Blizzconline Leaks / Speculation / Wishes

[masterjc]

I think you are the first guy(i've seen) that actually wishes for mobile stuff from blizzcon :P

that's simple
1. can't allow myself high performance PC, (back in WoD my PC was so slow, after doing garrison on all alts, I had barely no time left and not doing garrison, punished my alts heavily)
2. I work alot, and doing some AH stuff on my way to work or home helps alot

[rhorle]

That's simply my point. Not that the Raids themselves are completely known to us, but that they are predictable because there's only so many possibilities available that would be directly connected to the main narrative, because Blizzard _wants_ them tied to the main narrative. Just to be clear - Predictable meaning able to be predicted, able to be known. Very different than simply known. We don't KNOW what these raids are, but we are able to predict much of the theme or content based on connections to cinematics or major narrative beats.

So you are saying the lore and story is predictable but you haven't even played the current game? Really? You are doing this entire rant about a linear story simply by having watched cinematics and leaked raid details? That is hilarious. That is the only reason why you wouldn't know what a Broker is since they have appeared all over the Shadowlands and during questing and the story we have been introduced to them several times.

A broker has even been a raid boss already so your guess of what is raid viable is already wrong. This is the entire problem you have. Perception. You close your mind to everything actually happening and are stuck on this perception that the story is linear now because you need to create a reason for why you don't like it. When it has always been this way. Blizzard raid's didn't lack cohesion to the over all plot since TBC. You keep clinging to something that hasn't been true for 13 years now. Lol.

Your point is still wrong. Because your only supporting argument is Ulduar and we could easily predict it as a possible raid because of the supporting content it got in the narrative of WotLK. You are applying different rules to the past that you are not applying to current content.

[ClassicPeon]

that's simple
1. can't allow myself high performance PC, (back in WoD my PC was so slow, after doing garrison on all alts, I had barely no time left and not doing garrison, punished my alts heavily)
2. I work alot, and doing some AH stuff on my way to work or home helps alot

Yeah i meant nothing negative by it. Just after all the memes about "dont you guys have phones" i've never really heard anyone actually wanting the mobiles games

[Triceron]

Because your only supporting argument is Ulduar and we could easily predict it as a possible raid because of the supporting content it got in the narrative of WotLK. You are applying different rules to the past that you are not applying to current content.

Here's a better example.

Look at the raids that came out in WoD, Legion, BFA and Shadowlands.

All of them have at least one connection to cinematics or main narratives in the game, either to an important character or place. We may not have known exactly which characters, or the exact place, but they're all connected by a singular narrative, or foreshadowed in cinematics.

If we look at Ulduar or Throne of Thunder as examples, there was no singular narrative in these expansions. If you could consider any one singular narrative in WOTLK, it could be the one set by Wrathgate; basically Horde and Alliance progressing and having shaky tensions towards taking down the Lich King. If there were any singular narrative in MoP, it would be the Horde and Alliance faction war happening in Pandaria, and such events like the fall of the Jade Serpent statue or Garrosh messing up Anduin real bad. Most of the other plot threads are tertiary situations, such as the Mantid invasions, the Yaungols, the Vrykul etc. Characters like Yogg Saron and locations like Ulduar and Throne of Thunder weren't a part of that main narrative, they were simply a part of the greater narrative of exploring this new land and dealing with any of the threats within.


Everything in WoD moving forward had a massive shift in direction. Much more focus on a linear narrative, much more integration of Voice acting, more cinematics in and out of the game to push a cohesive storyline. All of that results in a more immersive experience.

And it also sets a course where we can potentially see what comes next simply by paying attention to the narrative, because we aren't likely going to get a Raid that completely deviates from that narrative. And so far, raids haven't deviated much from it. Look at all the progression of raids and how many of them are foreshadowed simply through cinematics.

Highmaul - Smart Ogre present in Kargath's cinematic, promoting awareness of smart Ogres
Blackrock Foundry - directly connected to Blackhand and the role he plays in the narrative
Hellfire Citadel - Gul'dan is the main threat, follows Gul'dan's main actions in the narrative.

We may not have known the exact progression of which order these were taken, we may not have known that Archimonde would ultimately be the end big-bad, but we know through the narrative that this was going to be the direction the raids were progressing. At the time of WoD, most people probably weren't aware of any formula being followed, but it's pretty clear in retrospect if we see that it also applied to the following expansions.

So what is my point here? I think had it been a different direction, there would have been a chance to have a raid to explore the Breakers or Primals, maybe a raid to explore Arrakoa lore, maybe get a Shattrath raid etc. It should be clear that we did not get any raid that was disconnected from the main plot.

If you look at TBC's raids, there were many raids that were disconnected from each other. Karazhan, Zul'Aman, Gruul's Lair, Cavern of Time Hyjal - these were all raids that existed outside a main narrative. Of course we also had Raids that tied into the main narrative like Black Temple, like Sunwell, but my point is that with a mix of both Main Narrative and Tertiary threat Raids, it kept us guessing at what we could possibly get next. The raids weren't presented solely in one narrative progression.

As I say again, what I'm referring to is in context to how leaks have become more focused and predictable due to most of them surrounding the main narrative. This is more than just 'you are more aware of the narrative now than before' as you're trying to say. This is a direct connection of all raids to the narrative, rather than the possibility of having disjointed side adventures as Raid content as we used to.

So you are saying the lore and story is predictable but you haven't even played the current game?

Yes, because most of the narrative has been presented directly using ingame cinematics and the raids are following this narrative closely.

It makes it predictable because we know that future raids WILL have a connection to things we've seen in cinematics, one way or another. There is VERY LITTLE chance that Blizzard will make a raid that involves something that has zero connection to the main narrative. Even something that might be considered deviant like Nazjatar and Azshara appearing amidst a Horde-Alliance faction war may seem like disconnected from the main plot, but it has direct ties to a cinematic which foreshadowed her as well as bridging in a major character like Ashvane, who appeared in many of the main narrative (pre-rendered) cut-scenes. From there, Azshara's raid ended with foreshadowing N'zoth, and that leads straight into Nyalotha. What raids weren't made? Nothing tackled the Drust. Nothing focused on the Sethrak. These were threats that were not established in the pre-rendered game cutscenes. The raids all focus on the narratives pushed forward in pre-rendered cutscenes; the Main narrative.

f course even the early expansions have somethings we did know, like eventually going to ICC to fight Arthas, or eventually taking down Deathwing, or going to the Black Temple to fight Illidan; but for the most part we had no pattern or formula that was directly hinting to us what was going to be coming directly after the raid we accomplished. There was no foreshadowing in Black Temple that pointed us to Sunwell. There was no connection between Naxxramas leading us into Ulduar or ICC into the Ruby Sanctum etc. There was no formula to follow.

We have a formula today that is pretty darn clear to follow, even for people who aren't playing the game.

Garrosh. Arthas. Anduin. Kel'thuzad. Tyrande. These are characters to pay attention to. And whatever cinematics/pre-rendered cutscenes you will see in and by the end of 9.1 will inform everyone of what potentially comes next in 9.2.

[Orby]

Is there an official blizzconline discussion thread or is this going to be it?

[Sondrelk]

Is there an official blizzconline discussion thread or is this going to be it?

Well it's either this, the 9.X patches and 10.0 speculation thread or the 9.0 General Discussion thread. This one seems to be the most active though. I would keep tabs on all 3 to see where most players are discussing.

[Sagnar]

Where can I find the stream link? NVM found it now

[rhorle]

All of them have at least one connection to cinematics or main narratives in the game, either to an important character or place. We may not have known exactly which characters, or the exact place, but they're all connected by a singular narrative, or foreshadowed in cinematics.

Which is true for both Ulduar and throne of thunder. We see the thunder king resurrected and kill the troll who did it. The problem is you keep ignoring anything that doesn't fit your argument. Those places were all hinted at and foreshadowed in the lore. You have a formula to follow only because you are including any main bad guy and ignoring the rest of the game. That same formula existed before as it does now.

The difference is your perception and awareness.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Any wishlists / speculation?

There really isn't much that can happen.

• Shadowlands just came out a few months ago so there will be no new expansion announcement, just a patch. Bleh. Also don't care about WoW anymore.

• Diablo 4 is in development hell. Was also announced several years too early, as is the usual for Blizzard, so no reason to care about it until 2024 or 2025 or whatever. None of what I've heard about it appeals to me, unlike D3 (still salty that the second expansion never happened)

• Overwatch 2 was announced several years too early. Also I don't care about OW anymore after they cancelled the graphic novel, created five dozen subplots and never resolved any of them, and the plot hasn't moved forward at all. We might get a cinematic, and that's it.

• Starcraft is dead, and even if a spinoff was announced, I wouldn't care given how the story became a trashfire after WoL.

• New HotS character? Meh. Don't care about HotS after they killed the game with the 2.0 overhaul that gave away the master skins I had earned to random people in lootboxes.

• Hearthstone is P2W and I dropped out years ago.

This year's Blizzcon will be quite stale.

i am not sure how many ppl here are still that much interested in what Blizz do. they clearly showed that they have nothing in common with the „old“ Blizzard. so i asume a lot of ppl just not care at all. and therefore not care much about a thread like this.

^^^

Used to be a huge Blizzard fanboy up until 2014, when Metzen left and the quality of the storytelling plummeted. Blizzard games weren't masterpieces, but they had heart, but after Metzen left Blizzard just stopped trying. Also their business practices got scummier and the quality of their games dropped, what with the removal of reputation storylines being replaced by crappy world quest and artifact power grinding, taking reputation mounts of of the game and selling them in the cash shop (Iron Skyreaver, Grinning Reaver, Fey Dragon, etc), and so on.

The Blizzard I loved is dead. All of the people who made it are long gone, and they don't make the same games anymore. In it's place is just another AAA company wearing the mask of Blizzard. Also sucks to hear about what has happened to the company and employee culture there.

[Traveler Voltin]

i want a new Starcraft game but outside of just fighting the UED again. i dont know of any other unresolved plot issues.

[Triceron]

Which is true for both Ulduar and throne of thunder. We see the thunder king resurrected and kill the troll who did it. The problem is you keep ignoring anything that doesn't fit your argument. Those places were all hinted at and foreshadowed in the lore. You have a formula to follow only because you are including any main bad guy and ignoring the rest of the game. That same formula existed before as it does now.

Foreshadowed in the lore wasn't my point.

- I'm noting a difference between All Narrative Lore and a singular Main Narrative that has existed since WoD.
- You are still referring to a broad All Narrative Lore approach in defining what is connected to the 'narrative'. I'm pointing out here and now that there was no singular 'Main Narrative' in the expansions before WoD, at least not one as clearly defined as we have today.
- When I talk about linear narrative, I'm talking about the lore relating to main characters that we see definitively through pre-rendered in-game cutscenes or promotional cinematics (Warbringers, Warlords spotlights, Shaohao)
- The plot for the latest expansions can be completely understood through simply watching and regarding these cinematics. All of them have ties into each raid, and each has direct connections to Raid content that followed the continued narrative. Such an example is N'zoth's release appearing in the Azshara 'death' cinematic.

You can consider anything as being foreshadowed in the greater lore of an expansion, but that is different from predicting it as upcoming raid content through the main narrative. There's a very big difference here considering anything that is in the greater narrative could be taken as 'foreshadowing' without any context.

Look at all the plot lines happening in Warlords of Draenor. There are dozens upon dozens of potential plot lines to turn into raids, and each one of them you could consider 'foreshadowing' had they ever happened. Yet the ones that did get turned into raids have a direct line of connection to a singular main narrative or have connections to things shown in cinematics.

There have been no raids since WoD that have deviated from stuff in the main narrative or hinted through cinematics. That is my point.

How would Throne of Thunder be connected to the main narrative when there was no main narrative to speak of? The Thunder King being ressurected and killing the troll happened IN the patch that Throne of Thunder was released. And simply having a tie to the Mogu questlines isn't a means of predicting it as future Raid content. All of the Troll and Mogu content related to Throne of Thunder was all presented in patch 5.2. There was no narrative formula to follow to predict that Lei Shen would be the subject of the 5.2 Raid; there was nothing to follow up on in 5.1 that narratively leads directly into 5.2.

I'm not saying that Throne of Thunder and Lei Shen were completely disconnected to the story of Pandaria. I'm saying that there was no direct line of narrative or cinematic hint that would lead straight into predicting Throne of Thunder as potential raid content. If you were to consider that 'oh well we had Mogu quests and dungeons that hinted it' then it is closer to guessing considering how widely applicable 'foreshadowing' applies to any open questline.

I'm not saying that it was completely unpredictable back then, I'm saying it's much more predictable now since we have a clear pattern and formula that Blizzard is using. This is clearly different than simply saying we have more awareness. No matter how much awareness you had regarding the narratives happening in Wrath or Mists of Pandaria, there were no patterns that would point directly to Ulduar or Throne of Thunder as raid content. The narrative examples you gave of Lei Shen killing the prophet that ressurected him happened in the same patch he was introduced in; that's not a direct narrative foreshadowing.

[Syegfryed]

i rly wished they remake warcraft 1 and 2 using the reforged graphics

also fix reforged

[arandomuser]

i wonder if m0 gear will be upgradable would be nice if you could do the megadungeon and if it drops a nice trinket or something you could upgrade it to sort of make it semi relevent

[Kereberus]

There really isn't much that can happen.

• Shadowlands just came out a few months ago so there will be no new expansion announcement, just a patch. Bleh. Also don't care about WoW anymore.

• Diablo 4 is in development hell. Was also announced several years too early, as is the usual for Blizzard, so no reason to care about it until 2024 or 2025 or whatever. None of what I've heard about it appeals to me, unlike D3 (still salty that the second expansion never happened)

• Overwatch 2 was announced several years too early. Also I don't care about OW anymore after they cancelled the graphic novel, created five dozen subplots and never resolved any of them, and the plot hasn't moved forward at all. We might get a cinematic, and that's it.

• Starcraft is dead, and even if a spinoff was announced, I wouldn't care given how the story became a trashfire after WoL.

• New HotS character? Meh. Don't care about HotS after they killed the game with the 2.0 overhaul that gave away the master skins I had earned to random people in lootboxes.

• Hearthstone is P2W and I dropped out years ago.

This year's Blizzcon will be quite stale.



^^^

Used to be a huge Blizzard fanboy up until 2014, when Metzen left and the quality of the storytelling plummeted. Blizzard games weren't masterpieces, but they had heart, but after Metzen left Blizzard just stopped trying. Also their business practices got scummier and the quality of their games dropped, what with the removal of reputation storylines being replaced by crappy world quest and artifact power grinding, taking reputation mounts of of the game and selling them in the cash shop (Iron Skyreaver, Grinning Reaver, Fey Dragon, etc), and so on.

The Blizzard I loved is dead. All of the people who made it are long gone, and they don't make the same games anymore. In it's place is just another AAA company wearing the mask of Blizzard. Also sucks to hear about what has happened to the company and employee culture there.

I wish I could be this cynical.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

Here we go folks. Strap yourselves in.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Wake me when we get to the BC Classic.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

-MIND BLOWN-
We have only have the Winter Queen and Arbiter left!!

[rhorle]

-MIND BLOWN-
We have only have the Winter Queen and Arbiter left!!

It said 3 keys remaining I thought. Though for the "original" leaders you are correct.

[Sondrelk]

It said 3 keys remaining I thought. Though for the "original" leaders you are correct.

Quite interesting that he doesnt have the Primus' key. Denathrius' I guess could be excused as him simply not having given it yet. I am going to guess that the Primus hid his key in the Sepulcher, this would also explain why the Runecarver is still alive if he is indeed the Primus, the Jailer is hoping to find out where the Sepulcher is eventually.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Hilarious how the stream has been going on for over half an hour and so they've spent 90% of it talking about "be nice to each other" and hearthstone cards. The patch 8.2 trailer was all of a grand total of 2 minutes. No wonder they're dragging out the hearthstone cards; they've nothing actually meaningful to talk about.