Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[PhillyCheese]

That's what I mean; If we're getting a new landmass, the obvious choice would be to place it on the Kalimdor side of the Malestrom.

Maybe I'm biased based on scrapped Dragon Isles but my eyes are drawn first to the big area above EK.

[Ersula]

Has there been a Scarlets/Lordaeron themed one yet? I know there was a dragon one.

Scarlets would fit the bill for something introduced in World of Warcraft.

Well, we already know the first of the three expansions this year is the Sunken City, story wise a horde & alliance ambassador making contact with the Naga, so I'd have to guess theme might be recontextualizing races that were initially hostile to players in WoW. That says "old world revamp" to me, but its hard to tell at this point.

If the theme was "treating the enemy races of wow as friendly" the other 2 expansions of the year could be something like "Lordaeron Reborn" with Scarlet Crusaders & "The Cultures of Stranglethorn" with Orgres & Centaurs.

[PhillyCheese]

Well, we already know the first of the three expansions this year is the Sunken City, story wise a horde & alliance ambassador making contact with the Naga, so I'd have to guess theme might be recontextualizing races that were initially hostile to players in WoW. That says "old world revamp" to me, but its hard to tell at this point.

If the theme was "treating the enemy races of wow as friendly" the other 2 expansions of the year could be something like "Lordaeron Reborn" with Scarlet Crusaders & "The Cultures of Stranglethorn" with Orgres & Centaurs.

I don't think the themes are connected, especially when the article said that the third expansion is "broadly Warcraft" meaning it could be something like Heroes of the Storm in how it deals with random characters.

The second one being explicity World of Warcraft makes me think its either about Shadowlands or WoW Lordaeron (Plaguelands, Scarlets, Forsaken etc)

[Vakir]

Well, we already know the first of the three expansions this year is the Sunken City, story wise a horde & alliance ambassador making contact with the Naga, so I'd have to guess theme might be recontextualizing races that were initially hostile to players in WoW. That says "old world revamp" to me, but its hard to tell at this point.

If the theme was "treating the enemy races of wow as friendly" the other 2 expansions of the year could be something like "Lordaeron Reborn" with Scarlet Crusaders & "The Cultures of Stranglethorn" with Orgres & Centaurs.

This strongly resembles how FF14 is pivoting to "Tribe Quests" rather than "Beast Tribe Quests" whether intentionally similar or not in accordance with the story shifting to sympathetic portrayals of former enemies by way of their manipulation by the then-bigger bad.

And I'd be down with that if it carried into WoW! It would fit with Blizzard's walkback in terms of destigmatizing certain cultural stereotypes or stock tropes but in a way that feels interesting rather than performative. And opens up more dynamics and races rather than ass pulling new ones.

Y'know, if they did it right.

All speculation though obviously

[Varx]

Maybe I'm biased based on scrapped Dragon Isles but my eyes are drawn first to the big area above EK.

That's what I was thinking, while Undermine might go between Kal and the mael. A large subterranean underground city starting at kezan.

[boyzma]

I dont know who started the whole 10.0 = dragon isles rumour, but I think its gonna be a completely different expac then people think.

You and I seem to be the only 2 logical ones that think this way I think it's going to be off from what people are so sure of and they'll be scratching their heads for weeks.

[PhillyCheese]

If the 8.3 propaganda brochures are indicative of anything, the angle they are going for Scarlets is not sympathetic. Looks like Calia may have to fight and maybe kill her own daughter pretending to be the Crown Prince of Lordaeron, or she is being forced into the role by someone.

I think this character may be the main antagonist if there is a Light expansion.

[Yossarian]

You and I seem to be the only 2 logical ones that think this way

"everyone is stupid but me!"

[PhillyCheese]

If the expansion isn't tied close to the Forsaken, I wonder why they even encrypted Tirisfal. Were they still hanging onto the idea that maybe they can pretend Sylvanas had a chance of coming back to Azeroth?

[ercarp]

I dont know who started the whole 10.0 = dragon isles rumour, but I think its gonna be a completely different expac then people think.

Blizzard started it.

Players have been able to narrow down the theme of each expansion to just a small handful for the past who knows how many years. Before SL, it was more or less a toss-up between Dragons, Death, or Old Gods. With each expansion, we're able to cross off one more theme from the ever-shrinking list of possible expansion settings.

Right now the most likely expansions are down to Dragons, Light, Void, Underground, and I guess Old World Revamp. Another cosmic expansion directly after SL is not happening so we can cross out Light and Void for 10.0. Old World Revamp to me seems too early for 10.0, and an Underground expansion might just be a pipe dream. Which leaves us with Dragons as the most likely expansion setting to follow SL.

Of course, there's always the possibility of a total curveball expansion like Mists of Pandaria, and honestly, I unironically wouldn't mind if the next expansion was Secrets of Tel'Abim. Really. I think it could actually be really cool.

[PhillyCheese]

Right now the most likely expansions are down to Dragons, Light, Void, Underground, and I guess Old World Revamp. Another cosmic expansion directly after SL is not happening so we can cross out Light and Void for 10.0. Old World Revamp to me seems too early for 10.0, and an Underground expansion might just be a pipe dream. Which leaves us with Dragons as the most likely expansion setting to follow SL.

Light and void are likely coming packaged together, but would you consider Army of the Light doing bad stuff on Azeroth with the Scarlets a "cosmic" expansion? The only thing not happening is a retread of the Shadowlands idea of the expansion taking place entirely in another realm.

If Blizzard wanted to cross out things at the same time, the way to do it would be an Old World revamp/Dragon Isles as the new zones that features aspects of Light/Void/Life.

[draugril]

If the expansion isn't tied close to the Forsaken, I wonder why they even encrypted Tirisfal. Were they still hanging onto the idea that maybe they can pretend Sylvanas had a chance of coming back to Azeroth?

I mean... we had pre-patch stuff in Darkshore and got our "South Seas" expansion. Then we got Icecrown stuff and spent the next expansion in a completely different plane of existence. I wouldn't place too much importance on the pre-patch locale(s) when trying to divine the setting of the next expansion.

[Pheraz]

You and I seem to be the only 2 logical ones that think this way I think it's going to be off from what people are so sure of and they'll be scratching their heads for weeks.

No you two are not the only ones not expecting a dragon xpac.
I don't see any hint why we should need depowered dragon aspects now. Imo most things point towards lordaeron/full world revamp and the light as the big threat or local/civil wars or wars inside humanity

[ercarp]

Light and void are likely coming packaged together, but would you consider Army of the Light doing bad stuff on Azeroth with the Scarlets a "cosmic" expansion? The only thing not happening is a retread of the Shadowlands idea of the expansion taking place entirely in another realm.

If Blizzard wanted to cross out things at the same time, the way to do it would be an Old World revamp/Dragon Isles as the new zones that features aspects of Light/Void/Life.

Absolutely. Blizzard has been known to squander potential expansion settings into disappointingly small patches in the past (Argus, Nazjatar, Ny'alotha, etc.) so it's totally within the realm of possibilities that one or more of these themes could be somehow made to fit a single expansion. But I still believe that an Old World Revamp would be way too early for 10.0.

I can't find it anymore but I saw a leak a while ago that claimed Blizzard was basically planning to carry out the "Void Saga" before going back to a revamped Azeroth at some point in 2030 as a way to "reset" the universe back to its more humble, Warcraft roots. I'm not saying that leak was real by any means, but that's a solution that makes the most sense to me if they want to shift the focus back to Azeroth without players being constantly distracted by the looming threat of a Purple Space God threatening to end the universe.

[Varodoc]

That's what I mean; If we're getting a new landmass, the obvious choice would be to place it on the Kalimdor side of the Malestrom.

Oh please you're saying that only because you want Undermine as the next expansion. Which by the way will not happen, since 99% of the players see Goblin as a meme race.

And by the way, thank you for pointing out that the map I posted is outdated, how could I have ever known

[Khaza-R]

Given how the Tirisfal event is encrypted and the UC portals are disabled it seems highly probably Lordaeron is getting a revamp for 10.0 as a new capital city. Which makes me think it would also be linked to the pre-launch event.

I doubt any of the early leaks are the real one but certainly I think any leak that mentioned Lordaeron revamp pre-9.2 is at least "of interest".

[Calfredd]

Oh please you're saying that only because you want Undermine as the next expansion. Which by the way will not happen, since 99% of the players see Goblin as a meme race.

Pot, kettle, black.

[Varodoc]

As usual something major is being ignored here.

Remember how Legion patch 7.3.5 (BfA didn't have patch 8.3.5) introduced a questline that set-up BfA? The questline about Azerite?

It's not a coincidence that patch 9.2.5 introduces a questline about Lordaeron (which, by the way, is NOT the Horde counterpart of the Dark Iron meme joke questline, that's the BE's quest in the Ghostlands).

[ercarp]

It's not a coincidence that patch 9.2.5 introduces a questline about Lordaeron (which, by the way, is NOT the Horde counterpart of the Dark Iron meme joke questline, that's the BE's quest in the Ghostlands).

It could mean anything, really. Canonically Dragon Isles are also supposed to be somewhat near Lordaeron, so it could just be that Lordaeron is the best place to set up our "staging ground" for embarking to the isles.

[Foolicious]

I know you're probably right but that blurb is true about all Hearthstone expansions. All hearthstone expansions are heavily influenced by World of Warcraft. It's a card game based on it.

Honestly the biggest hint about the Expansion announcement will be on April 5th, where they announced there will be a "big announcement" over what the name of the annual season will be. Why announce it at all rather than tell us now? Is it that revealing about the next expansion?

The big announcement is more likely to be about the standard core changes and different gamemodes. The name of the year is usually not revealing or important because its tied to the first set released. Only exception is year of the dragon which featured a dragon set as last expansion. So we can expect the year of the snake to begin because of the new naga minions introduced.
Also its hearthstone. Its quite possible we get zovaals pleasure palace as expansion which is "heavily influenced by wow". you'll never know because as you said there is not a single expansion that is not heavily influenced by warcraft.