Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I mean I hope the Living World stuff leads to something related to the Old World.

Also again, no I know these are probably fake. I don't know why anyone would assume I would believe them to be true I thought we were under the assumption here that all leaks are fake. So it's odd to see people actually think I believe in them.

[Khaza-R]

I guess this LivingWorld stuff is "Suramar cloak" of this expansion. .

To be fair, I don't think the LivingWorld stuff has anything to do with the setting. I think its rather a hint at the way future content is going to be delivered.

[WheresT]

I mean I hope the Living World stuff leads to something related to the Old World.

Also again, no I know these are probably fake. I don't know why anyone would assume I would believe them to be true I thought we were under the assumption here that all leaks are fake. So it's odd to see people actually think I believe in them.

The leaks are likely fake but the World Sharper one is both creative, ticks boxes that people want (world revamp of some kind, dragon race thing) and has a tentative tie to the “Living World” system. If the zones change due to changes you make with Azeroth, Living World might be the zones transforming or their different phases.

It’s interesting to say the least.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Yeah, I don't know. It is fascinating though since this implementation of animations does not seem to be common at least from my observations. So it just makes it even more mysterious when more are added in 9.2, as well.

[Jokubas]

The Dragon Isles "leak" is certainly the most realistic I've seen in awhile.

It doesn't try to be overly shocking, and it tackles major concepts without being overly ambitious. The other two things that stand out to me are, first, the new abilities, which being compared to the Covenant abilities, but a sort of downplayed version of them by offering no choice, is how features have been crossing expansions these days (but without also cynically calling attention to it). The second is the dragon customization, which sounds comparable to Demon Hunter, but includes "molten blood", which was originally a sign of Deathwing's corruption, but is the sort of retcon I'd expect for the sake of a cool feature (also, the fact that it's only black dragons, which allows them to put more story and art focus on the race, while kinda sucking for the fans of every other Dragonflight, is a compromise past features have made before).

The biggest problem is mostly its length. I think the Cataclysm leak was the only one that was ever thorough. Timing could be a red flag, but we honestly don't know when we're getting an announcement, so any "leak" could be closer to the announcement than we think.

I almost posted this yesterday, but now the other new "leak" posted here made me want to comment just by comparison. It may be shorter and resemble the last minute "leaks" more that tend more often to be real, but mentioning 11.0 at all is a pretty huge red flag. Fake "leaks" love to talk about future content a lot (as in, past the announcement for the expansion they're about), but I don't think those have ever been the real ones. That's not what Blizzard means when they lay out plans for the next expansion while working on the current (also, it seems the real ones tend to get their information from an impending announcement event, not detailed internal plans).

[Hitei]

The Dragon Isles "leak" is certainly the most realistic I've seen in awhile.

It doesn't try to be overly shocking, and it tackles major concepts without being overly ambitious. The other two things that stand out to me are, first, the new abilities, which being compared to the Covenant abilities, but a sort of downplayed version of them by offering no choice, is how features have been crossing expansions these days (but without also cynically calling attention to it). The second is the dragon customization, which sounds comparable to Demon Hunter, but includes "molten blood", which was originally a sign of Deathwing's corruption, but is the sort of retcon I'd expect for the sake of a cool feature (also, the fact that it's only black dragons, which allows them to put more story and art focus on the race, while kinda sucking for the fans of every other Dragonflight, is a compromise past features have made before).

The biggest problem is mostly its length. I think the Cataclysm leak was the only one that was ever thorough. Timing could be a red flag, but we honestly don't know when we're getting an announcement, so any "leak" could be closer to the announcement than we think.

I almost posted this yesterday, but now the other new "leak" posted here made me want to comment just by comparison. It may be shorter and resemble the last minute "leaks" more that tend more often to be real, but mentioning 11.0 at all is a pretty huge red flag. Fake "leaks" love to talk about future content a lot (as in, past the announcement for the expansion they're about), but I don't think those have ever been the real ones. That's not what Blizzard means when they lay out plans for the next expansion while working on the current (also, it seems the real ones tend to get their information from an impending announcement event, not detailed internal plans).

I believe WoD leaks mentioned Farahlon/Netherstorm being patch content in passing.

[Jokubas]

I believe WoD leaks mentioned Farahlon/Netherstorm being patch content in passing.

I just checked and you're right, it had the line "Netherstorm is Faralon but will be released in a future patch." (I had only remembered the super short leak that barely said anything aside from the name, and forgot there was a much longer one from just a few days before the announcement, which I guess also means Cataclysm wasn't the only expansion to get a longer leak.)

It's an interesting precedent to refer to though, I think, because the context there was how notable Outland areas will be handled in Draenor, so it makes sense that they bring up the zone, but clarify that we won't see that area right away (and, as history would play out, ultimately never see). A lot of fakes like to tease the future for its own sake, which this new "leak" does twice.

[WheresT]

A bizarre broken english leak popped up on 4chan. I think the gist is that the Dragon Isles are like North Korea and we have to prove ourselves to them when they try and attack both factions? No race or class mentioned, cross faction is the only new mechanic. Worth a read.

Can’t post a link because I’m new, it was posted in 10.0 leak thread.

Arcadian Wont

The expansion is centralized into the Land of Law, across the seas and protected by aggressive fleets;

The Campaigners led by Dyr-Knight Braze deemed the Alliance and Horde unworthy of protecting Azeroth and are demanding control of their military forces under the threat of war. Campaign Warships threaten the Alliance and Horde cities;

The High Council of Arcadia holds them back and the Council Mouthpiece invites The Factions' Envoy (the player) into proving their worth to the Campaigners before a war breaks out;

Official title of Envoy unlocks grouping with players of the opposite faction for PvE activities
The population of the Land of Law is composed by diverse races, familiar and new, native and outlanders. The Dyr share resemblance with the modern Pandaren while the Kracian will expand the lore of the Makrura;

The new capital city is the Council Gardens, where the players will trade and dialog with members of all Land of Law’s factions. The Council Mouthpiece oversees the city;

The zones are the Wartorn Strands, Eastward, Chasm Research Facility, The Wyrms and Arcadia;

Wartorn Strands contain information about the bloody past of the Land of Law and is ruled by the Survivors – sailors and merchants from familiar Azeroth factions and even Alliance and Horde that are stranded in the Land of Law;

Eastward is the Campaigners’ smoldering training grounds where The Envoy will have to prove their martial might to all the Dyr-Knights including Braze. The Envoy will be initiated into their ways to learn about the ancient Laws of Combat and fight against violent native factions of Eastward;

Chasm Research Facility is a massive science compound built to explore an inland anomaly of the Land of Law. The Scavenging Might Co. survey it’s deeps to uncover the nature of a hollow detected far below the surface;

The Wyrms, a cloud-scraping mountain range that divides the Land of Law. Each stone spire is ruled by a Great Dragon Sovereign, together their form the Accord of Colors. They have differing opinions towards the merits of the Dragon Aspects, who failed to stop Sargeras’ final attack and Sylvanas’ betrayal;

Arcadia is a floating island located to the North high above the other zones, ruled by the High Council and forbidden even to the other factions. Only by proving themselves to the Land of Law can The Envoy journey there to face the final trials and learn secrets about Azeroth’s ancient past before the Sundering.

Level cap is 60, Shadowlands becomes legacy content parallel to the rest;

Shadowlands' skills become baseline and are now a talent roll;

Adjustments to the current specializations and continued improvements to the Allied Races’ customization;

Alterac Valley reworked into Alterac Grounds, a 10v10 standard battleground with familiar mechanics;

Improved Mercenary system, where the player can join War-faring Subfactions regardless of being Alliance or Horde and do instanced PvP content;

10 new dungeons and one new raid located into Eastward;

Please forgive my English.

[Teriz]

A bizarre broken english leak popped up on 4chan. I think the gist is that the Dragon Isles are like North Korea and we have to prove ourselves to them when they try and attack both factions? No race or class mentioned, cross faction is the only new mechanic. Worth a read.

Can’t post a link because I’m new, it was posted in 10.0 leak thread.

Yeah, that one is assuredly BS.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

"Land of Law Across the Seas."

Yeah that's just a word salad.

[Marlamin]

"Land of Law Across the Seas."

Yeah that's just a word salad.

The whole thing seems like pretty standard Google Translate output to me.

[Varodoc]

I am expecting the Ren'dorei to take the centre stage in the next expansion, at last the Children of the Void will show the world what they are capable of. No other allied race is more deserving of story development than them.

[WheresT]

"Land of Law Across the Seas."

Yeah that's just a word salad.

Law and Wont are probably poor translations and I have no idea what they actually mean, but Arcadia sounds like the actual name of the flying city and Dyr Knight is probably just Dragon Knight.

Sounds pretty cool especially with stuff like the implied missing link race between Pandaren and Furbolg and the underground zone. Stuff like the Aspects being shunned for being failures is funny too.

Again it has too little to do with the BFA plot threads like Turalyon, the void and the light so I doubt it.

[Jokubas]

The Living World thing might be the file leak we get this time, like some texture names before, but it's so vague. It's the sort of thing that might seem super obvious in hindsight, but I don't know what to think of it right now. All I know is that it keeps making me think of Guild Wars 2, because Living World is what they call their between-expansion content drops.

I mean, I'd love for World of Warcraft to transition to a similar system (and Blizzard would probably be more consistent about it, too), because I think the smaller yet more regular story releases, and a dedicated plan to bridge the gap between expansions both time and story-wise would benefit Warcraft's story a lot (also, I prefer getting a more complete story out of the box with the drip-fed story being the connecting pieces), but that's probably not what's happening here because I can't imagine how that would relate to animations. ;P

[Sondrelk]

Quite the leak that. Though I am willing to cut it a little slack on account of the English presumably being horribly translated, leading to something that doesn't even sound remotely similar to the tone of WoW. It sounds more like it's the next FFXIV expansion in tone, and I cannot for the life of me figure out if this is intentional or not.
Only part that seemed even remotely plausible outside systems are the part where there is a society of various shipwrecked survivors.

[rainhard]

I have noticed that devourer mobs in Korthia play an animation when you get in the range where you can see them and when you get out of it, could the livingwold thing be related to that and the new ones added be for the devourers of Zereth Mortis?

[WheresT]

The Living World thing might be the file leak we get this time, like some texture names before, but it's so vague. It's the sort of thing that might seem super obvious in hindsight, but I don't know what to think of it right now. All I know is that it keeps making me think of Guild Wars 2, because Living World is what they call their between-expansion content drops.

I mean, I'd love for World of Warcraft to transition to a similar system (and Blizzard would probably be more consistent about it, too), because I think the smaller yet more regular story releases, and a dedicated plan to bridge the gap between expansions both time and story-wise would benefit Warcraft's story a lot (also, I prefer getting a more full story out of the box with the drip-fed story being the connecting pieces), but that's probably not what's happening here because I can't imagine how that would relate to animations. ;P

Would be nice if Living World is something to do with a revamp which makes the zones more “alive”. Maybe the “time” thing is a day and night cycle?

[Makabreska]

Holy crap. The leak flood is in full force, and each one dumber then the previous.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I've always wanted the Warcraft Team to have some sort of Live World Team that would spice up the World and add small things while keeping Azeroth feeling fresh and alive while the Main Team work on Content Patches.

But, you know that there isn't much Return of Investment in such an endeavour and as always it goes the same way as integrating the Lore into a "Lore" Tab on the Interface and putting the Books into it as purchaseables so you can read in-game or be activated with codes from your physical book purchases while also giving a outlet for the Writers to write more stuff into the game being easily accessable to everyone.

It just doesn't have the RoI in the eyes of the suits. But, yeah. I've always wanted stuff where there could just be less dead periods and Writing Team and the game itself just had even less frequent

Obviously, I am fascinated with this because if they are adding any Day/Night Cycle stuff that will be very pretty if they do that.

[Sondrelk]

The Living World thing might be the file leak we get this time, like some texture names before, but it's so vague. It's the sort of thing that might seem super obvious in hindsight, but I don't know what to think of it right now. All I know is that it keeps making me think of Guild Wars 2, because Living World is what they call their between-expansion content drops.

I mean, I'd love for World of Warcraft to transition to a similar system (and Blizzard would probably be more consistent about it, too), because I think the smaller yet more regular story releases, and a dedicated plan to bridge the gap between expansions both time and story-wise would benefit Warcraft's story a lot (also, I prefer getting a more complete story out of the box with the drip-fed story being the connecting pieces), but that's probably not what's happening here because I can't imagine how that would relate to animations. ;P

Wow Has long been hamstrung by the fact that each significant update has to include a little of everything. New instances, new story, new cosmetics, etc.
Ideally WoW might have had more specialized patches that focus on singular elements. One to give a big chunk of story, one patch to give a raid, one patch to update events.
Really what WoW should have done to begin with is to not have expansions at all, but rather meaty patches that iterate the game slowly over time, instead of in large chunks every two years with smaller iterations on that expansions flavor throughout.

- - - Updated - - -

Holy crap. The leak flood is in full force, and each one dumber then the previous.

That's how you know the leak season has truly begun. Now we just need a definite vague leak to base everything around. The Living World strings could be that, but they don't feel as substantive as the Suramar Cloak, or Kul Tiran cloth textures.