Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Annihilas]

The announcement will happen on March, 24th 2022.

Hey, that's the day! How'd you know?

[Tiradon]

Just noticed another push to the vendor build... Curious if 9.2.5 is closer than we think.

[Sondrelk]

Just noticed another push to the vendor build... Curious if 9.2.5 is closer than we think.

Would make sense if we are getting 10.0 this year. Wouldn't want 9.2.5 and 10.0 Alpha to be tested concurrently, especially considering 9.2.5 will have content that is important to test in a realistic environment.

[CopyX1982]

The more I think about it, the more I think 10.0 was thrown back. Think about it, reception to Shadowlands wasn't exactly great (After over 11 years even I left xD) and Blizzcon is usually year end, the online only version was meant to be Feb, I think that after what happened the plan completely changed to the point of major stuff being brought forward otherwise we'd have seen something/anything. To me, I was gonna decide if I'd come back for 10.0, after that I feel I've fallen too far behind so it was now-or-never personally, I wonder if the panic buttons have been pushed internally? Or am I giving them too much credit?

[Catastrophy349]

Blizzard did say that 9.2.5 would be pushed to the PTR shortly after 9.2 is underway. So, this is all lining up time-wise. In terms of announcements/10.0, they could certainly make an announcement of an announcement at any time now. Only two days until RWF, final 3 bosses, new cinematics, etc. No matter what happens, very much so looking forward to this week and the weeks to come since we have A LOT to look forward to starting Tuesday!

[Teriz]

The more I think about it, the more I think 10.0 was thrown back. Think about it, reception to Shadowlands wasn't exactly great (After over 11 years even I left xD) and Blizzcon is usually year end, the online only version was meant to be Feb, I think that after what happened the plan completely changed to the point of major stuff being brought forward otherwise we'd have seen something/anything. To me, I was gonna decide if I'd come back for 10.0, after that I feel I've fallen too far behind so it was now-or-never personally, I wonder if the panic buttons have been pushed internally? Or am I giving them too much credit?

Which is why I believe that 10.0 is going to have every feature imaginable; New Races, New Classes, New connected continent (on Azeroth), Revamped Talents, unpruned abilities, Housing, patches on a regular schedule, etc.

I think Blizzard realizes that if they put out another Shadowlands or BFA style expansion, they're going to lose long-term players who just won't come back. The story and features are simply not enough to hold most player's attention. I've never seen WoW-based forums as dead as they have been the last few months. Blizzard needs to come out swinging in 10.0.

If I were in charge, the first thing I would do is unlock Allied races from Legion and BFA and allow them to start from level 1. That's a simple and easy way to give casual players more content to work with.

[Alanar]

The inclusion of the Ren'dorei, a popular allied race that people were asking for (Alliance-affiliated Thalassian elves), helped push the popularity of this feature exponentially.

We don't know if the Shadowlands allied race can carry the same amount of hype.

Its hype in general that is less. Void elves were an asspull and have like no lore. Besides they couldnt even be high elves. That came much later.

Both zandalari and nightborne had more hype then the purple wanna be's. Even vampires will be more popular if they go through with it, but no race or story will even produce the same amount of hype. Its unfair to compare to a time period were wow was more popular in general.

[Polybius]

The more I think about it, the more I think 10.0 was thrown back. Think about it, reception to Shadowlands wasn't exactly great (After over 11 years even I left xD) and Blizzcon is usually year end, the online only version was meant to be Feb, I think that after what happened the plan completely changed to the point of major stuff being brought forward otherwise we'd have seen something/anything. To me, I was gonna decide if I'd come back for 10.0, after that I feel I've fallen too far behind so it was now-or-never personally, I wonder if the panic buttons have been pushed internally? Or am I giving them too much credit?

You’re not alone. Ever since other games went on limbo, which is why I think Kotick and Co. truly never cared about the long term health of their PC titles.

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Which is why I believe that 10.0 is going to have every feature imaginable; New Races, New Classes, New connected continent (on Azeroth), Revamped Talents, unpruned abilities, Housing, patches on a regular schedule, etc.

I think Blizzard realizes that if they put out another Shadowlands or BFA style expansion, they're going to lose long-term players who just won't come back. The story and features are simply not enough to hold most player's attention. I've never seen WoW-based forums as dead as they have been the last few months. Blizzard needs to come out swinging in 10.0.

One can only hope the expansion comes as a surprise, just as Legion did.

[Alanar]

The Dark Rangers in the Hunter Order Hall must be confused then.

Well one hunter certaintly is.. he literally says hes roleplaying as one lol.

Its more obvious if the white skin/red eyes is a by product when ever you would pick dr as class if they ever will.

San'layn or venthyr sounds like the other side of that coin if you ask me.

[AngerFork]

Which is why I believe that 10.0 is going to have every feature imaginable; New Races, New Classes, New connected continent (on Azeroth), Revamped Talents, unpruned abilities, Housing, patches on a regular schedule, etc.

I think Blizzard realizes that if they put out another Shadowlands or BFA style expansion, they're going to lose long-term players who just won't come back. The story and features are simply not enough to hold most player's attention. I've never seen WoW-based forums as dead as they have been the last few months. Blizzard needs to come out swinging in 10.0.

I've kind of thought this for a while now. For perhaps the first time since BC, there's a very real argument that WoW is no longer the most popular MMO & many fans may not return. Plus, we've seen that some Blizz devs have been reaching out to try other games as well. I half wonder if that was in part by design, perhaps playing some of these other popular games to get ideas similar to how Yoshi-P had his team play WoW as part of their FFXIV remake.

I suspect 10.0 is going to show up a decent amount later than expected, but be absolute candy. I absolutely think we'll get some new races & a new class along with a lot of patch content built before launch to try to return to the Legion 77-day cadence. Cross-realm guilds feel likely as well.

[Teriz]

I've kind of thought this for a while now. For perhaps the first time since BC, there's a very real argument that WoW is no longer the most popular MMO & many fans may not return. Plus, we've seen that some Blizz devs have been reaching out to try other games as well. I half wonder if that was in part by design, perhaps playing some of these other popular games to get ideas similar to how Yoshi-P had his team play WoW as part of their FFXIV remake.

I suspect 10.0 is going to show up a decent amount later than expected, but be absolute candy. I absolutely think we'll get some new races & a new class along with a lot of patch content built before launch to try to return to the Legion 77-day cadence. Cross-realm guilds feel likely as well.

Well consider this for a moment; If you're a casual WoW player who for whatever reason has stuck around since Vanilla, there hasn't been a new race in WoW for almost 10 years. I know a LOT of people who didn't unlock any of the allied races from BFA because they simply didn't have the time, or found it tedious.

We haven't had a new class announced in almost 7 years. It'll be six years since Demon Hunters were introduced. 6-7 years is a long time. If no class arrives in this expansion, then we're talking even longer. Also while I know some people love the Demon Hunter, it dropping with 2 specs just never made it seem like a full class.

We're still pretty much running the same talent system since WoD, which while good, definitely needs some improvements.

Finally (yeah there's more, but still) the end-game systems just feel like something that will get flushed in the toilet when we finish an expansion. There's no feeling of permanence or longevity to them. I remember getting that final level ability or talent in older versions of WoW (Like Druid Flight Form) and it felt like I accomplished something, and it was directly connected to my class. Now it just feels like a chore I need to do to get through this expansion because I know the system is going to be replaced with something else next expansion.

I'm no doomsayer, but man if we're getting another Shadowlands style expansion that just offers some window dressing, I'm probably going to skip pre-order for the first time since WotLK.

[Nyel]

Correct me if I’m wrong since it was over 200 pages ago but was one of the things people held against the Empire of Dragons logo the name of the guild wars 2 expansion? Because I just saw an advert on Twitter and it was called End of Dragons so now I’m confused as to which of these arguments was made
1. Exact same name which is definitely a hit
Or
2. Same abbreviation which is as stupid as saying the border is made of naaru symbols when the comparisons are loose at best

We, specifically I, talked about the similar names and the same abbreviation of EoD. But it didn’t stop them with Shadowlands - Shadowbringers either. And to this day the Empire of Dragons logo is the best and closest we got to a real and believable leak.

[Syegfryed]

I'm no doomsayer, but man if we're getting another Shadowlands style expansion that just offers some window dressing, I'm probably going to skip pre-order for the first time since WotLK.

To some people here shadowlands was success so, another one would be awesome.

[Nyel]

To some people here shadowlands was success so, another one would be awesome.

I mean as bad as the next expansion might end up, they have WotLK coming which will be massive and make up for that.

And I am 100% sure they will have some expensive and overpriced special bundles, even more than the TBC Deluxe (which, to my shame, I did buy).

[Ersula]

Would make sense if we are getting 10.0 this year. Wouldn't want 9.2.5 and 10.0 Alpha to be tested concurrently, especially considering 9.2.5 will have content that is important to test in a realistic environment.

They have almost always tested a final minor patch of one expansion & the alpha to the next expansion simultaneously. Just a perk of making the Beta & PTR different clients.

My Allied Race sense is tingling because we're mirroring 7.3 & 7.3.5: They'd only be rushing out 9.2.5 if there's an additional pre-order bonus coming with it & if that's the case they would also need to announce the Expansion pre-order before 9.2.5 can be datamined.

[username993720]

Which is why I believe that 10.0 is going to have every feature imaginable; New Races, New Classes, New connected continent (on Azeroth), Revamped Talents, unpruned abilities, Housing, patches on a regular schedule, etc.

New races? You said you don't believe they would add any more races.
Connected continent? Let me guess... Undermine?

[Ersula]

Why?

Because the devs have repeatedly told the audience, directly & indirectly, that Dark Rangers are just undead Hunters. This element is unambiguous: Dark Rangers just aren't unique enough to warrant their own class: But they're more coy about the addition of an undead elf race. Seems to suggest its something they've been planning on adding, but say, not until Sylvanas' big arc(tm) is concluded?

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New races? You said you don't believe they would add any more races.
Connected continent? Let me guess... Undermine?

Yeah there's no reason to think we can't get a new class AND new allied races. Remember Pandaria?

[Teriz]

New races? You said you don't believe they would add any more races.

I don't believe they would, but after giving it some more thought, they probably should. At the VERY LEAST they should remove requirements for allied races. I personally know people who have never unlocked any of them because they don't want to go through the process of unlocking them. Personally, i felt that putting Kul'tirans and Zandalari behind the allied race wall was a cheap tactic. Those races at the very least should have been available from expansion purchase alone.

Connected continent? Let me guess... Undermine?

Or Dragon Isles. The Broken Isles were connected.

[Ersula]

I don't believe they would, but after giving it some more thought, they probably should. At the VERY LEAST they should remove requirements for allied races. I personally know people who have never unlocked any of them because they don't want to go through the process of unlocking them. Personally, i felt that putting Kul'tirans and Zandalari behind the allied race wall was a cheap tactic. Those races at the very least should have been available from expansion purchase alone.

Waiting for 8.1 did feel pretty cheap but if playing the game is too much for people maybe wow just isn't for them. Even now its just one questline to complete. The Kul'tirans & Zandalari questline is longer but they're also more unique. Their rigging & animations are cribbed from each other rather than an existing race. Plus this concept is to make sure the core races still make up a majority of the playerbase.

[Gimlix]

Because the devs have repeatedly told the audience, directly & indirectly, that Dark Rangers are just undead Hunters. This element is unambiguous: Dark Rangers just aren't unique enough to warrant their own class: But they're more coy about the addition of an undead elf race. Seems to suggest its something they've been planning on adding, but say, not until Sylvanas' big arc(tm) is concluded?

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Yeah there's no reason to think we can't get a new class AND new allied races. Remember Pandaria?

Sadly Pandaria was a whole different level development and league on any WoW expansion and i doubt they still got it in them to make stuff like that.
Especially considering most of those devs are long gone. Another legion is possible, but Pandaria, i hope but i doubt.