Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Khaza-R]

Is the team that is working on the Classic(s) completely different than the one working on Retail? Is it possible that they were sending people to help on Classic? That, plus working hard on the next expansion*, plus the ongoing pandemic, plus the entire harassment thing, it's not a surprise that they're cutting Shadowlands short.

* 10.0 is a milestone, so I believe that it's getting extra attention from Blizzard. We might yet get the best expansion of WoW.

I haven't been following TBCC so I don't know if it changed. But no, Classic was its own team and only consisted of a handful of devs to begin with.

[Sondrelk]

Classic might have had more devs recently with Season of Mastery, but even then likely what amounts to a skeleton crew.
Unlike live the team doesn't really need designers or writers, just a few people ensuring the code still holds together.

[Ersula]

Nothing indicates he is gay outside wild reaching in his interactions with Wrathion.
He has been close to a dwarf lady, mentioned to have a thing for Draenei women, and is being hinted at getting a relationship with Talia.

Honestly the game is bereft of all romance. Some of the Warcraft characters have hetero spouces but they never spend any time with them. Lor'themar is dating Thalyssra but that's it. It's nice that they have one single solitary trans & a single monogamous gay couple but that's it so of course we get a constant "the homosexuals are taking over wow" blathering from the likes of asmogold & his parrots.

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My guess is: they're going to copy ESOs business model. You need to buy the base game / base expansion, but then can play for free. If you want to play specific kinds of content, you need to either sub or buy it.

Annual expansion for $39/$49 + one smaller content patch free for all (think like x.x.5 patches) one major content patch per year (free for subscribers, $20 for non-subscribers). And the schedule would look like: Expansion release -> smaller content patch after 2/3 months -> big content patch after 6 months. New expansion after 12 months.

What I could see as well: 1.5 years per expansion. 2 big, 2 small content patches (x.1 + x.1.5 + x.2 + x.2.5) while a subscription is still required. I really don't expect 2-year expansions with 3 content patches to be the get go for the future.

The goal is obvious: less money spent for developing content while generating more money overall due to an accelerated expansion cycle.

That did look like that was the idea in Warlords of Draenor, but since Legion the subscription model still works. They wouldn't copy ESO's model, they'd copy FFXIV business model because its much more successful & its the same one WoW is currently using. So expect no change there. And if they ever hope to dig themselves out of this rutt, they need to show off a big new shiny expansion, not a half-sized annual one.

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So now we are pretending current patch schedule is something Blizzard has planned and want for future? You keep saying that pandemic/lockdown argument is overused, yet forget about it every 5 minutes.

Of course it isn't only reason for droughts, there is also scandal that force changes which always slow down things. But it's not like Blizzard hate money, obviously longer patches lowered their potential income from SL.

Despite people keep claiming the contrary, Metzen said years ago: They plan a filler content patch every expansion. And they abandon it if they're running behind. They abandoned it during shadowlands. Examples of content patches they could have skipped & nothing major would change about the story: Nazjatar, Throne of Thunder, Trial of the Champion, & Argus (they could have stuck the Seat of the Pantheon fight after Kil'jaden in ToS if they had to)

My guess they could have taken all the elune story stuff & made Battle for Ardenweald a fully-fledged raid: That was the planned filler tier of Shadowlands. Doesn't it seem strange to jam all that Tyrande stuff into where we're storming the Jailer's enormous bastion?

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Is the team that is working on the Classic(s) completely different than the one working on Retail? Is it possible that they were sending people to help on Classic? That, plus working hard on the next expansion*, plus the ongoing pandemic, plus the entire harassment thing, it's not a surprise that they're cutting Shadowlands short.

* 10.0 is a milestone, so I believe that it's getting extra attention from Blizzard. We might yet get the best expansion of WoW.

No but you will get a rushed Q4 2022 expansion that will have Post-Launch issues again.

Don't worry, the fun starts in March. Enjoy yourselves until then. Because once this trainwreck begins anew it will be fireworks.

[Dracullus]

Despite people keep claiming the contrary, Metzen said years ago: They plan a filler content patch every expansion. And they abandon it if they're running behind. They abandoned it during shadowlands. Examples of content patches they could have skipped & nothing major would change about the story: Nazjatar, Throne of Thunder, Trial of the Champion, & Argus (they could have stuck the Seat of the Pantheon fight after Kil'jaden in ToS if they had to)

What was filler patch of Legion? Or BfA? Current patch system started when Ion took over, Metzen has nothing to do with it.

And no, Argus wasn't a filler patch. It's like saying final battle in Mordor in Return of the King was filler scene, they could end movie in Minas Tirith.

[Makabreska]

No but you will get a rushed Q4 2022 expansion that will have Post-Launch issues again.

Don't worry, the fun starts in March. Enjoy yourselves until then. Because once this trainwreck begins anew it will be fireworks.

That's the spirit!

[Dracullus]

That's the spirit!

WoW is amazing for whiners. Expac will come Q4 2022 - you can whine, expac will come 2023 - you can whine, Sylvanas will be arbiter - you can whine, anyone else will be arbiter - you can whine.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

WoW is amazing for whiners. Expac will come Q4 2022 - you can whine, expac will come 2023 - you can whine, Sylvanas will be arbiter - you can whine, anyone else will be arbiter - you can whine.

Its so exhausting, like if you are that miserable, just log off. (Not you specifically of course). God if I hated a game that much I'd of quit.

[Nyel]

That did look like that was the idea in Warlords of Draenor, but since Legion the subscription model still works. They wouldn't copy ESO's model, they'd copy FFXIV business model because its much more successful & its the same one WoW is currently using. So expect no change there. And if they ever hope to dig themselves out of this rutt, they need to show off a big new shiny expansion, not a half-sized annual one.

I‘m 100% sure WoW is not continuing in the exact same way after Shadowlands as it did in the past. I think the 2 year expansion / 3 content patch system has been worn out and Shadowlands put a rest to the 3 content patch per expansion style.

What will change is about to be seen, but there for sure will be changes. They can’t continue in this vain, it only went downhill after Legion.

[Makorus]

What was filler patch of Legion? Or BfA? Current patch system started when Ion took over, Metzen has nothing to do with it.

And no, Argus wasn't a filler patch. It's like saying final battle in Mordor in Return of the King was filler scene, they could end movie in Minas Tirith.

8.1 and 7.1 (7.2 to a lesser extent)

[ExiHext]

Its so exhausting, like if you are that miserable, just log off. (Not you specifically of course). God if I hated a game that much I'd of quit.

That's what I'm saying for quite a while. But the addiction/ex-girlfriend-syndrome is soooooo strong. At this point I'm only amused about what people can bicker.

[AngerFork]

And some people want him to be gay cos they find him hot and want to live their precarious gay fantasies through the character

while others yet again, just love the ide of two cute boy men getting it on.

question is, would the move make Anduin very popular or just turn people furthe roff wow.. it's hard to say.

The shipping crowd are always very vocal on social media, they can make something appear to be really wanted, but just one other thing the far greater and silent majority would frown over and be put off by. Maybe Anduin was a character they liked or were okay about for a change and would feel him going gay is just another needless nod trying to force them to pick up something they don't want to.

While I doubt very much that Anduin is actually gay or even bi, I can't deny that it would make for some interesting future story points. For one thing, we have had LGBT characters in the game so far such as Flynn & Matthias, but not in leadership positions. What does it mean for the future leadership of Stormwind & of the Alliance if the King will not have a natural birth heir? Perhaps the couple could adopt a child, but otherwise there really would not be a clear line of succession in place. Would the other Alliance races try to form a council or try & take leadership themselves, just to ensure leadership that lasted beyond a monarchy whose future may lie in the voting interests of Stormwind nobles? This could even be used as an argument for the nobles to try & give Turalyon the throne...after all, he already has a wife & an heir to continue the line forward, not to mention his past heroics for the Alliance.

Plus it's not like the story would completely come out of nowhere. In addition to the Wrathion stuff, Anduin's consistent brushing off of Genn's thoughts on having an heir could well be looked at as having more reasons than just youthful exuberance, especially as we haven't really seen Anduin do any dating.

That being said, I doubt that we'll see any of this come to fruition...Taelia seems to be being prepped to be Anduin's future wife & Tess Greymane has already been mentioned as a possibility during the aforementioned Genn/Anduin conversation. It seems likely that should Anduin return to Azeroth as himself, we'll see some sort of quick arc in either an upcoming book or expansion to set in the future of the Stormwind Monarchy.

[Ersula]

What was filler patch of Legion? Or BfA? Current patch system started when Ion took over, Metzen has nothing to do with it.

And no, Argus wasn't a filler patch. It's like saying final battle in Mordor in Return of the King was filler scene, they could end movie in Minas Tirith.

"Current Patch System?" The current patch release schedule isn't largely different from how its ever been: We know there was a Shattrath raid planned in WoD, there's even work-in-progress maps in the datamining dedicated to it. The Argus patch is almost entirely new lore appearing wholecloth. Like I said, if the Seat of the Pantheon fight happened directly after Kil'jaden nothing would seem to be missing from the expansion. They even had everything they needed to do the Illidan rejection of the gift scene with Xe'ra without ever involving the Lightforged. Same goes for Nazjatar in BFA, if Azshara was never mentioned in that expansion, nothing would be different. They called them "Troll Raids" years ago.

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That being said, I doubt that we'll see any of this come to fruition...Taelia seems to be being prepped to be Anduin's future wife & Tess Greymane has already been mentioned as a possibility during the aforementioned Genn/Anduin conversation.

You guys are writing literal paragraphs defending a fictional characters' heterosexuality in response to an offhand joke. This is why it's fun to headcannon characters as gay, because it clearly pisses people off. Rent free.

[shoc]

Is Anduin being gay even up for debate? He's gay as fuck. How can anyone take one look at his character and think for a moment that there is even a sliver of heterosexuality there? The homoerotic sexual tension between Anduin and Wrathion is the only good thing about WoW lore, don't take that away from me you straight freaks.

[Dracullus]

8.1 and 7.1 (7.2 to a lesser extent)

Do you know what is a filler? Literally how attacking Zuldazar and Suramar were filler to Legion and BfA. Both are main plot. It's not some troll raid on the side. We could tell it about Mechagon if it would be only content of 8.2.

Its so exhausting, like if you are that miserable, just log off. (Not you specifically of course). God if I hated a game that much I'd of quit.

It was exhausting 10-15 years ago. Now it's just funny. Opinion of someone who is invested in something that is 'shit' since 2010 is useless by definition.

"Current Patch System?" The current patch release schedule isn't largely different from how its ever been: We know there was a Shattrath raid planned in WoD, there's even work-in-progress maps in the datamining dedicated to it. The Argus patch is almost entirely new lore appearing wholecloth. Like I said, if the Seat of the Pantheon fight happened directly after Kil'jaden nothing would seem to be missing from the expansion. They even had everything they needed to do the Illidan rejection of the gift scene with Xe'ra without ever involving the Lightforged. Same goes for Nazjatar in BFA, if Azshara was never mentioned in that expansion, nothing would be different. They called them "Troll Raids" years ago.

We could kill KJ, jump to seat and destroy Sargeras right after Broken Shore intro! OMG WHOLE LEGION IS A FILLER.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

What was filler patch of Legion? Or BfA? Current patch system started when Ion took over, Metzen has nothing to do with it.

And no, Argus wasn't a filler patch. It's like saying final battle in Mordor in Return of the King was filler scene, they could end movie in Minas Tirith.

Not that I wholly agree with he idea but one could argue that 9.3 and 8.3 were cut shorter then planned with the huge zone esc N’zoth model found but not finished and the same with the chained argus soul.

[Makabreska]

Do you know what is a filler? Literally how attacking Zuldazar and Suramar were filler to Legion and BfA. Both are main plot. It's not some troll raid on the side. We could tell it about Mechagon if it would be only content of 8.2.

Again, "filler" term pretty much lost it's all meaning ages ago, because people will just use it to describe xpac/patch they simply don't like, regardless of it's content and story progression. I think the one true filler patch was famed 6.1 "Seflie cam patch".

[AngerFork]

You guys are writing literal paragraphs defending a fictional characters' heterosexuality in response to an offhand joke. This is why it's fun to headcannon characters as gay, because it clearly pisses people off. Rent free.

If I may, what did I write that made you think I'm angry about Anduin's sexuality as opposed to theorizing different directions for the story to go? I don't feel I've done anything more here than simply given a bit of thought to a couple different directions Anduin's character could go.

[Makabreska]

You guys are writing literal paragraphs defending a fictional characters' heterosexuality in response to an offhand joke. This is why it's fun to headcannon characters as gay, because it clearly pisses people off. Rent free.

Are you really the guy to say that, when you keep defending a fictional character atrocities?

[Dracullus]

Again, "filler" term pretty much lost it's all meaning ages ago, because people will just use it to describe xpac/patch they simply don't like, regardless of it's content and story progression. I think the one true filler patch was famed 6.1 "Seflie cam patch".

I would call that everything that is not connected to main plot(s). WoW is (obviously) not some masterfully crafted story, they create macguffins like Pillars of Creation or Sygils as they go, but they are still part of main story.