Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Hitei]

The 4chan leak is incredibly stupid and people are setting themselves up for disappointment.

I'm not even arguing against the existence of an allied race.

There's just no reason to think the 4chan post is anything more than a copycat.

•It provided the already well known expansion name.
•It provided two concrete names (class and race), both from this very thread, one of them partially incorrect.
•It claimed 5 zones, with most recent expansions either being 5 or 6 standard zones.
•It claimed reworked talents, one of the most asked for things in the community
•It claimed "dragonflight covenants with no player power" which 1) is something included in tons of fake leaks, because everyone assumed they'd use the covenant system some more but not tie power to it, and 2) isn't even necessarily correct, since all we know right now is that some factions are going to use renown like systems (if it ends up being a unified dragon faction and a tuskar faction and the reliquary-explorer's league faction, was this point correct? They're not dragonflight covenants)
•It claimed Wrathion and Alex were the main heroes. You know, the most story-relevant always around Dragon, and the only Aspect "left". Also this point isn't even accurate, since from what we've seen so far, Wrathion is just a partial hero, and we already know Kalec is just as up there.
•A three month potential release window, and the window that everyone has been assuming for like a year and a half now: start of '23.

•the allied race

At this point, even if there is an allied race as a preorder bonus, I'm inclined to say that the 4chan post just got really lucky on that one guess. Notably it didn't mention what the allied race was, so it's hedged its bets significantly: any allied race (or multiple races) would fit this point.

[shoc]

4chan is the go-to for leak larpers. It is the same logic as Qanon larpers. It's a social game called fool the patsys, how widespread you can propagate the belief is the score card.

[Ersula]

At this point, even if there is an allied race as a preorder bonus, I'm inclined to say that the 4chan post just got really lucky on that one guess. Notably it didn't mention what the allied race was, so it's hedged its bets significantly: any allied race (or multiple races) would fit this point.

Okay, but why assume Scaleface was the only person with insider information? Doesn't it seem not just plausible but probable that someone else with insider information posted to 4chan? Especially when 4chan posts are considerably harder to trace back to blizzard than mmo-champion.

[Makorus]

Okay, but why assume Scaleface was the only person with insider information? Doesn't it seem not just plausible but probable that someone else with insider information posted to 4chan? Especially when 4chan posts are considerably harder to trace back to blizzard than mmo-champion.

Because the 4chan leak has outright incorrect information? The class is not called Invoker, and there are no covenants. Even five zones is very questionable.

[ExiHext]

The music track also has a similar structure to the other allied race intro music. Not just the length, but when the track crescendos and the way it fades out soon after.

Any source where interested users could listen to that track?

[Makorus]

Any source where interested users could listen to that track?

It's this one here.

I feel like this is the most convincing thing at the moment towards an Allied Race, then again, it could literally just be for an ingame cutscene.

[Ersula]

Because the 4chan leak has outright incorrect information? The class is not called Invoker, and there are no covenants. Even five zones is very questionable.

We're not doing this again. There's already like 20 pages debating this. Invoker & evoker might as well be a typo, especially if the info was word-of-mouth. And the Dragonflights are covenants, there's just no exclusivity or powers: They use renown, a feature unique to covenants.

Waking Shores, Ohn'ahran Plains, The Azure Span, Thaldraszus, Forbidden Reach: That's 5 zones. The Devs just said there were 4 zones for all players & 1 exclusive for Dracthyr. 4 plus 1 is 5.

The post was right about everything so far.

[ExiHext]

It's this one here.

I feel like this is the most convincing thing at the moment towards an Allied Race, then again, it could literally just be for an ingame cutscene.

Much appreciated, just found it browsing the main page. But isn't that just music from ... Eversong forest? It sounds very familiar. To link it with Darkfallen is a bit too much hopium for my taste. There also is this bloodelf questline in 9.2.5 and this would fit perfectly.
No, I still don't see new AR happening, sry.

[Makorus]

We're not doing this again. There's already like 20 pages debating this. Invoker & evoker might as well be a typo, especially if the info was word-of-mouth. And the Dragonflights are covenants, there's just no exclusivity or powers: They use renown, a feature unique to covenants.

Waking Shores, Ohn'ahran Plains, The Azure Span, Thaldraszus, Forbidden Reach: That's 5 zones. The Devs just said there were 4 zones for all players & 1 exclusive for Dracthyr. 4 plus 1 is 5.

The post was right about everything so far.

So the guy managed to get the very hard to spell name "Dracthyr" right, but not Evoker?

And now, the Dragonflights are not Covenants. The main thing of Covenants was not renown, it's that you had to pick one and it gave you different abilities and cosmetics.

Dragonflights are factions with renown instead of rep.

People don't really count Mardum as Legion zone, or the Wandering Isles as a MoP zone, or the Scarlet Enclave as a Wrath zone and so on. Legion did not have 6 zones at launch lmao.

[rainhard]

This confirms that season 4 won't last as long as a normal season does this increase the chances of dragonflight releasing in 2022?

[Sondrelk]

This confirms that season 4 won't last as long as a normal season does this increase the chances of dragonflight releasing in 2022?

The raid rewards isnt the issue, it's the Season 4 rewards like the Jellysaber mount, or Raid Teleport rewards for Mythic.
The gear vendor I guess is just there to alleviate the annoyance of only getting one shot at Sylvanas' daggers every three weeks for instance.

[ZyntosAran]

The raid rewards isnt the issue, it's the Season 4 rewards like the Jellysaber mount, or Raid Teleport rewards for Mythic.
The gear vendor I guess is just there to alleviate the annoyance of only getting one shot at Sylvanas' daggers every three weeks for instance.

It’s worth noting that the systems we’ll be talking about today are designed around specific goals to fit with Season 4’s shorter runtime

Its saying its shorter in the text.

[Sondrelk]

Actually, now that I read it, only getting a maximum of three deterministic pieces of gear might be a sign that the season is more for fun instead of a "proper" season.
Still though, I am more inclined to divine the length of the season by the fact that there are rewards given for gaining Keystone rating, as well as completing all the raids with the fated affix. Maybe if there were not actually a Mythic, or even Heroic version of Raids+ I might be a bit more charitable on that front, but expecting even the average Mythic guild to clear all three raids with effectively only a third of the available time is a tough ask, even if the raids are old and they might already know the tactics.

- - - Updated - - -

Its saying its shorter in the text.

So it does. Guess it's a good thing the Jellysaber is the Normal raid reward. Really couldnt care about the raid teleports anyways.

Still, even if we assume it's only a month shorter than the average season at 5 months, that still only leaves an effective month and a half for actual "progression". The highly deterministic gear should make it much easier, but still only really achievable by the best raiders.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

This confirms that season 4 won't last as long as a normal season does this increase the chances of dragonflight releasing in 2022?

Give the quote cause my brain is mush.

It’s worth noting that the systems we’ll be talking about today are designed around specific goals to fit with Season 4’s shorter runtime

Ah okay, got'cha. Thanks everyone else.

[Makorus]

This confirms that season 4 won't last as long as a normal season does this increase the chances of dragonflight releasing in 2022?

That, combined with the "most sought after" reward being able to be earned in LFR gave me a feeling it wasn't gonna be a long one.

Once again, it matches up with what Scaleface said, and to me, might actually give some credence to the expansion coming out in November.

Seems like they are starting the Alpha soon as well, because the Shadowlands Beta listing appeared in peoples Battle.Net client again.

- - - Updated - - -

Actually, now that I read it, only getting a maximum of three deterministic pieces of gear might be a sign that the season is more for fun instead of a "proper" season.
Still though, I am more inclined to divine the length of the season by the fact that there are rewards given for gaining Keystone rating, as well as completing all the raids with the fated affix. Maybe if there were not actually a Mythic, or even Heroic version of Raids+ I might be a bit more charitable on that front, but expecting even the average Mythic guild to clear all three raids with effectively only a third of the available time is a tough ask, even if the raids are old and they might already know the tactics.

- - - Updated - - -



So it does. Guess it's a good thing the Jellysaber is the Normal raid reward. Really couldnt care about the raid teleports anyways.

Still, even if we assume it's only a month shorter than the average season at 5 months, that still only leaves an effective month and a half for actual "progression". The highly deterministic gear should make it much easier, but still only really achievable by the best raiders.

I mean, we don't know the tuning, and the raid affix seems more like a Level 10 M+ Affix, as in, it gives you loads of bonuses as well.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Everything for that short term profit, eh?

I mean, I am not too surprised anymore. But, hey it is what it is. Hopefully they can ship it in a good state.

[Nymrohd]

By the way it was presented, you get the mount by completing all three fated raids. It doesn't specify normal so LFR should work too. Wonder if the Dinars will also be acquirable through LFR, that would give an incentive to casuals to run LFR (and would even allow people who progress in these raids a way to get boss kills they are missing because their guild hasn't gotten through them just yet.

[Makorus]

The more I think about the dinars, the more I think that 3 is too many.

Because realistically, you will get two trinkets with that + either a weapon or something like that Anduin Rings.

It's gonna be fine for that season, but I hope they tone it down a bit for the actual expansion.

[Therougetitan]

By the way it was presented, you get the mount by completing all three fated raids. It doesn't specify normal so LFR should work too. Wonder if the Dinars will also be acquirable through LFR, that would give an incentive to casuals to run LFR (and would even allow people who progress in these raids a way to get boss kills they are missing because their guild hasn't gotten through them just yet.

There is no fated LFR. Also this is incentive for casuals to do normal.

[Makorus]

There is no fated LFR. Also this is incentive for casuals to do normal.

There is Fated LFR.