BfA Patch Speculation thread (8.3 and later).

[Nyel]

factions most likely won't merge, also we won't have world revamp, all i think will happen is just another expansion, with new systems, new zones, raids, maybe new class. i wouldn't expect something trully revolutionary, because noone really wants revolution, and those that do want's their own personal brand of it, just like in classic "changes" crowd

A usual expansion might not be enough this time. It's 15 year anniversary and there better is something bigger coming than their usual 2y expansion.

[Venziir]

There's a loud WYYYHWROOOM sound when she says "NOTHING"... ooooh

Could also be her Banshee powers though.

[Khaza-R]

I don't think factions are being merged hardsale. Its a bit presumptious. All the small dialogue after the Org confrontation wouldn't be there if there was a big merge, not to mention it hardly looked at that at all.

I agree. I also think you wouldn't see them continuing to add faction exclusive content (Bee Mount) if a merger was looming in 8.3. But a merger doesn't necessarily need to happen for them to add features like co-faction raiding or mercenary mode in BGs.

[Kohtra]

@Kohtra They definitely aren’t getting rid of factions, 8.2.5 firmly cemented them. We’re far more likely to just see less faction conflict in the story. At this rate we’re far more likely to see two new factions rise out of the Forsaken and Night Elves (however I consider that pretty unlikely as well.)

And this is something I'd be perfectly all right with. It would be a return to the faction politics of Classic where I remember the devs saying that the factions are not at war, but there are factions within that are participating in battles against each other. That was the lore explanation for battlegrounds back then and why each battleground had reputations (Silverwing Sentinels vs Warsong Outriders in Warsong Gulch for instance).

That leaves the door open for interesting pvp content in future.

[Pheraz]

They even added a faction emblem in the login screen near your character name THIS patch.
Factions won't go anywhere (sadly).

I have more problems with how the factions are grouped (elves and undead with the horde) than that they actually exist.

[Sarethion]

They even added a faction emblem in the login screen near your character name THIS patch

Maybe the reason why they've added these emblems is because they're going to blur the lines between the factions without completely removing the divide. In such case having something that reminds you which faction your character belongs to could be useful to maintain some semblance of "faction pride".

[Cosmic Janitor]

I don't think factions are being merged hardsale. Its a bit presumptious. All the small dialogue after the Org confrontation wouldn't be there if there was a big merge, not to mention it hardly looked at that at all.

Let's be real here, allowing cross faction gameplay is probably the high of what we can expect. Dissolving the factions completely is nonsense, that much should be obvious.

[Sondrelk]

A faction merger definitely seems unlikely, but i would say there is a strong argument to be made for cross-faction grouping being a thing.
It does not massively impact the lore-gameplay dicothomy, and in fact may make it more realistic, as raids generally sound like the intent is to have cross-faction groups of champions doing them.

The only main problem with that idea are the few faction specific raid bosses or events. Though seeing as that is in the past it would not be more distracting than being a Dark Iron Dwarf being sent to rescue Moira from those dastardly Dark Irons.


I still cannot really see Shadowlands happening, it does not strike me as a location that inspires the imagination, seeing as the areas we know from it are pretty much exclusively dark and grey, and the rest is described as a featureless black void, there isnt really a whole lot to work with, as opposed to Northrend. Especially considering Emerald Dream became a raid.

Dragon isles seems like a safer bet, considering it is an island chain (presumably) that could easily be said to have different factions and biomes.
I would definitely prefer a world revamp though.

[Gurmech]

Stormwind is one of the main hubs for RPers, Blizzard does not usually care about them, and usually only give them what they want when raiders and collectors also benefit. But even so, destroying SW would probably be very unpopular.

[Nyel]

Stormwind is one of the main hubs for RPers, Blizzard does not usually care about them, and usually only give them what they want when raiders and collectors also benefit. But even so, destroying SW would probably be very unpopular.

I mean... there's no point to it.

Sylvanas is basically alone now unless you count Azshara (?) and maybe some kind of "death forces" we know nothing about. She cannot conquer or destroy Stormwind with no support(ers). It might have been her major goal but guess she ruined that by turning against the Horde and killing Saurfang. And why would N'zoth attack Stormwind either? It's just a city and afaik there's nothing titanic or mysterious hidden underneath it.

[Atticon]

I still cannot really see Shadowlands happening, it does not strike me as a location that inspires the imagination, seeing as the areas we know from it are pretty much exclusively dark and grey, and the rest is described as a featureless black void, there isnt really a whole lot to work with, as opposed to Northrend. Especially considering Emerald Dream became a raid.

Dragon isles seems like a safer bet, considering it is an island chain (presumably) that could easily be said to have different factions and biomes.
I would definitely prefer a world revamp though.

Broken Isles wasn't much to work with either and they expanded it vastly in Legion with a druid zone, a tauren zone, a night elf ghosts and naga zone, an entire hidden surviving night elf city and a vrykul zone.

And again, I think they learned their lesson with Cata and if we're getting any more old zone revamps it'll be a la Darkshore and Arathi. It's a massive expenditure of resources that could be spent on actual new content.

[Directionalk9]

Isn’t all the clamor for a revamp to see new content in old zones?

[Sondrelk]

Isn’t all the clamor for a revamp to see new content in old zones?

That, and to fix many of the problems plagueing levelling now. Mostly those centered around the narrative while levelling feeling extremely disjointed, made worse by the fact that most of the zones deal with problems centering around Cataclysm, and many of those who don't have been made obsolete by other problems, like Western Plaguelands having a substantial section dedicated to helping Tirion Fordring with his problems post-Northrend.

Secondly, many of the old zones are criminally underused, and now exist almost solely as wast stretches of nothing separating you from singular plot important locations, revamping the zones owuld allow at least some of the zones to recieve evergreen updates.

- - - Updated - - -

Broken Isles wasn't much to work with either and they expanded it vastly in Legion with a druid zone, a tauren zone, a night elf ghosts and naga zone, an entire hidden surviving night elf city and a vrykul zone.

And again, I think they learned their lesson with Cata and if we're getting any more old zone revamps it'll be a la Darkshore and Arathi. It's a massive expenditure of resources that could be spent on actual new content.

Broken isles did not have muchb to work with, but it did have something, namely the Tomb of Sargeras, which could be explained as being connected to Suramar, and suddenly we have 2 zones, Val'shara could be explained as being a part of it by virtue of Black Rook Hold being an important part of the war of the Ancients. And finally we add Highmountain because Huln Highmountain was important in the war of the Ancients, and to round it off Vrykul.

Of what i explained there, while it certainly was far more than what we knew about, it still did not have to reach far to explain most of it.
Shadowlands would. we know very little about specific areas, but what we do know from what we have seen is that it is an extremely dull and depressing place to look at, much more suited to being a single zone or raid.

[Drekmar]

I'd prefer if they start updating the most outdated locations.

[Raetary]

I still cannot really see Shadowlands happening, it does not strike me as a location that inspires the imagination, seeing as the areas we know from it are pretty much exclusively dark and grey.

I disagree entirely.

The fact that the Shadowlands so far have no concept except that some certain small areas are dark and gloomy make it imo one of the imagination inspiring realms in the entire franchise.
Same with the dragon isles.

The fact that is nothing to go for, allows one to make whatever they wish with it.

Hell, i have 2 map concepts that i made for fun that have some quite varied zones. (which are however somewhat biased towards greek mythology.)
https://i.imgur.com/ILgc1Xn.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/1WERyZ9.jpg

[Makabreska]

Honestly, we've spend so much time talking about a possible world revamp, I'm afraid I'll be underwhelmed by anything they do really.

Eh, dunno. We've already seen how good Arathi looked during the Warfront.

Maybe the reason why they've added these emblems is because they're going to blur the lines between the factions without completely removing the divide. In such case having something that reminds you which faction your character belongs to could be useful to maintain some semblance of "faction pride".

Good point. Or simply remembering which char belongs to which faction, w/o clicking on em.

[Sondrelk]

I disagree entirely.

The fact that the Shadowlands so far have no concept except that some certain small areas are dark and gloomy make it imo one of the imagination inspiring realms in the entire franchise.
Same with the dragon isles.

The fact that is nothing to go for, allows one to make whatever they wish with it.

Hell, i have 2 map concepts that i made for fun that have some quite varied zones. (which are however somewhat biased towards greek mythology.)
https://i.imgur.com/ILgc1Xn.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/1WERyZ9.jpg

Main problem i see with this is that we had a similar situation with the Emerald Dream, which everyone said would be a fantastic location for an expansion.
And they were right, from a design standpoint it would have been amazing, and the zones could have been some of the best made in the game.

And yet we did not get that, instead we got a raid depicting it. And that is because not only might it have been difficult to make cohesive zones for, it is also a pretty one-note idea. It is difficult ot make the world feel varied when the opverarching theme of the zones have already been set in stone.

Emerald dream for instance could have all the fantastic zones you could concieve of, but in the end the only real story you could make with them is one of someone invading it.
Similarly the Shadowlands could have all teh cool zones you could think of, but in the end nothing can hide the fact that it would become a bit samey after a while.

That is why i think it will get the emerald dream treatment. It will get a zone dedicated to it, similar to Val'shara, and then a raid later.

[Blayze]

I'd prefer if they start updating the most outdated locations.

Keep the existing stuff, make a modern-day version of each continent, and let us bounce between the two via the Caverns of Time.
Make everything scale to every character level, and then anyone can level anywhere--or anywhen--they want.

Alternatively, we colonise the Dream and use that as our world revamp.

[Drekmar]

Keep the existing stuff, make a modern-day version of each continent, and let us bounce between the two via the Caverns of Time.
Make everything scale to every character level, and then anyone can level anywhere--or anywhen--they want.

Alternatively, we colonise the Dream and use that as our world revamp.

Idk, about that. I just find it weird revamping cata stuff to break levleing again when we got the ancient OL going on.

[InfiniteCharger]

Idk, about that. I just find it weird revamping cata stuff to break levleing again when we got the ancient OL going on.

The only reason they don't update older zones with newer content each expansion is because their business model is selling expansions.
And the only way to sell an expansion is to have it set in a zone separate from current content so it can be closed off unless you pay for it.
Unless they get rid of paid expansions, this model of neglecting older zones in order to continue creating new ones is going to continue.

But the reality is there are only so many "new" places they can go to for an entire expansion.