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

[Nebron]

I've been wondering that with...
- the Storm Riding achievements, that possibly reward you with the Storm Rider title;
- recent Wildhammer transmog stuff;
- gryphons getting a dragonriding update;
- book about the Storming Seas to the west and a green dragon believed to be unable to reach it, having it's wings torn by extreme winds in the process;

we eventually, canonically, become aware of Khaz Algar's location and are getting prepared by Wildhammer dwarves (maybe in a form of a pre-patch event) for an adventure through the Storming Seas, and the only way to get through the storm is by riding a gryphon being perhaps the only suited "mode of transportation" for such travel? In the end, it don't think it would be that much of a stretch to add such flavour to gryphons to already existing lore!

It comes together pretty well

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Well this post will probably only expand the notion of my "nuttiness"; I don't believe the storm stuff has anything to do with the next expansion. That includes the story of the green dragon traveling west of Kalimdor. I believe that's all a red herring because there's simply too much "storm" stuff in 10.2 and Blizzard has never dumped that level of next expansion stuff into a patch in a previous expansion. That level of telegraphing makes it simply too easy.

Nah, I think something else is afoot. I have a sinking suspicion that in a future patch we're going to the land west of Kalimdor, and the next expansion is something else entirely. Probably element based because I believe the Algarian Stormrider is still an elemental, but I'm simply not buying the notion that we're doing another lost continent like Dragon Isles. I do believe that we are in fact going underground as Toweliee hinted towards and Zaralek Caverns suggested. I do believe that Khaz Algar is a place we visit later in the expansion, but it won't be the main location.

So in short, I believe all this storm stuff and lands west of Kalimdor and gryphon junk is all stuff related to the current expansion. We'll see soon enough how correct I am, or how wrong I am.

And funnily enough, that's the opposite of your nuttiness. It's not that far-fetched and it's also a possibility to consider. It's kinda true that the amount of stormy-dwarfy stuff discovered in such a short span of time is a bit... suspicious? Because then it's either - "guys, we fooled you, all that storm stuff - it's 10.3" or "well, we pushed it a little bit too far, and it became apparent where we are heading before we announced it".

[Dismayxz]

Uh no. I said that it is unlikely the pre-purchase heroic mount for 11.0 is a dragonriding mount because dragonriding heavily limits its usage in 10.2 (the time frame when this mount releases). Pre-purchase mounts are utilized to get people to purchase the next expansion, whether they're currently active or not. A dragonriding mount would only appeal to current/active players. If you skipped Dragonflight, or quit mid-expansion, a dragonriding mount isn't going to entice you to pre-purchase.

The point you are missing is that these mounts aren't supposed to get people to purchase the next expansion period. You can pre-order the game at the normal price, not get the Heroic Edition goodies and still have pre-ordered the Expansion. Heroic Edition mounts aren't pre-purchase mounts. They are a goody for paying more than normal to get extra things and you can pick up said extra things way after pre-order has ended, just like I can still pick up the BFA Raptor/Horse if I were to drop another 15 Bucks into Blizzard's Bucket.

The Expansion itself is supposed to get people to pre-order the Expansion. The Mounts and all that extra bs? That's supposed to be a benefit for choosing to pay more, which is far more likely to be purchased on a whim by current/active players rather than somebody you're trying to get to come back to the Game. If they pay a higher price to pre-order a Heroic Edition, you've already brought them back. And anyone interested just in the goodies can pick them up whenever they like, so if you can't Dragonride and have for whatever reason, no intention of ever going there, the purchase is optional until you feel like it isn't.

[Ersula]

we eventually, canonically, become aware of Khaz Algar's location and are getting prepared by Wildhammer dwarves (maybe in a form of a pre-patch event) for an adventure through the Storming Seas, and the only way to get through the storm is by riding a gryphon being perhaps the only suited "mode of transportation" for such travel? In the end, it don't think it would be that much of a stretch to add such flavour to gryphons to already existing lore!

It comes together pretty well

For these reasons I strongly believe the "Dragonriding" references to abilities will be changed to "Stormriding" once the expansion is revealed & Dragonriding extends to non-dragons.

[Hardwing]

I can see three interesting ways the current expansion leads us to find Khaz Algar.
1. Iridikron harnesses the stormpower of his dead sister Raszageth to open the way.
2. Odyn does somethinng stupid(turning the key) and we or Tyr in return destroy the mechanism he installed to prevent anything getting in or out of Avaloren.
3. Amidrassil, the new World Tree, has such a strong connection with the dream, that it allows Erinethrea(the Green Dragon we learn probably reached this place) to contact us and show us the way.

Anyone else has a possible hint? We sadly have no more Helm of Domination to tear apart.

[Nightshade711]

And I would still argue that the level of telegraphing here is higher.

Why? Because at the time, people didn't recognize those clues to the point where they predicted the next expansion. We can look at those clues now and connect the dots, but back then? Every expansion pretty much blind sided us (except BFA). I think we're going to get blind sided again, probably even more so, because I'm willing to bet that Blizzard is tossing up distractions to intentionally throw us off.

A good bit of this “storm stuff” was datamined for the preorder (and/or “heroic edition”) of the expansion… so…

[Merryck]

For these reasons I strongly believe the "Dragonriding" references to abilities will be changed to "Stormriding" once the expansion is revealed & Dragonriding extends to non-dragons.

They're already calling it Dynamic Flying / Riding though.

[Triceron]

Hey lets start a new topic: Why would Elisande take a Norgannon disc? What's that going to lead to, huh? Why was none of the characters like "Why isn't Elisande dead?"

I'm still surprised no one batted an eye when Thrall regained his Shaman powers out of nowhere in Shadowlands. Like I literally still can't find any lore explanation for it, and guess it just 'happens'.

[Izalla]

They're already calling it Dynamic Flying / Riding though.

Maybe they will have a talent tree call stormriding where you have to spec into things the way you did for dragonriding.

[Therougetitan]

I'm still surprised no one batted an eye when Thrall regained his Shaman powers out of nowhere in Shadowlands. Like I literally still can't find any lore explanation for it, and guess it just 'happens'.

Well he never lost them in the first place he claims the elements don't like his actions after WoD but he clearly uses the powers in the broken shore intro to begin with so it was already contradicted in the expansion that introduced him being emo.

[Dismayxz]

Hey lets start a new topic: Why would Elisande take a Norgannon disc? What's that going to lead to, huh? Why was none of the characters like "Why isn't Elisande dead?"

The lack of a reaction from characters is certainly a bit odd. But might have been an oversight, as the only person they wanted to suggest that question to primarily is/was the player? As for why she would be taking a Disc of Norgannon, no clue. It feels like there's so little around the Elisande turning back up thing, it's hard to find a foothoold in the discussion.

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Well he never lost them in the first place he claims the elements don't like his actions after WoD but he clearly uses the powers in the broken shore intro to begin with so it was already contradicted in the expansion that introduced him being emo.

But doesn't that kind of make sense for WoD? Draenor is a different planet, with different elementals and an entirely different "Pantheon" of Elemental Lords or Leaders. If the Elements of Draenor don't like what he did, how would that ever translate into the Elements on current-day Azeroth not liking what he did in the first place?

[Foolicious]

I wonder if we will have a proper explanation as to why Elisande couldn't forsee our victory over the legion. It has always been a bit disappointing. Sending us back to her could be very interesting and the fact that the quest isn't released yet makes me hope for something wothwhile

It's implied that Elisande was manipulated to ally with the legion by Gul'dan or someone else from the Legion. It's also implied that there are limitations to her time magic that she isn't aware of.

I can see three interesting ways the current expansion leads us to find Khaz Algar.
1. Iridikron harnesses the stormpower of his dead sister Raszageth to open the way.
2. Odyn does somethinng stupid(turning the key) and we or Tyr in return destroy the mechanism he installed to prevent anything getting in or out of Avaloren.
3. Amidrassil, the new World Tree, has such a strong connection with the dream, that it allows Erinethrea(the Green Dragon we learn probably reached this place) to contact us and show us the way.

Anyone else has a possible hint? We sadly have no more Helm of Domination to tear apart.

Maybe this counts as Odyn does something stupid. But the majority of the storm dragons allies with us in 10.2 after we set them free. They seem to feel quite comfortable in a storm and are also present on elunaria for some reason.

[Bwgmon]

I'm still surprised no one batted an eye when Thrall regained his Shaman powers out of nowhere in Shadowlands. Like I literally still can't find any lore explanation for it, and guess it just 'happens'.

Pretty sure that his (mostly offscreen) heart-to-heart with Draka helped him overcome whatever was left of the self-doubt that caused his mental block.

[Ersula]

They're already calling it Dynamic Flying / Riding though.

As far as I can tell there is a swap ability that switches between called Flying: Dynamic and Flying: Static. We don't know if they will become implemented, but if they are It'll probably just be on Dragonriding mounts. They are working on enabling a lot of mounts for Dragonriding but it will be a long time before its enabled for all of them. And even then I'm talking about the Dragonriding label on the mounts. I think it makes more sense for it to go from "Dragonriding" to "Stormriding" than to "Dynamic" because that's has a clearer meaning to an unfamiliar player, assuming the new expansion is about Storm Riding.

[Ferlion]

One thing I'd love to see next expansion is more mini-games and stuff for fun. Like, do an Among Us clone somewhere in Darkmoon Faire. WoW can easily pull off most of those mechanics, and you could have the Imposter be a Faceless one in disguise type thing, tie into the Old God themes of DMF.

[Ersula]

One thing I'd love to see next expansion is more mini-games and stuff for fun. Like, do an Among Us clone somewhere in Darkmoon Faire. WoW can easily pull off most of those mechanics, and you could have the Imposter be a Faceless one in disguise type thing, tie into the Old God themes of DMF.

The thing I keep pitching is a dungeon scenario creation tool that's in the game in the form of an in-universe tabletop rpg game.

[Vlyse]

I definitely see the 2024 Roadmap announcing 6 updates again. It worked well for them this year. 4 more Dragonflight patches, the prepatch, and the expansion launch at the end of the Roadmap.

The other option would be to show the expansion launch before the end of the Roadmap, either stopping there on the Map or going as far as the first patches like 11.0.5 & 11.0.7. That would be weird but not impossible, I guess.

[Ferlion]

I definitely see the 2024 Roadmap announcing 6 updates again. It worked well for them this year. 4 more Dragonflight patches, the prepatch, and the expansion launch at the end of the Roadmap.

The other option would be to show the expansion launch before the end of the Roadmap, either stopping there on the Map or going as far as the first patches like 11.0.5 & 11.0.7. That would be weird but not impossible, I guess.

I really wouldn't expect more Dragonflight content.

I can see 3 patches, realistically.

10.2, 10.2.5, and a 10.2.7 which is basically season 4 with fated style raids.

Then the following patch as a pre-expansion event.

[Ersula]

I really wouldn't expect more Dragonflight content.

It seems the entire point of the Roadmap format was to avoid a content drought. I've said this before but if the next expansion comes out in August, sure. But I think they'll be playing up the November Anniversary in relation to the new release date.

The biggest reason I'm expecting an entirely new raid tier is because Shadowlands had 31 raid encounters, but Dragonflight including the Emerald Dream only has had 26. Shadowlands had Covid to deal with, so what's the excuse that Dragonflight ultimately has significantly less raid content?

[Mecheon]

You can easily expand demon hunters to every race out there, warlocks used the wannabe-Illidan demon form for years, so worst case a generic one will do for any races that are no night or blood elves. Also iirc there is even a human dh in lore already. Orcs and Eredar make sense aswell, and if you have them included you can as well go all in like they did for dk's.

DHs there's two customisation things they could do, but they absolutely need to do the 4 demon form models for each, given they haven't just been lazy with druid or shamans. I don't think we'd get full on skin choices like NElves and BElves have, but horns, blindfolds, and a unique demon form based on spec and gender seems likely

Mind I do suspect shamans will be the first to show up, simply because totems are simpler than other things.

But Elune is already confirmed to be the Sister of the Winter Queen aswell as Eonar's girlfriend. So no, she is neither an old god, nor imprisoned lol.

Elune's a bi icon given that time she shacked up with Malorne. She's probably had a fling with an Old God at some point and cut it off once they started being all corrupty and weird

[ChronoSul]

One thing I'd love to see next expansion is more mini-games and stuff for fun. Like, do an Among Us clone somewhere in Darkmoon Faire. WoW can easily pull off most of those mechanics, and you could have the Imposter be a Faceless one in disguise type thing, tie into the Old God themes of DMF.

literally was a boss in shadowlands already