Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Yus atath]

Praying we’ll get new race/class combinations. I want my Night Elf Shaman T_T

[Sondrelk]

Moreover... I want world content that has a lose condition. Not enough people defend the zone? It's overrun for a day or two while WQs spawn there to clear it out.

As much as this is an interesting idea I think it will just end up the same as Nazjatar with the minibosses.they start out as complete stomps where failure is almost impossible. Then there is a brief moment where they work as intended. Then eventually it becomes something that noone does, and which eventually becomes close to impossible to do for anyone unfortunate enough to kiss out on the starting rush.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

I actually thought about that when I was typing it out, but you can almost hear the screams on the forums from people not able to fly into their flight path for a day.

Agreed. Unfortunately, the best ideas can become impediments to the daily grind.

[draugril]

I actually thought about that when I was typing it out, but you can almost hear the screams on the forums from people not able to fly into their flight path for a day.

Good! The world should feel like a world, not a video game lobby.

- - - Updated - - -

Agreed. Unfortunately, the best ideas can become impediments to the daily grind.

Is the daily grind worthy of the pedestal it has been placed upon?

- - - Updated - - -

As much as this is an interesting idea I think it will just end up the same as Nazjatar with the minibosses.they start out as complete stomps where failure is almost impossible. Then there is a brief moment where they work as intended. Then eventually it becomes something that noone does, and which eventually becomes close to impossible to do for anyone unfortunate enough to kiss out on the starting rush.

This is a fair point. But WoW does have a ton of adaptive scaling technology at their command these days...

[Bsirk]

As much as this is an interesting idea I think it will just end up the same as Nazjatar with the minibosses.they start out as complete stomps where failure is almost impossible. Then there is a brief moment where they work as intended. Then eventually it becomes something that noone does, and which eventually becomes close to impossible to do for anyone unfortunate enough to kiss out on the starting rush.

How about once you beat them back so far it opens up a warfront that everyone can join. Upon winning/losing the warfront it either takes back some of the land/progress or makes it more difficult? I want repercussions for losing. lol

[Wangming]

I really don't see Bards happening anytime soon, either. They simply seem out-of-place in Warcraft lore. It's too alien to the setting and would seem too awkward next to other classes.

Yeah let's keep the setting with space boars from a different timeline and space goats saved from demonic corruption by glowing chinese text grounded and don't introduce common fantasy classes to dilute it.

[Futhark]

My chief issue is that Bard is associated as heavily with the Support role as Priest is with the Healer role. You can bastardize the class and make it something else, but you lose the core gameplay identity of the class in the process. As WoW does not have a support role, I don't want to see the Bard class contorted into a mockery of what it could be.

I had this amazing vision where Bard was made a profession and you increase your skill by going to Inns. At the Inn is a place to play that is structured just like the sausage eating contest at BrewFest. People wait their turn, hop onto available stools, and mash buttons to play songs with other players. Maybe provide an +XP buff that stacks over time for all patrons listening like the summer maypole XP buff; +1 for each player in the band. Play in Inns or outdoor stages across Azeroth to increase your profession skill and gain Achievements and Titles.

It's more entertainment than dancing on mailboxes, right?

TLDR: bard profession not class

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

I really don't see Bards happening anytime soon, either. They simply seem out-of-place in Warcraft lore. It's too alien to the setting and would seem too awkward next to other classes.

I dunno about out of place but I have opposed and will continue to oppose it because I do not trust Blizzard to not either turn it into the D&D Meme Bard, or the Guitar Hero April Fools from Wrath.

[SniperCT]

I wonder if we'll get a small time skip. I'd like like a 2-5 year one personally.

Praying we’ll get new race/class combinations. I want my Night Elf Shaman T_T

I want that and nelf pally the most. (the latter for my wife who's been rping her nelf warrior as a paladin since 2005 and would happily spend some cash on some race/name changes to swap her warrior and paladin lol)

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Is the daily grind worthy of the pedestal it has been placed upon?

Not at all. If it were up to me, I'd go for this idea wholeheartedly. However, Blizzard has to keep in mind that most players tend to prefer something mindless, which is very problematic for players like me.

[Wangming]

Praying we’ll get new race/class combinations. I want my Night Elf Shaman T_T

Shinto priests? Sign me up.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Yeah let's keep the setting with space boars from a different timeline and space goats saved from demonic corruption by glowing chinese text grounded and don't introduce common fantasy classes to dilute it.

Yes but unironically. Introducing a class to a setting in which it doesn't belong would be a terrible idea to me. A "common fantasy class" isn't sufficient to justify it. WoW isn't meant to be a "common fantasy setting". Bards don't fit.

I'd also add that it can't really sell an expansion. Unless we get an expansion that explicitly and transparently connects to it thematically, we can't have it. See: Demon Hunters for Legion, Death Knights for WotLK, Monks for MoP. I don't see any expansion in which a Bard would be the immediate and self-evident response to its themes, and consequently no expansion which would justify Bards.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Shinto priests? Sign me up.

This just reminds me how much I'd love to see Blizz actually lean into a Japanese Ripoff Continent, no matter how much it'd make the same people who haven't played since Pandaria because of "Kung Fu Panda LUL" angry.

[draugril]

I had this amazing vision where Bard was made a profession and you increase your skill by going to Inns. At the Inn is a place to play that is structured just like the sausage eating contest at BrewFest. People wait their turn, hop onto available stools, and mash buttons to play songs with other players. Maybe provide an +XP buff that stacks over time for all patrons listening like the summer maypole XP buff; +1 for each player in the band. Play in Inns or outdoor stages across Azeroth to increase your profession skill and gain Achievements and Titles.

It's more entertainment than dancing on mailboxes, right?

TLDR: bard profession not class

SW:G flashbacks right there...

[Futhark]

Option 2.) A set of Elective specs

I like this one the best, but to match the expansion theme, you can swear yourself to the respective Dragon Flights and pick up an extended role to add more flexibility to max level classes you already have:

Black-Flight Tank Spec: Shaman, Warlock, Rogue
Red-Flight Healer Spec: Mage, Hunter, Warrior(?)
Blue-Flight Caster Spec: Monk, Paladin, DK, DH

I would play a Black-Flight Shaman Tank all day.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

I dunno about out of place but I have opposed and will continue to oppose it because I do not trust Blizzard to not either turn it into the D&D Meme Bard, or the Guitar Hero April Fools from Wrath.

Agreed. I could see Bards as being an interesting subset of a "Dashing Swashbuckler" archetype, but this is the type of Bard people seem to be leaning towards. I'm all for a Bard who may have one or two enchanted instruments and is mainly a sort of Jack Sparrow archetype (this could work as a Rogue specialization, actually), but I think the idea of a purely-musical, buff-based Bard is a terrible idea. I also think that we'll never get a class that doesn't have an explicit and transparent connection to an expansion theme.

- - - Updated - - -

TLDR: bard profession not class

Agreed. Your idea seems interesting.

[Wangming]

Not at all. If it were up to me, I'd go for this idea wholeheartedly. However, Blizzard has to keep in mind that most players tend to prefer something mindless, which is very problematic for players like me.

forced dailies are casual unfriendly relics of the past that will hopefully disappear. The system shoud allow you to accumulate five days worth of dailies and do them in one go if you are so inclined.

It would work for people who can only play a few hours every day as they can just do their dailies and be done with it.
It would work for people who can't play at all on weekdays but are more than happy to no life the game on their weekend.

Sure those who can no life it every day can't fit the game to their pace, but honestly those would clear a patch in a day and whine about nothing to do for the next five months so their oppinion doesn't matter. And frankly I quite doubt there are too many of those people anyway.

[Veya30]

Could you imagine that we start getting WQ/Dailies popping up all over Azeroth that end up culminating into a huge battle/assault that Alliance and Horde both join to save the area. I think that would be fun. Toss in some transmogs and I'm sold!

I'm thinking they are going to have to add in some kind of world content before 10.0. In the recent WoW dev interview, they said they look at Seasons lasting between 6 to 8 months. Lets say that's on the 6 month side of things, maybe 7 months for Season 3. Your looking at a Q1 2023 release date for 10.0. No way Zereth Mortis lasts that long for the outdoor content.

[Wangming]

This just reminds me how much I'd love to see Blizz actually lean into a Japanese Ripoff Continent, no matter how much it'd make the same people who haven't played since Pandaria because of "Kung Fu Panda LUL" angry.

It would be Naruto LUL.

You know it is quite amazing how well Inazuma turned out in Genshin Impact consider the game is Chinese. Mind you I would still sooner live in Liyue Harbor, but I would still teleport over to take Ei out for tricolor dango every saturday.

[draugril]

Not at all. If it were up to me, I'd go for this idea wholeheartedly. However, Blizzard has to keep in mind that most players tend to prefer something mindless, which is very problematic for players like me.

I disagree with Ghostcrawler's assertion that players don't rise to a challenge. They absolutely do, kicking and screaming, but they do. I work in a field that often offers challenges employees in their roles as a rule (as opposed to letting everyone sit on their laurels). Even the worst among them will rise to the challenge if given reason to invest in the task and the tools to accomplish it.

All that being said... there still needs to be content to grandma to play with. This is also something that should be prioritized. But right now? Their design appeases no one. They're catering to the players that don't want to be doing the content in the first place in the interest of convenience, efficiency and "engagement " (as a metric) rather than actual good design.