Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[PhillyCheese]

I don't know if elune can bypass the arbiter or if she knew the nightelfs would end up in ardenweald naturally. The ysera cinematic gives me personally the impression she can send souls directly to ardenweald but who knows...

9.1 makes it pretty clear she can bypass the Arbiter due to her link with the Winter Queen: after that quest, Primus confirms the two sisters connect the "Lifelands" and the Shadowlands in a special way.

If Arbiter was awake they likely would've gone to Ardenweald as natural spirits go there anyway. If Arbiter was asleep they would've went to the Maw. We don't know how Wisps work (not even the Brokers do) so unsure as to what would've happened if Elune made them into wisps into of sending them to SL... but to her it was more important to send them to help Ardenweald than it was to rezz them back into being ghost orb warriors. (Even though some of them do that in the Battle for Teldrassil)

[huth]

9.1 makes it pretty clear she can bypass the Arbiter due to her link with the Winter Queen: after that quest, Primus confirms the two sisters connect the "Lifelands" and the Shadowlands in a special way.

If Arbiter was awake they likely would've gone to Ardenweald as natural spirits go there anyway. If Arbiter was asleep they would've went to the Maw. We don't know how Wisps work (not even the Brokers do) so unsure as to what would've happened if Elune made them into wisps into of sending them to SL... but to her it was more important to send them to help Ardenweald than it was to rezz them back into being ghost orb warriors. (Even though some of them do that in the Battle for Teldrassil)

Well, they did go to the Maw.

[AngerFork]

Nope, no customization changes whatsoever in 9.2.5.

Interesting. Seeing this makes me think a new race (allied or otherwise) coming in 10.0 is less likely than I'd previously thought, especially with the seeming lack of other racial pieces (db updates, etc) alongside it. Instead, we may be looking at a second straight expansion where our racial updates are instead new customizations for current races. Not that it's good or bad if so, will be curious to see what these customizations might encompass.

We'll know in just over 3 weeks.

[Fiercelord]

I wish they would just hire 1 person to focus on customization for all things. Not the armor sets, but minor stuff like that cool glasses we got. The main focus would be customization and listening to the community (which customizations are most wanted aka human long beards, etc.)

[draugril]

Interesting. Seeing this makes me think a new race (allied or otherwise) coming in 10.0 is less likely than I'd previously thought, especially with the seeming lack of other racial pieces (db updates, etc) alongside it. Instead, we may be looking at a second straight expansion where our racial updates are instead new customizations for current races. Not that it's good or bad if so, will be curious to see what these customizations might encompass.

We'll know in just over 3 weeks.

Not to put words in Marlamin's mouth, but if I recall, the gaps were more indicative of entirely new races than they were expanded customization.

[Marlamin]

Not to put words in Marlamin's mouth, but if I recall, the gaps were more indicative of entirely new races than they were expanded customization.

Yeah, I'm still edging towards these being new races, but it's very hard to tell since the only information we have is information that isn't there.

[PhillyCheese]

Interesting. Seeing this makes me think a new race (allied or otherwise) coming in 10.0 is less likely than I'd previously thought, especially with the seeming lack of other racial pieces (db updates, etc) alongside it. Instead, we may be looking at a second straight expansion where our racial updates are instead new customizations for current races. Not that it's good or bad if so, will be curious to see what these customizations might encompass.

We'll know in just over 3 weeks.

A new race's customizations would be implemented in 10.0 files, not 9.1/9.2/9.2.5 IMO.

EDIT: I beg to differ. Maybe it ends up being that instead of AR updates we just get a new race earlier.

Are there enough in the files to point toward raceS instead of just one like Drakonid?

[keygy]

I'll be honest, these look shockingly close to Rexxar and the Female Gladiator's torsos, just with different arms and legs. Maybe that's what they will be used for?

And is that boobplate on the top middle? There's our female. Notice too how she(?) doesn't have beard tentacles like the others.

if we get a drakonid race, i think gonna be totally different.

[therumblings]

So I wonder if the gap in new customizations appears to be new races because of how many options there are, and it would be unlikely that existing races would get that many new options at once. Is there any evidence of allied races like there was in 7.3.2 or did they change how that works?

[PhillyCheese]

if we get a drakonid race, i think gonna be totally different.

Those hearthstone designs are the closest thing to a humanoid we've seen and AFAIK the first visibly female Dragon anything. Why would it be different than that?

They don't even look that hard to put armor on besides the big feet. Which Worgen already suffer from so its nothing new.

[therumblings]

A new dragon race and class in the same expansion would be awesome

[Marlamin]

So I wonder if the gap in new customizations appears to be new races because of how many options there are, and it would be unlikely that existing races would get that many new options at once. Is there any evidence of allied races like there was in 7.3.2 or did they change how that works?

They have gotten significantly less leaky over the last two expansions.

[Shadochi]

Yeah, especially with wisps being a thing she definitely can directly influence the cycle to some capacity.

Perhaps Teldrassils massive influx of souls was just too many for her handle and she couldn't keep them from crossing the veil, so she (tried to) send them to Ardenweald instead.

I was more under the impression after the convo between the Winter Queen and Elune that she let them go to the Shadowlands,knowing most would go to the Winter Queen to help the drought.
If she could just send them to Ardenweald then they wouldn't end up in the maw

[Santandame]

If we are indeed getting new races, and 10.0 is Cataclysm 2.0 then I'm calling Dragonkin for Alliance and Ogres for Horde. Ogres would also play into my idea that we're going to see Ogrezonia as a new zone, to help explain female Ogres.

If however we're getting Allied Races, then I see us getting them in batches of two pairs of three again like with BfA launch. For Alliance I can see: Jinyu/Ankoan, Sethrak and Botani. Horde would get Lightforged Undead, Mogu and Saberon.

If Blizz really want the good will, give us both Allied Races and Core Races.

Alternatively, add a toggle to races like Draenei, Trolls, Orcs etc so we can have Broken, Amani, Fel Orcs etc.

[PhillyCheese]

On the topic of stuff in the files, this was added in 9.2.5:

New encrypted mounts and pets were also added in this build:
1 battle pet using bear cub sounds
1 battle pet using harvest golem sounds
2 mounts using serpert sounds

I'm guessing one of the pets may be from the Tirisfal thing, maybe the golem. Goblin shredder pet maybe? They were tied closely to Forsaken in Darkshore.

The bear cub could be from an opposing Nelf event.

No idea what mounts use serpent sounds, the only thing I can think off is the Nzoth serpents and I don't know why they would be relevant to 9.2.5 unless there's a void tease. Maybe it's a Season 4 reward?

Also remember that not only is an Emerald Drake in the 10.0 bundle but also a creature using Vulpera animations, which could be a little Dragonkin type creature. Consider that it probably has a tail...

- - - Updated - - -

If we are indeed getting new races, and 10.0 is Cataclysm 2.0 then I'm calling Dragonkin for Alliance and Ogres for Horde. Ogres would also play into my idea that we're going to see Ogrezonia as a new zone, to help explain female Ogres.

There's no way the Dragonkin would pick a side. I can see them doing it like Pandaria where they are netural but also like BFA so we get some faction spice with new races but the "big race" can be either.

As for your AR choices I doubt Lightforged Undead will ever be a real thing and Botani are super duper evil and crazy. But Jinyu/Saberon/Mogu/Sethrak are very possible.

[Santandame]

On the topic of stuff in the files, this was added in 9.2.5:



I'm guessing one of the pets may be from the Tirisfal thing, maybe the golem. Goblin shredder pet maybe? They were tied closely to Forsaken in Darkshore.

The bear cub could be from an opposing Nelf event.

No idea what mounts use serpent sounds, the only thing I can think off is the Nzoth serpents and I don't know why they would be relevant to 9.2.5 unless there's a void tease.

Also remember that not only is an Emerald Drake in the 10.0 bundle but also a creature using Vulpera animations, which could be a little Dragonkin type creature. Consider that it probably has a tail...

Could be Dragonkin. Could also be a new type of creature from say Undermine/Kezan, or Tel'Abim. Anything goes with 10.0 atm and its exciting.

I legit see us getting a combination of Cataclysm, MoP and Classic.

[ercarp]

I mentioned this in another thread, but...

Am I the only one who feels like a new race no longer counts as an "exciting new expansion feature"? When they introduced the concept of Allied Races and showed us they can churn out as many new races as they want as patch content, what makes adding a new race as a baseline expansion feature exciting?

And I'm well aware that most of the Allied Races were just reskins using the skeletons of older races, but that's not true for all of them. Kul Tirans had completely unique skeletons.

[PhillyCheese]

I mentioned this in another thread, but...

Am I the only one who feels like a new race no longer counts as an "exciting new expansion feature"? When they introduced the concept of Allied Races and showed us they can churn out as many new races as they want as patch content, what makes adding a new race as a baseline expansion feature exciting?

And I'm well aware that most of the Allied Races were just reskins using the skeletons of older races, but that's not true for all of them. Kul Tirans had completely unique skeletons.

Does it not depend on the race? Kul Tirans are very cool mechanically but are unpopular because le fat human.

If a race is a green human with giant mustaches and people love them they would be an "exciting new expansion feature".

[draugril]

A new dragon race and class in the same expansion would be awesome

I'd love that. I'm trying my best not to have any hopes or expectations whatsoever for 10.0... but this is becoming increasingly more difficult as the announcement approaches. Try as I might, a little hype is unavoidable.

- - - Updated - - -

Am I the only one who feels like a new race no longer counts as an "exciting new expansion feature"? When they introduced the concept of Allied Races and showed us they can churn out as many new races as they want as patch content, what makes adding a new race as a baseline expansion feature exciting?

If they were able to keep up that pace, I'd agree. But they haven't. It seems to have been a concerted effort of the BfA team to churn them out to the degree they did, and even then, the vast majority of development was dedicated to recycling assets in a new context, so the amount of development wasn't all that mind-blowing.

Honestly, I'd love for them to continue to put out Allied Races as patch content, adding stuff like Dragonmaw Orcs and Wildhammer Dwarves, whereas core races are treated as tentpole expansion features, like ogres and arrakoa would be.

[Alanar]

Personally I am still holding out hope for an Ankoan AR. My disappointment was immeasurable when we got trashgnomes instead of amazing samurai fish.

They seemed to have a number issue as they were the last, if that really would be an issue, the jinju could connect to them and make it one race, with both options. Scales etc, but also the numbers. Mop jinju feel more like the caster types and ankoan the warrior type, but they look really simmilar.