Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Val the Moofia Boss]

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/st...304198154?s=20

one of blizzard's new "co-leaders" has already stepped down.

yikes!

Lasted 91 days. Huh.

[SunspotAnims]

Also:

https://www.mmo-champion.com/content...-Investor-Call

Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV will be launched later than originally planned, as more development time is needed to reach their full potential.

So we're definitely getting 10.0 next year or Blizz has nothing but Immortal.

It can't be said with confidence that "later than originally planned" excludes the possibility of either game launching in 2022 since we don't know what the "original plan" was, but since it's an investors call, I'd count the potential release delays in quarters, not entire years.

[Nyel]

You are in full on cope mode.

This pretty much confirms what everyone with more than 2 brain cells has been saying ITT, that they had NOTHING to show. And that is the real reason for Blizzconline's cancelation.

2023 for 10.0 lmao

They for sure won’t extend expansions, they want to make them shorter to generate cash.

No release in 2022 means losing out HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars.

Diablo Immortal is their only release for 2022 and that’s free to play. If they don’t release an WoW expansion, the entire year will be a shitshow for investors.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

As for the "expansions require lengthy explanations" thing, I think that could be mitigated by Blizzard creating a cinematic a Lord of War-style montage that very briefly gives you the broadstrokes of the Warcraft universe, or at least the parts that are relevant to the story of the expansion. GW2 did this with the HoT expansion intro, since new players were able to boost to level cap and jump straight into HoT's story, and season 1's quest content was removed from the game.

[Lahis]

https://investor.activision.com/stat...7-c18ebdb6b0e7

Yeah their MAU didn't change at all. Guess normies dont care about all that made up stuff.

Every time you open a different Blizzard game, you are being counted as different MAU. They did that HS promotion for the mount recently, so that will give massive boost in MAUs from people who haven't normally opened HS in a long, long time.

[Makorus]

As for the "expansions require lengthy explanations" thing, I think that could be mitigated by Blizzard creating a cinematic a Lord of War-style montage that very briefly gives you the broadstrokes of the Warcraft universe, or at least the parts that are relevant to the story of the expansion. GW2 did this with the HoT expansion intro, since new players were able to boost to level cap and jump straight into HoT's story, and season 1's quest content was removed from the game.

I mean, GW2 is probably the worst example to name in this discussion because playing HOT straight after the base game (because let's be honest, what new player has Season 2) is the most confusing shit ever. Same with POF without having played Season 3. And it will be the same with EOD.

[Azxza]

"These decisions will push out the financial uplift that we had expected to see next year. But we are confident that this is the right course of action for our people, our players, and the long-term success of our franchises."

They were expecting OW2/D4 next year. This is why earlier this year they were saying that 2022 would be big for Blizzard. Yikes!

- - - Updated - - -

Every time you open a different Blizzard game, you are being counted as different MAU. They did that HS promotion for the mount recently, so that will give massive boost in MAUs from people who haven't normally opened HS in a long, long time.

Yep. I was one of those. They counted me as a new MAU when I clicked on HS for that promotion and then uninstalled again 5 minutes later, lmao.

[Makabreska]

Alliance and Horde are at war because of the grudge that stemmed from when the orcs accepted a demonic bargain to attack Azeroth, and afterwards got stuck when their planet got destroyed. Though the Alliance mostly existed before this, the Horde has added disenfranchised races from across the Azeroth since they left the Eastern Kingdoms.

That is basically all the player needs to know to get the gist of what the Alliance and Horde are. And even this small peice of text could be divvied up over several quests that all explain the smaller intricacies of why orcs are green and had to escape to Kalimdor.

I think you are vastly overestimating how much knowledge of lore is needed to get into a more grounded WoW expansion.
As I said before, Shadowlands is the far outlier in how much knowledge is needed, since it requires explanations on Arthas, WotLK, Death Knights, Bolvar, and much of Sylvanas' story. But even then, if you sat the player down you could probably explain all of this in a fairly short questline.

Ye, and every time they bring back an established lore character, they should tell players who that is. And how are you gonna briefly and w/e ham-fisted exposition tell players who is Jaina, Thrall, KT and many many more.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I mean, GW2 is probably the worst example to name in this discussion because playing HOT straight after the base game (because let's be honest, what new player has Season 2) is the most confusing shit ever. Same with POF without having played Season 3. And it will be the same with EOD.

I think any stylized video made for wow should at least be seen ingame instead of just the internet(Like how you can talk to that one attendent dude that talks about the Shadowlands and what recently happened). The cinematics IMO deserve to be placed in game for any access.

[Lahis]

Also:

https://www.mmo-champion.com/content...-Investor-Call

Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV will be launched later than originally planned, as more development time is needed to reach their full potential.

So we're definitely getting 10.0 next year or Blizz has nothing but Immortal.

So they should rush out another expansion to get another trainwreck?

They would literally kill the game for one last good Quarterly Report.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I mean, GW2 is probably the worst example to name in this discussion because playing HOT straight after the base game (because let's be honest, what new player has Season 2) is the most confusing shit ever. Same with POF without having played Season 3. And it will be the same with EOD.

HoT's premise is relatively simple to explain. "The setting of this game is called Tyria. The nations of Tyria formed an alliance called a Pact. You are the Pact Commander. You are leading an expedition into the jungle to kill a dragon, but your airship fleet was destroyed and you crash landed in the jungle. Also, one of the races, the Sylvari, are actually sleeper agents of the jungle dragon, so there is distrust among the Pact regarding their Sylvari allies."

Path of Fire is admittedly more difficult to explain to newcomers. "You, the player character, are a sort of surrogate father to a baby dragon named Aurene. Also, you have an antagonistic relationship with a fire lord named Balthazzar, and you're chasing him into the desert. Also, your friends fought a purple dragon called Kralkatorik and failed, and now they are coming back for round 2".

[Lahis]

It can't be said with confidence that "later than originally planned" excludes the possibility of either game launching in 2022 since we don't know what the "original plan" was, but since it's an investors call, I'd count the potential release delays in quarters, not entire years.

4 quarters is a year!

[Sondrelk]

Ye, and every time they bring back an established lore character, they should tell players who that is. And how are you gonna briefly and w/e ham-fisted exposition tell players who is Jaina, Thrall, KT and many many more.

What do you really need to know about Jaina whenever she is relevant? She is an ice mage that is also in all but name the princess of Kul Tiras. If you want to bring up her relationship with Arthas you mention that they were lovers before Arthas went to Northrend. If you want the Kirin Tor to be a part of it you mention that she trained to be a mage in Dalaran like the rest. If you want her relationship to Anduin you can just say that she cares for him like family.

Kel'thuzad is a disgraced mage that got exiled for practicing necromancy. Thrall is the one that led the Orcs to Kalimdor. Lor'themar is the regent of Silvermoon after their king left/died.

And this is why a dedicated 10-50 questing epxerience is needed. So most of this basic stuff can go unsaid later.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

There's no way in hell that they are doing another expansion next year if every other product is delayed.

[EbaumsTipster]

There's no way in hell that they are doing another expansion next year if every other product is delayed.

Companies don't do well when they go a year with no paid products. Why do you think they would do that?

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

This is insanity is all I say, I know it will happen. But, what a stupid idea.

[Nyel]

There's no way in hell that they are doing another expansion next year if every other product is delayed.

That’s basically the entire point of doing an expansion. In 2019 they had no release besides Classic. In 2020 they had Reforged (unmitigated disaster) and Shadowlands. If they don’t release 10.0, they have zero, exactly zero releases for income. That’s not going to happen.

[SunspotAnims]

4 quarters is a year!

Yes, and a hypothetical Q1 release delayed by two quarters is still a release in the same year. My point was that since we know neither the original release plan nor the extent of the delays, release date speculation for OW2 or D4 hasn't been narrowed much after that announcement.

[EbaumsTipster]

We also get a new First One item doodad (the anima diverter) so that's one more First One model added.

No other games in 2022 makes me think small 9.2 big 10.0 is likely.

[Nyel]

Yes, and a hypothetical Q1 release delayed by two quarters is still a release in the same year. My point was that since we know neither the original release plan nor the extent of the delays, release date speculation for OW2 or D4 hasn't been narrowed much after that announcement.

I think from recent development and statements it’s been pretty clear that none of them was deemed releasable in 2022. So we speak about a launch in 2023 or even later.