Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Sondrelk]

I cannot imagine we will have two expansions in a row on a vaguely explained otherworldly realm, in that case I would rather imagine the Elune stuff hints at a patch in this one.
I am almost completely confident the next expansion will take place back on Azeroth.

[Hellspawn]

I could also see an expansion that starts in Kalimdor and goes later to the life lands.

[Sondrelk]

I could also see an expansion that starts in Kalimdor and goes later to the life lands.

I could get behind that. I have always been of the belief that places like the Shadowlands would be etter served as patch content rather than full blown expansions, makes it much easier to ground content in a semblance of reality before going off the rails later on.

[Lahis]

I think you guys were right unless the next expansion is in Kalimdor, which I doubt, sounds like we're going to visit Elune's cosmic realm...

The pieces are assembling...



Gardens of Life, or whatever that s***t is called... Even Dragon Isles would've been better... I'm so disappointed...

World of Warcraft: Lifelands

[SunspotAnims]

I've been suspecting that if 10.0 returns a focus specifically on Azeroth, especially if a world revamps happens, Teldrassil (and by extension Elune) will be a central icon of the expansion. Restoring the tree would be a major plot point symbolic of the revamp as a whole, and it would culminate in bringing back Teldrassil as an actual zone on top of a tree rather than a giant stump.

[ExiHext]

I wouldn't be opposed to an expansion where we find new homes for nelves and forsaken including a patch where we somehow have to help the Pantheon of Life. Oh, and a conclusion for the vacant forsaken leadership.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I think Blizzard will do their usual thing of giving us what we want... but with a twist.

Oh yea, they will definitely monkey-paw it.

I just hope we don't end up back on azeroth and then suddenly discover elune's secret hiding spot on the moon..

[SunspotAnims]

Why Teldrassil?

If anything, they probably burned it because they want our attention to pivot to the actual World Tree - Nordrassil.

Teldrassil has long had an iconic depiction as a civilization on top of a giant tree but it's never been properly reflected in-game. Basically, I'm saying if the next expansion brings an "anti-Cataclysm" of sorts as a world revamp, the restoration of Teldrassil would be the defining icon of that change similar to how the burning gates of Stormwind were the defining icon of the cataclysm. A major plotline focused on restoring the destroyed tree would be pretty directly symbolic of restoring a neglected world, and the capstone of it all would be the zone returning in a new form, with a new appearance to more closely resemble how it was originally intended to look.

It's all speculation, obviously dependent on a bunch of "ifs", but I think it'd be the best way to approach the concept of a world revamp, if the next expansion were to go that route.

Basically, I want this. And it'd be a huge win if it were ever pulled off:

[Raetary]

Whatever they do, i dont want the Pantheon of Life (if we get them) to be the primary theme.

Have the expansion lead us to them, but i don't want another Shadowlands.

[Pheraz]

Whatever they do, i dont want the Pantheon of Life (if we get them) to be the primary theme.

Have the expansion lead us to them, but i don't want another Shadowlands.

Yes. Please not. I would move away from letting the gameplay be driven sooo much by the main story line. Less DBZ, more local stuff. And yes, please please please, no more new planets as the main env
Back to azeroth would be so cool

[Syegfryed]

I cannot imagine we will have two expansions in a row on a vaguely explained otherworldly realm, in that case I would rather imagine the Elune stuff hints at a patch in this one.
I am almost completely confident the next expansion will take place back on Azeroth.

i totally imagine that, blizzard are those guy who still think this expansion and lore is amazing, and, they totally think they could make it

But yeah its prob azeroth again with all the remaking starting gear, prob so we can create alts in the new world maybe.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I cannot imagine we will have two expansions in a row on a vaguely explained otherworldly realm, in that case I would rather imagine the Elune stuff hints at a patch in this one.
I am almost completely confident the next expansion will take place back on Azeroth.

I'm not so sure about that. The original plan was clearly to lean way more into cosmic stuff from now on. SL lore still in large parts sets up random things about the cosmos to be expaneded upon at the drop of a hat. The question is more how far ahead have they actually planned (something that imho is laughably exaggerated by the fans anyway) and how much room did they leave themselves to change course if SL wasn't well received.

[Nyel]

I really cannot imagine them going from Shadowlands - Pantheon of Death to Lifelands (aka Realms of Life) - Pantheon of Life in the next expansion. This would be hilariously bad planning in every aspect, especially when we considered how poor the reception to Shadowlands is. I don't expect Blizzard to be this ignorant and tone deaf, so at best we might get a patch or two out of it, where the main setting is entirely different.

The problem with setting is, what do we have left on Azeroth? Right now when we're talking about that it's a) Revamp or b) Dragon Isles, both options are rather limited (the one clearly being a 1% chance and the other just being so... basic?). Floating Dragon Isles where flying is mandatory from the start sounds awesome, but if it's neither a) nor b), what could Azeroth offer besides that? Undermine sounds so irrelevant that I don't expect anything from it, so... another secret continent like Pandaria? How likely is that after all these years and after all that's happened?

[Hugnomo]

Though I love Shadowlands (lore, art, concept, etc) and completely disagree that it should have been relegated to a mere patch, I do also believe that next expansion will be back on Azeroth and that they won't do 2 cosmic, otherworldly expansions in a row. And I've been rooting for a world revamp for years so, still hoping for that!

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Also, remember when everyone was upset that the alien, otherworldly, cosmic setting of Argus was a mere patch instead of an entire expansion? How the turntables...

[Raetary]

I also worry that it might give off a bit of that feeling of having disconnected zones without a horizon like in Shadowlands. It's one of the worst parts of the expansion for me.

This wouldn't happen if they float near each other.

[Kokolums]

Everyone wanted a deep dive into Nyalotha for an entire xpac and instead we got merely a glimpse in a patch.

No-one wants a deep dive into cosmic lore and that's exactly what they offer.

[Kiivar86]

Also, remember when everyone was upset that the alien, otherworldly, cosmic setting of Argus was a mere patch instead of an entire expansion? How the turntables...

Personally, still upset about that. What a waste.

Nazjatar too.

[Sondrelk]

I'm not so sure about that. The original plan was clearly to lean way more into cosmic stuff from now on. SL lore still in large parts sets up random things about the cosmos to be expaneded upon at the drop of a hat. The question is more how far ahead have they actually planned (something that imho is laughably exaggerated by the fans anyway) and how much room did they leave themselves to change course if SL wasn't well received.

Leaning on cosmic stuff is not something that will definitely have to mean going to different planes of existence though.
Legion was heavily leaning in the burning Legion, arguably even more than TBC, but we still had the expansion set primarily on Azeroth, allowing non-legion content to ground the expansion.

SL for instance could have been just as heavily Shadowlands themed if it was set in Northrend for instance. We just wouldn't have seen the afterlives as clearly, but all the characters and plotlines could have worked just the same regardless.

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Personally, still upset about that. What a waste.

Nazjatar too.

If it makes you feel better then SL is a perfect case study of why an entire expansion set on Argue would get tedious after a while. Sure you would learn more about it, but you would also be stuck there narratively for 2 years of wow.

Much better to set the expansion on Azeroth with thr cosmic stuff as the spice on top, then go full blown on that theme for the last patch to cap it off.

[Nyel]

You know what would have been cool? Instead of getting into the Shadowlands as a completely new realm, it would have been very interesting if we just would have gotten a "Shadowlands version" of existing zones, as Sondrelk said with Northrend for example. On the one hand we would have gotten an updated or slightly revamped Northrend zone and on the other hand the Shadow version of said zone we enter through a crack in the veil with the Shadowlands characters etc.

[therumblings]

You know what would have been cool? Instead of getting into the Shadowlands as a completely new realm, it would have been very interesting if we just would have gotten a "Shadowlands version" of existing zones, as Sondrelk said with Northrend for example. On the one hand we would have gotten an updated or slightly revamped Northrend zone and on the other hand the Shadow version of said zone we enter through a crack in the veil with the Shadowlands characters etc.

Pretty sure that is what the original concept of the Shadowlands was, but it got changed into being a realm of it's own. I'm gonna guess they will do the same with the Emerald Dream and turn it into the veil of the Lifelands, kinda like how the veil of the Shadowlands was the Shadowlands prior to 9.0.