BfA Patch Speculation thread (8.3 and later).

[Jalham]

Yeah, you know what. This discussion is going nowhere, i have made my position on this topic clear enough as is, and talking about is honestly tiring me out.



So onto more interesting matters.

Anyone else think there might be more quests waiting to be released before Blizzcon, or at the very least before 8.3? Seeing as Wrathion got that new model, but no use for it yet.
Calia as well got only the barest of mentions, so i am wondering whether they ahve more with her up their sleeves as the weeks go.

Since most of 8.2.5 was encrypted its still possible for more quests to unlock in the coming weeks honestly. I hope so.

[Sondrelk]

Since most of 8.2.5 was encrypted its still possible for more quests to unlock in the coming weeks honestly. I hope so.

It certianly wouldnt be the first time Blizzard has released a model that is not used immediately, but Wrathion especially seems odd, considering he might as well have shown up at the end of the questline, even if just as a hologram or something.

[crusadernero]

If they don't reveal the next expansion at Blizzcon they are completely doomed especially after last Blizzcon fiasco. I honestly don't believe they will take the chance to be ''Boooohoooed'' twice in a row at their own event.

Well it depends. If they out of nowhere brings out a brand new game people might get distracted. New IPs from Blizzard is usually a big deal. Dont get me wrong, if the announce a mobile game thats something else. Im talking about a brand new PC game with Blizzard standards.

Now I highly doubt we will get anything like that. Best we can hope for is D4, wow xpac and content updates for the other ips.

[Valysar]

Since most of 8.2.5 was encrypted its still possible for more quests to unlock in the coming weeks honestly. I hope so.

Yeah I think, we may have more timegated quests involving Wrathion and Calia

[Sondrelk]

Thinking about it, there was that forsaken nelf that was datamined as well "Amara Lunastar". Which is one of those that seem to be extremely weird to add unless there was something more to it. Unless of course it is a random Horde or Alliance NPC somehwere that noone noticed.

[TheFirstOnes]

I'm not going to say it'll be a redemption arc, but Blizzard writes archetypal stories that tend to follow pretty obvious blueprints.

Everything Sylvanas has done, going back to her bargain with Helya in Legion, and perhaps as far back as her pact with the valkyr, has been in service of "death," whatever that vague notion actually represents.

Now, I don't want to let those "leaks" prejudice my speculation as to what will happen next, so it's entirely possible that Death and the Void will both be enemies in turn, in which case Sylvanas will probably go the Lich King route and we'll have to kill her, and the Void will just be the next threat down the line (or vice versa).

However, it really does seem likely to me that the forces of death are going to be trying to defend Azeroth from the Void, because life and death are two sides of the same coin, and the void lords are clearly the biggest threat in the series. Whether or not the Shadowlands "leaks" had any kernels of truth in them, they do seem like precisely the kind of story that Blizzard tends to tell, and I think at the end of the day, the storyline we get will not be too far removed from that idea.

Sylvanas is fueling an army of the dead to fight the void lords. And that's her "redemption," just like Illidan, and even Sargeras. She's an "ends justify the means" antihero. It's not original, but neither is Blizzard.

I've said this before.

End of 8.3: N'zoth's defeat at Ny'alotha.

9.0: Undeath, Dragons, a Night Elf civil war, a Death God who's practically like Sargeras and the Void Lords in the Death cosmology, the closing of Sylvanas' Story Arc, and the rise of the Void.

And, lastly, 10.0: The Army of the Light, Elune, the return of Sargeras and Illidan, learning more about the Light, Anduin starts to lead the armies of the Light, Shadow, and all against the Void Lords, and the Final Battle happens.

[huth]

It certianly wouldnt be the first time Blizzard has released a model that is not used immediately, but Wrathion especially seems odd, considering he might as well have shown up at the end of the questline, even if just as a hologram or something.

And it does say he intends to meet us "soon".


Also, "The Light has allied with the enemy of all".

[serra2]

So did anyone else take advantage of the Sylvanas side disguise to murder the Black Prince Agent watching the battle go down?

[FlubberPuddy]

So who actually thinks a "faction unification" will happen and not just the same ol' "yeah we're buddies for now, but go back to fighting later" type deal?

Post your thoughts based on the story beats we've had so far, not your wants. For instance, Blizzard seems very self-aware that a lot of players would be saying what we're saying now "yeah yeah we've done this before, Horde/Alliance will go back to fighting each other soon - ThIs Is WARcRaFt!" with stuff like the Crossroads cinematic where Thrall basically says what probably everyone is thinking.

Then there are those NPC dialogues popping up during the War Campaign conclusion scenario and after it.

Yet for them to do a cinematic (2 arguably) on how they're "Breaking the Cycle" (reference to the Cycle of Hatred for anyone not familiar), which falls flat imo if it goes back to the same status quo that it's always been.

So honestly, I don't know. I would actually like faction unification, but based off of what's been shown it still seems to be in a place where they're just teasing it and we most likely won't know until the ending of BfA (based on what happens with Tyrande and shit imo).

I'll say this though, if Tyrande ends up seeking vengeance when rest of Alliance are "ok with peace now that Sylvanas is gone" and Horde are making amends then that means another type of scenario with the Alliance like how Horde had "Sylvanas Loyalist" and "Saurfang Loyalist". But I can't see Blizzard doing that. So either they'll break away from "Horde and Alliance" being the only factions players choose (story-wise, not game-wise) or somehow Tyrande will be convinced to stop.

[Foolicious]

As a non american player its way to much hate to go through here to keep up, so sorry if it has been discussed already.
Played the sylvanas loyalist part for now and i think this is the first time we hear nathanos and sylvanas confirm their love for one another isn't it?
I don't know if sylvanas may be a bit too ambitious if she thinks n'zoth will play into her hands and a bargain with azshara isn't dangerous.
Also was her bargain with helya that she kills a lot of people? Was it something else or has it been forgotten?
But her dialogue is a second confirmation(after wrathions) that n'zoth will be the endboss of bfa.

And at last tyrande still being out there in search of nathanos and sylvanas is nice. At least they didn't completely forgot that she exists.
Don't know why she didn't join anduin when he was going to fight sylvanas when thats all she wants though.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Cross faction stuff but not a hard melding of both forces. I.E. Humans in Orgrimmar and such. I don't know how long this Peace can last, Only example I can think of is basically two real world nations being allies and while different are still not at war with each other.

(Maybe U.S and Japan?)

Honestly, since BFA isn't over, anything could change.

[Sondrelk]

As a non american player its way to much hate to go through here to keep up, so sorry if it has been discussed already.
Played the sylvanas loyalist part for now and i think this is the first time we hear nathanos and sylvanas confirm their love for one another isn't it?
I don't know if sylvanas may be a bit too ambitious if she thinks n'zoth will play into her hands and a bargain with azshara isn't dangerous.
Also was her bargain with helya that she kills a lot of people? Was it something else or has it been forgotten?
But her dialogue is a second confirmation(after wrathions) that n'zoth will be the endboss of bfa.

And at last tyrande still being out there in search of nathanos and sylvanas is nice. At least they didn't completely forgot that she exists.
Don't know why she didn't join anduin when he was going to fight sylvanas when thats all she wants though.

Based on what Sylvanas is saying all she wants N'zoth to do is kill a bunch of people though. Quite the safe bet for Sylvanas.

What would be interesting though is how N'zoth goes in opposition. Does he try to kill Sylvanas first, or maybe he just takes this free turn Sylvanas has given him to put himself in a position where he won't lose going forward. Quite intriguing in theory.

[Pheraz]

"Forsaken Refugee: How could Sylvanas abandon us like this?

Forsaken Refugee: She's never been loyal to the Horde.

Forsaken Refugee: No, not the Horde. Us. The forsaken. We're her people.

Forsaken Refugee: Not anymore"

Pretty sad forsaken... Where is nathanos btw?

[Sondrelk]

Cross faction stuff but not a hard melding of both forces. I.E. Humans in Orgrimmar and such. I don't know how long this Peace can last, Only example I can think of is basically two real world nations being allies and while different are still not at war with each other.

(Maybe U.S and Japan?)

Honestly, since BFA isn't over, anything could change.

The EU started from making sure teh French and Germans did not start any more catastrophic wars that engulfed the continent, everything is possible if you take the time to do it right.

- - - Updated - - -

"Forsaken Refugee: How could Sylvanas abandon us like this?

Forsaken Refugee: She's never been loyal to the Horde.

Forsaken Refugee: No, not the Horde. Us. The forsaken. We're her people.

Forsaken Refugee: Not anymore"

Pretty sad forsaken... Where is nathanos btw?

That is quite the good question, i would assume in the Ghostlands like Sylvanas, but who knows. My guess would be that he is currently acting as an emmisary to some Sylvanas benefactor.

[Nagawithlegs]

Pretty sad forsaken... Where is nathanos btw?

Nathanos is with Sylvanas's rogue group, but he leaves to do something secret for her as usual.

My question: maybe I'm blind, but where is Xalataths dagger?

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Nathanos is with Sylvanas's rogue group, but he leaves to do something secret for her as usual.

My question: maybe I'm blind, but where is Xalataths dagger?

No clue but... if N'zoth is 8.3... that dagger will show up again.... I'm 90% sure of that!

[Foolicious]

Nathanos is with Sylvanas's rogue group, but he leaves to do something secret for her as usual.

My question: maybe I'm blind, but where is Xalataths dagger?

The conversation seems to point at him waiting to kill someone in the right moment or do something that could be harmful for sylvanas.

Xal'atath is probably in the posession of azshara/N'zoth. It was used to guide the way to nazjatar, then nathanos used it to find his way to a mysterious someone who is now very much confirmed to be azshara. He doesn't have the dagger when we see him after than in nazjatar again.

[Nagawithlegs]

I hope that Xalatath is using Xalatath then, for a laugh.

[Nyel]

Who expects Sylvanas and Azshara to outplay N'zoth? I mean come on. Both ladies are lit yet it's N'zoth they're dealing with. They don't stand a chance against his plotting and scheming.

Although I very much like which route the Azshara storyline goes, I wouldn't be surprised if she betrays Sylvanas as well.

[Hugnomo]

Hey guys! It's been a long time since I posted here on this thread, but I've been following it. And I certainly followed all the hype and debate around the new cinematics.
A couple of thoughts:

- I think the word "nothing" may mean more than we know. Sylvanas' last line in the high fidelity cinematic is "Nothing lasts". In the loyalist in-game cinematic, she repeats that exact line "Nothing lasts". And she infamously also said "The Horde is nothing. You are ALL nothing!"

Could "nothing" refer to an entity? The nothingness of death?
Could "Nothing lasts" mean both that everything eventually ends, but also that "nothing" lasts, as in eternal nothingness?

- Sylvanas is said to have had a mysterious power up. She reveals she has a bargain with Azshara (as was assumed from Nazjatar's trap) and that she intends to use N'zoth to inflict death, and that even he will serve Death and/or her.

When she first comes out in the cinematic, the shot focuses on her hand, which has swirling dark energy around it. You hear whispers as the energy empowers her.
The coloration and the whispers, as well as her recently been given said energy at the same time as she took Xalatath and made a bargain with Azshara, would point to said energy being Void. But wouldn't Lor'themar, Thalyssra and Jaina be able to identify Void? They said that they couldn't tell what magic it was, and that they couldn't even sense it. Could it be some new sort of power? Death related?

- I feel vindicated. Because when the log in screen for BFA first came out, I argued, that like Legion with Argus, it could point to some fundamental future development, and I speculated that it could be the end of the faction system (at least as we know it), since both the Alliance and Horde flags were laying in the shadows, facing a bright new dawn or something of the sort. Although not confirmed, it seems story developments are pointing towards some sort of faction change (also hinted at in the new faction symbols in the character selection).
I argued that since Legion fastened storytelling to make more drastic, fundamental changes - ending the Legion - BFA would follow that trend and fundamentally change another story thread that, like the Legion, had been present since inception and never really resolved - the faction war.

- Although I never thought Calia was being setup for Forsaken leader, and rather an AR leader of re-skinned (dead) humans, I gotta say it is increasingly seeming like it's what they're going for. Sylvanas ousted. Voss, who appreciates the founding tennet of the Forsaken (free will), spies on Calia, Derek and Jaina. Not only does Calia appear to have helped Derek, Jaina suggests she be a symbol of hope for others in similar situation.
I don't know how I feel about this. On one hand, I would like the forsaken to return to Lordaeron and its rightful citizens, accompanied by their rightful queen (who doesn't use them as arrows in her quiver, but actually cares for them like Voss). On the other hand, it may be too drastic a change to the core aesthetic and theme of the Forsaken? We do have classic now, and I've always wanted Blizz to get more bold with retail (world revamp for example). I also don't like that the forsaken will keep being lead by characters that do not look like them, neglecting the awesome forsaken model. But considering that they didn't even want to show more than forsaken eyes in the cinematic, covering them all up (for reasons I imagine may have to do with China or similar takes on dead related imagery), I guess we shouldn't hope for anything different. But I still don't know. I do love Calia and I loved Before The Storm. We will see.