Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Nymrohd]

So first thing, first tier boss is a dragon. I expect end boss to be a dragon too but at least one of the mid tiers needs to be something else. We will need a palate cleanser. On one hand it could be something thematic like an elemental but I don't see us facing Ragnaros a THIRD time (unless we befriend him this time and put down Smolderon which would imo be cool). It could be something completely funny; I think we might see a kobold megadungeon or raid with Togwaggle since we are going underground (because after that Hearthstone movie trailer, King Togwaggle deserves his own raid). The most likely option though is whatever type of Aqir those dudes assaulting the Dracthyr were get their own boss. Could be there is a group of primordial aqir (Before they differentiated and followed the different old gods) somewhere. Or maybe they are whatever aqir were shaped by Xal if she was the fifth one. Finally we could have Odyn make a move.

For end boss I expect Murozond. Galakrond could be something else. He could be a penultimate boss. I think it could be cool to make him a world boss you fight using dragonriding all over the Dragon Isles. Give a server wide message when the Primalists unleash him and everyone joins in and fights him. Probably not something the servers can actually handle though.

I do not think Chromatus will be a boss this expac. We need to restock villains. We have a weyrn that is likely to go hostile to Alliance and Horde, would be cool if they find and unleash Chromatus who is very much the dracthyr Aspect (a chromatic experiment combining all dragonflights by Neltharion, only in Dragon form and stronger than any of the Aspects). Do that and we can have his faction show up in the next few expansions alongside the few people left (Azshara, Denathrius) so that they actually have familiar options to throw against us in zones as side enemies.

[Raetary]

Not liking this part. Do we really need them around doing aspect stuff again?

No, but the whole lvling campaign is about collecting their oathstones so they can get their power back.
It'd be weird if that didn't happen at some point in the expansion, at least to some degree.

[Nymrohd]

No, but the whole lvling campaign is about collecting their oathstones so they can get their power back.
It'd be weird if that didn't happen at some point in the expansion, at least to some degree.

We could find out that it just can no longer work and the Primalists broke it beyond repair. Or when it is fixed Nozdormu intervenes as it is his turning point to Murozond and becomes a super Aspect. Or the primalists use the power to bring back Galakrond only this time far stronger.

I really think the future of the Dragon flights should be beyond Aspects with all dragons being empowered. However Blizzard is extremely character focused so I doubt I'll get what I want.

[Raetary]

We could find out that it just can no longer work and the Primalists broke it beyond repair. Or when it is fixed Nozdormu intervenes as it is his turning point to Murozond and becomes a super Aspect. Or the primalists use the power to bring back Galakrond only this time far stronger.

I really think the future of the Dragon flights should be beyond Aspects with all dragons being empowered. However Blizzard is extremely character focused so I doubt I'll get what I want.

Well, we got that one infinite in Uldaman who yeeted the disc that contained the info on how to empower them again into the timeline.

We'll definitely go on a treasure hunt to find it again.
And given the speech he gave, Super Murozond (or Superzond, if you will) is likely to happen.

[Makabreska]

We could find out that it just can no longer work and the Primalists broke it beyond repair. Or when it is fixed Nozdormu intervenes as it is his turning point to Murozond and becomes a super Aspect. Or the primalists use the power to bring back Galakrond only this time far stronger.

I really think the future of the Dragon flights should be beyond Aspects with all dragons being empowered. However Blizzard is extremely character focused so I doubt I'll get what I want.

Well, that would feel be super bad. Work (almost) entire expansion to gather some artifices only for them to end up helping Big Boss. Would be worse than gathering Pillars in Legion to close ToS portal, only for Illidan to immediately lolopen gateway directly to Argus.

- - - Updated - - -

Well, we got that one infinite in Uldaman who yeeted the disc that contained the info on how to empower them again into the timeline.

We'll definitely go on a treasure hunt to find it again.
And given the speech he gave, Super Murozond (or Superzond, if you will) is likely to happen.

Which again, is so boring, with it's 12yo of not even foreshadowing, but saying it will happen. I hope for a twist in the end.

[Nyel]

The discussion started about Mistweavers' place in raids, and I think that these two comments are absolutely spot on.

I only raided the first tier(CoN) this expansion, though, but from what I remember, everyone preferred bringing Resto Shaman(Spirit Link), Holy Pala(Aura Mastery + Ashen Hallow), or Disc Priest(Spirit Shell) and there was absolutely no reason to take Holy Priest, Resto Druid or MW Monk, over the first three, if both were available(with the exception of the Kael fight, I guess).
Almost every raid having BM as one of the tanks, sorted the problem with Mystic Touch. At least I don't recall anyone bringing a MW to a raid in order to get this debuff.

I think there was one raid tier were Mistweaver was mandatory and that solely due to the overtuning of Essence Font. Otherwise, Mistweaver is by far the most replaceable healing spec (next to Holy Priest) in raids. In Mythic+ they are neither the sought after healer.

[Catastrophy349]

So, I love everyone’s response to this question so far and some really good ideas. However, here’s my opinion on lore/bosses/etc.

Personally, I hate the whole “big bad of an expansion” and “defeat big bad at the end of the expansion” theme. What would I prefer? Regardless of your personal feelings on Garrosh, Guldan, and Sylvanas, something I really liked about these characters was the fact that they were built up over the course of an expansion and moved into the next.

For example, Sargeras and the Burning Legion. It was SO cool to see that story build up in WC3, then we had the Burning Crusade, Wrathion questline in MoP, WoD Guldan and HFC ending, and finally, the Legion expansion and Argus.

Then, there’s Zovaal (the complete opposite). His character was basically “rickrolled” onto us at the VERY end of BFA (kind of), then introduced “properly” in SL and, unfortunately, discarded in SL (the same expansion), too. This felt awful.

What I don’t want to see in Dragonflight is another SL “big bad then kill”, and instead, a Burning Legion, Sylvanas, Guldan, or Garrosh situation where maybe Murozond is finally introduced and takes us into 11.0 similarly to Garrosh (MoP to WoD) and Guldan (WoD to Legion), and Sylvanas (BFA to SL). That would be awesome, again, IMO.

[Bsirk]

Final Boss: Galakrond.

Nozdormu's fate: we kill him as a 10.2 raid boss or he lives and leads us to the next expansion.

Next expansion: world revamp from scratch as they did with Draenor in WoD. Current world accessible from CoT or something similar. Circumstances of the revamp undetermined, potential options:

- Nozdormu / Murozond does some magic shit and makes our world go back to the past or move forward to the future an undetermined amount of years.

- Nozdormu / Murozond does some magic shit and we end up on a new version of Azeroth in another universe.

- World revamp caused by the regular past of time, showing all the calamities that we have lived through the years and renovating threats and characters, with the inclusion of many plotlines, highliting the presence of the Void (represented by Xal'atath) and the Light (represented by Yrel).

As you can see my money is on world revamp. 10th expansion, 20 years anniversary of WoW, 30 years anniversary of Warcraft, plus a need for renovation and simplification of systems to attract a much needed new generation of players that has already started with DF. I do not discard a release on consoles with this "new" version of Warcraft.

I am down for all of these guesses!

[unfunnymeme]

Personally, I think they should make Nozdormu resist whatever was going to make him turn to Murozand. Show that fate isn't something set in stone that can never be altered, but an ever shifting flow of causality dependent on the actions of those it concerns.
I just really hate the idea of prophetic visions always coming true. It means that there isn't any actual free will, if everything you do still leads to the same outcome.

When the time comes to re-empower the aspects, have Nozdormu step down and make Chromie or someone else aspect. This relinquishment of power is the one thing he probably never foresaw himself trying, and would lead to an altered end, one that he hasn't seen and cannot see going forward.

[Therougetitan]

I think there was one raid tier were Mistweaver was mandatory and that solely due to the overtuning of Essence Font. Otherwise, Mistweaver is by far the most replaceable healing spec (next to Holy Priest) in raids. In Mythic+ they are neither the sought after healer.

You should keep your info updated. The top two guilds in Sepulcher used two holy priests. MW was also used. The healer neither of the top two guilds used was Resto shaman. Also if you just take 30 seconds to look at the healer leaderboards for mythic+ it is mostly holy priests at the top. Your post is like a time capsule from Sanctum days a year ago that somehow just got slowly posted now.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Personally, I think they should make Nozdormu resist whatever was going to make him turn to Murozand. Show that fate isn't something set in stone that can never be altered, but an ever shifting flow of causality dependent on the actions of those it concerns.
I just really hate the idea of prophetic visions always coming true. It means that there isn't any actual free will, if everything you do still leads to the same outcome.

When the time comes to re-empower the aspects, have Nozdormu step down and make Chromie or someone else aspect. This relinquishment of power is the one thing he probably never foresaw himself trying, and would lead to an altered end, one that he hasn't seen and cannot see going forward.

I was fine with you in the first half. I'm fine with the aspects being reempowered, no idea why people dislike it. Don't want Nozdormu stepping down though.

[unfunnymeme]

I was fine with you in the first half. I'm fine with the aspects being reempowered, no idea why people dislike it. Don't want Nozdormu stepping down though.

That's just one possibility. They could handle it however, I just really hate the idea of fate being set in stone.

[Darkarath]

Personally, I think they should make Nozdormu resist whatever was going to make him turn to Murozand. Show that fate isn't something set in stone that can never be altered, but an ever shifting flow of causality dependent on the actions of those it concerns.
I just really hate the idea of prophetic visions always coming true. It means that there isn't any actual free will, if everything you do still leads to the same outcome.

When the time comes to re-empower the aspects, have Nozdormu step down and make Chromie or someone else aspect. This relinquishment of power is the one thing he probably never foresaw himself trying, and would lead to an altered end, one that he hasn't seen and cannot see going forward.

I do not see Chromie as the leader of a flight, she seems to want to be free of that kind of responsibilities.

Focusing in Nozdormu... Do not know, I find really interesting to explore how he deals with his known fate, and we kind of know that he HAS to become Murozond, right? What other fate would he have, though? Retiring? Being a Cairne and do nothing in future expansions? I think that he could be an amazing villain, I just hope that they keep him alive and develop him properly.

[Eldryth]

I do not see Chromie as the leader of a flight, she seems to want to be free of that kind of responsibilities.

Focusing in Nozdormu... Do not know, I find really interesting to explore how he deals with his known fate, and we kind of know that he HAS to become Murozond, right? What other fate would he have, though? Retiring? Being a Cairne and do nothing in future expansions? I think that he could be an amazing villain, I just hope that they keep him alive and develop him properly.

Chromie becoming an Aspect is something that's been pushed by fans for a long time despite it not making much sense. She's a good character, but not a leader, and Nozdormu already has an established heir in Anachronos (and a bait-and-switch doesn't really make sense when the entire flight has time magic and should be aware of that much). It's just people pushing a well-known character over the sensible one that we don't see much.

As for Nozdormu escaping his fate... I think there's a good chance of that now given that the new Uldaman boss's dialogue suggests that Murozond's origin revolves around us completely failing our mission and him being the only Aspect. Also, though, the original lore for Murozond is that he was corrupted when he tried to prevent his own destined death. If that isn't changed then he might have to die to avoid becoming Murozond- maybe a heroic sacrifice that he refused to make in other timelines?

[huth]

And given the speech he gave, Super Murozond (or Superzond, if you will) is likely to happen.

Nah, they will summon 5 Zonds and combine them into a Megazond.

[Darkarath]

As for Nozdormu escaping his fate... I think there's a good chance of that now given that the new Uldaman boss's dialogue suggests that Murozond's origin revolves around us completely failing our mission and him being the only Aspect. Also, though, the original lore for Murozond is that he was corrupted when he tried to prevent his own destined death. If that isn't changed then he might have to die to avoid becoming Murozond- maybe a heroic sacrifice that he refused to make in other timelines?

An heroic sacrifice would be a fitting end for him, but ONLY if he gets a lot of development in DF. If not, his death will not matter to most players, as we have barely interacted with him in almost 20 years. We barely know him.

Although the idea of him becoming an overpowered aspect is interesting, could still become a good villain and could push the rest of the dragons to interesting and unpredictable paths.

[Catastrophy349]

An heroic sacrifice would be a fitting end for him, but ONLY if he gets a lot of development in DF. If not, his death will not matter to most players, as we have barely interacted with him in almost 20 years. We barely know him.

Although the idea of him becoming an overpowered aspect is interesting, could still become a good villain and could push the rest of the dragons to interesting and unpredictable paths.

I’m excited for Dragonflight. I love WoW lore; however, SL showing us death is so off putting for anyone dying. We can’t be sad if he dies because we can go visit him in the Shadowlands! Or, if we can’t, we know he’s ok.

[Darkarath]

I’m excited for Dragonflight. I love WoW lore; however, SL showing us death is so off putting for anyone dying. We can’t be sad if he dies because we can go visit him in the Shadowlands! Or, if we can’t, we know he’s ok.

Yes, they definitively need to deal with the Shadowlands in some way and soon, because as long as it exists every death is meaningless.

The damage done to the game by the story and narrative of SL is crazy.

DF is Danuser's last chance of making something decent with his job IMO. If he fails I hope that Blizzard immediately releases him from his duties.

[Ferlion]

Yes, they definitively need to deal with the Shadowlands in some way and soon, because as long as it exists every death is meaningless.

The damage done to the game by the story and narrative of SL is crazy.

DF is Danuser's last chance of making something decent with his job IMO. If he fails I hope that Blizzard immediately releases him from his duties.

I hate seeing posts like this, because ultimately I think that Shadowlands is terrible, but it has to be said that it doesn't make death meaningless.
An afterlife has ALWAYS been around in WoW. It's also always been something people can interact with.

That we get some very basic insight into core realms does not change that. Death and the Shadowlands does not change how resurrection works in most cases. It doesn't change how people interact with spirits and talking with them in most cases.

There has always been an afterlife in WoW. This is explicit and always has been. That we see part of it does not invalidate death.

If the rift between ICC and Shadowlands has been repaired, and travel is now extremely difficult, it's just back to what has always existed in WoW lore.

[Raetary]

Nah, they will summon 5 Zonds and combine them into a Megazond.

"This isn't even my final form!"