Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Sondrelk]

What are you talking about?
Everybody was talking about this:

That one was only valid in the pre-8.3 discussion period though, only a few diehard believers held onto it after we knew the last raid of BfA was Ny'alotha.
Dragons were actually what I remember most leaks were about at that time. The Awakening leaks were doing the rounds with promises if dragon isles and maybe some death stuff in the background.

[EbaumsTipster]

That one was only valid in the pre-8.3 discussion period though, only a few diehard believers held onto it after we knew the last raid of BfA was Ny'alotha.
Dragons were actually what I remember most leaks were about at that time. The Awakening leaks were doing the rounds with promises if dragon isles and maybe some death stuff in the background.

Death and Dragons being the choices for 9.0, and 9.0 almost entirely ignoring Dragons means they are coming up for 10.0 definitely (backed up by the Emerald Drake mount). And the dragon stuff coincidentally(no) lines up with the idea of returning to the old continents again like Cata did.

There isn't any big next expansion tease in Shadowlands (or on 9.2 PTR so far) so that also lends credence to the soft reboot idea.

[Varodoc]

What are you talking about?
Everybody was talking about this:

"Everybody was talking about this" all I remember is the usual thread about this blatantly fake leak that got debunked immediately when people pointed out flaws in the logo/font or something like that.

Let alone the fact that that expansion about "Shadowlands" had a very different premise from this one. In that leak, N'Zoth won and took over Azeroth, and the forces of Azeroth had to escape to the Shadowlands. To find a way to beat N'Zoth and save Azeroth.

That leak was accompanied with an obviously fake pic of Stormwind being overrun by ghosts. As well as the laughable idea that Sylvanas wanted to kill and turn everyone into ghosts so that she gets an army to fight N'Zoth.

Trash. Genuinely trash leak.

Once that pic of Bolvar (which was not fake) got leaked, everyone thought the next expansion was about Bolvar going evil and revamped Northrend. Especially since Bolvar was already set up as a shady individual in Legion, when he messed with both the paladins and the red dragons.

Do you know what idea no one brought up? An expansion set in an "afterlife" (which is really just another dimensional plane) with furries, smurfs, and vampires.

[username993720]

That one was only valid in the pre-8.3 discussion period though, only a few diehard believers held onto it after we knew the last raid of BfA was Ny'alotha.
Dragons were actually what I remember most leaks were about at that time. The Awakening leaks were doing the rounds with promises if dragon isles and maybe some death stuff in the background.

Dragon Isles is still a possibility.
He said most of us thought of facing Bolvar in Northrend.

Once that pic of Bolvar (which was not fake) got leaked, everyone thought the next expansion was about Bolvar going evil and revamped Northrend. Especially since Bolvar was already set up as a shady individual in Legion, when he messed with both the paladins and the red dragons.

Do you know what idea no one brought up? An expansion set in an "afterlife" (which is really just another dimensional plane) with furries, smurfs, and vampires.

The leak was just before the cinematic, which pretty much confirmed Shadowlands.
No one thought we would face Bolvar as the big baddy in an alternate Northrend, since he was our ally in Legion.
Shadowlands was always the afterlife. We just had no idea what it looked like.

[Varodoc]

Dragon Isles is still a possibility.
He said most of us thought of facing Bolvar in Northrend.



The leak was just before the cinematic, which pretty much confirmed Shadowlands.
No one thought we would face Bolvar as the big baddy in an alternate Northrend, since he was our ally in Legion.
Shadowlands was always the afterlife. We just had no idea what it looked like.

Huh, No, PLENTY of people thought Bolvar was going to be the main villain.

I was also on several Discord servers and pretty much the majority thought Bolvar was the villain and anyway Northrend was getting a revamp.

Bolvar was "our ally" in Legion only because the Legion threatened the entire world, Scourge included, and the Scourge and the Legion have often been enemies. Bolvar wasn't a good guy in Legion, go play that quest where you slaughter red dragons, he was far from a good guy.

If anything this Bolvar that appears in Shadowlands is a pussy compared to what he did in Legion. And naturally a picture of "Bolvar" by itself doesn't hint at "Shadowlands". In fact, before all the asspulls and retcons of Shadowlands, the Lich King and the Shadowlands did not have a lot of connections. Like at all. If anything the Shadowlands had more connections with the Light (see the Naruu taking souls away) and the Void (described as an endless Void in the Sylvanas short story).

[Sondrelk]

Death and Dragons being the choices for 9.0, and 9.0 almost entirely ignoring Dragons means they are coming up for 10.0 definitely (backed up by the Emerald Drake mount). And the dragon stuff coincidentally(no) lines up with the idea of returning to the old continents again like Cata did.

There isn't any big next expansion tease in Shadowlands (or on 9.2 PTR so far) so that also lends credence to the soft reboot idea.

From my entirely accurate analysis of expansion predictions i have seen that expansion themes tend to be heavily teased 2 expansions out, with the effect being that there tends to be a fan favourite prediction that only really comes to pass the expansion after.
MoP heavily teased the Legion returning to Azeroth, which didn't happen in WoD, but instead the expansion after.
Legion had loads of hints leading to the Shadowlands with Helya, Odyn's eye, Gul'dans staff etc. But still BfA didn't Do Shadoelands, the expansion after did.

Going by this pattern I figure that since BfA had loads of stuff with the return of Dragons, and that Shadowlands cashed in on buildup from Legion I am pretty confident 10.0 will be dragons.

- - - Updated - - -

Dragon Isles is still a possibility.
He said most of us thought of facing Bolvar in Northrend.



The leak was just before the cinematic, which pretty much confirmed Shadowlands.
No one thought we would face Bolvar as the big baddy in an alternate Northrend, since he was our ally in Legion.
Shadowlands was always the afterlife. We just had no idea what it looked like.

Bolvar was our ally sure, but it was very heavily foreshadowed that Bolvar was slowly turning into a new lich king, and that us helping him in Legion was actually going to bite us in the ass later when he asserted control over the death knights.

Whether the expansion would be us trying to save him or not was difficult to say, but until the Shadowlands trailer it was very much believed we would have to fight him at some point.

[EbaumsTipster]

If anything this Bolvar that appears in Shadowlands is a pussy compared to what he did in Legion. And naturally a picture of "Bolvar" by itself doesn't hint at "Shadowlands". In fact, before all the asspulls and retcons of Shadowlands, the Lich King and the Shadowlands did not have a lot of connections. Like at all. If anything the Shadowlands had more connections with the Light (see the Naruu taking souls away) and the Void (described as an endless Void in the Sylvanas short story).

Considering that literally all lore post-Sargeras and N'zoth is now an asspull, when will people get tired of saying it? It's now almost interchangeable with "new lore" because we ran out of stuff, outside of Tel'abim. Dragon Isles will be an asspull because they didn't exist canonically until BFA mentioned them.

We'll see the Void Lords and they will be an "asspull" for every single one of them except for that tiny quest mob guy from TBC.

[Hitei]

I redid the aforementioned Jailer redesign. Does this better communicate the Nathrezim themes without being as colorful?

Lol, Ghost of Christmas Past.

[EbaumsTipster]

Also I will be first to say that 10.0 will be big, won't launch until November/December and 9.2.5 will have a prepurchase gimmick like ARs or Dark Rangers to bide time until it comes out. Nobody else has said this. /s (but it's better than Lifelands discussion)

[Sondrelk]

Also I will be first to say that 10.0 will be big, won't launch until November/December and 9.2.5 will have a prepurchase gimmick like ARs or Dark Rangers to bide time until it comes out. Nobody else has said this. /s (but it's better than Lifelands discussion)

I imagine what we might see is an extra patch if the release goes slow. But even then, assuming an early-to-mid Q4 release the wait wouldnt actually be long enough to warrant being called excessively long. Assuming a mid-February 9.2 release and a late November 10.0 release that would only make the post-expansion drought a month or so longer than usual.

[EbaumsTipster]

I imagine what we might see is an extra patch if the release goes slow. But even then, assuming an early-to-mid Q4 release the wait wouldnt actually be long enough to warrant being called excessively long. Assuming a mid-February 9.2 release and a late November 10.0 release that would only make the post-expansion drought a month or so longer than usual.

They have been cagey about heritage armor to the point of mentioning it (and reiterating it is for .5 releases) so I think a 9.2.5 is all but guaranteed regardless of the wait time. It also matches the plot cadence of dealing with the immediate reaction of the Night Elves and Forsaken to the fate (Maw exile? looks to be) of Sylvanas.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I mean if it is Lifelands then this is worse than Chaos Expansion (Azeroth but coated in Cosmic or Dragon Isles + Complete Narrative and Systemic Collapse).

Regardless, they will most likely gain preorders via Allied Races, lots of pro-representation PR with pronoun and removal of sex in the Character Creation and try and pull off the same shtick they did for Shadowlands where they seem willing to come to the table and work out a better product but then once its shipped fuck off and repeat the process of another failed expansion cycle. Basically expect a big Livestream that tries to make them seem like they are sorry and then a Alpha where we get Content Creator Interviews + lots of lulling into false sense of security that the expansion is in safe hands.

I doubt there's a patch after 9.2. I think they need to focus their energy on making Bobby happy with his Successful Q4 with MW2 and WoW Expansion. I'm not gonna lie, Bobby needs a big win in Q4 outside of his additional Mobile Games it is looking bleak outside of Tony Hawk.

[Sondrelk]

They have been cagey about heritage armor to the point of mentioning it (and reiterating it is for .5 releases) so I think a 9.2.5 is all but guaranteed regardless of the wait time. It also matches the plot cadence of dealing with the immediate reaction of the Night Elves and Forsaken to the fate (Maw exile? looks to be) of Sylvanas.

I could definitely see that as a part of the 9.2.5 patch, seems to be when the Night Elf stuff is mostly done, or at least enough so to warrant heritage armor, same with Forsaken.

[huth]

Considering that literally all lore post-Sargeras and N'zoth is now an asspull, when will people get tired of saying it? It's now almost interchangeable with "new lore" because we ran out of stuff, outside of Tel'abim. Dragon Isles will be an asspull because they didn't exist canonically until BFA mentioned them.

We'll see the Void Lords and they will be an "asspull" for every single one of them except for that tiny quest mob guy from TBC.

Asspull got so watered down, you could now reasonably apply it to any fictional universe. All of them were made up at some point and few long-running series got away without any retcons. Usually those that had no continuity to begin with.

Not like most of the stuff in early WoW wasn't made up on the spot, either. They do more long-term planning for stories now than they did back then, yet people keep idolising that time.

[EbaumsTipster]

I mean if it is Lifelands then this is worse than Chaos Expansion (Azeroth but coated in Cosmic or Dragon Isles + Complete Narrative and Systemic Collapse).

Regardless, they will most likely gain preorders via Allied Races, lots of pro-representation PR with pronoun and removal of sex in the Character Creation and try and pull off the same shtick they did for Shadowlands where they seem willing to come to the table and work out a better product but then once its shipped fuck off and repeat the process of another failed expansion cycle. Basically expect a big Livestream that tries to make them seem like they are sorry and then a Alpha where we get Content Creator Interviews + lots of lulling into false sense of security that the expansion is in safe hands.

I doubt there's a patch after 9.2. I think they need to focus their energy on making Bobby happy with his Successful Q4 with MW2 and WoW Expansion. I'm not gonna lie, Bobby needs a big win in Q4 outside of his additional Mobile Games it is looking bleak outside of Tony Hawk.

There is so little in terms of 2022 releases that I would be shocked if they don't rush out Overwatch 2 this year and go back on what they said. Blizzard has nothing but Immortal and 10.0.

EDIT: THat is actually another point towards 10.0 being huge: they know it is, that's why they thought they could afford to delay the other games.

[Hitei]

Once that pic of Bolvar (which was not fake) got leaked, everyone thought the next expansion was about Bolvar going evil and revamped Northrend. Especially since Bolvar was already set up as a shady individual in Legion, when he messed with both the paladins and the red dragons.

Do you know what idea no one brought up? An expansion set in an "afterlife" (which is really just another dimensional plane) with furries, smurfs, and vampires.

???? No?

The Bolvar picture literally leaked with the name "Shadowlands".

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

There is so little in terms of 2022 releases that I would be shocked if they don't rush out Overwatch 2 this year and go back on what they said. Blizzard has nothing but Immortal and 10.0.

EDIT: THat is actually another point towards 10.0 being huge: they know it is, that's why they thought they could afford to delay the other games.

I mean we also are assuming that the Warcraft Mobile Games still are not shippable in 2022 and that they won't be presented during the Warcraft Livestream for 10.0.

They have such an easy win with Azeroth that not going just simple Azeroth which was always what 10.0 was claimed to be by everyone in the community comes off as completely braindead.

[EbaumsTipster]

I mean we also are assuming that the Warcraft Mobile Games still are not shippable in 2022 and that they won't be presented during the Warcraft Livestream for 10.0.

They have such an easy win with Azeroth that not going just simple Azeroth which was always what 10.0 was claimed to be by everyone in the community comes off as completely braindead.

Good point on the mobile games. But yeah, they actually probably well just do a big Warcraft stream that is both the new expac and those games to get big investor checks.

Azeroth is almost 99.99% guaranteed based on what has been said in interviews, it's whether or not its a Cata 2 revamp type thing that is the big gamble.

Considering the Shadowlands leveling campaign is almost completely irrelevant to World of Warcraft for beginners that is another point on my board for a leveling revamp. There is no reason to force players to play Shadowlands after the expansion has concluded because the plot is not tied to anything in the future.

[Lady Atia]

Northrend is a strong option for an alternate Shadowlands.
You can have essentially all the same story beats, just without undermining the concept of death or contradicting previous info on the Shadowlands.

The concept of Ardenweald could be tied to the Emerald dream. Maybe we see Forsworn, but never Kyrians, meaning we don't end up with questions on how it's supposed to actually work in regards to Oribos. Maldraxxus is essentially pointless in regards to the overall story, and Revendreth is only interesting because of the Dreadlords.

Nothing in the actual Shadowlands except Torghast is actually required to tell the overall story of the Shadowlands. If the aesthetics of the Shadowlands is needed to tell the story then you could have the Shadowlands invade us rather than the other way around.

Why would you want to have LESS content than we already got? You basically want to turn Shadowlands into another Nazjatar/Argus/Emerald Nightmare/Nyalotha patch .... I really don't get it.

[EbaumsTipster]

Why would you want to have LESS content than we already got? You basically want to turn Shadowlands into another Nazjatar/Argus/Emerald Nightmare/Nyalotha patch .... I really don't get it.

Because Shadowlands is "new stuff" so it doesn't deserve to be bigger than Naz/Argus/Nyalotha which is "old stuff" which means it automatically is more deserving of being larger. Basically it should be small because its new and ED should get a big expansion because its old.