Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Keyalios]

That's odd. Wasn't Galakrond a non-sapient, non-speaking Proto-Dragon? I know that we're fighting against ancient elemental Proto-Dragons, but why is Galakrond suddenly capable of having "followers"? Or is it more of a cult around him?

He had at least some form of thought. Whilst I don't recall him thinking the traitors in the Allied ProtoDrake Force (or whatever you want to call that group) talked to him and attempted to negotiate and he *did* listen. Of course, once he was done he started eating them, but he listened at first.

[Varx]

This.. is the funniest post ever.

Believe me the look on his face was priceless.

[Chickat]

Ok, I'm finally back from re-re-re-re-re-watching the reveal, and it was awesome. Could it have been more? Yes of course, but Dragonflight won't be the last Expansion so we can still get stuff like the revamp, housing or class skins down the line.

Have we talked about the Dragonriding system already? Initially I was a bit nervous because as a primary mount collector I fear it will kinda loose the collecting aspect. That said, the website said we can have all 4 different types which is kinda cool, and if the cosmetic unlocks are accountwide and every of my chars can have their own 4 different drakes I'll be happy! Just hoping stuff like colours isn't locked behind pvp elite content (I'm fine with armour though!).

Also, Otter mounts <3

So I get the feeling ground mounts will work still, and they will likely unlock traditional flying near the end of the expansion. Also there's clearly an Otter mount, so there will still be ground mounts and likely normal dragon mounts to collect. I think its fine to have a limited flying collection for 1 expansion. They are obviously going to expand on it to regular mounts in the future anyways. Plus, maybe 11.0 is underground and we get wall riding mounts? Spiders that can climb walls and get to caves etc on the ceiling.

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the one thing this game definately does not need is another melee class.

Yeah caster and rdps players have been waiting 18 years for a new ranged class. Melee players can wait.

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I wasn't here during the announcement, but what is the general consensus for the cinematic?

I personally LOVED it and loved how the narration and it being more world centric than the previous few was (and no fighting going on like last 3)

It was down to earth and reminded me of the MoP cinematic in a lot of ways. Not the best ever, but top 3 or 4. Much better than the Shadowlands one thatsf or sure.

[Keyalios]

NGL something like this mockup from reddit would fix a TON of my complaints.

[Chickat]

I see no issue with one Melee spec to supplement the Ranged and healing specs. It's not like the entire class would be purely Melee.

More choice is good for everyone. Variety is the spice of life.

Sure, but players said the same thing with a demon hunter. It would have been cool to have a fel bow spec too. If demon hunters get an rpds I would be cool with Evokers getting a mdps.

[huth]

Yeah I like it. I imagine every druid will have Healing touch or Regrowth as they do now, but if you have say a healing boss fight a balance druid could have a loadout just for that fight. Maybe a talent gives them 50% reduced healing spell mana cost, and they talent into a few healins spells as well. Suddenly they can contribute noticeably to healing bosses etc. The next fight is a dragon with an air phase 25% of the time. A feral druid could talent into balance spells to help out etc. It is actually a really cool idea and will potentially lead to WAY more ways to play the game.

Well, for Druids that's actually not much of a change. The attunement row does just that. But it's a bit more gradual with the new system.

[infinitemeridian]

I really don't like the format the 9.2 / 10.0 reveals have taken. Give me panels and in-depth overviews again, not these round-table "discussions" with forced corpo "humor". The 8.3 reveal was probably the best format. Just have one person (Ion) go through all the features, what they encompass, and what the goals is. Then fill in the gaps with interviews and what not.

[Chickat]

Thing is, if you play HotS, the dragons are decidedly ranged, with a small amount of close abilities. I really don’t know how you make this into a melee damage spec without some boring claw and bite attacks.

And that would make it too much like Druids.

That said, I would have loved a Tank spec…

I agree. It makes much more sense to have a tank spec.

[huth]

I'm hoping the continent is actually as large as it it's been described. Zoomin' through a bunch of Storm Peaks-sized zones with physics-based flight mechanics is a legitimately good baseline to add fun world content on top of.

Well, the french interview apparently says it's one of the largest continents ever. I wonder if they counted EK/Kalimdor when they said that.

[Teriz]

Agreed I just wish, as I said, that we had a tank spec. And using Red for DPS instead of healing is insane. As is Bronze for healing IMO. Three or Four specs would do the class far more justice. As would temporarily turning into a drake not into this ugly Zandalari Moonkin wannabe form.

While it isn't how I would have structured the class spec-wise, I can understand the decisions they made. I do like having Blue and Green flights integrated into the class, and having the ability to be a blue or green dragon. In addition, having some Bronze influence on the healing spec could be very interesting.

I do feel that they should have done a tank spec, but I understand the reasoning behind it. We have a lot of tanks in WoW currently, and I can tell they wanted to keep this class largely outside of melee range.

[Chickat]

The 4 zone thing is weird.

Why not just utilize the Dracthyr zone as a regular zone?

Maybe it will be an end game zone in a patch? Maybe its small? Who knows, but they did say that the zones are the biggest they have ever made sooo..

4 Dragonflight zones could be as big as 6 WoD zones or northern or OL. Too soon to see IMO. Pandaria was 5 zones initially and they turned it into 7 due to feedback.

Its also possible that they are going to go smaller scale for the initial expansion so they have dev time for 2 more big zones in patches. 77 day patch cadence with 2 big zones added every 6 months.

[Teriz]

NGL something like this mockup from reddit would fix a TON of my complaints.

I do think that the Dracthyr were a decent compromise between playing a dragon and a humanoid drakonid…

If they fixed the race up a bit and/or added more body types I’d like them a lot more.

I think a lot of the issues people are having are aesthetics. I do think we're going to get that as a body option.

[Chickat]

Someones edit from reddit:

That looks better, but maybe too thick.

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The size of Dragonflight's continent is hard to pin down, but it's one of the largest continents Blizzard has offered to players. What is striking is that it is very lively and offers breathtaking panoramas. It is a living continent that does not lack life, as players will be able to experience by traveling through the different areas.

[maplesyrupgl]

I just really hate how Dracthyr and Evokers are locked to each other. It just feels so unnecessary.

Why not have Dracthyr be the humanoid form with all the customisation options as a neutral race that can play other classes.

And have Evoker be a class that transforms into a dragondude that flies around. But they can be any race, including Dracthyr. We don't need the horns and scales customisation for the class, 99% of dragons in WoW manifest as regular members of the race anyway, Chrome for example.

Obviously, the expectation is to make a Drac'thyr Evoker, like a Pandaren Monk, but other options are there.

I just cannot for the life of me imagine why they've done it the way they have...

[Chickat]

There will inevitably be a big bad in the expansion . However, just as we experienced with Mists of Pandaria, we will have to wait to find out who it is. We'll start by learning more about the threats to Dragonflight, just like we did with the Sha and Mogu on MoP. Eventually, we will find out who the threat of Dragonflight is. It will be necessary to explore, understand the world and wait before knowing who is the main threat of the extension. You have to understand how the story unfolds so as not to imagine that a character comes out of nowhere.

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Only 4? I hope there's more than 4 new dungeons.

There are 8 dungeons. Its likely Current seasons will be split in 2.

Season 1 and 2 will cover the expansion launch to the new tier raid and zone so 6-7 months.

Season 1 has 4 new dungeons and 4 old ones with M+ Draconic affix. I made Draconic up but its the affix for season 1 and 2 lets say.
Season 2 has the other 4 new dungeons and 4 old ones with M+ Draconic.
Season 3 will have a repeat of the Season 1 dungeons but with a new affix
Season 4 will have a repeat of the season 2 dungeons with a new affix

Repeat for 5-8 seasons in an expansion.

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Would be nice if each season meant a new batch of dungeons. That would certainly make up for less at launch IMO.

I think they would just add the new dungeon into the season and have 9 dungeons that season.

[huth]

There are 8 dungeons. Its likely Current seasons will be split in 2.

Season 1 and 2 will cover the expansion launch to the new tier raid and zone so 6-7 months.

Season 1 has 4 new dungeons and 4 old ones with M+ Draconic affix. I made Draconic up but its the affix for season 1 and 2 lets say.
Season 2 has the other 4 new dungeons and 4 old ones with M+ Draconic.
Season 3 will have a repeat of the Season 1 dungeons but with a new affix
Season 4 will have a repeat of the season 2 dungeons with a new affix

Repeat for 5-8 seasons in an expansion.

Either way, there have to be at minimum 8 dungeons or it just wouldn't work. Not sure why so many people can't figure that out.

[Merryck]

Imagine they add more visages it would be like getting infinite free race changes at the barbershop.

[Keyalios]

That looks better, but maybe too thick.

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The size of Dragonflight's continent is hard to pin down, but it's one of the largest continents Blizzard has offered to players. What is striking is that it is very lively and offers breathtaking panoramas. It is a living continent that does not lack life, as players will be able to experience by traveling through the different areas.

Yeah I agree. It looks alot better to me but I would go with a middle ground between the two. But I would prefer a bit fat over too thin especially for draconic entities.

[rhorle]

NGL something like this mockup from reddit would fix a TON of my complaints.

I think the existing model is fine and that mock up has way to tiny of a head and way to bulky. Makes the whole thing look weird.

[Chickat]

Well after watching all the information available ATM, Dragonflight is definitively a step in the right way.

I really like everything that we have seen, although I am worried about class balance with so many talents, it has to be a nightmare for them; also, Dragon riding, it could be very fun or very annoying.

Sadly, no console version, so I am afraid that I will not be able to play it

Everything about the expansion looks good. My only issue is that I worry there isn't enough new. Itl still be good fun, but it needs 1 hook to keep players. Housing, some new feature. Anything.