BfA Patch Speculation thread (8.3 and later).

[Syegfryed]

A Reddit comment said this:


https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comment...h_825/f1edodc/

could be just they loosening up some restrictions like letting friends group up from both factions to do things, not rly unification/faction merge or you pick a race then chose a faction that would be bullshit, community those days seems to only work in extremes, 8 or 80, nothing in the middle term

Also looks like Sylvanas Loyalists are considered Horde traitors:

Like they always were.

[Makabreska]

These random NPC talks are really cool. They all show realistic approach to the recent events. Some think Anduin is weak, some are ready for a new conflict, and some are just tired of war.

[Ersula]

If Sylvanas becomes the face of Death Tyrande will be the face of Life and they'll both become major figures / arch enemies in the next expansion. It makes sense as a continuation of the Teldrassil burning storyline and it makes sense as Tyrande can finally get revenge on Azshara, too.

I figured two new factions would be led by Sylvanas & probably Anduin or Calia, but now I think It might be Sylvanas vs Tyrande. That would make sense as besides Thrall, they are the two most popular legacy characters. Still hope we get Forsaken Night Elf allied race.

On an unrelated note: Baine was too injured to show up at Org, but not too injured to meet Anduin & Saurfang in Deadwind Pass? And why was Rexxar there? His only dialog this expansion is about how Jaina is a monster, with no reason to change his mind but suddenly they're standing side by side??? He's not even a faction leader. There was no reason for him to be there. I really wish Ion would get his team of devs on the same page for once when it comes to writing the story

[FlubberPuddy]

These random NPC talks are really cool. They all show realistic approach to the recent events. Some think Anduin is weak, some are ready for a new conflict, and some are just tired of war.

Yeah, it’s adding a lot of realism and gradient to the world, just as it should be.

Not the typical binary that’s plagued the game for so long.

I hope to see more of it going forward, it’s more believable.

[Syegfryed]

They are really showing the division within the Alliance among all the random NPCs https://www.wowhead.com/news=295305/...-and-stormwind

Some just want the War to be done, others are still wanting vengeance against Sylvanas and/or the Horde.

like i said rly hope those are indeed confirmations of no unification, no merge, or other bullshit, we are just going to be like before, fight against each other in a cold war kinda state, and sometimes ally against a foe who want destroy the world.

[Resident Rump]

We should start at neutral or unfriendly with the other faction cities and then have to gain rep with the city factions if we want to go there.

[FlubberPuddy]

could be just they loosening up some restrictions like letting friends group up from both factions to do things, not rly unification/faction merge or you pick a race then chose a faction that would be bullshit, community those days seems to only work in extremes, 8 or 80, nothing in the middle term

That would honestly be enough for me. The being able to group with friends. I’m sure there are tons of people right now that have friends/family in the other faction these days and would love to play together.

Like they always were.

Yup, but by the way some people post it’s obvious they didn’t think so, “she’s the WARchief she’s doing it for the good of the Horde!1!1!!!!1@“

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Yeah, it’s adding a lot of realism and gradient to the world, just as it should be.

Not the typical binary that’s plagued the game for so long.

I hope to see more of it going forward, it’s more believable.

I rather they do more of it but...not in a divisive way(Cause Anduin being weak...lol...... you'll be singing a different tune when Death or N'zoth decides to make their moves). Like people in Stormwind IMO should of been talking about war with the Horde at the end of Legion and how something in Silithus is going on.

[FlubberPuddy]

like i said rly hope those are indeed confirmations of no unification, no merge, or other bullshit, we are just going to be like before, fight against each other in a cold war kinda state, and sometimes ally against a foe who want destroy the world.

Well here’s the thing. Even if say Tyrande (or Genn or whoever from Alliance) wants to instigate another “Cold War” or fighting with the Horde it’s not at all unified.

This is showing us for the first time that it’s not 8 or 80, we’re getting the in-between being shown now.

Some people don’t give a fuck or think it’s worth it. And that’s just within Alliance’s own faction. It’s the same way with the Horde, they’re showcasing a clear division between “Sylvanas loyalists” and those loyal to the Horde/a unified Horde that probably is glad the war is over.

Tribalism is weakening, despite some of it still being there.

I don’t know what the future holds, but with all this taken into account I don’t think it’s going to be simple to “reignite hate” between Alliance/Horde unless it’s super forced by Blizzard.

Some of the Night Elves say they still have hate in their heart or w/e but are tired of all the fighting. It echoes the sentiments of the playerbase, along with those who think it’s dumb being “buds” again.

But there’s a clear division now, it’s not clear cut “Red vs Blue” anymore.

[Ersula]

like i said rly hope those are indeed confirmations of no unification, no merge, or other bullshit, we are just going to be like before, fight against each other in a cold war kinda state, and sometimes ally against a foe who want destroy the world.

"Nothing Lasts" was the real theme here. The AllianceVsHorde dichotomy is over: The NPCs talking about hating the horde, are even talking about hating Anduin for even bothering with Saurfang. Battleground will probably still revolve around Horde vs Alliance just because all content exists in its own bubble of time anyway. We're facing full revolt of the population.

Lor'themar: He was sure Blood Elves would not take cooperation with the Alliance well, as their mistreatment at the hands of the Alliance caused them to change their entire cultural identity. Lor'themar himself flip-flopped on Sylvanas constantly, considering she was a High Elf War Hero.
Tyrande: Shandris has been leading the Sentinals. Her role in the Alliance is over & has no interest in cooperating with the Horde or any Alliance races who affiliate with them.
Darek & Calia: They're helping the Forsaken? They both hate the horde. Always did. Calia was part of the Church of Forgotten Shadow, the Undercity's official religion, but took the first chance at defecting to the Alliance she could get.
Gallywix: Gallywix was a Sylvanas loyalist. Hey, he's amoral but it's still a big deal. Not everyone was against Sylvanas as Warchief
Thalyssria: Literally just went along with everyone else.
Void Elves: Will probably be pretty curious about Sylvanas' incredible new shadowy powers & what she can offer them
Azshara: N'Zoth wanted Sylvanas to have the Dagger? We don't know where it is now. Did Sylvanas give Azshara the Dagger in 8.2 to help the Naga to put N'zoth in his place? N'zoth is only Azshara's reluctant master. Also all the players who will let Sylvanas do anything she wants if it means playable Naga

[Syegfryed]

That would honestly be enough for me. The being able to group with friends. I’m sure there are tons of people right now that have friends/family in the other faction these days and would love to play together.

they are prob taking the ESO route, there you have faction specific quests and stories, you are enemy of the others, but you can group with then, the guilds by example have people from any faction(this i think its extreme)

Yup, but by the way some people post it’s obvious they didn’t think so, “she’s the WARchief she’s doing it for the good of the Horde!1!1!!!!1@“

the mental breakdown from then is one of the good things this expansion has deliverer it.

Well here’s the thing. Even if say Tyrande (or Genn or whoever from Alliance) wants to instigate another “Cold War” or fighting with the Horde it’s not at all unified.

This is showing us for the first time that it’s not 8 or 80, we’re getting the in-between being shown now.

Some people don’t give a fuck or think it’s worth it. And that’s just within Alliance’s own faction. It’s the same way with the Horde, they’re showcasing a clear division between “Sylvanas loyalists” and those loyal to the Horde/a unified Horde that probably is glad the war is over.

Tribalism is weakening, despite some of it still being there.

I don’t know what the future holds, but with all this taken into account I don’t think it’s going to be simple to “reignite hate” between Alliance/Horde unless it’s super forced by Blizzard.

Some of the Night Elves say they still have hate in their heart or w/e but are tired of all the fighting. It echoes the sentiments of the playerbase, along with those who think it’s dumb being “buds” again.

But there’s a clear division now, it’s not clear cut “Red vs Blue” anymore.

that was basically what we had before, Horde and alliance were not rly in full war, but we had conflicts from small groups who belong to the factions

in ashenvale we had the warsongs and the sentinels, in Alterac the frostwolves and the dwarves, in the barrens dwarves and taurens, in Durotan humans from theramore/that other place and the orcs, humans and forsaken

he could just keep up with this, pretty much like cata, the lore was about the cataclysm, the dragons, twilight hammer, but in between we had the faction conflict to spicy some things like vashir, tol barad, Twilight highlands with the dragonmaw and the windhammer clan forsakens and worgens

Fuck, just bring this again im Happy, people who want war/vengence/faction conflict can have it, but it will not be the pivotal point of the expansion.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

"Nothing Lasts" was the real theme here. The AllianceVsHorde dichotomy is over: The NPCs talking about hating the horde, are even talking about hating Anduin for even bothering with Saurfang. Battleground will probably still revolve around Horde vs Alliance just because all content exists in its own bubble of time anyway. We're facing full revolt of the population.

Lor'themar: He was sure Blood Elves would not take cooperation with the Alliance well, as their mistreatment at the hands of the Alliance caused them to change their entire cultural identity. Lor'themar himself flip-flopped on Sylvanas constantly, considering she was a High Elf War Hero.
Tyrande: Shandris has been leading the Sentinals. Her role in the Alliance is over & has no interest in cooperating with the Horde or any Alliance races who affiliate with them.
Darek & Calia: They're helping the Forsaken? They both hate the horde. Always did. Calia was part of the Church of Forgotten Shadow, the Undercity's official religion, but took the first chance at defecting to the Alliance she could get.
Gallywix: Gallywix was a Sylvanas loyalist. Hey, he's amoral but it's still a big deal. Not everyone was against Sylvanas as Warchief
Thalyssria: Literally just went along with everyone else.
Void Elves: Will probably be pretty curious about Sylvanas' incredible new shadowy powers & what she can offer them
Azshara: N'Zoth wanted Sylvanas to have the Dagger? We don't know where it is now. Did Sylvanas give Azshara the Dagger in 8.2 to help the Naga to put N'zoth in his place? N'zoth is only Azshara's reluctant master. Also all the players who will let Sylvanas do anything she wants if it means playable Naga

I don't really think its a full revolt. Nothing lasts is more Sylvanas acting like Death is is inevitable and living is pointless.

[EbaumsTipster]

If they were testing crossfaction questing now, I wonder if it will also be in 8.3. If it's the big reveal of 9.0, I wonder if they are revealing both at Blizzcon?

[Syegfryed]

"Nothing Lasts" was the real theme here. The AllianceVsHorde dichotomy is over: The NPCs talking about hating the horde, are even talking about hating Anduin for even bothering with Saurfang. Battleground will probably still revolve around Horde vs Alliance just because all content exists in its own bubble of time anyway. We're facing full revolt of the population.

its not rly over its now not just black and white, there are people who want to fight and don't want to fight from both sides, no one is wrong or right

Like saurfang said, the abyss cannot be filled even with 1000 years, so, they only team up when someone is going to destroy the world, without that, they fight each other

thats the pike warcraft for me.

[brt2pp]

imo the biggest thing this patch introduced is "nothing lasts" quote from sylvanas that in my opinion will be centerpoint around wich story of 6.3 ending and next expansion will be built around. no idea how, but it sound cliche enough, and is spoken with such an emphasis in cinematic i feel like blizzard just gave a hint to the tone of next expansion. i wonder what writers want to convey with this. does it means wow won't last much longer ? or maybe it means our characters will permamently die ?

[Ersula]

If they were testing crossfaction questing now, I wonder if it will also be in 8.3. If it's the big reveal of 9.0, I wonder if they are revealing both at Blizzcon?

I'm in the 2 entirely new factions thing, but is crossfaction questing seems extremely weird, considering if you're questing anywhere in the game, you're questing in an era long before the end of this war campaign. I guess if they really wanted to end factions entirely it'd be very simple. Just set all the quests to neutral. Most quests were neutral in Wrath of the Lich King.

[FlubberPuddy]

they are prob taking the ESO route, there you have faction specific quests and stories, you are enemy of the others, but you can group with then, the guilds by example have people from any faction(this i think its extreme)

Honestly love the way ESO does it's factions. They are story based but anyone can do the quests on the PvE side, and then there's the whole PvP overworld where your faction matters.

Relating it to WoW, it would be like if people turn on War Mode, then go ahead and kill each other and fight over "Alliance sucks, Horde rocks!" or vice/versa idgaf if you can do all PvE quests regardless of "which side you're on".

It's a wish tho, not an expectation.

the mental breakdown from then is one of the good things this expansion has deliverer it.

I do enjoy it so as well. Reading all the salt is amazing.

in ashenvale we had the warsongs and the sentinels, in Alterac the frostwolves and the dwarves, in the barrens dwarves and taurens, in Durotan humans from theramore/that other place and the orcs, humans and forsaken

he could just keep up with this, pretty much like cata, the lore was about the cataclysm, the dragons, twilight hammer, but in between we had the faction conflict to spicy some things like vashir, tol barad, Twilight highlands with the dragonmaw and the windhammer clan forsakens and worgens.

Yes but this was also all slathered with "you're doing this because you're Alliance" or "you're doing this because you're Horde" like how some Horde players how cool Dark Irons are and maybe wanted to quests with them/gain rep with them etc. You weren't allowed to do that in Cata because the overworld big super faction (Horde/Alliance) still took precedent.

I would like to become a free-agent, like Valeera basically. She's loyal to the Wrynn family and thereby pretty much Alliance (I don't know if she has ever sabotaged Alliance in the name of Horde though).

Again, a wish, not an expectation. Blizzcon is going to be interesting.

[Ersula]

Like saurfang said, the abyss cannot be filled even with 1000 years, so, they only team up when someone is going to destroy the horde, without that, they fight each other

But if once again, the factions come together according to the High King of the Alliance's terms, what's the point of the Horde? If Anduin is like "oh no, you captured some alliance land" and a single Horde figure thinks that's wrong, game over. The actual people fighting in a war don't feel great about the leaders being extremely civil when they're the ones dying in the actual battles. And if Tyrande or any other leader still want's revenge, refuses to listen to Anduin's orders, in what way are they part of the Alliance?

[Foolicious]

If they were testing crossfaction questing now, I wonder if it will also be in 8.3. If it's the big reveal of 9.0, I wonder if they are revealing both at Blizzcon?

Maybe i don't get it, but whats so special about the quests in durotar?
If you don't have warmode activated you can share mobs and do worldquest (to an extend) with the opposing faction since warmode is a thing.

[FlubberPuddy]

If they were testing crossfaction questing now, I wonder if it will also be in 8.3. If it's the big reveal of 9.0, I wonder if they are revealing both at Blizzcon?

To me it does seem like there's a strong possibility that 8.3 gets revealed at Blizzcon. All depends on how soon they get 8.3 PTR up. Last PTR took about a month to go up, I bet they will be letting simmer on what just happened for the next 3-4 weeks or so.

If 8.3 goes up on PTR and isn't spoiler heavy, I predict one of those standalone twitch streams about it (if it happens before Blizzcon). Otherwise if it is secretive then it'll happen at Blizzcon.

Also, glad to see you back!

- - - Updated - - -

questing seems extremely weird, considering if you're questing anywhere in the game, you're questing in an era long before the end of this war campaign.

Blizzard honestly doesn't give a shit really, so far it's just been within the bounds of Faction. But for instance imagine being Zandalari and killing Zandalari in ToT. People are already memeing about playing as a Dark Iron and doing quests from Cata where you are fighting Dark Irons.

Then there's also this: https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comment...rofessor_whom/