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

[PotHockets]

I bet the elemental mount is just a reward for watching the keynote event itself in a certain time frame. It's a Blizzard elemental, emphasis on Blizzard. Then the gryphon probably being either the Algari Stormrider or something similar to it.

Why on earth would they use a pre-order bonus for an unannounced expansion as an image to advertise the announcement. That makes 0 logical sense.

[ZyntosAran]

I bet the elemental mount is just a reward for watching the keynote event itself in a certain time frame. It's a Blizzard elemental, emphasis on Blizzard. Then the gryphon probably being either the Algari Stormrider or something similar to it.

Why on earth would they use a pre-order bonus for an unannounced expansion as an image to advertise the announcement. That makes 0 logical sense.

that elemental mount is 100% a reward for the digital blizzcon pass.

[Myrrh]

Yes, they totally would. Again, it is entirely possible that Dwarves took the name "Stormrider" from those elementals, since they live around titan complexes full of Earthen on Northrend.

Counterpoint, this exists and has stormrider in the name so clearly the heroic mount is actually a dwarf. eyebrow wiggle

In all seriousness, creative crack theories can be cool but your insistence on this one is weird. The existence of the dwarven storm hammers, explicitly linked to the term 'stormrider', when dwarves with hammers are known for riding - wait for it - gryphons would seem to indicate that the mount is probably a gyphon.

Could it be something else? Sure! But finding some random mob by plugging 'stormrider' into wowhead and shrieking 'eureka!!' is not the smoking gun you seem to think it is.

I bet the elemental mount is just a reward for watching the keynote event itself in a certain time frame. It's a Blizzard elemental, emphasis on Blizzard. Then the gryphon probably being either the Algari Stormrider or something similar to it.

Why on earth would they use a pre-order bonus for an unannounced expansion as an image to advertise the announcement. That makes 0 logical sense.

As others have said, it's the Blizzcon swag which is distinct from the xpac collector's edition. They'll likely reveal it in the lead up to Blizzcon to increase the sales of whatever the not-virtual ticket bundle is.

[Teriz]

You don’t see how a mount based on the denizens from the next expansion isn’t tied to the theme of next expansion?

Yeah, it's doubtful that the mount is based on the denizens of Khaz Algar or even directly tied to them lore wise. Just like we don't see Tangled Dreamweavers in patch 10.2.

Even though he’s a separate race from a dwarf now, we still classify Magni as a dwarf because he still talks & acts (mostly) like a dwarf.
Same would apply to Khaz Algar dwarves.

Because Magni was a dwarf that got transformed. In this case we have Earthen somehow inflicted by an anomaly that makes them act like dwarves. It's not a similar situation.

If Mimiron and the other Mechagnomes acted like our Gnomes we’d just call them Gnomes.
Nobody argues that King Mechagon isn’t a Gnome even though he was fully a machine.

Because again, King Mechagon started off as a Gnome and transformed himself into a machine. He wasn't a Mechagnome not inflicted by the curse of flesh, he was trying to reverse the curse of flesh.

We don’t because it’s not in our dwarves culture. Khaz Algar could be different.

That's not what the datamining shows. It has weapons also labeled for Stormriders, again showing that "Stormrider" refers to the Dwarven rider, not the gryphon.

With that said I can also say that the mount could be Ethereal or Void based due to the datamined leaks.
But I don’t because it’s obvious it’s a gryphon.

I'd love to see any datamined leaks pointing to Ethereals or the Void.

[Sondrelk]

Because the Dwarven Riders are called Stormriders, not their beasts. Further, it is entirely possible that the name "Stormrider" comes from those elementals from the Storm Peaks.

Beyond that, Blizzard offering a crazy looking elemental mount makes more sense for a heroic mount than a gryphon, and it better ties into the elemental thematic of the expansion.

Why can't both be called Stormrider? The gryphon is called a Stormrider, and since Stormrider rider is a stupid name, they just call themselves Stormrider.

[ZyntosAran]

Yeah, it's doubtful that the mount is based on the denizens of Khaz Algar or even directly tied to them lore wise. Just like we don't see Tangled Dreamweavers in patch 10.2.

Why?
We literally saw the SL Mount everytime we used the flight master.

[Sondrelk]

Stormrider is a good name for a gryphon. Storm is not, and Stormrider rider is also not a good name for someone riding a gryphon.

[Raetary]

Because the Dwarven Riders are called Stormriders, not their beasts. Further, it is entirely possible that the name "Stormrider" comes from those elementals from the Storm Peaks.

You do realize that "Stormrider" can apply to both the beast and the rider, right?

[Teriz]

Counterpoint, this exists and has stormrider in the name so clearly the heroic mount is actually a dwarf. eyebrow wiggle

In all seriousness, creative crack theories can be cool but your insistence on this one is weird. The existence of the dwarven storm hammers, explicitly linked to the term 'stormrider', when dwarves with hammers are known for riding - wait for it - gryphons would seem to indicate that the mount is probably a gyphon.

Could it be something else? Sure! But finding some random mob by plugging 'stormrider' into wowhead and shrieking 'eureuka!!' is not the smoking gun you seem to think it is.

As others have said, it's the Blizzcon swag which is distinct from the xpac collector's edition. They'll likely reveal it in the lead up to Blizzcon to increase the sales of whatever the not-virtual ticket bundle is.

It's almost as if someone is not reading what I'm typing....

1. The existence of Dwarven hammers referring to "Stormrider" only backs up my point; In Dwarven culture, the "storm rider" is the Dwarf, not the Gryphon.
2. The "random mob" called "Stormrider" exists near titan complexes on Northrend full of Earthen, the ancestors of Dwarves. Again, making it possible that Dwarves took the name "Stormrider" from those "random mobs".
3. An elemental heroic mount being offered for the expansion makes more sense if the thematic of the expansion is elements, which the evidence is showing rather clearly.
4. I only brought up the BlizzCon elemental to show that Blizzard was potentially using that as a hint to the expansion theme. Obviously that ice elemental is not the heroic mount. I have no idea why you thought I made that argument.

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Why can't both be called Stormrider? The gryphon is called a Stormrider, and since Stormrider rider is a stupid name, they just call themselves Stormrider.

Because it never has in the past, and even the datamined weapons we're getting now that are referring to "stormriders" are still referring to the Dwarven riders.

[Sondrelk]

It's almost as if someone is not reading what I'm typing....

1. The existence of Dwarven hammers referring to "Stormrider" only backs up my point; In Dwarven culture, the "storm rider" is the Dwarf, not the Gryphon.
2. The "random mob" called "Stormrider" exists near titan complexes on Northrend full of Earthen, the ancestors of Dwarves. Again, making it possible that Dwarves took the name "Stormrider" from those "random mobs".
3. An elemental heroic mount being offered for the expansion makes more sense if the thematic of the expansion is elements, which the evidence is showing rather clearly.
4. I only brought up the BlizzCon elemental to show that Blizzard was potentially using that as a hint to the expansion theme. Obviously that ice elemental is not the heroic mount. I have no idea why you thought I made that argument.

- - - Updated - - -



Because it never has in the past, and even the datamined weapons we're getting now that are referring to "stormriders" are still referring to the Dwarven riders.

What evidence? The only thing you have is that Stormrider has storm in the name, and Squally is named after squall.
Seems much more likely to me that you get the Algarian Stormrider Gryphon, with a baby gryphon named Squally to go with it.


And why can't the Gryphons also be called Stormriders? It's not like the Dwarves literally fly around on storms. They do in that case mean that the Gryphons are either also Stormriders, or that the Gryphons are the storms they are riding. And since storm is a weird collective name for Gryphons i think it more likely they consider the Gryphons Stormriders.
Therefore, Algarian Stormriders.

[Teriz]

Why?
We literally saw the SL Mount everytime we used the flight master.

Yeah but they're not called Enscrolled Everwyrms.

[Gloriandus]

Riders of the Storm!

Heroes of the Storm!

Maybe just Stormrider

MMO-C leak version: World of Warcraft: Breakers of the Eye of the Storm, 2 new battlegrounds

[ZyntosAran]

Yeah but they're not called Enscrolled Everwyrms.

In germany we say "Merkste selber, oder?"

[Sondrelk]

Yeah but they're not called Enscrolled Everwyrms.

That's a real niggle you are arguing here. We didn't see the DF green dragon model used anywhere either, does that mean it isn't a green dragon at all?

[NikolaiShade]

What evidence? The only thing you have is that Stormrider has storm in the name, and Squally is named after squall.
Seems much more likely to me that you get the Algarian Stormrider Gryphon, with a baby gryphon named Squally to go with it.

I would point out gryphons got updated animations for dragonriding and gryphons are almost immediately associated with (wildhammer) dwarves. On a more pedantic note, the naming "Algarian Stormrider" is more in line with a geaographical connotation to identify a specific kind of animal otherwise more broadly spread

[Teriz]

What evidence? The only thing you have is that Stormrider has storm in the name, and Squally is named after squall.
Seems much more likely to me that you get the Algarian Stormrider Gryphon, with a baby gryphon named Squally to go with it.

I've listed the evidence several times. I'm not going to make yet another list for you to pick through and pull a bunch of whataboutisms like you're doing here with Squally.

Yeah Squally could be a baby gryphon, but it could also be (and more likely is) a baby elemental.

Why? Because this guy is on the Key art;

[ZyntosAran]

I've listed the evidence several times. I'm not going to make yet another list for you to pick through and pull a bunch of whataboutisms like you're doing here with Squally.

Yeah Squally could be a baby gryphon, but it could also be (and more likely is) a baby elemental.

Why? Because this guy is on the Key art;

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzzqrhMWIAkSqfQ.jpg

maybe its a baby orc.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

stormrider leak, obviously it's a cat.

[Ersula]

Because the Dwarven Riders are called Stormriders, not their beasts. Further, it is entirely possible that the name "Stormrider" comes from those elementals from the Storm Peaks.

Beyond that, Blizzard offering a crazy looking elemental mount makes more sense for a heroic mount than a gryphon, and it better ties into the elemental thematic of the expansion.

technically in wow they've only been called "gryphon riders" and "stormtalons" up until this point they were only called "stormriders" in hots. They were also demonstrably shaman if you need it to be elemental themed.

And there's the other reference to the term, the weapon transmog, that claims "stormriders" are known throughout all of azeroth. Combined these points to the iconic gryphon rider rts mount. How else would "known throughout azeroth' fit something supposedly a culture that had no contact with the rest of azeroth

[Myrrh]

It's almost as if someone is not reading what I'm typing....
...
4. I only brought up the BlizzCon elemental to show that Blizzard was potentially using that as a hint to the expansion theme. Obviously that ice elemental is not the heroic mount. I have no idea why you thought I made that argument.

Because, and I'm going to say this slowly, I wasn't talking to you about the Blizzcon mount in that post. Literally quote replying someone else. Something something those in glass houses.

Also, way to ignore the Frostborn Stormrider NPC which also meets your rather flimsy criteria. Probably easier to mount than one of those revenant models...