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

[Rathwell]

So is it a mount or a dwarf? Wouldn't it technically be the Stormrider's Stormrider? Or the Stormrider's Gyphon?

Bear with me here...

[Paula Deen]

Bear with me here...

Confirmed.

[Dismayxz]

It could be, but I'm not sure why Blizzard would tease a world tree there of all places. Keep in mind Freya planted multiple world trees within the dream. It's not impossible for one of them to have been in the Dream-version of Un'goro, sort of seeping its life-giving energies out into the physical realm. Another might have been in Scholazar, doing the same.

Hear me out, it might be the pixelation (highly likely to be), but the titan pillars with the orbs here look a whole lot more like they are filling the "lamp post" role more than anything. The Golems running around also are the same sort of Golem model we've had, they use for the ones in old Un'goro Crater (obviously those are/were a bit dated in looks). But you know what looks weird to me? The shit that's kind of looks like small, very thin rays of Sunshine poking through across the image. It doesn't actually look a whole lot like godrays and more like rays of light coming from a different light source. What if this actuall is an Underground Un'goro, like an underground Hollow Earth (I know we've had this topic before) jungle and those rays are coming from bigger titan orbs or light sources hung up around Elun'ahir or somehow coming off of Elun'ahir, like the top of the tree is actually the biggest light source of the cavern?

[ercarp]

Bear with me here...

Metzen won't be happy about you leaking this...

[Teriz]

Strange take considering most people seem to have disliked 4/5 of those characters contributions to DF, and the stars of the show so to speak of DF are 3 primal incarnates that didn't exist at all before this expansion.

Really? I thought people really liked Wrathion and Ebyssian renewing the black dragonflight, as well as Kalecgos' narrative.

Regardless, that's after the fact. I'm talking about the hype train that got us excited to go to the dragon isles, and that was largely because we knew that we had major and popular characters tied to that location.

Here you possibly have Elune, Odyn, Eonar, and presumably Iridikron + Xal'Atath. Do I think a location needs to be tied to old lore characters? No. Pandaria was great.

Look at that list though, they're freaking gods or keepers. For example, if you're an Orc warrior or a Human Rogue, why would you care about the Night Elf moon goddess?

[Harbour]

Im certainly HIGH on copium, but the completely underwhelming nature of the leaks makes me think its a stunt coordinated with Blizzard.
So when Metzen comes on stage at Blizzcon he will troll us, saying something like "Oh i heard that you all saw some pics on the Internet. Silly you, check out the REAL expansion" and then everyone would be blown by non-Avaloren expansion and ask Blizzard for two pre-orders.

Either that or its just the good work of one fan who loves to capitalize on leak season.

These new pictures with Spanish text in them and ship in the sea have clear AI nature. I made too much AI art to not spot the basic AI pattern. That guy who made those screenshots and the guy who leaked previous 4 zones are most likely the same person who either from Spain or know spanish. Probably the one who 'leaked' the Storms of Avaloren are also that same person.
You see, when three different leaks point at the same single or two things, it raises the questions 'Why just that specifically? How come three different persons decided to post the same specific info, leaving the rest 90% of it?"

Either that or Blizzard fired their artists and started to use AI for their art. Which is insane.

Also these leaks are way too focused on the words "AVALOREN" and "ALGAR", because guess what thats mainly what everyone knows. Why werent some features leaked on those screenshots? Old characters with new design or stock players character showcasing new armor?

Because the fake maker most likely couldnt think of them. Its way easier to just 'leak' zone screenshots, some ogre dude and put AVALOREN and ALGAR everywhere.

[Well Done Steak]

Perhaps, but I have a sinking suspicion that there won’t be too many players enthused about going to yet another mysterious, primordial continent for the second expansion in a row. Especially a mysterious primordial continent with no major character to hook us to that location. At least with the dragon isles we had Alex, Nozdurmu, Chromie, Kalecgos, and Wrathion.

What do we have here? Odyn? Who cares about Odyn?

In all fairness, pandaria had that same issue and the lore was great.

[Dismayxz]

In all fairness, pandaria had that same issue and the lore was great.

The Thunder King came and went so quickly, yet he really had something going.

[Teriz]

In all fairness, pandaria had that same issue and the lore was great.

Pandaria had Chen Stormstout and the Pandarens; One of the most popular characters from WC3, and one of the most requested races in WoW per Chris Metzen.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

In all fairness, pandaria had that same issue and the lore was great.

The difference is that at the time, no one actually knew how genius MoP was set up until after the expansion ended several years later.

Like if you actually look at MoP at the time it was the current expansion, no thoughts/head empty until like the Garrosh bell incident with Jainas genocide even then it was not a widespread knowledge about how damn good MoP was.

Again, MoP is only observed as the best made expansion from a narrative development and structure long, long after and somehow it feels too perfect for it to be not just coincidental.


Obviously the fanbase who care about Narrative is now very much more awake and understand the deeper levels but to say that a large percentile of Narrative fans understood the genius of MoP is definitely revisionism.

[Well Done Steak]

Pandaria had Chen Stormstout and the Pandarens; One of the most popular characters from WC3, and one of the most requested races in WoW per Chris Metzen.

Maybe during WC3, but you could argue that the vast majority of wow players didn't care or knew about chen... Or even knew wtf pandaria was

At least odyn jas been in our face since legion and has grown a hate boner by players. And he's about to be in our face in 10.2 again

[Paula Deen]

Im certainly HIGH on copium, but the completely underwhelming nature of the leaks makes me think its a stunt coordinated with Blizzard.
So when Metzen comes on stage at Blizzcon he will troll us, saying something like "Oh i heard that you all saw some pics on the Internet. Silly you, check out the REAL expansion" and then everyone would be blown by non-Avaloren expansion and ask Blizzard for two pre-orders.

Either that or its just the good work of one fan who loves to capitalize on leak season.

These new pictures with Spanish text in them and ship in the sea have clear AI nature. I made too much AI art to not spot the basic AI pattern. That guy who made those screenshots and the guy who leaked previous 4 zones are most likely the same person who either from Spain or know spanish. Probably the one who 'leaked' the Storms of Avaloren are also that same person.
You see, when three different leaks point at the same single or two things, it raises the questions 'Why just that specifically? How come three different persons decided to post the same specific info, leaving the rest 90% of it?"

Either that or Blizzard fired their artists and started to use AI for their art. Which is insane.

Also these leaks are way too focused on the words "AVALOREN" and "ALGAR", because guess what thats mainly what everyone knows. Why werent some features leaked on those screenshots? Old characters with new design or stock players character showcasing new armor?

Because the fake maker most likely couldnt think of them. Its way easier to just 'leak' zone screenshots, some ogre dude and put AVALOREN and ALGAR everywhere.

When did I miss this?

[ralilioth]

Blizzcon website is back up but no changes that I can see and still no schedule when were a week out.

[Raetary]

Imma assume we are getting the schedule either tomorrow or on monday.

[Well Done Steak]

The difference is that at the time, no one actually knew how genius MoP was set up until after the expansion ended several years later.

Like if you actually look at MoP at the time it was the current expansion, no thoughts/head empty until like the Garrosh bell incident with Jainas genocide even then it was not a widespread knowledge about how damn good MoP was.

Again, MoP is only observed as the best made expansion from a narrative development and structure long, long after and somehow it feels too perfect for it to be not just coincidental.


Obviously the fanbase who care about Narrative is now very much more awake and understand the deeper levels but to say that a large percentile of Narrative fans understood the genius of MoP is definitely revisionism.

Yeah, but T is arguing in absolute.

[Floot]

It's funny to watch some of you grasp at straws in the same exact way people did when Dracthyr leaked. Some of you were micro-analyzing the Dracthyr model and pointing out slight inconsistencies on it every single day until they were announced. The fact of the matter is you could find issues with anything you stare at for long enough, much less a pre-alpha version of the next WoW expansion.

Are the biomes similar to previous expansions? Absolutely. This was also the case for Dragonflight, and will probably be a consistent issue in any expansion that isn't on another planet/alien environment. WoW has been around for twenty years at this point, so it's going to be hard to always offer up an entirely unique art-style in regards to the outdoor environment.

I personally find this to be quite believable. Between the never before seen adult "direhorn" model, the unused bird models from 10.0, the brand new Algren Dwarf, and the zone in the screenshot where it says "new continent" being a bit more unique as far as modern WoW zones + most other things in the screenshots, I see no reason to write this off as fake. It's almost certainly real, and next Friday you can all quote this and reply admitting that you were huffing copium of medical-grade proportions.

With all that being said, I think we should all postpone judgement as to if we love/hate the expansion until we have something more than four screenshots of the trailer.

Very true.

I still remember the countless "Bolvar isn't blue" comments when the Shadowlands trailer got leaked.

[ralilioth]

Imma assume we are getting the schedule either tomorrow or on monday.

its never been this late. Wonder why its delayed, even when a new game was announced it would just have the schedule with bigger timeskips inbetween until it was known what the game or panel was about.

[Paula Deen]

It's funny to watch some of you grasp at straws in the same exact way people did when Dracthyr leaked. Some of you were micro-analyzing the Dracthyr model and pointing out slight inconsistencies on it every single day until they were announced. The fact of the matter is you could find issues with anything you stare at for long enough, much less a pre-alpha version of the next WoW expansion.

Are the biomes similar to previous expansions? Absolutely. This was also the case for Dragonflight, and will probably be a consistent issue in any expansion that isn't on another planet/alien environment. WoW has been around for twenty years at this point, so it's going to be hard to always offer up an entirely unique art-style in regards to the outdoor environment.

I personally find this to be quite believable. Between the never before seen adult "direhorn" model, the unused bird models from 10.0, the brand new Algren Dwarf, and the zone in the screenshot where it says "new continent" being a bit more unique as far as modern WoW zones + most other things in the screenshots, I see no reason to write this off as fake. It's almost certainly real, and next Friday you can all quote this and reply admitting that you were huffing copium of medical-grade proportions.

With all that being said, I think we should all postpone judgement as to if we love/hate the expansion until we have something more than four screenshots of the trailer.

I don't even understand why the copium is so real. We don't even know anything about it we don't even know if this is it. Could have many more things going on. Shit the story could literally be anything at this point. It's wild how high everyone is around here.

[Azalar]

Im certainly HIGH on copium, but the completely underwhelming nature of the leaks makes me think its a stunt coordinated with Blizzard.
So when Metzen comes on stage at Blizzcon he will troll us, saying something like "Oh i heard that you all saw some pics on the Internet. Silly you, check out the REAL expansion" and then everyone would be blown by non-Avaloren expansion and ask Blizzard for two pre-orders.

Either that or its just the good work of one fan who loves to capitalize on leak season.

These new pictures with Spanish text in them and ship in the sea have clear AI nature. I made too much AI art to not spot the basic AI pattern. That guy who made those screenshots and the guy who leaked previous 4 zones are most likely the same person who either from Spain or know spanish. Probably the one who 'leaked' the Storms of Avaloren are also that same person.
You see, when three different leaks point at the same single or two things, it raises the questions 'Why just that specifically? How come three different persons decided to post the same specific info, leaving the rest 90% of it?"

Either that or Blizzard fired their artists and started to use AI for their art. Which is insane.

Also these leaks are way too focused on the words "AVALOREN" and "ALGAR", because guess what thats mainly what everyone knows. Why werent some features leaked on those screenshots? Old characters with new design or stock players character showcasing new armor?

Because the fake maker most likely couldnt think of them. Its way easier to just 'leak' zone screenshots, some ogre dude and put AVALOREN and ALGAR everywhere.

What Spanish text? I could certainly help with that

[matijwow]

The difference is that at the time, no one actually knew how genius MoP was set up until after the expansion ended several years later.

Like if you actually look at MoP at the time it was the current expansion, no thoughts/head empty until like the Garrosh bell incident with Jainas genocide even then it was not a widespread knowledge about how damn good MoP was.

Again, MoP is only observed as the best made expansion from a narrative development and structure long, long after and somehow it feels too perfect for it to be not just coincidental.

MoP being a good expansion is an opinion, not an uncontroversial fact. Part of the reason that opinion has grown online overtime is that those who didn't like it stopped playing (the game lost net subs the expansion's duration), rose colored glasses, and the opinion's later popularity was taken up by many new players who didn't have the perspective of playing before and during MoP.

It's fine if you like MoP. I don't and never did. But it's not an objectively, hands down good expansion.