Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[SniperCT]

I loved Teldrassil and I hate what they did in BfA, but I don't think restoring it is a good idea story-wise. Even if it makes sense with Tear of Elune and uber magic, it would still feel cheap. New tree would be better, but I have no idea where to put it
I wonder if Lordaeron gets reclaimed by Alliance. I hope it does, but if yes, plus the new tree/Teldrassil back for alliance, Horde will likely riot. I mean, I guess they will be getting rebuild Silvermoon (maybe with Forsaken refugees) and maybe Goblins could get a city if the leaks of their involvement are true.

Gilneas, right off the coast. Further strengthen the story/lore/friendship ties between the worgen and the Nelves

[Nymrohd]

I mean they could restore Teldrassil and just completely change how it looks so it somewhat matches the fantasy of what it was supposed to be.
Though really, Darnassus should have fallen in the sea. The tree BURNED. Those branches could not support the buildings any more.

But that's me also hoping for a world revamp that features reconstruction heavily.

[Golden Yak]

Night Elves literally have a perfect new home in Nordrassil, the World Tree atop Mount Hyjal.

It's true. The night elves only grew Teldrassil because Nordrassil was destroyed, and it's long since recovered.

[SniperCT]

Night Elves literally have a perfect new home in Nordrassil, the World Tree atop Mount Hyjal.

• It is the original World Tree unless you count G'Hanir.
• It has the new Well of Eternity underneath it.
• There are lots of shrines dedicated to sacred Wild Gods around the place.
• It's a beautiful and unique location overlooking their forests below, of which they are protectors and custodians.
• It has a deep connection to the Dragon Aspects.
• It is a very important location to safeguard, given how it is the final World Tree protecting Azeroth.
• Because it is separated from the landmass below and won't look strange by comparison, Blizzard can take some liberties and design a proper tree-top city.
• I could go on...

That new seed-thingie from the Winter Queen could be a perfect gift to bestow upon Nordrassil. Let it sit underneath it and sort of... imbue the tree to allow the Night Elves to regain their former power.

This would also be nice

[Raxacorico]

If we could ignore the fact that sargeras' sword is sticking out of atmosphere. And blizzard loves ignoring facts, they really could grow the tree around the sword and heal the wooonz

[Buliwyf the Omen]

Didnt we pour our Artifact Weapon Power into the Sword? What if the Dragonflight Aspects siphon it to become stronger and grant the player characters the power to Evoke their Flights?

[Wangming]

If we could ignore the fact that sargeras' sword is sticking out of atmosphere. And blizzard loves ignoring facts, they really could grow the tree around the sword and heal the wooonz

Yes, let's grow a world tree out of the corpse of an Old God. No way that could end badly.

[Raxacorico]

Yes, let's grow a world tree out of the corpse of an Old God. No way that could end badly.

As I said, blizzard loves ignoring, or rather forgetting facts

[Nymrohd]

I don't exactly understand what a treetop zone (not even a city) at the top of a single tree is supposed to look like.

I can understand a city atop a grove of massive trees with most buildings built inside tree trunks at the point were the branches grow thickest, with some branches interwoven and maybe a few platforms built in (classic forest/wood elven city). Maybe a truly massive hollow tree that contains a city like Vordrassil.

But a zone like Teldrassil? Was it supposed to have grown from beneath the ground and lifted an island up in the sky, somehow not having the island slowly but surely fall to the sea in pieces? If not why is it this solid, with no gaps to see below? How does it have caves??? How did they lift all the rock up there to build atop it?

Teldrassil was both the coolest concept they had for Vanilla as well as the least successfully implemented. I am half convinced they burned it down because they needed to completely revamp it or because they didn't feel they could ever do the concept properly. Imo I'd have prepared a zone that looks like Kuldahar from Icewind Dale; a massive tree sprawling across the island, its roots dividing the zone, maybe lifting into arches over spots to allow movement between subzones while Darnassus is built on the trunk of the tree. The island could have had enough variation in elevation that the tree itself just lays over the original elevation, with roots sprouting at different points, allowing Darnassus to look like an acropolis at a high cliff side with maybe some lower branches used to create multiple levels in the city and give the treetop feel.

[Lady Atia]

Night Elves literally have a perfect new home in Nordrassil, the World Tree atop Mount Hyjal.

• It is the original World Tree unless you count G'Hanir.
• It has the new Well of Eternity underneath it.
• There are lots of sacred shrines dedicated to Wild Gods around the place.
• It's a beautiful and unique location overlooking their forests below, of which they are protectors and custodians.
• It has a deep connection to the Dragon Aspects.
• It is a very important location to safeguard, given how it is the final World Tree protecting Azeroth.
• Because it is separated from the landmass below and won't look strange by comparison, Blizzard can take some liberties and design a proper tree-top city. A beautiful cover of dense mist or radiant moonlit fog looming around the hills of Hyjal could sort of obscure the tree from down below, so it won't look too strange for people at a distance when they have a large draw distance.
• I could go on...

That new seed-thingie from the Winter Queen could be a perfect gift to bestow upon Nordrassil. Let it sit underneath it and sort of... imbue the tree to allow the Night Elves to regain their former power. A permanent link to the forests of Ardenweald in the Shadowlands, thereby gaining immortality.

Hell, I could even see this link to Ardenweald as a way to let Ysera into Azeroth once again. She could travel into Azeroth like the Druids travel into the Dream.

There could also be a great parallel drawn with the Blood Elves of Silvermoon. If Quel'thalas and Silvermoon are restored as well, both Horde and Alliance will have gotten something new. Silvermoon also has the Sunwell, which is based on the Well of Eternity.

This would also help with a reason for the Covenant Races to become Allied Races - since there would be a portal to the Shadowlands it would make sense to help defend Azeroth from Invaders. That said, it would be a bit .... weird .... to close the portal to the Maw just to establish a new one into Ardenweald? Well, aslong as I can play a Kyrian I will be happy haha.

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Yes, let's grow a world tree out of the corpse of an Old God. No way that could end badly.

To be fair, our history shows that humanity is too dumb to remember things so we just do the same shitty stuff over and over again. Why would the people of Azeroth be different?

[Nymrohd]

This would also be nice

Honestly I never understood why the night elves would abandon all Highborne structures and just let them to ruin. Even back then they must have had plenty of civilians, why not have them live there? They still largely use stone architecture after all in Darnassus. Would have been more interesting to better try and marry the two styles but all the new buildings we've seen added firmly tap in the druidic influence than that of the priesthood of Elune which is far more prevalent when it comes to the Night Elven civilization (given the druids just slept in their burrows most of the time)

[Raetary]

Though really, Darnassus should have fallen in the sea. The tree BURNED. Those branches could not support the buildings any more.

Its branches not falling off is like the least unrealistic thing about the whole burning.

[Nymrohd]

Its branches not falling off is like the least unrealistic thing about the whole burning.

I'd say the burning itself is the least realistic . . . something that large would not burn this fast. Sylvanas did not drop a couple of planes on it after all.

[Wangming]

I don't exactly understand what a treetop zone (not even a city) at the top of a single tree is supposed to look like.

I can understand a city atop a grove of massive trees with most buildings built inside tree trunks at the point were the branches grow thickest, with some branches interwoven and maybe a few platforms built in (classic forest/wood elven city). Maybe a truly massive hollow tree that contains a city like Vordrassil.

But a zone like Teldrassil? Was it supposed to have grown from beneath the ground and lifted an island up in the sky, somehow not having the island slowly but surely fall to the sea in pieces? If not why is it this solid, with no gaps to see below? How does it have caves??? How did they lift all the rock up there to build atop it?

Teldrassil was both the coolest concept they had for Vanilla as well as the least successfully implemented. I am half convinced they burned it down because they needed to completely revamp it or because they didn't feel they could ever do the concept properly. Imo I'd have prepared a zone that looks like Kuldahar from Icewind Dale; a massive tree sprawling across the island, its roots dividing the zone, maybe lifting into arches over spots to allow movement between subzones while Darnassus is built on the trunk of the tree. The island could have had enough variation in elevation that the tree itself just lays over the original elevation, with roots sprouting at different points, allowing Darnassus to look like an acropolis at a high cliff side with maybe some lower branches used to create multiple levels in the city and give the treetop feel.

Wel with Flying in Cata it shows that Teldrassil wasnt a fully grown tree. Just a tree stump with ground on it somehow. I mean it was probably a real tree in lore, but they couldn't depict it as such. They wanted to outdo Lorien, but didn't really think about how it would go.

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I'd say the burning itself is the least realistic . . . something that large would not burn this fast. Sylvanas did not drop a couple of planes on it after all.

But something something...Elune helping her sister get some souls.

[Iheartnathanos]

Honestly I never understood why the night elves would abandon all Highborne structures and just let them to ruin. Even back then they must have had plenty of civilians, why not have them live there? They still largely use stone architecture after all in Darnassus. Would have been more interesting to better try and marry the two styles but all the new buildings we've seen added firmly tap in the druidic influence than that of the priesthood of Elune which is far more prevalent when it comes to the Night Elven civilization (given the druids just slept in their burrows most of the time)

Oh it was absolutely a characteristic of Night Elf civilisation when Blizzard cared about such things. Highborn ruins were taboo because the arcane was taboo and nature was the antidote to that poison. That was very firm in WC3, the RPGs, early novels, partly in Vanilla then dropped around Cataclysm.

[ZyntosAran]

Oh it was absolutely a characteristic of Night Elf civilisation when Blizzard cared about such things. Highborn ruins were taboo because the arcane was taboo and nature was their way out. That was very firm in WC3, early novels, partly in Vanilla then dropped around Cataclysm.

Looking at you, night elf mages.

[Nymrohd]

Wel with Flying in Cata it shows that Teldrassil wasnt a fully grown tree. Just a tree stump with ground on it somehow. I mean it was probably a real tree in lore, but they couldn't depict it as such. They wanted to outdo Lorien, but didn't really think about how it would go.

See, Lothlorien functions like I described, a large grove of massive trees built into, not a single tree. And we did not need flying to know Teldrassil looked weird. I found out the first day I played, when my night elf druid (first character I rolled) fell off the tree while exploring.

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One way I could maybe see the city be on top of the tree would be to just have it on the trunk at the level where the branches spread out. But it would still be a city and not a zone. And it would still make Teldrassil look completely different to every other world tree by having to be vastly thicker.

[Leaker69]

Yes, let's grow a world tree out of the corpse of an Old God. No way that could end badly.

Wouldn't be the first time But there is no Old God under the sword, no? Cthun is dead and is sort of next door, not exactly underneath XD
Anyway, I think either Sargeras will return or something else will pull that sword out eventually, so bad idea anyway.

[Wangming]

See, Lothlorien functions like I described, a large grove of massive trees built into, not a single tree. And we did not need flying to know Teldrassil looked weird. I found out the first day I played, when my night elf druid (first character I rolled) fell off the tree while exploring.

Yeah Lothlorien and your idea make sense. Teldrassil does not. Like, what the fuck happened? Did the leaves grow so thick they just became solid ground somehow? Nah. To make it work with one tree, Teldrassil should have been much larger and us walking on the tree branches to explore and Darnassus either built on a particularly thick branch or grown into the shape of a city by Druids.

[Nymrohd]

Wouldn't be the first time But there is no Old God under the sword, no? Cthun is dead and is sort of next door, not exactly underneath XD
Anyway, I think either Sargeras will return or something else will pull that sword out eventually, so bad idea anyway.

Always felt that all the silithid hives ARE C'thun's body.

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Yeah Lothlorien and your idea make sense. Teldrassil does not. Like, what the fuck happened? Did the leaves grow so thick they just became solid ground somehow? Nah. To make it work with one tree, Teldrassil should have been much larger and us walking on the tree branches to explore and Darnassus either built on a particularly thick branch or grown into the shape of a city by Druids.

Not even just solid ground. There are caves up there