Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[zeir]

Too many devs have left in recent years that advocate for a more mmo and less story focused game for me to think there is an expansion of such magnitude in the pipeline.

[Sondrelk]

Too many devs have left in recent years that advocate for a more mmo and less story focused game for me to think there is an expansion of such magnitude in the pipeline.

The developers don't remove or take away their work just because they leave though. You might lose some enthusiasm for that specific project, but the world is still filled with updated models and assets that could, and should be used.

[Nyel]

I agree, investing resources in remaking the old world into a bigger, better, more immersive HD experience would benefit the whole Warcraft universe.
Suramar-like Lordaeron and Silvermoon, bigger and wilder Barrens, a revamped and hostile Un'Goro Crater, a reclaimed large-scale Gilneas... so many great zones that deserve to be brought up to speed and scaled up.

It's probably fake, but it's also the exact kind of "We heard your complaints and completely misunderstood the assignment" flop that I'd expect from Ion & Daneuser.

Why a flop? I think this is - at least from world-design - exactly what WoW needs. And Lordaeron is one of those places that just makes no sense. Gilneas is beautiful yet useless, Lordaeron has basically changed entirely with Sylvanas abandoning Undercity, the Scourge should be cleansed from that region and then there's Quelthalas and Zul'Aman... go and fix that mess. And Lordaeron is big enough to be its own "sub-continent" or whatever.

We really don't need more islands popping out of nowhere that are sold as a new continent. While I don't believe they'll revamp entire continents, they can do so in specific regions of each continent.

Something that could be revamped as well is Northern Kalimdor with Teldrassil, Darkshore, Fel Wood, Hyjal and maybe the Draenei islands. This needs a revamp as much als Lordaeron.

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I think the expansion will be set in Elunaria. It has everything, titan stuff, life stuff, Elune stuff, dragon stuff, and cosmic stuff. Seems like a logical next destination based on the story up to now too.

This would be another Shadowlands in a "greener" place and it's akin to flop. An expansion like that right after the dreadful Shadowlands (pun intended) would not work.

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Imo it will be and whole marketing will be similar to WoD's "return to Warcraft roots".

Would it be bad? I don't think so.

[Revamp Man]

rewatching the anduin cinematic just makes me more convinced that his sword stores the souls of previous users in a way. Also him splitting the sword is a big thing for him as a character because now hes less of the "oh champion please help me" and more of a "i can do this" kinda character at least in terms of his story because he overcame doubt

[crusadernero]

Anyone read the article on wowhead or seen the Taliesin YT video about it? Its a long one, but in essence its speculated that the primus is the real jailor and zovaal was nothing but a puppet. Also, the wording of Maldraxxus(and some other words related to that covenant, cant recall) is coming from latin and they mean "evil dragon".

Its a long speculation thread, but honestly, i'd like to believe all of it. It also fits the way Blizzard tells a story, never really revealing anything but dropping small hints everywhere that can be really hard to see.

In the end the article says:

With both those things in mind, I will point out one possible interpretation for the name "Maldraxxus".

"Malum" - Latin for evil.

"Draco" - Latin for dragon.

Maldraxxus, loosely translated, means "evil dragon".


Link to article https://www.wowhead.com/news/what-if...ulation-326318


Since theres strong hits of dragon themed xpac for 10.0, maybe theres something in it..

[Lahis]

what happened to that huge new tavern with hearthstone tables? Got me hyped for a world revamp 3 years ago, it looked soooo good.

It is replica of the Heartstone taverns seen in Hearstone cinematics. Most likely it was for some planned and possibly scrapped HS promotion or tie in.

[Varodoc]

There's also Northern Lordaeron that we still know nothing about and is the only closed-off area left in the old world.

Uther's Tomb, located in Eastern Lordaeron, was also updated in BfA.

Let it be known that I consider myself modest, but I 100% expect to be proven right about an expansion centred in Dragon Isles with major developments with the Void and Lordaeron too.

[Lahis]

rewatching the anduin cinematic just makes me more convinced that his sword stores the souls of previous users in a way. Also him splitting the sword is a big thing for him as a character because now hes less of the "oh champion please help me" and more of a "i can do this" kinda character at least in terms of his story because he overcame doubt

It is not a Mourneblade (or well it wasn't when Varian and Saurfang died wielding it), it doesn't steal people's souls.

If Varian anf Saurfang aren't just Anduin's hallucinations, I say the most Shallamayne does is to take an imprint of it users spirit, not their full souls.

[Ashapls]

rewatching the anduin cinematic just makes me more convinced that his sword stores the souls of previous users in a way. Also him splitting the sword is a big thing for him as a character because now hes less of the "oh champion please help me" and more of a "i can do this" kinda character at least in terms of his story because he overcame doubt

And then during the campaign quests immediately following this character development by Anduin... he's unable to face the helm juju without help from the player character. In fact, he straight up says he will never be able to do it - until Sylvayassss queen goes "oh it isnt so hard, watch me hehe."

I was with you as well until playing out those quests. The moment the writing team shows a hint of skill they prove themselves wrong in the next moment.

[Nyel]

Anyone read the article on wowhead or seen the Taliesin YT video about it? Its a long one, but in essence its speculated that the primus is the real jailor and zovaal was nothing but a puppet. Also, the wording of Maldraxxus(and some other words related to that covenant, cant recall) is coming from latin and they mean "evil dragon".

Its a long speculation thread, but honestly, i'd like to believe all of it. It also fits the way Blizzard tells a story, never really revealing anything but dropping small hints everywhere that can be really hard to see.

In the end the article says:

With both those things in mind, I will point out one possible interpretation for the name "Maldraxxus".

"Malum" - Latin for evil.

"Draco" - Latin for dragon.

Maldraxxus, loosely translated, means "evil dragon".


Link to article https://www.wowhead.com/news/what-if...ulation-326318


Since theres strong hits of dragon themed xpac for 10.0, maybe theres something in it..

What's the point of it though? What would be different if the Primus is the Jailer and Zovaal just a puppet? Maldraxxus relating to "evil dragon"... so what? I just don't see any connection or why all of this would matter.

[crusadernero]

What's the point of it though? What would be different if the Primus is the Jailer and Zovaal just a puppet? Maldraxxus relating to "evil dragon"... so what? I just don't see any connection or why all of this would matter.

It would tie into how SL is a overall mess when it comes to story, where its obvious we arent getting the whole picture. We get hints and tidbits, but this speculation does make sense and it could perfectly fine fit. The jailer(primus) might be someone else than we think he is, he might even be someone who got something to do with the next xpac. Either as a main villain or someone who fasicilitates whoever is the bigger boss for 10.0.

But it is just speculation, and honestly if that speculation would be true that could mean Blizzard is actually delivering a cool story. That in itself makes no sense.

Its like a neverding repeating cycle. Blizzard deliver bad story, but leaves us with enough stuff to speculate on. These speculations grows and become better than the story Blizzard wants to tell, and we are left dissapointed at every turn.

[ExiHext]

Anyone read the article on wowhead or seen the Taliesin YT video about it? Its a long one, but in essence its speculated that the primus is the real jailor and zovaal was nothing but a puppet. Also, the wording of Maldraxxus(and some other words related to that covenant, cant recall) is coming from latin and they mean "evil dragon".

Its a long speculation thread, but honestly, i'd like to believe all of it. It also fits the way Blizzard tells a story, never really revealing anything but dropping small hints everywhere that can be really hard to see.

In the end the article says:

With both those things in mind, I will point out one possible interpretation for the name "Maldraxxus".

"Malum" - Latin for evil.

"Draco" - Latin for dragon.

Maldraxxus, loosely translated, means "evil dragon".


Link to article https://www.wowhead.com/news/what-if...ulation-326318


Since theres strong hits of dragon themed xpac for 10.0, maybe theres something in it..

Don't want to come off as mean, but people are putting way too many thoughts in the plot. Maldraxxus is just a scourge sounding name like Naxxramas. It means nothing. That's the BfA situation all over again where people were asking themselves what bigger plan Sylvanas has and that it can't be that she is just evil. And in the end it was exactly that, Sylvanas just went rogue. The guys at Blizzard don't make such convoluted stories. The Jailer was the big bad of the expac, he's done and dusted, we will move on to something elseand very likely never hear of the Primus again. He does not pull the strings in the background.

[Velerios]

It isn't anymore. They could theoretically go as high as 10^308 HP.

It's also the only squish i consider actually needed, as the game was literally breaking from it (Ra-Den could, without excessive effort, breach the HP limit and become unkillable).

The big issue still is that counting such big numbers does in fact takes a bigger toll on server hardware than smaller ones; It is different is a server needs to calculate from 34567890 hp when you deal 1234 damage or from 23832008239189432973 hp when you deal 3493292343 damage. Also as you see at this point, numbers get simply too ridiculous; just think what this look like in a combat text. Yes, Squish was necessary after MoP; but blizzard does it in fact far too often now. That's because numbers inflates far too fast in this game right now.

[Revamp Man]

It is not a Mourneblade (or well it wasn't when Varian and Saurfang died wielding it), it doesn't steal people's souls.

If Varian anf Saurfang aren't just Anduin's hallucinations, I say the most Shallamayne does is to take an imprint of it users spirit, not their full souls.

thats kinda what i meant
now if you put on tinfoil and really go deep into it you can think of it like a back up to everyone who split the sword
Varian was the first so his two souls served as the requirement then he died and Anduin never really got recognized as the true wielder while Saurfang did and he split it

this requires us to look at the cutscene where Varian died and we saw the light in one of the blades go out but when Anduin found it there was a light. If we assume that splitting the sword causes the imprint and it needs two imprints then we have Saurfang as the second when he fought Sylvanas. Then we have Anduin during his little struggle manage to split it and the images of his two daddies kinda retreat back into the sword.

[crusadernero]

Don't want to come off as mean, but people are putting way too many thoughts in the plot. Maldraxxus is just a scourge sounding name like Naxxramas. It means nothing. That's the BfA situation all over again where people were asking themselves what bigger plan Sylvanas has and that it can't be that she is just evil. And in the end it was exactly that, Sylvanas just went rogue. The guys at Blizzard don't make such convoluted stories. The Jailer was the big bad of the expac, he's done and dusted, we will move on to something elseand very likely never hear of the Primus again. He does not pull the strings in the background.

Oh I dont really disagree with that. As i've already said the speculations are often times better than what actually Blizzard delivers. We have probably given Blizzard the benefit of the doubt to many times.

I fully expect this speculation to be nothing but that, but it its atleast cool to discuss the possibility of it being real. Its not like we have anything cool to talk about with the story anyway.

[Revamp Man]

Don't want to come off as mean, but people are putting way too many thoughts in the plot. Maldraxxus is just a scourge sounding name like Naxxramas. It means nothing. That's the BfA situation all over again where people were asking themselves what bigger plan Sylvanas has and that it can't be that she is just evil. And in the end it was exactly that, Sylvanas just went rogue. The guys at Blizzard don't make such convoluted stories. The Jailer was the big bad of the expac, he's done and dusted, we will move on to something elseand very likely never hear of the Primus again. He does not pull the strings in the background.

but like his memories were like manipulated because the primus was a super mind fuck ultra powerful villain and he planned on being a prisoner until we came back and planned on failing at every turn in stopping zovall

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And then during the campaign quests immediately following this character development by Anduin... he's unable to face the helm juju without help from the player character. In fact, he straight up says he will never be able to do it - until Sylvayassss queen goes "oh it isnt so hard, watch me hehe."

I was with you as well until playing out those quests. The moment the writing team shows a hint of skill they prove themselves wrong in the next moment.

to be fair
i think we literally did this pretty soon after it

[Syegfryed]

To be fair, South America already seems like it wouldn't constitute much of the playerbase. Nevertheless, though, I'm certain that any methods they use anywhere will increase the population by a fairly equal margin worldwide.

it would if it was not that expensive, people here are now turned to mobas especially because the easy access and free to play.

I never was able to bring new people to wow the moment they knew it had subscription, lol, its much easier to go for elder scrolls online by example if you want a mmo.

This does offer up the question of how Allied Races will work, but I suppose it's not difficult to resolve at all. It would be a vastly significant amount of work added on to the fairly manageable workload of the main races to add cities and questlines for them. I could see them sharing questlines and hubs with the main races—Lightforged and normal Draenei, Mag'Har and Orcs etc. would all work and I could see plenty of ways to emphasize the kinship between the base races and their Allied counterparts. The Nightborne and Blood Elves could have interesting quests to explore whatever they're up to with their arcs mostly-resolved and open up new plotlines from the otherwise-resolved races, and the Vulpera could just share with the Zandalari. The only sore thumb I can see is the Void Elves, who I don't think anybody cares about enough lorewise to warrant a new zone and questline, plus it would feel like cheating out other Allied Races in favor of a fairly banal one.

To me they can always share questline yeah, they are close enough for that, and would acttualy work pretty well in terms of worldbuilding, with how trolls and zandalari interact with each other, how the dark iron see and ideal with the other 3 clans.

.
It will be a bit weird to see goblins and vulpera working together, but i can live with that, could have some fun interactions with goblins teaching then stuff.

[Lady Atia]

Don't want to come off as mean, but people are putting way too many thoughts in the plot. Maldraxxus is just a scourge sounding name like Naxxramas. It means nothing. That's the BfA situation all over again where people were asking themselves what bigger plan Sylvanas has and that it can't be that she is just evil. And in the end it was exactly that, Sylvanas just went rogue. The guys at Blizzard don't make such convoluted stories. The Jailer was the big bad of the expac, he's done and dusted, we will move on to something elseand very likely never hear of the Primus again. He does not pull the strings in the background.

But Sylvanas wasn't just evil? She thought she did everything for the greater good. Maybe you should replay Shadowlands again.

[huth]

The big issue still is that counting such big numbers does in fact takes a bigger toll on server hardware than smaller ones; It is different is a server needs to calculate from 34567890 hp when you deal 1234 damage or from 23832008239189432973 hp when you deal 3493292343 damage. Also as you see at this point, numbers get simply too ridiculous; just think what this look like in a combat text. Yes, Squish was necessary after MoP; but blizzard does it in fact far too often now. That's because numbers inflates far too fast in this game right now.

Not to a degree that really matters. What they need is a better number formatting, not a squish.

"Numbers get to ridiculous" is an excuse to not properly comprehend what they represent, not an actual problem.

[Nyel]

But Sylvanas wasn't just evil? She thought she did everything for the greater good. Maybe you should replay Shadowlands again.

This is basically the explanation every mass murderer and dictator in the past and present uses to justify their actions, lol. So no, it's neither a valid reason nor makes her actions less evil.