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World of Warcraft: Shadowlands |OT| Anima Crossing: New Prison

Where Does Your Loyalty Lie?

  • Kyrian

    Votes: 143 20.2%

  • Necrolords

    Votes: 127 17.9%

  • Night Fae

    Votes: 247 34.9%

  • Venthyr

    Votes: 191 27.0%
  • Total voters
    708
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Yunsen

Yunsen

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,762
I've done the 1-60 grind enough times between pre-Cata and Classic that I basically know where I should be going at all times. What helps me get through leveling in Classic is working on professions at the same time. Also helped that I had a 600 gold head start.
 
Finaj

Finaj

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,362
There's a bit story content in this patch that's encrypted. It'll be interesting to see if they will continue this new method of hiding story content going forward.
 
Rhaknar

Rhaknar

Member
Oct 26, 2017
42,623
people managing to be in cross faction guilds vi a bugt is a hilarious comment on Blizzard.

it's clearly not that they can't do it, its just another case of one step forward 2 steps back "we just don't wanna" blizz bullshit
 
Noppie

Noppie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,773
Rhaknar said:
people managing to be in cross faction guilds vi a bugt is a hilarious comment on Blizzard.

it's clearly not that they can't do it, its just another case of one step forward 2 steps back "we just don't wanna" blizz bullshit
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How is this a case of one step forward 2 steps back? It's literally just a step forward, allowing cross-faction instances. One might dislike not having cross-faction guild, but two steps back? That's just trying to be forcibly negative and is just a sad look.
 

Deleted member 4090

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,053
Noppie said:
How is this a case of one step forward 2 steps back? It's literally just a step forward, allowing cross-faction instances. One might dislike not having cross-faction guild, but two steps back? That's just trying to be forcibly negative and is just a sad look.
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I agree. This is a giant step forward. There's obvious room for improvement, but like Chromie Time and the leveling squeeze, regardless of what imperfections there are this is an absolutely gargantuan step forward for making the game more approachable and less constricting.

I think Season 4 is also a huge step for the game. Advancing all of the expansion raids into a final tier of level for a final hurrah and challenge before the expansion is a fantastic change that is going to help smooth out the subscriber numbers so the pre-expansion lull is less pronounced. I wish they'd jump the gun and make Chromie Time up to 60 before the next pre-patch, though...
 
ToTheMoon

ToTheMoon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,336
Rhaknar said:
people managing to be in cross faction guilds vi a bugt is a hilarious comment on Blizzard.

it's clearly not that they can't do it, its just another case of one step forward 2 steps back "we just don't wanna" blizz bullshit
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It can be done on a technical level, but that doesn't mean it's a complete and functional experience.

There are guild achievements that are specific to each faction that would have to be sorted out. On top of that, the Alliance Hall of Fame is one of the few tools that can be used to push players towards the Alliance in a healthy way. Faction balance matters less with cross-faction grouping, but I don't think it makes sense to give up one of your best tools for correcting it in the middle of a raid tier.

I don't doubt that cross-faction guilds will come someday. But the question has never been whether the underlying tech can handle it, but rather whether the rest of the game that's built on top of that tech is ready for it.
 
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Wunder

Wunder

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,797
Do we think cross-faction implementation has any effect on the narrative, or is it just a mechanical thing and we'll still be fighting against each other in cutscenes? I feel like there will be some narrative dissonance very quickly, although I would much rather they implement this than holding back simply for narrative reasons. Alliance and Horde should just become friends though :)
 
Berordn

Berordn

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,747
NoVA
Wunder said:
Do we think cross-faction implementation has any effect on the narrative, or is it just a mechanical thing and we'll still be fighting against each other in cutscenes? I feel like there will be some narrative dissonance very quickly, although I would much rather they implement this than holding back simply for narrative reasons. Alliance and Horde should just become friends though :)
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they clearly still want it to be an uneasy truce with the way genn and turalyon have gone full racist, but they've hopefully finally learned their lesson about faction conflicts always being everyone's least favorite stories
 
Royalan

Royalan

I can say DEI; you can't.
Moderator
Oct 24, 2017
11,966
Ooh, lore talk! My favorite talk.

Berordn said:
they clearly still want it to be an uneasy truce with the way genn and turalyon have gone full racist, but they've hopefully finally learned their lesson about faction conflicts always being everyone's least favorite stories
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You know, controversial opinion but...I actually don't mind the idea of the faction conflict. I understand what the narrative team means when they say they feel that the heart of WoW is the faction conflict, and I even somewhat agree. My problem with the faction conflict is that instead of really exploring the wealth of stories they could be telling with that framework, they keep pulling from the same well over and over again.

Every conflict goes something like this:

--Horde has crises of conscience/identity
--Horde lashes out at the Alliance
--Alliance is caught flat footed and left scrambling while Horde leaders get several expansions of in-depth and in-game character development justifying/explaining their actions.
--Alliance responds, but before they can deal a truly retaliatory blow, whichever character is functioning as the narrator for that expansion jumps in and preaches the importance of forgiveness, the dangers of revenge, bla bla bla and the Alliance turns the other cheek.
--Rinse and repeat

There are so many compelling stories Blizzard could be telling with the faction conflict (including the "uneasy truce" and "alliance of convenience" that could easily facilitate cross-faction play in a way that fits the story), so I don't think that's the issue. The issue is the story just feels uneven. As an Alliance player who actually pays attention to the story, you just constantly feel like you're at the whim of whatever the Horde wants to do. And I'm pretty sure there are a lot of Horde players who are tired of feeling like the bad guys all the time (...because you are the bad guys all the time).

Like, I know a lot of Horde players, and around the time of the BfA pre-patch event, the feeling was surprisingly mutual: it just didn't feel good to play through the burning of Teldrassil on either side.
 
Berordn

Berordn

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,747
NoVA
Royalan said:
There are so many compelling stories Blizzard could be telling with the faction conflict (including the "uneasy truce" and "alliance of convenience" that could easily facilitate cross-faction play in a way that fits the story), so I don't think that's the issue. The issue is the story just feels uneven. As an Alliance player who actually pays attention to the story, you just constantly feel like you're at the whim of whatever the Horde wants to do. And I'm pretty sure there are a lot of Horde players who are tired of feeling like the bad guys all the time (...because you are the bad guys all the time).
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this pretty much mirrors my feelings about the whole thing, yeah

it's not that the faction conflict is bad, it's that blizzard is bad at stories that deal with it. rather than the landscape created by the two superpowers going head to head the way they do, they focus on a single character's machinations as though they're somehow able to influence politics on multiple continents without further thought. BFA was actually full of promise on this, because despite the dumb circumstances with the tree and undercity, it was at least trying to show the way the conflict was weighing on other neutral factions like kul tiras and zandalar

but rather than follow that story we just get pigeonholed into sylvanas and nathanos's little lover's spat and the story shifts to focus on a single character again rather than the world they were building. shadowlands ended up with the exact same issue too, so it's not like we're immune from that even outside of the faction conflict, just that it at least prevents a good setup from being totally wasted
 
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B-Dubs

B-Dubs

That's some catch, that catch-22
General Manager
Oct 25, 2017
32,786
So, I kinda feel like it would be easier to tell the faction conflict stuff if they did go full "the player characters can ally with whoever they want regardless of race because they're neutral". Simply because they'd no longer need to consider how the players feel about their specific side and could just do whatever was interesting.
 

Deleted member 93841

User-requested account closure
Banned
Mar 17, 2021
4,580
B-Dubs said:
So, I kinda feel like it would be easier to tell the faction conflict stuff if they did go full "the player characters can ally with whoever they want regardless of race because they're neutral". Simply because they'd no longer need to consider how the players feel about their specific side and could just do whatever was interesting.
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Yeah, this is the solution I'd most prefer. Allow cross-faction content to compensate for diminishing playercount and to make both factions viable again, and let every race be faction-agnostic like the pandaren, but keep the faction divide.
 

eathdemon

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
9,690
Zoop said:
Yeah, this is the solution I'd most prefer. Allow cross-faction content to compensate for diminishing playercount and to make both factions viable again, and let every race be faction-agnostic like the pandaren, but keep the faction divide.
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as a outsider, formor wow player, looking in I am baffled at the fact mythic raids are still sever locked. mythic raiding might be more acessable if you could play with people from other servers.
 
Yunsen

Yunsen

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,762
My guild is pretty happy with the big nerfs. They're ready to be done with the tier. We did SotFO achievements tonight. Most of them weren't that bad. Xy'mox and Halondrus took 3 attempts, Rygelon took I think 5 and Jailer took around 7. Would only call the Jailer achievement difficult because positioning for it is kind of finicky.
 
Strafer

Strafer

The Flagpole is Wider
Member
Oct 25, 2017
29,381
Sweden
Pretty underwhelming Blood Knight mount

elusive_emerald_hawkstrider.jpg
 
Finaj

Finaj

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,362
These questlines were created with already-existing rewards that were unobtainable for players previously. Any effort they could have put in for a fancy new hawkstrider, they probably preferred to put that art effort towards Dragonflight.
 
Codosbuya

Codosbuya

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
2,331
I think that the CrossFaction enabling will mark a before and an after, like the introduction of Looking for Dungeon, CRZ, or LFR did. However, as an EU Alliance player, it is necessary.

CrossFaction will go down the line as one of the reasons that the classic players will slap retail players to justify their chosen version of the game.
 
Anoregon

Anoregon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,054
Codosbuya said:
I think that the CrossFaction enabling will mark a before and an after, like the introduction of Looking for Dungeon, CRZ, or LFR did. However, as an EU Alliance player, it is necessary.

CrossFaction will go down the line as one of the reasons that the classic players will slap retail players to justify their chosen version of the game.
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Ideally cross-faction stuff finally happening is indicative of an overall, positive shift among the wow team, and it at least seems like that is proving to be the case, but actually p;laying dragonflight will be the real test.

Anyone using it as an excuse to trumpet classic superiority is just being a completely inane nerd lol.
 
ToTheMoon

ToTheMoon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,336
The Blood Elf questline includes the Blood-Tempered Ranseur, which is one of my favorite transmogs ever (and the questline rewarding it was sadly removed in Cataclysm).

www.wowhead.com

Blood Elf Heritage Questline and Rewards - Emerald Hawkstrider Mount, Paladin Transmog Set

Guide for the special Blood Elf questline in Patch 9.2.5. Includes requirements on the questline, how to unlock the Green Hawkstrider Mount, quest storyline and a list of rewards.
www.wowhead.com www.wowhead.com
 
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carlsojo

carlsojo

Member
Oct 28, 2017
33,875
San Francisco
Just wrapped up the
Return to Lordaeron questline. Very satisfying stuff and as a lifetime Forsaken player I'm satisfied with the conclusion and the council. Voss is still the best though.

Holy shit the
Dark elf customization can be used on any Blood Elf/Night elf classes except DK and DH! I can finally be an undead paladin/undead druid!!!

I am okay with Sylvanas and Anduin being besties. They kind of seem like they bring out the best in each other.
 
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Kemal86

Kemal86

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,419
lol so i started a new horde character and did The Stormwind Extraction (bfa intro) and am stuck on this boat in the stormwind harbor. talking to the troll princess = "transfer aborted, instance not found". hearthstone to nighthold = "transfer abored, instance not found"

send food and supplies, who knows how long i'll be here
 
Kintaro

Kintaro

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,331
How do you start the Lordaeron quests?

Are the new quest lines tied to Forsaken and Blood Elves?
 
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ToTheMoon

ToTheMoon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,336
Kemal86 said:
lol so i started a new horde character and did The Stormwind Extraction (bfa intro) and am stuck on this boat in the stormwind harbor. talking to the troll princess = "transfer aborted, instance not found". hearthstone to nighthold = "transfer abored, instance not found"

send food and supplies, who knows how long i'll be here
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We barely managed to get into raid tonight. After raid, I was swapping around characters a bit to do some crafting and multiple ones ended up in a stuck state where I couldn't actually log in to them.

It's definitely a patch day, lol. Hopefully more stable tomorrow.
 
ToTheMoon

ToTheMoon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,336
Saladin said:
They want you to be nice to people. Too late Blizz...

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Personally, I think that the symbolism of it is more impactful than you might think.

Is it going to stop all toxicity ever? Definitely not. But it's an opportunity for people to do a double take on their behavior, and it's also a clear message of "If you're planning to be toxic, we'd rather not have you playing. You can quit now or we can ban you later."
 
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Berordn

Berordn

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,747
NoVA
the other side of the social contract that people are forgetting is that you can directly report people for violations of it now using the in-game tools

the double whammy of being told to play nice and having the threat hanging above them that they can be reported with a right click could have some impact, even if i have zero expectations that people will actually get polite or anything
 
Noppie

Noppie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,773
These new cinematics were nice. No dumb cliffhangers, naturally feeling dialogue, subtle and not so subtle developments, teases for the future.

Where was that the entire expansion, lol. Now do this more frequently so we don't go 6 months at a time without new story and we good.
 

mclem

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,467
So... I'm still sitting as admin of the Resetera EU alliance community - not that it's exactly particularly busy. Is there any activity over on the horde side of things? Perhaps it's best to retire one and make the other cross-faction, or just make this one cross-faction and be done with it!
 
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