The War Within 11.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[PaladinBash]

I dunno why but i feel like with broken being teased in ma'nari questline, we might get early access to 2 allied races with next expansion preorder.

They would be available in 10.2.7 or if 10.3 happens then somewhere around that or after.

Yeah I also thought it was an obvious signal they're going to be an AR or customisation option soon. Pre-order bonus seems like a good call on that. I'm sure the Horde will have something else similar in the works as well.

[Ansi]

this is 2018 and wow stuff is in gold.

You're absolutely right. So we get zero clues from the colors.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

Yeah I also thought it was an obvious signal they're going to be an AR or customisation option soon. Pre-order bonus seems like a good call on that. I'm sure the Horde will have something else similar in the works as well.

Yeah, Velen made an offer there and it really sounded like "join us on azeroth" kind of thing.

On horde side i would like mok'nathal, now that they are finally on azeroth and being seen as equals - both races have models that could be easily be turned to playable characters, since they reuse all the animations of draenei and kul'tiran - which is mostly how allied races system operated, besides kul'tirans new rig.

But it's just wishful thinking and i think it would cool to have to lvl 2 new races in the draught season.

[Worldshaper]

Potentially some massive clues within this "collection".

What makes you say so?

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Yeah the 'discussion' thing for DF was cringe. Hopefully blizzcon they will go back to a more presentation style. The situation also lends itself better for a presentation. Hopefully 'discussion' just refers to the fact that they always have room for a few questions at the end of a panel.

Right?

They have done a lot of "discussion style" panels in the past. For example the voice actor's thing. I loved those. But when it comes to actual game news, just break it down to me with a good old PDF and some video clips. No need for faux excitement amongst colleagues.

That's partly why the possibility of there being just the one main stage slightly worries me. Because I don't see a scenario in which modern Blizzard would want to host a regular dev panel on the main stage. They probably (erroneously) think that their viewers want something more exciting and dynamic, with goofy and smiling zoomer devs cracking jokes at one another around a table.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

They have done a lot of "discussion style" panels in the past. For example the voice actor's thing. I loved those. But when it comes to actual game news, just break it down to me with a good old PDF and some video clips. No need for faux excitement amongst colleagues.

I hate these fake devs roundtables talking like they don't know each other or are first time hearing about something that they've been actually working for a long time..

[Worldshaper]

I hate these fake devs roundtables talking like they don't know each other or are first time hearing about something that they've been actually working for a long time..

Yup. Huge waste of time.

I just want some nerdy dev with an oversized bowling shirt that has the latest expansion's logo on it, sitting behind a rectangular table with a few colleagues, taking us through a PowerPoint presentation that shows new zones, concept art, gameplay features, transmog, and stuff like that. Just go back to the basics.

[Ansi]

Sneaky Blizzard ... Big clue right here?



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What makes you say so?

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The BlizzCon collections often had stuff thematically related to the next expansion

[Raetary]

Sneaky Blizzard ... Big clue right here?

It's not any more a clue than the pyjamas or bear.

Especially as its literally just a DF mob, but with a sadle on it.

[Worldshaper]

Sneaky Blizzard ... Big clue right here?



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The BlizzCon collections often had stuff thematically related to the next expansion

Oh, I agree. I just wondered if there was something about the text you linked that gave something away, because I couldn't see it.

[Ansi]

Oh, I agree. I just wondered if there was something about the text you linked that gave something away, because I couldn't see it.

Specifically "set of in-game goodies".

[ImTheMizAwesome]

When they show murlock pet based on one of the big lore figures then it will be some sort of clue for at least major character that will be a lead in next expansion.

[Dracullus]

Whether the expansion is good is another matter. BfA I still stand by had the most effective opening pitch since Wrath.

Every single expansion beside MoP (DF is unknown) had more effective opening pitch than Wrath. We literally know initial sale numbers. But yeah, BfA managed to sell better than Legion and WoD despite middle of summer release and no work from home situations.

I hate these fake devs roundtables talking like they don't know each other or are first time hearing about something that they've been actually working for a long time..

Diablo panels, although far more chaotic, at least feel like human conversation between people that are working together.

[Samin]

Sneaky Blizzard ... Big clue right here?



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Yes, this 100% proves that they're announcing new stuff from the company with the ice themed name at Blizzcon.

The BlizzCon collections often had stuff thematically related to the next expansion

Has actually happened more than that once in 2017?

[Worldshaper]

Has actually happened more than that once in 2017?

I looked up the ones since 2012.

• 2012 - BlizzCon was cancelled this year
• 2013 - Murloc Crusader from Diablo
• 2014 - Murloc Grom - Same year WoD was released
• 2015 - Murloc Illidan - Same year Legion was announced, but that happened at Gamescom already
• 2016 - Murloc Horde / Alliance soldiers - Not super relevant to Legion
• 2017 - Horde / Alliance airships - Same year as BfA was announced
• 2018 - Horde / Alliance cloaks - BfA was released
• 2019 - Murloc Anduin and Sylvanas - Same year Shadowlands was announced, but they were already relevant from BfA I suppose.
• 2020 - Cancelled
• 2021 - BlizzConline had the Moon-touched Netherwhelp and Blizzard bear
• 2022 - Cancelled

The ones that feel a bit "teasy" are really 2017 and maybe 2019 and 2021.

[Teriz]

But, that's kind of the problem. Because 'elemental expansion' is.... We already know what that is.

Well we don't, because Blizzard could push the concept in directions we currently can't anticipate.

We've already dealt with the Elemental Lords in Cata and Legion, there isn't much of a storyline to continue there. They're all generally passive at this point and the various Issues they had are dealt with. What storyline is there left to deal with?

I'd imagine that the storyline will reveal itself more in a few weeks when BlizzCon happens, because we don't know how Dragonflight is going to resolve itself.

Worgen and goblins don't have anything to do with an elemental expansion, they were forced out by techtonic behavior and dealing with that (Which, frankly, would only happen in the event of Kezan ending up a city, Gilneas is probably doomed because there's no reason to add an Alliance only city Kezup near Lordaren). Frankly "Its a world revamp and the elements are causing issues AGAIN" is going to feel like such a retread of Cata that its going to be dunked on. Plus, well, Cata wasn't a popular expansion. Sure there's less popular, but its still generally regarded as the 'this is where things went bad'

Yeah like I said, Kezan and Gilneas are likely to be resolved already by the time 11.0 begins. Again, it's a resolution of the events that began in Cataclysm. Kezan itself lends itself to Undermine that can be used as a jumping off point, or as the location for the core of the expansion. Considering that this is beginning to look like an expansion based on elements, Undermine is looking to be more of a neutral hub for both factions to enter deeper areas of the planet.

I believe that the expansion being underground would avoid making the expansion feel like a retread of Cataclysm.

[Worldshaper]

Today marks 5 weeks until BlizzCon, by the way. Last Friday before we're within the final 1 month stretch of counting down.

[Harbour]

Narrative principles have never been relevant when it came to Blizz writing.

Because they never failed to let the steam breath out. Set ups for the story and story itself never had too many expansions in between.
MoP set up Old Gods stuff for BFA, and there were two expansions in between.
TBC and WoD set up Legion stuff for Legion, and it happened next expansion (or 4 expansions since TBC).
Shadowlands stuff was built up since BFA and happened next expansion.
Light is bad was kickstarted in Legion, then continued in Mag'har questline and Scarlet Crusade messages in BFA, then echoed in Revendreth in SL. In DF it was more about Tyr, not the Light itself, and more about the Void, so its another 4 expansions of the build up.
I doubt they will spend 5th expansion in a row building up Light and Void.

[ZyntosAran]

https://twitter.com/Qwik/status/1707736816164778090

Cata classic or Cata 2.0 confirmed. /s

[hipolnalrt]

https://twitter.com/Qwik/status/1707736816164778090

Cata classic or Cata 2.0 confirmed. /s

He liked the comment saying that Cataclysm classic looks dope.

[pacotaco]

Pretty sure at the time we didn’t know that the Drust were related to the realm of Death. We assumed they were related to the Dream as some of the Drust had founded the Thirnspeakers which were Kul Tiran Druids. Though I may be wrong and misremembering if it was confirmed they were Death related at the time.

The Bwonsamdi storyline was pretty much small fry. Certainly not enough for it to be considered the secondary theme of an expansion. It was a HvA expansion with the Old Gods as the secondary theme.

If I remember correctly, the Thornspeakers were originally Drust. But while most of the Drust turned to Death for power, a small section of them turned to Life and become the first Thornspeakers.