Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Makabreska]

Right, that’s the primary reason, but they didn’t have to alter the setting and story so hard, implying it will be more than just a gameplay feature and may be around forever/the new status quo.

Well, it would make zero sense to have cross play in BfA, given the theme and that one of the raids is purely Horde vs Alliance. Similarly in SL, Sylvi has to be done with, as she was the main reason for the conflict. After that is free slate.

[Wharren]

Well, it would make zero sense to have cross play in BfA, given the theme and that one of the raids is purely Horde vs Alliance. Similarly in SL, Sylvi has to be done with, as she was the main reason for the conflict. After that is free slate.

Again, right, though Tyrande vs Sylvanas is more symbolic. My point was that faction coop will play into 10.0+ and may be the new baseline of WoW moreso than just a “gameplay mode” that isn’t canon.

[Makabreska]

Again, right, though Tyrande vs Sylvanas is more symbolic. My point was that faction coop will play into 10.0+ and may be the new baseline of WoW moreso than just a “gameplay mode” that isn’t canon.

Actually, coop was canon for quite some time, since certain raids and events were a unified effort.

[Edward Wu]

So, after mulling over this a bit, I think that WoW honestly does not need a new class at this point, or ever really, but could clearly use something that freshens up the current class gameplay. However, I don't think something like an additional specialization for each class is feasible either.

Let's assume that 10.0 is The Dragon Isles, then I think a new drakonid/dragonkin race is definitely in order. Something like Worgen human/drakonid form would definitely be cool.

But in terms of adding in something new for classes, I think they should and actually might just go for a system of shared abilities that you can pull from to customize your current class/spec combo. Less restrictions than Covenant Abilities, probably double the amount actually available, and just encouraging taking bits and pieces of what you like and really selling that class customization fantasy. Covenants gave you a specific ability based on your specialization, but this would be pulling from a grab bag of abilities (kinda like PvP talents) that would be class-agnostic. You take 2-3 and use it to customize your specialization.

[Jokubas]

If we get cross-faction play I hope it isn't just limited to raids, as they've sort of implied recently.

The story has been leaning toward cross-faction play fairly hard since the end of Battle for Azeroth and Saurfang's speech about breaking the cycle, but the story has been capable of cross-faction since launch. The whole point of Warcraft III was to move the evil of the Orcish Horde into the Burning Legion, leaving the Horde as good guys alongside the Alliance and new Night Elven faction. Also, basically every expansion at some point has culminated in the factions working together, and the most heroic characters have tended to be effectively neutral for their relevant plot or outright neutral all along. It's even been a theme before, like in Mists of Pandaria, which had an epilogue that basically said we have learned our lesson now and shouldn't have any more wars.

PvP is the only place where a complete lack of cross-faction options has made sense (and even then, hard-coded teams is a bad thing for PvP balance which is why Mercenary Mode happened).

The main reason to feel this time is different is the way Ion and co. have been talking about it, but in game the story's been ready for it for a long time.

Edit:

Actually, coop was canon for quite some time, since certain raids and events were a unified effort.

Beat me to it. ;P

[Revamp Man]

Actually he is game director of World of Warcraft and he is responsible for what the game develops to. And obviously Hazzikostas only concern is raiding and mythic+, otherwise he created a shitshow for any other player group. That is, in cooperation with Steve Danuser who does the lore part. Without the lawyer being a horrible game director the game actually could be good and fun for everyone who played the game and left up to now. And Danusers storytelling (i mean.. Sylvanas being infested by the jailer, yet responsible for her actions? Tyrande forgiving Sylvanas after all she did? A battle between Turalyon and Anduin? Anduin becoming .. undead? Retcon after Retcon?) .. what .. bullshit .. is this?

There is only one way WoW improves: Hazzikostas gets fired or leaves. Danuser gets fired of leaves. I heard Greg Street looks for people who design his new MMORPG. Probably Ion should get a job in Ghostcrawlers new Cosby suite.

I really wonder Street did not hire Afrasiabi yet. I mean, everyone could use a game developer who has a fridge full of cold beer. Alcoholics often have the best ideas. As like beer drinking Pandas being the main feature of an expac.

Ok so the guy you believe is only making the game for raiders and m+ has been responsible for
Benthic gear being better than mythic
Worst raid balance and scaling
The removal of master loot
The ilvl trade lock
The m+ score upgrade system
Covenants

He’s making it for raiders…and gets corrected about how raiders act in interviews

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I guess that's a VERY out of context quotation of this tweet from last year:


Sorry I still don't get how to post pictures directly.

I hate that egotistical cunt
Comparing people who say “so the game is being delayed” to his rapist coworkers is a fun hill

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Dont lose faith brother, we will find what we are looking for

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Seems like over the weekend the leak amount has really sped up

I am ready for the zidormii revamps

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Ya know the best way to bring in cross faction is with a story that points out how dumb the separation is and we have a few characters that agree with it…like wrathion

[Wharren]

If we get cross-faction play I hope it isn't just limited to raids, as they've sort of implied recently.

The story has been leaning toward cross-faction play fairly hard since the end of Battle for Azeroth and Saurfang's speech about breaking the cycle, but the story has been capable of cross-faction since launch. The whole point of Warcraft III was to move the evil of the Orcish Horde into the Burning Legion, leaving the Horde as good guys alongside the Alliance and new Night Elven faction. Also, basically every expansion at some point has culminated in the factions working together, and the most heroic characters have tended to be effectively neutral for their relevant plot or outright neutral all along. It's even been a theme before, like in Mists of Pandaria, which had an epilogue that basically said we have learned our lesson now and shouldn't have any more wars.

PvP is the only place where a complete lack of cross-faction options has made sense (and even then, hard-coded teams is a bad thing for PvP balance which is why Mercenary Mode happened).

The main reason to feel this time is different is the way Ion and co. have been talking about it, but in game the story's been ready for it for a long time.

Edit:

Beat me to it. ;P

I don’t think it will be limited to raids if they are waiting for a story beat to do it. It wouldn’t make sense for both sides to (mostly) forgive each other and then have them only cooperate in instances.

Even if it’s not coop in the story, they will probably lower the mandatory language barriers and let everyone group up for anything. Dungeons, quests, raids, RP, whatever.

Otherwise they would’ve done it in SL already, if it was just for raids its just a gameplay mechanic and there’s no reason to wait to turn it on.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

April? ish(The 10.0 reveal)

Most likely April-ish.

Blizzard is nothing if not predictable, which is great because Square Enix is nothing but predictable.

We will be getting something around the start of April, either 9.2 (heaven forbid) or 10.0 reveal.

[LordVargK]

If we get cross-faction play I hope it isn't just limited to raids, as they've sort of implied recently.

The story has been leaning toward cross-faction play fairly hard since the end of Battle for Azeroth and Saurfang's speech about breaking the cycle, but the story has been capable of cross-faction since launch. The whole point of Warcraft III was to move the evil of the Orcish Horde into the Burning Legion, leaving the Horde as good guys alongside the Alliance and new Night Elven faction. Also, basically every expansion at some point has culminated in the factions working together, and the most heroic characters have tended to be effectively neutral for their relevant plot or outright neutral all along. It's even been a theme before, like in Mists of Pandaria, which had an epilogue that basically said we have learned our lesson now and shouldn't have any more wars.

PvP is the only place where a complete lack of cross-faction options has made sense (and even then, hard-coded teams is a bad thing for PvP balance which is why Mercenary Mode happened).

The main reason to feel this time is different is the way Ion and co. have been talking about it, but in game the story's been ready for it for a long time.

Edit:

Beat me to it. ;P

Well, cross faction PvP already exists.
And if raids are cross-faction, then I don't see a reason why other PvE content cannot be. Purely technical speaking it would be more difficult to restrict cross faction play to raids only.

[Khaza-R]

If we get cross-faction play I hope it isn't just limited to raids, as they've sort of implied recently.

The story has been leaning toward cross-faction play fairly hard since the end of Battle for Azeroth and Saurfang's speech about breaking the cycle, but the story has been capable of cross-faction since launch. The whole point of Warcraft III was to move the evil of the Orcish Horde into the Burning Legion, leaving the Horde as good guys alongside the Alliance and new Night Elven faction. Also, basically every expansion at some point has culminated in the factions working together, and the most heroic characters have tended to be effectively neutral for their relevant plot or outright neutral all along. It's even been a theme before, like in Mists of Pandaria, which had an epilogue that basically said we have learned our lesson now and shouldn't have any more wars.

PvP is the only place where a complete lack of cross-faction options has made sense (and even then, hard-coded teams is a bad thing for PvP balance which is why Mercenary Mode happened).

The main reason to feel this time is different is the way Ion and co. have been talking about it, but in game the story's been ready for it for a long time.

I think its something that's only going to be enabled for certain areas. Instances and probably the new zones in the next expansion.

That would be the easiest way to add it without having to worry about retrofitting old content. What will be interesting is to see how they handle guilds which will need a major overhaul regardless of how co-faction grouping pans out.

[Revamp Man]

Most likely April-ish.

Blizzard is nothing if not predictable, which is great because Square Enix is nothing but predictable.

We will be getting something around the start of April, either 9.2 (heaven forbid) or 10.0 reveal.

Wel we will get 9.2 late February or whenever the time matches up with end of season

Then we have a week before the raid and a week before mythic which also unlocks the final three bosses
Two weeks for RWF
Livestream the following Thursday

[Wharren]

I think its something that's only going to be enabled for certain areas. Instances and probably the new zones in the next expansion.

That would be the easiest way to add it without having to worry about retrofitting old content. What will be interesting is to see how they handle guilds which will need a major overhaul regardless of how co-faction grouping pans out.

Easy way to do it will be to make new EK/Kalimdors cross faction, and then all new areas after that. Move BFA and SL to timewalking.

Timewalking will ban it unless they do a merc mode for timewalking coop.

[Jokubas]

So, after mulling over this a bit, I think that WoW honestly does not need a new class at this point, or ever really, but could clearly use something that freshens up the current class gameplay. However, I don't think something like an additional specialization for each class is feasible either.

Mechanically I agree, but flavor-wise there are so many untapped ideas. It's why I'm rooting for some sort of "class skin" system, where we can get the flavor of a new class without disrupting anything about the current balance.

I still really want Spellbreaker or some sort of spellsword class (we have magic/melee classes, but they're heavily themed). I still feel Necromancer has a place in this game. Death Knights not only have too much of their own flavor and very specific history, but the heavily armored mounted warrior is a very different theme than Necromancer, but Necromancers are still a widespread concept in Warcraft. I think others are right in that it would be hard to justify Dark Rangers from now on, but it's still a fairly popular concept that I think is only fair to them to be handled in some way. We also have a notable lack of things like a Light-themed DPS spec for Priest, or an actual nature (instead of astral) themed caster spec for Druids.

A lot of these could be handled through some sort of reflavoring and I'm fine with that. Necromancer could perhaps be a Warlock skin. A pet spec (Demonology) and debuff spec (Affliction) are good fits for Necromancer, they just need the flavor changed. I think Dark Ranger might even be best as just a reskin of a Hunter spec, since it is a fairly narrow theme, but it's still distinct (although it would be best with Demon Hunter-style class-specific customizations). A Light-themed DPS spec should be fairly easy to make as just a reskin of Shadow.

Those are things that 100% would get me excited about a new expansion, even in that form.

[Harbour]

The reason why i think its not going to be the Dragon Isles EXPANSION is that there are already way too many built up plot lines, related to Light/Void confrontation.
And even if Yrel's Light Crusade can wait for whatever more years, Turalyon and Alleria Alliance plot, as well as Scarlet Crusade new movement, demand the immediate continuation starting with 10.0 pre-patch.
Of course Blizzard may tie them to distant Dragon Isles, but how much more fitting it would be for Light (Void) expansion, especially if they pair it with Yrel's invasion?

Also i remember Blizzard adressing the complaints about Horde being the focal point for many expansions, promising Alliance to take some more focus in the future. The whole Light Is Bad theme fits the Allaince focus narrative perfectly.

Dragon Isles may be part of 10.0, but they would not be the main theme of expansion, in Emerald Dream/Legion fashion. Like, 10.0 would be Dragon Isles, with Yrel Army taking them hostage and us freeing it, and then 10.1/2/3 would be full blown Light (vs Void) expansion where we take on Yrel herself, Garrosh, various Naaru etc.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

The reason why i think its not going to be the Dragon Isles EXPANSION is that there are already way too many built up plot lines, related to Light/Void confrontation.
And even if Yrel's Light Crusade can wait for whatever more years, Turalyon and Alleria Alliance plot, as well as Scarlet Crusade new movement, demand the immediate continuation starting with 10.0 pre-patch.
Of course Blizzard may tie them to distant Dragon Isles, but how much more fitting it would be for Light (Void) expansion, especially if they pair it with Yrel's invasion?

Also i remember Blizzard adressing the complaints about Horde being the focal point for many expansions, promising Alliance to take some more focus in the future. The whole Light Is Bad theme fits the Allaince focus narrative perfectly.

Dragon Isles may be part of 10.0, but they would not be the main theme of expansion, in Emerald Dream/Legion fashion. Like, 10.0 would be Dragon Isles, with Yrel Army taking them hostage and us freeing it, and then 10.1/2/3 would be full blown Light (vs Void) expansion where we take on Yrel herself, Garrosh, various Naaru etc.

If there's any alliance focus, no Blue Horde(Trying to make the Alliance look bad). As for the Light and Void, I don't think thats going to be relevant at least based on the hints we've seen in 9.2. Turalyon being on the throne though is definitely suspect though as I said all the way the start of SL, they are prepping Turalyon for something.

[huth]

Right, that’s the primary reason, but they didn’t have to alter the setting and story so hard, implying it will be more than just a gameplay feature and may be around forever/the new status quo.

They don't have to change the story at all. There was never a lore reason for the split to begin with, and NPCs have been able to ignore the faction barriers since 1.0.

[Black Rider]

IMHO reveal will be sooner than April, April is too WTF

[TheFirstOnes]

The reason why i think its not going to be the Dragon Isles EXPANSION is that there are already way too many built up plot lines, related to Light/Void confrontation.
And even if Yrel's Light Crusade can wait for whatever more years, Turalyon and Alleria Alliance plot, as well as Scarlet Crusade new movement, demand the immediate continuation starting with 10.0 pre-patch.
Of course Blizzard may tie them to distant Dragon Isles, but how much more fitting it would be for Light (Void) expansion, especially if they pair it with Yrel's invasion?

Also i remember Blizzard adressing the complaints about Horde being the focal point for many expansions, promising Alliance to take some more focus in the future. The whole Light Is Bad theme fits the Allaince focus narrative perfectly.

Dragon Isles may be part of 10.0, but they would not be the main theme of expansion, in Emerald Dream/Legion fashion. Like, 10.0 would be Dragon Isles, with Yrel Army taking them hostage and us freeing it, and then 10.1/2/3 would be full blown Light (vs Void) expansion where we take on Yrel herself, Garrosh, various Naaru etc.

Thought this too, but tbh I would NOT be against a revamp akin to Cata + Dragon Isles with a build up to a grander Cosmic story. This arc kinda ends the Death plotline, but not so much Life or the other parts of the Cosmic Pattern, and we were JUST introduced to a power that designed these forces, and architected the pattern, the laws, the realms, rules, concepts, and fabric of existence, while their workshops bring about the realms, and their workshops caretakers build protoforms of the design and keep the pattern and the song of existence together

[Makorus]

I feel like the expansion reveal is gonna happen the week of/after the last LFR wing opens. Just makes the most sense, because at that point, everyone will have seen the whole story.

So depending on when the patch gets released, end of March, early April.

[BaumanKing]

IMHO reveal will be sooner than April, April is too WTF

Sylvanas book comes out March 29th tho.