Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Teriz]

World of Warcraft: Something Else

I personally feel that WoW: Undermine would be a superior expansion.

[wombinator04]

The only announcement that would surprise me would be player housing. We'd lose many raid tiers.

[Sondrelk]

Apparently it's a hot take but I think pretty much the only covenant-based feature that's going to carry over into the next expansion will be renown. Reputation as a reward structure is incredibly dated yet the devs still depend on it to give rewards through world content. I'd much prefer to see future rep factions use renown because it gives rewards far more frequently than the ungodly neutral to exalted grind.

Other than that, even in an expansion with five distinctly-flavored Dragonflights, I don't think we'll see covenants be rehashed in any identical capacity to Shadowlands.

Renown is probably the single greates idea in the expansion. It finally bridges the problems that used to exist between reputation-gating, and pure time gating, having the benefits offered by both.

My ideal version going forward really is for covenants to be baked into reputations, with similar rewards, storylines, and zone upgrades, all locked behind Renown so that early players can have a large amount of content, and then later for that content to be made more readily avilable without having to tie everything to reputation all the time.

[Wildmoon]

The only announcement that would surprise me would be player housing. We'd lose many raid tiers.

Pls no housing.

[Sondrelk]

Pls no housing.

Have to agree here.

Housing could be good. It could be great even. But it could also be absolutely horrendously shit. And WoW is not exactly at a point where it can afford to risk an expansion on a feature that might not work.

Had SL been a slam-dunk and all the systems flowed smoothly, then I could see Blizzard going for housing as a side-project they could take a risk on.

[Syegfryed]

I'm definitely not typical, in that regard. I played Horde in Vanilla because Alliance had no races I thought were interesting until Draenei were added. And I also mained Worgen from Cata's release until Vulpera brought me back to Horde. Maybe there aren't many Worgen but I will say this, those who are really fans of Worgen have fun with it. There used to be a Worgen-themed podcast and there is this group of artists on WrA who all play Worgen and run around doing crazy stuff together and sharing screenshots. The same is kinda true for gnomes. Those who like gnomes are very enthusiastic about it. And, even though I've never been interested to play one myself, I appreciate that passion. I guess being an underdog can be a fuel of sorts.

i played alliance back in wtlk as dwarf but what won me over was worgen, as an werewolf fan, of course i main horde, but always keep my worgen up to date, he was my main in BfA, cause fuck horde there

[Wildmoon]

Have to agree here.

Housing could be good. It could be great even. But it could also be absolutely horrendously shit. And WoW is not exactly at a point where it can afford to risk an expansion on a feature that might not work.

Had SL been a slam-dunk and all the systems flowed smoothly, then I could see Blizzard going for housing as a side-project they could take a risk on.

The best housing is still bad.

[Sondrelk]

The best housing is still bad.

Best housing would be something akin to Battle Pets. Specifically Battle Pet dungeons.
It would be quite niche. But a nice background element that is constantly added to in every patch.

[Leowyld]

i played alliance back in wtlk as dwarf but what won me over was worgen, as an werewolf fan, of course i main horde, but always keep my worgen up to date, he was my main in BfA, cause fuck horde there

I still maintain a Worgen alt as my main Alliance-side character (also a werewolf fan). Definitely still my fave race blue-side.

Edit P.S.: I don't think any race except for vulpera could've pulled me away from Worgen - but small scrappy, resourceful, clever beasties - it was just too much the perfect storm for a race for me (see: avatar). I was sorta the Rocket Raccoon guy on Marvel Heroes and it's funny because the same month that sadly closed down, we were introduced to vulpera for the first time.

[Wildmoon]

Best housing would be something akin to Battle Pets. Specifically Battle Pet dungeons.
It would be quite niche. But a nice background element that is constantly added to in every patch.

But it will take huge resource.

[Syegfryed]

Have to agree here.

Housing could be good. It could be great even. But it could also be absolutely horrendously shit. And WoW is not exactly at a point where it can afford to risk an expansion on a feature that might not work.

Had SL been a slam-dunk and all the systems flowed smoothly, then I could see Blizzard going for housing as a side-project they could take a risk on.

The Garrison show good housing is possible.

Like, for me, Garrison was not perfect because i had no control on who stay inside, and i sure hell wanted to kick out a lot of fucking npcs there, i loved the stable where the mounts you favorite could be seeing resting or walking, it was my protodrake farm.

[Vakir]

I am pretty sure you cannot change your choice on a whim in those Western RPGs. You pick a story path and stick to it. If you want to change it then it's either gruelingly difficult, or requires a reset of some kind to before the choice was even made.

Yes, I agree. That's my point. Games with rigid paths like that usually don't have direct power discrepancies unless it's specifically built into the structure of the entire game (like, say, rolling a Nosferatu in Bloodlines). Even then it is built around multiple playthroughs. This is not something that works in an 18 year old MMO with social structures and pre-existing character attachment.

You can have meaningful choice without power in that context. If it's meaningless without it, it means you failed to make the story surrounding the choices interesting and everyone is just playing a pragmatic character that's going to side with who benefits them most. Choice ceases to matter because all players end up roleplaying a Dreadlord.

You migth as well have made all covenant sanctums and upgrades available at once, and relegated the actual ability choice to an extra tacked on talent row.

Hey man, that's a great idea. My choice now extends to who I commit my anima to first and who I want to support the reconstruction of as my main order of business. My personal support is dictated by who I value most and whose values I align with rather than who gives me the best numbers.

...oh, you were implying that's a bad thing. Shame. But hey, going to Oribos every single time just adds so much, y'know?

[UndedoKoleda]

WTB one final round of juicy fake leaks PM me

[Sondrelk]

But it will take huge resource.

It would take tremendous resources to make it work. Far more than Battle Pets. And Blizzard would either have to do it all in one go, risking the expansion, or over several expansions, during which players wuold have to hope that it keeps getting supported until it's at a good spot.

[Wildmoon]

It would take tremendous resources to make it work. Far more than Battle Pets. And Blizzard would either have to do it all in one go, risking the expansion, or over several expansions, during which players wuold have to hope that it keeps getting supported until it's at a good spot.

Big no for me. Huge resource invested into something that I hardly will care about.

[AngerFork]

Wait what? Pandaren are more popular than Draenei? Finally!

Although I don't understand why Worgen are so low. Granted The last two classes added to the game were not available to them. Hopefully they can become Evokers.

IMO, I think it has to do with the model they have. So many animations just don't flow well with their model, especially the spell casting ones. I had a couple for a while & eventually race changed them when I just couldn't stand the animations any more.

[Kohtra]

Big no for me. Huge resource invested into something that I hardly will care about.

It's a big yes for me. Huge feature I really want and will care more about than raid tier #38, now with boss that does whirling attack instead of knockback attack. Good thing you don't pay more for your subscription than me.

[Sondrelk]

Hey man, that's a great idea. My choice now extends to who I commit my anima to first and who I want to support the reconstruction of as my main order of business.

...oh, you were implying that's a bad thing. Shame. But hey, going to Oribos every single time just adds so much, y'know?

No that is exactly what I want. Either have a choice that you need to stick to and which is importnat, or don't have a meaningful chocie at all.

My ideal version of covenants would probably be improved reputations, where at max level you are obliged to pick one oyu want to focus on first, gaining some rewards, zone upgrades, and storylines.
Then at a later spot in this process you are allowed to pick more reputations to help. Either doing them all in one go, or spreading your efforts out over several at once.

The current version of covenants we have now are just moronic, where you are constantly reminded that going to Bastion without changing your covenant to Kyrian before leaving Oribos leaves you worse equipped, both in terms of zone upgrades, and unique quests and treasures.

[Wangming]

IMO, I think it has to do with the model they have. So many animations just don't flow well with their model, especially the spell casting ones. I had a couple for a while & eventually race changed them when I just couldn't stand the animations any more.

It does looks awkward with the flailing arms, doesn't it? A much more lore accurate version would be for a worgen form to be a a sort of offensive cooldown that works like metamorphosis. You go in, get harder, better, faster, stronger. You tear shit appart with your hands before you revert to regular strength. Granted making something like this a racial trate would be too much. And as for a class...what else would we do when the cooldown is not up?

Hence my solution to make them an endgame power boost. You can level the strength of your pack form with the power grind.

[KayRule]

Big no for me. Huge resource invested into something that I hardly will care about.

They already spend huge resources on shit like raids, something they openly admit they are aware of only a small fraction of the playerbase participates in.