Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Nyel]

Eh I didn’t like him saying the borrowed power systems were deep and transformed gameplay because azerite did not do that

They still can’t admit fault so I’m fairly certain 10.0 will have a terrible system that won’t be changed until midway

Covenants we’re good, pretty good to be fair. They worked really well.

Azerite was crap.

Artifact weapons were the best of the three.

So I wouldn’t say all of the systems were not good or well-received. The biggest problem was always what happens after and that was mentioned as well. The phase where you lose all your unlocked power and until you get the new one fully unlocked feels incredibly bad and that’s what they need to work on.

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Nice, becasue you kept saying for months that COVID excuse is simply not valid anymore, that it does not affect them.

Yeah, because it isn’t after two years. It‘s a strawman argument and a lame excuse to blame COVID for all of your problems. Nothing more needs to be said in this case. We’re not talking about retail or production or whatever, we’re talking about a digital business and a digital product.

[Nightshade711]

Covenants we’re good, pretty good to be fair. They worked really well.

Azerite was crap.

Artifact weapons were the best of the three.

So I wouldn’t say all of the systems were not good or well-received. The biggest problem was always what happens after and that was mentioned as well. The phase where you lose all your unlocked power and until you get the new one fully unlocked feels incredibly bad and that’s what they need to work on.

My only issue with the artifact weapons was the AP grind at the start of the xpac.
Near the end when it was easier/they just increased Artifact Knowledge automatically it was great.

That and yeah as you said losing the artifacts wasn't great especially when followed up by Azerite Gear. (Had we started out with essences it MIGHT have been better though.)

[Fahrad Wagner]

On youtube there is a 40 minute video with nazjatar and the first few tunes are almost 1:1 to the westworld intro. It also makes sense since both ZM and westworld involve printing "people"

The 3D printing point makes so much sense!

[Makabreska]

Yeah, because it isn’t after two years. It‘s a strawman argument and a lame excuse to blame COVID for all of your problems. Nothing more needs to be said in this case. We’re not talking about retail or production or whatever, we’re talking about a digital business and a digital product.

Damn, gotta tell Sony that they should be affected by pandemic and not delay GoW: Ragnarok to 2022.

[Nyel]

Damn, gotta tell Sony that they should be affected by pandemic and not delay GoW: Ragnarok to 2022.

My goodness, are you Aeluron 2.0? I give up, yes, hooo booo COVID is the only reason why Blizzard was performing so pathetically in the last two years.

Back to topic now, please.

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My only issue with the artifact weapons was the AP grind at the start of the xpac.
Near the end when it was easier/they just increased Artifact Knowledge automatically it was great.

That and yeah as you said losing the artifacts wasn't great especially when followed up by Azerite Gear. (Had we started out with essences it MIGHT have been better though.)

I agree. Essences made Azerite A LOT more tolerable. It was still a clear step down from artifacts. Let’s see what’s in for us with the next expansion…

[Makabreska]

My goodness, are you Aeluron 2.0? I give up, yes, hooo booo COVID is the only reason why Blizzard was performing so pathetically in the last two years.

Back to topic now, please.

No, no one is saying it's the only reason. The main reason. But you kept denying it due to some weird bias against Blizz.

[Ersula]

Yeah, because it isn’t after two years. It‘s a strawman argument and a lame excuse to blame COVID for all of your problems. Nothing more needs to be said in this case. We’re not talking about retail or production or whatever, we’re talking about a digital business and a digital product.

You know logistics isn't just a merchandise thing, right? Besides the emotional balance of a major pandemic, we don't know how many Blizzard developers got sick during this time. I feel like I'm at a very reasonable middle-ground between the "Covid isn't a problem if you're working from home" people and the "We can expect 10.0 to come out December 2024" people.

Covid hurt production. It's continuing to hurt production. But WFH is something that can be adjusted to. I say "can be" because how successful an individual development team is going to be at it is a case-by-case basis. It's hard to tell if Blizzard is really good at it or really bad at it. We'll eventually have a good indication if they're good or bad at WFH based on if 10.0 is good or bad.

I still think the 9th expansion is coming out this year because, clearly, that big pre-order cash-in is more important than actually releasing a finished expansion.

[Nyel]

You know logistics isn't just a merchandise thing, right? Besides the emotional balance of a major pandemic, we don't know how many Blizzard developers got sick during this time. I feel like I'm at a very reasonable middle-ground between the "Covid isn't a problem if you're working from home" people and the "We can expect 10.0 to come out December 2024" people.

Covid hurt production. It's continuing to hurt production. But WFH is something that can be adjusted to. I say "can be" because how successful an individual development team is going to be at it is a case-by-case basis. It's hard to tell if Blizzard is really good at it or really bad at it. We'll eventually have a good indication if they're good or bad at WFH based on if 10.0 is good or bad.

I still think the 9th expansion is coming out this year because, clearly, that big pre-order cash-in is more important than actually releasing a finished expansion.

They’ve clearly proven on Shadowlands that they’re bad at it. Pretty bad, if we’re fair. But: we don’t know if it was deliberate to make 10.0 amazing or simply be sure they are a poorly run business (at least the WoW team). That - as you’ve said - can be judged by the quality and scope of 10.0, which we can’t say yet.

[TheFirstOnes]

Now post that without crying.

You don't know what you're talking about, friend! That better?

[Ersula]

They’ve clearly proven on Shadowlands that they’re bad at it.

Yeah, all big developers were bad at it: before Covid corporate culture unilaterally banned WFH except in extreme cases, for rather anti-worker reasons. Suddenly everyone had to get good at it, developers and management, with almost no previous experience. That's why I was said small developers were better at WFH; WFH was far more normalized in indie development.

It's been two years. Clearly the rates at which different developers are going to make WFH work is going to vary.

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Shine my ass. She was completely wasted in SL. One brief appearance during opening quests and second during Korthia campaign. But I'm not complaining really, we had enough of her.

"So we have this Goddess who was taken advantage of & abused by this big himbo god with a lot of clout in the universe. Does anyone have any ideas about how to develop her character?"

Chilton: Bitch

Afrasiasbi: Bitch

Ion: mega-bitch, forever

"Okay, now let's talk about how to develop Helya"

[Lamoth]

If 10.0 comes out on time and will be decent in amount of content that would mean the only thing 'lost' was a single major patch aka 4-5 month of development. Now compare it with a full year other companies delayed their games for. Who is bad at handling COVID in that case?

Now if 10 is delayed for longer then half a year then we can blame Blizzard for not adjusting as well as other game companies.

It's a simple math.

[Ersula]

If 10.0 comes out on time and will be decent in amount of content that would mean the only thing 'lost' was a single major patch aka 4-5 month of development. Now compare it with a full year other companies delayed their games for. Who is bad at handling COVID in that case?

Yes, but of the major content patches we did get the lore is underdeveloped. Way too much ambiguity toward the very complicated lore of the Shadowlands, is the result of very barebones development. If they had more time we'd get more lore opportunities to clarify their statements through quests, items, etc. If you compare Torghast to Island Expeditions, Torghast was released unfinished & was never finished even after all this time, effectively abandoned. They got the powers of a roguelike, but its severely lacking in random events where Island Expeditions was the opposite. A boss-rush mode being the best iteration of the system is the best example of this.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Primarily because it was making people spam dungeons & they wanted people to raid more. Honestly its high time we bring bad-luck-insurance systems back.

Heck even beyond that, we're well past the point where "Raid or Die" was WoW's driving philosophy.

Now that we have systems like Mythic it's high time to bring back those currencies.

[Shadochi]

I hope they make a stuffed Pocopoc. I want it so bad.

This is one of those things I thought I wouldn't pay attention to and just do Cyphers for the mount crafting, but over these past 12 hours I really did create a bond with the little fellow

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The Broker tmog sets from outdoor content are IMO the best non Raid/PvP sets they had in a while, love them on all armor types and colors. Also the fact that they don't look like the raid theme, and are way cooler than we got in Korthia. (Im not counting covenant/Legion class hall sets into this since since they were a different thing that what these fill)

[Shadochi]

Based on my initial exploration, ZM is actually a great zone. It would work better as a sort of mysterious Uldum+ on a strange and mysterious continent, and remembering that it is supposed to (basically) be the cradle of creation feels a bit silly. There's sand, weeds and crap. But anywhoo. It gives off some Diablo 2 Act 2 vibes which is great.

If only Blizzard'd remember for future expansions that endgame zones, or dangerous zones in general, don't need to look grey and depressing.

Honestly, the Garden area to the south of ZM is one of my favorite areas of WoW in the recent years

[Edward Wu]

9.2 looks dead on arrival. Not even the usual streamers who are all over new patch content care enough to switch over from Lost Ark.

Blizzard fucked up badly with SL.

[ZyntosAran]

9.2 looks dead on arrival. Not even the usual streamers who are all over new patch content care enough to switch over from Lost Ark.

Blizzard fucked up badly with SL.

I have to say, I was hyped for 9.2 today (EU). I logged in shortly after patch release, played for 5 hours to finish all the available quests for this week and then logged out because I had nothing more to do other then farm rares and treasures. I expected...more for casual players tbh. The Timegating is getting really annoying. Having to wait 18 hours for level 2 of the cypher doesnt make it better.

[Dracullus]

I have to say, I was hyped for 9.2 today (EU). I logged in shortly after patch release, played for 5 hours to finish all the available quests for this week and then logged out because I had nothing more to do other then farm rares and treasures. I expected...more for casual players tbh. The Timegating is getting really annoying. Having to wait 18 hours for level 2 of the cypher doesnt make it better.

Which patch gave you more than 5 hours of content - not counting farming rares/treasures as you say - on first day?

[huth]

I have to say, I was hyped for 9.2 today (EU). I logged in shortly after patch release, played for 5 hours to finish all the available quests for this week and then logged out because I had nothing more to do other then farm rares and treasures. I expected...more for casual players tbh. The Timegating is getting really annoying. Having to wait 18 hours for level 2 of the cypher doesnt make it better.

I'm pretty sure a casual player wouldn't have had 5 hours to play all the quests.

[Sondrelk]

While I have not had the time to really sit down and enjoy Zereth Mortis yet, i do have to say it does feel leaps and bounds better than Korthia in terms of being a zone I want to spend time in.

It has for me underlined how much I really don't care about Shadowlands. Because this area is practically screaming at me to be impressed by how it captures the idea of a world in artificial development. And yet despite this, and how much I can tell it goes hard on a unified theme, I just cannot get past how little Shadowlands has grabbed me, which in turn reflects poorly on this zone.

I see the pools stretching down into the abyss, filled with half formed creatures and those strange orbs. But instead of feeling like I am uncovering a mystery, I just sit and feel like I would have cared so much more if I was invested in the overarching theme.


Really excited to see the Pocopoc stuff though. Didnt spoil it too much for myself this PTR cycle, but from what I saw it looks like a great step forward in open world content progression. The gear set with additional abilities is s nice touch, if probably a bit difficult to justify when it has to compete with raid sets, and for that matter flying once that becomes available...