Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Revamp Man]

so the dragonflight leak is being seen as more possible because it guessed the name right

EoA has more stuff going for it and was posted around the same time

Blizzard released the name on a fake thread but the real features via a misnamed thread because jimmy and Bobby both wanted some leak credit

[Fahrad Wagner]

so the dragonflight leak is being seen as more possible because it guessed the name right

EoA has more stuff going for it and was posted around the same time

Blizzard released the name on a fake thread but the real features via a misnamed thread because jimmy and Bobby both wanted some leak credit

I don't know, a part of me is still buying that Dragonflight leak, especially the whole Balor and proto-demons thing

[Chickat]

Very interesting, there are no changes to any skybox related things in 9.2.5 which is why this surprises me. Maybe they can change these from the server end of things now by settings a certain weather type for a zone? Hmm.

Could it not just be a bug considering its so close to Arathi?

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Exactly, and they've been tiptoeing around with things that were added and were clearly bringing new HD models for older buildings. The Darkshore NE buildings which never used, the portal rooms being very HD, the Human buildings, most of the old world creatures being revamped progressively (like, I'm sorry, but quilboars in KT made no sense other than "OK quilboars need to be updated for our world revamp project, let's used them in KT too, two birds one stone).

I am now convinced the Lordaeron shield dropping from Mal'Ganis is this expansion's Suramar cloak. We're gonna see either a Northern EK revamp + Dragon Isles, and other continents revamped through patches/expansions (living world mechanic of campaign taking place progressively on Azeroth?) OR a full world revamp + one zone being the Dragon Isles.

Honestly they could do a small 2-3 zones continent like Kultiras or Zandalar and revamp the world too. End game content mostly in the new zones. Maybe only 1 of the zones is required for a very fast level up experience.

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Marlamin can you confirm if that skybox is the same as Arathi's? I think it's just Arathi's skybox bleeding into Hillsbrad/Wetlands/Hinterlands.

<Thats what I was guessing too.

[Revamp Man]

I don't know, a part of me is still buying that Dragonflight leak, especially the whole Balor and proto-demons thing

proto demons would mean w have some tie to fighting the forces of disorder in the core of azeroth which hasnt even been hinted at

[Fahrad Wagner]

proto demons would mean w have some tie to fighting the forces of disorder in the core of azeroth which hasnt even been hinted at

Reposting this from the Speculation Thread, regarding Balor being mentioned in this leak:

Something that I find particularly interesting about the Dragonflight leak:

"Balor. Halfling race dealing with primordial fel enemies (think proto-demons, like what the Shadowlands creatures are to undead)."

Whereas Balor is another classic zone we have yet to explore, the mention of a halfling race is particularly interesting... especially since they are fighting proto-demons.

In the Irish mythology, Balor is the king of the Fomorians, a group of creatures describe as hideous (sometimes demonic) giants, warriors of chaos and destruction.

Now, we have yet to have an Ireland-inspired zone in the game (Kul'Tiras doesn't dive too much into the Celtic aspect of the Irish culture), and Blizzard has a history of copy-pasting real life mythology into the game, twisting it only a little.

So, the island of Balor being home to halflings (tall humans? small ettins? something else?) fighting giant proto-demons (mirroring Zereth Mortis proto death creatures?) is something I could see.

I will also point out that in the Irish mythology, Ethniu, also referred to as Ethlinn, is the daugther of Balor.

Now, that could be the missing link to the origins of Ettins (and also connect with their links to the Twilight Hammer and Twilight dragons).

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Ettin

And to finally complete my Ettin saga, Wowpedia states the following:

• According to Brann Bronzebeard, there is enough fossil evidence to theorize that the ettins evolved from ogres, but he suspects there might be a "missing link". Any fossil evidence was likely lost when Draenor was torn apart.[6]
• Drugon the Frostblood's dungeon journal entry goes against this, as it states that Drugon has been living in Highmountain for several ages before the Dark Portal even opened.[citation needed] [7] It is unknown if this is a simple error or a retcon of the ettins' origins.
• Chronicle Volume 2 does not mention ettins when going into detail about the lineage of the ogres. However, it also does not mention goren despite their proven association with the Breakers.

Which means Brann's theory about Ettins coming from ogres has been proven wrong, and this "partial" retcon might have been set up... in preparation for Balor, and the missing evolutionnary link of Ettins.

I think this is it guys, this is THE leak

This is why I think the leak is genuine, the mention of Balor, halflings and proto-demons lines up with everything, especially the missing Ettins link which was retconned in Legion. It might be me reaching though

[Rae888]

so the dragonflight leak is being seen as more possible because it guessed the name right

EoA has more stuff going for it and was posted around the same time

Blizzard released the name on a fake thread but the real features via a misnamed thread because jimmy and Bobby both wanted some leak credit

It’s not just the name… it’s the name in conjunction with getting some zones right that didn’t see any activity until later when the 9.2.5 PTR was released. If it didn’t include the micro-class thing I think it would be widely considered the most likely to be right.

[Wangming]

I got bored after reading several pages of larpception. Was there anything new?

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It’s not just the name… it’s the name in conjunction with getting some zones right that didn’t see any activity until later when the 9.2.5 PTR was released. If it didn’t include the micro-class thing I think it would be widely considered the most likely to be right.

It's still considered the most likely to be right. It's just 5-10% is the most likely. To be fair stupid sounding systems don't invalidate the leak. Blizz isn't above making dumb choices.

[Chickat]

The right music can be quite healing

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It's good to be back <3 Honestly just testing the waters if it might be worth subscribing again maybe come autumn.

Oh honey the expansion isn't coming this fall. Most likely spring 2023.

[Fahrad Wagner]

I got bored after reading several pages of larpception. Was there anything new?

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It's still considered the most likely to be right. It's just 5-10% is the most likely. To be fair stupid sounding systems don't invalidate the leak. Blizz isn't above making dumb choices.

Nothing new no, mainly shitposting

[Chickat]

Interesting thing post #2: Balor is a REAL LOCATION and not some OC thing.

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Balor

Balor was a domain of the Kingdom of Azeroth located to the west of Stormwind. It was taken by the Old Horde during the First War, and held by the Stormreaver clan during the Second War.[1] Its current fate is unknown.

Looks like it is an island to the West of Stormwind, and Blizzard kept it out of Chronicle because they were unsure where it was, so it was on their mind.. That is a pretty deep cut for a random leak.



Very nice. Adds some credence to that leak, I think.

New pvp zone maybe?

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I don't think we will see another truly new race with allied races being a thing. Unfortunately.

Eh, Idk about that. They said in bfa that it was just a feature, but that it didn't mean the end of traditional races.

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Actually, the big thing I don't like about Dragonflight text leak? Dalaran capital AGAIN.

Yes, it's lazy, so it's something they would do. But that's the stickler for me. Unless there is a revamp in which case it's not really THE capital city, just one of them.

Werent their new Dal textures in 9.2.5 somewhere, or did I dream that? I swear someone said there were.

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MrGM is saying there are Dalaran texture updates on the PTR... Leak does mention Dalaran as the main hub...

https://twitter.com/MrGMYT/status/1510629899433914376

Well there is what I was talking about haha

[Fahrad Wagner]

New pvp zone maybe?

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Eh, Idk about that. They said in bfa that it was just a feature, but that it didn't mean the end of traditional races.

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Werent their new Dal textures in 9.2.5 somewhere, or did I dream that? I swear someone said there were.

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Well there is what I was talking about haha

Northrend Dalaran textures as confirmed by Marla, yes

[Wangming]

Oh honey the expansion isn't coming this fall. Most likely spring 2023.

The absolute shortest time between a reveal and a release was 9 months. With a mid April reveal that would but release at January. And that is the absolute earliest. So yeah, Autumn is super optimistic. Or a half finished rush job that makes KotoR 2 look complete.

[Revamp Man]

It’s not just the name… it’s the name in conjunction with getting some zones right that didn’t see any activity until later when the 9.2.5 PTR was released. If it didn’t include the micro-class thing I think it would be widely considered the most likely to be right.

EoA got revamped zones
also got the leading cast getting new models
also got heritage weapons

im just saying fanfic vs fanfic

[ChairmanKaga]

Balor and proto-demons thing

What is a proto demon and why would they be under Azeroth?

[Chickat]

Thematically, I think it would work quite well to bring Dalaran back, with the 'return' of the dragonflights. It would be similar to wotlk.
It would be a bit lazy, but I love Dalaran so I don't care. And we saw Dadgar so I hope we see him again.

If they do add Dal, I would want it to be updated, expanded upon (bigger) and placed back in its hole.

[Wangming]

What is a proto demon and why would they be under Azeroth?

Excellent question. Probably a bullshit retcon of what demons are. Sounds like something Blizzard would do.

[Fahrad Wagner]

If they do add Dal, I would want it to be updated, expanded upon (bigger) and placed back in its hole.

Omg staaaaahp, she might hear you! <_<

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Excellent question. Probably a bullshit retcon of what demons are. Sounds like something Blizzard would do.

I think it could be interesting if done right

[tristannarutofan]

So the way I see it, it’s to set the groundwork for a variety of new play styles that don’t necessarily mesh together; and with 1-spec but several-once-classes, you create a lot of variety for players and can easily build upon them in the future.

I can see the difficulty in combining dragon class, tinker, bard-ish class into something cohesive; each class is only 1/2 of what Demon Hunter was; I think it would actually work.

It could be they were like “fuck it, here’s all the class ideas we’ll ever do” to get people back and they’ll build on them more in the future (as I’m sure people would ask for)

its like how final fantasy has classes you can only start late game.

Like many concepts cant be tacked onto another class? Necromancer? a DK wouldnt downgrade their armor, a priest? "someone who uses only dark magic" oh thats a shadow priest and they arent affiliated with undead. Every other priest uses the light. Warlock? I mean warlocks use shadowmagic but EVERY warlock uses demonic energy and none use necromancy, There is no crossover other than warlocks getting deathcoil early on. Bard? What could be viable? Rogue suddenly gets a manabar and 20 different abilities?

the 'it would be way worse to balance" ignores the fact that there is so much MORE work trying to balance 3 specs for each class. Thats why we have stuff like "Big heal does 30% spellpower for holy, 20% spellpower for disc and 15% spellpower for shadow", even abilities that specs share are used differently.

also a few things against the idea ignore potential changes. "why make 4 more sets per tier" well what if the special classes didnt get their own set. or what if they do away with class sets again and just have tier every other raid. for a few years now rogues and druids have shared armor. and again its just a matter of resources FF makes over the top , tons of work, sets for each class including the new ones you cant play till you hit the level cap, WoW could do it to if they chose to .

anyways the thing is for ANY progress to be truly made they will have to change the way they do things. It would make more sense for them to start a system of adding class skins or "hero classes" that take less work so they can add classes without adding a WHOLE class and all the bagage that comes with it; than to every few years add a whole class and all that baggage. why shake things up or decide to NEVER have new classes when they can pepper in a mini class every now and then without a big shake up. Talks about sets and animations assumes they wont be going more agnostic. Its ideal that in the next few years they should remove almost all transmog restrictions, So they COULD add in a class set without having to do one for everyone.
And like it would make more sense to have every expansion be like a 'season' reset us to 50 and then lvl to 60 during the expansion, than it would be to NEVER have leveling again or continnue to need squishes every 5 years

[Wangming]

Omg staaaaahp, she might hear you! <_<

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I think it could be interesting if done right

Everything can be interesting if done right. But Shadowlands does not inspire much faith in Danuser.

[Darkarath]

I wonder if Blizzard will make some statement this week regarding the leak. Could they even push the reveal ahead?

I mean, if we got this two weeks before the reveal, imagine what else we will get in the coming days, for sure something else is going to get leaked.