Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Marlamin]

It's so far back I don't remember where to start, but I think Marlamin can back me up. A race table was datamined in 7.3(?) that showed that Velf and LFD were listed as Alliance races and Nightborne and HMT were Horde races. It caused controversy because people couldn't believe any of those races wouldn't be neutral/didn't know what a Void Elf was. (I think some people pieced together Nightborne picking a side because Tyrande and the Velfs being based off Alleria)

Yup! 7.3.0 had DB2 references for all 4 the allied races (which we called subraces at that point, since it was pre-announcement).

[PhillyCheese]

Speaking of Cataclysm2, this Cataclysm-themed chamber in Bastion has been here since launch.



Chamber of Unspeaken Pacts. Hidden Kyrian lore or Cata tease?

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I remember that being a thing as well. I know it was datamined before the actual BfA announcement for sure since it was one of those where things fell into place once the trailer came out.

Yup! The first 7.3.2 PTR build had DB2 references for all 4 the allied races (which we called subraces at that point, since it was pre-announcement).

Glad I am not crazy.

[Marlamin]

Yup! The first 7.3.2 PTR build had DB2 references for all 4 the allied races (which we called subraces at that point, since it was pre-announcement).

Actually, slight correction on this, these were already present in 7.3.0 together with the Kul Tiras quest items. We just didn't find them until 7.3.2 came around (shows how much datamining has changed -- that wouldn't fly under the radar these days).

And to be more detailed, a lot of the speculative datamining around 8.x back then was done within the hype thread with it only getting traction after BlizzPlanet or Wowhead reposted it. The expansion was a bit more of a surprise for the general public compared to hype thread regulars.

[Sondrelk]

In my opinion, its either step back to decentralized storytelling of pre-BFA, or write complete stories that get released all at once.

Being told over the course of 2 years doesn't make it more epic, I'd rather complete stories that happen in single releases than fragmented, messy releases that are prone to being eviscerated by cuts, changes in priorities, etc.

it makes the story bad, I don't think it would be filler, telling a second and third story in the Shadowlands would be great, it'd let other topics breathe and have a proper focus.

It's a problem that started all the way back in TBC really. An expansion kinda implies a cohesive package with a beginning middle and end.
The better way of telling stories in an MMO is what they did in Vanilla, individual storylines that were pretty much exclusively contained to it's own patch.

[Teriz]

Yup! 7.3.0 had DB2 references for all 4 the allied races (which we called subraces at that point, since it was pre-announcement).

Yeah, I found the thread where this came up. Interesting read to be sure.

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...1#post47663642

Fun to look back on stuff like that when all the facts are known.

[Marlamin]

Yeah, I found the thread where this came up. Interesting read to be sure.

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...1#post47663642

Fun to look back on stuff like that when all the facts are known.

The situation for Shadowlands was similar (e.g. we knew about the Maw and a Tower that was in it using new tech) and it'll be the same when 10.0 is announced. A lot of datamining references/things that currently make no sense, going back multiple patches, will suddenly have context.

[Teriz]

It's so far back I don't remember where to start, but I think Marlamin can back me up. A race table was datamined in 7.3(?) that showed that Velf and LFD were listed as Alliance races and Nightborne and HMT were Horde races. It caused controversy because people couldn't believe any of those races wouldn't be neutral/didn't know what a Void Elf was. (I think some people pieced together Nightborne picking a side because Tyrande and the Velfs being based off Alleria)

Yeah I stand corrected on that. I suppose we’ll see what happens on the 19th.

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The situation for Shadowlands was similar (e.g. we knew about the Maw and a Tower that was in it using new tech) and it'll be the same when 10.0 is announced. A lot of datamining references/things that currently make no sense, going back multiple patches, will suddenly have context.

Cool. I’m looking forward to us actually discussing 10.0 instead of constantly speculating. It’ll be a refreshing change of pace.

[Revamp Man]

Agreed which is why (as my signature suggests) I believe we’re looking at an Undermine/Dragon Isles expansion.

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https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Ravnyr
https://www.wowhead.com/item=186556/...cal-dragonling
https://www.wowhead.com/npc=175546/timecapn-hooktail
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6KnbbQK4h4
https://www.wowhead.com/news/the-dra...nd-pets-325358
https://latestgamestories.com/2022/0...-dragon-addon/

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Which is another reason I weigh Wrathion's presence so heavily. Blizzard uses him as a plot driver for whatever reason. If they're tying the Dragon Isles to him, you have to take it into heavy consideration for expansion inclusion.

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Exactly right.

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They could have also brought in Demon Hunters during TBC, but instead they decided to wait until Legion. Blizzard's mind works in mysterious ways.

Also as a developer, if you have a long plan in mind for your game, you're not going to dump all the goods at once. You save some content for future expansions, like what they did with Northrend, Mt. Hyjal, Outland, Undermine, and other locations in Vanilla.



I don't know what "pattern" you're suggesting here.

Collector’s edition rewards yes
Dungeon boss eh
Ysera getting revived eh
Dragon pack when we have a cat pack
Anniversary pet eh

I’m gonna try to keep this short
The mechanical dragonling can’t be seen as a hint just because it’s an anniversary reward because we had a corgi reward as well

The dragon pack has a cat pack brother

We can’t deny that the collector’s edition is giving a drake mount

Now I do want dragon isles but I’m not going to call everything a hint

[PhillyCheese]

Living World is the big thing for 10.0 and I'm not sure if there any changes mentioning that in 9.2.5.

If they tightened up on that we can assume it may be a large feature they don't want to spoil.

[Raetary]

You people are focusing too much on that damn shop bundle.

[Nightshade711]

Small thought I had.
If the dragon isles had one zone per dragonflight, I could very easily see them using something similar to the enemies we fought in the deaths of chromie for each dragonflight’s zone.

Green -> Satyrs/Emerald Nightmare remnants
Blue -> Void beings/old god cultists
Red -> Scourge
Black -> Nathrezim
Bronze would likely be infinite dragons.

[Vakir]

Living World is the big thing for 10.0 and I'm not sure if there any changes mentioning that in 9.2.5.

If they tightened up on that we can assume it may be a large feature they don't want to spoil.

We're not 100% on that either, though. LivingWorld could be an internal name for adding more flourishes and structure to things like weather, day/night cycles, etc. that influence perhaps mob spawns, events, etc. It's not necessarily guaranteed to be a major feature, though it could be.

If the dragon isles had one zone per dragonflight, I could very easily see them using something similar to the enemies we fought in the deaths of chromie for each dragonflight’s zone.

Come to think of it, did anything come of the Chromie death storyline?

[Marlamin]

Living World is the big thing for 10.0 and I'm not sure if there any changes mentioning that in 9.2.5.

If they tightened up on that we can assume it may be a large feature they don't want to spoil.

I checked, no changes in 9.2.5 to those animations.

We're not 100% on that either, though. LivingWorld could be an internal name for adding more flourishes and structure to things like weather, day/night cycles, etc. that influence perhaps mob spawns, events, etc. It's not necessarily guaranteed to be a major feature, though it could be.

Yup. Living World will end up making sense after the announcement, or be entirely irrelevant. Same goes for the encrypted shop bundle. Time will tell.

[Santandame]

I am genuinely curious.

If you aren't in the Cataclysm 2(Reverse Cataclysm) camp for 10.0; then what do YOU think is the next expansion and WHY do you think that specific theme.

I'm genuinely curious to see some reasoning and thoughts on this from those who aren't leaning towards Cataclysm 2. Bare in mind a theoretical Cataclysm 2 will very, very likely have a large dragon presence.

No cop out guys with "I've no idea what 10.0 is". Hit me with what you are leaning towards at this point.

[Raetary]

Come to think of it, did anything come of the Chromie death storyline?

Nope.
Still no idea who tried to kill her and why.

We just prevented her death and that's it.

[CopyX1982]

I am genuinely curious.

If you aren't in the Cataclysm 2(Reverse Cataclysm) camp for 10.0; then what do YOU think is the next expansion and WHY do you think that specific theme.

I'm genuinely curious to see some reasoning and thoughts on this from those who aren't leaning towards Cataclysm 2. Bare in mind a theoretical Cataclysm 2 will very, very likely have a large dragon presence.

No cop out guys with "I've no idea what 10.0 is". Hit me with what you are leaning towards at this point.

I think they were gonna go with more cosmic stuff, but then given how SL has been received changed to a more grounded expansion, maybe shifted 10.0 & 11.0 around? maybe 10.0 was more cosmic and 11.0 was more a homecoming? at this point who knows and the devs would NEVER say or admit to any change of course or anything.

Not sure about Dragons, I suppose thats most likely, but with Cata Kalimdor/EK existing longer than the Vanilla/TBC/WotLK one a total revamp could be on the cards too. Personally I just wanna know so we can stop speculating on what it could be and start talking about what it is.

[Arcinatoss]

I'm just hoping 10.0 is dragons with void/light themes as the actual big bad. Oh and give me a new class damn it.

[Luck4]

The Endless Dream
- Level 70
- Cross-facton grouping for all new content but not older stuff
- Two new races - Elarian and the Solline - they are very pale alien looking people and cat people who worship the sun
- 6 zones revamped - Hyjal (Alliance only), Lordaeron (Horde only), Silithus, Duskwood, Barrens, Hinterlands - although many other zones aren't updated but used as part of the story
- New dungeons will be very nostaglic - Wailing chasm, Tyr's Fall, Timbermaw depths, Moonbrook cellars, AQ dungeon, Maraudon and some others
- There's a dream world / living world type of element to all the zones which has to do with the Emerald Dream fading away after the events of the Shadowlands. The dream world is easily twisted by outside forces is seeping into the living world allowing them to create a new reality. The pantheon of the living are revealed to all be the myths and legends from the various races of Azeroth. They help you restore the dream piece by piece
- Alliance and Horde races reconnect with eachother - Dwarves help Tauren find their titan origin, humans and undead discover their ancestory and the sacred line of kings, trolls and night elves uncover the schism that Elune created and why some rejected her
- The end of Battle for Azeroth will be very important
- Raid is Elunaria but starts out on Azeroth's white moon in a titan facility, have to save Elune from forces of oblivion - Tyrande will die but is reborn as Elune's daughter and watch over Azeroth on the Blue Child

This leak keeps getting more and more interesting.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

I am genuinely curious.

If you aren't in the Cataclysm 2(Reverse Cataclysm) camp for 10.0; then what do YOU think is the next expansion and WHY do you think that specific theme.

I'm genuinely curious to see some reasoning and thoughts on this from those who aren't leaning towards Cataclysm 2. Bare in mind a theoretical Cataclysm 2 will very, very likely have a large dragon presence.

No cop out guys with "I've no idea what 10.0 is". Hit me with what you are leaning towards at this point.

I think you may be spot-on, though I'm fairly certain that the main attraction is specifically going to be Lordaeron. I might well be making an ass of myself, since admittedly it is hard to imagine what could be the main villain or plotline unless we move to the Dragon Isles or something adjacent as the final patch, but I figure that they're building up that way. I have seen @Hitei making a good point that Blizzard has no reason to overhaul Tirisfal and add a new questline to Quel'Thalas if they're doing that, but I think that it's not that serious of an amount of new content, especially several months before we ever actually see the expansion proper. It seems like a fair amount of content for a buildup, though.

However, the real sticking point for me is the fact that we still have the datamined Dragon mount—I see no feasible connection between Lordaeron or Quel'Thalas and the Emerald Dream, which I do think is the most serious and crippling argument for the Lordaeron point—this is what's got me thinking that it does seem like it may just be a world revamp with the leveling experience leading up to Lordaeron and you're probably generally right. The Emerald Dragon mount definitely brings to mind an image of "regrowth", which would fit that.

However, if it's not a revamp of any kind, I suppose a good possibility is the Dragon Isles—it still seems odd it was mentioned out-of-nowhere by Wrathion in BfA, but that and the Exploring Kalimdor mention of it could've just been building up one of the new zones in the revamp.

[Hitei]

I am genuinely curious.

If you aren't in the Cataclysm 2(Reverse Cataclysm) camp for 10.0; then what do YOU think is the next expansion and WHY do you think that specific theme.

I'm genuinely curious to see some reasoning and thoughts on this from those who aren't leaning towards Cataclysm 2. Bare in mind a theoretical Cataclysm 2 will very, very likely have a large dragon presence.

No cop out guys with "I've no idea what 10.0 is". Hit me with what you are leaning towards at this point.

Dragon Isles seems likely. They're one of the few well-known and expected "continental" regions left unused. Blizzard seems to be signaling a step back from cosmic-level stuff, which is pretty expected given the heavy focus on it lately. Much like Pandaria was a shift from Wrath and BC's doom and gloom to mystery and discovery. I think we'll seem a similar shift from high end cosmic to classic fantasy here and nothing screams classic fantasy more than dragons.

There are plenty of hints, but "hints" in this context tends to just be whatever you personally choose to believe is evidence of a coming expansion, and there's "hints" for any expansion concept because there's always a bunch of small things going on unrelated to the main plot.