know what I would like to be for once? The antagonist. In the end we could prevail as a hero, but to be the antagonist would be something fresh and new for WoW.

What I mean with that: Imagine Turalyon just snatched the throne and established a dictatorship of the Light - everybody is "well" but it's not a free society anymore. We as the antagonist want to end his reign and for that we risk to damage beloved ones (the ones we swore to save) etc. So we are seen as enemies / villains from the outside until Turalyon shows his "dark" side and everybody realizes that we're not enemies, but trying to save them.

[username993720]

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.

Unless, Dark Ranger is not a standalone class.

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".

Then, there would be absolutely no reason to introduce Night elf Dark Rangers in the first place.

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

It's an attempt you are unaware of, racially. As well as the numerous Sylavanas appearances, showcasing her various new capabilities.

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.

There is no indication that they have any problem with designing a ranged class, it's just your own biased view.
By the way, if they did, it would harm your Tinker as well, as you said it combined Hunter mechanics and is a ranged class.

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 isn't. Just like Rogues got Illidan's glaives in TBC.

I personally believe that Blizzard never had any intention of making DR its own class. They have done nothing but undermine the concept since Cataclysm, starting when they gave Forsaken the ability to be Hunters, and making Dark Rangers their trainers.

Actually, they expanded the class concept over the last 3 expansions.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jSJr3dXZfcg
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8NRLuUnpGYg
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s4gBChg6AII
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HmR6zlRwGQQ
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Syl...nner_(tactics)
https://heroesofthestorm.fandom.com/wiki/Sylvanas
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Kaldorei_Dark_Ranger
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Sira_Moonwarden

I missed this comment before, but yeah, I largely agree with all of this. Again, the issues with distinguishing the Hunter class' specs more than likely played a significant role in the decision to not bring the DR into WoW. Further, Dark Ranger concepts are better served making the existing Hunter class more interesting/varied.

Beastmaster - emphasis on pets. Should use dual melee weapon rather than a bow.
Marksmanship - emphasis on ranged combat. Should focus on explosives and use a gun.
Survival - melee/throwing combatant. Should be built around the Headhunter/Berserker/axethrower.

Dark Ranger - ranged combat with a bow, combined with the shadow powers of a Subtlety Rogue/D3 Demon Hunter. It won't constitute a class, but a spec.

I really dont see anyway to ever make Dark Ranger work as a class. I could see it working as a Hunter spec but as a full fledged class? Probably not.

What would the specs even be? Obviously you'd have the ranged shooty shoot spec thats some not just a 4th spec for hunter but then what? A tank? Are they gonna go melee for it? Cause thats just survival. A healer? Seems unlikely but more likely than tank I guess. A second DPS spec? Thats just the same thing as regular hunter except hunter at least has the pet vs personal dps split to make BM and MM distinct from each other.

That's not even counting how removing abilities to give them back to dark ranger would erode what there is in Hunter to help differentiate the specs as is.

Dark Ranger - DPS spec.
Warden - Tank spec.
Priestess of the Moon/Night Warrior - Healer/DPS spec.

[ro9ue]

World of Warcraft: Scales of Time.
Level cap raised to 70.
New continent: The Dragon Isles.
New system: Accords. Pick your Dragonflight, earn cosmetic rewards and spell effects.
New system: Trial of the Aspects. Torghast lite, vechicle combat and 'fun' trials like the Legion Keg world quest along with boss floors.
New system: Dragon Taming. Tame a whelpling, watch it grow as you progress. Make your own dragon mount.
Covenant abilities turned into a new talent row for your class.

No time skip. No new class. No new races. No world revamp.

Welp.... there it is.

[Hitei]

We went from random hero
To class master
To faction commander
To fabled being of the first ones

1) You were never rAnDoM hErO outside of leveling. Vanilla had you defeating titan watchers, a loa blood god, every notable scourge higher up sans Arthas, a weakened elemental lord, and an imprisoned Old God. Even within leveling, you are not some nobody hero, you are a person who wades into inescapable plaguelands where normal people are terrified of going and soldiers struggle to even maintain a foothold and slaughters undead by the dozens, dismantles multiple crime syndicates by murdering hundreds of their bandits and killers, destroys entire tribes of bloodthirsty trolls, fights drakes, giants, ogres, elementals, naga, ghosts, tigers, bears and lions, walks into the middle of the Darkiron and Blackrock strongholds with a few other people and destroys their entire armies before killing their leaders, etc., etc., etc.

2) You never stopped doing basic, normal down to earth tasks. The Night Elf starting zone has you killing sabercats and spiders, putting down plant monsters, and dealing with corrupted furbolgs. Legion, the expansion where you defeat the Burning Legion and with lots of help, destroy a baby titan avatar, had you killing mountain lions, spiders, lasher plants and corrupted furbolgs. Do you know what you were doing at the start of this expansion? Helping people get missing books back from windserpents, fighting oozes and overpopulated giant insects.

The universe was in just as much peril from C'thun surviving, or KJ making it through the portal and taking Quel'thalas as it is from the Jailer winning. It's just a quicker end of the universe.

The only thing that has changed is that instead of for some reason completely ignoring a legendary champion who walks around solving thousands of problems across the world that other warriors struggle to deal with a single one of--you get treated like you are someone dependable who has stopped the planet from being destroyed a bunch of times and can be trusted to deal with problems.

[micwini]

World of Warcraft: Scales of Time.
Level cap raised to 70.
New continent: The Dragon Isles.
New system: Accords. Pick your Dragonflight, earn cosmetic rewards and spell effects.
New system: Trial of the Aspects. Torghast lite, vechicle combat and 'fun' trials like the Legion Keg world quest along with boss floors.
New system: Dragon Taming. Tame a whelpling, watch it grow as you progress. Make your own dragon mount.
Covenant abilities turned into a new talent row for your class.

No time skip. No new class. No new races. No world revamp.

This is the most legit looking leak so far.

- - - Updated - - -

And two.

https://www.deviantart.com/jjcanvas/...lace-332599331

you are good at this

[Teriz]

I disagree on principle as I've already laid out ways I think DR could be perfectly laid out and made fully unique from Hunter using the unique aspects it already has.

Abilities like Wailing Arrow, Black Arrow, Withering Fire, and ones themed after HotS Sylvanas would make up a lot of the ranged weapon spec. Secondarily, you'd have a spell DPS spec with some CC abilities and debuffs based around the Jailer arc with domination magic. Finally, a healer spec based on songs with Banshee inspiration. It's something that touches all aspects of Sylvanas' arc and brings them forward as things to identify Dark Rangers going forward.

Black Arrow HotS will never become a WoW ability. It would be grossly overpowered.

Wailing Arrow and Withering Fire are both currently being used by Hunters, and it isn't significantly altering their playstyle. It's important to note that the Cataclysm and Legion versions of Black Arrow also didn't significantly alter the Hunter class. In fact, the Legion version of Black Arrow was simply a DoT that occasionally created a pet for MM. That's a problem, because if it isn't significantly altering the Hunter playstyle, then that means that a Dark Ranger class would not be offering a significant gameplay change from the standard Hunter class.

Which goes back to the original point that Hunter gameplay was so homogenized by the time we got to WoD that Blizzard had to change survival to melee in order to grant some spec diversity. Since that time, MM has really struggled to gain a unique identity. It's now slowly becoming the more "caster-style" archer spec that sans pets, but it took a LONG time for it to reach that point, and it still has some significant issues. I wouldn't be surprised to see Withering Fire and Wailing Arrow becoming a permanent part of the spec next expansion. Survival is also have problems because it is scatter-brained thematically, and its DPS is uneven. It's probably getting an overhaul next expansion, but will remain melee. BM is in the best shape, but that's mainly due to the fact that it can lean on being the spec of pets.

The idea that Blizzard would toss a DR class into the mix with 2-3 more Hunter-style specs when they're clearly having issues with the standard Hunter class seems highly unlikely.

- - - Updated - - -

There is no indication that they have any problem with designing a ranged class, it's just your own biased view.
By the way, if they did, it would harm your Tinker as well, as you said it combined Hunter mechanics and is a ranged class.

This simply shows you haven't been paying attention to the Hunter class in the last few expansions. MM and Survival have been all over the place mechanically since Legion. Before that, the class was highly homogenized, which forced Blizzard to overhaul the class in Legion. Many players are clamoring for Survival to return to ranged, but that's unlikely because Blizzard has historically had issues making MM a distinct and fun spec, so adding ANOTHER physical ranged spec to the mix would cause even more issues. So yes, there has been multiple indications that Blizzard has been struggling designing physical ranged classes. Given the nature of Bows/Guns/Xbows it's easy to see why.

Thus concepts like Dark Rangers are better served as design space for the current Hunter class, which is exactly what Blizzard has been doing.

Actually, they expanded the class concept over the last 3 expansions.

Actually, they didn't, they actually purposely limited the DR concept to make it easier to transfer to Hunters. Hence why Dark Rangers never got banshee abilities outside of Sylvanas.

[Zers Editor]

World of Warcraft: Scales of Time.
Level cap raised to 70.
New continent: The Dragon Isles.
New system: Accords. Pick your Dragonflight, earn cosmetic rewards and spell effects.
New system: Trial of the Aspects. Torghast lite, vechicle combat and 'fun' trials like the Legion Keg world quest along with boss floors.
New system: Dragon Taming. Tame a whelpling, watch it grow as you progress. Make your own dragon mount.
Covenant abilities turned into a new talent row for your class.

No time skip. No new class. No new races. No world revamp.

That title is way too commercially unfriendly. And that is the last thing you'd expect with Blizzard naming their things.

[crusadernero]

Anyone else WANT the Jailer to win (succeed with his plan), even if he loses through defeat/death after? I, for one, would prefer if we don't swoop in and save the day. Furthermore, I always refer back to this line from our Adventure Journal, "Once Azeroth's life force reaches 10% the Jailer will execute Azeroth and unmake all of existence."

I'm curious to know how everyone interprets this line? Personally, I do NOT want this to be a "only if we reach the enrage/fail the dps check" mechanic. I really want this to be how the fight unfolds through to the end of the encounter. Additionally, I don't want some kind of "time-lapse" where the Jailer "executes Azeroth" only for us to restore her immediately.

at 10% he will do some RP-end-of-days move, we get a cinematic and some of our leaders(jaina, anduin, baldy lich king - you choose) swoops in and save the day!

[Nyel]

at 10% he will do some RP-end-of-days move, we get a cinematic and some of our leaders(jaina, anduin, baldy lich king - you choose) swoops in and save the day!

Sylvanas will sacrifice herself to rescue us all. Then she becomes the hero she always wanted to be.

/s

[crusadernero]

Sylvanas will sacrifice herself to rescue us all. Then she becomes the hero she always wanted to be.

/s

I mean, sure. Why not? At this point anything can happen really. In fact, why not toss in Arthas there to!

[micwini]

I mean, sure. Why not? At this point anything can happen really. In fact, why not toss in Arthas there to!

Instead of Sylvanas it will actually be Alleria and void elves that save us. Leading into the 10.0 void expansion.