Battle for Azeroth Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

That's why I'm worried. I just don't see how we can get a South Seas expansion when that gaping wound is in Sithilus.

And yet we have gear tagged Kul'tiras which is about as guaranteeing as seeing a trademark.

Which reminds me, any news on that front? What about Scrolls of Lore? Didn't every expansion pre-Legion get leaked there first?




Anyway as for how this all plays out. I was thinking is Kul'tiras moved to the location of N'zoth, what if the link is the Twilight's Hammer is trying to use the Blood of Azeroth to revive N'Zoth and Kul'tiras can't deal with it alone, so Jaina goes to Anduin for help. And Sylvanas, being.... Sylvanas, wants the Blood to attempt to make the Forsaken immortal like the Burning Legion used Argus... and, y'know, being a borderline villain exploits the Horde to that end.

[Elise the Seeker]

I'm honestly for another revamp. I'm sure blizzard knows their mistakes during the first time and will definenetly try to please players.

Just imagine if Blizz changed the world so quests would change daily for all levels to add story to it.

[Ghargatuloth]

They've leaked the finale of Cata and MoP at Blizzcon to announce new expacs.....Fucking god damn PAY ATTENTION BEFORE POSTING

Your levels of aggression are impressive. But no they did not... They side stepped what occurred during the final raid of each expansion when they announced the next one. Unless you mean the fact that we knew we'd overcome the enemy... In which case, yeah, I guess?

Not to alarm you but they DID leak The Wound. Originally the Sargeras shirt description spelled out what he does in the ending cinematic.

I am aware, but there is a difference between an accidental leak and what is essentially a public announcement of the finale.

[Mythabay]

They have ships in WC2 so FUCK off already.

Aggressive much... Calm down, Kay. It's a forum, so please don't swear.

[KayRule]

I'm honestly for another revamp. I'm sure blizzard knows their mistakes during the first time and will definenetly try to please players.

Just imagine if Blizz changed the world so quests would change daily for all levels to add story to it.

It would be great to have zones stop being on fire and broken 7 years later. Also would be nice to move Northerend forward too. Pandaria and WoD can of course stay how they are, but the big Three need to be updated ASAP.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Yeah and Warcraft 2 and 3 and WoW and Burning Crusade have all had the same shit with other planets and aliens.

TBF most people flipped their shit in BC when space ships were actually added. Other planets is a fantasy staple, where most people draw the line is when you introduce space ships.

Hang on, I have the thing here somewhere....

The Burning Crusade is generally considered to have great gameplay, but a terrible plot and setting that changed a lot of beloved Warcraft III characters, accidentally and shoddily retconned a major enemy race, and had too many elements verging on sci-fi for players to feel it belonged comfortably in Warcraft's fantasy setting.

[Jaylock]

Expansion will be revealed at Blizzcon!! Confirmed by Ian H.!

[Ningjinq]

While I don’t think there will be a world revamp but there could be, I don’t think the fact that you can unphase Silithus is an indicator of much. They HAVE to retain the ability to go back there, at least temporarily, for those who want to collect achievements and such there. (For instance there’s a few patterns sold only in Silithus)

[KayRule]

Wasn't the Burning Legion as we know it not formally introduced until Warcraft 3?

Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal actually. People seem to forget that Ner'zhul, Guldan, and all this shit started in WC2.

Also messed up, Dentarg is the only Hero from WC2 who doesn't show up ever in WoW.

[Ningjinq]

While I certainly understand people not wanting space ships in WoW, the selfish side of me wants one of those Legion Interceptors as a mount. Love Sci-fi.

Again, get that’s not what most probably want but, I like it.

[Hitei]

I'll lay out my logic just because I probably should.

So we found out a number of pages ago that the file path used for that Kul'tiras gear is the same file path used for other expansion gear.

Said expansions always used the expansion's key word, not a zone's. So Draenor, Pandaria, Legion, etc. That's where I got convinced that Kul'tiras is in the name of the next expansion.

Thing is, I ran headlong into this back during the MoP speculation cycle, and danced with it during the Draenor cycle. Blizzard doesn't use vague names for their stuff, it's always very straightforward (Burning Crusade and Cataclysm are the exceptions). Wrath of the Lich King, Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor, Legion. It's always either the main setting, or it's the villain. Heck, we can throw Burning Crusade (another way of saying Legion) and Cataclysm (apparently the extended repurcussions of the Shattering if the Deathwing kill cinematic is to be believed) back in and that still fits.

So obviously Kul'tiras isn't the villain, so it must be the main setting. Thing is, Kul'tiras likely hasn't gone and drifted to the exact opposite point of Azeroth it started from (unless we're ignoring drift and just outright retconing), so odds are the center point of this expansion is located south of the Broken Isles, East of the Maelstrom, and probably, oh look, roughly right over the general vicinity of N'Zoth's tomb.

I'm exceedingly skeptical. Expansion names are specific, sure, but I don't think we can accurately guess anything beyond that.

BC refers to the Legion's advances on other worlds, specifically their initial invasion attempt from the Dark Portal--a really minor assault that is dealt with in the first couple dozen quests and then isn't very important again until Sunwell.
Wrath of the Lich King just generally referred to Arthas being the main villain.
Cataclysm reffered to the initial event that sparked the expansion and to the final event we were trying to prevent.
Mists of Pandaria referred to an event that happened 10,000 years ago that was the reason why we hadn't found Pandaria until then.
Warlords of Draenor reffered to the leaders of the main force we were fighting against.
And Legion refers to the force we are fighting against itself.

There's no consistency. You can't just take parts of the names, you have to read them as a whole title.

i.e.
"Shadows of Kul Tiras" (for example) could mean anything. It could refer to the inital event of Kul Tiras falling to a N'zothian cult that sparks a war across islands all over the great sea. It could refer to the fact that the entire expansion is set underwater/underground near Kul Tiras. It could refer to an inital event where Kul Tiras, sitting above the last prison, is destroyed as the prison emerges and be a raid location. It could simply be the source of the cult that acts as one of the antagonists.

It's impossible to say. What we do know is that Kul Tiras is tiny to the point of only being a city-state, very likely resembles Gilneas and Tol Barad in terms of climate and terrain, looks nothing like the map in the datamined files, and doesn't have anything of note on it (natively) besides the city-state and farms.

I'm just not convinced they are going to go the "expand this largely irrelevant island into a continent" route. I don't think it's impossible, but it seems pretty dumb. At the point where you have to say, raise the sea floor around it to make a larger landmass--why even bother raising that? Raise someplace more interesting, like the entire rift structure so that all the zones of the expansion take place on a ring around a maelstrom actually accurate to the real one's size. Raise Ny'alotha. Do a cave expansion.

Kul Tiras is so god damn dull and pointless. The fact that any given leak or concept put forward brings something to the island or massively changes it in someway kind of attests to that.

And I mean...
Why the hell do people want another regular terrain island with everday, expected terrain.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Expansion will be revealed at Blizzcon!! Confirmed by Ian H.!

Thanks Jaylock!

[KayRule]

While I don’t think there will be a world revamp but there could be, I don’t think the fact that you can unphase Silithus is an indicator of much. They HAVE to retain the ability to go back there, at least temporarily, for those who want to collect achievements and such there. (For instance there’s a few patterns sold only in Silithus)

I dunno, I think if there was a World Revamp caused by the Wound of the World, they wouldn't just show one zone where it hit and leave everything the same until the expac finally launched. They'd have to not have the zone be changed at all and do it all on launch. If Wound was just an area you could see at the end of the Antorus Raid for now and to be part of the world later, then maybe.

But sadly, it seems like a much needed world revamp is being set aside again.

[Grimo]

Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal actually. People seem to forget that Ner'zhul, Guldan, and all this shit started in WC2.

Also messed up, Dentarg is the only Hero from WC2 who doesn't show up ever in WoW.

Not true. The phrase Burning Legion only turns up in WC3. Before that demons are just creatures from beyond, and Kil'jaeden and Sarg are unrelated random demon-lords. All of that stuff is retroactively organised into a single form in WC3.

[Thatch Rackham]

Expansion will be revealed at Blizzcon!! Confirmed by Ian H.!

Where source?
I want to see this
was it that video he says whets next he could be trolling us lol
I doubt it but could be

[KayRule]

Not true. The phrase Burning Legion only turns up in WC3. Before that demons are just creatures from beyond, and Kil'jaeden and Sarg are unrelated random demon-lords. All of that stuff is retroactively organised into a single form in WC3.

"We are the Legion" - text quote from the Daemon unit in Beyond the Dark Portal.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

I'm exceedingly skeptical. Expansion names are specific, sure, but I don't think we can accurately guess anything beyond that.

BC refers to the Legion's advances on other worlds, specifically their initial invasion attempt from the Dark Portal--a really minor assault that is dealt with in the first couple dozen quests and then isn't very important again until Sunwell.
Wrath of the Lich King just generally referred to Arthas being the main villain.
Cataclysm reffered to the initial event that sparked the expansion and to the final event we were trying to prevent.
Mists of Pandaria referred to an event that happened 10,000 years ago that was the reason why we hadn't found Pandaria until then.
Warlords of Draenor reffered to the leaders of the main force we were fighting against.
And Legion refers to the force we are fighting against itself.

There's no consistency. You can't just take parts of the names, you have to read them as a whole title.

i.e.
"Shadows of Kul Tiras" (for example) could mean anything. It could refer to the inital event of Kul Tiras falling to a N'zothian cult that sparks a war across islands all over the great sea. It could refer to the fact that the entire expansion is set underwater/underground near Kul Tiras. It could refer to an inital event where Kul Tiras, sitting above the last prison, is destroyed as the prison emerges and be a raid location. It could simply be the source of the cult that acts as one of the antagonists.

It's impossible to say. What we do know is that Kul Tiras is tiny to the point of only being a city-state, very likely resembles Gilneas and Tol Barad in terms of climate and terrain, looks nothing like the map in the datamined files, and doesn't have anything of note on it (natively) besides the city-state and farms.

I'm just not convinced they are going to go the "expand this largely irrelevant island into a continent" route. I don't think it's impossible, but it seems pretty dumb. At the point where you have to say, raise the sea floor around it to make a larger landmass--why even bother raising that? Raise someplace more interesting, like the entire rift structure so that all the zones of the expansion take place on a ring around a maelstrom actually accurate to the real one's size. Raise Ny'alotha. Do a cave expansion.

Kul Tiras is so god damn dull and pointless. The fact that any given leak or concept put forward brings something to the island or massively changes it in someway kind of attests to that.

And I mean...
Why the hell do people want another regular terrain island with everday, expected terrain.

Oh I for sure agree there's more going on than just "let's go have an adventure on Kul'tiras."

There's for sure something we're missing here, but I'm growing more convinced that something is not the South Seas... and is not Azshara.

Honestly if I had to put money on what's gonna be major themes in the next expansion, it's gonna be N'Zoth, and it's gonna be Faction Warfare. Honestly, I think it's a lot of Mists of Pandaria, just minus the total culture shock that was Pandaria.

Wouldn't surprise me if, by the time 9.0 comes around, either Sylvanas or Jaina is dead or firmly entrenched as a villain.





Also one other thing that has me fairly sure that we're gonna get an archipelago rather than just Kul'tiras blown up to a continent. Blizz needs something to reskin the Mission Table as. Since I doubt Order Halls will continue forward. Obvious thing would be us building up a fleet, as that's what Kul'tiras is all about, and the only way to really use a fleet is if there's islands to send them between.

[Deleted]

Not sure if related at all, but influential community members seem to be getting invites to a Halloween party at Blizzard, called Villaincon.

The other day Blizzard posted a bunch of pictures of Halloween face masks on Twitter, and now Perculia from WoWhead posted an invitation scroll thingie on her feed, sent from the Lich King. Someone called Towellie posted his, from Doomfist. I doubt they throw these parties for fun. It'll probably be a sitting with journalists to prepare them for all the news about to drop at BlizzCon, no?

[Hitei]

Also one other thing that has me fairly sure that we're gonna get an archipelago rather than just Kul'tiras blown up to a continent. Blizz needs something to reskin the Mission Table as. Since I doubt Order Halls will continue forward. Obvious thing would be us building up a fleet, as that's what Kul'tiras is all about, and the only way to really use a fleet is if there's islands to send them between.

With what though? Zul Dare and Crestfall are miniscule--even if Kul Tiras was blown up to continent size, they would be like, slightly smaller than Timeless Isle. If Kul Tiras is left as a zone, they'd be small islands off the coast, like the ones in Townlong. Moving any close to the other large Islands (Kezan, Zandalar, etc) would put it farther and farther from the last prison.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Not sure if related at all, but influential community members seem to be getting invites to a Halloween party at Blizzard, called Villaincon.

The other day Blizzard posted a bunch of pictures of Halloween face masks on Twitter, and now Perculia from WoWhead posted an invitation scroll thingie on her feed, sent from the Lich King. Someone called Towellie posted his, from Doomfist. I doubt they throw these parties for fun. It'll probably be a sitting with journalists to prepare them for all the news about to drop at BlizzCon, no?

Honestly it's the first time we've seen a logo for Tallon.

But my guess is it's just a fancy-do. Usually Blizz is transparent when they're giving developers actual sit-down news. Like the Legion Summit.

Doesn't mean there won't be alcoholic beverages and slips of tongues, though.