World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth |OT2| Bless Your Heart

[Rokal]

They alluded to the panel tomorrow having more information about ability un-pruning and I'm curious to see that.

Otherwise I'm feeling underwhelmed after watching both events about WoW today. I'm definitely not interested in another Sylvanas-driven story and the covenant stuff seems like yet another borrowed power system.

I'm excited about the idea of leveling from 1-50 (the new pre-expansion level cap) in a single expansion's content as that seems like a really fun way to revisit old expansion content and have it feel relevant for more then 2 zones worth of quests.

That said, a more relevant way to play past expansions on alts is not the core thing I'm looking for out of a new expansion and the Shadowlands stuff largely felt like more of the same narrative, rewards, and systems that I've gotten tired of after so many years. Having the weekly chest give you options to pick from each week is certainly an improvement, but to me it also means that the end game activities and itemization are largely going to be the same as I'm BFA: hitting some Mythic+ threshold and grinding out PvP matches until you've maxed out your chest and then doing it all over again the next week.

 

[Xando]

So i guess the tower will be wows take on rifts?

 

[Prophet Five]

Yeah I think it's more Illidan 2.0 at this point but I also don't like it for all the reasons you've listed.

 

[Robin64]

 

[Moff]

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wait, so leveling a new character to max level can now be done in BFA content? which is like 10 hours max? instead of 100?

 

[Prophet Five]

wait, so leveling a new character to max level can now be done in BFA content? which is like 10 hours max? instead of 100?

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Any expansion and it'll scale. So I can do 10-50 in Mists if I want.

 

[Moff]

Any expansion and it'll scale. So I can do 10-50 in Mists if I want.

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yes with chromie.
what I wanted to point out was that it will be much much faster, though.

 

[Z-Beat]

yes with chromie.
what I wanted to point out was that it will be much much faster, though.

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Yeah, the idea is that they want to cut down on the tedium of alt leveling

 

[Moff]

Yeah, the idea is that they want to cut down on the tedium of alt leveling

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that's just awesome

 

[Metroidvania]

yes with chromie.
what I wanted to point out was that it will be much much faster, though.

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Don't think we know for sure how scaling works, but yes, it's been implied to be at least somewhat faster, yes.

Especially as your alts will be 'farther 'along the covenant rep/experience than your mains will be just by being able to pick a faction right away.

Yeah I think it's more Illidan 2.0 at this point but I also don't like it for all the reasons you've listed.

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I'm honestly super curious on why the writers at Blizz feel the need to...what, quadruple?...down on Sylvanas 'mystery motivation' for a whole expansion and a half.

Taking things at face value, she's definitely gone evil - what with the night elf souls going to feed the Maw/Jailer, where the torture/despair for eternity happens - but yet Blizz 'allowed' the loyalist horde to see the thing through (and still somehow make it out okay), and Blizz also keeps implying her plan is 'unknown' to everyone.....

If they want to Illidan 2.0, there are better ways to go about it, rather than retcon Legion/early BfA in order to get to where they apparently want to go.

Heck, even with Danuser and/or Afrisabi being Sylvanas fanboys, i'd feel pretty confident in saying she's not making out of the Shadowlands, one way or another...so why continue to hide her motivations?

It 'worked' in Legion because Illidan's story was contained within the expansion itself - with Sylvanas, we've ended up dragging our way through BfA to even get there.

 

[Prophet Five]

I'm honestly super curious on why the writers at Blizz feel the need to...what, quadruple?...down on Sylvanas 'mystery motivation' for a whole expansion and a half.

Taking things at face value, she's definitely gone evil - what with the night elf souls going to feed the Maw/Jailer, where the torture/despair for eternity happens - but yet Blizz 'allowed' the loyalist horde to see the thing through (and still somehow make it out okay), and Blizz also keeps implying her plan is 'unknown' to everyone.....

If they want to Illidan 2.0, there are better ways to go about it, rather than retcon Legion/early BfA in order to get to where they apparently want to go.

Heck, even with Danuser and/or Afrisabi being Sylvanas fanboys, i'd feel pretty confident in saying she's not making out of the Shadowlands, one way or another...so why continue to hide her motivations?

It 'worked' in Legion because Illidan's story was contained within the expansion itself - with Sylvanas, we've ended up dragging our way through BfA to even get there.

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You're asking literally all my questions. I think we'd be good friends based on this.

 

[Strafer]

I'm so doing TBC 10-50

 

[Prophet Five]

I'm so doing TBC 10-50

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It's basically WoW Classic 2. Based Blizzard.

 

[Rokam]

Someday we'll get gnome paladins...someday...

 

[Z-Beat]

WoW: Whatever the hell expansion you want

 

[MHWilliams]

If you missed it, I recapped the WoW info panel and will probably do the deep dive tomorrow as well.

https://www.usgamer.net/articles/mo...rd-talks-player-choice-customization-and-more

 

[illrated]

Anydate given on the level squish patch? BFA is the first expansion I have skipped and hearing all this hype for Shadowlands has gotten me interested in jumping back in.

Also, would you guys recommend me getting back into it now to experience leveling in BFA before the squish?

 

[Moff]

picking a covenant will be super hard for me...
aesthethic/representation/style
armor/gear
abilities
cloak replacement

all of that is very important to me, ugh. no way one covenant give me all I want.
as an edgelord both the vampires and necrolords appeal to me, but will they also give me the best mage ability? the coolest armor? the coolest "cloak"? damn, it's going to be hard.

 

[cdyhybrid]

They said all the right things (making classes fun to play, toning down the RNG/grind), but they'll have to show they can actually execute on those principles before they convince a lot of people to come back. I also still don't trust them to write a quality, satisfying story. Drawing out Sylvanas's story arc for so long that they essentially ended up assassinating her character doesn't inspire confidence.

 

[Z-Beat]

Don't think we know for sure how scaling works, but yes, it's been implied to be at least somewhat faster, yes.

Especially as your alts will be 'farther 'along the covenant rep/experience than your mains will be just by being able to pick a faction right away.



I'm honestly super curious on why the writers at Blizz feel the need to...what, quadruple?...down on Sylvanas 'mystery motivation' for a whole expansion and a half.

Taking things at face value, she's definitely gone evil - what with the night elf souls going to feed the Maw/Jailer, where the torture/despair for eternity happens - but yet Blizz 'allowed' the loyalist horde to see the thing through (and still somehow make it out okay), and Blizz also keeps implying her plan is 'unknown' to everyone.....

If they want to Illidan 2.0, there are better ways to go about it, rather than retcon Legion/early BfA in order to get to where they apparently want to go.

Heck, even with Danuser and/or Afrisabi being Sylvanas fanboys, i'd feel pretty confident in saying she's not making out of the Shadowlands, one way or another...so why continue to hide her motivations?

It 'worked' in Legion because Illidan's story was contained within the expansion itself - with Sylvanas, we've ended up dragging our way through BfA to even get there.

Click to shrink...

They dropped a bit more at the main panel that makes me think that her plan is this:

So you know how she committed suicide and went to super hell (probably the maw)? I think her plan from that point forward was to avoid the final judgement at all costs. The Val'kyr were a method of doing that, so during Legion she was trying to gain an infinite source of Val'kyr using the lantern Helya gave her. Because of Genn, that plan fell through, but she saw another opportunity. Many of her undead refuse to sever the ties of their former lives, so the only solution to both that and her own problem is to unite everyone in death with her at the top

 

[Kintaro]

So alt leveling will be, do Legion to get weapon, then BFA for HoA, then level wherever?

Also I wonder how pre-level squished boosts will work after the level squish? For example will a 110 boost level you to about level 45ish?

No real point in leveling alts until the level squish I guess.

 

[Anoregon]

Anydate given on the level squish patch? BFA is the first expansion I have skipped and hearing all this hype for Shadowlands has gotten me interested in jumping back in.

Also, would you guys recommend me getting back into it now to experience leveling in BFA before the squish?

Click to shrink...

It will be whenever the 9.0 patch happens, which will be ~1 month before the expansion itself.

 

[Moff]

so Ion called Sylvanas "friend" the jailer "one of the lords of death". I wonder if that is someone completely new.

 

[JahIthBer]

I wonder if they are going to do an Alliance & Horde merge or some sort of grouping allowed between them, i always thought if the 2 factions made peace they would introduce mini factions to make up for it, which they have done with Covenants.

 

[Anoregon]

I wonder if they are going to do an Alliance & Horde merge or some sort of grouping allowed between them, i always thought if the 2 factions made peace they would introduce mini factions to make up for it, which they have done with Covenants.

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I'm surprised that wasn't specifically announced yet. The setting of this xpac seems to have no consideration for the factions at all, so it would be a good time to loosen the divide.

 

[Bregor]

Don't think we know for sure how scaling works, but yes, it's been implied to be at least somewhat faster, yes.

Especially as your alts will be 'farther 'along the covenant rep/experience than your mains will be just by being able to pick a faction right away.



I'm honestly super curious on why the writers at Blizz feel the need to...what, quadruple?...down on Sylvanas 'mystery motivation' for a whole expansion and a half.

Taking things at face value, she's definitely gone evil - what with the night elf souls going to feed the Maw/Jailer, where the torture/despair for eternity happens - but yet Blizz 'allowed' the loyalist horde to see the thing through (and still somehow make it out okay), and Blizz also keeps implying her plan is 'unknown' to everyone.....

If they want to Illidan 2.0, there are better ways to go about it, rather than retcon Legion/early BfA in order to get to where they apparently want to go.

Heck, even with Danuser and/or Afrisabi being Sylvanas fanboys, i'd feel pretty confident in saying she's not making out of the Shadowlands, one way or another...so why continue to hide her motivations?

It 'worked' in Legion because Illidan's story was contained within the expansion itself - with Sylvanas, we've ended up dragging our way through BfA to even get there.

Click to shrink...

I feel fairly certain that Blizzard's initial intentions for Sylvanas in BfA was to have her be a savy but loyal leader of the Horde, someone the Horde could follow with pride.

But they horribly miscalculated the effect of Teldrasil. The genocide at Teldrasil was too horrible to ignore, so they had to find a scapegoat. Sylvanus was the obvious choice. It also gave them a convenient villain to link them to the next expansion.

(Of course, I'm of the opinion that she has been evil since Cata, but up until Teldrasil that could have been argued.)

 

[Jag]

so Ion called Sylvanas "friend" the jailer "one of the lords of death". I wonder if that is someone completely new.

Click to shrink...

Totally not Arthas.

 

[Prophet Five]

"Arthas is dead"

Sure Jan.

 

[Skai]

Towliee said on his stream that the Un-pruned a lot of abilities from classes and you have a lot more skills to play with rotation wise and just aall around.

I'm pretty excited to see what we got back

 

[Bane]

"Arthas is dead"

Sure Jan.

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It's an odd thing to say when you just told us about all the dead people we'll meet. There's definitely something there.

Overall I'm pretty happy with what we know so far, the only thing that would make me completely satisfied is a faction loosening. Alts, a level squish, the mythic chest, and customization options are all really great to hear. EDIT: And no AP! How did I forget that one already?

 

[MHWilliams]

The easy guess is Arthas is in the Maw, but given the explanation of the realms, I honestly I think it's more likely he's over in Bastion. Ion had the whole thing about that being the place where folks have to shed their past and prepare for an eternity of service.

From Prince to King to nameless soldier is a good literary arc.

 

[Dalik]

Towliee said on his stream that the Un-pruned a lot of abilities from classes and you have a lot more skills to play with rotation wise and just aall around.

I'm pretty excited to see what we got back

Click to shrink...

The gameplay demo had no changes, so I hope he saw something else than that.

 

[B-Dubs]

The easy guess is Arthas is in the Maw, but given the explanation of the realms, I honestly I think it's more likely he's over in Bastion. Ion had the whole thing about that being the place where folks have to shed their past and prepare for an eternity of service.

From Prince to King to nameless soldier is a good literary arc.

Click to shrink...

That said, apparently the Maw has been stealing souls for a while now. So I wouldn't be shocked if we saw him there.

 

[Finaj]

Currently in lore, Undead go into eternal darkness and suffering when they die. I wonder if The Maw will be the canon explanation for that.

 

[Prophet Five]

Ion was very specific to say "over the past few years" because it gives them a lot of wiggle room with who they can show there in the maw who maybe shouldn't be there

 

[Metroidvania]

Currently in lore, Undead go into eternal darkness and suffering when they die. I wonder if The Maw will be the canon explanation for that.

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I thought that the only 'undead' who go into the Maw (aka the eternal darkness) are the ones killed by Frostmourne - I don't think that the ones raised by valky'r have been confirmed to also go there?

 

[Fjordson]

"Arthas is dead"

Sure Jan.

Click to shrink...

Sylvanas in the cinematic specifically calling Bolvar a "usurper" was interesting. Does that mean she'd rather Arthas still be the Lich King? Or maybe it was only meant as a dig at Bolvar.

Betting Arthas will show up somewhere though.

 

[MHWilliams]

Paladin Covenant Ability:

Divine Toll: Instantly cast Holy Shock, Avenger's Shield or Judgment on all valid targets within 30 yds (based on your current specialization)
6,000 Mana, 30 yd, Instant, 1 min cooldown

Click to shrink...

 

[Rhaknar]

Paladin Covenant Ability:

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that anwsers one of my questions, will there be abilities for each spec, and the awnser is no, but they change depending, so...that works for me. The weird thing is still the permanence, if you cant change your covenent, you might be stuck with a ability you dont like/want. Not to mention that for min-maxers im sure there will be that one ability that is better than the rest and they will HAVE to choose that covenent. More questions I guess.

picking a covenant will be super hard for me...
aesthethic/representation/style
armor/gear
abilities
cloak replacement

all of that is very important to me, ugh. no way one covenant give me all I want.
as an edgelord both the vampires and necrolords appeal to me, but will they also give me the best mage ability? the coolest armor? the coolest "cloak"? damn, it's going to be hard.

Click to shrink...

My feelings exactly. Maybe you like the ability, but you dont like the armor? But hey that's just a choice one will have to do I guess.

They said all the right things (making classes fun to play, toning down the RNG/grind), but they'll have to show they can actually execute on those principles before they convince a lot of people to come back. I also still don't trust them to write a quality, satisfying story. Drawing out Sylvanas's story arc for so long that they essentially ended up assassinating her character doesn't inspire confidence.

Click to shrink...

Also my feelings exactly heh. I was super disapointed with the announcement trailer (the features one) and with the blue posts explaining them. Ion brought me back somewhat, especially with all the alt talk. But they always talk a big talk and then we get BFA so forgive me for being somewhat sceptical.

The de-prunning is whatever for me, im one of the few people that doesnt even think the classes are that bad and that having more buttons to push makes the game better but hey, im a super minority so it's good they are adressing it.

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1-10 is actually... a lot. Well, at least currently it's a lot, you kinda forget how long it takes to get to 10 when you just make Allied Race characters the last few years, but I was fucking around with a Tauren Paladin recently and man, that 1 to 10 actually took a few hours, I wasnt ready for that heh. The scaling sounds great tho, it's basically what ESO and other games do. Well that's not true, in ESO you can do the new content with a level 1 aswell.

Oh another thing that "brought me back" was Ion mentioning that Tower thing being solo content (if you chose to), I assumed (wrongly) it was just 5man content. A rogue-like solo dungeon sounds great, but it also sounded great in theory for Bloodborne (as a Souls fan that is) and then, well... it wasnt very good >_>

edit: The Maw endgame zone sounds like Mechagon-style sandbox-y gameplay from Ion words.

 

[Tamanon]

The Tower sounds interesting. Wonder if it'll be like the FF14 endless dungeons.

I'm sure there'll be some expensive way to change covenants.

 

[Rhaknar]

The Tower sounds interesting. Wonder if it'll be like the FF14 endless dungeons.

I'm sure there'll be some expensive way to change covenants.

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Tower is interesting because you can go "cool my posse is all here lets go" or "cool my buddy is on but noone else is...lets go" or "cool its 4am nobody is on... lets go". Unless you can only go in like once a day or something silly... which might actually be a thing now that I think about it, if it's where you get legendaries, they won't want you to chain run it :(

The idea of upgrading skills for that "run" is also neat, until you run into that one upgrade that makes you go "man, I wish this was permanent" lol

 

[Strafer]

Darn, you cant enter legacy raids right after you complete the Demon Hunter starting stuff.

I wanted to do Black Temple to see if I can get the Blades and if there's some unique dialogue.

 

[Prophet Five]

Man I woke up this morning and I'm still super excited. I got to show my husband all of the stuff when he got home and he hasn't been this excited since Legion or Mists.

He saw the Covenants and was like "Vampires"

"But you play either a monk or a paladin..."

"V A M P I R E S"

So I guess that's that.

 

[Rhaknar]

 

[Skai]

The gameplay demo had no changes, so I hope he saw something else than that.

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He also said none of the class changes were in the demo and wouldn't be until Alpha and the Beta.

 

[Magnus]

So i guess the tower will be wows take on rifts?

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Yeah, and an evolution of the upcoming Visions in 8.3 which seems like a clear test for the concept. (and all of this feels like another evolution of the Mage Tower experience). It's great.

 

[hobblygobbly]

has anyone been able to get any of the Echoes of Mortality from the quest you get for the transmog set Vestments of the Eternal Traveler from preordering?

the drop rate is abysmal. i have run 4 dungeons and looted everything and still have only 5 out of 40. only 5 dropped for me yesterday, and none today.

quest says it has a chance to be obtained from the lives of mortals.

 

[Magnus]

Anydate given on the level squish patch? BFA is the first expansion I have skipped and hearing all this hype for Shadowlands has gotten me interested in jumping back in.

Also, would you guys recommend me getting back into it now to experience leveling in BFA before the squish?

Click to shrink...

FYI to you and anyone else who knows they want in for the whole thing -- the Battle.net store has a bundle option that's 25% off and gets you BFA and Shadowlands together.

 

[Prophet Five]

Just bought the $79.99 version of the digital preorder but will definitely buy the CE whenever they announce/allow preorders.

I'm trash.

 

[cdyhybrid]

I'm honestly shocked they didn't announce San'layn and Vrykul as Allied races. They're perfect tie-ins for the Shadowlands (via the Lich King/Helya tie-ins, respectively). Maybe that'll be in one of the content patches or something.