Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Syegfryed]

I completely agree.

But hey, WoW needs plenty of things to improve. Better story telling with someone who can keep shit consistent, like a Kevin Feige for the Warcraft universe. More content for casuals end game, not just dumbed down raid content. Actual character progression that isn't parasitic design.

All of it us unfortunately easier said than done, because adding a new race or class adds a ton of work. Thats why we didn't even get a new race in BFA. Allied Races are all just modified existing races. And even then they added no new ones for Shadowlands.

I would want them to double down on making a fantastic 10.0, give me a reason to come back. But I simply doubt it since they cut some core people from all the shit that went down last two years.

new races add ton of work because there was the starting zone and questline, now, this isn't a issue with the allied race system

I don't think 10.0 will be fantastic either, but it need to show something visual or it will be another thurd.3 expansions without a class by example is a red flag

[Triceron]

I'm not sure who would replace Ion, but one thing is clear after the past few expansions - people are done with 'World of Systemscraft'.

What this game needs, nearly more than anything else right now, is a half-decent story again (or at least one that isn't completely terrible), so we can see how tied up the joint problem of Danuser and Hazzikostas is.

As many others have said, Ion is fine in raid design. That's his lane, but he needs to stay in it.

Who they should be replaced with is not our problem, but Blizzard's.

Even though I don't know their internal politics or if he'd be fine for the job, but I say Cory Stockton would be a good runner for that position.

He's lead content designer, and was responsible for some key innovations to WoW like Battle Pets and having worked on the Death Knight's design and mechanics. Dude was lead designer on Ratchet and Clank series back in the day.

I mean the world and quests overall are so underrated, and arguably has always been more important to the silent majority of players than raids ever did. They just never really capitalized on making the open world matter. Its always a one and done. I think they could get some interesting results if they put the Content guy in charge instead of the Encounter designer.

[Marlamin]

This whole "we disabled the shield and are giving it a new model" situation is a bit suspicious. It has no item effect so that can't have broken, there are no apparent visual issues with the old model outside of it not fitting thematically with the name, which is hardly a reason to remove it from loot tables.

[Catastrophy349]

This whole "we disabled the shield and are giving it a new model" situation is a bit suspicious. It has no item effect so that can't have broken, there are no apparent visual issues with the old model outside of it not fitting thematically with the name, which is hardly a reason to remove it from loot tables.

Did I miss something? What is this referencing?

Nevermind, found it.

[Teriz]

Dragon Isles and Empire of Dragons is the same thing.
You forgot:
Emerald Dream.
Ancient Kalimdor.
Light vs Void.
Titan Homeworld.

Blizzard made it quite clear that the next expansion will be on Azeroth. So forget Emerald Dream, Light vs. Void, and Titan Homeworld.

Also Ancient Kalimdor will also likely never happen either.

The next expansion will more than likely be in one or more of these zones;

That's not how it works, unfortunately.
More interesting isn't more likely.

That leak actually got quite a few things right. More things than the "therewillbedragons" leak.

Hunters used to wear bucklers before vanilla really solidified.

Shaman had Bucklers throughout Vanilla and were off-tanks even up into TBC, and even have a built in thematic that works as a tank spec (Earth-based). Wouldn't they be up for a tank spec before Hunters or Warlocks?

[Raetary]

So forget Emerald Dream, Light vs. Voidt.

Both of these things can easily happen on Azeroth.

[Teriz]

Both of these things can easily happen on Azeroth.

Every light vs void concept I've seen has us going off world.

Also isn't the dream another plane of existence like the Shadowlands?

[Thenatural]

im an anti-doomer but i would be pretty devastated if a "light vs. void" expansion happened.

i just want my classic fantasy environments back. nothing in SL draws me in or gives me any sense of immersion, even BfA didn't quite make it there for me, even the gorgeous alliance zones.

[Teriz]

im an anti-doomer but i would be pretty devastated if a "light vs. void" expansion happened.

i just want my classic fantasy environments back. nothing in SL draws me in or gives me any sense of immersion, even BfA didn't quite make it there for me, even the gorgeous alliance zones.

I wonder if players would be fine with an expansion that revolved around Undermine and Dragonisles. Like Undermine would be there for the crazy steampunk stuff, and Dragonisles would be more fantasy-based stuff....

I say this because I'm willing to bet that Mechagon was a test run for a larger underground steampunk metropolis, which is exactly what Undermine is.

[Raetary]

Every light vs void concept I've seen has us going off world.

Almost every 'Lightbound invasion', 'Void takeover' leak in the recent months has been about either or both invading Azeroth.

Also isn't the dream another plane of existence like the Shadowlands?

Whatever the Gardens of Life are is, the Emerald dream is specifically a titan creation bound to Azeroth.
You could implement it into Azeroth in a Myriad of ways.

[Catastrophy349]

Commitment. That's the best word I can use after reading some of these posts, day-in and day-out. Almost there!

[Ansi]

You're all stuck re-imagining old ideas in new shapes, colors and forms. With Shadowlands Blizzard decided to wrap up one of the big stories. We're done, it's time to move on.

Here's what I'm thinking:

• The announcement of the announcement shows Azeroth in black and white. We're past it.
  
  
• Azeroth could be destroyed. We find another planet the size of Azeroth and we're starting over from scratch. Maybe 'levels' get replaced, but it could be a 1-60-experience.
  
  
• 10.0 screams something entirely different and new that also interconnects with mobile phones.
  
  
• Next generation World of Warcraft is a metaverse where we can connect 24/7 more than ever.
  
  
• Microsoft will support this in new ways over the next decade with incredible amounts of (mobile) knowledge and resources.

For players wanting old World of Warcraft, Blizzard has 15 years of content ready with 'Classic' that can be recycled endlessly.

[Catastrophy349]

I'm just looking forward to the "real leak" that will come out the days leading up to 10.0 by accident (similar to how Shadowlands got leaked the week before Blizzcon).

[Thenatural]

You're all stuck re-imagining old ideas in new shapes, colors and forms. With Shadowlands Blizzard decided to wrap up one of the big stories. We're done, it's time to move on.

Here's what I'm thinking:

• The announcement of the announcement shows Azeroth in black and white. We're past it.
  
  
• Azeroth could be destroyed. We find another planet the size of Azeroth and we're starting over from scratch. Maybe 'levels' get replaced, but it could be a 1-60-experience.
  
  
• 10.0 screams something entirely different and new that also interconnects with mobile phones.
  
  
• Next generation World of Warcraft is a metaverse where we can connect 24/7 more than ever.
  
  
• Microsoft will support this in new ways over the next decade with incredible amounts of (mobile) knowledge and resources.

For players wanting old World of Warcraft, Blizzard has 15 years of content ready with 'Classic' that can be recycled endlessly.

This is goofy for a million reasons, but the microsoft acquisition happened relatively quickly and there is abslutely no way 10.0 content is going to be affected in the way you describe here.

Also, M$ isn't facebook, they have a pretty clear gameplan in terms of their vision for the gaming space and none of it seems to be steering in that direction. It seems to be the opposite, they are revitalizing and supporting old studios, they are commiting to single player experiences and bringing back old devs and giving the room to flourish.

I don't know about the long term effects of M$ getting deeper into the gaming sphere, but I think short term there is reason to be hopeful.

[Lakrin]

Dragon Isles and Empire of Dragons is the same thing.
You forgot:
Emerald Dream.
Ancient Kalimdor.
Light vs Void.
Titan Homeworld.

An old one that used to float around was going to one of the moons after discovering it was a Titan stronghold, too. I think we were talking about that as a concept way back in MoP.
Oh, don't forget the nebulous "Other Side of Azeroth" as well.
And Black Empire.
Or a proper Azshara expansion.

There's lots of possibilities, but fewer probabilities. I think we can figure out some frontrunners from what we have that will likely be within the next expansion or two (maybe three), barring any potential left-field ideas that could crop up (although we'll probably get one of those in the next 2 or three expansions as well).

[elbleuet]

Tonight's cinematic shows Azeroth being damaged.

Thursday we get 9.2.5 PTR and an announcement blog post.

9.2.5 contains cross-faction play, cosmetics and other fluff. But it also explores the immediate aftermath of the damage dealt to Azeroth.

10.0 is announced as a revamp, focusing on Light in Eastern Kingdoms and Life in Kalimdor, as the two good forces fighting back against Shadow which is trying to consume the world.

So lots of Alliance conflict, politics, churches and cities in EK. Lots of forests, nature, and stuff in KA. Bringing out the true spirit of both continents to the forefront.

I really like this one.

[Feitori]

im an anti-doomer but i would be pretty devastated if a "light vs. void" expansion happened.

I doubt we're getting a Void expansion anytime soon. Aren't they like the ultimate baddies of the wow universe? If we fight them, there's nowhere to go from that point.

[Raetary]

Aren't they like the ultimate baddies of the wow universe?

It hasn't been for a few years, and Shadowlands solidified that.

The Void is just another participant is an ongoing conflict.

[Teriz]

Almost every 'Lightbound invasion', 'Void takeover' leak in the recent months has been about either or both invading Azeroth.

And the new continent? Antagonist/Protagonist? New races/class?

Also Lightbound Invasion would be a different expansion than a "Void takeover", unless you're saying that somehow both are happening at the same time. In that case, despite it happening on Azeroth, it would be another cosmic expansion.

Whatever the Gardens of Life are is, the Emerald dream is specifically a titan creation bound to Azeroth.
You could implement it into Azeroth in a Myriad of ways.

This is the Emerald Dream;

The Emerald Dream (also known as the Emerald Dreaming,[1] the Dream of Creation,[2] the land of dreams,[3] or simply the Dream[4] or Dreaming[5]) is a vast, ever-changing spirit world that exists outside the boundaries of the physical world[2] and is the verdant realm of the Dragon Aspect Ysera.

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Emerald_Dream

That is definitely another Shadowlands style expansion where we leave Azeroth and once again go to another dimension.

I could see the Emerald Dream being a patch, but there's no way in heck they're sending us into the Emerald Dream for 10.0.

- - - Updated - - -

Tonight's cinematic shows Azeroth being damaged.

Thursday we get 9.2.5 PTR and an announcement blog post.

9.2.5 contains cross-faction play, cosmetics and other fluff. But it also explores the immediate aftermath of the damage dealt to Azeroth.

10.0 is announced as a revamp, focusing on Light in Eastern Kingdoms and Life in Kalimdor, as the two good forces fighting back against Shadow which is trying to consume the world.

So lots of Alliance conflict, politics, churches and cities in EK. Lots of forests, nature, and stuff in KA. Bringing out the true spirit of both continents to the forefront.

Edit:

Dragon Isles in 10.2 and some underground thingie in 10.2.

And who is the "Shadow" in this scenario? Are we talking Void Lords here, or something else?

If its Void lords, then you're just transplanting a cosmic expansion on Azeroth, because the end game of this is us going to some void world and fighting void lords, which is ridiculous.

[Skildar]

This whole "we disabled the shield and are giving it a new model" situation is a bit suspicious. It has no item effect so that can't have broken, there are no apparent visual issues with the old model outside of it not fitting thematically with the name, which is hardly a reason to remove it from loot tables.

I'm with you, when reading this news, the first I went to check was if the shield had any secondary effect. I'm not seeing where it sensical to remove a lot over an appearance issue oO'