Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Aucald]

I find myself wondering if Deathwing didn't spend *all* his time convalescing in Deepholm, but rather returned periodically to Azeroth, and specifically the Dragon Isles, to set up future machinations and experiments during his long recovery. Some of the stuff we find in the Isles don't seem like the work of the Aspect Neltharion but rather the designs of the insane Deathwing - such as the mind control device, or the long stasis of the dracthyr themselves. It seems quite possible to me that Deathwing might've gone to Deepholm to slumber and recover, returning to the Isles periodically to check on his stuff and perhaps set up some additional wickedness, before growing tired and returning to Deepholm again.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I find myself wondering if Deathwing didn't spend *all* his time convalescing in Deepholm, but rather returned periodically to Azeroth, and specifically the Dragon Isles, to set up future machinations and experiments during his long recovery. Some of the stuff we find in the Isles don't seem like the work of the Aspect Neltharion but rather the designs of the insane Deathwing - such as the mind control device, or the long stasis of the dracthyr themselves. It seems quite possible to me that Deathwing might've gone to Deepholm to slumber and recover, returning to the Isles periodically to check on his stuff and perhaps set up some additional wickedness, before growing tired and returning to Deepholm again.

That would be weird seeing as the other aspects couldn't go there yet Deathwing could minus some actual explanation but...then again why just him?

[Cheezits]

Maybe the reveal will be that, due to elemental trickery and the innate connection of elements to dragons, Deathwing made a tunnel from Deepholm to "Underground Dragon Isles"?

Both were sealed away through Titan magic. Maybe Deathwing reverse engineered that technology to connect Deepholm to the pocket dimension the Isles were in?

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That would be weird seeing as the other aspects couldn't go there yet Deathwing could minus some actual explanation but...then again why just him?

Because he was trapped in a Titan prison and they weren't. If the Isles were technically also in a "Titan Prison" (pocket dimension) maybe Deathwing could hop between them.

[Aucald]

That would be weird seeing as the other aspects couldn't go there yet Deathwing could minus some actual explanation but...then again why just him?

The Dragon Isles seems to have some strong elemental connections, especially with the element of earth - it's quite possible that Deathwing could utilize his own connection to the element of earth to transit between realms, getting in underneath the shield where the other Aspects could not. It's also rather curious that the Dragon Isles were shielded from the other Dragonflights to begin with, as it seems like a severe oversight in the design of the Beacon of Tyrhold. Seems possible to me that Deathwing altered the design of the Beacon to do that intentionally, thereby giving himself yet another hidden sanctum from which he could hide and plot, turning the Aspects' former homes into his private fiefdom.

[Cheezits]

The Dragon Isles seems to have some strong elemental connections, especially with the element of earth - it's quite possible that Deathwing could utilize his own connection to the element of earth to transit between realms, getting in underneath the shield where the other Aspects could not. It's also rather curious that the Dragon Isles were shielded from the other Dragonflights to begin with, as it seems like a severe oversight in the design of the Beacon of Tyrhold. Seems possible to me that Deathwing altered the design of the Beacon to do that intentionally, thereby giving himself yet another hidden sanctum from which he could hide and plot, turning the Aspects' former homes into his private fiefdom.

It would also be a nice nod towards the hubris of the titans that the Primalists so often mention: in their desire to Order everything, they created a network of Titan facilities and programs that can be abused by someone smart enough.

[Auxis]

The big plotlines that aren't tied to Rasageth/Primalists are as follows:

- Decay magic, the Gnoll leader escapes her dungeon fight and says she'll spread more of it. May be a tease about Galakrond as he was a "death" dragon who spit out bodies and corpses, and Decay is opposite of Spirit (so he is essentially an anti-Dragon, as the drakes came from the elements)

- There is some kind of magic machine(?) that Neltharion created that is underground and used as a mind control for draconic creatures. This is teased in a questline and is probably tied to the underground zone. Also apparently the mole creatures and noodle dragons aren't in the game yet, so they may be from there?

- Emerald Dream: Malfurion stuff, nuff said. We don't know why we need Ysera back.

- Murozond: Nuff said.

As Dragonflight is lowkey another elemental expansion, but we're getting some Life storyline, I think people are sleeping on how important Elune and the Lifelands may be to this expansion. I'm not saying SL 2 but we may go to the Dream again or the place where the dream originates from, as it may very well be where the elements (and thus dragons) came from to begin with.

I wonder if Elune helped Freya "install" the Emerald Dream if we are to believe the Titan perspective of Chronicle. Or the Emerald Dream is like Ardenweald in that it's a section of the "Lifelands" with Elune being it's Eternal One, just the Titan's took credit for using it? And the Natural flow of Souls is Reality > Death, but the Ardenweald/Emerald Dream link is either an unintentional or intentional bypass to make sure that SOME souls return to Reality, so it becomes Reality > Death > Life > Reality and so on?

[Ramz]

Djaradin COULD be the primordial trolls, and revealing it now would be a huge spoiler. We don't know where trolls originally came from after all.

I hope it's not the case as they look nothing like trolls. More like a link between titan constructs and vrykul to be honest.

I think that it's more likely that Trolls have some connection to the Emerald Dream/Lifelands though. They have regeneration powers (that glow green) and seem to stick with wild gods all the time.

I like that idea but you can never be sure with current team. I'd rather get myself ready for scrapped content.

Thus far I've seen no primordial trolls in the Beta, but it's entirely possible they're going to feature in future content concerning the Primalists and the elemental forces at play on the Dragon Isles.

Thanks for information.

[Cheezits]

I wonder if Elune helped Freya "install" the Emerald Dream if we are to believe the Titan perspective of Chronicle. Or the Emerald Dream is like Ardenweald in that it's a section of the "Lifelands" with Elune being it's Eternal One, just the Titan's took credit for using it? And the Natural flow of Souls is Reality > Death, but the Ardenweald/Emerald Dream link is either an unintentional or intentional bypass to make sure that SOME souls return to Reality, so it becomes Reality > Death > Life > Reality and so on?

I think the most likely answer is that the Dream is either a chunk of the Lifelands specific to Azeroth that Freya shaped and lorded over (with the Life Gods permission) or its a pocket realm created by the Titans using Life magic, similar to how Helya created Helheim using Shadowlands magic.

[Revamp Man]

I don't think you fully understand how compounding percentages work. A level 10 key is scaled 4% higher than a +10 now. An 11 is scaled 8% higher. 12 is scaled 13% higher. A +20 in Dragonflight will be scaled higher than a +22 is now.

It will be equivalent to a 22 which for the most part if you regularly run 20s currently isn't much tougher

A 15 will be a bit more difficult than a current 16 so as I've said the difficulty won't feel as much as a 17 which for most people isn't a very big leap

[Nymrohd]

I couldn't find any concept art, any chance it was posted here or do you know where to find it?

and what you wrote makes sense, it would be cool to meet them in some underground zone.

Yikes sorry, got confused. I was doing some research on dark trolls the other day and was looking at the Cataclysm concept art (they were supposed to be in Cata but where cut content) so I just remembered seeing troll concept art recently

But yeah, I think tying them to an underground zone would make sense. And really, every expac needs trolls!

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I think the most likely answer is that the Dream is either a chunk of the Lifelands specific to Azeroth that Freya shaped and lorded over (with the Life Gods permission) or its a pocket realm created by the Titans using Life magic, similar to how Helya created Helheim using Shadowlands magic.

My guess is the latter. We see Ra and Helya manipulate planar connections and the connection of souls to the afterlife with the Elemental Planes after all. It seems the Titans and their Keepers were very much capable of creating planar realms and of changing how things worked on a fundamental level.

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It will be equivalent to a 22 which for the most part if you regularly run 20s currently isn't much tougher

A 15 will be a bit more difficult than a current 16 so as I've said the difficulty won't feel as much as a 17 which for most people isn't a very big leap

Not many people run 20s regularly. We are talking about people who are running 15s moving up to 22-23s. And that is without a kiss/curse affix that provides extra power and without multiple extra power systems at the end of an expansion.

[Ramz]

Yikes sorry, got confused. I was doing some research on dark trolls the other day and was looking at the Cataclysm concept art (they were supposed to be in Cata but where cut content) so I just remembered seeing troll concept art recently

But yeah, I think tying them to an underground zone would make sense. And really, every expac needs trolls!

I would rather see Blizzard develop them and make them improve, get new characters and actually grow, instead of making out of them loot pinata every single time. One of the reasons why I thought Primordial trolls were replaced with Djaradin was because having another evil troll nation that is nothing but punching bag is redundant. But who knows what is really going on there.

[Nymrohd]

I would rather see Blizzard develop them and make them improve, get new characters and actually grow, instead of making out of them loot pinata every single time. One of the reasons why I thought Primordial trolls were replaced with Djaradin was because having another evil troll nation that is nothing but punching bag is redundant. But who knows what is really going on there.

Djaradin are an interesting case actually. They are more like Predators and they just hunt down Dragons cause they are the worthiest hunt.

[AliceCattx]

Apparently, there is a character retcon https://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraf.../dp/B0BHTP2P4H

Danuser just tweeted saying this listing is an error and he's not a bronze dragon

[Aucald]

I couldn't find any concept art, any chance it was posted here or do you know where to find it?

and what you wrote makes sense, it would be cool to meet them in some underground zone.

To my knowledge, it was blurb from one of the developer interviews about Dragonflight:

It’s that familiarity and wonder at the same time. It’s hard to capture, but it’s something we’re focusing on. Across the zones, you’ll meet Centaur clans, primordial Trolls, or even revisit the Tuskarr. It’s a nice balance between the "new" and "familiar". (Source)

That's the only mention of primordial trolls connected to the expansion - but with none encountered so far, this would either be cut content or perhaps fodder for future stories in the Isles.

[DancingMad]

Danuser just tweeted saying this listing is an error and he's not a bronze dragon

Ok Thanks for the heads up!

[Dracullus]

As expected, 25th October. I would like to see launch of event/Evoker though. They told us it will last 2 weeks, but would be strange if we will get 3 weeks of nothing, 1 is enough.

Okay but like...

Season 4 ends on October 25th. Does that mean prepatch is that day also? Or that the prepatch is actually a week later?

Yes, it's same thing. What would be the point of non-season week in 9.2.7? Just to piss people working for KSM?

[AngerFork]

Okay but like...

Season 4 ends on October 25th. Does that mean prepatch is that day also? Or that the prepatch is actually a week later?

Prepatch is almost certainly going to come out that day, that's how this usually works.

I'm curious if they'll be able to fix some of the UI bugs in that time. There seems to be a ton of bugs with how the UI displays targeting & damage in my testing thus far.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

As expected, 25th October. I would like to see launch of event/Evoker though. They told us it will last 2 weeks, but would be strange if we will get 3 weeks of nothing, 1 is enough.



Yes, it's same thing. What would be the point of non-season week in 9.2.7? Just to piss people working for KSM?

November 15th

[Valysar]

Hope not, Evoker needs to be release at the same time as prepatch

[gtfo_my_internets]

after ~3 hours on the beta my game has hard crashed 41 times. inventory seems broken, half my bag slots appear empty when they are not. doing any kind of gear comparing in bags or on the character pane with weapons is an instant crash. lots of massive frame drops going from 144 solid down to 50 for a half second and then back.

drac'thyr riding mounts look real silly. why soar isn't just a racial travel form akin to druid forms i'll never understand. could easily see the "hover" ability to function like a ground-based travel form. I hate looking at it this big dragon-thing with wings riding a horse so much that I have the auto-visage form on and hotkeyed it in case it just doesnt work.

using deep breath on anything but a perfectly flat surface is a 50/50 gamble on whether it works or if you just hover in place like an idiot doing absolutely nothing

combat on the evoker seems ok at first glance, havent really experimented with any recommended builds and probably have a less than ideal setup. easy to run away from shit if you pull too much unless you're trying to use your 50/50 deep breath as an escape.

dragonriding is pretty cool. better than old style air swimming for sure. i have 0 upgrades, or maybe 1, and haven't come across a time where I feel stuck or waiting on CDs to be able to go anywhere. You can fly for a really long time, maybe indefinitely idk, if you use your abilities well and don't stall yourself out. I'm sure it will be easier to do so with more vigor and stuff later on. It would be cool if the dragonriding mounts were castable mid-air since they have that little swooping in animation when you mount up. Prob won't happen but would be cool and add a bit of fun.

would also be nice if the visage and drac'thyr forms had completely separate tmogs too, armor on the dragons looks weird AF to me, but to get rid of it I have to hide the belt, shoulders, and helm(?) on the visage form to have them be hidden on the drac'thyr form. Didn't spend a ton of time on this so it might actually be possible to do that, I just didn't see how when I looked at it.

other than that it just seems like more WoW, which is fine by me. The crashing constantly, the UI errors and the frame drops make me wonder how ready this expansion actually is to ship, though.