Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Kiivar86]

All the zones look very distinct and thematic. This means however that I t starts to look increasingly artificial the more you look at it. Humans are after all not living in a blue forest, or gothic castles.
With more grounded zones it's easier to get immersed. You look at the forest and think that this is a forest like the ones you have likely seen already. With zones like Bastion you have to first mentally accept the zone as "reality" before you can get immersed. It's an additional layer of fake you have to accept. You have to get past that it is a game, that it is stylized, and how you control the game in addition to accepting theh zone itself. With more grounded zones you just have to accept the first layers.

From a story perspective you also have to mentally make the connection how this all ties back to Azeroth, which makes it difficult to accept how this is World of Warcraft.


Zones looking less distinct is a definite con for zone variety when it is on Azeroth, but it also makes it easier to go from one zone to the next without having to mentally readjust to the new visuals.


When wow runs out of landmasses the can just revamp. They already recycled outland once into Draenor, so it isn't nearly as impossible a feat as one might think on a smaller scale.

Hm, I see what you mean now, though I don't agree.

You can only do the same sort of forest, desert, etc so many times before it gets boring. This is a fantasy game, after all. Variety is better than the same-old same-old. I just don't agree with the way you think, unfortunately.

The problem at this point with Dragon Isles is, if they’re not floating and just are another basic continent in the ocean, I’d be massively disappointed.

Dragon Isles, something where Dragons reside, and it’s not in the air? For a race that’s born to fly and whose individuals are usually massive? (Sure they can transform into other races, but why would dragons do that on their home island?)

Where did this idea of the dragon isles floating in the air even come from, anyway? Last I recall the concept art was an island sitting in an ocean with that giant mollusk/octopus/old god-esque structure.

Did I miss something?

[Raetary]

Where did this idea of the dragon isles floating in the air even come from, anyway? Last I recall the concept art was an island sitting in an ocean with that giant mollusk/octopus/old god-esque structure.

Did I miss something?

Fan speculation.
Its dragon themed islands, so people want them to float.

Would also give us a rather unique continent, as we never really had proper floating islands.

Nobody even considers the old concept art anymore, for one we only have that one single piece of art and its almost 2 decades old.
It's outdated and barely worth taking into account, especially as the only thing it portrays is a single building along an empty shoreline.

[Cosmic Janitor]

It's outdated and barely worth taking into account, especially as the only thing it portrays is a single building along an empty shoreline.

Also we already had a hentai mountain in the meantime.

[Nyel]

Another story issue I personally would have with Dragon Isles is why Deathwing didn't approach them. Instead he was approaching Wyrmrest etc. Or did he went to the Dragon Isles and basically torched / destroyed them as well and the Dragons were rebuilding it in the last years?

[Hitei]

Where did this idea of the dragon isles floating in the air even come from, anyway? Last I recall the concept art was an island sitting in an ocean with that giant mollusk/octopus/old god-esque structure.

Did I miss something?

For these threads at least, the idea gained traction during 8.2 when people were speculating about 9.0 and we had the Sylverian Dreamer mount, a feathered dragon, alongside the fact that in 8.0 the flying hozen model had been added and was seemingly only used for a couple random NPCs in Dazar'alor. EbaumsTipster in particular suggested that the two might be connected and that we were getting a bunch of feathered animals because the hypothetical Dragon Isles might be flying islands.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Another story issue I personally would have with Dragon Isles is why Deathwing didn't approach them. Instead he was approaching Wyrmrest etc. Or did he went to the Dragon Isles and basically torched / destroyed them as well and the Dragons were rebuilding it in the last years?

I mean it would depend on what the dragon isles actually are at the end of the day. Are they just some old place that was lost? Are they a place of power? Are they just a place of history? I mean we aren't even really sure what the point of wyrmrest is besides a shared space. There were 5 tiny pocket dimensons and that was pretty much it.

[Nyel]

I mean it would depend on what the dragon isles actually are at the end of the day. Are they just some old place that was lost? Are they a place of power? Are they just a place of history? I mean we aren't even really sure what the point of wyrmrest is besides a shared space. There were 5 tiny pocket dimensons and that was pretty much it.

Sure, but as a former aspect Deathwing would have pretty much known everything about the Dragon Isles I guess. And if there's nothing important, why should we visit them now (aka in the next expansion)? I think there needs to be a very good reason why we haven't seen or heard anything about them in Cataclysm, the expansion that was the most about dragons. Another Kul'Tiras / Zandalar situation for the Dragon Isles wouldn't just work from a lore perspective.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Sure, but as a former aspect Deathwing would have pretty much known everything about the Dragon Isles I guess. And if there's nothing important, why should we visit them now (aka in the next expansion)? I think there needs to be a very good reason why we haven't seen or heard anything about them in Cataclysm, the expansion that was the most about dragons. Another Kul'Tiras / Zandalar situation for the Dragon Isles wouldn't just work from a lore perspective.

I mean you could just say that access to them was lost when Deathwing scammed the aspects out of their power for the first time when creating the dragon soul. Deathwing was already mad when he made the thing and he only got mader and dumber afterwards.

[Hitei]

Sure, but as a former aspect Deathwing would have pretty much known everything about the Dragon Isles I guess. And if there's nothing important, why should we visit them now (aka in the next expansion)? I think there needs to be a very good reason why we haven't seen or heard anything about them in Cataclysm, the expansion that was the most about dragons. Another Kul'Tiras / Zandalar situation for the Dragon Isles wouldn't just work from a lore perspective.

Why would you assume there's nothing important because Deathwing didn't bother with them? He had specific goals in mind that had nothing to do with whatever function the Dragon Isles have, so he didn't go to them. We didn't go to them because we were busy trying to fight the twilight's hammer, black dragonflight and elemental forces across two continents.

If you have a fully working FTL capable spaceship in your garage, and right now you're in the kitchen trying to make dinner because you are hungry... there's not much point in going into the garage and getting in that spaceship is there? It doesn't mean that spaceship isn't something insane, valuable and important, but it isn't going to help you cook dinner at all, so there's just no reason to involve it in the process.

[Kiivar86]

Fan speculation.
Its dragon themed islands, so people want them to float.

Would also give us a rather unique continent, as we never really had proper floating islands.

Nobody even considers the old concept art anymore, for one we only have that one single piece of art and its almost 2 decades old.
It's outdated and barely worth taking into account, especially as the only thing it portrays is a single building along an empty shoreline.

For these threads at least, the idea gained traction during 8.2 when people were speculating about 9.0 and we had the Sylverian Dreamer mount, a feathered dragon, alongside the fact that in 8.0 the flying hozen model had been added and was seemingly only used for a couple random NPCs in Dazar'alor. EbaumsTipster in particular suggested that the two might be connected and that we were getting a bunch of feathered animals because the hypothetical Dragon Isles might be flying islands.

Alrighty, so just fan speculation based on...pretty much nothing, then. Just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something. It seemed like some folk were so sure that I thought there was something more than that.

While the concept art certainly is old, it is the only real concept art we have. Otherwise we have, what, a few mentions of it, a few islands on some equally old maps, and that's about it, yeah?

[Cosmic Janitor]

Alrighty, so just fan speculation based on...pretty much nothing, then. Just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something. It seemed like some folk were so sure that I thought there was something more than that.

While the concept art certainly is old, it is the only real concept art we have. Otherwise we have, what, a few mentions of it, a few islands on some equally old maps, and that's about it, yeah?

The only thing of "substance" we have - and the quotation marks need be emphasized - is pretty much just the few mentions of the place. The outdated maps and 50x50 screenshots of even more outdated concept art is as good as nothing, since Blizzard has changed things so much over the years. It's pretty much a blank slate besides being related to their namesake.

[Alanar]

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...

Or just 9.2..

Nazjatar and nya lotha says hi.

[Raetary]

While the concept art certainly is old, it is the only real concept art we have. Otherwise we have, what, a few mentions of it, a few islands on some equally old maps, and that's about it, yeah?

This doesn't really mean much.

Pandaria was based on 1 hero unit that's primarily meant to be a joke and the Shadowlands had a vague 1 paragraph description in the chronicles, yet we still got expansions out of them.

The fact that the concept lacks fundamental details only adds to its potential.

Also, while the floating thing is just fan daydreaming, Blizzard (contrary to the belief of some) actually does browse through community ideas and takes them into consideration.
If we are loud and persistent enough, they might (internally) pick up on the floating isle concept, at least to some degree.

[Kiivar86]

The only thing of "substance" we have - and the quotation marks need be emphasized - is pretty much just the few mentions of the place. The outdated maps and 50x50 screenshots of even more outdated concept art is as good as nothing, since Blizzard has changed things so much over the years. It's pretty much a blank slate besides being related to their namesake.

Fair enough. I think it is still something (outdated though it may be, it is at least some sort of plan they once had) but it isn't much, I'll admit.

This doesn't really mean much.

Pandaria was based on 1 hero unit that's primarily meant to be a joke and the Shadowlands had a vague 1 paragraph description in the chronicles, yet we still got expansions out of them.

The fact that the concept lacks fundamental details only adds to its potential.

Also, while the floating thing is just fan daydreaming, Blizzard (contrary to the belief of some) actually does browse through community ideas and takes them into consideration.
If we are loud and persistent enough, they might (internally) pick up on the floating isle concept, at least to some degree.

Oh I'm not saying it isn't happening because of that! Just that I was kind of bewildered how it felt like people were talking about them floating as if it were a sure thing. I wasn't sure if I had missed some detail, but turns out the detail is all fanon at this point.

And yeah I'm well aware of them looking at fan concepts from time to time. I actually saw the original Worgen idea posted on the official forums waaaay back when. I was amused when the Worgen and Gilneas ended up being almost exactly like that post, years later.

[therumblings]

An entire expansion on floating dragon islands with waterfalls and flying on launch is such a good concept I am going to just keep saying it until Blizzard wills it into existence! Also hoping for a PTR build today

[Hitei]

Alrighty, so just fan speculation based on...pretty much nothing, then. Just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something. It seemed like some folk were so sure that I thought there was something more than that.

While the concept art certainly is old, it is the only real concept art we have. Otherwise we have, what, a few mentions of it, a few islands on some equally old maps, and that's about it, yeah?

It's a bit more complex than that.

The concept art isn't just old, it's defunct. It was made with the original plan of the Dragon Isles as an early zone with Old God content and early introduction of the Aspects. That entire idea was scrapped, Alex was instead introduced in Wrath at Wyrmrest, the Old Gods were addressed in other ways and are now dealt with sans Xal'atath, the zone was never taken past the very early blocking of the temple on Designer Island. The whole temple's concept was then recycled into the mountain for Shrine of the Storms. It was also done prior to the more mapped out themes of the individual dragon flights (hence not having anything to do with dragons).

So that concept art might as well not exist. It was made for a scrapped idea and then used for something else instead--so whatever the Dragon Isles is, it's not going to be that.

Re: flying, it's not based on nothing but more the best guess of some things we do know:

1. The Isles are difficult to find. This either means they are magically cloaked (Uldum), physically cloaked (Pandaria) or have some other inherent navigation difficulty (like moving around). Since Blizzard will probably want to avoid similarities to Pandaria's weather cloaking, and Uldum's Titan cloaking, there's probably going to be some option C for why it is difficult to locate.

2. The Isles are about Dragons. Dragon thematic and influence will be ubiquitous. Since dragons are winged creatures and their ancestors (protodrakes) are also winged creatures--it's likely other things in the environment will also feature wings by virtue of being "dragon" ecology, there is going to be a lot of verticality to the region even if it is grounded, regular islands. There are going to be a lot of mountains and cliffs and in general it will be designed with that verticality and air factor in mind.

3. There is going to be very heavy magic involvement in the environment, and one of the universals of warcraft's universe is that magic loves making rocks float (see: Outland, Argus, Dalaran, etc.) and this is also true of the dragon flights. Coldarra is the biggest location for the blue flight and the magic there makes bits of terrain float. The Emerald Nightmare's dreamstate features floating and disconnected terrain. The closest thing to a true black zone, Deepholme, features floating terrain. If you make a continent that is just supercharged with different sorts of magic, it's gonna have a bunch of floating stuff.

Which taken together make the Isles themselves flying a reasonable conclusion. Flying makes them difficult to find in a new and fresh way, it works well with the fauna and flora being "aerial" in design and the islands being primarily the home of a winged species, and it bakes in the fantastic, magical-infused terrain that is going to be a thing anyway.

[Nagawithlegs]

You're crazy if you think that they would follow Shadowlands with Lifelands. it COULD be a small collection of 9.2 zones (think Argus) while the raid is located Zereth Mortis though.

They are building up Azeroth stories and no two expansions are identical in theme and scope back to back: even Legion was mostly about Thalassians and their culture for the first half to distinguish it from the Legion story at the end of Warlords.

The Elune story buildup in launch Shadowlands would make sense if Lifelands are a patch in SL as the two realms mirror each other and are bound to the "Cycle". It also lines up with how Blizz has shown they don't think "Life" can be its own expansion (see their reluctance to do the Emerald Dream forever) and instead can feature in an expansion about Death AND Life.

[Nyel]

An entire expansion on floating dragon islands with waterfalls and flying on launch is such a good concept I am going to just keep saying it until Blizzard wills it into existence! Also hoping for a PTR build today

Preach, it's my favorite fan made concept for the next expansion now as well.

#teamfloatingdragonisles

[Aeluron Lightsong]

You're crazy if you think that they would follow Shadowlands with Lifelands. it COULD be a small collection of 9.2 zones (think Argus) while the raid is located Zereth Mortis though.

They are building up Azeroth stories and no two expansions are identical in theme and scope back to back: even Legion was mostly about Thalassians and their culture for the first half to distinguish it from the Legion story at the end of Warlords.

The Elune story buildup in launch Shadowlands would make sense if Lifelands are a patch in SL as the two realms mirror each other and are bound to the "Cycle". It also lines up with how Blizz has shown they don't think "Life" can be its own expansion (see their reluctance to do the Emerald Dream forever) and instead can feature in an expansion about Death AND Life.

If they wanted to do the life equiv of the Shadowlands, it would happen. I don't think that is the path they are taking.

[Raetary]

Just imagine:


^this, but warcraft themed.

It would look so damn good.