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

[Santandame]

Still have the slight suspicion that “no pirates” is going to really blow up in peoples face (hopefully not mine).

[Wangming]

Hearthstone seems to be able to tell isolated stories really well. WoW has shown they have the ability to, but the narratives always end up having their issues. I like the risks that Hearthstone takes with breaking racial/class boundaries.

I mean Gadgetzan with all those gang wars was a really cool place in HS. Kinda wish a revamp would turn the WoW version into something similar as well.

[ercarp]

Still have the slight suspicion that “no pirates” is going to really blow up in peoples face (hopefully not mine).

I think it would be too soon for another pirate-themed expansion after BfA.

[Randris]

I don't understand how BfA was a "pirate-themed" expansion. There were lots of themes in BfA. Does merely the existence of pirates make it a pirate expansion?

[ercarp]

I don't understand how BfA was a "pirate-themed" expansion. There were lots of themes in BfA. Does merely the existence of pirates make it a pirate expansion?

BfA had very strong pirate themes, much more than any other expansion. Sure, it wasn't 100% pirate focused, but it wasn't 100% Old God or faction war focused either. It had a lot of themes and pirates were definitely one of them.

[vintage79]

Man this makes me think Elune is going to bring us to another planet lol

what the faq
but honestly

Black empire (pocket dimension/hallow earth) was shown at the very beginning of DF campaign (with elemental lords fightin zerg guys) we jumped thru time and space - just to end in N'zonth raid from bfa.

Also

flying pirate ship is nothin new in wow

[GhostFish]

Man, are these all confusing. I guess I kinda see a pathway for the Azshara one, but what on earth do Turalyon, Sylvanas and Moira have as a team?

Sylvanas and Turalyon are both bound by their love for Alleria. Maybe Alleria and Dagran have gone missing or been taken by the shadow?

Something to note about Sauron is that he was a lieutenant and not the most powerful of the dark forces. Perhaps the eye of Sauron suggests Xal?

And if the rabbit on the moon suggests Chang'e then that suggests Q'onzu the loa of change.

[Wangming]

Sylvanas and Turalyon are both bound by their love for Alleria. Maybe Alleria and Dagran have gone missing or been taken by the shadow?

Something to note about Sauron is that he was a lieutenant and not the most powerful of the dark forces. Perhaps the eye of Sauron suggests Xal?

And if the rabbit on the moon suggests Chang'e then that suggests Q'onzu the loa of change.

What the.....
DAAAAAAAAAAMN How did I miss that?


Now this is some Yoshi-P T-shirt level shenanigans.

Also nice catch for Alleria.

[Woggmer]

Well once again the Hearthstone expansion looks more interesting/entertaining than what the WoW expansion is likely to be;

I don't know about that... Are Wild West themes popular these days? This just seems goofy to me, but that is expected from Hearthstone.
They can get away with whatever they want because it is still a card game with cartoonish qualities, similar to how Magic the Gathering can do whatever theme they want and people will still eat it up.

With WoW, the lore is less like silly putty and more like actual clay that needs to be sculpted before it hardens or it'll look...off.

[PotHockets]

I can't believe how many of you are taking a FFXIV bait reference as an actual hint of anything

[Cherry123]

Do you want a depressive expansion where darkness kills everyone?

or light expansion like Dragonflight?

I think Shadowlands should be good, but Covid gave L to the developers. I honestly don’t want this expansion to be elementals of the seas and other things. Either I'm too old for Disney stories or I've become too edgy.

[PotHockets]

Still have the slight suspicion that “no pirates” is going to really blow up in peoples face (hopefully not mine).

It's such a weird thing to go out of your way to say when you say nothing about expansions that I feel like it's supposed to be a gotcha. Something like no it's not Pirates actually it's Privateers because they aren't villains or something.

[Wangming]

I can't believe how many of you are taking a FFXIV bait reference as an actual hint of anything

Shush. We have something to overanalize. This is the fun part.

[Gloriandus]

The more I see of Hearthstone's ideas with the Warcraft IP, the more I wish we had some of it as canon, such as the expanded "Mos Eisley"-like Gadgetzan.

[Randris]

BfA had very strong pirate themes, much more than any other expansion. Sure, it wasn't 100% pirate focused, but it wasn't 100% Old God or faction war focused either. It had a lot of themes and pirates were definitely one of them.

I agree with that but calling it a "pirate expansion" makes it sound like it was the core theme of BfA and because of that you can't have anything related to pirates in the next expansion. That's like saying you can't have any old gods because that was also a very strong theme of BfA. If I were a betting man I'd put big money on old gods being there in at least some capacity, if not being front and center at some point. If we are going to Avaloren I suspect Nightsquall and the pirate fleet he assembled will be there as well at some point. And there will probably be even more themes that we don't know about yet.

[Cheezits]

Ironically if half the Hearthstone ideas were put into the game, people would shit themselves as they are "sillier" than Dragonflight. Like can you imagine if Dalaran was turned into a mage college, Gadgetzan was Arkane 2.0 and Badlands was cowboys?

People want more expansions of the old world, but if it was as "silly" as Hearthstone people would bitch soooooo hard.

Also, no, BFA having a pirate quest area and two pirate dungeons because pirates are the enemies of Kul Tirans doesn't mean it's a pirate expansion.

[Nerdslime]

I think the Hearthstone Gadgetzan has been universally appreciated and desired by WoW players. I don't think I've seen any other external idea with that kind of praise and appreciation; lots of people like this or that from other Warcraft-adjacent projects - for example, I know some HotS players who had hoped we'd see the Alex model from that game, or some people in this very thread who want Rafaam to make a big splash in WoW canon - but it seems like everyone wants Gadgetzan to be a sprawling hive of scum and villainy overtaking half the Tanaris desert zone.

I want it too!

[huth]

I agree with that but calling it a "pirate expansion" makes it sound like it was the core theme of BfA and because of that you can't have anything related to pirates in the next expansion. That's like saying you can't have any old gods because that was also a very strong theme of BfA. If I were a betting man I'd put big money on old gods being there in at least some capacity, if not being front and center at some point. If we are going to Avaloren I suspect Nightsquall and the pirate fleet he assembled will be there as well at some point. And there will probably be even more themes that we don't know about yet.

I don't. The pirate theme was relatively minor and mostly confined to Tiragarde Sound in 8.0. They played no role in later patches and only a very subdued role in the rest of the campaign, with most of the remainder being sidequests.

If BfA is a pirate expansion, then WoD is a Botani expansion and MoP was a Hozen expansion.

[Magistrate]

Well once again the Hearthstone expansion looks more interesting/entertaining than what the WoW expansion is likely to be;

Whip weapon type when

For...uh...fighting evil and stuff *cough*

[Lady Atia]

I think the Hearthstone Gadgetzan has been universally appreciated and desired by WoW players. I don't think I've seen any other external idea with that kind of praise and appreciation; lots of people like this or that from other Warcraft-adjacent projects - for example, I know some HotS players who had hoped we'd see the Alex model from that game, or some people in this very thread who want Rafaam to make a big splash in WoW canon - but it seems like everyone wants Gadgetzan to be a sprawling hive of scum and villainy overtaking half the Tanaris desert zone.

I want it too!

Oh gosh, I very much doubt anyone would have prefered the Alex HOTS model, right? Rafaam on the other hand - we actually datamined him back in Dragonflight Alpha iirc.