Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Marlamin]

Nothing wrong with optimism when it's based. Right now in regards of Dragonflight, it is not. Alpha can change that though.

I disagree, I think that's fine. Optimism is by definition, or at least in mine, a "hope" of things going the best possible way they could go, regardless of the situation.

Assuming things won't go well is the status quo of this thread, the WoW community and arguably of most people in general these days. Nothing wrong with being optimistic in such an otherwise pessimistic environment, whether or not it's "based" doesn't really matter imo, if everyone were on the pessimistic side this thread would be even worse off than it already is. Hoping for improvement is always fine, regardless of how dark things might seem or be.

[Cheezits]

I think the problem in this thread is that people post their feelings on DF (which is fine), but then try to argue to defend their feelings (which is borderline pointless) and CONSTANTLY DO IT (which is annoying).

Just say your two cents and move on to the next topic instead of spamming.

[Catastrophy349]

Here’s an interesting topic that we’ve all been discussing (underneath the surface) but not actually providing surface. What do you hope to see/want from outdoor content in the Dragon Isles? For example, Zereth Mortis had rares, some puzzles, Pocopoc, chests, Cypher system, etc.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Here’s an interesting topic that we’ve all been discussing (underneath the surface) but not actually providing surface. What do you hope to see/want from outdoor content in the Dragon Isles? For example, Zereth Mortis had rares, some puzzles, Pocopoc, chests, Cypher system, etc.

They need to expand massively on the outdoor content. Forgive me for repeating the same thing. I'm not saying remove world quests, no no leave them, they can stay.

[Catastrophy349]

Blizzard talked about ancient glyphs to discover to unlock customization for our Dragons. They also mentioned challenges in the world to complete for customizations, too. I’m really curious to see what types of content they can create in the open world since:

A). We’re getting flying from the beginning (Dragonriding)
B). The continent is designed from the shores to the peaks (vertical landscape)
C). Dragonriding has the “potential” to allow for some truly unique gameplay loops.

[Dracullus]

If they do this with the Legion patch cadence, I could see this work. But not if everything stays for 6 months. 3 months seems like a reasonable lenght.

Legion seasons lasted 5.5 months (22 weeks). Patches lasted 11 weeks, because we had minipatches midway through season (that also launched raids).

So 9.2+9.2.5 is EXACT return of Legion schedule. Season 3 last 22 weeks, we got small patch midway in late May. Season 4 for sure (if DF launch in November) will be too short, you will see a lot people complaining they didn't have time to finish their goals.

[Grimmy17]

Re: the amount of content in Dragonflight...

Honestly, here's what would make me perfectly happy:

• The baseline is fine. Talent trees worked out, professions are in a good state, and so on.
• Dracthyr Evoker is fun and looks good. I'm playing a female one as my semi-main alongside my Human Paladin.
• The Dragon Isles are beautiful and inviting. Unlike the Shadowlands with its depressing zones, it feels lovely to goof around here. Immersive, atmospheric, ambient, etc. Good music of course.
• Transmogs and potential new character customization options are good.
• Loot is fun.
• Patches arrive at a decent pace, and the story doesn't move with a snail's pace anymore.

That's it. I'm not demanding anything fancy. Just give me good basic WoW-experience for the next two years.

This is exactly what I would like also, especially the transmog and evoker points. I don't need a powerful urge to log in every day to do 4 world quests to progress my character. I'd like to log in to raid, or do exciting m+ with my usual team, farm amazing looking transmog or do bits and bobs with professions. We're not asking for the world here, just a fun time

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I disagree, I think that's fine. Optimism is by definition, or at least in mine, a "hope" of things going the best possible way they could go, regardless of the situation.

Assuming things won't go well is the status quo of this thread, the WoW community and arguably of most people in general these days. Nothing wrong with being optimistic in such an otherwise pessimistic environment, whether or not it's "based" doesn't really matter imo, if everyone were on the pessimistic side this thread would be even worse off than it already is. Hoping for improvement is always fine, regardless of how dark things might seem or be.

100%! Did you manage to get some rest and remedy your eye a bit before the exciting week to come?

[Ashina]

Here’s an interesting topic that we’ve all been discussing (underneath the surface) but not actually providing surface. What do you hope to see/want from outdoor content in the Dragon Isles? For example, Zereth Mortis had rares, some puzzles, Pocopoc, chests, Cypher system, etc.

Lots of rares with only cosmetic drops like MoP had.

[Dracullus]

Here’s an interesting topic that we’ve all been discussing (underneath the surface) but not actually providing surface. What do you hope to see/want from outdoor content in the Dragon Isles? For example, Zereth Mortis had rares, some puzzles, Pocopoc, chests, Cypher system, etc.

I don't expect revolution, I think it will be like SL main zones. Improvement will be that you will explore all 4 "covenants" at same time. Also I hope there won't be grind for cosmetics like during 9.0.

[Catastrophy349]

I want 3 things NOW (please):

1). Location of the Dragon Isles on the world map (to see where they are and the size since it’s being compared to Northrend)

2). The Dragon Isles map and each individual zone map to see their design/size

3). Gameplay of the Dragon Isles! I’m so excited to see how vertical they are. The concept for leveling blows my mind (start on the shores Zone 1, climbing up to the apex/peaks/capital city by Zone 4)!

[Lady Atia]

By adapting feedback from SL alpha 6-12 months later, as I said? Hardly what I call action. But yes, you must know that nothing would be good enough for me anyway, thanks for keeping me updated.

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If they do this with the Legion patch cadence, I could see this work. But not if everything stays for 6 months. 3 months seems like a reasonable lenght. And yes, god awful was hyperbole. But that's how many players received the drop in quality after Legion. Maybe it was their own fault by making Legion so good and BfA subsequently so bad. But as we know from the past, Blizzard is not capable of the "middle-of-the-road" approach. See daily quests. See borrowed power. It's either 110% (too much) or 0% (nothing at all).

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Nothing wrong with optimism when it's based. Right now in regards of Dragonflight, it is not. Alpha can change that though.

They are adapting feedback from season 3 to season 4 already. So no, it's not "everything from the alpha". The constant naysaying is honestly annoying. Dragonflight looks super cool so far and Alpha will launch in a few days. Hypeeee!

[Marlamin]

100%! Did you manage to get some rest and remedy your eye a bit before the exciting week to come?

lolno, Alpha week is going to be interesting to get through!

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I think this expansion lives or dies with a consistent patch cadence.

The base product being empty and worthless is not really a problem if they A) Communicate well (lol) B) The Patch Cadence mimics BFA, at least.

I mean we got 5 months on this testing cycle. It means a condensed build after build environment. So it will mean that the full image of Dragonflight before launch will be on display relatively quickly.

[Catastrophy349]

They are adapting feedback from season 3 to season 4 already. So no, it's not "everything from the alpha". The constant naysaying is honestly annoying. Dragonflight looks super cool so far and Alpha will launch in a few days. Hypeeee!

Let the content creators get their super secret (LOL) Alpha access for Tuesday/Wednesday. Then, we get ours on Thursday. Hopefully, some datamining before Thursday, too. HYPE indeed.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Regardless, I am still excited for the lore and the fact that we will see so much new stuff regarding Titanic Lore/Dragon lore while also having worrying potential switcheroos' for future content patches. But, I really hope they stick to the Dragon Isles and stop with the theme switching of the narrative. But, I mean I am expecting with the 10.1 villain and 10.2 villain that things may get out of hand extremely quickly again. But we'll see.

I'm just excited to see how this process unfolds and what special sauce they got ready to be revealed in the builds that make everyone excited again.

Also honestly I just want to finally see something before my very eyes rather than hypotheticals and text based nonsense that don't really work when the trust levels are in the ditch anyways. Thankfully the waiting period is almost over and we can actually see their work and whether Ion was right or not about the state of the products progress.

[Catastrophy349]

Let’s take bets on NOT what we hope will be available in the early Alpha this coming week, but what we think will be available for testing?

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Let’s take bets on NOT what we hope will be available in the early Alpha this coming week, but what we think will be available for testing?

I mean this is going to be what is going to meltdown the community if they've restricted it completely or not. If they've listened to feedback and they now regard the testing period as a period only for specialized testing of what they want testing instead of PR and marketing.

Then it will be a very awkward scenario where we will end up not knowing much about the actual product itself until launch. Which under better circumstances would've been celebrated but now becomes a bit of a different concern with whether they are hiding the actual value of the game from the consumer or not.

I honestly don't really expect the Team to restrict the Builds that much. They need the PR/Marketing from Datamining to carry some sort of positive message to the consumers about the expansion. I just don't think they really have any interest in restrictions but they want to play ball with the community feedback as best as they can which probably leads Patch story content being restricted further.

But, I mean there's always the chance that on Thursday. We have the Drac'thyr Evoker introduction and thats' it for a month without any dataminable content. It would be very funny.

[Marlamin]

Let the content creators get their super secret (LOL) Alpha access for Tuesday/Wednesday. Then, we get ours on Thursday. Hopefully, some datamining before Thursday, too. HYPE indeed.

If we get datamining before Thursday, that puts the people under NDA/embargo in a weird position where they can't talk about anything that's being datamined by the various sites/community for 2 full days.

The only way to fix that is to give anyone with early access only access to an encrypted client, but with that also comes the danger of someone leaking the key and (some) sites datamining it anyways, or even worse, gives access to earlier builds encrypted with the same key as well. There's currently 2 armadillo encryption keys out there, 1 for wowdev builds and 1 for vendor builds, neither of which Blizzard probably want to see hit the public.

If they were to roll with a secret client for the early access event they'll either have to create a separate directory on the CDN for it encrypted with a new key specific to this event (with the danger of it still leaking early), or by doing the entire preview outside of the public through VPN and/or remote cloud-based sessions or literally on location at Blizz (which is possible in Towelliee's case but not so much for Taliesin). Hmmmm!

Either way, I'm going to be keeping a close eye on things tomorrow as that should be set-up day for whatever happens the rest of the week.

[Bsirk]

Let’s take bets on NOT what we hope will be available in the early Alpha this coming week, but what we think will be available for testing?

I think Dragonriding, new profession overhaul, and talent revamp will be available for testing.

[Catastrophy349]

I really hope they do a better job of keeping story spoilers encrypted; I’m fine with zone exploration being shown. We’ll see.