BfA Patch Speculation thread (8.3 and later).

[FlubberPuddy]

7.2 was one of those patches that was best if you arrived to it after x amount of time had passed. The timegating was out of this world, but as far as patches go it was no doubt huuuuge. The Class mount questlines and the Mage tower alone carried a lot of my enjoyment.

Yup, I was subbed the entirety of Legion but 7.2 is when there was so much gating there wasn't a whole lot to do, ESPECIALLY if you weren't playing every class. Even then, the Mage Tower and Class mounts were probably the biggest highlight for 7.2.

This is one of the drawbacks of people who choose to have a main, they don't get the benefits of all the work Blizzard is putting in and then some would even take to forums and say content was null.

It's one of the things Blizzard carefully balances I assume, like in BFA there's much less of that, you simply would require 1 Horde and 1 Alliance character to experience all of BFA.

[Nyel]

That being said though, i do tend to agree with the general gist of the argument. 8.3 is going to take time, and BfA has already had so much extra dev time put into it to try to salvage some of the failed experiments that i think they might have to cut some corner on 8.3 to have 9.0 ready for Q3 release next year.

That's exactly why I was speculating what 8.3 might be. Let's just follow the idea 8.3 will be rather small in comparison and not have the scope of 7.2, 7.3 or 8.2. That pretty much rules out N'zoth as a raid boss imho which brings it basically down to a wrap up of the faction war with SoO 2.0 either in Stormwind or in Silvermoon imho.

I absolutely do not see Blizzard commit to an 8.3 that's vast in scope - they're so behind in their schedule with this expansion that it would be really strange if they'd make 8.3 another "massive" content patch.

[Sondrelk]

That's exactly why I was speculating what 8.3 might be. Let's just follow the idea 8.3 will be rather small in comparison and not have the scope of 7.2, 7.3 or 8.2. That pretty much rules out N'zoth as a raid boss imho which brings it basically down to a wrap up of the faction war with SoO 2.0 either in Stormwind or in Silvermoon imho.

I absolutely do not see Blizzard commit to an 8.3 that's vast in scope - they're so behind in their schedule with this expansion that it would be really strange if they'd make 8.3 another "massive" content patch.

I wouldnt say 8.3 being small rules out N'zoth.
I don't want N'zoth to be the final villain because he would have to share valuable final raid real-estate with the faction war, and SoO at least had the benefit of Y'sharrj not being a corporeal entity, and instead being a driving force that allowed Blizz to merge the disparate faction war elemts (Horde v. Alliance as well as Pandaren v Mantid for instance) Into one big raid without it feeling forced.

N'zoth would have to be gimped pretty bad unless Sylvanas has the same role as Gul'dan in WoD. Not to mention N'zoth is unique in that like the other old god bosses, he is in a specific area, and i cannot really imagine Blizz will want to have 8.3 in Nazjatar as well, just to squeeze in a N'zoth boss in the same location as Azshara.

- - - Updated - - -

I have been of the thought that 8.2.5 will essentially allow us to figure out the gist of the ending to BfA, and unless Bliz actually plans ot have a 8.3 similar to Battlefield: Barrens before the final raid in 8.4, building up to a N'zoth and faction war conclusion in the same raid is just not going ot happen.

[ophion1990]

Talanji may not forgive the Alliance per se, but she will eventually realize, if she hasn't already, that ultimately Sylvanas is to blame for the conflict in general. Speculating a bit here, since we've only known her for a few months, but: she is headstrong, but not vengeful. She'll prefer to broker a peace for her people instead of throwing even more of them to a death in war, just to avenge one death, even if it was her father's.

Far more than just one person died, though. Even if Talanji could want peace, the people who lost their family from the Alliance raid might not be all too happy to see Talanji act in such a way. Her people might just see her as being weak. Zandalar was where the trolls first settled and it's the longest standing empire, they take pride in that. Seems exceedingly unlikely to me that they'd settle for peace.

That said, it's WoW, so peace is probably how it'll go down.

[EbaumsTipster]

It's either Baine, or Thrall saying "no more warchiefs".

I'm suspecting it's No More Warchiefs, Blizz knows a lot of people don't like Baine.

[AngerFork]

It's either Baine, or Thrall saying "no more warchiefs".

I'm suspecting it's No More Warchiefs, Blizz knows a lot of people don't like Baine.

Agreed. I'm pretty sure that was partially also why Tyrande stormed out and took on Darkshore by herself...building a setup where both the Alliance and the Horde have a leadership council rather than a King/Warchief. That also provides a great way to allow cross-faction play and/or all races on both factions if the Alliance/Horde allow a member of the opposite faction to be on this leadership council.

Perhaps Saurfang is the Alliance Emissary for the Horde and Jaina (after she stops hating the Horde) becomes the Horde Emissary for the Alliance.

I guess for me a big patch is more about adding a lot of content rather than specifically adding landmass or populating existing landmass. For me 7.2 was big for sure. The quest lines and class mounts felt like a big, cool deal on top of everything else.

I could see that, and perhaps I need to give more thought to quests and the like when thinking of big patches. To me though, none of the class mount chains took all that long, so it's hard for me to overall consider it big. Same with the Mage Tower, which at it's base was simply a few solo boss fights. That being said, it had a ton of replayability and really did a good job of keeping me playing, even after Argus had run a bit dry content-wise. Timeless Isle I feel was similar in this regard...really not a ton of quests and the like, but the rare spawn rate and the various reward drops really had a way of making the content feel highly replayable.

Perhaps that's what I'd like to see really for 8.3. It doesn't really need a new land mass to be a good patch (though I'd still argue it's hard to call it big without one), but if they give a lot of replayability to the content and make you want to log in every day, then it can still be a success. I'd personally like to see them add in some Heritage Weapons behind a race-based Mage Tower like thing. Perhaps use an existing place like Silvermoon, but update it so that there's something there every day beyond just WQs to incentivize long term play.

Do it right, and Blizz can still make 8.3 properly help with the likely incoming content drought without it needing to be a "big" patch. That way, they can put extra effort into 9.0 as well and start off the next expansion the right way.

[Syegfryed]

It's either Baine, or Thrall saying "no more warchiefs".

I'm suspecting it's No More Warchiefs, Blizz knows a lot of people don't like Baine.

its just the natural path of the events.


the alliance became like the horde with the high king/warchief and the horde become like the alliance with no leadership/council

what a bullshit move

[EbaumsTipster]

its just the natural path of the events.


the alliance became like the horde with the high king/warchief and the horde become like the alliance with no leadership/council

what a bullshit move

If they continue with the Arthas/Anduin stuff, we may lose the High King position too.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I think we're putting Blanchy before the horse a little too fast. I don't think Blizzard is that willing to get rid of the Warchief title. That's always been a thing. High King...different matter and I don't believe thats the intention going forward.

[Makabreska]

If they continue with the Arthas/Anduin stuff, we may lose the High King position too.

What Arthas/Anduin stuff?

[AngerFork]

I think we're putting Blanchy before the horse a little too fast. I don't think Blizzard is that willing to get rid of the Warchief title. That's always been a thing. High King...different matter and I don't believe thats the intention going forward.

IMO, whether Blizz gets rid of the High King/Warchief titles or not will be a big sign as to whether Blizz is willing to put the faction war to rest once and for all. We've seen now twice in recent years where the faction war has been largely fueled by the sitting Warchief. Keeping that position in place gives Blizz an easy crutch to use anytime they want the war to resurface. Removing it really would go a long way towards ensuring the war doesn't return, or at least needs highly complex story pieces before it can.

[Makabreska]

Ok, so we got some info on the 8.2 affix:

Beguiling - beguiling represents the minions of Queen Azshara invading the dungeons of Kul Tiras and Zandalar. There are three types of handmaidens that will be present in a variety of pulls in different configurations from week to week.

There's one that has shadow power, one that is arcane, and one that is frosty. They have fun, different effects that will change the way you approach certain pulls. They'll make it so that certain pulls that you probably haven't done in the last five months, because you always skip them, you might actually have to do.

[Black Rider]

It's either Baine, or Thrall saying "no more warchiefs".

I'm suspecting it's No More Warchiefs, Blizz knows a lot of people don't like Baine.

Come on this will be too stupid

[Sondrelk]

I don't really think the Warchief position will disappear, mostly because that would require the drastic deconstruction and close look at the actions of the Horde and why so many of their leaders so easily lead the Horde to commit genocide and costly war campaigns seemingly just because they can.
Far more likely that Baine or something gets made leader, though personally i think Thrall will becoem warchief again, not really for any good reason, mostly just so Blizz can play on nostalgia.

[Nathanyel]

7.2 was one of those patches that was best if you arrived to it after x amount of time had passed. The timegating was out of this world, but as far as patches go it was no doubt huuuuge. The Class mount questlines and the Mage tower alone carried a lot of my enjoyment.

Indeed, 7.2 was an enormous patch. Sure, the timegating could've been handled better (more than just a new quest) but that was vastly preferable to just dumping everything on launch day or the week after. Even if it's a lot of stuff to do, people would quickly complain about how there's "no new content" for several months, even if they only touched a few of the new features.

Far more than just one person died, though. Even if Talanji could want peace, the people who lost their family from the Alliance raid might not be all too happy to see Talanji act in such a way.

Yes, but... so what? Same thing happened to the Kul Tirans, and all the other races.
Peace needs to be the thing to strive for, in a war that was started and repeatedly escalated by basically only one leader among the several. Dissatisfied citizens are better than dead citizens.
Depending on how peace or armistice comes along, it will only be a matter of politics to calm the populace, to paint this as a victory over the Alliance, or blamed on Sylvanas, who started it all, and/or on Bwonsamdi, who didn't assist Rastakhan as much as he could/should have. White lies in contradiction to my last line in this post, I know.

This isn't a war for territory anymore (which the War of the Thorns was supposed to be, which was the reason Saurfang supported it) and it now primarily rages in zones which weren't even in consideration when it started.

Plus, I really don't want Talanji to be another populist leader that promises her subjects "blood for blood".

[ophion1990]

Yes, but... so what? Same thing happened to the Kul Tirans, and all the other races.
Peace needs to be the thing to strive for, in a war that was started and repeatedly escalated by basically only one leader among the several. Dissatisfied citizens are better than dead citizens.
Depending on how peace or armistice comes along, it will only be a matter of politics to calm the populace, to paint this as a victory over the Alliance, or blamed on Sylvanas, who started it all, and/or on Bwonsamdi, who didn't assist Rastakhan as much as he could/should have. White lies in contradiction to my last line in this post, I know.

This isn't a war for territory anymore (which the War of the Thorns was supposed to be, which was the reason Saurfang supported it) and it now primarily rages in zones which weren't even in consideration when it started.

Plus, I really don't want Talanji to be another populist leader that promises her subjects "blood for blood".

If she lies/bends the truth it might happen. Though I don't think Bwonsamdi is gonna take kindly to taking all the blame, keep in mind that Talanji is still bound to him aswell. So unless Talanji can bank in on her bargain to cut ties with Bwonsamdi, that doesn't seem like a great option. Blaming it all on Sylvanas, who is the warchief of the Horde, could backfire aswell, since Talanji is the one who went behind Rastakhan's back to seek aid of the Horde to begin with. I really don't think Talanji is the problem when it comes to a peaceful solution, it's her subjects. She is beloved by some but, as we know from her coronation, not by all. Troll society is cutthroat, as we know from Rok'han. We also know even the man dubbed "God King Rastakhan" survived multiple assassination attempts, which is why I can't really see Talanji settling for peace as easily. She needs to show strength, which is hard to do when trying to compromise with the people who ravaged your kingdom.

[infinitemeridian]

So did the heroic warfront get tested? I haven't seen any news about it even though it was supposedly a few days ago. Nothing on the actual feedback thread either.

[GreenJesus]

Indeed, 7.2 was an enormous patch. Sure, the timegating could've been handled better (more than just a new quest) but that was vastly preferable to just dumping everything on launch day or the week after. Even if it's a lot of stuff to do, people would quickly complain about how there's "no new content" for several months, even if they only touched a few of the new features.



Yes, but... so what? Same thing happened to the Kul Tirans, and all the other races.
Peace needs to be the thing to strive for, in a war that was started and repeatedly escalated by basically only one leader among the several. Dissatisfied citizens are better than dead citizens.
Depending on how peace or armistice comes along, it will only be a matter of politics to calm the populace, to paint this as a victory over the Alliance, or blamed on Sylvanas, who started it all, and/or on Bwonsamdi, who didn't assist Rastakhan as much as he could/should have. White lies in contradiction to my last line in this post, I know.

This isn't a war for territory anymore (which the War of the Thorns was supposed to be, which was the reason Saurfang supported it) and it now primarily rages in zones which weren't even in consideration when it started.

Plus, I really don't want Talanji to be another populist leader that promises her subjects "blood for blood".

7.2 with huge content like "Kill 10 demons" and come back next week for "Loot 5 treasure chests". Such content, much story.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

7.2 with huge content like "Kill 10 demons" and come back next week for "Loot 5 treasure chests". Such content, much story.

Mage tower, so if you had a lot of alts it was pretty good(And if you were a 1337 hardcore wow gamer then yeah >.>)

[Nerovar]

Bran Stark will be Warchief. Mark my words.