Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Squiddo69]

You are wrong. Sit down. Be humble. Shadowlands sucks.

Sheesh, talk about being humble. It's astounding to me that you are off the game for so long yet still regularly mald over it like their life depends on it.

a sea of criticism and sometimes hate for the game

How could anyone not think that people who like the game look like a minority, when it has such a dedicated hate community with thousands of posts and counting?

[Ersula]

The amount of people who quit in the last 2 years vastly outnumber the people still playing.

Half the playerbase is people who only play in the few weeks immediately following an expansion release. They know they'll be back.

[Edward Wu]

Damn, that's a lot of cope for one post. Take it easy, guys.

At least we can find common ground in that we all want 10.0 to be good, I guess.

[Squiddo69]

Damn, that's a lot of cope for one post. Take it easy, guys.

At least we can find common ground in that we all want 10.0 to be good, I guess.

You are wrong. Sit down. Be humble.

[Jokubas]

The BIG problem is their payment model. If WoW was buy to play / no sub required (like ESO) ppl would be much more forgiving with lack of content or grinds or timegated stuff.

I am super nervous about World of Warcraft ever changing its payment model, but not because I like the current one. I haven't been okay with subscriptions in a long time, but World of Warcraft is completely grandfathered in for me because there's always a trade-off.

For me, the worst part about free-to-play games isn't things like microtransactions, not on their own. It's the fractured way the games are served. The most popular criticism of this is how it encourages the games to charge for quality of life improvements instead of fixing the problem at its source. This isn't just a problem for your wallet either, that sort of thing accumulates an unstable patch job until the entire thing collapses under its own weight.

The other problem that seems to get less awareness but is no less important is that you never know when a cool new item or feature is going to end up behind a paywall. The size of the paywall doesn't even really matter. Either way, the unpredictability creates this constant anxiety that dampens any hype or excitement for the future.

While World of Warcraft does have its store mounts, its still basically nothing compared to any free-to-play game out there. There might be one out there, but I can't think of another game that would have slowly expanded the options for the barbershop until it covered everything but race change. I can think of a couple of games that have charged for per-character unlocks of similar features in tiered packages. World of Warcraft even discontinued a paid service because they obsoleted it as a result! I get peace of mind with World of Warcraft.

The worst part isn't even having to pay for the things I really want either. It's for the things I think are kinda cool but not strongly invested in. $15 for something that's absolutely perfect for my main? I don't want to feel strong-armed into it, but weighing the pros and cons is fairly straightforward. $15 for something that's pretty cool, but it only works on an alt that I don't play much anyway? That's a much harder decision, and much more frustrating. It's the problem I have with the business model for the Sims. I'd love a little bit of everything, I'm not picky, but I don't feel strongly enough about any one thing to pay a $40 price tag to pick it up. Being asked such questions once in a blue moon isn't so bad either, but having to make such considerations every patch is exhausting.

I would love a buy-to-play World of Warcraft in theory. I would love to be able to drop in and out whenever I feel like it instead of only when I've made the commitment of a subscription. I'm just nervous that dropping the subscription is going to mean my peace of mind goes with it.

[LorDC]

Shadowlands was announced on November 1, 2019. Visions of N'Zoth didn't get a set release date until December 19, 2019. I mean, not that it wouldn't be funny, but it's actually happened several times.

They had to announce Shadowlands during Blizzcon even if last patch of BfA is not ready. Right the only thing that can force their is if their release schedule requires starting alpha testing right now. Otherwise I don't see any reason not to wait until Jailer is defeated.

[Santandame]

You remember when they showed that 100M accounts created number? The people who quit have outnumbered the remaining players for a long, long time. That's not even remotely notable. Most players don't stay active for long.

You're trying to push an agenda, whether you yourself realise it or not. The problem is not Shadowlands, or BfA, or Legion, or any expansion other than WoD. The problem is simply time, and there's not really anything Blizz can do about it. The game is just old.

If they were trying to push an agenda; then they would realise it. Key word being try.

That statement makes no sense.

Edward Wu isn't far off the mark when he says Shadowlands sucks. There's a reason why player participation is so low compared to other expansions/periods. If the expansion was widely considered fun - then more would be playing it.

He also isn't wrong when he says this thread at times is a safe space among a sea of criticism and occasional hate. People like Aleuron Stormsong really do stick their fingers in their ears and hum really loudly whenever someone has valid or invalid criticism of the game and proclaim it as hate, regardless of whether it is hate or not while in denial that there isn't any issue with the game.

But, it makes sense, if you're still playing the game and are showing a vented interest in it, then of course you'll still find it fun - but that doesn't make your personal opinion the majority.

For what its worth; I stayed subbed for the entirety of WoD and majority of BfA. In regards to Shadowlands, I was subbed for the first few months of the expansion, then briefly returned during 9.1 and played for a month then unsubbed again. I have no intention of returning for 9.2 as it doesn't look appealing to me in the slightest and will only be returning for the 10.0 pre-patch.

[Edward Wu]

You are wrong. Sit down. Be humble.

Nah, I'm right. Venture outside this safe space and you'll see the general opinion on Shadowlands is largely negative. In this instance, I am correct and you are incorrect. Sorry not sorry.

[Ersula]

They had to announce Shadowlands during Blizzcon even if last patch of BfA is not ready. Right the only thing that can force their is if their release schedule requires starting alpha testing right now. Otherwise I don't see any reason not to wait until Jailer is defeated.

You're trying to infer some behavior from blizzard when, really there's no real rules to this. The Shadowlands teaser was likely ready to be shown for months & in the other direction, they could reveal the next expansion the same day they open up the alpha for it. But your analysis of pervious expansions isn't even accurate: Revealing the next expansion after the last patch is announced but before that patch is released to live servers is actually the norm. They did that for Shadowlands, BFA, WoD & Mists.

[Santandame]

Where is this strange belief coming from that Blizz are waiting for the Jailer's defeat to announce 10.0?

Not only has this never been precedent before but its also most likely that the Jailer defeat cinematic won't even hint at the next expansion, let alone spoil it.

The only time a final raid cinematic has related to the following expansion was Sargeras stabbing Azeroth, and even then, faction war was long brewing during Legion and was inevitable.

The majority of players are apathetic to the Jailers defeat.

There is nothing to gain from withholding the 10.0 announcement until after the Jailer's defeat.

[Jokubas]

Other than the fact they picked Wrathion, Hearthstone has always had known characters in various shapes or forms, so not sure it's a direct sign of anything.

Was there any extra information where you got the artwork or anything?

I made a post about the molten blood earlier, but I got curious and realized I hadn't actually seen the full patch notes. While I didn't find any lore there, I found something else very confusing. Wrathion's first ability, Creeping Madness, apparently does fel damage. I thought it might be a typo, but apparently when he turns into a dragon his third ability becomes Fel Reign.

Am I missing something? Wrathion tried to warn us about the Legion, but since when did he ever carry a fel theme personally? As far as I know, no other Mercenary in Hearthstone has abilities completely at odds with what the character is known for like this.

[Edward Wu]

A circlejerk existing doesnt make a circlejerks take the right one.

The majority holding an opinion does not constitute a circlejerk, the minority holding one does. You are literally participating in one right now while trying to accuse me of doing the same, rofl. Your posts are comedic gold. I fucking love this website.

[draugril]

FFXIV is not evergreen and as the new players get to endgame and finish the MSQ and then clear Savage in about two weeks they'll start realizing that unless youre into fashion, housing or relic grinds there really isnt much to do in the game at max level.

For the record I fucking love XIV but I've also been playing it since 2.0 and can actually see its flaws for what they are. It does a lot well but it does not do endgame well intentionally.

I don’t think saying that WoW does WoW better than FFXIV is controversial. The issue is that WoW developers only see the endgame loot treadmill as “legitimate” content, and by extension, they’ve conditioned much of their playerbase to think the same.

FFXIV has a breadth that WoW has long since abandoned. Everything in WoW now ties into player power in some way, simply because they don’t know how to pad the metrics for player engagement otherwise.

God forbid they let a feature like, say, Torghast stand on its own two legs and be fun on its own. And God forbid that some players might not enjoy or engage in content that doesn’t appeal to them. That doesn’t mean the content has failed. And it certainly doesn’t mean that players should be strong armed into playing it anyway by tying it into player power.

[Miffinat0r]

The majority holding an opinion does not constitute a circlejerk, the minority holding one does. You are literally participating in one right now while trying to accuse me of doing the same, rofl. Your posts are comedic gold. I fucking love this website.

No you see SL is perfectly fine. WoW is still the most played MMO currently, and of all time, forever and ever. /s

[Shadochi]

Where is this strange belief coming from that Blizz are waiting for the Jailer's defeat to announce 10.0?

Not only has this never been precedent before but its also most likely that the Jailer defeat cinematic won't even hint at the next expansion, let alone spoil it.

The only time a final raid cinematic has related to the following expansion was Sargeras stabbing Azeroth, and even then, faction war was long brewing during Legion and was inevitable.

The majority of players are apathetic to the Jailers defeat.

There is nothing to gain from withholding the 10.0 announcement until after the Jailer's defeat.

Ummm... legion announcement has come after the HFC release and cinematic.

Also doesn't matter if it is directly connected or not, means that during the question they don't have to avoid something that we will learn in a couple of weeks. Really no reason for them to do an announcement before the conclusion of Sepulcher and 9.2 since it is so close anyways

[LordKharon]

Where is this strange belief coming from that Blizz are waiting for the Jailer's defeat to announce 10.0?

I always thought announcing the next expansion before the current is even finished was bad practice, not to mention a 1 year wait between announcement and release. Yes it was because of Blizzcon, but they cound have changed release time or Blizzcon date any time in the last 10+ years to make it fit better...it always takes away interest from the current expansion/patch completely for me.

[huth]

I think it is you pushing an agenda, and that is you cannot accept Blizzard has a problem when it is about competence to design a game for a broad audience. And yes, they fail with World of Warcraft nowadays simply because they adress minorities only to the fullest extent, as like organized raiders and supercasuals, but nothing in between.

Old games can be succcessfull for a long time if the developers actually know their audience and invest the effort which is needed, as like FFXIV shows, as like games like Civilization VI or Minecraft show, they actually are evergreeens, and WoW could be that if the developers were not handicapped by their bias tunnel vision.

As long they do not want to design their game for the many customers WoW would want to play, those customers will never stay for long.

I fail to see how you think bringing up games younger than WoW helps your point, especially when ultimately, they're experiencing the same situation. Sure, they're still around. But they aren't anywhere near as big as in their prime.

That's a completely normal development, though. Look into the product lifecycle. All of them are on the long tail now.

[Santandame]

I always thought announcing the next expansion before the current is even finished was bad practice, not to mention a 1 year wait between announcement and release. Yes it was because of Blizzcon, but they cound have changed release time or Blizzcon date any time in the last 10+ years to make it fit better...it always takes away interest from the current expansion/patch completely for me.

There is little interest in Shadowlands at the moment.

9.2 is not generating hype. A 10.0 announcement will.

[Edward Wu]

SL is great and who cares if it's the most played or not? The only people that seem to care are people that hate it and look for an excuse to mald that the servers haven't shut down yet.

Snorlax discovers that people who longer like a game because they think it has become worse are upset about it due to wanting to like it. He also discovers that since he likes a game, he is not upset about it.

Tune in next episode for another startling discovery.

[Catastrophy349]

Towelliee did say that next week will be BIG news after reading the Mike Ybarra post. However, that’s not to say it’s 10.0 related. Could be mobile, other Blizzard games, 9.2, or anything really. Get HYPE!