Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Syegfryed]

I think most people already know by now that the Dracthyr dragon model is based on the Incubus skeleton, but I still see some people debating on whether it could be Female Worgen or Female Meta DH instead. However, I made several side-by-side comparisons with all of the aforementioned options and Incubus is the one that ended up matching them the best.

There are small differences, so it's not a 1:1 copy-paste, but the position of the limbs is enough to give it away.

People should be more pissed off by this than they are because this is the first time Blizzard has introduced a brand new race (not an Allied Race) that uses a rig based on something that already exists in the game. Goblins, Worgen, Blood Elves, Draenei, and Pandaren all had completely unique skeletons at the time of their release.

I wonder how people will feel about their brand new race sharing a skeleton with another class's pet? It feels a little insulting, lol.

I think im being a broken record, but i will say a again, the problem is trying to sell this as a "new race" when this si clearly just a class that have a dragon form like druids and demon hunters

This drake have none of the things a new race should have, compare then with worgens and you see how lame they are, reskin of a warlock pet, can't use weapons or armor, awful

Im disgusted by the fact those things have so many fingers, the drakes dragons we had so far had less, this makes their hands and foot obnoxiously large with their skinny body.

I rly can't get over the fact how they are skinny, is like a fucking gecko

I still can't believe we will get this and not adrakonid, blizzard using their reverse midas touch

[Cheezits]

I do enjoy this whole new arc of defenders going "legacy fans are dead, zoomer fans who apparently are scalies are going to save the game". Keep it on, I guess.

Kekw NEW FANS

New people play FF14 Lost Ark and Mobas they don't care about WoW and they cringe corporate fake interviews as showcase or boomer apology to the LGBTQ community by adding a gender queer race.


Microsoft needs to do some cleanse in 2023

Yeah, that's why they did two back to back new lore expansions that have little-to-zero appeal for old Warcraft players.

Those profitable, profitable old Warcraft players right?

[ercarp]

There's enough differences that people are going to laugh this off though.

The differences aren't actually that large—they're quite small—and they mostly come down to me just not pausing the incubus model at the exact same moment as the Dracthyr run animation. But I guess we'll find out when we get into Alpha/Beta and can compare them more directly.

[Syegfryed]

Yeah, that's why they did two back to back new lore expansions that have little-to-zero appeal for old Warcraft players.

Those profitable, profitable old Warcraft players right?

You mean shadowlands that was a failure of expansion?

[ImTheMizAwesome]

I also find it silly that you have Kalegcos and human male being the most default race of wow is not even an option for new race/class combo lmao.

[Marlamin]

Yeah. I'd say it is more likely the other way around (Dracthyr first, Incubus second).

And, honestly, no idea how long Dracthyr has been in the works for, but the new Dreadlord model added in Shadowlands also looks similar animation wise so might be connected to that as well.

[ercarp]

The incubus used a new rig? If true it just cofirms that they developed dracthyr first and reused the rig for incubus

Yeah. I'd say it is more likely the other way around (Dracthyr first, Incubus second).

Ultimately, I think the order they were developed in makes no difference because in either scenario they've decided to give what's supposed to be a completely new and unique rig to a warlock's pet, when it should have only been used by the new race.

We've seen Blizzard reuse rigs from other races in the past, so that's nothing new, but they've usually had the courtesy of waiting a couple of expansions before doing that. What they've done here just feels bad and cheapens the impact of getting a "new" race.

[Teriz]

I rly can't get over the fact how they are skinny, is like a fucking gecko

I'm willing to bet that the vast majority prefers Dracthyrs to Drakonoids. I know some around here really dig that race, but if we're being honest here, slimmer "cuter" dragons simply have more mass appeal.

[Syegfryed]

You can find so much better art online, of how a humanoid dragon should look like

[Shadochi]

I think it sounds like a lot.

Revamped talents at this scope are going to need a ton of balancing work to begin with, a lot more than the extra talent rows & soulbinds needed for Shadowlands. Every spec will need this, all 38 of them. Given how intricate some of those talent rows looked, it's possible some of these specs are getting overhauled pending how many abilities are in the trees instead of baseline with the class.

Dragon Riding shouldn't be super intense, we've already seen most of the pieces elsewhere. But there are complications. The customizations sound a lot like the Mechagon mounts with custom colors & the unlocking abilities sound similar to Pocopoc, but there will still need to be testing of each new talent added...both in how it works & given that this is early flying, how easy this makes it to break the game. We still have the falling DC bug which could be a nightmare with the dive bombing aspect of this new system, so one has to think that will need a glance.

Dracthyr Evokers will need a bunch of work. Balancing, adjusting abilities, determining racials & class abilities (as much as there's really any reason to separate them), bugs with the starting zone, etc. Not to mention the whole charging spell aspect of the class.

UI revamp is going to need a lot of testing. Do the bars lock up? Is it possible to make UI pieces unrecoverable? How well is that spec saving going, and is there a way to copy those settings to alts? Profession revamp is going to need a ton as well, given how much this differs from the norm.

It's maybe not as much as Legion, but there's still a bunch here IMO.

The last thing is my point, im not saying there isn't anything, just less than previous expansion.

For the option of talents that you said having more icons than classes or specs have baseline abilites, you also need to account here for the traits on artifacts, azerite traits and conduits making a comeback in the talent tree. Again in my eyes this is more similar still to the level of testing needed to be done with borrowed power systems.

For the new class, true but this is only slightly larger than the 1 or 2 specs they revamp per expac (the harder part is how the class feels to play than the numbers since they can easily be changed, but when revamping specs they have to pay attention does it feel like the class while with Evoker they have a blank slate).

UI yes, but seeing how the community loves their custom UIs I believe testing for this will go quick as the community tries to break everything.

I didn't include "Profession Revamp" here since to me it seems like most recent expansion (bar SL) had some sort of profession revamp. But heck am I excited about profession appearances

[Berkilak]

If Drac'thyr actually had a melee or tank specialization, I think these "bulky" arguments would hold some water. I personally prefer a form that looks physically robust. But... why would they need to be? As designed, they're functionally Mages and Healers entirely. There's no need for bulk, from a design point of view.

[Malorne the White Stag]

You can find so much better art online, of how a humanoid dragon should look like

This should've been another race with multiple classes.

[ercarp]

I think im being a broken record, but i will say a again, the problem is trying to sell this as a "new race" when this is clearly just a class that have a dragon form like druids and demon hunters

This drake have none of the things a new race should have, compare then with worgens and you see how lame they are, reskin of a warlock pet, can't use weapons or armor, awful

Im disgusted by the fact those things have so many fingers, the drakes dragons we had so far had less, this makes their hands and foot obnoxiously large with their skinny body.

I rly can't get over the fact how they are skinny, is like a fucking gecko

I still can't believe we will get this and not a drakonid, blizzard using their reverse midas touch

I completely agree. This should have just been a class that's available to every race and when you pick it, it gives you the extra draconic customization options (horns, scales, etc.) and the ability to use a dragon form. This makes no sense as a race, and it makes even less sense considering they didn't give this "race" any other classes than Evoker.

[Shadochi]

Ultimately, I think the order they were developed in makes no difference because in either scenario they've decided to give what's supposed to be a completely new and unique rig to a warlock's pet, when it should have only been used by the new race.

We've seen Blizzard reuse rigs from other races in the past, so that's nothing new, but they've usually had the courtesy of waiting a couple of expansions before doing that. What they've done here just feels bad and cheapens the impact of getting a "new" race.

So what you're saying is the should've just kept the rig for half a pet of one class(since its a pet option)?

I really don't see an issue with them reusing skeletons if that means they can pump out more appearances

[Syegfryed]

If Drac'thyr actually had a melee or tank specialization, I think these "bulky" arguments would hold some water. I personally prefer a form that looks physically robust. But... why would they need to be? As designed, they're functionally Mages and Healers entirely. There's no need for bulk, from a design point of view.

you don't even need to be that bulky, just be something not anorexic, they are too skinny, they shoulders are too small, this in contrast with the big feet, hands and wings make then look dumb

[Ersula]

wow this thread has quieted down

"Drakthyr" are some everquest level hype assassination

[Teriz]

You can find so much better art online, of how a humanoid dragon should look like

And what would be the point of such a race? It'd just be Draenei 2.0. A dragon race without dragon abilities is just another big, bulky race option that adds nothing new to the game. We have a few of those already.

[Shadochi]

I completely agree. This should have just been a class that's available to every race and when you pick it, it gives you the extra draconic customization options (horns, scales, etc.) and the ability to use a dragon form. This makes no sense as a race, and it makes even less sense considering they didn't give this "race" any other classes than Evoker.

I mean it is technically just a class that can be human or elf.

[ercarp]

I mean it is technically just a class that can be human or elf.

Which doesn't sound too enticing if I'm being honest.

[Marlamin]

Ultimately, I think the order they were developed in makes no difference because in either scenario they've decided to give what's supposed to be a completely new and unique rig to a warlock's pet, when it should have only been used by the new race.

We've seen Blizzard reuse rigs from other races in the past, so that's nothing new, but they've usually had the courtesy of waiting a couple of expansions before doing that. What they've done here just feels bad and cheapens the impact of getting a "new" race.

I personally don't think this is that big of a deal. Realistically, I'm not going to notice two different models move the same/similarly in the few times they're on screen together and running at the same time. If them allowing to get a new race (or new pet) out of the door quicker by basing either on the same rig and then building on top of that, that only seems like a bonus to me.