Dragonflight 10.X Patches & 11.0 Speculation Thread

[Khaza-R]

I can’t see a scenario where Blizzard has a Yrel invasion and a Pirate expansion, and goes with Pirates. Especially given the anniversaries of WoD and WoW coming up for the next expansion.

Why would they celebrate one of their most hated expansions?

[Alanar]

Well, the most likely = easiest way is that their body models are considered solid, with the gaps between the wraps transparent/translucent, but covered by the 2D textures of armor.
Don't want that? Simply mog the item to be hidden.
There's a lot of possibilities to have customizations that would visible with e.g. a hidden Chest armor.

Going in a more general direction, I wish we could separate the 3D parts of armor from the 2D textures, to have plates, straps etc. independent from the base armor.
I once bugged out the Wowhead Modelviewer switching from one Bastion Plate set to another:

Even this simple contrast looked quite fascinating.

To bring it back to Ethereals, hiding the armor texture but keeping 3D bits would make for some very interesting looks.



Shadreen, a stalker in Telogrus, is already confirmed to be an antagonist per the Brawler's Guild storyline.

And in general, I fail to see your point. The Void Elves were about to be corrupted by the mostly evil faction of Void Ethereals, and are now being assisted in the use of their new powers by the one Void Ethereal we assume is "good". One that is hated by both the Void-aligned Ethereals and the ones that are fighting the Void.

That's no argument that either type would prefer to join the Alliance.

Ethereals being a neutral race makes the most sense.
Excluding the Allied Races, "all" new races since MoP have been neutral. That these two races also came with a class is no precedent, and would be offset if another race or three would be introduced as well.

Altho a cool idea, dont you think the lack of transmog will hit hard on them? we have seen it with Dracthyr as well, this might be improved over the future, but can't help but thinking, well I will not be able to use most of the armor.

I agree it will look off, to slap the old 2d pieces on them, but they would need A LOT of options to make them cool and not boring after finding out, farming transmog or w/e will not be as fun. Since this is all about esthetics, it does raise an eyebrow for me.

[Nathanyel]

Altho a cool idea, dont you think the lack of transmog will hit hard on them?

To be clear, I was saying Ethereals should have all Transmog slots, with the wraps and jewelry and other customization doodads visible when you choose to hide that slot.

And on top of that, my idea to let all characters use the 3D parts of armor independently from the simple textures.

[Black Rider]

Blackrock Mountain being reworked could be interesting.

For M+ as dungeons? Or total rework?
I'd suggest both would be very cool.

[Makabreska]

For M+ as dungeons? Or total rework?
I'd suggest both would be very cool.

This place has like 3 raids and 4 dungeons from different time periods. I think total rework is out of the question. The place that really needs an update is Dire Maul.

[Black Rider]

This place has like 3 raids and 4 dungeons from different time periods. I think total rework is out of the question. The place that really needs an update is Dire Maul.

Modern day Dire Maul with M+.
Sounds juicy!
What do you guys think, will Blizz go beyond MoP dungeons for Mythic+ pool?

[Makabreska]

Modern day Dire Maul with M+.
Sounds juicy!
What do you guys think, will Blizz go beyond MoP dungeons for Mythic+ pool?

No, unless it's a reworked version, like UBRS. They did say that pre-MoP dungeons are too anachronistic for M+, and they already had to make lots of changes in Jade Serpent to make it work.

[Zulggun]

Modern day Dire Maul with M+.
Sounds juicy!
What do you guys think, will Blizz go beyond MoP dungeons for Mythic+ pool?

They would need to come up with 3 times more new mechanics for these than they have now. Most of the old dungeons were tank and spank.

Edit: well maybe not Cata and Wotlk, but vanilla and tbc were very poor in mechanics terms.

[Arafal]

They could very well include some cata dungeons.

SBRs popularity this season shows that the dungeons don't need to be pumped with mechanics to work.
Same with Temple.

[Makabreska]

They could very well include some cata dungeons.

SBRs popularity this season shows that the dungeons don't need to be pumped with mechanics to work.
Same with Temple.

SBR is from an expansion later, and we have seen in SL that WoD dungeons mostly hold up in M+. Meanwhile, they had to implemented a crapton of new trash with new abilities in Jade. Fish guys in the water wing with an extra pack in boss room. Removing one of the bosses in scroll wing. Possessed pandas and big Sha dudes being spread around later section. Boss room having previously only a single trash pack, now has three small and one big pack. And these were only trash changes. Fish dude for example got entire phase 1 removed. That's probably why Blizz does not want to go any deeper into dungeon pool.

[Kokolums]

I don't see why a pirate theme wouldn't be possible. It was a bit the theme of BfA, and Dragonflight is literally just an expedition to the dragon isles where we help them. A soft theme does not mean that it will be centered only on that.

Personally I would like to discover the other hemisphere of Azeroth. Just imagine new lands... really new while staying on Azeroth. New races and cultures, new landscapes and new challenges. So yes. A theme about pirates who discover the lands beyond the veiled sea would be very interesting.

But it is better not to have too many illusions. By dint of dreaming we end up being disappointed with reality.

i felt they should have done a fork off of WoW Classic instead of doing BC Classic and Wrath Classic (because you quickly run out of material once you reach Cata). The way it would work is that it would be focused on smaller adventurers that fit between Vanilla and BC, so it doesnt disrupt the lore. You can fit a small Scarlet xpac in there, a small pirate xpac in there, a small murloc xpac, etc. Things that are minor and dont change the world. Lorewise, you can say "oh, those things happened as well but we didnt cover it until now".

[Le Conceptuel]

Altho a cool idea, dont you think the lack of transmog will hit hard on them? we have seen it with Dracthyr as well, this might be improved over the future, but can't help but thinking, well I will not be able to use most of the armor.

I agree it will look off, to slap the old 2d pieces on them, but they would need A LOT of options to make them cool and not boring after finding out, farming transmog or w/e will not be as fun. Since this is all about esthetics, it does raise an eyebrow for me.

My primary point was more along these lines—I think any transmog at all would bad on them, so the option to use integrated armor pieces feels like it would be useful.

[Grimbold21]

They would need to come up with 3 times more new mechanics for these than they have now. Most of the old dungeons were tank and spank.

Edit: well maybe not Cata and Wotlk, but vanilla and tbc were very poor in mechanics terms.

My memory must be failing me, because I don't see how vanilla/tbc dungeon trash has dramatically less mechanics than their modern counterparts. The bosses? Probably. They'd likely have to add more mechanics especially to the lower and mid level dungeons, but you can certainly find encounters with 3 or 4 abilities.

Now, are they as impactful or annoying to deal with as anything in DF? Likely not.

[Makabreska]

My memory must be failing me, because I don't see how vanilla/tbc dungeon trash has dramatically less mechanics than their modern counterparts. The bosses? Probably. They'd likely have to add more mechanics especially to the lower and mid level dungeons, but you can certainly find encounters with 3 or 4 abilities.

Now, are they as impactful or annoying to deal with as anything in DF? Likely not.

They do have dramatically less abilities that are also less varied. Vanilla trash had like one ability per mob tops that was also a literal copy of a class ability. On top of that they often had some annoying, unavoidable CC chains that kept stun-locking you.

[Grimbold21]

They do have dramatically less abilities that are also less varied. Vanilla trash had like one ability per mob tops that was also a literal copy of a class ability. On top of that they often had some annoying, unavoidable CC chains that kept stun-locking you.

Less varied? Sure, I'll agree to that, to an extent. Less? I don't think so. I did RLP recently and I'm thinking of the mages at the start, which have a shielding ability and their icebolts.

As for the CC chains, I'd say that would work in their favour, but also wouldn't as the players' toolkit today can pretty much nulify anything.

[Makabreska]

Less varied? Sure, I'll agree to that, to an extent. Less? I don't think so. I did RLP recently and I'm thinking of the mages at the start, which have a shielding ability and their icebolts.

As for the CC chains, I'd say that would work in their favour, but also wouldn't as the players' toolkit today can pretty much nulify anything.

They still have more, and they are more varied in a single pack, which did not happen in Vanilla.

CC chains wouldn't work. You would not survive them in higher keys, and they were pretty much always not telegraphed in Vanilla.

[Le Conceptuel]

Huh. Looks like there'll be Scarlet Crusade-themed armor at the Trading Post. It's unlikely this has anything to do with any future plot developments as the Trading Post rewards seem general and evergreen, but it's interesting nonetheless.

[Nathanyel]

i felt they should have done a fork off of WoW Classic instead of doing BC Classic and Wrath Classic

You mean a fork of the modern state of WoW, gameplay- and tech-wise, right? Because the Classics offer objectively worse experiences in that regard, only offset by the factor of nostalgia.
Just starting over from the state of Vanilla/BC/WotLK would be just dismissing any development progress since then.

The way it would work is that it would be focused on smaller adventurers that fit between Vanilla and BC, so it doesnt disrupt the lore. You can fit a small Scarlet xpac in there, a small pirate xpac in there, a small murloc xpac, etc. Things that are minor and dont change the world. Lorewise, you can say "oh, those things happened as well but we didnt cover it until now".

That can be done within the modern game as well. Pirates/Murlocs/Scarlets are relevant? Bronze dragon swoops in, says "Ok I can't tell you much about the present state, but I can show you what these guys've been up to in the past", and transports you to a phased version of the relevant zone (like during the Thaldraszus storyline, but extended) where you get a first-hand backstory of current events during the levelling story, and maybe return again later to double-check etc.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

So gul'dan staff will be in trading post.

So far we have ravencrest blade, gul'dan staff and i hope gorehowl will be in too sometime in the future, because so far there are only 2 axes in TP, and one of them is a blue recolor or orgrimmar axe..

[Varodoc]

Why would they celebrate one of their most hated expansions?

People disliked WoD because the capital hubs were empty due to Garrisons (big problem in a MMORPG) and there was barely any content, as well as a lot of cut content (Faralhon, Shattrath raid, being able to place Garrisons everywhere, Karabor capital city, etc.) not because of the themes and aesthetics.

People actually praised WoD levelling as the best levelling they ever made (and they continue to do so in 2023, so it's not recency bias). People loved Karabor, that's why they were so disappointed when it wasn't the player hub. People found it very cool to see Outlands before it became Outlands. People were angry that the Shattrath raid was cut because they wanted more lore development for Yrel (who was hyped as the main Alliance protagonist of that expansion).

People liked the themes and aesthetics of WoD, it was an incredibly hyped expansion, they even put Gorehowl statue in Times Square.

People will not dislike an expansion about Yrel and the Lightbound based off of its aesthetics and themes.

And this is not historical revisionism. Even during WoD, people praised the questing and cinematics of the expansion. The problem people were complaining about were always Garrisons, the joke 6.1 patch, the story (characters like Yrel and Lady Liadrin having cut content, joke final boss), and the lack of content, NOT the themes and aesthetics of the expansion.

For instance, I think that WOD Shadowmoon Valley is one of the most beautiful zones they've ever made, and I wouldn't mind at all to revisit it decades into the future, under the control of Yrel and the Lightbound.

Beyond that, Draenor is the second most important planet in the Warcraft Cosmos. I don't think it's too unrealistic to expect a third expansion based on it. Furthermore, we know that the planet of Draenor is somehow dying, with its water resources running scarce, and so its zones might look different now from how they did in WoD.