Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Raetary]

If we get Lifelands, it'd be nice if they could use the original ED floating trees.

[Nyel]

I wouldn't really count GW2 as a game that didn't struggle through Covid.

Icebrood Saga was a total disaster, they had to cut a whole storyline out of it, it released without voice acting, and the last "chapter" was just timegated grind.

They also only had 3 different maps for 6 chapters.

I just mentioned GW2 because of the upcoming expansion, which is quite massive. I know that ANet was struggling a lot and they did so before COVID. I'm happy that they seem to be back on track.

[EbaumsTipster]

If we get Lifelands, it'd be nice if they could bring back the original ED floating trees.

They brought back the upside down cages for the Maw so they absolutely would.

Ardenweald being COMPLETELY devoid of the color green might be another nod towards Lifelands zones, so that when the patch comes the life areas don’t look too similar Ardenweald in color alone.

If its legit there will be a Hordey zone anyways with elements/Anshe so there’s that too.

[Sondrelk]

EXACTLY. Blizzard never had 800 customer support employees:

"It was just customer support!" Stop towing the line with Blizzard & saying "No developers were layed off." The 800 of the 1200 activision employees were layed off, & those 800 were all from "QA". Quality Assurance is both customer support & testing & bug feedback. I'd consider that development, but Blizzard doesn't because saying you layed off devs sounds bad.

Wasnt the 800 that got laid off all related to customer support? Specifically things like regional customer support?
I faintly remember someone showing that the vast majority of the layoffs were to non-developers of any kind, not actual developers nor Q&A staff.

[Ersula]

Activision cutting the wow team's budget happened years before Covid and their current scandal. So yes, the current situation will continue

WoW subs were 10% of activision's total revenue in 2019

[Sentynel]

EXACTLY. Blizzard never had 800 customer support employees:

"It was just customer support!" Stop towing the line with Blizzard & saying "No developers were layed off." The 800 of the 1200 activision employees were layed off, & those 800 were all from "QA". Quality Assurance is both customer support & testing & bug feedback. I'd consider that development, but Blizzard doesn't because saying you layed off devs sounds bad.

The nearly 800 employees will come from nondevelopment and administrative-related parts of the business.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattper...h=3448528676f5

At Blizzard, the layoffs appear to only have affected non-game-development departments, such as publishing and esports, both of which were expected to be hit hard.
Source: https://kotaku.com/activision-blizza...ffs-1832571288

Nice headcanon you got there with QA being butchered. Every single article mentions only e-sport and administrative departments, cba linking more. Stop spreading bullshit thanks.

[Azxza]

You didn't really prove anything, back around a few years ago during BFA there was this big layoff happening all the while Act-blizz was announcing record profits and then the layoff happen. It wasn't specifically wow devs, go ahead and look. Now recently there is the Blizz schism because of idiots like afrasibi fuck face. Some devs were let go because of the lawsuit but thats not the reason for the slow down. WFH and Covid caused it.

https://kotaku.com/with-activisions-...ing-1831263741

https://www.mcvuk.com/business-news/...y-be-changing/

https://www.ign.com/articles/special...t-a-crossroads

activision began cutting blizzard's budget years ago and SL is the result. all future expansions will likely follow the same level of 'quality' as SL.

[Vasoka]

I just mentioned GW2 because of the upcoming expansion, which is quite massive. I know that ANet was struggling a lot and they did so before COVID. I'm happy that they seem to be back on track.

Ah yes, the expansion that adds......... fishing. And new specs for every class (which every prior xpac had together with new class or actual new game changing mechanics such as mounts from PoF). Massive indeed.

[Makorus]

https://kotaku.com/with-activisions-...ing-1831263741

https://www.mcvuk.com/business-news/...y-be-changing/

https://www.ign.com/articles/special...t-a-crossroads

activision began cutting blizzard's budget years ago and SL is the result. all future expansions will likely follow the same level of 'quality' as SL.

The first link you posted literally goes against what you are trying to say lmao. And the other two are hardly relevant to the argument.

Ah yes, the expansion that adds......... fishing. And new specs for every class (which every prior xpac had together with new class or actual new game changing mechanics such as mounts from PoF). Massive indeed.

Combined with the fact that they pretty much said there won't be any new raids at launch (instead there will be strikes that will be harder versions of story fights), I am hoping there is some cool thing they are keeping a secret. I mean, there are still 3(?) mastery tracks left to reveal, so hopefully they will be interesting.

Don't get me wrong, Fishing is not the greatest, but I suppose it is something, but skiffs are just such a waste of development time and literally only exist to sell skins, I would imagine.

[Azxza]

The first link you posted literally goes against what you are trying to say lmao. And the other two are hardly relevant to the argument.

It doesn't. Read it again, slowly this time. And they are directly related.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Those articles don't explain what you think explains dude.

[Fahrad Wagner]

I would actually be interested in compiling a list of Kalimdor and EK models that still have their classic models, because it must be really small at this point. The only ones I can think of are:
Dragons
Draknoids
Wyrmkin
Gnolls
Centaurs
Cows
that one Defias mob in deadmines
Theadras(?) the earth elemental

Giraffes! Don't forget about the giraffes!

[Beloren]

No you are wrong.

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it sounds to me like you already got your world "revamp" then lol

Creature models only, and they won’t get a revamp in a world revamp.

It’s terrain updates. Feralas, Quel’thalas, silvermoon, Dire Mail/Eldre’thalas , Mulgore, Un’goro are all zones not updated since classic.

All cata zones except for Darkshore and Arathi have also not been updated since Cata.

Basically. Everything needs an update except for the few creature models and player models that got revamped recently.

[Raetary]

Giraffes! Don't forget about the giraffes!

Everyone knows giraffes aren't real.

[Makabreska]

Creature models only, and they won’t get a revamp in a world revamp.

It’s terrain updates. Feralas, Quel’thalas, silvermoon, Dire Mail/Eldre’thalas , Mulgore, Un’goro are all zones not updated since classic.

All cata zones except for Darkshore and Arathi have also not been updated since Cata.

Basically. Everything needs an update except for the few creature models and player models that got revamped recently.

Which begs the question, does Un'goro really needs it? Sure it's an eyesore, but if you aren't looking to put meaningful content there, what's the point of major update? I think WoW became just too big to justify all these huge revamps.

[Sondrelk]

Which begs the question, does Un'goro really needs it? Sure it's an eyesore, but if you aren't looking to put meaningful content there, what's the point of major update? I think WoW became just too big to justify all these huge revamps.

The size is its own reason to revamp. Even assuming every single player played Cata and completed Loremaster, that is still years and years ago. WoW is one of those games that have gained so much content over the years that entire expansions could be made just recycling stuff. However, before that can realistically happen the zones need updates to bring them up to par with current standards.
Zones like Desolace might not even be there for how little they matter in the grand scheme, and every zone that isnt being actively used is a missed opportunity. And its one thing to move on from BfA and leaving Zandalar behind, it's something else entirely when you have absolutely stunning zones like Stonetalon mountains or Vashj'ir whose only purpose was levelling zones and a place to maybe put a dungeon or two.

The worst thing Blizzard can do is in a sense just do Cataclysm again, putting all the effort into new levelling instead of evergreen content for sure, but even with that the existence of Exile's reach does feel like it is missing an equivalent 10-50 levelling experience that better captures the feel of WoW instead of just whatever expansion is the most recent, like Shadowlands.

The old zones are just sitting there, and a world revamp is the first step in actually making them somewhat useful for something. If not forever at least for a full expansion.

[EbaumsTipster]

Which begs the question, does Un'goro really needs it? Sure it's an eyesore, but if you aren't looking to put meaningful content there, what's the point of major update? I think WoW became just too big to justify all these huge revamps.

They don’t have to do every zone as equally important. Un’goro can just get new textures and maybe a new quest or two: it’s already relevant every year with the micro holiday.

They aren’t going to do Catas mistake of a dumb questline in every zone.

Right now the biggest hints for zone storylines are Turalyon doing stuff in Old Alliance zones and Calia vs the Scarlets in Lordaeron. Horde in Kalimdor has setup as a faction but not zone storylines AFAIK.

[Makabreska]

The size is its own reason to revamp. Even assuming every single player played Cata and completed Loremaster, that is still years and years ago. WoW is one of those games that have gained so much content over the years that entire expansions could be made just recycling stuff. However, before that can realistically happen the zones need updates to bring them up to par with current standards.
Zones like Desolace might not even be there for how little they matter in the grand scheme, and every zone that isnt being actively used is a missed opportunity. And its one thing to move on from BfA and leaving Zandalar behind, it's something else entirely when you have absolutely stunning zones like Stonetalon mountains or Vashj'ir whose only purpose was levelling zones and a place to maybe put a dungeon or two.

The worst thing Blizzard can do is in a sense just do Cataclysm again, putting all the effort into new levelling instead of evergreen content for sure, but even with that the existence of Exile's reach does feel like it is missing an equivalent 10-50 levelling experience that better captures the feel of WoW instead of just whatever expansion is the most recent, like Shadowlands.

The old zones are just sitting there, and a world revamp is the first step in actually making them somewhat useful for something. If not forever at least for a full expansion.

Ye, ye you have been saying same stuff every time someone brings revamp up. You believe in world revamp, that Blizz will have time, resource and willingness to make old zones relevant. That people crave it. I don't.

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They don’t have to do every zone as equally important. Un’goro can just get new textures and maybe a new quest or two: it’s already relevant every year with the micro holiday.

They aren’t going to do Catas mistake of a dumb questline in every zone.

Uh, how do you know that? Besides, Cata revamp was great. Even when Redrige quest line was a one big Rambo homage, the pacing was excellent. Quest chain took you on a trip around entire zone. You had standard quests, but also stealth missions and vehicle section. Back-and-forth was greatly reduced etc.

[NikolaiShade]

Uh, how do you know that? Besides, Cata revamp was great. Even when Redrige quest line was a one big Rambo homage, the pacing was excellent. Quest chain took you on a trip around entire zone.

One of the best questlines ever

[Sondrelk]

Ye, ye you have been saying same stuff every time someone brings revamp up. You believe in world revamp, that Blizz will have time, resource and willingness to make old zones relevant. That people crave it. I don't.

Well again, most of the work is done in the form of all the HD assets, so in that sense remaking the zones is fairly trivial when you consider how most of the old zones are fairly barren compared to newer zones.
As for why they would, it isnt a question of whether they want to, it's a question of when they will have to do it. There is a limit to how many new continents Blizzard can onjure without resorting to either entirely new areas, or recycling old ones. Even WoD was recycling Outland into a new form with Draenor.
As for plots I have similarly said before that unless they intend to tie up all narrative loose ends in random areas or non-sequitur dungeons, then going back to old zones is a given. The Botani that seemingly escaped to Feralas isnt going to seem that relevant if they end up on K'aresh, nor will the Dark Iron Dwarf plotline with the Ragnaros cultists seem fitting on the backside of Azeroth.

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The Rambo questline in Redridge was definitely one the best paced zone questlines we have had, it's just a shame it had to be so ham-fistedly a Rambo homage.
But travelling aruond the circumference of the lake before ending up in a castle fighting a dragon was pretty much exactly what I wanted out of a levelling zone if you just want a single questline.