Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Lahis]

Since Salandria has come back as a teen now, wonder if her Alliance counterpart will be featured also in the future?

[draugril]

Amusingly, while I wholeheartedly agree with the whole hype thing. I was extremely hyped for BfA, and barely more than lukewarm for SL. I do find it intriguing that in theory SL is far superior.
Barring the droughts SL had a somewhat competent plot, fairly engaging endgame, good transmogs to farm, and more variety at endgame.

I can only hope 10.0 is the whole package in this regard. Something that makes me properly hyped at reveal, and then continues on the Shadowlands model of endgame without ending up with long droughts.

I imagine that somewhere between Legion, BfA, and SL there is the ideal WoW expansion honestly.
Combine the Legion patch cadence, BfA theming, and SL endgame (sans covenant abilities), and you will have a damn good expansion.

I always maintain that Shadowlands is leaps and bounds a better expansion than Legion... on paper. The systems that actually did get iterated on are vastly improved from when they debuted in Legion. The unfortunate part is simply that this is Legion 3.0. We've already played this iteration of WoW, twice over before Shadowlands dropped. It doesn't matter how much better this iteration is if the audience burnt out on the core gameplay years ago. As bold and novel a setting as Shadowlands is, that doesn't matter if you play it too safely with the actual mechanics and gameplay loop. They need to be bold with the actual experience of playing the game as well.

[Catastrophy349]

Even BfA had me hyped, on paper. Shadowlands was honestly the first expansion that had me raising an eyebrow during the announcement. I kept waiting for a hook that never came. And unsurprisingly, I was not hooked this expansion. First time in nearly two decades. Suffice it to say, this experience had raised my level of cynicism for the next announcement.

The tragic part is that no one in my guild is even following WoW anymore. They couldn't tell you what the current patch is. Most didn't even get to level 60, if they picked up the expansion at all. And these are all people that want to love WoW. It just isn't giving them a reason to, and unlike me and most of us here, they aren't obsessive enough to follow it even when they aren't actively playing. I tried to get them on board for Shadowlands... and I have to admit that I feel a twinge of shame for having done that.

Yeah...Shadowlands announcement trailer was NOT very HYPE at all (IMO). I remember being confused with it, too.

[Dioporco]

Denathrius is still on the loose.
The other Dreadlords are still infiltrating the other Forces.

We are far from being done with them.

Just call other forces and tell them to be careful? I mean we should have sent a call to Turaylon, yo the light dreadlord is a spy kill him

[draugril]

Yeah...Shadowlands announcement trailer was NOT very HYPE at all (IMO). I remember being confused with it, too.

There was no "fist pump" moment. New zones... new dungeons... new grinds... I kept waiting for that capstone announcement. It was so anticlimactic.

[Catastrophy349]

There was no "fist pump" moment. New zones... new dungeons... new grinds... I kept waiting for that capstone announcement. It was so anticlimactic.

Exactly. And to your comment above, I agree with everything you said. Unfortunately, SL turned out to be Legion 3.0 and it didn't matter what they actually gave us. It felt like we were doing the same thing for a third time, stemming from Legion.

[draugril]

Exactly. And to your comment above, I agree with everything you said. Unfortunately, SL turned out to be Legion 3.0 and it didn't matter what they actually gave us. It felt like we were doing the same thing for a third time, stemming from Legion.

The really sad part thereafter was the rampant denial. People - especially around here - were convinced that we didn't get the "full" announcement. That we'd get the class/race/whatever announcement at X gaming convention that is just around the corner. Even the diehards were underwhelmed to the point that they didn't try defending the expansion as announced - they "knew" more was coming.

And it turns out, we're getting even less than what was intended.

[Lahis]

Yeah...Shadowlands announcement trailer was NOT very HYPE at all (IMO). I remember being confused with it, too.

The announcement was really bipolar.

Thay started with the cinematic that was pretty hype, ending with the sky shattering and all.

Then they followed with features trailer... that showed distinct lack of exciting features.

[Lady Atia]

I love the Sylvanas ending. I always said she should do something good instead of getting killed / being send to Jail because that's how justice should work, both in our world and in Azeroth. Also as we already know from the Maw intro time works differently there - so she can be back in 1-2 expansions alongside Nathanos.

<3

[Iain]

"I want to convince players not to blindly buy the next shit expac again." This is where you went wrong. I agreed with a lot of what you were saying until this line. Don't tell people NOT to tell you what to or not to write THEN say, "I'm going to convince you not to blindly buy a shit expansion again" when it's not even announced.

You're literally the toxicity in the WoW community that I can't tolerate. I love all the people complaining about Season 4 as if we even expected that to happen. It's completely new, different, unexpected, and interesting. You don't have to like what they are doing for Season 4. That's fine. But to complain that you don't like it because of x, y, and z? I guess people would prefer a 14+ month lull with absolutely nothing. Quit the game, save $15/month. Stop ruining people's fun. It's insane to me.

Preorders have been a blight on the gaming industry. Preordering means telling the developers that you don't require them to meet any standard, as your money is already theirs.

A gaming audience that holds off on preordering will raise the bar and make gaming much more competitive by rewarding the games that actually deliver on launch.

[draugril]

Preorders have been a blight on the gaming industry. Preordering means telling the developers that you don't require them to meet any standard, as your money is already theirs.

A gaming audience that holds off on preordering will raise the bar and make gaming much more competitive by rewarding the games that actually deliver on launch.

It made sense when you were literally reserving a physical copy when downloading was not practical and your local vendor would be receiving a limited amount. Two decades removed from that, though? It has been contorted from its original purpose into something perverse.

[Kiria]

We shall see what April brings if it looks trash or contains rubbish I remotely dislike I will write WoW off, if it looks interesting I will pre order.

[Teriz]

Hugh? I'm talking about a completely revamped Lordaeron. That's not a feature, that's the setting, "continent" or whatever you might call it.

Well that's what I mean. Stuff like that isn't used as a new feature for an expansion, it just sort of happens within the expansion. Something like that being used as THE feature for a new expansion would seem extremely underwhelming. Again, look at Cataclysm; The entire planet was revamped, and people were still underwhelmed.

[Kiivar86]

Still a high probability, hence may be. Most specific details have been confirmed. If the leak is real, most things are subject to change: deleted, shifted, or moved forward.

Most? I look at the list of the leak and the only things I see "confirmed" are:

-Khadgar is back
-Winter Veil mount

That's it.

I feel like I'm missing something. What else in this "leak" is confirmed? I'm just not seeing it. Especially when the only two things I can even see as matching are damned easy guesses.

Yes, and? Again, the "leak" says reindeer mount, not sleigh. That's a pretty big thing to miss. Saying just "reindeer" implies you ride the reindeer, not the sleigh (and seeing as Winter Veil has the Holly item that lets you transform your mount into a reindeer which you ride, that's highly likely what the "leaker" was going with).

[Hitei]

Most? I look at the list of the leak and the only things I see "confirmed" are:

-Khadgar is back

This is already suspect since his dialogue makes it sound like he's about to die or retire.

[Nyel]

Well that's what I mean. Stuff like that isn't used as a new feature for an expansion, it just sort of happens within the expansion. Something like that being used as THE feature for a new expansion would seem extremely underwhelming. Again, look at Cataclysm; The entire planet was revamped, and people were still underwhelmed.

I don’t know why you call the zones where the expansion takes place in a feature. A revamped Lordaeron would be a consistent continent, so the Cataclysm problem wouldn’t apply here.

Cataclysm had other issues because it really lacked features - LFR came in 4.3 and was despised (although transmog was a hit), no new class, just revamped talent trees… it lacked substance.

Lordaeron just is the new place. Feature could still be new races, new class, completely revamped talents or whatever. I don’t see a nes continent as a feature, Shadowlands were not a feature nor where Kul Tiras and Zandalar.

[Teriz]

I don’t know why you call the zones where the expansion takes place in a feature. A revamped Lordaeron would be a consistent continent, so the Cataclysm problem wouldn’t apply here.

Cataclysm had other issues because it really lacked features - LFR came in 4.3 and was despised (although transmog was a hit), no new class, just revamped talent trees… it lacked substance.

Lordaeron just is the new place. Feature could still be new races, new class, completely revamped talents or whatever. I don’t see a nes continent as a feature, Shadowlands were not a feature nor where Kul Tiras and Zandalar.

What? The Shadowlands, Kul Tiras, and Zandalar were absolutely features in their respective expansions. As was Draenor, Pandaria, and Northrend. They were features because they were new places that we had never seen before. We've already seen Lordaeron many times over. Turning the grass from brown to green and adding new quests isn't going to keep people's interest, as Cataclysm proved.

[Varodoc]

Warcraft III and Arthas are, respectively, the most beloved entry and character of the franchise, so if anything it makes sense to make a Lordaeron-based expansion solely for the nostalgia baiting.

Regardless, the expansion will likely still be Dragon Isles, but certain Lordaeron zones will be updated. Like how zones of the old world were updated in BfA.

But what people here are not talking about, strangely and confusingly, is that Humans, Void elves, and Blood elves are by far the most played races in the game. So it just makes sense to devote extra care and attention to their homelands, which by the way are found in the "Lordaeron" subcontinent of the "Eastern Kingdoms" continent.

[Teriz]

But what people here are not talking about, strangely and confusingly, is that Humans, Void elves, and Blood elves are by far the most played races in the game. So it just makes sense to devote extra care and attention to their homelands, which by the way are found in the "Lordaeron" subcontinent of the "Eastern Kingdoms" continent.

Only about 40% of players are Void Elves, Blood Elves, and Humans. Night Elves are more popular than humans, and Void Elves aren't even the most popular AR, Zandalari Trolls are. Considering that over 60% of players are NOT playing Humans or Elves, wouldn't it be smarter for Blizzard to cater to the majority of players instead of the minority? Especially given that we just spent multiple expansions dealing with an Undead Elf?

Also you're wrong cataclysm was only originally hated due to dungeon difficulty which really wasn't that bad especially if me and my bf who are true casuals could get through it.

I never said that Cataclysm was hated. I said that players weren't overly impressed with the entire world getting a revamp. Thus having half a continent getting a revamp as a major expansion feature would simply not be considered anything spectacular. In fact, a revamped Lordaeron as an expansion feature would be viewed as LAZY by most players.

Again, Cataclysm had an entire world revamped AND it included 7 new zones along with 2 new zones for the new Goblin and Worgen race. Yet people still don't view Cataclysm as a great expansion.

[Kiria]

What? The Shadowlands, Kul Tiras, and Zandalar were absolutely features in their respective expansions. As was Draenor, Pandaria, and Northrend. They were features because they were new places that we had never seen before. We've already seen Lordaeron many times over. Turning the grass from brown to green and adding new quests isn't going to keep people's interest, as Cataclysm proved.

Also you're wrong cataclysm was only originally hated due to dungeon difficulty which really wasn't that bad especially if me and my bf who are true casuals could get through it.