Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Wait didn't Primus finalize construction of the Crown of Wills and well.. Huh, nevermind I mean probably nothing to think about.

[Sondrelk]

I've been thinking about this since the Primus said "I never expected my domination magic to be used in this way!"

... what other way did you expect it to be used, sir?

Presumably just to keep Zovaal chained down.
If we assume domination magic works by simply commanding the person to do something then I would imagine the Primus branded Zovaal with a command to just sit in the Maw forever until he was released.

[Makorus]

Exactly!! After 9.2 final cinematic I was so dissapointed. Blizzard lore was basically dead. It was so bad, so so bad.

But with this article I regained hope! It is not perfect, but It is certainly very appealing (IMO) and would make lore infinitely better!

I don't see how "Oh no, this guy you thought was your ally is EVIL" is good writing, but sure, especially when there are no hints at that other than "Oh, the alpha model of the bad guy vaguely looks ike him"

[Sondrelk]

Wait didn't Primus finalize construction of the Crown of Wills and well.. Huh, nevermind I mean probably nothing to think about.

Well if he is good then he made the crown to give everyone immunity to domination magic, which is the forcefield it emits at the end of the questline.

If the theory is right then he could have tampered with it in a way we don't see the effects of yet.

[Jokubas]

It's a good theory, but it's not a good story.

The problem with ideas like this is that it basically assumes no one in the story but the villain has any agency.

Quite a few of us have already mentioned on this thread that the Primus being surprised that Domination magic could be used for evil was a bit eye-rolling. However, revealing that it's because he was lying and he's evil all along doesn't fix it, because that just makes every other character stupid, because no one in-universe treated his admission about the origin of Domination magic as anything to be surprised by despite everyone in real life picking up on that immediately. It's sloppy but it works if it's because he's supposed to be a good guy. It doesn't work at all if it's actually supposed to be a red flag.

The thing is, it doesn't matter whether or not we're suspicious of a character because the game is linear and we can't do anything about it, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be suspicious in-universe. I didn't trust Ve'nari because I thought she was trustworthy. I "trusted" her because the game is linear and there's no option to not trust her. Players wanted to punish the Archon for her tyrannical ways and knowingly throwing people into the Maw, but we don't because her learning that the way she dealt with the Forsworn was wrong was the direction the plot was planned to go (even if that means she still gets no comeuppance for throwing people into the Maw).

[Pheraz]

Nice wowhead article. This could spice up the story by a big time but I fear this is too cool. It's funny how everything would be better than the current story xD

When will the hearthstone expansion announcement come up?

[huth]

Well if he is good then he made the crown to give everyone immunity to domination magic, which is the forcefield it emits at the end of the questline.

If the theory is right then he could have tampered with it in a way we don't see the effects of yet.

But why even bother going that far? How does that help his goals? The theory is way to needlessly complicated.

[Sondrelk]

But why even bother going that far? How does that help his goals? The theory is way to needlessly complicated.

It most definitely is. Presumably it's all about getting himself into Zereth Mortis, leaving Zovaal dead to leave no loose threads linking hus scheme back to him.

It's an adequate theory, but has loads of holes, like why he would give us amazing gear to defeat Zovaal, or why he even bothered to hide his sigil if he wasn't actually afraid Zovaal would take it.

It's a fun idea though, and gives lots more story for the Primus, who is afterall quite a cool character.

[JDBlou]

Nice wowhead article. This could spice up the story by a big time but I fear this is too cool. It's funny how everything would be better than the current story xD

When will the hearthstone expansion announcement come up?

It's out. Trailer+annnouncement on youtube

[ZyntosAran]

When will the hearthstone expansion announcement come up?

Its already up.

[Jokubas]

Another issue with the theory is that, while it might salvage certain aspects of Shadowlands (like why Zovaal was so boring or why Maldraxxus was so obviously problematic), it's just plain too late for others. While the "culmination of plots since the Lich King" or whatever thing was extremely underutilized, it would be too late to fix that going forward. Sylvanas is "saved", Arthas is gone for good, Uther has had his character arc, etc. The main reason to want this theory to be true is so that the Shadowlands isn't underwhelming after all, because it was just a distraction for the real plot, but everything that gave Shadowlands the potential it wasted is already past the point of salvage.

The theory is definitely looking too much into the trailer, as well. The silhouette in the trailer doesn't match the in-game version of the Primus any more than it matches the in-game version of the Jailer. Even if it was the Primus, Sylvanas didn't free him either, so the theory suddenly needs the end of the trailer to be symbolic after arguing that the beginning is literal but not what we assumed. Also, the implication is that Zovaal has never been seen chained like that, which ignores the launch cinematic where we see the in-game version of Zovaal chained up just like that. There's no more reason to believe that this is evidence of the Primus' plot than it is my interpretation of it being evidence of the plot and character designs being tweaked up until the last minute.

Also, as already pointed out, with no one the wiser still in-universe, this would mean the Primus has basically already won. It would be extremely difficult to do anything with the story from that, without essentially just repeating the same issues that led to wanting a secret mastermind to bail the plot out to begin with. Imagine the next expansion just being about more Domination magic and Shadowlands characters trying to do something. That's not Blizzard's style, and I don't think anyone would want it to be right now.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Well the Hearthstone reveal rules out the like two people that wanted an Azshara expansion.

[Vakir]

If the Primus was behind it, he already had ample opportunity to sabotage the whole thing. Keeping us in the running for this long and risking us breaking things in a way he can't salvage would make no sense.

So no, that'd be a really stupid storyline.

That's what I'm saying! They already pulled this crap with Arthas just stringing us along and then one shotting us, with Zovaal giving up Sylvanas' soul and not just immediately bodying her, etc.

It would be infuriating and not clever. The Primus would either need to set it up to win immediately and invalidate everything we've ever done OR he'd look like an absolute tool despite being the alleged strategic genius.

Not even a "bwahaha, I have sabotaged the legendaries my hologram made to EXPLODE!"

Alternatively, Zovaal WAS a pawn and dominated in an older draft and it was truncated, but that's doubtful.

[Raetary]

When will the hearthstone expansion announcement come up?

Quite surprised by this trailer tbh, quite different to the tavern songs we get usually.
I dig it.

[Jokubas]

Alternatively, Zovaal WAS a pawn and dominated in an older draft and it was truncated, but that's doubtful.

Yeah, I just think it was the other way around.

On the early Jailer concept art (and silhouette in the announcement trailer, for any who dismiss the concept art), the Jailer has on his back spires that exactly match the design on the Mythic+ mounts, but gold. In the very same way, the Torghast cosmetics from 9.1 have gold versions (like the concept art) and Maw versions.

To me this says that all the Maw and Domination stuff really was supposed to be Zovaal's creations, with the gold versions being pre-fall and the dark versions being post-fall (which is consistent with the concept art and in-game cosmetics).

Beyond creating artifacts that used Domination magic at Zovaal's direction, was there any implication the Primus was the creator of the magic before 9.1? I suspect it was a retcon they made last minute to compensate for something that was cut during the patch squish, because 9.2 goes right back to Domination magic being something we're desperate to research, even though its supposed creator is right there.

[Kelstor]

The vassal of life disguises treachery. Beware the eyes of green
Seems like the theory about the Primus as main Villain may be true....

The golden one claims a vacant throne. The crown of light will bring only darkness+
Primus made the crown...

[Makorus]

The vassal of life disguises treachery. Beware the eyes of green
Seems like the theory about the Primus as main Villain may be true....

The Primus is neither the vassal of life, he is the opposite, nor are his eyes green (they're turquoise)

[Raetary]

The vassal of life disguises treachery. Beware the eyes of green
Seems like the theory about the Primus as main Villain may be true....

The vassal is going to be a Dreadlord.

[Jokubas]

Well the Hearthstone reveal rules out the like two people that wanted an Azshara expansion.

Why can't it be?

The Zereths seem like a good candidate for the "true throne of power" Azshara was looking for last we saw her, and could pick up on other things like the Life traitor and Elune. Also, despite Azshara's ambitions, she's an older school Warcraft character at this point and could bring some groundedness with her. Hearthstone's expansion uses the theme and could be thematically cross-promoting, but it's more redundant with 8.2 so it wouldn't be spoilers of what's next.

[Vakir]

I love Azshara, she is one of the few villains left with that sense of charisma, but I feel like she's still too recent just like N'Zoth is.

It would be interesting if Azshara was seeking the intersection of the six Zereths, yeah. That would be the closest thing to the throne rather than just...chasing her to another, different Zereth. But it's too soon after all this cosmic stuff, too.