Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[rhorle]

But, I mean traditionally WoW just has never done this and again fundamentally I think theres' enough hubris surrounding the weight of traditionalism in the WoW Community to defend the decision of not providing players with the set in stone statement that 3 major patches will take place in Dragonflight.

You don't know Blizzard as well as you think if you believe anything they say is set in stone. You also don't know the community as well as you think if you believe they won't flip out over non-set-in-stone things being cut or otherwise changed. If there are two things that are for certain with WoW it is that stated things can change (even when printed on the box) and part of the community loves to flip out over anything.

[Vexilius]

where the fuck is some news about anything, this is getting fucking obnoxious

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

where the fuck is some news about anything, this is getting fucking obnoxious

Maybe next week, maybe next month. I mean, we'll see. They did a reverse news cycle right now akin to the May Cycle except WoW is last. So I guess we'll see in the coming weeks or maybe just coincidence. I don't know, who knows.

[Valysar]

At this rate DF will release in November 2023

[Chickat]

I think Dragonflight will be a hit because it focuses on much needed stuff like a Talent tree revamp. A flying Revamp. A more grounded, personal story. A better approach to instanced PvE content than before. A general approach to designing the game that focuses on evergreen improvements rather than temporary bandaids or gimmicks etc.

And even with the less thing. How do you even know that for certain? Sure we don't have a big setpiece piece of content like Torghast, but that doesnt mean the developers are leaving a black hole of content where it used to be, it more likely means they spread that effort into other bits of the game, like Dragonriding mecahnics and challenges.

And of course. The developers specifically stated endgame specific content being available in one of the zones. It's not like the Suramar illusion mechanic, or the accompanying withered training was showcased front and center on the gameplay trailer.

I think Dragonflight will be a hit with the core WoW player base. As in it wont bring as many people in day one, but it will retain more long term subs. Because the core gameplay loop looks to be fixed "hopefully".

So maybe only 7m subs, but it only falls down to 5m and holds strong? Thats estimating 2-3m subs now. Idk which makes them more money long term though. 2m less box sales, but 2m more subs for a few months? Simple math that I don't feel like doing.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

At this rate DF will release in November 2023

No, people need to relax and be patient. Information will come, we just have to wait and besides its the end of the week.

[Chickat]

So Legion had Artifacts, DHs, Order Halls, Profession Revamp, kinda and a new Honor System. Mythic+ and World Quests, but they were not mentioned until well into the Alpha cycle.

Was it really that content-heavy? Comparing the two Feature Trailers, there's not a lot of difference. The biggest thing missing is a borrowed power system.

DF is probably a similar amount of work as Legion in most ways, but since the talent and prof revamp are so massive (bigger than ever before) it doesn't appear like they are doing as much. Its a take a hit now to make the game better long term kind of thing I guess. Im also pretty sure there is at least 1 feature not mentioned like M+ or Worldquests were in Legion. They just wont show it cause they arent sure it will make it. Copium I know.

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I really fail to see how people can claim that DF will be light on content when we actually know as good as nothing about the expac. It's the same doom and gloom cycle we have every expac.

The only think I can be certain of is that it will have more content than WoD, and be more alt friendly. Without borrowed power it should already be better than WoD.

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Don't worry. This is from the same person that claims that "GW2 Perfected flight" when he got proven wrong time and again. Don't take it to seriously.

Well that's a dumb statement to make, but GW2 did improve flight mechanics and gameplay over most MMOs. It wasn't invented, but it was an innovation for the MMO genre. Wthether it existed outside the MMO genre is meaningless. Still its not perfected in any way IMO. And it can be annoying at times. Id like the option for both. Maybe regular flying goes at 320% speed but the Dragon riding can get up to like 5 or 600% with perfect flying. Plus maybe you cant get certain places with a regular flying mount.

So like if all you want to do is gather ore and herbs, a regular flying mount might be a better option in a lot of scenarios. But you need dragonriding to access certain content. Maybe there are heavy winds at certain altitutdes that a normal flying mount has trouble reaching. Maybe there is a cave on a mountain side and you need to use a dragon bash ability to bash through. Sure it doesn't make much sense lore wise, but I like unique things like that.

[Ersula]

If you're at such wit's end that you're just disingenuously shitposting instead of even bothering to come up with an actual argument, I'm not going to seriously respond.

You're the one who took a look at "Advanced falling" & basically giving us everything we already had during WotLK as a set of expansion feature & said "BIGGEST EXPANSION EVER"

Each of these things are either giving us something we already had or has no direct RPG application at all.

Which one of us is the shitposter here?

[Chickat]

Looking back at a interview/quote they did say that the four main factions will have renown instead of reputation. So they can constantly reward us with cosmetics, new quests, etc. So it does sound like there may be some extra stuff but it doesn't feel like they mean on the same level as covenants or order halls. It feels more like Renown would be the time gate for unlocking more areas rather then being as robust as order halls or covenants. Though maybe they didn't talk about them because they just want to keep details hidden until later in development.

https://www.wowhead.com/news/renown-...neously-326768

IM not sure if it was stated, but I was under the impression that 3 or 4 reps are mega reps with reknown, and there are at least 2 regular traditional reps too. Im hoping the 2 or 3 traditional reps are like the tillers, anglers, and cloud serpents. Fun optional reps with no player power attached in any way. No BiS recipes. No epic gear. Just cosmetics and minor side stories. Maybe with unique gameplay. Like cooler old-school daily quests. Think jousting or the flying jousting from Firelands patch. Fishing minigames etc.

[Hitei]

Hurr durr "Advanced falling"

Which one of us is the shitposter here?

Very painfully you.

[Dracullus]

At this rate DF will release in November 2023

Yes, everything point out April 2023 Alpha start.

[klaps_05]

With the Overwatch 2/Diablo 4 announcements, its very unlikely for DF to be early 2023. They have 3 massive releases until Q3 2023, especially the D4 in Q2. Doubt they want to muddy the water during it with another release and they are short on projects for the rest of 2023. Summer Q3 2023 for DF is a perfect pre-holidays timeslot.

[Lady Atia]

With the Overwatch 2/Diablo 4 announcements, its very unlikely for DF to be early 2023. They have 3 massive releases until Q3 2023, especially the D4 in Q2. Doubt they want to muddy the water during it with another release and they are short on projects for the rest of 2023. Summer Q3 2023 for DF is a perfect pre-holidays timeslot.

Nope? Releasing the game in summer when people are all on holidays would be an horrible idea. They will release it in Q1 just fine.

[Nyel]

Nope? Releasing the game in summer when people are all on holidays would be an horrible idea. They will release it in Q1 just fine.

I think Legion and BfA already proved that they really don't care about it being Summer or not when it fits their schedule. For Dragonflight a Q3 release just makes no sense though.

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With the Overwatch 2/Diablo 4 announcements, its very unlikely for DF to be early 2023. They have 3 massive releases until Q3 2023, especially the D4 in Q2. Doubt they want to muddy the water during it with another release and they are short on projects for the rest of 2023. Summer Q3 2023 for DF is a perfect pre-holidays timeslot.

Diablo IV will not launch in Q2, let's be realistic here. That's their optimistic and naive take to appease the fanbase, but for sure they'll delay it until at least Q3, rather Q4 though to "give players the best experience" or [insert bs PR talk]. Dragonflight can easily fit into Q1 and if not there it will be early Q2. No issues whatsoever.

[Hyrja]

If we dont get any DF news next week, ill start worrying a bit.

[infinitemeridian]

I hope we get some more interesting transmogs this expac. The back attachments were a step in the right direction, but most of them were too small and they just doubled down on spikes and shit. I want the game to move beyond that and more into "realistic" armors with 3d pieces. Like the Kul'tiran heritage - look at FF14. The armor sets there completely mog the shit out of what WoW has.

Also, more m+ rewards. Seriously, for a mode that is pushed so hard by blizz, it has zero cool things to get. The mounts are fine until they just release it 5x over and over again. No new armor sets, no interesting pets / mounts / spell effects, etc. And please don't take them away every season, just put them on a vendor like the war mounts they add for pvp. I'm ok with fomo shit as long as most of the stuff is new and obtainable after the season ends.

[8bithamster]

Yes, everything point out April 2023 Alpha start.

Jep. Especially your source "I pulled this from my ass"

[ExiHext]

Jep. Especially your source "I pulled this from my ass"

Immune to sarcasm?

[Dracullus]

Jep. Especially your source "I pulled this from my ass"

Common logic. This month we had DK/Druid, then 2 classes in July, August, September, October, November, December is for holidays, in January Evoker blog, in February new scandal, in March employees walkout to celebrate new scandal and we land with April Alpha.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

As a reminder July is still out of normal scheduling for the First Unencrypted Build.

As always I do think the fact they communicated so confidently that this expansion was further along than usual it is pretty hilarious to see the actual timeframes completely differ.

Obviously, mayhaps the first Unencrypted Build is feature complete and it all makes sense. But, hey we'll see.

There's still a shot this goes live in the end of June to avoid that circumstance too.

(Also depends if the Alpha / Beta testing has completely changed format to be about specialized testing to avoid spoilers too. We still have no idea if they will change the Testing formats to avoid spoilers and also if they intend to lock down more of the Alpha/Beta cycle due to the recent pushback about clarity on content of expansions/patches before launch)