Shadowlands raid patches!

[Kyphael]

I thought they had kinda said that while Arthas could appear, he wouldn't get much of the spotlight?

They did indeed. Kind of silly on their part, but unless it's a red herring, creatively that appears to be what they plan to do with the character.

Unless of course, subscriptions drop steeply after launch when everyone consumes the little content they release in like 2 weeks, and said content is barely interesting, and they have to correct course, break glass and expand Arthas' role.

[CalamityHeart]

I thought they had kinda said that while Arthas could appear, he wouldn't get much of the spotlight?

I don't think that's exactly what they said. I remember them saying something closer to "If we bring him in, we'll bring him in correctly and meaningfully to his character, not just as some "Hey, look." cameo. I don't remember the exact quote, but I don't remember them implying "No, Arthas isn't going to be important, don't worry about it."

I could be wrong, though, I don't know. But I do remember this coming up before, people thinking that Blizzard said that Arthas isn't going to be major at all, and others correcting them saying that wasn't exactly what was said.

[Velshin]

Honestly for me it feels like killing her innd .1 after 2 expansions of her preparing for this feels to soon. Also a broken twisted Slyvannas screaming to die would really piss off her fanboys so that would be fun.

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No reason in to assume he/they would be. There's enough plotlines already on the expansion to cover patches. Helya is confirmed in and doesn't seem to feature or instance etc etc

Old God's probably return to the void if anywhere.

To be honest I feel Sylvanas over stayed her welcome in WoW.

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Yep. Sylvanas in Maw raid guarding Anduin and revealing something about Arthas in final cinematic. Fits perfectly, since 9.1 likely won't have new zones.

For 8.3 Jailer raid we could either discover previously unexplored parts of Maw as 8.3 zone or he could cross to Azeroth. Or both.



He just did.



So far Sylvanas IS going Gul'dan route. First we worked with her, later she become villain, but without appearing as raid boss. Like Gul'dan (and unlike Jaina) she fits perfectly to bring people back to WoW (her raid would be released around late March I guess, so launch tourist will already drop), everyone would like to finally kill the b*tch.

There is also a possibility where we get the Maw area similar to Tanaan Jungle in WoD. Where we use part of it in the start of the expansion but then later on when they flesh it out because for now? it seems the Maw area is uncomplete.

[Ersula]

During the alpha/beta some armour called maw raid was datamined suggesting it might be fairly early on in the cycle

They certianly have a maw related raid planned but the maw raid armor set was turned into the Legendary Armor. If it wasn't going to be the legendary armor it would have been likely for the end of the expanion.

[Arkura]

I have similar prediction, but I think 9.2 will be heavy focused on Arthas and raid will be on some new SL realm.

This over the stupid trolls.. PLEASE make this happen instead

[Newname1234567890]

They certianly have a maw related raid planned but the maw raid armor set was turned into the Legendary Armor. If it wasn't going to be the legendary armor it would have been likely for the end of the expanion.

Ah fair enough. Maybe Maw will be 9.3 then. Interesting.

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This over the stupid trolls.. PLEASE make this happen instead

I'd bet a large amount of money on Helya

[deenman]

I do think the Maw is where the last raid of Jailer will be.

if it goes like the last few expansions trend,the ending wont be what we think it will be,heck its never been....tbc,illidan wasnt last,wrath lk wasnt last(to be fair ruby was mostly a ''pre patch'' like filler raid),mop we had no clue what was going to happen,wod we didnt have hellscream as a final boss,legion im sure no1 expected us to go to argus and fight a world soul,most proly expected KJ or even sargeras himself,bfa again,we didnt have a clear baddie besides sylvanas

cata was the only expansion where the box baddie was indeed the last boss

so,odds are its VERY unlikely that maw and jailer is the endgame

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During the alpha/beta some armour called maw raid was datamined suggesting it might be fairly early on in the cycle

that doesnt mean it is early,plenty legion artefacts were shown early on and only came out near the end,happened a few times in the past also

[Varodoc]

Why do people keep bringing up past expansion trends? Blizzard already said Shadowlands is going back to WotLK/Cataclysm-style of expansions, where the final boss is set up from the beginning. They went as far as to explicitely confirm that Jailer is not only the main villain and central driving force of the expansion (meaning there is no hidden final threat), but the actual final boss of the expansion. Literally game director Ion Hazzikostas confirmed this:

Honestly, it's almost the opposite of a challenge (having the identity of the final boss public at the start). It's almost an easier way to tell a story and set up an expansion with a very clear theme, harkening back to the Wrath or Cataclysm/Deathwing days. We didn't openly talk about the end boss for some recent expansions because it wouldn't have made sense at the time, or it would have given away story spoilers and twists. For example, in Warlords of Draenor, if you were told you'd fight Archimonde at the end, it would have been a head-scratcher. But here, there is a major titan plus plus level antagonist that we are facing, and there are major steps in our journey to undercover the nature of the jailer's plan and put together the forces to have a chance against him. That story will wend its way through all of Shadowlands and our content updates, until we ultimately do get a chance to face the Jailer.

Jailer will be the end boss of 9.3. That much is clear.

[deenman]

Why do people keep bringing up past expansion trends? Blizzard already said Shadowlands is going back to WotLK/Cataclysm-style of expansions, where the final boss is set up from the beginning. They went as far as to explicitely confirm that Jailer is not only the main villain and central driving force of the expansion (meaning there is no hidden final threat), but the actual final boss of the expansion. Literally game director Ion Hazzikostas confirmed this:



Jailer will be the end boss of 9.3. That much is clear.

Gonna be rly funny when hes not lol,arthas wasnt the final boss,and they said in wod hellscream will be,and he wasnt,cata was the only expansion to work this way,im not saying jailer wont be the last boss,but its far from clear that it will be so

[Varodoc]

Gonna be rly funny when hes not lol,arthas wasnt the final boss,and they said in wod hellscream will be,and he wasnt,cata was the only expansion to work this way,im not saying jailer wont be the last boss,but its far from clear that it will be so

I don't care what they said about Hellscream, that was the exception and not the norm. When you have Ion literally telling you Jailer is the final boss, coupled with several other interviews in which he is called the main villain and central driving force of Shadowlands, it's safe to say he is the final boss.

You are literally arguing against Ion and the lore team. What a pathetic hill to die on.

[valky94]

During the alpha/beta some armour called maw raid was datamined suggesting it might be fairly early on in the cycle

i think that the legendary gear uses those models

[deenman]

I don't care what they said about Hellscream, that was the exception and not the norm. When you have Ion literally telling you Jailer is the final boss, coupled with several other interviews in which he is called the main villain and central driving force of Shadowlands, it's safe to say he is the final boss.

You are literally arguing against Ion and the lore team. What a pathetic hill to die on.

but arthas and illidan also were the driving forced behind their expansions,and guess what?they werent the final bosses...and ion SAID ABOUT WOD THE SAME THING,and it didnt happen,so its far far more likely that jailer wont be the end boss

[Aeluron Lightsong]

but arthas and illidan also were the driving forced behind their expansions,and guess what?they werent the final bosses...and ion SAID ABOUT WOD THE SAME THING,and it didnt happen,so its far far more likely that jailer wont be the end boss

..are you really thinking Arthas wasn't the final boss? Cause he was, Ruby Sanctum does not count thats more a cata themed thing.

[valky94]

but arthas and illidan also were the driving forced behind their expansions,and guess what?they werent the final bosses...and ion SAID ABOUT WOD THE SAME THING,and it didnt happen,so its far far more likely that jailer wont be the end boss

technically ICC was the final tier of wotlk, ruby sanctum was a raid to introduce cataclysm

[Varodoc]

but arthas and illidan also were the driving forced behind their expansions,and guess what?they werent the final bosses...and ion SAID ABOUT WOD THE SAME THING,and it didnt happen,so its far far more likely that jailer wont be the end boss

1) It wasn't Ion who said Grommash would be final boss.

2) You keep bringing up Arthas as if it changes anything. Arthas was the final boss of the overarching storyline of Wrath of the Lich King, the dragon dude from that mini-raid was a random grunt who served as tie into Cataclysm. Meaning that if Jailer is not final boss, then by your own comparison the final boss will be some random dude who serves solely to hype the next expansion, and is not connected in any way to the Shadowlands storyline. At which point we might as well consider Jailer the final boss of Shadowlands, just like how 99% of the playerbase (and Ion himself) consider Arthas the final boss of WotLK.

3) Illidan can't be compared to Arthas and Deathwing because he was never the poster villain, he was never hyped up since the beginning, even the TBC trailer didn't focus solely on him, hence why Ion didn't even mention him as an example.

Regardless the intentions of the writers are clear. They want to build Jailer as this massive titan-level threat, whose presence in the storyline can be compared to that of Lich King and Cataclysm. Doing a bait and switch at the end would be counter-intuitive to their intentions.

[Ersula]

but arthas and illidan also were the driving forced behind their expansions,and guess what?they werent the final bosses...and ion SAID ABOUT WOD THE SAME THING,and it didnt happen,so its far far more likely that jailer wont be the end boss

Icecrown & Black Temple are considered the final full raids of their expansions. Sunwell & Ruby sanctum are just baby raids. They really were the final bosses of their expansions.

[Newname1234567890]

i think that the legendary gear uses those models

So I've been told!

[DeltrusDisc]

Sylvanas will definitely die in her raid. The Jailer will most likely backstab her once he sees she has outlived her usefulness, at which point Sylvanas will realize that she was just a pawn all along.

Sylvanas definitely won't be 9.3 material, since we already know Jailer, and not Sylvanas, is the main villain, central driving force, and final boss of Shadowlands. Arthas will help us defeat Jailer and earn a better afterlife for himself, proving Uther and Devos wrong.

Never. Ever. Say that without any proof.

[deenman]

1) It wasn't Ion who said Grommash would be final boss.

2) You keep bringing up Arthas as if it changes anything. Arthas was the final boss of the overarching storyline of Wrath of the Lich King, the dragon dude from that mini-raid was a random grunt who served as tie into Cataclysm. Meaning that if Jailer is not final boss, then by your own comparison the final boss will be some random dude who serves solely to hype the next expansion, and is not connected in any way to the Shadowlands storyline. At which point we might as well consider Jailer the final boss of Shadowlands, just like how 99% of the playerbase (and Ion himself) consider Arthas the final boss of WotLK.

3) Illidan can't be compared to Arthas and Deathwing because he was never the poster villain, he was never hyped up since the beginning, even the TBC trailer didn't focus solely on him, hence why Ion didn't even mention him as an example.

Regardless the intentions of the writers are clear. They want to build Jailer as this massive titan-level threat, whose presence in the storyline can be compared to that of Lich King and Cataclysm. Doing a bait and switch at the end would be counter-intuitive to their intentions.

yeah i agree,jailed proly will be the last main expansion related villain,i was just saying its more likely hes not the actual last encounter...

[Sluvs]

Im pretty sure we will deal with the Jailer before killing sylvannas, she is not her servant, the devs have said as much, I fully expect her to leave the jailer to do other shit.

But my prediction is similar to the op with the exception of the last raid, I think they will throw a curve ball at us.