Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Foolicious]

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.

[Chickat]

There are other forms of leveling.

Leveling in WoW is archaic and holding WoW back, no similar game in 2022 has this tedious infinite level cap expansion. Most either use an account wide level cap paragon progression system (you still have bars to fill), or use ilevel as vertical progression and just squish that, then have some sort of supplemental seasonal XP bar. The developers arent going to just endlessly extend level cap and squish down over and over. Honestly it's insane it went on as long as it did.

ESO and Destiny 2 both have better systems to replace leveling. They're probably going to use something along these lines.

nah, I like leveling.

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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.

Oh and there's a datamined pet using the vuplera rig. It could be a halfling pet?

[Nymrohd]

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

Yeah I would love it if it was grounded, if it extended all the way to Ambermill and got a port in the Lordamere; the sewers could exit underwater in the Lordamere as well.

[Fahrad Wagner]

Not all, you wanted a full world revamp. This would just be the top 1/3 to 1/2 of the Eastern Kingdoms.

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!

nah, I like leveling.

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Oh and there's a datamined pet using the vuplera rig. It could be a halfling pet?

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

[Nymrohd]

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.

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.

[Wangming]

Oh and there's a datamined pet using the vuplera rig. It could be a halfling pet?

Wouldn't it be weird to make them pets?

[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.