Dragonflight Alpha Feedback - Evokers and Dragonriding

[chaud]

Dragonflight Alpha Feedback - Evokers

Hi all! I wanted to Soar over and touch on some of the great feedback that’s been posted thus far.

Talents & Talent Builds
There has been so much wonderful discussion about the talent trees, and we’re still digging through all of it. No firm plans to share just yet, but please continue sharing your feedback as we iterate on the trees. We’ll let you know specifics as soon as we have them!

Visage
In the next build, Dracthyr will no longer switch to Visage when getting on a mount, flight path, etc. Additionally, they will have a new racial ability called Chosen Identity that you can “Activate to automatically assume your Visage when you leave combat or after Soaring.” Chosen Identity will stay toggled on until manually deactivated. As a note, existing Alpha characters may not have Chosen Identity learned.

Azure Strike
In a future build, Azure Strike’s targeting will behave more consistently. Currently it is built similarly to Chain Lightning, but it will be updated to be more of a circular AoE, and pick N targets within 6 yards of your selected target.

Empower Spells
It is intended that casting a different spell while Empowering (eg, casting Disintegrate while empowering a Fire Breath) cancels the Empower spell, refunds the resource cost(s) and cooldown, and begins casting the other spell. Empowers have a global cooldown when they finish casting, meaning Fire Breath and Disintegrate can’t be cast at the same moment. Therefore, we have to interpret what a user is trying to do when they cast a different spell while empowering - Some may be trying to use the second spell as a shortcut for finishing their Fire Breath, while others may be trying to react to a situation and change what spell they’re casting as soon as possible. The current version is opting to treat the new spell input as a change in intention.

Thanks for the ongoing feedback and discussion!

Dragonflight Alpha Feedback - Dragonriding

Several times now I’ve fell off an edge with no way to open my wings because I had no Vigor and I just slid down a mountain side and died on impact.
This is a very good call-out. We’re working on improving the dragonriding gap detection to fix issues like this. We’ve noticed that dragonriding won’t kick in with some slope types, so we’ll be addressing those in a future build.

Mostly related is the ease of moving short distances. Hopping on my mount to fly like 50 feet is something I, and I imagine most players, have become accustomed to over time. With this system in place as it is, it’s almost an ‘investment’ to do this, seeing as jumping requires Vigor.
I’d suggest some way to cross small distances without consuming energy. It doesn’t have to be fast or particularly effective, just a way to cross terrain faster than you would normally on foot. I think a good way to do this would be to add a “mini jump” to allow the dragon to jump just high enough to gain a small amount of speed to cross a small obstacle or something.
This is a great call-out of a few distinctions between “flying” and “dragonriding.” We’d like to slot dragonriding into its own unique space without crowding out flying, so it feeling like an investment is in the desired ballpark. How much of an investment is definitely something we’d love to hear continued feedback on, especially as progression comes online and as players get more used to the feature.

Something I miss is the ability to just fly up into the air and AFK in safety. An ability you could use when in the air to “hover” indefinitely would be nice. Cancels upon movement or damage, but otherwise allows you to just hang in the air while you’re AFK?
We’ve found that this is a big part of the appeal of WoW’s flying, so pulling that into dragonriding would encroach on that space too much.


And finally, I’d suggest stealing an idea from Elden Ring to help remedy the problem of crossing common mountains, or going uphill in a widely travelled area. Add some little updraft areas that, when you activate your jump in them, sends you flying maybe 1.5x to 2x higher up than you would normally. I do feel this should probably be limited in scope however, to avoid trivializing the system as a whole.
Oh I think you might like the progression then! (And good note about that balance.)

Also, we’ve also seen a request or two from testers to drop the cooldown on Soar for testing purposes, and we don’t think that will be necessary to get the whole system well-tested. We’re getting great bug reports, and we thank you very much for them.

[GMZohar1]

So far Dragonriding sounds like a hindrance more than fun

[Catastrophy349]

So far Dragonriding sounds like a hindrance more than fun

Looks awesome!

[Bwgmon]

Hoperfully they give that "Chosen Identity" racial to Worgen as well.

[Snowfunk]

So you'll be able to ride mounts in Dracthyr form? That is awesome news. I'm certainly not a fan of the current Visage form, but if I can simply choose to ignore it, that is fine with me!

[bruxx]

So far Dragonriding sounds like a hindrance more than fun

The 950% flight speed from day one certainly doesn't sound like a hindrance to me.

[Fullmetal89]

I really wish they removed the cooldown on soar.

Edit: I really like the chosen identity ability concept. I hope they can extend that to worgen.

[Chickat]

Looks awesome!

Welcome back. Busy week at Blizzard?

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I really wish they removed the cooldown on soar.

Edit: I really like the chosen identity ability concept. I hope they can extend that to worgen.

I wish it even functioned in Combat tbh. Spells that require being a Dragon can shift you in momentarily and back out once the spell is finished. Matve with a 2-3 sec delay to avoid massive shift in and out. Filler spells could be cast in visage form. That might end up looking bad tbh, but it would be a cool option IMO.

[verylargeprime]

If they don't want to "encroach on the space" of flying, adding More Complicated Worse Flying doesn't seem like a great move.

[TyrionLamperouge]

I hope blizzard let the Dracthyr be a full dragon to fly too (like drakes mounts for dragonriding). Kind of racial mount.

[JSoup]

Hoperfully they give that "Chosen Identity" racial to Worgen as well.

My first thought as well. Would be a nice addition for certain classes. The Worgen casting animation bugs me.

[Kumorii]

Sounds like I never have to be in visage form. Thank fuck.

[Rageonit]

So far Dragonriding sounds like a hindrance more than fun

Well if you associate "fun" with "being able to afk out", then it's probably for the better that dragonriding is "a hindrance".

[oldgeezer]

Well if you associate "fun" with "being able to afk out", then it's probably for the better that dragonriding is "a hindrance".

Sounds like an absolute ball-ache to me. I can't wait to ditch the flappy dragon mini game as quickly as possible.

[Rageonit]

Sounds like an absolute ball-ache to me. I can't wait to ditch the flappy dragon mini game as quickly as possible.

That's fine, for old geezers convenience is often more important than fun.

[Jin]

My issue that i forsee with peeps like me who has RSI or other hand injuries, holding down buttons to empore ia waay more taxing then an click, if you then raid for 3 hours it will be incredible painful. Holding down something is a constant strain, while clicking still has a moment of relax.

[Ihazpaws]

I really hope they remove the ability just hover still with all flying mounts. That ability instantly makes the world feel empty, reduces the world pvp and other player interactions. Liking the new dragonflight system because it's a way to get somewhere hard to reach place or just go across the area faster and safer, not a way to remove all threat and MMO aspects from the world you are playing in.

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My issue that i forsee with peeps like me who has RSI or other hand injuries, holding down buttons to empore ia waay more taxing then an click, if you then raid for 3 hours it will be incredible painful. Holding down something is a constant strain, while clicking still has a moment of relax.

If it is straining then maybe they should play another class. I agree that it sucks and even tho it does not affect me there is other things that affect me alot because of my disabilities but there has to be line in the sand for "make it for everyone by making it boring for everyone else".

There is also ways to go around problems like holding button down. Doesn't many mouses and keyboards nowadays let you macro something like "press this button down for 3sec with just a single click". I am not 100% sure on that tho since I have not tried macros in hardware.

[Kumorii]

My issue that i forsee with peeps like me who has RSI or other hand injuries, holding down buttons to empore ia waay more taxing then an click, if you then raid for 3 hours it will be incredible painful. Holding down something is a constant strain, while clicking still has a moment of relax.

if you have a macro keyboard you can program it so it holds until you press the key again if you'd like.

Best would be for blizzard to implement an option you have hold or click to release option toggle though.
I suggest leaving this feedback somewhere on their official forums.
I think Blizzard are more inclined to implement QOL changes when it impacts real life health and such. They implemented to potion to remove motion sickness for grimrail for example.

[Biomega]

This basically confirms all my concerns and fears for Dragonriding - it's a fun concept, but in practice it'll have to many cumbersome limitations that it'll wear out quickly and become annoying more than entertaining in no time flat.

[oldgeezer]

That's fine, for old geezers convenience is often more important than fun.

Damn straight.