Battle for Azeroth Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[rda]

Out of curiosity though, what is it that a lack of fullscreen mode causes? -Very- slight performance loss due to loss of exclusive GPU control by having to render the desktop, sure, but what else?

There shouldn't be anything else.

In prior times there used to be issues with Freesync and similar technologies, but these work with borderless (windowed) fullscreen now as well. On DX12 (so, on a modern operating system) borderless fullscreen should work / and normally does work just as well as exclusive fullscreen. If the game is not an old one that does something silly on task switching, there are no issues with multiple monitors either (some of the older games manage to lose the device and / or minimize).

Overall, the move to DX12 makes absolute sense even given that it does not bring immediate performance benefits. WoW isn't doing bad there. It is hard to expect performance benefits this fast, you have to get lucky to get them that easily. It will pay off in the long term multiple times over and a typical scenario will likely be them doing something cool and flashy and helpful and without compromising performance too much, and then a week later someone sitting in the corner of a dev room will remark "btw, would you imagine trying to pull this without DX12?" and everyone will go "yeah, we wouldn't even dare" and nod.

[rda]

By the way, I wonder what the communities will end up being used for finally.

I thought the limit on the number of participants was something high, but apparently not, it is reported to be 200 (!) players. If true, this is just unusably small. Right now people create all kinds of silly communities like a community for conservatives or a community for Horde LGBT players plus a similar community for Alliance LGBT players (don't ask), this obviously won't go anywhere for tons of reasons. But after this momentary silliness stops, all global communities will just run into that limit. What the communities are for, again? It seems to me that they are mostly useful for some close friends / family situations, that's it. Unless they increase the limit.

[Doomchicken]

I think the Azshara raid will also have one look per type of armor, all sharing the same theme. I do hope people will realize that the tier argument is ridiculous (I mean it suggests that EN+ToV+NH are to be compared with TOGC ffs) but I wouldn't have much hope. It's an easy way to bash Blizz and for some people that's all that counts.

Honestly I agree with you on the silliness of it all now that I've actually thought about it. To me it's just one of those things where it happens so often that you just go with it to the point that I never questioned it. My fault I suppose.

[rda]

I mean it's a silly distinction and I think most people who consider it in good faith will realize the issue. The problem is a lot of people do not want to argue this in good faith because shrinking the number of tiers follows their inevitable arguments about how WoW is so much worse than it once was.

Here are boss counts:

Legion: en = 7, tov = 3, tos = 9, nh = 10, ant = 11. Total for Legion = 40.
WoD: hm = 7, brf = 10, hfc = 13. Total for WoD = 30.
MoP: mv = 6, hof = 6, toes = 4, tot = 13, soo = 14. Total for MoP = 43.
Cata: bwd = 6, bot = 5, tofw = 2, fl = 7, ds = 8. Total for Cata = 28.
WotLK: naxx = 15, os = 4, eoe = 1, uld = 14, ony = 1, totc = 5, icc = 12, rs = 4. Total for WotLK = 56.

I don't see anything special. Legion does better than WoD and Cata, worse than other expansions. Which is what people are normally saying.

Or how do you suggest they should count?

[Deleted]

Are you actually counting Naxx? and RS/OS having 4?

[rda]

Are you actually counting Naxx? and RS/OS having 4?

That new bosses are more intricate than old ones is called technological progress.

[rda]

They did not even drop loot. They were named mobs.

They had tactics suitable for a non-final boss of a raid of that time.

Anyway, I get it. You didn't really count anything, you only went into numbers just now and you are trying to invent reasons for Legion number to be higher. I am not interested.

[Doomchicken]

I am saying that MoP, WoD and Legion have a starting tier separate from the one that drops armor. So
Legion: 10/10/9/11
WoD: 7/10/13
MoP: 6/10/13/14
Cata: 13/7/8
Wrath (lol, you counted the mini-bosses, should we count the different treants in Eonar?) 17/14/6/13

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They did not even drop loot. They were named mobs.

They're not even listed in the official dungeon journal. Blizzard officially recognizes that OS and RS have 1 boss as per their own dungeon journal, so RDAs fail logic once again falls short.

[rda]

They're not even listed in the official dungeon journal. Blizzard officially recognizes that OS and RS have 1 boss as per their own dungeon journal, so RDAs fail logic once again falls short.

If you actually count Nymrohd's numbers, you will see that they are 40 (Legion) - 30 - 43 (MoP) - 28 - 50 (WotLK). Legion does better than WoD and Cata, worse than other expansions. Not sure where "my logic falls short" even if we just accept the baseless cuts that are there just because someone wants to prove that Legion is doing better than others with the reality opposing. There was no dungeon journal in WotLK and I invite you to wowhead and videos which list all bosses in os / rs as separate bosses and provide separate tactics.

[Deleted]

They fixed AV properly this time. Holy heck it is fun now. I solo captured mine which actually was mildly hard, then we defended base and wiped them on boss and won. Actually amazing.

It's wicked fun with the new Holy Word: Salvation.

[Draedarr]

Same!
Probably just some hotfixes...

Yep, more likely

[Magnagarde]

that must be, no one in his sane mind would think sylvanas going to be warchief would end well, start wrong end wrong, its about time to fix the mess

Apparently many expected her to remain warchief and are seemingly pretending they're surprised by such developments.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Tbf Uldir isn't the entirety of the first tier. I don't like their visuals either, but facts are facts, and the fact is uldir is the equivalent of emerald nightmare and highmaul, which incidentally also did not share the same visuals as the actual raids with the tier pieces, such as blackrock and nighthold. I'm not saying that the Azshara raid will be better, I'm just stating that it's very likely to be different, as it historically has always been the case.

What? EN did share NH appearances. I had my t19 completed before I ever set a foot into NH. Precisely because of that I doubt that Aszhara will look the same, but I also doubt a fish themed armor will be great for many classes..

[Drekmar]

If you go into Southern Barrens near Desolation Point it shows as "Warfront Phase 3". Just another sign of some tinkering there, wonder if it means it will be a warfront, or it was meant to be one and they scrapped it.

[Doomchicken]

What? EN did share NH appearances. I had my t19 completed before I ever set a foot into NH. Precisely because of that I doubt that Aszhara will look the same, but I also doubt a fish themed armor will be great for many classes..

Considering the actual tier pieces only drop from nighthold I don't see how that's even possible.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Considering the actual tier pieces only drop from nighthold I don't see how that's even possible.

I take it you never did EN then?

Edit: To clarify, for example you couldn't obviously get the t19 cape, but many people don't display these anyway and I think for DK gloves were a world boss drop. That only leaves you with boots really as a missing piece. So while it was obviously hyperbole, the point still stands, the visuals of the loot were already present in EN.

[Draedarr]

If you go into Southern Barrens near Desolation Point it shows as "Warfront Phase 3". Just another sign of some tinkering there, wonder if it means it will be a warfront, or it was meant to be one and they scrapped it.

Maybe something for 120 in the future, hope it'll not get cut

[EbaumsTipster]

If you go into Southern Barrens near Desolation Point it shows as "Warfront Phase 3". Just another sign of some tinkering there, wonder if it means it will be a warfront, or it was meant to be one and they scrapped it.

Apparently there's something similar to this in Silverpine/Gilneas.

[rda]

By the way, as we sit here waiting for the fixes, it's hell up there for the devs. I am absolutely sure they are spending 12 hours per day and many will have to continue on weekends. This will get a little more sane a week after, but stress levels will be through the roof all the way till two-three weeks after the launch of BFA.

And here's the rub: why is this happening? This is happening because some idiots slightly higher than the devs decided to promise the release date earlier than necessary trying to impress everyone. And because those idiots at first decided not to do much with specs besides pruning them, then waited for months doing nothing and very late suddenly decided that no, this is not going to do it (doh, who'd have thought) and forced the devs into the overdrive trying to save it, with zero plan and things having to be thought up on the spot.

Some of those idiots have to leave. This does not have to be public, but someone higher than them should keep them accountable. Because if he won't do it, it's going to be the devs looking away. Nobody wants idiocies like this to repeat.

So, Ion. I'd be worried if I were you. And I'd fire someone myself in advance. Dead serious.

[Graden]

Apparently there's something similar to this in Silverpine/Gilneas.

By the Light! What I would't give for a Gilneas/Silverpine warfront!