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

[Izalla]

All this talk surrounding storms as a potential theme for next expansion is giving me flashbacks to 2013 pre WoD leak season and we had just learned about the Heroes of the Storm trademark with several of the guys thinking that could be our 6.0 title and theorising what the storm could be and who the heroes were.

I distinctly remember a guy from back then who was very into the leak seasons and go had a Bilbo Baggins artwork avatar and started every forum post off with “What ho”.

For those interested

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...rk-Application

You have unlocked a forgotten memory for me with this. I definitely know what you're talking about, but I don't remember his name.

[Nebron]

What do you NOT want to see in 11.0?

Bad writing
But in all seriousness, Light vs. Void theme and any cosmic threats. I can accept anything else, really, especially if it's rooted in old school high-fantasy.

[PotHockets]

Fair. Nozdormu hugging gnome wasn't it.

Nozdormu hugging gnome was everything

[ro9ue]

To play devil's advocate, I just mocked this up in a few minutes. Not great with AI generation, so the background isn't ideal, but the copy and type was pretty simple.

I do think that Blizzard's move to a flatter design language makes these fakes a bit easier to do.

The AI art there has the signature swirls and that's not the Netflix brand font. (can use Circular probably)

Those 2 things aren't present on the first one.

Not saying its not fakeable btw (this one is):

[Nightshade711]

What do you NOT want to see in 11.0?

Another filler expansion.
Give me the void that they’ve been building up to since Legion.

I don’t care if it’s cosmic or not if the writing is good. (So long as we stay away from the Zereths)

They could pull a Legion and have us go to K’aresh (or some other void stronghold?) in a final patch, but keep us on Azeroth for most of the expansion.

[Teriz]

Lol, easy I don't want to see any Underground or any sort of locked in area, claustrophobic

Keep in mind that Toweliee's assertions are still the most potent leak we've had thus far besides the key art and the name of the heroic mount. He seems pretty adamant that we're doing underground content of some kind. However the general thrust of the leaks outside of his assertions appear to be storm-based, so thus far we have an interesting dichotomy of underground and storm.

Both parts of the element theme of course.

[milkmustache]

The AI art there has the signature swirls and that's not the Netflix brand font. (can use Circular probably)

Those 2 things aren't present on the first one.

Not saying its not fakeable btw (this one is):

image

Yea I have a tough time properly using AI prompts, this looks great though.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Was curious about how some basic AI prompts around stormy/wind gryphons would look. Some very mindblowing results that definitely won't pass close-up scrutiny but could definitely pass for fake leaks as we've already seen happen a few times. AI is scary.

All but the first probably would register quite immediately as AI art for me, but it's definitely a tool that has potential to be used for convincing fake leaks if only we had more people be more precise, more meticulous, and more diligent about it. If someone were to keep iterating until they found something really stylistically-consistent and then be as thorough as possible editing mistakes or oddities, we could get some pretty convincing fakes out of this.

[Santandame]

Keep in mind that Toweliee's assertions are still the most potent leak we've had thus far besides the key art and the name of the heroic mount. He seems pretty adamant that we're doing underground content of some kind. However the general thrust of the leaks outside of his assertions appear to be storm-based, so thus far we have an interesting dichotomy of underground and storm.

Both parts of the element theme of course.

My favourite leaks are some of the more random ones posted here by throwaway accounts because those accounts are seemingly adamant they are happening. Therefore I believe those leaks are in fact, happening.

[Cheezits]

I know it's a month out from the patch, but it feels odd that we still don't have the new Moonkin testable yet.

[Chickat]

Agreed with the narrative of Azsuna being a convoluted mess. The Legion side of it just felt tacked on because it was a Legion expansion and the other zones only featured them minimally so they had to feature them somewhere.

The Sea Giant storyline just felt like a means to hint at Kul Tiras & Zandalar for the next expansion, which didn’t really need an entire chapter to imply it.

For narrative coherence, the main storyline of Azsuna should have been Azshara invading to claim the Tidestone but also joining forces with Prince Oceanus & and the sea giants, as well as playing on her ties to the Legion by having her make a bargain with one of the unused Dreadlords to join her forces with the Legion to work together to achieve their goals. We could have even got fel corrupted Naga. Then you just have Farondis teaming up with the blue dragonflight in opposition to them. That should have been the Azsuna campaign instead of the strange combination we got.

Imo the only good zone was Stormheim. The other zones were near and had some fun quests but Stormheim is the only one thats good 100% of the way through imo.

- - - Updated - - -

Light VS Void and space travel.

I want to see that eventually. Maybe even for 12.0. But I want a revamp first.

[Teriz]

My favourite leaks are some of the more random ones posted here by throwaway accounts because those accounts are seemingly adamant they are happening. Therefore I believe those leaks are in fact, happening.

The difference is that Toweliee isn’t random, and has more skin in the game than those throwaway accounts. He also hasn’t backed down since making his initial assertion.

Again if you line the clues up you have underground and you have storm. That’s earth and wind. We’re simply missing Fire and Water clues at this point, and whatever Fryakk is doing with the fire lands may take care of that aspect.

Then we have Thrall on the key art; a shaman representing the elements, so IMO we’re still moving in that general direction until more clues come along.

[Chickat]

It's definitely time for archeology to return
They've been planning something for it because the "we want to do it when it fits" excuse was always dumb

Well didnt they say it may come in a DF patch? They likely pushed it back to 11.0 especially if its Dwarf and exploration heavy. Very thematic feature if its actually any good.

[Radioactive]

This year Blizzcon is free to watch.
They want everyone to see it. They'll also likely pay big streamers to stream the event and get their viewers.
Maybe they won't even have to pay them.

It won't be an new obscure continent only known to a bunch of lore nerds, like Avaloren or Khaz Algar. Not yet.
However, a world revamp is what you want to show to long time fan, as well as ancient players and newcomers.
#TeamWorldRevamp

Either that, or a brand new Warcraft game (more RPG than RTS), or a new IP (survival game), which would greatly compensate the absence of revamp to me.

Hmmm while i'm thinking, Thrall as the key art for Warcraft might not mean that he'll play a big role in the next exp... but rather be at the center of a new Warcraft game? :O
Him being the most known character from Warcraft besides Arthas, it would make sense that he is used in this perspective.
Or even for his own show maybe. Thrall's life is very ... "tv showable" : Slave. Gladiator. Shaman. Warchief.
But they won't make the mistake to give it to Netflix; they'll use and expand their own Blizzard Studio thanks to that sweet Diablo Immortal Ca$$$$$h.

[Mysticdoll]

The Netflix leak is interesting to me ( even tho its more then likely fake) because blizz really has the chance to put wow back on the spot in the next few years with moves such as
- easily consumable netflix show that introduces people to the wow lore
- mobile game to get more people into the warcraft gaming universe
- graphical old world revamp to bring most of wow into the new modern day
-wow releasing on console, a huge part of the gaming market is still console only
-wow sub in game pass, even if its just 1-3 months would be great way to introduce people

All this with a hard focus on the 20th year anniversary could really give wow the appeal it really needs to become a household name like it was from 2005-2016

[Jingliu]

This year Blizzcon is free to watch.
They want everyone to see it. They'll also likely pay big streamers to stream the event and get their viewers.
Maybe they won't even have to pay them.

It won't be an new obscure continent only known to a bunch of lore nerds, like Avaloren or Khaz Algar. Not yet.
However, a world revamp is what you want to show to long time fan, as well as ancient players and newcomers.
#TeamWorldRevamp

Either that, or a brand new Warcraft game (more RPG than RTS), or a new IP (survival game), which would greatly compensate the absence of revamp to me.

Hmmm while i'm thinking, Thrall as the key art for Warcraft might not mean that he'll play a big role in the next exp... but rather be at the center of a new Warcraft game? :O
Him being the most known character from Warcraft besides Arthas, it would make sense that he is used in this perspective.
Or even for his own show maybe. Thrall's life is very ... "tv showable" : Slave. Gladiator. Shaman. Warchief.
But they won't make the mistake to give it to Netflix; they'll use and expand their own Blizzard Studio thanks to that sweet Diablo Immortal Ca$$$$$h.

Blizzcon opening night is always free to watch. The panels aren't.

Also Thrall is not more widely known than Illidan, Jaina or Sylvanas.

[Dracullus]

It won't be an new obscure continent only known to a bunch of lore nerds, like Avaloren or Khaz Algar. Not yet.

Ooof. Should we tell him guys?

[Nightshade711]

It won't be an new obscure continent only known to a bunch of lore nerds, like Avaloren or Khaz Algar. Not yet

Damn you are gonna be disappointed

[DiscipleofCazicThule]

That's a brilliant idea. They learned much from the Immortal announcement.

Everquest 2 just announced it's latest expansion today if you wanted to compare the expansion of a game with 10 million subs versus 5k subs.

Everquest expansions always make me sad when I see them. It's always the same thing. A couple more levels, a few new zones, and thats about it. I think EQ2 has only added one new race in about 10 years or something? I wish the franchise was doing better.

[Woggmer]

Blizzcon opening night is always free to watch. The panels aren't.

Also Thrall is not more widely known than Illidan, Jaina or Sylvanas.

Yeah, but he hasn't been a focal point since Cata.