Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I mean I agree PTR just doesn't work because the devs are just using it as marketing. They do not actual lead us to test anything other than raid encounters and even then it could've been NDA'd. This whole thing is just a marketing stunt and due to the parasitic relationship with WoWHead at this point.

As always the leaks we have right now are again damaging without its context and as always I don't really get the whole Jailor damages Azeroth and all that nonsense, again we will not lose. Ion has stated on the record we will never lose. I don't believe in this nonsense unless I see it on my screen with the screen turning black and a countdown to the new expansion reveal after the Jailor Cinematic happens.

Again IDK anymore, the whole Machine of Origination (Which isn't even the real name of the Forge of Origination, but I guess it is a machine?) being used would mean a completely new Azeroth.

Again if Blizzard does that and also removes Azeroth World Soul plot point and erases Turalyon and all the other nonsense going on. Cool.

Also I find it funny that this makes Sylvanas even worse than when she burned down Teldrassil. But again, we'll see.

I don't believe in this nonsense as I know this is the first PTR build of Jailors' Journal and it may be changed just like how N'zoths' first Journal was about consuming the World Soul and then later became about manifesting Ny'alotha on Azeroth.

[huth]

That made infinitely more sense than Pelagos becoming the Arbiter. In the case of the Draenei their leadership was mostly dead or turned traitor, and once Velen died abd made Yrel leader I really don't see why the rest of the Draenei wouldnt accept it.

And of course, Yrel didn't seem to become the actual leader until after we left, before that she was just the one leading various expeditions and generally being the Lin between the Alliance Hero and the Draenei.

I dunno, it kinda sounds like he has to give up himself on an even broader scale than Kyrians already did. The previous arbiter didn't have any real identity beyond its duty. Maybe it was actually made the same way?

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I mean I agree PTR just doesn't work because the devs are just using it as marketing.

Please don't outright lie.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Please don't outright lie.

Please don't outright lie.

[Yarathir]

If you don't think Blizzard uses PTR datamining as marketing/for hype building purposes then I don't know what to tell you.

[Hitei]

If you don't think Blizzard uses PTR datamining as marketing/for hype building purposes then I don't know what to tell you.

It's a secondary function. The idea that they don't do shit tons of actual testing with the PTR isn't just asinine, it's objectively fucking wrong, as looking at any PTR cycle's builds will immediately, uncontestably show you.

[huth]

If you don't think Blizzard uses PTR datamining as marketing/for hype building purposes then I don't know what to tell you.

Well, nobody claimed they don't do it. But the claim that this is its sole purpose isn't any better.

[Grimbold21]

I think Arthas was a pretty interesting character and seeing his fall and becoming the lich king was interesting, but by the time we saw him again in Wotlk I felt he was just pretty generic bad guy who would show up, mock us, disappear and I feel like the hype around Wotlk-Arthas is a bit exaggerated. I don't really expect much if he shows up again but I feel like it's one of those "you're damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations. If Arthas doesn't make an appearance at all in Shadowlands I think a lot of people will be upset over that, if they do use him then there will be people upset over how it's done (either that he's redeemed or not redeemed, or whatever else).

I think the playerbase treasures WotLK in that regard because it was one of the few expansions where the main antagonist was present all throughout until the end, and not just via in game 1 min cinematics. We got to see Arthas at several poinths throughout the game, we even got to be menaced by him prior to ICC.

Now players can argue the pros and cons of such setup, and it's certainly quite advantageous when your villain is a character with an already established and rich backstory.

I think they tried to do this with Deathwing as well, but DW - to me at least - was mostly unheard of, some character from Warcraft II.

Jump to the present and Shadowlands, where there wasn't a previous build up for Zovaal, you don't get to understand him other generic big bag villain tropes (if even those), then players will be indifferent to him, regardless of how many background ominous voice lines you put while you were in the Maw

[The Stormbringer]

Thanks for the birthday build, Blizz. <3

Happy belated birthday!

[Dracullus]

They constantly take player feedback into account and make adjustments. God this is such a retarded sentiment, please don't claim shit like this if you can't be bothered to even read the front page of MMO-C, where they outline exactly what changes and adjustments get made with every build.

Comments like this were ridicolous even before 9.1.5, like Blizzard haven't done massive changes based on feedback in 9.0 (no AP? no titanforging/warforging? PVP vendor? "gears matter"? returning skills? no RNG legendaries? no RNG stats in crafted gear? 9x more choices for weekly box and M+ no longer mandatory for it?).

[The Stormbringer]

Titans are children of the First Ones.

/tinfoilhat

I like the theory of "The First Ones knew their lifespan was coming to an end, so they reincarnated as the Titans, and were only able to pass on partial/fragment knowledge and memories."

[Grimbold21]

The other joke thread on Greymane becoming the king of SW reminded of one thing. If there's one thing - story wise - that I wish for the new xpac, it's for the Alliance to break up.
To break up in the sense that every other race is under the sway of the Humans of Stormwind. I'd rather have a coalition of races with no High King nonsense.

Then again, I know that's impossib.e

[draugril]

I've yet to see a clear correlation between player feedback and the changes made. They make changes based on what the data generated by player activity tells them. That's a very different thing from acting on direct feedback. This is why we have a lead director that sounds like a robot trying to numerically explain what "fun" is. They don't care about subjective feedback. At all. Until this most recent patch, wherein circumstances demand that they attempt to generate a bit of good will. Which demonstrates that they're not deaf or incapable. They willfully ignore direct feedback in favour of doing what the numbers tell them to do.

[The Stormbringer]

Looks it is confirmed she did nothing wrong

What do you mean? Details, please.

[Relapses]

The whole discussion is fruitless
No other videogame in existence has such a PTR cycle as WoW, neither in time nor scale. No bigger games, no smaller games

The one thing that is certain they are enough people to deep in this game that will test this game haphazardly for free so they dont pay internal testing so bobby can diddle more people

Yet here you are, posting on an entirely optional fan run forum for the game, as if anybody in the entire universe should care about your pointlessly cynical outlook.

[Hitei]

I've yet to see a clear correlation between player feedback and the changes made.

Because again, you have never bothered to actually pay attention to any PTR cycle.

[draugril]

Because again, you have never bothered to actually pay attention to any PTR cycle.

Quite the contrary.

[Relapses]

Please refrain from your personal attacks if you have nothing to add on my points, thank you

You didn't make any points nor did I "personally attack" you. Please refrain from claiming to be a victim when all you've done is express hopeless cynicism that nobody should take seriously.

[Relapses]

Because again, you have never bothered to actually pay attention to any PTR cycle.

I've found when people say that the "devs don't listen" on the PTR they mean that the devs didn't listen to their totally sweet suggestion to make {insert class here} 99% more powerful than everything else in the game.

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Again, its very telling that no other games seems to need to need or has a PTR cycle as wow. No other devs have this problem
Its clearly a cost cut point, a company that sacked moss of their customer support staff is not gonna emply more Q&A testing if its for free, it just a fact

::laughs in League of Legends::

[draugril]

Again, its very telling that no other games seems to need or has a PTR cycle as wow. No other devs have this problem
Its clearly a cost cut point, a company that sacked moss of their customer support staff is not gonna emply more Q&A testing if its for free, it just a fact

More to the point, they're not going to employ more QA personnel if there isn't a need for them - they use the PTR to stress test stability and look at patterns of player activity. That is what informs their changes. Not the feedback we provide, but the feedback that is provided and logged by the simple act of playing the new content.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I love the fact that the only time you see Relapses is when he wants to defend his favorite billion dollar company.

I do love the fact that he uses League of Legends which again is used for marketing purposes as well. No one actively plays the PBE unless they are idiots. It is mostly used to showcase new skins and content additions which what a surprise is marketing.

Again, unpaid labor as QA testers has been one of the dumbest things about the Video Game industry for a long time. The fact that Blizzard and Riot Games do not direct any attention to make PTR testing directioned by the developers for what they want tested should tell you everything about it.

But then again people are idiots.