Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[hllfrmththrsd]

I really liked that leak where it says that Bfa+SL+next expansion is all about the world soul and we will finally finish this storyline in Dragon Isles or whatever the name of the next expansion. It makes sense how they love trio expansions with the same theme (MoP, WoD, Legion = bringing back Gul'Dan to deal with Burning Legion).
I would say Tinker, World Revamp and Housing is not happening. Dragons, maybe a dragon race, a dragon class, new Dragon Isles continent - yes.

[Black Rider]

When does the time comes for trademark searches?

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I mean its as teasing as a feather swish.

https://twitter.com/TheRedShirtGuy/s...24486688972802

I love teasers like this.
Gives you fire for speculation

[Frood]

When does the time comes for trademark searches?

Probably never. It would seem Blizzard has shied away from this practice, either registering the trademark on the announcement day (like with Battle for Azeroth on November 3rd, 2017) or not registering it at all (like with Shadowlands).

[username993720]

I don't think an Emerald Dream expansion is ever going to happen, people are just still desperately clinging to it. It was given an entire zone, a whole class hall and a raid tier in Legion. It's gone the way of Argus and Ny'alotha.

Don't be silly. There's a plethora of content to be made with dreams.

[Vladier]

Everyone is thinking the next expansion will be Dragon Isles or World Revamp, but nearly everything is leaning towards the Emerald Dream. I mean, I know some people talk about "Gardens of Life" and "Lifelands" as a possibility, but the cosmic chart already has a plane for life, and that plane is the Emerald Dream, ofc the Emerald Dream could be just a small part of "Lifelands", but the point still stands.



We should also not forget that the Dragon Pack other than the Blinky, which is a faerie drake that fits into the Emerald Dream biome, are all old models of drakes already used on past expansions. Also, the encrypted drake is what? An Emerald Drake!

With that in mind, the open-ended B plot of Shadowlands is about Elune, Tyrande, Ysera, and the Night Elves, which again are all somewhat related to the Emerald Dream. Alongside that, in 8.2 we learned from Merithra that the Emerald Dream is still being attacked by the forces of the Void:



Not to mention that "literally" everything that was added in the shop since Shadowlands came out, including Blinky and the unknown Emerald Drake, fits into the Emerald Dream aesthetic/biome:

We were already all but told that the next expac is going to be set back on Azeroth, not us going on another Cosmic escapade. That said, I think there's a good chance 11.0 will be Lifelands, unless a rewrite happens due to the Cosmic fatigue in the playerbase (in which case there will probably be two Azeroth-centric expacs between the Shadow- and Lifelands).

Denathrius, as far as we know, is still unaccounted for after the raid, and there is only one Nathrezim infiltrator whose identity we can't deduce, the one on the Life side. Probably has the eyes of green so we could beware them, too. Denny could also be used to bring back the SL characters into the story in an organic way. Something like this:

*Shot of the Stormwind Keep's meeting room from above, all Alliance leaders are present, except Malfurion and Tyrande*

Genn: "The children are born motionless, as if they are alive but without a soul to animate them!"

Anduin: "This illness... The priests can't do anything about it. The Horde is experiencing the same. I do not not what we can do..."

Malfurion *flies in as a bird, transforming*: "It is not just among our peoples. The animals and even plants share the same affliction! The Emerald Dream is screaming in agony! Tyrande fell catatonic, with her last words being a horrified "Mother Moon!" The other priestesses of Elune no longer feel her comforting presence in their prayers! Doom! Doom!!!"

Alexandros Mograine *appearing from a sudden green Death Gate*: "Doom indeed. I bring a message from the Winter Queen and the Primus."

WQ *a shot of the Horde leaders listening to the same message, brought by Draka*: "Heeeroees ooof Aaazeerooth... Myy siiisteeer, whooom youuu knooow aas Eeluuune, iis iiin graaave daangeer..."

Primus: "That's enough of this gag! Long story short: Elune was stabbed by Denathrius in the back while on Magical Skype call from the Winter Queen; new souls are no longer put into newborn bodies - short-lived creatures, like some insects, are already extinct but we won't address the ecological impact of that anywhere, except possibly in a book down the line; the worlds of the living, the dead and soon-to-be-living are in danger; we have to rely on you to sort it out, because it would be really awkward for the armies of Death to march into the realm of Life to save them. Malfurion, Hamuul, Alexandros and Draka will be your main NPCs on this journey, with a hologram of myself as your Faction Neutral character.

Also, I'm going to teach you the Necromancer hero class, because you already have one-and-a-half Life-themed classes in Druid and Hunter, this is really the only expansion Blizzard has an excuse to release it, and it kind of makes more sense to learn Necromancy directly from an allied deity of Death and War than from a never seen before rogue offshoot of the universally feared and despised Cult of the Damned. Comes in three colours: Blue (Bastion), Green (Maldraxxus) and Red (Revendreth).

Now go! Level up to 80 and save three entire planes of existence in World of Warcraft: Gardens of Life! Pre-order now! Also, here is a Mega-Ultra-Super Deluxe Edition with this Mount and this Transmog set!"

[Chickat]

Just gonna repost these as a friendly reminder:

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...eak-Awakenings
https://i.imgur.com/j4g0vCp.png
https://i.imgur.com/9c3gf9l.png
https://i.imgur.com/DRuOfpM.png
https://i.imgur.com/ZKeHpg6.png

The problem with that leak is that it's too good to be true. The name and logo are fake. I'd love to see it though.

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I really don't know what to think about the next expansion.

Emerald Dream or "Lifelands", while the store items and such are fairly compelling, feels like a really hard sell right now. Not to say that it wouldn't happen, but...
I've been a proponent for an Emerald Dream expansion for a long time. Even when it was said (by Metzen?) that it didn't have enough variety, I felt they were selling themselves shot. If the Emerald Dream was supposed to be the world before humanoid life, or a blueprint for such a world, then there should still be able to be endless variety. Just because it's called the Emerald Dream doesn't mean that every inch of it has to literally be green. We've had much larger betrayals of previously established ideas than something that would have worked out logically.

The thing is, we're dealing with Ardenweald right now. Going from Ardenweald to an Emerald Dream expansion has a good chance of feeling weirdly redundant (not to contradict my own point about the Dream being capable of variety). It's already been a huge debate in the lore community how Ardenweald fits in with the Emerald Dream and Thros. An Emerald Dream expansion could give a literal answer to that question, but the problem is less the lack of an answer as it is the thematic redundancy.

"Lifelands", despite theoretically being even more open, almost ends up being worse. Bastion and Ardenweald already feel like what you would expect from something filling the role of "Lifelands". I legitimately don't know what a Lifelands expansion could do to make it feel distinct enough from Shadowlands since Shadowlands already used some of the obvious ideas to give itself more variety.

I guess the benefit a Dragon/Dragon Isles expansion has is that it's a theme we've really never focused on, but I'll admit that's also a reason I'm not particularly excited for one. I think dragons are cool enough, but I'm not super into them, and the existing Warcraft lore for dragons just isn't that important. The most crucial elements of dragon lore were resolved almost a decade ago now.

What if the Emerald Dream is just a zone on a dragon Isles expansion?

[username993720]

What if the Emerald Dream is just a zone on a dragon Isles expansion?

It can't be.
It's an entire realm, like the Shadowlands, outside of Azeroth.

[Raetary]

It can't be.
It's an entire realm, like the Shadowlands, outside of Azeroth.

I'm pretty sure @Chickat means a patch zone.
Not it being part of whatever dragon isles continent they come up with.

[username993720]

I'm pretty sure @Chickat means a patch zone.
Not it being part of whatever dragon isles continent they come up with.

Would be disappointing, if you ask me. There's so much potential beyond "green forest".

[huth]

Sadly BfA took most of those good ideas and butchered them, so not much left to go on.

Hardly. It was a largely land-based expansion, not the kind of island hopping i'm thinking of. Totally different look and feel.

And the lack of major stakes is kinda the point. Just going somewhere for the hell of it, a vacation of sorts. We'll probably stumble across some sunken temples and the like, but no major world-threatening stuff.

[Lady Atia]

I hope they use the next expansion to build upon timewalking/old content for each expansion similiar to what they did with the legion version:

- Classic: Give us access to old Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms via the CoT and also allow us to do old Zul Gurub (and maybe Naxxramas) as Timewalking raid, this way old rewards would still stay quite rare but atleast obtainable.
- TBC: Honestly not quite sure what they can do there, maybe just Sunwell as second TW raid aswell as M+ versions of the Dungeons?
- WotLK: Make an update to the Argent Tournament to bring in existing new races from Cata-BfA similiar to Hearthstone. Say the story is that we host the tournament every few months to clean out the feral Scourge there - basically making it a second Darkmoon Faire. Also maybe WotlK M+ Dungeons.
- Cataclysm: Not much content to harvest there, maybe Cata M+ Dungeons.
- MoP: Throne of Thunder TW raid aswell as Challenge Mode Dungeons - but use the missing third skin for the sets as rewards (f.e. the red paladin set or the blue mage one).
- WoD: Hellfire Citadell as TW raid aswell as Challenge Mode Dungeons - but give us green reskins of the weapons as rewards.

Also they could easily add mounts for finishing each expansions M+15/CM Dungeons, aswell as achievements for clearing each TW raid which are weirdly missing besides the Illidan Glaive one.

[Sondrelk]

Hardly. It was a largely land-based expansion, not the kind of island hopping i'm thinking of. Totally different look and feel.

And the lack of major stakes is kinda the point. Just going somewhere for the hell of it, a vacation of sorts. We'll probably stumble across some sunken temples and the like, but no major world-threatening stuff.

It took place on Kul Tiras and Zandalar. It had a large focus on maritime threats, a patch zone set in Nazjatar. And of course, an important feature focusing on travelling to random islands.

And as I said, island hopping was just the element meant to bind the disparate islands in a South seas expansion together, as perhaps best seen on an old fanmade map with Broken Isles, Kul Tiras and other islands like Plunder isle surrounding a stretch of water containing Nazjatar.

You could make an expansion like what olayersm ight have wanted from the fabled South Seas expansion, but without the actual islands players wanted to see it wouldnt be anything more than that.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Probably never. It would seem Blizzard has shied away from this practice, either registering the trademark on the announcement day (like with Battle for Azeroth on November 3rd, 2017) or not registering it at all (like with Shadowlands).

I know we don't have any Trademark lawyers but what does it mean to never trademark something. It seems Blizzard have trademarked every product and they've even specialized trademarks like what they did for Legion with World of Warcraft Legion. So why did they not trademark Shadowlands? Too generic? No one will contest it in the Space they occupy as a product? I mean I guess the whole "It Takes Two" case showcases that it isn't really a problem to not have a trademark due to Copyright.

I don't know. I found this very interesting.


Other than that, the whole "Emerald Dream is a Patch Zone" is awful. We do not need a bipolar expansion with 3-4 new expansion like patches where we lose even more content. We need a consistent product that can tell a story that can stick to the theme of the expansion and tell its story within said playing space.

I hope they use the next expansion to build upon timewalking/old content for each expansion similiar to what they did with the legion version:

- Classic: Give us access to old Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms via the CoT and also allow us to do old Zul Gurub (and maybe Naxxramas) as Timewalking raid, this way old rewards would still stay quite rare but atleast obtainable.
- TBC: Honestly not quite sure what they can do there, maybe just Sunwell as second TW raid aswell as M+ versions of the Dungeons?
- WotLK: Make an update to the Argent Tournament to bring in existing new races from Cata-BfA similiar to Hearthstone. Say the story is that we host the tournament every few months to clean out the feral Scourge there - basically making it a second Darkmoon Faire. Also maybe WotlK M+ Dungeons.
- Cataclysm: Not much content to harvest there, maybe Cata M+ Dungeons.
- MoP: Throne of Thunder TW raid aswell as Challenge Mode Dungeons - but use the missing third skin for the sets as rewards (f.e. the red paladin set or the blue mage one).
- WoD: Hellfire Citadell as TW raid aswell as Challenge Mode Dungeons - but give us green reskins of the weapons as rewards.

Also they could easily add mounts for finishing each expansions M+15/CM Dungeons, aswell as achievements for clearing each TW raid which are weirdly missing besides the Illidan Glaive one.

They could do so much with legacy content it is disgusting and the best part is that it is less developer intensive and it will make people happy. Also let Warriors and Rogues transmog Warglaives already. Thanks.

[EbaumsTipster]

Cata was new landmasses AND revamped old ones, why would a supposed Cata 2 be any different?

[huth]

It took place on Kul Tiras and Zandalar. It had a large focus on maritime threats, a patch zone set in Nazjatar. And of course, an important feature focusing on travelling to random islands.

None of which is what i'm looking for. Expeditions failed rather badly in regards to exploration, it was mostly just a mad dash to gather the Azerite, and there wasn't a whole lot to discover. Enemies should be an obstacle to surmount, not your primary target.

Having disparate islands you travel between would be the whole point. Ideally, the travel itself also has some gameplay to it.

[GR8GODZILLAGOD]

If the emerald dream is part of the lifelands, why would Ysera go to the Shadowlands? Don't people tied closely with the different forces of reality go to their realm?

[Sondrelk]

I hope they use the next expansion to build upon timewalking/old content for each expansion similiar to what they did with the legion version:

- Classic: Give us access to old Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms via the CoT and also allow us to do old Zul Gurub (and maybe Naxxramas) as Timewalking raid, this way old rewards would still stay quite rare but atleast obtainable.
- TBC: Honestly not quite sure what they can do there, maybe just Sunwell as second TW raid aswell as M+ versions of the Dungeons?
- WotLK: Make an update to the Argent Tournament to bring in existing new races from Cata-BfA similiar to Hearthstone. Say the story is that we host the tournament every few months to clean out the feral Scourge there - basically making it a second Darkmoon Faire. Also maybe WotlK M+ Dungeons.
- Cataclysm: Not much content to harvest there, maybe Cata M+ Dungeons.
- MoP: Throne of Thunder TW raid aswell as Challenge Mode Dungeons - but use the missing third skin for the sets as rewards (f.e. the red paladin set or the blue mage one).
- WoD: Hellfire Citadell as TW raid aswell as Challenge Mode Dungeons - but give us green reskins of the weapons as rewards.

Also they could easily add mounts for finishing each expansions M+15/CM Dungeons, aswell as achievements for clearing each TW raid which are weirdly missing besides the Illidan Glaive one.

Cata could focus on the Molten front if nothing else. Say it still requires going back to ensure Hyjal isn't overrun.
Other than that I could see Cata Timewalking have a mechanic where you are sent to updated zones for various quests and dailies, or even the new cata zones like Twilight Highlands.

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None of which is what i'm looking for. Expeditions failed rather badly in regards to exploration, it was mostly just a mad dash to gather the Azerite, and there wasn't a whole lot to discover. Enemies should be an obstacle to surmount, not your primary target.

Having disparate islands you travel between would be the whole point. Ideally, the travel itself also has some gameplay to it.

The content was still there. It wasn't how we wanted it, but that doesn't stop future content from having to climb that uphill battle against it.

[EbaumsTipster]

We know we’re going back to Azeroth as per interviews, as apparently the hate for the SL theme was loud enough for Ion and Danuser to address it. Lifelands is something that will play into the future, especially now that we know Elunes voice, but it could be as simple as her working with the Green and Red flights on the Dragon Isles as both are associated with the power of Life.

Oh and Voljin is turning into a wild god.

[Lady Atia]

We know we’re going back to Azeroth as per interviews, as apparently the hate for the SL theme was loud enough for Ion and Danuser to address it. Lifelands is something that will play into the future, especially now that we know Elunes voice, but it could be as simple as her working with the Green and Red flights on the Dragon Isles as both are associated with the power of Life.

Oh and Voljin is turning into a wild god.

This. Also I hope they don't just abandon Shadowlands lore similiar to WoD - Shadowlands issue was that we didn't know anything about it beforehand, now that we do please use it for future stories ...

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I don't know I don't think people want Azeroth but with a coat of Cosmos or Azeroth but its set in Azeroth on a 6 zone Island north of Eastern Kingdoms.

I think they played with fire telling us that we were going back to Azeroth and now they could execute on an idea that no one wants.

They genuinely should've just stayed quiet and now when it is revealed that we are heading for chaos expansion akin to BFA where we have 3+ themes (in addition to it being even more cosmic) in the same expansion and the entire expansion is bipolar with what it wants to be it will further erode interest from anyone but the most extreme lore theorists and even they will probably only stay because it is so whack that it becomes interesting.