Battle for Azeroth Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Radaney]

I wonder what color we will go into 8.0 with? If Old Gods, it would probably be some sort of purple/pink-ish color, wouldn't it?

That name is atrocious.

[Deleted]

I wonder what color we will go into 8.0 with? If Old Gods, it would probably be some sort of purple/pink-ish color, wouldn't it?

I like the colors but the name of the expansion won't be "whatever Kul'Tiras". I'm not saying that we won't go there next expansion, is most probably. But it will be no more than a zone, not a raid nor the center of the expansion. Legion wasn't named "attack on broken shore" nor WoTLK was named "bad guy on top of icecrown". It will be probably named after the void, or the sea, ot both. The name won't include any character (not even NZoth) or place.

[Nibelheimy]

I like the colors but the name of the expansion won't be "whatever Kul'Tiras". I'm not saying that we won't go there next expansion, is most probably. But it will be no more than a zone, not a raid nor the center of the expansion. Legion wasn't named "attack on broken shore" nor WoTLK was named "bad guy on top of icecrown". It will be probably named after the void, or the sea, ot both. The name won't include any character (not even NZoth) or place.

Except, WotLK did contain 'THE LICH KING' and WoD (us/warlords) 'WARLORDS OF DRAENOR. My point is there really isn't a formula.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

I wonder what color we will go into 8.0 with? If Old Gods, it would probably be some sort of purple/pink-ish color, wouldn't it?

Purple and Gold with a "scroll" as the template underneath the expansion's title.

[Tryuk]

I wonder what color we will go into 8.0 with? If Old Gods, it would probably be some sort of purple/pink-ish color, wouldn't it?

I'm thinking that if we get south seas/naga/old gods, it'll be a blue/purple color pallet

[MabusGaming]

[Gyrotex]

I've read most of this thread with great interest.

A lot of it is fairly obvious BS, some of it I want to believe.

I'm in the camp of people who are not in denial about everything pointing at South Seas -type expansion with (maybe) Naga, and (very likely) Old Gods.

My question to everyone is - can we come up with any solid theory supporting any OTHER possible expansion theme?

I mean, remember Legion?

It came completely from a blind spot for all of us. I've been reading this forum for years and expansion speculation is one of my favourite topics to talk about. And NOTHING was pointing at Legion-themed expansion last time.

I remember talks about South Seas, Eye of Azshara, even some Undead Council of Tirisfal, if I remember correctly.

But they hit us with Legion and it was a surprise.

Can they do this again? Point at Kul'Tiras and then do a 180 turn on us?

[Jokubas]

To be fair, Warlords of Draenor ended with Gul'dan being thrown through the portal and Khadgar saying he and his masters wouldn't be so easily defeated. At the time, many of us felt like that meant we were going to have a calm before the storm, but the storm was certainly teased.

The thing about Kul Tiras being pointed toward is that we didn't get something comparable for Legion. There would have been no 180 if we got a file that said Legion in the expansion part of the naming scheme, we would have just been trying to figure out where and in what capacity we would be fighting the Legion, and how Alternate Gul'dan might get that to happen.

Also, that Fury of the Sea logo is pretty cool. I like the subtle details in the border.

[Dracullus]

I've read most of this thread with great interest.

A lot of it is fairly obvious BS, some of it I want to believe.

I'm in the camp of people who are not in denial about everything pointing at South Seas -type expansion with (maybe) Naga, and (very likely) Old Gods.

My question to everyone is - can we come up with any solid theory supporting anything OTHER possible expansion theme?

I mean, remember Legion?

It came completely from a blind spot for all of us. I've been reading this forum for years and expansion speculation is one of my favourite topics to talk about. And NOTHING was pointing at Legion-themed expansion last time.

I remember talks about South Seas, Eye of Azshara, even some Undead Council of Tirisfal, if I remember correctly.

But they hit us with Legion and it was a surprise.

Can they do this again? Point at Kul'Tiras and then do a 180 turn on us?

Everything pointed at Legion expansion. We literally ended 6.2 with a cliffhanger. People just really hated 6.2 and Warlords in general, so most forums was like "screw fel, screw orcs, screw demons and Gul'dan, bring me South Seas and Azshara". This was actually first time in WoW history when expansion B was logical conclusion of A (Warlords theme were kinda teased in Siege of Orgrimmar, but no one could predict alternate universe).

[Hitei]

-snip-

It's so plain.

[Gyrotex]

Everything pointed at Legion expansion. We literally ended 6.2 with a cliffhanger. People just really hated 6.2 and Warlords in general, so most forums was like "screw fel, screw orcs, screw demons and Gul'dan, bring me South Seas and Azshara". This was actually first time in WoW history when expansion B was logical conclusion of A (Warlords theme were kinda teased in Siege of Orgrimmar, but no one could predict alternate universe).

Oh I remember the cliffhanger, but we were so sick of Fel from 6.2 and orcs that direct link to another 2 years of fighting demons was not obvious at all. Hence no theory/leak of Legion like travels around barren wasteland of Broken Isles.

Yes we wanted a change and thought that they'll crowd-please and give us something different.

They did in a way, and I enjoyed most of Legion actually, until 7.2. Now I'm done, and ready for our Void Overlords to take over. Can't happen soon enough, if you ask me.

So back to my question - even if something pointed at something last time, it wasn't clear that they'll just keep going with the same theme, seamlessly. Gul'Dan could have been reborn as a freakin' Naga last time, in a galaxy far away. They do what they want, postpone story progression, come back to various plots, etc.

Also they've been known to troll us, throw lines like "Karazhan electric boogaloo" or something like that, just to keep the crowd alive over here...

Which is why I just want to shock-proof the theory that there's nothing else that's evident enough as an alternative to South Seas.

- - - Updated - - -

At the time, many of us felt like that meant we were going to have a calm before the storm, but the storm was certainly teased.

Precisely, yes, story ended abruptly, but how many of us here thought they'll continue - DIRECTLY - to take on the Legion??

Once again, I can't remember one solid leak or theory that would have been revolving around Legion as it panned out to be.

Now I'm curious if there are any viable alternatives to Kul'Tiras.

It's healthy exercise to test anti-theories, you know.

[Jokubas]

I'll fully admit I was wrong about what Legion might be, but I remember a lot of people guessing what we got. I remember a lot of people saying it after Mists of Pandaria, after the whole Wrathion thing especially, and Warlords of Draenor did hammer that in.

At the same time, it's only as obvious as it seems in hindsight. The final cutscene was frustratingly vague and there was a lot of debate about it back in the day. We had no idea what "pact" Archimonde was referring to, and Gul'dan did not seem happy about getting tossed into that portal. Since it's also the portal that Archimonde emerged from, implying it went to the Nether, a lot of people speculated that Gul'dan was being punished for failing as part of that pact. The idea that he'd end up on Azeroth and open a portal for them was certainly not a given.

Gul'dan's staff fading away implied he was probably still alive, but Khadgar commenting that he and his masters aren't so easily defeated was a bit baffling at the time. We didn't have the whole lore about alternate demons and easily respawning demons at the time, so it didn't make a lot of sense. We just trashed Archimonde, one of the toughest demons, even faster than we did the last time, and even in-universe most of the characters didn't know the demon lore yet, so it was a weird thing for Khadgar to say that, so no one could really be certain as to what he meant.

Finally, we had Yrel say that if we needed their help some day, they would come. That kind of dialogue isn't usually reserved for the immediately following plot (not that they have come to help us, but what we would call their help for came immediately).

On the other hand, there were a lot of other unresolved plots or orphaned references. Ephial's mysterious allegiance still isn't known, and Cho'gall's last words warned us of someone coming (that would, in hindsight, almost certainly be a Void Lord). Then there was the shipyard system, which included several new ship models for what was a relatively throwaway system without significant relevance. While that certainly isn't a cliffhanger, it seemed like an odd use of resources if it didn't lead to anything else.

Not to mention that many of these things were not considered mutually exclusive. For instance, while Azshara's current loyalty is to the old gods, she tried to let Sargeras into Azeroth before, and it wasn't completely unreasonable to expect that Gul'dan and Azshara would help bring about the invasion that was implied at the end of Warlords, still giving us the calm before the storm while ultimately fulfilling the cliffhanger.

As for next expansion, there have been several other guesses. If you can find some threads that predate this, South Seas wasn't even necessarily a major one this time. There has been a lot of expectation to see the undead on the move. Someone made a good list of Bolvar's actions, updated undead models, and odd happenings in Northrend during Legion.

Even earlier in this thread there have been some alternative ideas offered. It's just that datamining a file with the quest naming scheme referencing a specific area narrows down speculation in a way that story guesses can't.

[Dracullus]

Precisely, yes, story ended abruptly, but how many of us here thought they'll continue - DIRECTLY - to take on the Legion??

Once again, I can't remember one solid leak or theory that would have been revolving around Legion as it panned out to be.

Now I'm curious if there are any viable alternatives to Kul'Tiras.

It's healthy exercise to test anti-theories, you know.

Honestly I think these datamines armors will have no use, but they put it on purpose, so it can't be false hint. They want us to speculate about next expac right now. They did similar thing with Suramar cloak in 6.2, but that hint was in fact too subtle, so it didn't work back then.

[Jokubas]

The problem is, almost every location we've visited in expansions have existed since the beginning of World of Warcraft, just in supplementary materials. Spellcloak of Suramar can't be speculated upon anymore than Tel'Abim Banana can. Just a bit ago someone pointed out that one of the sea giant world bosses drops items referencing almost all of the islands of the South Seas, and then some. The problem is, it's not unusual for a sea giant to have visited locations we know about in the sea. These new pieces of armor stirred up speculation, not because of their item name (I don't think we even have the actual name of the items), but because the file name (of the icons) tells us they're from a different expansion.

[Kellorion]

What if Thrall is at Kul'Tiras. He senses during his walkabout the Void threat, it leads him to Kul Tiras. And Jaina imprisons him 'for interference' of some kind.

[Nyel]

My question to everyone is - can we come up with any solid theory supporting any OTHER possible expansion theme?

I mean, remember Legion?

It came completely from a blind spot for all of us. I've been reading this forum for years and expansion speculation is one of my favourite topics to talk about. And NOTHING was pointing at Legion-themed expansion last time.

What? After WoD it was 100% sure that we're getting another Legion expansion, the question was who's coming with it. I thought Gul'dan is "raising" the Tomb of Sargeras from the ocean floor and with him comes the Naga Queen and all her minions. That was one of the main suggestions for the upcoming expansion.

[Jokubas]

What if Thrall is at Kul'Tiras. He senses during his walkabout the Void threat, it leads him to Kul Tiras. And Jaina imprisons him 'for interference' of some kind.

I'd like to see Thrall again if it meant that his character would be addressed, but not this way. Jaina made up with him in War Crimes, and while other things didn't stick, I hope that does. Christie Golden is helping out with something now, apparently, so hopefully that means we get her fixed characterizations in game instead of the characters rubberbanding back.

Now that you mention it though, I honestly wonder how much authority Jaina would have on Kul Tiras. If we go to Kul Tiras next, that's probably related to Jaina storming off at the beginning of Legion (in other words, it would be likely in that case that it's where she went). However, as far as we know, she hasn't been back there in a long time. Now, she got to take over Dalaran practically overnight with little believable setup, but I don't know if they'll do that with Kul Tiras.

As it is, last we knew, her mother is still alive. For all we know, her mother is now Lord Admiral or Queen or whatever. Her mother may or may not be happy with Jaina, especially depending on what she knows about how she's spent these last few years. If Kul Tiras ends up being like Innsmouth like some speculation, Jaina may even show up and even in her angry state be really uncomfortable with the state of things in her homeland.

[Deleted]

The problem is, almost every location we've visited in expansions have existed since the beginning of World of Warcraft, just in supplementary materials. Spellcloak of Suramar can't be speculated upon anymore than Tel'Abim Banana can. Just a bit ago someone pointed out that one of the sea giant world bosses drops items referencing almost all of the islands of the South Seas, and then some. The problem is, it's not unusual for a sea giant to have visited locations we know about in the sea. These new pieces of armor stirred up speculation, not because of their item name (I don't think we even have the actual name of the items), but because the file name (of the icons) tells us they're from a different expansion.

So your problem is?

[Jokubas]

I guess I'm agreeing that if Blizzard wanted us to speculate about the Suramar cloak, then it was way too subtle, but I don't think that means that the Kul Tiras thing is just a red herring to get us excited.

A person who does datamining posted earlier in this thread and implied that the Kul Tiras items weren't exactly easy to find, and Blizzard has gotten better at hiding things. In other words, it would seem equally weird for Blizzard to want us to speculate on something that they risked hiding too well.

I don't see any reason at the moment to not take these files at face value.

Edit: I think I misread something. I might just agree entirely and I apologize.

[Drekmar]

They'll announce the expansion at Gamescom.

Plausible. I'm still going for blizzcon announcement, gamescom one would be welcomed though.