Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Ersula]

Jackie: Oh, so we’re keeping it. For the new player experience, new players specifically will be sent from Exile’s Reach to BFA, then onto Dragon Isles. More veteran players, people who have already leveled a character to max can choose like Chromie Time to go level in Draenor or Pandaria or Shadowlands. But for new players, it’s going to go: Exile’s Reach, BFA, Dragon Isles.

So....they're decreasing the experience required to get to 60? Plus if they're adjusting Shadowlands to last from 10 to 60, that would also make Shadowlands the fastest place to level by a huge margin. That questline takes less than 4 hours. Besides going right from Exiles reach to Shadowlands busts the entire premise of the early Bastion quests.

[Chickat]

Your completely uncritical optimism is not an argument. Especially not towards the game's inability to innovate.

Your completely overcritical pessimism is not an argument.

[maplesyrupgl]

Why BFA still? just why?

Shadowlands is so disconnected from everything else in the sense of story and world. Having it be the first levelling experience for new players would just feel wrong.

[Cheezits]

BFA ends with the dragons, not at all surprised to hear about the SL skip. On top of that it will probably address the sword at the end if the Azerite tease in the cinematic is any indication.

SL is not a continuation of BFA: it’s the end of the War Campaign, and if you don’t care about Sylvanas it can be skipped entirely. The only things that matter are Anduin stepping down, Sylvanas being banished and Tyrande getting a new seed... and all of that can get explained in a few NPC conversations.

I think endgame is going to be Exiles Reach - Revamped EK/Kalimdor, but for now, Exiles Reach - BFA - DF flows the best,

[Chickat]

I'm quite sure we didn't got pre-orders yesterday because they don't want to commit to a release date again, just remember what happened with Shadowlands.

Could be that too.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Oh my god... they're skipping Shadowlands. From BFA to the Isles directly.

That's telling.

Less of a hassle to a new player I'm assuming.

[Chickat]

If you're going to reply to all my posts from 12 hours ago can you consolidate them all into one post, please.

They then also said only 4 were going to have a mythic difficulty: This tells me they're doing what FFXIV does & it uses the same dungeon for multiple instances. Really its not 8 dunegons; its just 2 slight variations of 4 dungeons. This sounds like how they intend to release it this year: A considerably smaller expansion, even smaller than Shadowlands.

"90% of people are happy with this" lol maybe 90% of the people still playing this game, which at this point is about 30% of the people who were playing at the start of Shadowlands

There are 8 dungeons, but only 4 will be M+ every estimated 3 months. Its not like the other 4 don't exist. Just not on M+ difficulty. I think its a weird decision too, but its not like the work for the other 4 isn't going to be done for launch. Its not laziness. I could see an argument for incompetence, but not laziness.

- - - Updated - - -

It's 31 class, 30 spec. Total is 61 or 1 per level starting at 10. You get 2-3 skills for free.

Ah kk that makes sense then.

[huth]

Alexstrasza has a staff in the key art. Could be a sign that the Evokers use staves.

Well, staves seem like an obvious pick, since pretty much all casters use them (HPal is the only one that can't). Daggers too, probably. Hoping for Fist Weapons, that'd give us 4 casters with them (Druid, Shaman, Monk), and would fit their design well. Maybe 1h maces, since that seems to be the standard healer 1h.

[Chickat]

Why BFA still? just why?

BFA leveling is a lot better for new players and they know it. Shadowlands would make no sense. It makes much more sense to do the island, then do bfa adventures and then dragon isles. The bfa zones don't really leave any major plotholes either except for the war mode stuff, but the acutral zone stories themselves are perfectly fine for leveling. I think its a good decision.

[Shadochi]

BFA ends with the dragons, not at all surprised to hear about the SL skip. On top of that it will probably address the sword at the end if the Azerite tease in the cinematic is any indication.

SL is not a continuation of BFA: it’s the end of the War Campaign, and if you don’t care about Sylvanas it can be skipped entirely. The only things that matter are Anduin stepping down, Sylvanas being banished and Tyrande getting a new seed... and all of that can get explained in a few NPC conversations.

I think endgame is going to be Exiles Reach - Revamped EK/Kalimdor, but for now, Exiles Reach - BFA - DF flows the best,

But none of the major story plots happen during leveling. So the players wont know about those resolutions. I still agree however to keep it this way. Especially since BfA now has no borrowed power during leveling (like a different spell for each zone in SL)

[Chickat]

Oh my god... they're skipping Shadowlands. From BFA to the Isles directly.

That's telling.

Yep, thematically it makes more sense, but I think the BFA zones are 100% better for new players and leveling than the Shadowlands zones.

[huth]

BFA ends with the dragons, not at all surprised to hear about the SL skip. On top of that it will probably address the sword at the end if the Azerite tease in the cinematic is any indication.

SL is not a continuation of BFA: it’s the end of the War Campaign, and if you don’t care about Sylvanas it can be skipped entirely. The only things that matter are Anduin stepping down, Sylvanas being banished and Tyrande getting a new seed... and all of that can get explained in a few NPC conversations.

I think endgame is going to be Exiles Reach - Revamped EK/Kalimdor, but for now, Exiles Reach - BFA - DF flows the best,

Yes, both continue from BfA story threads. SL follows on 8.2.5, while DF is kind of a lose continuation of 8.3.

[Chickat]

So....they're decreasing the experience required to get to 60? Plus if they're adjusting Shadowlands to last from 10 to 60, that would also make Shadowlands the fastest place to level by a huge margin. That questline takes less than 4 hours. Besides going right from Exiles reach to Shadowlands busts the entire premise of the early Bastion quests.

Looks like it. Its a good idea IMO. Shadowlands would be confusing for new players to then go to dragons. BFA fits the theme a lot better.

[Shadochi]

Okay, Ions post on itemization through seasons makes me agree a bit more with the m+ split

[Cheezits]

But none of the major story plots happen during leveling. So the players wont know about those resolutions. I still agree however to keep it this way. Especially since BfA now has no borrowed power during leveling (like a different spell for each zone in SL)

They could make the 8.3 story mandatory for leveling, but they won’t.

Even if new players don’t do the war campaign they’ll know the factions were at war, something happened, now they aren’t. I expect there to be a catch up conversation with the explorer team that explains what happened to Anduin and Sylv

[Teriz]

Blizzplanet: How is the level 70 cap going to work with Chromie Time? Will Chromie Time be stretched to cover level 50-60 as well? Or will we be forced to go to Shadowlands for level 50-60?


Jackie: Oh, so we’re keeping it. For the new player experience, new players specifically will be sent from Exile’s Reach to BFA, then onto Dragon Isles. More veteran players, people who have already leveled a character to max can choose like Chromie Time to go level in Draenor or Pandaria or Shadowlands. But for new players, it’s going to go: Exile’s Reach, BFA, Dragon Isles.


Also they are talking about letting you keep soulshapes in some capacity.

The ability to bypass Shadowlands completely is kind of hilarious.

[Shadochi]

Looks like it. Its a good idea IMO. Shadowlands would be confusing for new players to then go to dragons. BFA fits the theme a lot better.

And on top of this, BfA has a lot more WC feel than SL (or Azerothian I guess). Exiles Reach to BfA was made to have a smooth transition, and BfA zones have their own storylines that get resolved as any most other zone storylines, while the SL ones have this huge overarching main drought/jailer plot with the zone stories being side ones

[Chickat]

They said in one of the interviews they will be able to use the dragonriding systems (momentum and all that), not able to find it atm.

Not the full system like the talent tree, just the basic system you get at level 60 when your first enter. I think it makes sense. Would be weird to have a Dragon riding talent tree for a class. Although, I hope they add a flight form in future expansions like druids. Imagine turning into a large whelping. Super cute.

[huth]

Shadowlands is so disconnected from everything else in the sense of story and world. Having it be the first levelling experience for new players would just feel wrong.

It works if you're one of the old guard and have some hefty accomplishments already, but for a new character that only did the base BfA story? It would be really weird. I disagree that it's that disconnected storywise, though. It's definitely a continuation from when Sylvanas left. But that's something a new player likely won't even see unless they go back and mop up BfA quests.

[Ersula]

BFA leveling is a lot better for new players and they know it. Shadowlands would make no sense. It makes much more sense to do the island, then do bfa adventures and then dragon isles. The bfa zones don't really leave any major plotholes either except for the war mode stuff, but the acutral zone stories themselves are perfectly fine for leveling. I think its a good decision.

Reviews of chromie time by WoW veterans is universally positive, but reviews of new players leveling through BFA are universally horrible. It's not good at explaining anything to new players.