Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[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!

[huth]

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.

Somebody constantly engaging with something they don't like when there is no pressure to do so isn't particularly smart. Go find something else.

[Dracullus]

There is little interest in Shadowlands at the moment.

9.2 is not generating hype. A 10.0 announcement will.

Don't treat your headcanon as reality. 9.2, as any patch, will generate some hype, mostly from people already playing SL (but also last patches are more popular than middle ones, some people like to come back for "finished" expansion).

10.0 reveal will generate massive hype, cause it will be watched by people who play right now, people who quit SL cause they don't like expac, tourists that play expac only on launch and even people who won't play at all, but as veterans are curious.

So any 10.0 info would instantly dump on 9.2 story reveals. But showing 9.2 first would serve as apetizer before main dish.

[Edward Wu]

Somebody constantly engaging with something they don't like when there is no pressure to do so isn't particularly smart. Go find something else.

Sir, this is the 10.0 thread, where we look forward to future content that could change the direction of the game. My dislike of the current product does not interfere with the purpose of this thread. If my posts offend you, I highly suggest the ignore function!

[Nyel]

Sir, this is the 10.0 thread, where we look forward to future content that could change the direction of the game. My dislike of the current product does not interfere with the purpose of this thread. If my posts offend you, I highly suggest the ignore function!

It's a concept some just don't understand. Disliking one expansion doesn't mean you instantly start hating the game you've been attached to for over a decade.

[Santandame]

Don't treat your headcanon as reality. 9.2, as any patch, will generate some hype, mostly from people already playing SL (but also last patches are more popular than middle ones, some people like to come back for "finished" expansion).

10.0 reveal will generate massive hype, cause it will be watched by people who play right now, people who quit SL cause they don't like expac, tourists that play expac only on launch and even people who won't play at all, but as veterans are curious.

So any 10.0 info would instantly dump on 9.2 story reveals. But showing 9.2 first would serve as apetizer before main dish.

Headcannon? What are you on?

Were you around during the 9.2 reveal in this thread abd others?

9.2 is very bare bones compared to the previous 8.3 and 7.3. There is nothing to return for in 9.2 outside of a new raid, zone and some story quests. Oh wait, we have the cypher of the first ones which is essentially a rep grind.

Compare that to 8.3 and 7.3 which both brought much more content as well as long fan requested hooks such as Argus, Nya'lotha, the end of the Legion, N'Zoth, the return of Wrathion.

I was previously one of those players you mentioned who would return for the "full expansion". I will not be returning for 9.2 because there is nothing overly appealing there. I'd wager a great deal many feel that way.

[Miffinat0r]

10.0 being good does the Industry well. It forces the competition to see what innovative features come from their competition, adopt and adapt it into their own games/vision.

I think honestly 10.0 is going to be no different than 8, or 9 tbh. The reason is because Ion is the head still and that means you're going to see another iteration of what Legion was, but that doesn't address the fundamental issues why players are leaving.

It's starring them right in the face, the fact is that the game is too easy for 85% of the game, then it becomes hard gated group content, and players arrive at that point far too fast.

What WoW needs to do is examine why players quit, what's the reasons, then browse MMO-C, Reddit, and their own forums and you'll see it's literally a casual revolt. This was all before the sex scandal issues came up. You can see it because the content creators were reacting to their chats about casual players. Then the sex scandal came out, but Asmon and Bell were talking more about casual players because their chats were constantly talking about it.

[ExiHext]

Somebody constantly engaging with something they don't like when there is no pressure to do so isn't particularly smart. Go find something else.

Mr. Wu will never understand that there is a thing called "vocal minority". People who are satisfied with something don't tend to voice their satisfaction while people who are unsatisfied with said thing tend to be VERY vocal about it which leads to the fallacy that EVERYONE is unsatisfied with it.

[Osmeric]

Mr. Wu will never understand that there is a thing called "vocal minority". People who are satisfied with something don't tend to voice their satisfaction while people who are unsatisfied with said thing tend to be VERY vocal about it which leads to the fallacy that EVERYONE is unsatisfied with it.

... he says about a game where 90+% of the people who have played it no longer do.

The "vocal minority" are those still enjoying it.