Thal'dranath Speculation Thread [SPOILERS]

[Golden Yak]

That would be some crazy 'Enemy-of-my-Enemy' shenanigans, but would the good guys of Azeroth ever agree to something like that?

N'zoth's end-goal for Azeroth that is arguably worse than what Sargeras could ever do, the logical decision, if it came down to choosing Sargeras or N'zoth, it would be wise for us to let Sargeras destroy Azeroth and spare the Universe from seeing a Dark Titan.

Yeah, but the Old Gods are also much less powerful than Sargeras himself. I doubt N'Zoth is going to be friendly about it with the players, if it happens, but it could boil down to - "Sargeras is too powerful for either of us to defeat alone and will definitely kill us both unless we team up and defeat him. Afterwards, we can go back to killing each other."

Together we might have a chance to stop the Legion. Afterwards, well, we've killed Old Gods before. I think we have a chance at killing N'Zoth too. Although doubtlessly N'Zoth would have something cunning up its... tentacle.

Nzoth almost brought in Sargeras by corrupting Deathwing to create the dragon soul which was used to power the portal. In the dungeon we got you can even see an old god tentacle bitch slap Deathwing for trying to fuck with the dragon soul

Well the three Old Gods who were alive then wanted to basically hijack the portal to escape themselves - reprogramming it so that it would let them out of their various prisons, rather than acting as a way to bring Sargeras to Azeroth.

Presumably they intended to then shut down the portal so Sargeras couldn't use it at all, and then get on with corrupting Azeroth.

[Deleted]

Yeah, but the Old Gods are also much less powerful than Sargeras himself.

Are they? I thought the story was that needed multiple titans to defeat each old god one at a time and that even then some Titans fell. Not that they are stronger than Sargeras in their weakened, prisoned form. But potentially...

BTW:

[thilicen]

Slightly O/T but I don't understand how so many players are as attached as they are to Farahlon. I can understand if it was on the PTR and it had all sorts of great content associated with it before being cut but there is literally nothing to say or feel about it other than it being left out of the most underwhelming expansion to date.

It's because Blizz were dumb enough to make it physically exist and also talking about it as a future update and people automatically take that as a guarantee / promise, and you know how "broken promises" fly with the priveleged.

[shoc]

Are they? I thought the story was that needed multiple titans to defeat each old god one at a time and that even then some Titans fell. Not that they are stronger than Sargeras in their weakened, prisoned form. But potentially...

BTW:

I don't think an Old God is as powerful as a Pantheonic Titan, as Aman'thul just literally plucked Y'shaarj out of the world like a tick, but we saw how much damage they were able to cause so it's not like they are trivial enemies.

It's my first time seeing the Xal'atath quote, and it has some pretty big implications. If Xal'atath is right (and referring to N'zoth) then that means that N'zoth is still in his Titan prison.

If the Prison is on Thal'dranath we could encounter him in Legion.

How cool would this scenario be:

7.2

Azshara raises Thal'dranath and Uld-XYZ from the bottom of the sea. Azshara and her Naga are working on breaking N'zoth out of his prison.
We fight the Naga and some Old God minions, battle our way through Uld-XYZ, and finally make our way to N'zoth's Prison Chamber and get inside to face him and...

We fucked up. We fell for N'zoths plan. We got so caught up in trying to kill him that we accidentally opened his prison and he escapes. He stuns us all, calls us idiots and mocks us as he writhes away and disappears into the ocean and closes the door to his prison, locking us inside with The Ancient One.

[thilicen]

BTW:

Where's that from? So much pointing to N'zoth this expansion, I love it..

[Deleted]

Where's that from? So much pointing to N'zoth this expansion, I love it..

The Priest Artifact (namely Xal'atath), formerly being a part of an Old God, whispers "random" stuff to you from time to time when you are in Void Form. This one wasn't particularly whispered to me but to someone else.

[ZenX]

With the onset of WoD, a zone either gets treated like Plains of Farahlon or makes it into live to become like the Tanaan Jungle.

[Villager720]

Could be a great place for Jaina/Kul Tiras and Voljin/Zandalari to make their returns.

Hell. They've both helped conquer islands in the past right?

[Deleted]

Not seeing that at all as my bet is on going to Argus after Legion....

[Golden Yak]

Are they? I thought the story was that needed multiple titans to defeat each old god one at a time and that even then some Titans fell. Not that they are stronger than Sargeras in their weakened, prisoned form. But potentially...

BTW:

Yeah, the Warcraft Chronicle that was recently released retconned a few things. Old Gods are now far beneath the level of a Titan like Sargeras. To fight the Old Gods on Azeroth, the Titans created giants in their image called Aesir and Vanir - they're the same race as the watchers from Ulduar like Thorim, Freya, and Hodir. These are the ones that struggled against the Old Gods, ultimately defeating them while suffering casualties. None of the Pantheon fell fighting the Old Gods - in fact, Aman'Thul personally killed Y'Shaarj single-handedly by literally ripping him apart when it became clear that Y'Shaarj was too much for the Aesir and Vanir.

The Chronicle also mentions how Sargeras found a world that was completely infested by Old Gods and destroyed it in a single sweep of his blade.


This literally happened.

The quote from Xal'atath is interesting, but it may be that N'Zoth is simply much more cunning and insidious than Sargeras - an enemy that fights in the shadows rather than a huge blunt force.

Azshara raises Thal'dranath and Uld-XYZ from the bottom of the sea. Azshara and her Naga are working on breaking N'zoth out of his prison.
We fight the Naga and some Old God minions, battle our way through Uld-XYZ, and finally make our way to N'zoth's Prison Chamber and get inside to face him and...

We fucked up. We fell for N'zoths plan. We got so caught up in trying to kill him that we accidentally opened his prison and he escapes. He stuns us all, calls us idiots and mocks us as he writhes away and disappears into the ocean and closes the door to his prison, locking us inside with The Ancient One.

Thiiis, absolutely. I would love it if N'Zoth sets himself up to be broken free of his prison then takes off to wreak havoc at a later date. Maybe slithering into the Dream to start up the Nightmare again. Dream expac! Dream expac!

[Deleted]

Yeah, the Warcraft Chronicle that was recently released retconned a few things. Old Gods are now far beneath the level of a Titan like Sargeras. To fight the Old Gods on Azeroth, the Titans created giants in their image called Aesir and Vanir - they're the same race as the watchers from Ulduar like Thorim, Freya, and Hodir. These are the ones that struggled against the Old Gods, ultimately defeating them while suffering casualties. None of the Pantheon fell fighting the Old Gods - in fact, Aman'Thul personally killed Y'Shaarj single-handedly by literally ripping him apart when it became clear that Y'Shaarj was too much for the Aesir and Vanir.

The Chronicle also mentions how Sargeras found a world that was completely infested by Old Gods and destroyed it in a single sweep of his blade.

Oh nice, thanks.

[Klingers]

My speculation is that Thal'dranath will arrive after approximately seven to eight months of zero dev support following the initial expansion drop. It will be filled with approximately two weeks worth of soul destroying and context-less grinds.

Some major lore characters will have some drastic motivational and personality swings to suit a rushed alternate narrative and we will be promptly forgotten about for twelve to fourteen months.

...Based on precedent.

[thilicen]

My speculation is that Thal'dranath will arrive after approximately seven to eight months of zero dev support following the initial expansion drop. It will be filled with approximately two weeks worth of soul destroying and context-less grinds.

Some major lore characters will have some drastic motivational and personality swings to suit a rushed alternate narrative and we will be promptly forgotten about for twelve to fourteen months.

...Based on precedent.

And in the middle of the zone, one big pile of salt. A shining monument to visualize it's exceptionally whiny community.

[Mace]

Yeah, the Warcraft Chronicle that was recently released retconned a few things. Old Gods are now far beneath the level of a Titan like Sargeras. To fight the Old Gods on Azeroth, the Titans created giants in their image called Aesir and Vanir - they're the same race as the watchers from Ulduar like Thorim, Freya, and Hodir. These are the ones that struggled against the Old Gods, ultimately defeating them while suffering casualties. None of the Pantheon fell fighting the Old Gods - in fact, Aman'Thul personally killed Y'Shaarj single-handedly by literally ripping him apart when it became clear that Y'Shaarj was too much for the Aesir and Vanir.

The Chronicle also mentions how Sargeras found a world that was completely infested by Old Gods and destroyed it in a single sweep of his blade.


This literally happened.

The quote from Xal'atath is interesting, but it may be that N'Zoth is simply much more cunning and insidious than Sargeras - an enemy that fights in the shadows rather than a huge blunt force.



Thiiis, absolutely. I would love it if N'Zoth sets himself up to be broken free of his prison then takes off to wreak havoc at a later date. Maybe slithering into the Dream to start up the Nightmare again. Dream expac! Dream expac!

was it a retcon as much as it was clarity? They always said the titans defeated the old gods, they never explaioned exactly how. We find out they didn't do it directly, but instead used their created proxies who built an army and invaded that way.

but I like what Chronicles did though, i like that the old gods are no match for the titans, but they are manifestations of the very void lords themselves.

I'm not sure how I feel about N'zoth, I do want a lot more on the Emerald dream, I am a bit disappointed the MEerald dream is just a raid, and there might be more, the significance of the dream is all too clear now though.

Shaman may commune with the nascent Azeroth's body through elementals that are tied to it, but druids commune directly with his soul, and they've had far longer to know and help and work with the titan. The infestation in the dream is like the most serious thing to affect Azeroth as an individual, cos if they can corrupt the soul, then the titan will definitely be dark and messed up, so they definitely need to sort that out.

I wonder if the elves are aware of this about the titan's soul or not, or how much each of the different people groups know, it's another thing i've been disappointed about creative development, they don't develop the races uniquely in the questing story in-game as they should, when in-game you get the feeling all the races are at the same level, everyone just as developed as everyone else, just as ignorant as everyone else, knowing the same thing, and that we are all experiencing exactly the same thing, as if it's the story of one person on the alliance or one person on the horde, that person is basically a human if alliance, orc if horde.. even in the starting areas of the various races it feels like a human experiencing this a little, but that feeling characterizes the expansion, you feel like you're human - cos I often enough can't believe a night elf or a draenei would be so stupid or so ignorant of certain things.

the worse is when you go people of your race, you seem as ignorant about them too, like you're just new to the whole thing, and it's a shame, they need to sometimes show different responses and reactions that fit your race, to give you the idea of x, y or z --- it's hard to believe that say a night elf that is potentially 10,000 years old can be so ignorant about somethings in Hyjal for example. etc etc. same with Forsaken and especially blood elves. It's cos the game doesn't distinguish at all between us, except for the places the text inserts your class or your race.

I hope they change that, I mean how hard is it to vary the text based on the person's race or class where appropriate? Makes you feel creative is really lazy, especially the level of work art, programming and systems tend to do on iterations etc, creative can't even present a case for a solid text variation? They don't even voice their quests, it's just a matter of writing something different - compare it to say SWTOR, that you have complete variation on class, and gender too, with conversation options and it's ALL voiced. All of it

This is why we get pissed with the in-game lore, it's not a single player rpg, and whiles they try to be as generic as possible to account for the fact that you can be a number of races and classes, what's the point if you are only specific for a few opening level 1-6 quests of the race?

Makes me pissed off all over again, because it seems lazy. Why? Cos it's just a matter of ensuring something different is written when it's appropriate race or class dealing with the subject matter, makes it feel a lot more autehntic rather than generic.

gosh-- i've gone of tangent.. But seriously though this is what lends to the immense feeling that you're a human, the alliance story is adventured from the perspective of a human, and horde an orc, because it's not personalized as it should be. When we find out stuff, it seems everybody now knows it, not just say the individual, it all seems that no one knew about the lore either till we got there, when surely x group or y group would have done - i never get that feeling in swtor, they should do better to maintain the integrity of the story and the vast scope they undertake.

oh WoW, I keep thinking I want to love you, but you keep showing why you are not worthy of it all the time.

[huth]

Thiiis, absolutely. I would love it if N'Zoth sets himself up to be broken free of his prison then takes off to wreak havoc at a later date. Maybe slithering into the Dream to start up the Nightmare again. Dream expac! Dream expac!

I dunno, having the Nightmare come up for third time would just get silly. We'd have a perfectly good Seas of Azeroth plot with N'Zoth and the Naga, no need to bring the Dream up again.

[Ethenil]

I was thinking - we know "Thalas" means "home" in the elvish tongue (probably in the high caste, as we have both Quel'Thalas and Eldre'Thalas, so it precedes the high elves). What if "Thal" has the same root and "Dranah" means something like "ancient one" or "evil". Thus Thal'Dranah would be the abode of the evil one.

Just random musings.

[Hyrja]

I think they just scrapped it. Entirely.

[Golden Yak]

I dunno, having the Nightmare come up for third time would just get silly. We'd have a perfectly good Seas of Azeroth plot with N'Zoth and the Naga, no need to bring the Dream up again.

I do consider the Dream to be largely unlikely as an expansion idea now, with the Nightmare defeated. Without an all-encompassing threat like that, I don't think we'll ever get a Dream expac. Which is a bummer for me, since I felt it could have worked before.

[Vanquishlol]

Pessimism is such a sad state of affairs Makes me so sad when people are like "Cut Content LOL" in reality its Blizzards fault for making evryone so skeptical with how much content they cut but man if Thal'dranath is real and is N'Zoth how awesome would it be.

[Titebiere83]

Azshara deserve so much more than to be killed in a 7.x patch.