Another "Blizzard art Dev AMA" at 4chan [kek]

[PelinalWhitestrake]

So, someone claiming to be from the art team, went to 4chan yesterday to make an AMA about the next xpac and BfA.
https://imgur.com/a/0isO9sG

take it with a grain of salt as always, because this is borderline "its so retarded that blizzard will probably do it".
For me, im still laughing with the Sylvanas fate and Tyrande's betrayal part because its Something that Danuser and Furor would pull it out.

Alright. Let me see if I can come up with a good summary of what the employee says and questions answered:

8.2: Azshara survives.

8.2.5:
-Worgen Heritage Armor will be knight-like in human shape, cool nightmare-is in worgen shape.
-Goblin heritage armor has a cool trade/gold theme to it.
-Tyrande defies the Alliance and attacks the Horde.

8.3:
-Vulpera and Mecha-Gnomes.
-Ends with an assault on Ny'alotha.
-Sylvanas makes herself the scapegoat to unite Horde and Alliance against Old God threat.
-Sylvanas absorbs the essence of N'Zoth and is killed, to send it to the Shadowlands. It is weakened, but returns.
-Azeroth the Titan appears at the end of the final raid to save us from crumbling Ny'alotha. Very unique model.
-Ny'alotha is within the planet. A Titanic plain where the Old Gods attempt to corrupt the Titan. Lovecraftian.

9.0+ Next Expansion:
-Untitled Black Empire expansion. All zones updated for 2020. Some zones merged. Void theme, but also rebuilding.
-Updated Quel'thalas' new look is a favorite.
-The team is much bigger than during Cata. No invisible walls to remove. Progress is very far.
-Guild Updates: Housing, new achievements, mounts, social features, removed guild controls restored. No auction house in guild hall.
-Guild Halls will be very customizable, with lots of options, combinations, even holiday stuff.
-Horde and Alliance are merging into one faction in 9.0. No more crossroads.
-Many Allied Races are becoming customization options of existing races, and more customization options are being added.
+This includes Mecha-Gnomes for Gnomes, High Elves and Void Elves for Blood Elf and Gilblins for Goblins.
+Vulpera and Nightborne will be the only races not to become customization options for existing races.
-All the Old Gods will re-awaken. And now without the limits on their true power. Their seals broken.
-9.0 will have a lot of Beta invites, for there is much stuff they want feedback on. Also Beta open quicker.
-One of the patches will be relying heavily on undeath. Something is happening up in Northrend.
-Titanforging is gone, but Warforging remains. No new Artifact Power grind system.
-More dungeons than past expansions. Less focus on how the affixes play into the dungeons.
-The next expansion's graphics are described as absolutely astounding.
-Gilneas and Silverpine Forest are becoming one zone, with a story about Gilneas' restoration.
-Future zones will be a bit more sandboxy. Like those in 8.2.
-The Ethereals join, to prevent Azeroth being destroyed like K'aresh. Expect to go K'aresh in the expansion.
-Sylvanas dies, but we'll see her again in the Shadowlands.
-Night Elves will be making Dire Maul (Eldre'thalas) and Feralas their new home.
-Desolate Council will return to lead the Forsaken. Also more customization for Forsaken, such as no bones.
-The PvP system is getting a revamp. They hope to integrate it in a way that makes story sense.
-Level squish will go from 120 to 60. Then level to 70. Alternative for adding further levels sought.

Upcoming Class design:
-Tinker Class as new Hero Class. Gnome and Goblin only. Strong campaigning may see other races added.
-Tinker Class is about riding a robot, shooting rockets and stuff, or deploying robot constructs.
-Classes less pruned in 9.0. More Class specific spells.
-Leveling system of 9.0 will come with a much more engaging rewards and talent system. Also new class quests.

State of the Game:
-Not worried about FFXIV. Convinced next expansion will put WoW back on top.
-Most of the team disagrees with the corporate practices of Activision.

Classic:
-Layering will only be for the first stages of the game. Launch day would be a shitshow without it.
-Only if Classic performs well, will they decide on Expansion Servers.

Future:
-Bolvar was behind the stuff with Vol'jin. Behind her uniting the factions against her. He lied.
-Plans to bring Azshara back as an ally in the future.
-They hope to learn from Classic about things to bring over to retail.
-Less expansion-specific content.
-Naga and Ogres would be difficult, but are not impossible in the future, as options exist.
-Pandaren Death Knights under consideration. No other new race/class combos.
-No plans to stop making expansions, as long as people continue to buy them.
-They want to stray away from shock value to focus more on development and engagement in the story.
-Having two factions has been a hindrance in the storytelling.
-When Arthas returns, he will remain an enemy of Azeroth. No redemption.
-Kel'thuzad could possibly make a return.
-With the faction conflict being resolved, more story can go to racial things, including Pandaren leaders.
-More things being account-wise is being worked on.
-Blightcaller will be a more independent character in the future, rather than a pawn.
-Calia Menethil will also show up when the theme of undead rises again.
-Ruins of Teldrassil will be explorable. Still in early development right now.

Obvious and Extra Stuff:
-Subscriptions are here to stay.
-Blizzard isn't going to be changing the word "nagas" despite some people apparently using it like the n-word.
-California is expensive living.
-The employee likes their job.
-3 Million subscribers, last they heard.
-No plans for Necromancers in 9.0.
-Female Ethereals will have boobs.
-No Dance Studio.
-No cash shop allied races.
-No plans to return to Outland any time soon.
-No plans for a return to Draenor, but there is story potential there.
-No plans for Warcraft 4.
-No new movie planned right now.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

People put way to much time into making fake leaks.

[Hellspawn]

I like this leak

[styil]

Knew it was a fake as soon as I saw Tinker.

[Mteq]

this is the first one i hope is A) real and b) happening

sounds to good to be true though.

[Shoggoth]

Thrall, Jaina, Baine again, please no.

[zorrka]

>Tinker
no way Jose

[CoolOnlineDog420]

Honestly I know these piss people off but I enjoy reading them, even if I know in the back of my head that they're straight up fake. A lot of WoW fans have cool imaginations.

[avitush]

I like a lot of what I'm reading here (especially the idea that we're blowing away factions and putting more emphasis on racial storylines instead of everything being about the Horde vs Alliance), but considering how often we've been seeing these "leaks" lately, I can't say I trust it. 99% chance it's fake.

[Kumorii]

The second response just shows that it's fake. Ion wasn't talking about de-pruning classes. He talked about making abilities work cross spec to have more of a class identity rather than spec identity.

[Steelcryo]

That is a lot of free time someone has to waste.

Some of the ideas are good, but mostly it's just the most popular community theories/suggestions in one thread.

[anon5123]

"revamping the entire old world again"

Confirmed fake. Blizz would never waste resources revamping the old world while simultaneously selling level boosts to skip past it.

[deenman]

you know how you can tell this is fake?he said artefact grind system is gone,NO WAY is blizzard ever going to drop that system,its their ultimate carrot on a stick racket,its just as silly to imagine ap grind system to be gone just as it would be to imagine removing the mount shop

[RangerDaz]

LOL.... allied races will become customization options for normal races.

A more fake leak than this is one is really hard.

[Voidwielder]

Too good to be true, especially the Gilneas bit.

[Thelyron]

>there are still people that can't accept that tinker is 100%, definitely going to happen
Sad.

[George Costanza]

he doesnt talk about the Heart of azeroth replacement system so i doubt it.

[Varitok]

The second response just shows that it's fake. Ion wasn't talking about de-pruning classes. He talked about making abilities work cross spec to have more of a class identity rather than spec identity.

They already said they went too far with pruning so that could absolutely mean De-pruning.

[Sangris]

I actually like most of these things. I don't think it's true, but it would definitely rekindle my interest in the game.

[DotEleven]

Wonder why people think "Tinker" is such a "fake" possibility when it's quite real. We've had quite a bit of mech themed things between mechagon bringing in the mechagnomes and the two island expedition teams providing very strong baseline for not just one but 3 specs.

Now, the one I think makes it obvious is "HIGH ELVES" when I do believe they've stated multiple times they aren't going to do them.

Edit: Oh and all this "customization option" stuff would've worked had it been there at the start. But not now that Dwarves and Dark Iron Dwarves are two different races with two different racials and different features. Which to be honest that's what I originally thought was going to happen. You'd pick Dwarf and then you could choose Ironforge, Dark Iron, or Wildhammer and it would just be a cosmetic change you'd still have the same racials. That's not how it's gonna be now.