Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Vasoka]

Late feb/March, after 9.2 release, big announcement stream.

With what potential release date?

[Tyris Flare]

They are so far behind I doubt they even have a release date mentioned until Q3-Q4 at the earliest

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Alright, real talk. When do you ppl think they'll announce 10.0? And in what manner? Given that xpacs were always announced at Blizzcon / Gamescon so far.

After 9.2 Launch which would be in Jan/Feb and then right after Zovaal Cinematic/2 weeks they will announce the Big Future of Warcraft stream where they will go over 10.0/Mobile Games and Global Battle Net for World of Warcraft. (Most likely Early March or March in general)

Launch will be in Q4 2022 and the expansion will most likely have System Design Issues and a Narrative collapse due to panic and needing to appeal to everyone while having features and story elements that can hook the audience back into the game creating a narrative akin to BFA 2.0.

[Revamp Man]

Yep. The WarCraft story is best when it is Big, Dumb, and Fun.

The franchise is not the best place for small, personal stories.
Nor is it apt for complex, interweaving "clever" narratives with twists and turns, mysteries and reveals.
Nor is it apt for depressing, maudlin melodrama.

Reverse course on all these fronts, and it might again begin to resemble the WarCraft that captured our hearts nearly three decades ago.

I still can’t get over “the jailer is cunning and deceptive” when he was always “I shall remake reality and any resistance will be wiped out and forced to serve”

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Maybe it sucked for you, but mechanically speaking, I had a ton of fun on my BM Hunter. I could jump and move and run all over the place like a spazz and still play my entire rotation. It was the first expansion in a while I got back into raiding too.

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Which is depressing, considering the actual amount of time since the world has properly been updated.

Vanilla WoW released in 2004 -> Cataclysm released in 2010 -> Here we are at the end of 2021 with only sporadic updates to the world.

Yeah... not very great. Soon we'll have gone twice as long as the Vanilla to Cata gap without a world revamp.

My monk had nothing but fun with chi explosion and clones for at least one boss every raid

We will get a revamp at one point even if it’s just a few zones at a time and it will use the zidormii phasing which I think is the best way to do it

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Alright, real talk. When do you ppl think they'll announce 10.0? And in what manner? Given that xpacs were always announced at Blizzcon / Gamescon so far.

Blizzconline replacement
Around March
If they don’t pull a 9.3 mini patch then it will be mid November
If they do use 9.3 to help then March 2022 at the earliest

[Makabreska]

Alright, real talk. When do you ppl think they'll announce 10.0? And in what manner? Given that xpacs were always announced at Blizzcon / Gamescon so far.

Real talk is you will keep getting same set of answers, because no one knows and everyone is guessing.

[Vasoka]

Orly? I had no idea that we're guessing. It's called speculation and it's interesting to hear what other people think. Way to go stating the obvious though.

Anyway, even more real talk. What's the chance the next xpac doesn't come in 2022, but instead comes in 2023 due to the overall delays and scandals? What do you guys think?

[Tyris Flare]

I would love to be wrong, but i think there's no way in hell they put out an xpack in 2022. They have had a constant spree of people quitting (far beyond reported big names) and it's very hard to replace people right now. Going to be one of the most brutal end of xpack cycles ever and a lot is riding on 10.0 both 1) being good and 2) being able to generate quicker patches

[Dracullus]

With what potential release date?

9.2 has 18th Anniversary event, which at least tell us Blizzard is not sure about 2022 release.

Smaller or bigger, all that matter is expansion is complete. Worst case scenario it would be ready for early 2023, but they will push it for Christmas '22. Quick release matter for patches, but expac is always hard reset. Long wait doesn't affect initial hype at all, just remember WoD or Legion.

Anyway, any prediction for release date is completely pointless. We don't know how early 10.0 production was affected by lockdown/scandal mess. We don't know if 10.0 is usual expac or some revamp. Expac usually land ~year after last big patch, although early Spring for expac would be weird. I'll rather have it for Christmas or wait for Summer.

[Vasoka]

And the general consensus / speculation so far is that it's dragon isles due to the dragon bundle?

[Kiivar86]

And the general consensus / speculation so far is that it's dragon isles due to the dragon bundle?

Seems so.

Personally I'm expecting something out of left field.

[Therougetitan]

And the general consensus / speculation so far is that it's dragon isles due to the dragon bundle?

It was theorized to be dragon isle a couple weeks before that because of some encrypted green drake mount

[Vasoka]

Sounds cool. Guess fanatic Yrel Light Crusade idea went out the window.

[AngerFork]

Alright, real talk. When do you ppl think they'll announce 10.0? And in what manner? Given that xpacs were always announced at Blizzcon / Gamescon so far.

Personally, I think we're looking at either a mid-March or a mid-April announcement date, & I suspect that is partially why Blizzcon is not happening in 2022. The key to this IMO is the Sylvanas book that is currently set to come out on March 29th. As is, we likely will be getting more context on Sylvanas' actions & who she will be in the future, but we likely won't get much that will spoil the expansion. The real key here is if Blizz wants to properly close out the Sylvanas stuff before announcing the new direction for WoW, or whether Blizz will hope for a bump from a 10.0 expansion to raise book sales. Mid-April is probably the safer bet here, just in case 9.2 comes out late & more room is needed for World First to happen.

And the general consensus / speculation so far is that it's dragon isles due to the dragon bundle?

Dragon Bundle probably leans more towards Dragon Isles, but we've arguably had signs in a few different directions. The Sunwarmed Furline could well be a sign of plot elements involving the Light. The Sapphire Skyblazer (along with it's orange twin) continuously talks about hotter, which also points to something like the Light. But neither is a direct creation of the Light while the Dragon Bundle absolutely points towards Dragon Isles.

At this point, I feel either one could be the next expansion plot. I could even see a case where the Light is the main antagonist, but we have to visit the Dragon Isles to find a way to push against it.

[draugril]

The Shadowlands races are a good idea, but why they care about the world of the living would need to be developed. The Dreadlords going back & forth between the veil caused all this in the first place so I can't imagine many would think letting people come & go as they please would be allowed.

Considering the latest build has new Sylvanas clicky lines, it seems like she's really sticking around: Perhaps as faction leader of undead elves? The Lilian/Calia scene at the end of BFA does feel like an allied race quest: complete with unique racial mount.

Personal preference aside, my real issue with Shadowlands races becoming an ongoing feature of the setting would be just what their new role would be. The very order of the cosmos would have to be shifted to accommodate their ongoing and independent role in the mortal world. And ongoing plots would now need to factor in the specific proclivities and resources that these races have.

Or they could just go the Lightforged route and make them playable while ignoring everything about them that should have been a paradigm shift but functionally changed nothing. Sylvanas's plot doesn't really work if she gets nuked by a space laser, I suppose.

I still can’t get over “the jailer is cunning and deceptive” when he was always “I shall remake reality and any resistance will be wiped out and forced to serve”

Honestly, I still can't get over the misleading comments around who burnt down the tree when it was simply its face value. Sylvanas burnt it down. Due to an emotional outburst. But then it turns out that she was fueling the Jailer. Then why did it require that emotional outburst? Just... such inconsistencies bordering on retconning from one patch to the next.

If they want to do big, bombastic stories, great! They're fun! But they're giving us the Lost treatment with cliffhangers that are resolved by mystery boxes that are resolved by cliffhangers ad nauseum. That's not the type of storytelling that I'm coming to WoW to experience, and even if I was, they're terrible at it.

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Personally, I think we're looking at either a mid-March or a mid-April announcement date, & I suspect that is partially why Blizzcon is not happening in 2022. The key to this IMO is the Sylvanas book that is currently set to come out on March 29th.

Yep. If they had an announcement to make, you better believe that Blizzcon would not have been cancelled. As the store mounts have shown, mass marketing trumps optics that comparatively few care about.

[Makabreska]

Sounds cool. Guess fanatic Yrel Light Crusade idea went out the window.

For now...

[Khaza-R]

And the general consensus / speculation so far is that it's dragon isles due to the dragon bundle?

Dragon Isles has been a popular fan theory for a while now. There's really no evidence at all backing it at this point.

But its not unheard of Blizzard taking fan concepts and running with them to create something new.

[Teriz]

Dragon Isles has been a popular fan theory for a while now. There's really no evidence at all backing it at this point.

But its not unheard of Blizzard taking fan concepts and running with them to create something new.

Dragon Isles was planned for vanilla WoW.

Wrathion is searching for them.

[Khaza-R]

Dragon Isles was planned for vanilla WoW.

Wrathion is searching for them.

I talking about it in the context as the setting for an expansion.

[draugril]

I talking about it in the context as the setting for an expansion.

There was less evidence for MoP and SL.

[Chickat]

Im a tad stupid when it comes to when ptr started but isn’t normal testing 10-12 weeks?

As for 10.0 we know that the announcement was likely planned for blizzconline and then replanned for whatever replacement they had set up to include live events that we haven’t heard about since.

If I had to venture a guess I would say 9.2 early February
10.0 announced in March
Then it gets tricky because they said 9.3 isn’t planned but it’s a possibility so that makes me think a ruby sanctum style patch if 10.0 is behind.
If there’s a 9.3 then alpha hits around June launching in February
No 9.3 means alpha in April with launch in November again which is awful

I seriously doubt they do a 9.3.

I have a question though for everyone in this thread. What if the devs came out and told us they were behind on the next expansion. That it is ambitious but not ready to announce yet. They are doing a 9.3 patch with a lot of half finished cut content. No relationship to Shadowlands at all.

We get, Abyssal Maw dungeon. Farahlon zone. Shat raid from WoD.

All this content was over halfway done, but was cut for time. They don't have time to make new content, so they are releasing a bunch of random content with very little story. Juts lots of content and rares to hold us over till Q2 2023. How would you all feel about that?

They could lightly wrap it into one package, and say the infinite Dragonflight is messing with the timeways, and we need to drive them back from these locations in order to preserve the timeways. Something super simple like that. No big story. No seeding for future stuff. Just rares, world quests, old cut unused armor assets, weapons, mount recolors. Loads of rewards on already finished unreleased content.