Dragonflight Pre-Launch Stream

[Aedruid]

Personally, I find this new direction enlightening, it's a change of pace, and it successfully struck a balance just like the original WoW trailer did. Moments of peace, fun, excitement, adventure, and danger.

I don't see where you're coming from on this point... I didn't get WoW Classic vibes. There doesn't need to be a war or big baddie, just show off a group of adventurers walking into a cave and coming across treasure being guarded by a feral dragon. Classic WoW's cinematic touched on different races fighting each other in different zones. It didn't have some happy go lucky girl flapping in the wind with a smile on their face. I'm surprised I didn't start hearing "Let it go" start playing (from Frozen)

[rhorle]

There doesn't need to be a war or big baddie, just show off a group of adventurers walking into a cave and coming across treasure being guarded by a feral dragon.

Wouldn't that be covered by a raid boss and major antagonist chasing "adventurers" through the skies?

[Aedruid]

There would be nothing wrong with that if that is the direction Blizzard wanted to take. Just as there is nothing wrong with Blizzard listening to trends in the community. They have been trying to sell that this expansion is about exploration. The cinematic captures that. I'm also not sure why people keep using "Pixar movie" as a derogatory term. The reason why those films are often so successful is they appeal to all ages.

"Pixar movie" is meant to be derogatory because the direction is alienating me (a middle aged balding straight married man). I'm 99% sure people in my age group that didn't consume too much soy would agree that Pixar graphics are a turn off for games. I really like gorey realistic stuff. I also like scantily clad hot babes and visibly powerful things. Maybe the target demographics cater more towards 12 year olds / more feministic groups of people. Not hating, just not my cup of tea, and if that's Blizzard's direction, then I'm sure my demographics just won't buy the game.

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Wouldn't that be covered by a raid boss and major antagonist chasing "adventurers" through the skies?

Didn't really feel like an antagonist. Too much emphasis on gleefully flying around.

[rhorle]

Didn't really feel like an antagonist. Too much emphasis on gleefully flying around.

A big lightning infused dragon trying to eat them is "gleefully flying"? The expansion theme is exploration combined with fighting off the Primal Incarnates.

[Aedruid]

A big lightning infused dragon trying to eat them is "gleefully flying"? The expansion theme is exploration combined with fighting off the Primal Incarnates.

Yes. The "antagonist" was only in the video for about 10 seconds. Honestly I forgot that there was one.

[Relapses]

Nah, just too much Pixar like graphics and emphasis on riding the dragons. It literally feels like a Disney movie. My wife (who hates wow) would probably try and pre-order tickets for all the little kids in my family if I showed this to her. Hence killing my drive to play the game.... I'm just not a fan of Disney gogo happy time.

I can't say I understand the "Pixar movie" criticism because it just seems like an obscure way to insist that WoW cinematics need a certain level of masculinity in order to be impactful. I'm not a huge fan of dragons or lizard wizards but I'm not completely dismissing the expansion because of these reservations. To each their own, I guess.

[Aedruid]

I can't say I understand the "Pixar movie" criticism because it just seems like an obscure way to insist that WoW cinematics need a certain level of masculinity in order to be impactful. I'm not a huge fan of dragons or lizard wizards but I'm not completely dismissing the expansion because of these reservations. To each their own, I guess.

Don't you look at graphics and art style before you purchase a game? I mean you're right, to each their own, but it's a pretty big decision to sink 100s of hours into a game. Graphics are a pre-check.

[Relapses]

Don't you look at graphics and art style before you purchase a game? I mean you're right, to each their own, but it's a pretty big decision to sink 100s of hours into a game. Graphics are a pre-check.

To an extent, yes. But I'm more of a gameplay first kind of player. As long as the core gameplay loop I'm engaging with is interesting I'll keep playing. And since nothing in DF is dramatically different than it was in SL (I mostly enjoyed SL) I'm in no hurry to unsubscribe just because the scenery is changing in a way that I'm not 100% enthused about.

[Aedruid]

To an extent, yes. But I'm more of a gameplay first kind of player. As long as the core gameplay loop I'm engaging with is interesting I'll keep playing. And since nothing in DF is dramatically different than it was in SL (I mostly enjoyed SL) I'm in no hurry to unsubscribe just because the scenery is changing in a way that I'm not 100% enthused about.

Got it, makes sense. From my end I'm not a fan of gameplay loops. I like to go through a lengthy fantasy story and enjoy unlocking compounding power with medieval themed class fantasy. Since I'm more engaged into the RPG aspect, I like cutscenes that are realistic (makes the story / characters more engaging). I really don't like Disney / Pixar stuff, so since I'm more of a boobs guy than a butt guy, maybe that's our difference (ie: gameplay loop vs RPG)

[FelPlague]

I have the same feeling I had with Pandaria the expansion was for Kids . Maybe its the cinematic because they didn't show the major bad ass enemy

We don't know who the major bad ass enemy is yet, hell only the Wotlk and cataclysm cinematics showed the expacs big bad on their cinematics.

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Yes. The "antagonist" was only in the video for about 10 seconds. Honestly I forgot that there was one.

Didn't really feel like an antagonist. Too much emphasis on gleefully flying around.

The antagonist was on screen for 20% of the video... It was not 10 seconds.
Also that already has almost all of the other cinematics beat with their all 0 seconds of showing their antagonist.
Where in vanilla?
Illidan ain't even the big bad and he only shows up for a few seconds
Ok Wotlk and cata you got it.
Mop 0
Wod 0
Legion 0
Bfa 0
Shadowlands alright back to showing the antagonist

[Sugani]

I guess the takeaway, at least with the more recent trailer, is that it focused on the adventurers (players) rather than a big looming threat and moving the big overarching narrative forward in a clear way. It's player-centric first, not narrative-centric first. Even the first trailer they showed wasn't about the narrative but focused on the setting, the island is awakening, come check it out. That's where I get classic vibes.

We haven't had that tone and direction since Mists of Pandaria. Warlords, Legion, BFA, and Shadowlands were very focused on narrative first.

[Izalla]

Are you all right?

MoP Trailer and MoP as a whole had this problem at the beginning. Changed later on and maybe it does for DF. Right now it is too happy for me.
Trailer looks and feels like pixar. You can rage all you want. Won't change that for me.
The dwarf is a lore character. She appears again with turalyon and Wrathion ingame. The troll probably will do it for the horde side. For now it seems like it shows something actually happening. But as i am not 100% sure about it i wrote story in quotes. Either way the drakthyr scene feels completly out of place as everything else in the trailer was connected with a storyline. It was not just a bunch of disconnected bits and bobs. It was a complete short story and a drakthyr posing.

There is actually nothing to indicate this except "random wildhammer dwarf", and the horde counterpart for the dwarf NPC you're referencing is not a Zandalari troll. The dwarf in the cinematic has brown hair, green eyes, and blue triangles on her cheeks, and the one you're talking about in game has black hair (and a completely different hairstyle as well mind you), blue eyes, and her "face paint" is just stripes on the bald parts of her head. If that was supposed to be Toddy in the cinematic, they put absolutely no effort into making her look anything like her cinematic counterpart.

[FelPlague]

Are you all right?

MoP Trailer and MoP as a whole had this problem at the beginning. Changed later on and maybe it does for DF. Right now it is too happy for me.
Trailer looks and feels like pixar. You can rage all you want. Won't change that for me.
The dwarf is a lore character. She appears again with turalyon and Wrathion ingame. The troll probably will do it for the horde side. For now it seems like it shows something actually happening. But as i am not 100% sure about it i wrote story in quotes. Either way the drakthyr scene feels completly out of place as everything else in the trailer was connected with a storyline. It was not just a bunch of disconnected bits and bobs. It was a complete short story and a drakthyr posing.

No she's not, different dwarves my dude... also no there is no zandalari there at the other.
nothing in the trailer was "connected with a storyline" none of it my dude...

[Aedruid]

We don't know who the major bad ass enemy is yet, hell only the Wotlk and cataclysm cinematics showed the expacs big bad on their cinematics.

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The antagonist was on screen for 20% of the video... It was not 10 seconds.
Also that already has almost all of the other cinematics beat with their all 0 seconds of showing their antagonist.
Where in vanilla?
Illidan ain't even the big bad and he only shows up for a few seconds
Ok Wotlk and cata you got it.
Mop 0
Wod 0
Legion 0
Bfa 0
Shadowlands alright back to showing the antagonist

Nah, 20% of a 2:48 video is 33.6 seconds, the random bird that chases them is only in the video about 20 seconds, it pans away multiple times from what's chasing them. So, 11-12% of this video has some sort of conflict with a giant bird chasing them.

[rhorle]

Nah, 20% of a 2:48 video is 33.6 seconds, the random bird that chases them is only in the video about 20 seconds, it pans away multiple times from what's chasing them. So, 11-12% of this video has some sort of conflict with a giant bird chasing them.

It is a proto-dragon empowered by the elements. So not a bird. Not random either though if you know nothing about Dragonflight and haven't done the pre-patch stuff you won't know that it isn't random. Your times are off though your percent is right. Looking at the Legion cinematic the first "bad guy" didn't show up until 1:27 into it and then it was just felbats. An infernal was next but we didn't even see a final boss for a raid show up. Obviously BfA and SL had "bad guys" more prominent because of the closer focus between basic characters (Faction war and Bolvar/Sylvanas).

[Ramz]

I have to say this cinematic surprised me. I was not expecting to see CGI Zandalari, I was sure we were lucky to get Zekhan. And now this Zanda dude. It was amazing to see it.
Also very happy to see Tuskar and female dwarf. And that this cinematic was focusing on showing spirit of adventure.

Sure it was surprising to see a Zandalari and dwarf being friendly - Considering their past in MoP, but it doesn't bother me. It could be Nazgrim / Taylor kind of dynamic - which imo worked very well.

[chrisisvacant]

It's not a bad take at all. Danuser wrote a bloody children's book, that's likely how he see's WoW now if this cinematic is anything to go by, it's absolutely a far cry from the dark world WoW used to have such as Arthas murdering his father and all his people, I'd say the differences are night and day.

Naw it's a bad take.

Wow has always been cartoony AND had scary aspects. So what. Pandas didn't get some brooding, dark world cinematic. And this isn't even the expansions primary cinematic, which was the one where Tony fell. That DID have allllllllll of the points one would expect in a story cinematic like the ones for past expansions.

Fake news from the boys with tears in their eyes.

[twothe]

I'm just not feeling it. This looks way more like a Disney/Pixar movie, such a huge departure of what their cinematics used to look like back in WC3 up to Cata. If you watch the throne room scene with Arthas you just can't believe that its from the same franchise that this cinematic came from.

Same for me. I looked at it and tried to guess the game. Luckily it said something about Blizzard, so this is probably a new... Hearthstone expansion? Overwatch? I have no idea.

[kosajk]

Great example how Blizzard changed their target group.
I do not feel it at all.

well they havent removed anything just added extra ways to get same results
personally i havent had time to commit to raiding for ~3 years and now i can get my chunk of playing on a way to endgame gear in time i can spend so big improvments imho