Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Kiria]

Honestly the world building in this expansion if it was actually shown to the audience is pretty impressive and especially with how it connected all the way back to Classic lore. Obviously, I think fundamentally that this expansion couldn't have existed in the vacuum that it does it would've had to have a sprawling narrative that lasted over 3-4 expansions but obviously that is not going to happen.

Absolutely, I think they failed to execute though and it is a shame that we had to Cut & Run while leaving clues that again most of the audience can't even think or understand the basic principles of.

The World Building of Shadowlands and the wider cosmos is pretty fascinating if you remove the initial disappointment and then start to open your 3rd eye.

Also most people ignored the 9.2 Codex which is pretty funny since it will most likely become important again in the future.

Whats so special about the 9.2 codex? Thats the blue book you get in ZM right?

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Obviously I think Steve didn't really play his hands for Shadowlands that well and I feel Zovaal was an incredible missed opportunity to tell a story about a villain that is more than just the stereotypical WoW Villain. But, alas time ran out as it usually does just like it did with N'zoth.

Whats so special about the 9.2 codex? Thats the blue book you get in ZM right?

Yep, it's going to take a while though for that to unravel though for the larger audience.

[Nymrohd]

Zereth Mortis shits out anima.

It absolutely does but if you are starting your collection now, the total amount remains insane.

[Lady Atia]

I've seen people iffy on Kyrians and VERY iffy on Ardenweald, but the actual spooky zones seem palatable to loreheads.

Imo the problem with Ardenweald was that they didn't really told us the mechanics and connections between the dream/lifelands and ardenweald in detail. Also it didn't help that they literally invented it just for Shadowlands. Imagine if they had teased Ardenweald with Legion's Emerald Nightmare raid ending - I bet it would have been another hyped thing to look forward to on the scale of Nyalotha.

For the Kyrians, I still think it's a shame they cut the spiritkillers and "hall of purification" dungeon. I would have prefered a darker side to them that's not the forsworn:

[Revamp Man]

im gonna assume alpha this week
1 month alpha
4 months beta
delay season 1 otherwise launch mid-late november

[Lady Atia]

Btw, I just checked the Shadowlands Alpha announcement back from 2020: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/ne...veloper-update

Basically, they posted a blog post at Monday to announce that datamining would start on that day and invites would go out later that week. So, I imagine they would do the same again instead of a "surprise" alpha drop.

Or maybe they will have invites and datamining on the same day again and we may still get it this week.

*waves my hopium flags*

[Civciv]

I'm so hyped up! Can't wait to have my Alextrasza moment

[Makorus]

Considering the OW2 Beta is starting today, I don't think Alpha is starting today.

Probably Thursday.

I feel like Bastion is something left from a different version of Shadowlands.

The entire story doesn't really make sense and hinges on every single character and every single Kyrian having no braincells whatsoever.

[Cheezits]

Considering the OW2 Beta is starting today, I don't think Alpha is starting today.

Probably Thursday.

Probably, but considering that Wrath and DF will release pretty close together they probably don't care as much about news overlap as we think.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I mean either that or its next Monday.

[tumbleweed010]

I mean either that or its next Monday.

That's a holiday in the US so it'd be Tuesday at the earliest next week.

[Revamp Man]

Considering the OW2 Beta is starting today, I don't think Alpha is starting today.

Probably Thursday.

I feel like Bastion is something left from a different version of Shadowlands.

The entire story doesn't really make sense and hinges on every single character and every single Kyrian having no braincells whatsoever.

Bastion seemed like it was supposed to be fighting against a single minded system of "dont question me" and that just kinda got stuck after half way through the zone
the purification dungeon also didnt really fit with the whole "the covenants were united and the primus is the bestest buddy

[Cheezits]

I think Kyrians got bogged down by the desire to "make them likeable" because they decided that the player has to join a covenant. The Kyrians in the concept art seem scary and ultra dogmatic and kill/convert other covenants, which doesn't really make them look like great people (as opposed to average people with bad, albeit fixable leadership like in retail).

My most annoying thing is that they didn't change spirit healers to be Kyrian, despite the lore being that they are. They just gave spirit healers a super HD model. Why not commit to the idea? They even have Kyrians take the place of spirit healers in quests AND in Bastion itself.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I think Kyrians got bogged down by the desire to "make them likeable" because they decided that the player has to join a covenant. The Kyrians in the concept art seem scary and ultra dogmatic and kill/convert other covenants, which doesn't really make them look like great people (as opposed to average people with bad, albeit fixable leadership like in retail).

My most annoying thing is that they didn't change spirit healers to be Kyrian, despite the lore being that they are. They just gave spirit healers a super HD model. Why not commit to the idea? They even have Kyrians take the place of spirit healers in quests AND in Bastion itself.

I dunno, I think I'd hate the Kyrian if they were that way, seems overly cynical. What I took from them is they as beings that bring souls to the Arbiter for judgement, they can't have biases or else they might decide to shirk their duty hence to abandon their memories, which is a incredibly hard thing to do but there was a reason for it. It was just another small flaw in the armor that is the Shadowlands and how the "Path" is flawed and it is to some extent but Devos went to the worst person to look for help and unfortunately one soul paid a horrible price to even be slightly connected to Devos big plan(If she didn't manipulate Uther, Arthas might of not gotten dragged to the Maw to then get soul sucked out leaving literally nothing).

[Catastrophy349]

My take on Shadowlands: As a "self contained" storyline, it wasn't horrible (horrible meaning 0/10). Unfortunately, it just didn't make sense in the Warcraft universe/story and complicated/ruined a lot. If the Shadowlands storyline was its own story (not part of Warcraft/separate), I think I would have enjoyed it more.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

I know who murdered Denathrius. It was... Lothraxion!

[Lady Atia]

My take on Shadowlands: As a "self contained" storyline, it wasn't horrible (horrible meaning 0/10). Unfortunately, it just didn't make sense in the Warcraft universe/story and complicated/ruined a lot. If the Shadowlands storyline was its own story (not part of Warcraft/separate), I think I would have enjoyed it more.

Well, to be fair it seems like they want to follow the marvel formula of "you don't need any prior knowledge to enjoy it, but it's still all connected" now with Expansions.

"Do I need to play all the expansions to understand the story?

Every expansion is its own story and can be experienced without prior knowledge. But playing through the previous content is a great way to level up while also getting the backstory."

But than again, I actually like the Shadowlands lore and any changes they did with it (especially as it saved Sylvanas from the dumbster fire of BfA lore ...).

[Padwarle]

Zorbrix gif tweet alert!

https://twitter.com/Zorbrix/status/1541850591487328256

[Lady Atia]

Zorbrix gif tweet alert!

https://twitter.com/Zorbrix/status/1541850591487328256

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Tease! Teeeeaaase!

He totally knows what we need.

*inhales deeply*

[Nymrohd]

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Tease! Teeeeaaase!

He totally knows what we need.

*inhales deeply*

Robin Williams to be back?