Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Fahrad Wagner]

I think Vol'jin will be more interesting as a character in Talan'ji's story than his own. I think Talan'ji should be much more important in the Horde story from now on, especially given the weight of Zandalar as a military, agricultural and diplomatic power. Talan'ji does not seem particularly impressed with Bwonsamdi and I could see her trying to gain Vol'jin as a patron in his place.

It would make a lot of sense, and ousting Bwonsamdi also gives Blizzard the opportunity for a future cool villain/raid

[Chickat]

Thanks for the confirmation, it's much appreciated!

Yeah, I'm from the US, south, and I haven't heard of it either.

[draugril]

I think Vol'jin will be more interesting as a character in Talan'ji's story than his own. I think Talan'ji should be much more important in the Horde story from now on, especially given the weight of Zandalar as a military, agricultural and diplomatic power. Talan'ji does not seem particularly impressed with Bwonsamdi and I could see her trying to gain Vol'jin as a patron in his place.

I would be very surprised if that isn’t the story. It’s pretty much the only hint you can do with that narrative thread.

[Fahrad Wagner]

Wouldn't it be weird to make them pets?

It could be a youngling of that race acting as a squire, so not really a pet, more like a little companion

[Cosmic Janitor]

I know everyone talks about dragons right now but something i noticed especially in all the leaks is that no one mentions vol'jin.
Everyone jumped on the turalyon hype train and what it means for the alliance. But i think its equally as interesting to think about what it means for the horde to have a former warchief resurrected as loa(of kings).
He's a major recurring character since legion and i doubt the next expansion will put him next to the elf on the shelf.

It's troll stuff. I doubt it will matter much. He will just sit on a lower shelf to come up every once in a while when they want to use Talanji for something. Maybe a straight-man counterpart for Bwonsamdi at best.

[Nymrohd]

ESO and Destiny 2 both have better systems to replace leveling.

Wait, you really think ESO's Champion Point system is better than what WoW has?

[Nyel]

Wait, you really think ESO's Champion Point system is better than what WoW has?

It's a great horizontal progression system that would add a lot to WoW. The problem in ESO is that there is no "endgame" content (besides trials aka raids and veteran dungeons) which trivialises the entire game.

[Chickat]

I still do, but I’m also pragmatical: if they revamp northern EK, they will eventually do Kalimdor later on. I’d be ok with a progressive revamp!



Could be, but it could also be any kind of small creature tbh

Wouldnt it be interesting if they finish revamping the rest of EK over the course of the expansion? Then in 11 or 12.0 they can have an expansion next to Kalim and do it there too. Maybe Undermine?

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If not Chromatus, who do people want as the main villain for a Dragon Isles expansion?

Nozdormu? Galakrond? Xal'atath? An introduction of new characters comprising of a, forgive me, empire of dragons?

Azshara maybe? Im sure there is a way she could slot in there.

[Tiradon]

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.

I doubt they'll push reveal forward.. Unless like the whole trailer and tons of images come out...

[Fahrad Wagner]

Wouldnt it be interesting if they finish revamping the rest of EK over the course of the expansion? Then in 11 or 12.0 they can have an expansion next to Kalim and do it there too. Maybe Undermine?

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Azshara maybe? Im sure there is a way she could slot in there.

I think that’d be great! And give them time to really do a quality revamp.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

I don't get the fixation on Balor. I've always known it to be a location in the lore and it isn't exactly a deep dive. It's on practically every map and fairly commonplace knowledge. I really don't think "Balor exists" is enough to say "yep, real leak". The whole "Halfling" thing also feels weird—what, precisely, is a "Halfling" in this case? Do they mean a traditional, DnD-style Hobbit? That feels a bit awkward to imagine, especially in conjunction with "Proto-Demons" scourging a random Second War island. It's also hard to imagine that there have just always been Halflings this whole time, just on an island that was owned by a Human Kingdom, fought for before, and everybody knew existed. You could say that's also sort of the case with the Drust, but they've been practically-extinct for the longest time with the exception of a single Thornspeaker, and even then it was localized to a single kingdom instead of an island which was actively contested.

It feels like an asspull to say this simple, Second War-era landmark is somehow host to both "Proto-Demons" and "Halflings" without any further explanation. I could imagine fighting the Stormreavers there, but not much else.

[Chickat]

For sure. Also, who’s to say there will be a “big bad”. Maybe 10.0 is a huge expansion in terms of content, but in terms of story, it’s filler to set up a “big bad” for 11.0. The Dragonflights are looking for something/seeking more power for 11.0. Yeah, yeah? Hey! Oh!

Id 1000% be okay with a vanilla themed expansion with dragon isles, world revamp etc. first raid tier could finish the dragon story and the other patches could just be unique threats. Like a Light raid in a new Scarlet place, or maybe the valves go crazy and take over silvermoon. Could be interesting.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Wait, you really think ESO's Champion Point system is better than what WoW has?

There are other parts to the system as well. The way expansions are strucutred for example could be something that works way better for wow than their current strategy. Also the idea of front-loading 1 year worth of effort for content that is irrelevant 3 days after launch is hardly a good investment of time and resources, especially when you are encouraged to blaze through it as fast as possible so you can start with you endgame chores on time. It's a self defeating cycle maybe it is worth to look at alternatives. I can certainly see the devs and penny pinchers thinking about it.

[Dracullus]

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.

There is very, very high chance Blizzard put it there to be found. This leak not only increase hype, but also set expectations for theme.

[Fahrad Wagner]

I don't get the fixation on Balor. I've always known it to be a location in the lore and it isn't exactly a deep dive. It's on practically every map and fairly commonplace knowledge. I really don't think "Balor exists" is enough to say "yep, real leak". The whole "Halfling" thing also feels weird—what, precisely, is a "Halfling" in this case? Do they mean a traditional, DnD-style Hobbit? That feels a bit awkward to imagine, especially in conjunction with "Proto-Demons" scourging a random Second War island. It's also hard to imagine that there have just always been Halflings this whole time, just on an island that was owned by a Human Kingdom, fought for before, and everybody knew existed. You could say that's also sort of the case with the Drust, but they've been practically-extinct for the longest time with the exception of a single Thornspeaker, and even then it was a kingdom-wide problem in a very isolated area instead of a specific, tiny island that would probably be fully explored and understood by every Kingdom.

It feels like an asspull to say this simple, Second War-era landmark is somehow host to both "Proto-Demons" and "Halflings" without any further explanation. I could imagine fighting the Stormreavers there, but not much else.

That’s precisely because it’s an asspull and it draws heavily on existing mythology that I think it’s real, but that’s just me

[AOL Instant Messenger]

That’s precisely because it’s an asspull and it draws heavily on existing mythology that I think it’s real, but that’s just me

I don't think it really draws on existing mythology. I think it's a very vague statement that was taken as if it were an intentional Barnum Statement (which I don't even think it was) and people sort of invented this more clever narrative around a random detail in an almost-certainly fake leak. I also needn't remind that they explicitly give us dates which have been proven objectively wrong.

[Civciv]

It would make a lot of sense, and ousting Bwonsamdi also gives Blizzard the opportunity for a future cool villain/raid

Noooo! I don't want my Bwonsamdi to die. I for one, love his sassiness

[Fahrad Wagner]

I don't think it really draws on existing mythology. I think it's a very vague statement that was taken as if it were an intentional Barnum Statement (which I don't even think it was) and people sort of invented this more clever narrative around a random detail in an almost-certainly fake leak. I also needn't remind that they explicitly give us dates which have been proven objectively wrong.

Schedules change all the time, so I wouldn’t give dates too much importance. As for Balor, I’m just really intrigued at the whole Balor/Giants thing, Balor’s daughter being named Ethilnn in Irish mythology and Ettins origins being retconned in Legion… Idk, it reeks of Blizzard’s unsubttle mythology reappropriation, just like they did for the Vrykul and Titan Keepers, and for the constructs in Uldum. It’s because it’s so unoriginal yet somehow fitting that I think this might be it. The thing I struggle more with tbh is Silvermoon as a hostile city… this would piss some players off

Noooo! I don't want my Bwonsamdi to die. I for one, love his sassiness

I love him too haha! And I don’t think he’d die, being the master trickster that he is

[Nymrohd]

It's a great horizontal progression system that would add a lot to WoW. The problem in ESO is that there is no "endgame" content (besides trials aka raids and veteran dungeons) which trivialises the entire game.

It is an absolutely daunting wall to any new player that affects your ability to be optimal and engage in endgame. It also forces casual players with far fewer points to constantly switch between set ups to do fun activities (different setup for Justice system, for gathering and for grinding) which is not at all easy unless you spend a lot of crowns to buy extra slots and the orc dude they added in the previous patch. It works in ESO because normal trials are piss easy and PuGs are not picky at all (and the gap between Veteran DLC Dungeons and Trials and normals is so crazy that people just settle for doing normal modes).
In a game like WoW though? People would never even invite you if you didn't have like 1800+ Champions Points.
And you still need to level alts ofc. Which you want to do since race is FAR more powerful than it is in WoW. And while CPs are account wide, skyshards aren't so after spending hours running like a headless chicken between three anchors in the desert you still have to grind at least some skill points even for a single build to be viable, let alone to have options.

[Wangming]

That’s precisely because it’s an asspull and it draws heavily on existing mythology that I think it’s real, but that’s just me

This. No fake leaker in their right mind would use Balor. It was never you know, BIG in terms of lore. An odd pic for a fake leak and it isn't used in a way a fake leak would.

Now this leak might still be fake, but I feel whoever came up with it actually knows how to make it real sounding.