Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Hitei]

What happened to this version?

Huh, first time seeing this. Not sure - I've never seen a full version either.

99% the box art version. Afaik it hasn't been released anywhere beyond its initial leak as that "poster" art, which I'm fairly sure is just the mockup for the box cover, but without the ring put on it yet.

[Teriz]

99% the box art version. Afaik it hasn't been released anywhere beyond its initial leak as that "poster" art, which I'm fairly sure is just the mockup for the box cover, but without the ring put on it yet.

Good. I prefer that version quite a bit more than the version on the official website.

[rhorle]

99% the box art version. Afaik it hasn't been released anywhere beyond its initial leak as that "poster" art, which I'm fairly sure is just the mockup for the box cover, but without the ring put on it yet.

I'm going to guess the "box art" is the Key Art from the press kit. They used the Bolvar from the press kit key art for Shadowlands.

https://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/scree...al/1059098.jpg

[Hitei]

I'm going to guess the "box art" is the Key Art from the press kit. They used the Bolvar from the press kit key art for Shadowlands.

https://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/scree...al/1059098.jpg

The poster is a composite of the two images (The Dragon is from the key art, Alex is from the second picture) , but the framing for it is more in line with previous box art than the key art.

[Chickat]

Havent posted in about 2 weeks. I miss anything?

[Gigantique]

I'm not aware of Blue dragons utilizing frost breath, I thought those were only Frost Wyrms/Undead dragons? I know Malygos uses Arcane Breath which looks similar to those blue Evoker abilities;






EDIT: In fact, Malygos' ability set might be an indicator of what abilities end up in the Devastation spec;

https://www.wowhead.com/npc=28859/ma...ities;mode:n25

IIRC the Blues were always aligned with using Frost and/or Arcane. Looking at the frames the beam attack seems very frosty (has what appears to be snowflakes flying off the hit target) and the wing missiles seem like Arcane with a flair of Frost to them (also has snowflakes burst out when the missiles hit the target).

Iz cool if you ask me and yeah sure I get that Red for healing makes more sense but I think they can do more exciting stuff with green/bronze as a healing spec.

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Wild spirits I could see being reskinned into some kind of stampede equivalent for BM, in which case it would be pretty cool.
Unless MM gets reworked into a more button mashy variant i don't think it would really work. But again, Flayed Shot seems like a natural fit for the more technique based hunter fantasy that Marksman has.

In general I think it's a mistake to assume that all covenants abilities will be useable after Shadowlands, especially for every spec. Convoke the spirits seems like it would be a natural fit for Balance druid, but even if it was good it doesn't really strike me as a great fit for Feral, much less Guardian.

Thing is Flayed Shot is the coolest covenant abiiity mechanics wise imo but it really breaks the flow of MM during Trueshot so much the already dumb CD feels even worse.

[Kiria]

Havent posted in about 2 weeks. I miss anything?

Not much, but we missed you!

[Veluren]

Havent posted in about 2 weeks. I miss anything?

Two weeks is about the last time we heard anything relevant about the expansion

Maybe your return will apparate some blog posts tomorrow.

[Sondrelk]

IIRC the Blues were always aligned with using Frost and/or Arcane. Looking at the frames the beam attack seems very frosty (has what appears to be snowflakes flying off the hit target) and the wing missiles seem like Arcane with a flair of Frost to them (also has snowflakes burst out when the missiles hit the target).

Iz cool if you ask me and yeah sure I get that Red for healing makes more sense but I think they can do more exciting stuff with green/bronze as a healing spec.

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Thing is Flayed Shot is the coolest covenant abiiity mechanics wise imo but it really breaks the flow of MM during Trueshot so much the already dumb CD feels even worse.

Any ability breaks the flow of the MM rotation, so we should get an MM revamp regardless.
After that though I would argue that Flayed Shot is still the most fitting ability thematically for MM. Though in thinking about it I guess the same is true for Wild Spirits if we got a less magical reskin of the ability.

[Alanar]

Well that changes things. Thought I knew, but I guess not. Though you could stretch and say that it's maybe on her back?

In any case I have no idea if that isnt where it's from.

Looks like some drakthyr piece.. honestly. Looks very similar to something we saw in the df presentation.

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I mean, we have Light based Teleporters.

Paladins getting a teleportation spell wouldn't be far fetched, it just needs to look the part.

I mean I guess, but fot example using a kneeling animation with your weapon above your head with some holy splash light animation and then rushing or jumping would be even cooler and more fitting.

Anything, but that lazy shit steed imo. I wonder with soulbinds giving extra seconds to the duration, if we are losing this completely and bring it back to 3 sec only or we keep it in df.

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Paladins will get a teleport-based skill, in anticipation for the coming of the Ren'dorei Void Paladins.

You mean those losers called void elves?
They are not worthy.

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The poster is a composite of the two images (The Dragon is from the key art, Alex is from the second picture) , but the framing for it is more in line with previous box art than the key art.

That makes sense, art--> actual model in game=always differnt

I am more curious to her staff, how it will look in game. We never saw her use any weapons. It will probably magically dissapear when she goes into dragonform, you know bs like that.

[Eurhetemec]

Paladins don't really have any lore on why they should teleport. They did however have the ability to summon a unique mount, so instead of giving them a teleportation ability for movement they game them the ability to summon a mount briefly in combat.
It's not as spectacular or versatile, but it makes much more sense and isn't something any other class can do.

The problem is that the mount doesn't "make sense", imo. It looks ridiculous, and doesn't feel like part of the lore at all, it feels like a cheesy ability they came up with out of desperation. On top of that it's not at all fun to use, and doesn't make you feel like some kind "mounted warrior", just like your speed buff is a bizarrely temporary horse popping in for a few seconds.

To me, the it absolutely illustrates the problem you're seemingly encouraging, that it's seen as better to have an ability that doesn't tread on any toes at all, even if it's no fun, and not very thematic (or even actively anti-immersive). A leap might be more fitting than a teleport, but I bet someone at Blizzard has randomly decided Warriors have "dibs" on all leaps now and forever. The reality is WoW has enough classes and specs that there's going to be some crossover, and it's better imo to accept that than to try and come up with bizarre stuff like summoning a horse for literally 3 seconds.

Why yes I still am mad about an ability added, what, more than a decade ago?

[Nymrohd]

The problem is that the mount doesn't "make sense", imo. It looks ridiculous, and doesn't feel like part of the lore at all, it feels like a cheesy ability they came up with out of desperation. On top of that it's not at all fun to use, and doesn't make you feel like some kind "mounted warrior", just like your speed buff is a bizarrely temporary horse popping in for a few seconds.

To me, the it absolutely illustrates the problem you're seemingly encouraging, that it's seen as better to have an ability that doesn't tread on any toes at all, even if it's no fun, and not very thematic (or even actively anti-immersive). A leap might be more fitting than a teleport, but I bet someone at Blizzard has randomly decided Warriors have "dibs" on all leaps now and forever. The reality is WoW has enough classes and specs that there's going to be some crossover, and it's better imo to accept that than to try and come up with bizarre stuff like summoning a horse for literally 3 seconds.

Why yes I still am mad about an ability added, what, more than a decade ago?

Divine Steed makes much more sense with the War Mode Steed of Glory talent on, letting you ignore snares and knock everyone back. As far as class fantasy is concerned both the WoW version and the Crusader version probably come from D&D Paladins getting a divine mount they could call as an ability in most editions (a weird ability that was often house ruled and people also often tried to swap it away for something else).

Honestly I'd kill for the Diablo 3's Draw and Quarter rune as a talent for both PvE and PvP. It would be a very interesting and class appropriate version of a mass grip.

[Eurhetemec]

Divine Steed makes much more sense with the War Mode Steed of Glory talent on, letting you ignore snares and knock everyone back. As far as class fantasy is concerned both the WoW version and the Crusader version probably come from D&D Paladins getting a divine mount they could call as an ability in most editions (a weird ability that was often house ruled and people also often tried to swap it away for something else).

Honestly I'd kill for the Diablo 3's Draw and Quarter rune as a talent for both PvE and PvP. It would be a very interesting and class appropriate version of a mass grip.

I'm a long-time AD&D/D&D DM (since 1989) so yeah, I'm aware of the origin, and you are correct re: it getting house-ruled a lot. But the steed Paladins in D&D got, whilst somewhat intelligent and semi-magical in some editions, didn't "spring out of nowhere" (uh at least before 5E - but even there the spell takes 1hr to cast I think - I actually forget how 4E did it). Depending on the edition it either turned up, or you went on a quest to get it, and it was very much a flesh-and-blood being with some magical characteristics.

And yes the War Mode Steed of Glory, well, I dunno if it makes more sense, but it certainly feels a lot better.

Re: D3 yeah, honestly I would not be made if Paladins got something like that.

[Nymrohd]

I'm a long-time AD&D/D&D DM (since 1989) so yeah, I'm aware of the origin, and you are correct re: it getting house-ruled a lot. But the steed Paladins in D&D got, whilst somewhat intelligent and semi-magical in some editions, didn't "spring out of nowhere" (uh at least before 5E - but even there the spell takes 1hr to cast I think - I actually forget how 4E did it). Depending on the edition it either turned up, or you went on a quest to get it, and it was very much a flesh-and-blood being with some magical characteristics.

And yes the War Mode Steed of Glory, well, I dunno if it makes more sense, but it certainly feels a lot better.

Re: D3 yeah, honestly I would not be made if Paladins got something like that.

3.5 SRD "Once per day, as a full-round action, a paladin may magically call her mount from the celestial realms in which it resides." (Led to Rich Burlew have his paladins summoning their mounts with PokeBalls in Order of the Stick )
It used to be a quest in AD&D. It did not exist in 4E then was added back in Basic 4E. 5E reverted it to something closer than AD&D.

I'd love for us to have proper mounted combat and if that ever happened I'd expect Paladins and DKs to really have some deeper investment in such a system Maybe Dragon Riding could lead into something like that.

[Eurhetemec]

3.5 SRD "Once per day, as a full-round action, a paladin may magically call her mount from the celestial realms in which it resides." (Led to Rich Burlew have his paladins summoning their mounts with PokeBalls in Order of the Stick )

LOL nice! I have to admit we didn't have any Paladins in 3.XE so I didn't see that.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Any ability breaks the flow of the MM rotation, so we should get an MM revamp regardless.
After that though I would argue that Flayed Shot is still the most fitting ability thematically for MM. Though in thinking about it I guess the same is true for Wild Spirits if we got a less magical reskin of the ability.

It flows well enough at least IMO without much "just sitting there doing nothing" Unless you like that kind of thing, I'm no mind reader.

[Chickat]

Two weeks is about the last time we heard anything relevant about the expansion

Maybe your return will apparate some blog posts tomorrow.

Brothers, let the summoning circle commence!

Not much, but we missed you!

<3

[Vyomesh2]

if we got a less magical reskin of the ability.

An easy reskin would be a trap of some sort. A trap with rigged explosives or something. Works the same as WS, you throw it down and when you shoot mobs it will trigger explosions in stead of calling down lasr beams from the sky.

[Sondrelk]

An easy reskin would be a trap of some sort. A trap with rigged explosives or something. Works the same as WS, you throw it down and when you shoot mobs it will trigger explosions in stead of calling down lasr beams from the sky.

For BM i could see a reskin where each attack triggers a beast attacking.
Whereas with MM just an arrow falling from the sky would fit better.
A trap seems like it might work for a Survival reskin.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Does anyone recognize this symbol in the middle here? I though it was Blood elf symbol, but I can't find it anywhere.

It was theorized to be associated with Alexstrasza.

Dataminers found out that it was associated with Undergarments but unknown source. Some stating Blood Elf Undergarments? Some people thought it is related to a more Politically Correct Undergarment changing which fair enough. Who knows though?

But yeah, most people came to the conclusion it was tied to some Elf underwear but whether it is the Darkfallen or if Blood Elf will have new underwear is unknown.