BfA Patch Speculation thread (8.3 and later).

[Revamp Man]

Are these the indistinguishable nonsense sound whispers, or actual quotes that say something?

Depends on if you can translate

[Hugnomo]

thank god none of these trash ideas is happening....

yes they do its called continute...

yesh so you want shit stories like in vanilla? thanks no....

1. Thank god this is a speculation thread and you have absolutely no idea what is or isn't going to happen. I'll hope for my trash ideas to happen, you hope for yours.
2. I assume you're talking about "continuity"? Continuity means having a consistent and continuous story. Keeping things the same and not reflecting the changes to the story does not uphold continuity, it breaks it.
3. Do I want worldbuilding similar to what we had in vanilla? Sure! I want Azeroth to be timeless and relevant. Not barren wastelands.
Do you want a once in 10 years revamp tied to a temporary expansion story that will get outdated in the span of 1 expansion like Cataclysm? No thanks ... (See I can do it too )

[TheFirstOnes]

Let's be honest here, the story in Classic was about as generic as it got. I just want a balance to be honest. Mostly between good storylines, and a living, breathing, world.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Still skeptical of a world revamp even if I think the game needs it. Needless to say some examples:


Elwyyn Forest: Don't just leave it alone and be nothing and just Defias remnants, its just silly and well needs more.

Durotar: No more Kul'tirians spying about. Turn those huts into...something leaning towards Iron Horde related stuff, at least not huts.


Edit: I realize I said not to do but you get what I mean.

[Hugnomo]

"When your thrones run red with betrayal... when your holy places burn and the shattered mask hangs above your hearth... only then you will know. And it will be too late."

Saw some one youtube bring up this quote from Varimathras in relation to the Reckoning cinematic. Never thought about it that way.
Sylvanas was betrayed and the shattered mask was hanging above Orgrimmar. "only then you will know." ... Except we still don't know much

I'm also wary of how it refers to "thrones" - plural. I still think Sylvanas' will attempt to take Stormwind. A "storm" has been referred to something imminent throughout the whole expansion. And in the book "Before the Storm", Sylvanas first presents her desire to do so.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

"When your thrones run red with betrayal... when your holy places burn and the shattered mask hangs above your hearth... only then you will know. And it will be too late."

Saw some one youtube bring up this quote from Varimathras in relation to the Reckoning cinematic. Never thought about it that way.
Sylvanas was betrayed and the shattered mask was hanging above Orgrimmar. "only then you will know." ... Except we still don't know much

I'm also wary of how it refers to "thrones" - plural. I still think Sylvanas' will attempt to take Stormwind. A "storm" has been referred to something imminent throughout the whole expansion. And in the book "Before the Storm", Sylvanas first presents her desire to do so.

That storm comment was mentioned by a Kul'Tirian but relating to the seas. So unless Sylvanas brings back a big fleet..... N'zoth is coming.

[Tezra1520]

I found this speculation on Reddit pretty spot on imo. Nothing most people haven’t said or thought of, but it lays it all out nicely.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comment..._sylvanas_the/

[Sondrelk]

Still skeptical of a world revamp even if I think the game needs it. Needless to say some examples:


Elwyyn Forest: Don't just leave it alone and be nothing and just Defias remnants, its just silly and well needs more.

Durotar: No more Kul'tirians spying about. Turn those huts into...something leaning towards Iron Horde related stuff, at least not huts.


Edit: I realize I said not to do but you get what I mean.

I feel that a hypotethical world revamp would have to be built from the perspective of each race and a likely route they would take in EK and Kalimdor.
Preferably each races starting zone should explain your characters main motivation for adventuring, and give you a realistic first "boss" at the end, before setting you out in the wider world.

Elwynn forest is in this respect pretty great, though lacking in focus. Going wildly from murlocs to kobolds to gnolls at the end. In a perfect world it should have a main focus on one of these, and build a story around a tangible threat that can be defeated. Elwynn for instance could show gnolls attacking Stormwind, not as a huge threat, obviously. But something tangible. Then let us know there is a gnoll chieftain that is causing the gnolls to act up, and then finally asking us to defeat him, starting our adventure as the hero of Elwynn.
It wouldnt be a lot, obviously, but it would feel tangible, and therefore give a small seense of accomplishment that could be built upon. And as an added bonus it works as a small sense of what the humans surrounding Stormwind do all day, making the world feel that tiny bit more alive.

Other starting zones would obviously have something similar, Orcs would learn about the quilboar and how they are a problem to the subsistence farmers outside Orgrimmar, or the traders from more fertile lands. Forsaken could center around reclaiming more of Lordaeron from the remnants of the scourge, and show more of what forsaken life is like.


Generally i just think that questing as it is now is a bit too patchy, even without it being stuck in Cataclysm, many zones just have you meander around for a bit hopping from one important questline to the next, compare for instance Western plaguelands with its inconsistent tone between war and local threats, to Eastern plaguelands with its pretty great caravan storyline.

[FlubberPuddy]

its to show that there are still the ones who will be "loyal" to her even if she betray and kill then to sacrifice to a death god, they think they are special or something, pretty common.

Hopefully there's a raid/dungeon one day with Sylvanas fanatics, then it'll be fun seeing the "loyalist" players killing em.

- - - Updated - - -

I think Blizz has some plans still for this choose your side system.

To be honest, I would love it but I'm not gonna try to hype myself over it until I see more of what they're trying to do. They as in Blizzard. We'll probably know the extent of "choose your side system" at Blizzcon.

[Theoris]

Would the land of thros count as shadowlands

Thros is a part of the Emerald Nightmare, so no.

[Hugnomo]

That storm comment was mentioned by a Kul'Tirian but relating to the seas. So unless Sylvanas brings back a big fleet..... N'zoth is coming.

It could be just that, but I have a feeling that they wouldn't dangle a "stormwind assault" in such an ominous way if they weren't going to do anything about it. And the fact that the city is called "Stormwind", while "storm" being constantly referred to with such emphasis (not only now in that kultiran, but in several mob, npc text throughout the whole expansion), makes me wonder. Maybe it's all connected. And it would mirror SoO nicely in a MoP 2.0 expansion (particularly since we've had our own SoO cut short this time around).
Anduin and the Alliance stood with Saurfang and Thrall in defending the Horde. Maybe they would return the favor later on in Stormwind.

But I'm not saying that this is going to happen. Just thinking out loud

[Revamp Man]

"When your thrones run red with betrayal... when your holy places burn and the shattered mask hangs above your hearth... only then you will know. And it will be too late."

Saw some one youtube bring up this quote from Varimathras in relation to the Reckoning cinematic. Never thought about it that way.
Sylvanas was betrayed and the shattered mask was hanging above Orgrimmar. "only then you will know." ... Except we still don't know much

I'm also wary of how it refers to "thrones" - plural. I still think Sylvanas' will attempt to take Stormwind. A "storm" has been referred to something imminent throughout the whole expansion. And in the book "Before the Storm", Sylvanas first presents her desire to do so.

Tyrande is going to betray the alliance at least as far as not killing horde or the alliance being betrayed by the king not helping the elves

Holy place burning is the world tree

Shattered mask being one being loyal to sylvanas

I think we are at the end of the quote


Like ogmut the passage of lady wrapped in swirlies is done

[Aeluron Lightsong]

It could be just that, but I have a feeling that they wouldn't dangle a "stormwind assault" in such an ominous way if they weren't going to do anything about it. And the fact that the city is called "Stormwind", while "storm" being constantly referred to with such emphasis (not only now in that kultiran, but in several mob, npc text throughout the whole expansion), makes me wonder. Maybe it's all connected. And it would mirror SoO nicely in a MoP 2.0 expansion (particularly since we've had our own SoO cut short this time around).
Anduin and the Alliance stood with Saurfang and Thrall in defending the Horde. Maybe they would return the favor later on in Stormwind.

But I'm not saying that this is going to happen. Just thinking out loud

I'm not entirely putting Siege of Stormwind outside of possiblity, it may still happen. Just not as early as people were thinking and no I don't think Bolvar Deus ex machina coming would happen. As random as the real world can be, thats just too much admittingly if Bolvar we knew was still around he'd probably tell Sylvanas to fuck off.


Really who knows, I doubt Sylvanas fled just to then decide to invade Stormwind, there's no big army, even if she has stubborn loyalist at her side.


Also about Tyrande, I'm still betting "She has gotten her vengeance comment" was akin to "No we're not revealing things yet." Considering her absence, I think I'm close.

[Nagawithlegs]

I think the location of 8.3 is one of the biggest mysteries in WoW lately. I can think of a handful that would work.

[Vasoka]

I think the location of 8.3 is one of the biggest mysteries in WoW lately. I can think of a handful that would work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWbIoIR04c

[Obelisk Kai]

I think the location of 8.3 is one of the biggest mysteries in WoW lately. I can think of a handful that would work.

I think Nya'lotha is the most likely, as everything has been building towards it for a while now.

[Taeldorian]

Which could just as easily mean, next raid Sylvanas, after that N'zoth.

Sylvanas is the antagonist of the expansion, and last time i checked, we tend to have a final raid where we defeat teh antagonist of the expansion.

That’s not really true anymore actually. They specifically said they want expansions to lead into each other now. So for example, in WoD we had Gul’dan as the antagonist and he survived which caused legion. I’d assume it works similar here where Sylvanas is the antagonist so they’ll work her into the next expansion which probably means we won’t face her until later and whatever she does in 8.3 will lead directly into or cause 9.0. That’s my assumption at least.

Honestly though everything is up in the air. Even if we vs N’zoth, sylvanas could still be present. She made a deal with azshara who is very in with N’zoth right now so who knows what everything will look like. The Loyalist meet with sylvanas tells me she’ll somehow be relevant when we face N’zoth due to her deal with azshara.

[Sondrelk]

Just had a thought earlier today. What happened to all the speculaiton surrounding the Westfall map datamined around beta. Give nthe timeframe the devs are working with when it comes to zone design, i wonder if that could have been the earliest hints of a Stormwind raid, where the endgame zone is in Westfall.

Might be reaching a bit, but still. Cannot think of anything else the zone would have been used for.

[Nagawithlegs]

I think Nya'lotha is the most likely, as everything has been building towards it for a while now.

I think Nta'lotha will appear, but i don't know how much of the zone it will constitute. It could just be the raid.

[Sondrelk]

That’s not really true anymore actually. They specifically said they want expansions to lead into each other now. So for example, in WoD we had Gul’dan as the antagonist and he survived which caused legion. I’d assume it works similar here where Sylvanas is the antagonist so they’ll work her into the next expansion which probably means we won’t face her until later and whatever she does in 8.3 will lead directly into or cause 9.0. That’s my assumption at least.

Honestly though everything is up in the air. Even if we vs N’zoth, sylvanas could still be present. She made a deal with azshara who is very in with N’zoth right now so who knows what everything will look like. The Loyalist meet with sylvanas tells me she’ll somehow be relevant when we face N’zoth due to her deal with azshara.

The problem is not that Sylvanas has to be defeated in a complete way, the problem is that N'zoth close to nothing to do with the faction war storyline which is BfA main story. Sylvanas could survive to be a villain in the next expansion as well no problem. More specifically the problem is one of a narrative failing, Sylvanas is the villain of the expansion, and even if we don't fight her directly, she is the villain of the main story, and she didnt really make N'zoth the villain of the faction story, she just ran away and meant that the faction war ended before the ending of the expansion, which make about as much sense as Arthas running away before the final raid on ICC.

Still though, i have mostly given up on explaining this, it just gets tiring after a while, and since changing it is futile, we might as well just accept it.