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

[ercarp]

Definitely a lot different, but I noticed these interesting parallels:

-4 major zones around a central transit hub
-The north one may have a military/death knight theme (compare to Maldraxxus)
-Xiros looks to be some kind of forest zone with a subzone called "Elunian Meadows" (compare to Ardenweald)
-There's a fifth, smaller zone hovering off the western coast (compare to the Maw)
-The sea encompassing the whole and flowing between zones is similar to the In-Between

A lot of the names on the map that overlap could have easily predictable based on threads we had, but none of the previous expansion continents were arranged in the way this map was, and it happened to have a similar layout to the actual Shadowlands map.

There's also a mention of "Blood..." something in Morbara, which could point to it being a precursor for Revendreth (cus of all the vampire stuff). A bit of a stretch, but still.

If it's 100% a hoax, it's a bit odd that the creator never came forward to claim their 15 minutes of fame.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I guess this does bring up an interesting point, though. To my MMO-C family: what would you consider a "dealbreaker(s)" to turn you completely off from caring/playing 11.0?

Any cosmic realm or going off planet. I’m interested in Azeroth and Azeroth alone.

[Woke it Up]

Name one thing about currently storytelling in WoW that is reverent or evolutionary

Go watch the Sepulcher of the First ones cinematic with what they did to Arthas and tell me a single iota of reverance is present there, or just the flat out retcon of most established lore

To dragonflight's credit, it's not really breaking previous lore or trashing classic characters *cough* malfurion *cough* but fuck, is it dull - we're very likely getting the last patch next month, does anyone feel anywhere near how they felt when Argus was released? I sure don't

They addressed him being in the shadowlands without trotting him out as a raid boss. He's gone, he's in the past. And the game needs to stop living in the shadow of him. He's not a hero, he is a murderer, while tragic, irredeemable. That story is done. The jailer stuff idk it seems dumb but still that would have had Alex involved.

[Telogrus]

I’d prefer if the next expansion offered a few new specs instead of a new class. Give us an Earth-centric Shaman tank spec and a ranged DPS necromancer spec for DK

[Samin]

It's possible it was a very early concept, but if so, damn... everything except the name of the expansion was changed lol.

Which really makes it much more likely that they just happened to use the same name. Shadowlands were a, somewhat obscure but established concept and name. This is clearly what someone thought the Shadowlands would look like but conflating it with Shadow/Void themes which given the name is an easy "mistake" to make.

[NoTimeToDie5426]

I’d prefer if the next expansion offered a few new specs instead of a new class. Give us an Earth-centric Shaman tank spec and a ranged DPS necromancer spec for DK

This... Please for the love of christ this.

[Kiria]

I’d prefer if the next expansion offered a few new specs instead of a new class. Give us an Earth-centric Shaman tank spec and a ranged DPS necromancer spec for DK

I really like the sound of this tbh, sadly its all pipe dreams for us.

[Ferlion]

There should have been a Green Dragon form for Druids this patch.

[Telogrus]

I really like the sound of this tbh, sadly its all pipe dreams for us.

But why though? Wouldn’t designing a few new specs for already existing classes be easier than coming up with an entirely new class?

[seainma]

They addressed him being in the shadowlands without trotting him out as a raid boss. He's gone, he's in the past. And the game needs to stop living in the shadow of him. He's not a hero, he is a murderer, while tragic, irredeemable. That story is done. The jailer stuff idk it seems dumb but still that would have had Alex involved.

Yeah I think one of the biggest issues with WoW's lore was its heavy reliance on old characters and the old lore. I think DF is moving that direction. Seeing characters in other ways. Baine finally having a spine and not just the nice one, Alexstraza actually being a leader, Wrathion moving on from being aspect, characters moving past their trauma like Jaina, and hopefully Tyrande as well. The story needs to move forward, characters need to have new motivations based on whats going on.

[PotHockets]

I’d prefer if the next expansion offered a few new specs instead of a new class. Give us an Earth-centric Shaman tank spec and a ranged DPS necromancer spec for DK

I really want a tank spec for Mage that leans heavy into a battlemage vibe. Either that or just a flat out Battlemage class. I know Enhance kinda gets that melee magic user thing and I love my Enhance and you'll pry it from my cold dead hands but it's just not the same.

[Kiria]

But why though? Wouldn’t designing a few new specs for already existing classes be easier than coming up with an entirely new class?

Possibly, I couldnt say I have not looked at WoW's code but for Blizz dev's they most likely have other plans and after us getting a Class/Race with DF I can't really see us getting anything along those lines in 11.0 unless Blizz drastically change how they release content, not that it's consistent anyway.

[NoTimeToDie5426]

I really want a tank spec for Mage that leans heavy into a battlemage vibe. Either that or just a flat out Battlemage class. I know Enhance kinda gets that melee magic user thing and I love my Enhance and you'll pry it from my cold dead hands but it's just not the same.

If they did this I would 100% roll a nightborne battlemage. The mog would be pristine.

[Telogrus]

Why is player housing such a "deal-breaker" for people? I never really interacted with player housing in an MMORPG before, so I think it would be really fun (especially in WoW). However, I'm not going "yep, no player housing. Dead game" either.

Player housing would be a giant waste of time. WoD had the potential to be one of the greatest expansions, but got screwed over due to how much resources were poured into the Garrison system (which was basically just a trial run on player housing). If Garrisons didn’t exist, we would’ve gotten a Shattrath raid tier, Karabor and Bladespire as capital cities, and probably Farahlon too. I don’t get why people are so obsessed with having a customizable house to AFK in

[seainma]

Power levels in WoW are as inconsistent as a marvel film, trying to use that as an actual metric is just folly

Look at Malfurion; lorewise he could be able to body every Horde leader and most raid bosses without breaking a sweat - in game he's nearly beaten by Sylvanas

Sylvanas is a great example; just look at how powerful WoW has portrayed her - she even was able to beat a fully powered lich king like it was nothing, whereas in the halls of reflection a greatly weakened lich king as Arthas nearly kills her

I think that is a bit of a misrepresentation of what happened, both Anduin and Sylvanas were empowered by the Jailer and Domination magic. The problem at least in Sylvanas case is that they didn't build that up at all. The only hint we got was her fight against Saurfang, where everyone was like woah whats that "dark magic" she's using.

[Selorian]

They said repeatedly at the time, gameplay trumps lore every time. Story was backseat and every expansion had to be crazy when compared to the last. Space goats! Lich king! We destroyed the world! Entire new culture (takes a breath)! Time travel help orc daddy! Panic button fan service! OK let's chill! People didn't like chill let's give them something different! Ooooo panic fan dragons!

I think he is the one that said they never expected wow to succeed, or last this long, and thats amazing.

Personally there's only so much they can do by trying to blow everything out the water each expac. BFA and WoD both suffered by trying to exceed expectations with new features that are the rest of the dev time

Yep, this has always been true. It's why it confuses me that there are so many people on forums and social media that seem to only care about the lore and treat it as sacrosanct. Like, that has never been WoW's strength. It's a fun thing but there has been really stupid stuff in every expansion. Shadowlands was bad but it wasn't uniquely bad to me.

[Dracullus]

I’d prefer if the next expansion offered a few new specs instead of a new class. Give us an Earth-centric Shaman tank spec and a ranged DPS necromancer spec for DK

Pretty obvious that if we get some new specs next expansion, it will be support.

[PotHockets]

Yep, this has always been true. It's why it confuses me that there are so many people on forums and social media that seem to only care about the lore and treat it as sacrosanct. Like, that has never been WoW's strength. It's a fun thing but there has been really stupid stuff in every expansion. Shadowlands was bad but it wasn't uniquely bad to me.

The way I see it is that even at it's absolute worst WoW is still always the most fun MMO to actually play. No other MMO comes close to how fluid WoW feels so ups/downs whatever it's always enjoyable to play and getting hung up on things that don't actually matter instead of just enjoying what you like and accepting it's not for you on shit you don't is the way to be.

I obviously prefer when it's at it's peak like MoP or Legion for example but idk WoD was hot garbage but I still had a blast raiding in glad stance.

[Darkarath]

I guess this does bring up an interesting point, though. To my MMO-C family: what would you consider a "dealbreaker(s)" to turn you completely off from caring/playing 11.0?

I think that I would play WoW no matter what, at least to see the new expansion. The only expansion that I almost skipped completely was SL because I felt betrayed as a player in many ways.

With that said, if we just go to a random place (Avaloren) with the usual stuff without a new system (solo progression is what WoW lacks IMO), it would be VERY dissapointing.

By solo progression I mean something like Torghast but good. Whatever they do with Archeology might work. Also, they really need to do something with their almost 20 years content. It would be beyond stupid to not take advance of all that content. Adding some dungeon to the Mythic + system from time to time is a good start, but they need to do way more.

[Catastrophy349]

I think that I would play WoW no matter what, at least to see the new expansion. The only expansion that I almost skipped completely was SL because I felt betrayed as a player in many ways.

With that said, if we just go to a random place (Avaloren) with the usual stuff without a new system (solo progression is what WoW lacks IMO), it would be VERY dissapointing.

By solo progression I mean something like Torghast but good. Whatever they do with Archeology might work. Also, they really need to do something with their almost 20 years content. It would be beyond stupid to not take advance of all that content. Adding some dungeon to the Mythic + system from time to time is a good start, but they need to do way more.

While the "name" Avaloren is very new (DF pre-patch), the concept of "new lands/places to go" beyond the waves of EK/Kalimdor is actually VERY old in the lore.