BfA Patch Speculation thread (8.3 and later).

[Nathanyel]

Many people forget that SoO was not biased because it was in Orgrimmar, it was biased because the quests leading up to it were entirely about teh Horde, and almost completely sidelines the Alliance.

I can tell you, many Horde players didn't like the way the Horde/the Warchief developed in MoP. We couldn't see it as bias towards our faction to have Garrosh turn into a megalomanical conqueror just because he misunderstood Thrall's tale of his father's sacrifice.

We don't like the Horde being used as the bad guys simply because certain players keep crying for the "War" to return - a war that was only a relic of the first incarnation of Warcraft, a re-brand of a game that was intended to be a Warhammer game. Every game after WC1 has developed the uniqueness of the Warcraft universe, WC2 showed Orcs as more than just one-dimensional villains, WC3 showed their 'good' and honorable side, further expanded upon in WoW. But no, some people just want to return to a bland Warhammer clone. Humans vs. Orcs, Humans good, Orcs bad.

And there were multiple opportunities to have the story develop without peace between the factions, but also without a war "just because". Cataclysm literally promised conflicts over scarce resources, where both sides would have been equally right and wrong in trying to secure territories. MoP could have had a worried Varian sending troops, or going to Pandaria himself to find his son, proactively attacking Horde and Pandaren forces out of suspicion they had captured him.
Instead, we just got an Orc trying to take over the world.

MoP/SoO wasn't really Horde bias, it was using (parts of) the Horde as antagonists. At this point, Garrosh and his loyalists were technically not even a part of the Horde anymore, shunning or subjugating most of its members.

On the other side, the Alliance feels sidelined because they have little conflict arising from within, because Alliance players want to be "the good guys". It seems like Blizzard doesn't want to risk alienating the perceived core playerbase by giving the Alliance actual faults beyond subtle hints of racism (which can easily be waved away by that feeling of superiority)

In a weird and contrived way, the Forsaken holding Darkshore, leading to the Night Elves invoking the Night Warrior, is more interesting than previous Alliance developments, although it's of course still a cheap method to have "the good guys" use questionable rituals to fight "the bad guys", possibly becoming evil/jaded themselves in the process.

[George Costanza]

No war campaign preview yet.

But, given the pace, it should be up soon. Maybe tomorrow?

why would they preview that? Lol.

They want to avoid spoilers.

[FlubberPuddy]

why would they preview that? Lol.

They want to avoid spoilers.

Exactly this, they're not even letting players do it on the PTR - aka they'd rather keep it secret than test for bugs (as always, most likely internal QA is doing that anyway).

Blog post would be like a few sentences anyway.

"You've all in been waiting for it, patch 8.2.5 brings the conclusion of the War Campaign! Learn the fate of the Horde and Alliance in this exciting resolution to the Blood War!"

Done, send it!

[Marlamin]

They pushed an 8.2.0 event build earlier which is just the current retail build but separate for use at events and stuff when they want to use an older/stabler patch than is currently live. Next arena tournament is this Saturday. It almost feels like they're still aiming for this week except for the fact that's kind of ridiculous/unheard of.

Hmm..

[FlubberPuddy]

It almost feels like they're still aiming for this week except for the fact that's kind of ridiculous/unheard of.

Hmm..

If they're trying to go for this week then maybe the 'next few weeks' is just in case something goes terribly awry. We've so far gone 2 for 2 daily blog posts about upcoming content in 8.2.5.

They could be aiming for this week being the "hype week" and then release next Tuesday (in accordance for Muffinus' tweet to make sense).

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I can tell you, many Horde players didn't like the way the Horde/the Warchief developed in MoP. We couldn't see it as bias towards our faction to have Garrosh turn into a megalomanical conqueror just because he misunderstood Thrall's tale of his father's sacrifice.

We don't like the Horde being used as the bad guys simply because certain players keep crying for the "War" to return - a war that was only a relic of the first incarnation of Warcraft, a re-brand of a game that was intended to be a Warhammer game. Every game after WC1 has developed the uniqueness of the Warcraft universe, WC2 showed Orcs as more than just one-dimensional villains, WC3 showed their 'good' and honorable side, further expanded upon in WoW. But no, some people just want to return to a bland Warhammer clone. Humans vs. Orcs, Humans good, Orcs bad.

And there were multiple opportunities to have the story develop without peace between the factions, but also without a war "just because". Cataclysm literally promised conflicts over scarce resources, where both sides would have been equally right and wrong in trying to secure territories. MoP could have had a worried Varian sending troops, or going to Pandaria himself to find his son, proactively attacking Horde and Pandaren forces out of suspicion they had captured him.
Instead, we just got an Orc trying to take over the world.

MoP/SoO wasn't really Horde bias, it was using (parts of) the Horde as antagonists. At this point, Garrosh and his loyalists were technically not even a part of the Horde anymore, shunning or subjugating most of its members.

On the other side, the Alliance feels sidelined because they have little conflict arising from within, because Alliance players want to be "the good guys". It seems like Blizzard doesn't want to risk alienating the perceived core playerbase by giving the Alliance actual faults beyond subtle hints of racism (which can easily be waved away by that feeling of superiority)

In a weird and contrived way, the Forsaken holding Darkshore, leading to the Night Elves invoking the Night Warrior, is more interesting than previous Alliance developments, although it's of course still a cheap method to have "the good guys" use questionable rituals to fight "the bad guys", possibly becoming evil/jaded themselves in the process.

We don't need to be the bad guys nor should be. Actual development or things happening is better then "Oh yeah lets do what the Horde does but blue." Sorry not against you, it just irritates me when people try to desperately want stuff but do what happens to the Horde(And I Sympathize with them, warchiefs going bad is now a common theme for them).

At least with Arthas he was his own man and he didn't drag everyone else down despite the RTS making you play him. He sorta went on his own(Going to Northrend and such). Not because he was kicked out but because of what he felt he had to do.


I forgot but....if the Warfront has any defenitive end, NElves should retake Darkshore, period IMO. Garrosh IMO was a unique situation because as far as we knew in the novel where he was made warchief...he was sorta caught aback. In theory he could of tempered himself but....we got a worse Hellscream. It would be different if Varian got the same development he did and a more... tempered Hellscream.

[Sondrelk]

-snip-

I have no doubt that Horde plaayers hate being the bad guy like in MoP, but my point was more that the buildup to SoO was entirely about the Horde.

Horde had a long questline and scenario about retaking Razor hill alongside heroes of the Horde to retake their city.

Alliance was tasked with going to Vol'jin and asking to get to do the Horde quests as well.


I do not really want to get into an argument about whether the Horde was technically the villains or anything, i just wanted to quickly state why Battlefront_ Barrens and SoO was biased towards the Horde, and the Alliance was completely shafted because of it.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

It's very possible that they're holding off with 8.3 PTR until after BlizzCon. It's also possible they'll launch it a week after 8.2.5 goes live with a ton of shit encrypted. Last 8.2.5 build added 4 currently unused encryption keys, might be for 8.3 (or 8.2.5 but I feel like that's mostly done).

I could see them revealing 8.3 beforehand but not launching the PTR until after.

- - - Updated - - -

No war campaign preview yet.

But, given the pace, it should be up soon. Maybe tomorrow?

If it's the ending, I don't think we get a preview.

[Syegfryed]

I have no doubt that Horde plaayers hate being the bad guy like in MoP, but my point was more that the buildup to SoO was entirely about the Horde.

Horde had a long questline and scenario about retaking Razor hill alongside heroes of the Horde to retake their city.

Alliance was tasked with going to Vol'jin and asking to get to do the Horde quests as well.


I do not really want to get into an argument about whether the Horde was technically the villains or anything, i just wanted to quickly state why Battlefront_ Barrens and SoO was biased towards the Horde, and the Alliance was completely shafted because of it.

having more quests to do while they buttfuck your faction is not bias towards horde

no one in the horde is wanting this shit

[DeicideUH]

why would they preview that? Lol.

They want to avoid spoilers.

A preview does not need spoilers. It could have cinematic stills, info on number of chapters, teases on possible developments, red herrings, a trailer...

Movies and serials are pure story, and they get marketing. A campaign is not that different.

[Kiki b]

I mean, the ending cinematic will just be them firing the bilgewater cannon anyway

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

I mean, the ending cinematic will just be them firing the bilgewater cannon anyway

They fire the cannon. It never actually lands anywhere, it never even fired anything. It was just a blank. :P

[Blayze]

Maybe all the Black Empire stuff is 8.3, and 9.0 is the Void Lords.

[Marlamin]

They fire the cannon. It never actually lands anywhere, it never even fired anything. It was just a blank. :P

It lands on Sylvanas but she just deflects it thanks to all her plot armor.

*starts running*

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Maybe all the Black Empire stuff is 8.3, and 9.0 is the Void Lords.

World of Warcraft: Starcraft.

- - - Updated - - -

It lands on Sylvanas but she just deflects it thanks to all her plot armor.

*starts running*

High five!

[Shadochi]

World of Warcraft: Starcraft.

Wasn't that just Legion?

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Wasn't that just Legion?

Argus was. If Void Lords ever happen I guarantee it'd be an entire expansion of Argus BS.

[Kiki b]

They fire the cannon. It never actually lands anywhere, it never even fired anything. It was just a blank. :P

It explodes on the spot because it’s goblin made

[Shadochi]

Argus was. If Void Lords ever happen I guarantee it'd be an entire expansion of Argus BS.

So were the earlier patches with all the Legion tech IIRC the forum talk at the time, and then 7.3 stepped it up.

[Vasoka]

They pushed an 8.2.0 event build earlier which is just the current retail build but separate for use at events and stuff when they want to use an older/stabler patch than is currently live. Next arena tournament is this Saturday. It almost feels like they're still aiming for this week except for the fact that's kind of ridiculous/unheard of.

Hmm..

Wait, so we might get patch today?