Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[draugril]

Honestly, I doubt that Ybarra’s comment relates to game content at all. They’ll probably just announce the culture consultants they’ve contracted and the internal initiatives they’ll be heading.

[Makabreska]

Link? Source?

Front page.

[Osmeric]

Actually, skill is no binary value, as like you, and obviously also the devs, seem to think.

I didn't say or imply that at all. Reading comprehension, can you do it?

[Dracullus]

Honestly, I doubt that Ybarra’s comment relates to game content at all. They’ll probably just announce the culture consultants they’ve contracted and the internal initiatives they’ll be heading.

Ok, sometimes they are detached but not THAT detached. Worst case scenario next week is some mobile game reveal (which would be bad way to start this news season as well).

[draugril]

Ok, sometimes they are detached but not THAT detached. Worst case scenario next week is some mobile game reveal (which would be bad way to start this news season as well).

The entire post was about the culture. It would be a complete non sequitur to start talking about games in the last couple lines without overtly specifying the change in topic.

I mean, I’d be happy to be wrong, but this didn’t read like a content teaser at all to me.

Edit: Eh, scrub this post. The brain fog is doing my memory in. This does look to be content announcements.

[Revamp Man]

Honestly, I doubt that Ybarra’s comment relates to game content at all. They’ll probably just announce the culture consultants they’ve contracted and the internal initiatives they’ll be heading.

I can see why he would call that exciting from a PR perspective

[Arcinatoss]

if "We also know we need to deliver content to our players on a more regular basis and innovate both in and beyond our existing games. We have some exciting things to announce, and I’ll be sharing more next week." isnt about gaming content then i'll eat my own ass

[Makabreska]

Ok, sometimes they are detached but not THAT detached. Worst case scenario next week is some mobile game reveal (which would be bad way to start this news season as well).

Not a coincidence the announcement is one week after Microsoft purchase story breaks. He will most likely come forth to assure future is brighter than ever. Maybe even tease some of the MC moves after deal is finalized.

[username993720]

No

Nelf paladins or riot

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Delas_Moonfang

[Osmeric]

Well, you literally said you want to remove gameplay for everyone above skill level 0xffff0000 and limit it to the zero skill crowd. That is very much the mindset of the developers without the idea to limit the game to ultra casuals only. Beside that, i am not here to battle you with pathetic low level battle talks.

I talk about how to make the game better for the players that would like to play it. And these are a wide variety of players, not just two kinds of extremes.

You are engaging in wishful thinking. I don't think it's possible to cater to both the average players and the top players. Certainly Blizzard hasn't been able to, and they've bled off most of the casuals over the years.

[Revamp Man]

if "We also know we need to deliver content to our players on a more regular basis and innovate both in and beyond our existing games. We have some exciting things to announce, and I’ll be sharing more next week." isnt about gaming content then i'll eat my own ass

Live stream it

[Raetary]

Someone made a fan-made Dragon Isles map on reddit

- - - Updated - - -

Honestly looks cool.

Any link to that? I love looking at fan-made maps.

[Makabreska]

And yes, that is possible. See RPGs like Diviinity Original Sin which have different difficulties and cater to both the low level CRPG player AND the hardcore skilled player. An even better example and very fitting to Blizzard would be Diablo. You have 10 different difficulty levels, and you gear up in level 1 for level 2, and if you are a good player you skip the first 5 levels. And if you are a great player you even skip the first 8 levels. That is actually the way to go.

So WoW does not have different difficulties in raids and M+?

[Miffinat0r]

Actually, they have lost all kind of players between the two extremes. Both normal players and casual players. The reason is they cater only to those who look for no skill at all or to those who look for organized high profile gameplay.

They have lost million of customers, because they literally cater to meme ideas of what players are rather than valeuing the diversity the playerbase of WoW has.

And sure, you can cater to many different playstyles. Every modern RPG does that. You have a story mode, you have a normal mode, a hard mode and a deadly mode in many RPGs. My dream would be we had difficulties for every playstyle and support for every group size starting at 1 in WoW. Means, you could progress in your content you like without ever feeling the need to play content you would want to avoid.

And yes, that is possible. See RPGs like Diviinity Original Sin which have different difficulties and cater to both the low level CRPG player AND the hardcore skilled player. An even better example and very fitting to Blizzard would be Diablo. You have 10 different difficulty levels, and you gear up in level 1 for level 2, and if you are a good player you skip the first 5 levels. And if you are a great player you even skip the first 8 levels. That is actually the way to go.

But in those RPGs, the rewards are the same no matter what the difficulty, the only thing that separates them is how you play because the difficulty changes the meta for the game, and achievements. But the rewards, and the story are the same across all difficulties.

[uzira]

Isnt the exciting news Mike was talking about just the Microsoft thing?

[Makabreska]

Isnt the exciting news Mike was talking about just the Microsoft thing?

You mean the stuff everybody already knows about? Mate please.

[Kiivar86]

Isnt the exciting news Mike was talking about just the Microsoft thing?

He says that he has exciting things to announce, and that was already announced, so don't think it'd be that.

[Raetary]

Isnt the exciting news Mike was talking about just the Microsoft thing?

No, that was news from 3 days ago.

He's clearly talking about content announcements:

We also know we need to deliver content to our players on a more regular basis and innovate both in and beyond our existing games. We have some exciting things to announce, and I’ll be sharing more next week.

[uzira]

No, that was news from 3 days ago.

He's clearly talking about content announcements:

Okay I haven’t seen that part. Thanks

[Jokubas]

I agree that the game needs to have avenues for a wide variety of skill levels, but I've been concerned that the multiple difficulties in World of Warcraft indirectly hinder that plan in practice.

The problem is that making sure each of those difficulties is properly balanced for each of wildly varying skill levels is an extremely intensive task. It's not just a matter of copying the content and shifting all the numbers by a certain percentage. A ton of work goes into making sure each difficulty of raids is a fair challenge for its target demographic. Work that perhaps could have gone into different kinds of content, or even just more raids.

Also, difficulty alone doesn't account for playstyle, which often go hand-in-hand. It's been public knowledge for a long time that raiding is statistically far more niche than its treatment would imply. In theory it sounds noble to make sure that everyone can experience the raids no matter what their skill level. In practice it means the time you could be spending on balancing content for the people who aren't into raiding is spent balancing a version of raids for them on the off chance they do.

I'm very happy about Looking for Raid. Dragon Soul was the first time I ever saw the climax of the story in World of Warcraft when it was current content and not common knowledge long-since-spoiled. However, I'm only happy about it because raids are the only place to get the story, and I'm occasionally required to go there for some quests and rewards as well. I don't like raiding. The organization and group size and time commitments are things that bring me anxiety, not enjoyment. It's not my playstyle, regardless of difficulty.

You could even argue it's discouraged me from staying subscribed in a way that's become so subconsciously normal for me that it didn't even occur to me until I was writing this post. I'm so used to the big story moments being locked away from me until long after they're common knowledge (even with Looking for Raid, the wings are rolled out so slowly that they've even outright spoiled the conclusion in-world before LFR players even had a chance to see it), that I find no real incentive to experience these things in-game. I watch cutscenes the moment they're revealed or datamined not simply because I follow the game that closely, but because I know it's going to be months or maybe even years before I experience some raids (I usually wait until I can solo or duo them, because I actually enjoy that).