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

[Woggmer]

I've pointed this out earlier, but mists of pandaria was another expansion that had almost no story build up. It sold terribly, selling by estimation at least a million fewer copies than the second worst selling expansion (other than TBC, but the player base wasn't huge then) and it caused massive subscriber losses. This leads me to believe the high level decision makers at blizzard won't make that mistake again. No amount of nostalgic musing about MoP being a lot of people's favorite expansion retrospectively changes the financial numbers that can be expected to inform decisions. My expectation is they are seeding and will continue to keep seeding tidbits of lore about avaloren in 11.0 and beyond and we will go there in 12.0 at the earliest

I hate people pulling up the whole "MoP was the least sold expansion ever based on subscriber numbers!" Subscription numbers mean nothing when you look at reviews showing a positive reception.

So then you ask, if it isn't because of the expansion itself, what could've caused the decline in numbers? You have to remember this was coming from a time when other companies saw what WoW was doing and tried to create and promote their own MMOs. Guild Wars 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic, TERA: Online, DC Universe Online, Rift, Phantasy Star Online 2, the original FF14 (pre-Realm Reborn).. some of these games even going so far to try to claim to be the next "WoW Killer" which took quite a lot of customers right from Blizz because people want to explore new things and even WoW can have competition.

[Dracullus]

You focus too much on place. Characters and weight of the story/theme <- that matters. We need familiar faces and feeling of experiencing something important. We need.. The Final Titan.

[Chickat]

2,5 hrs of opening ceremony whaat?

and 4 hrs of extra wow related content panels
I don't think we getting a basic 4 zone expac guys

I mean theres only 2 hours at most of retail panels so thats pretty typical. There is an hour or so chunk after opening ceremony and after diablo on day 2. Im thinking its for the survival game.

[NikolaiShade]

The only thing we can definitely pin on the next expansion, right now, is Khaz Algar. And by proxy of the related book and the name Khaz Algar, some sort of Dwarf/Earthen presence. Anything else is speculation. I think Avaloren. But we'll see. One thing I've seen happen in past leak seasons, one mistake I often see, is people inventing "rules" that Blizzard follows. "Blizzard would never use an expansion name that is...", "Blizzard would never use a logo that has...", "Blizzard would never do an expansion that is this or that". Unless Blizzard outright states such "rules" as fact, it is just speculation. Patterns can and do change. And even if Blizzard once said they have no plans to do something, plans change. Keep an open mind, almost anything is possible unless we are told specifically otherwise.

And lets not forget Khaz Algar and Avaloren could very well be in two different places

[Catastrophy349]

There are so many factors to consider when looking at that "leak." I would mention them all, but I honestly don't feel like writing an entire essay right now. TLDR; the first image alone showing a bland forest overtop the "New Continent: Avaloren" makes no sense when comparing any other "New Continent: X" overtop of any previous continent shown.

[kavikor]

A still shot of stormheim, valsharah, highmountain, and azsuna of some random nature w/ no architecture or context wouldve come across the same way the 4 leaked image zones do right now to almost all of us unless you were particularly excited for elf lore

[Leowyld]

And lets not forget Khaz Algar and Avaloren could very well be in two different places

Absolutely. They *could* be. That's why I only think it is Avaloren. It's definitely not confirmed. There are a lot seeds pointing West, much like there was with all the death stuff in BfA. But it's possible that's coincidence. I would be surprised, but I won't dismiss the possibility it could be something else. Like I said, keep an open mind.

[allifeur]

The only thing we can definitely pin on the next expansion, right now, is Khaz Algar. And by proxy of the related book and the name Khaz Algar, some sort of Dwarf/Earthen presence. Anything else is speculation. I think Avaloren. But we'll see. One thing I've seen happen in past leak seasons, one mistake I often see, is people inventing "rules" that Blizzard follows. "Blizzard would never use an expansion name that is...", "Blizzard would never use a logo that has...", "Blizzard would never do an expansion that is this or that". Unless Blizzard outright states such "rules" as fact, it is just speculation. Patterns can and do change. And even if Blizzard once said they have no plans to do something, plans change. Keep an open mind, almost anything is possible unless we are told specifically otherwise.

Also, each times we had actual leaks, people rushed to be the ones to prove those were fakes. We had so many people thinking they were experts on the subject.
I think the Avaloren screenshots would have taken 1 month to be created from someone competent, there is just too many elements that would require efforts that I wouldn't expect outside of a team of devoluted people. If those are fakes, the only explanation is that this person really wants to get hired.

There is also the datamined "Sky-captain" gear that looks related to next Blizzcon, but wasn't discussed much.
Anything is still possible anyway, so let just get the imagination rolling.



(alright maybe not anything)

[Catastrophy349]

A still shot of stormheim, valsharah, highmountain, and azsuna of some random nature w/ no architecture or context wouldve come across the same way the 4 leaked image zones do right now to almost all of us unless you were particularly excited for elf lore

Exactly. I've made this exact comment for the last few days.

[Chickat]

This is kinda what we expected though with their new single-stage free-view setup. Disappointing, but alas.

I hope they get a lot of backlash and go back to multiple stages next year.

[Azalar]

A still shot of stormheim, valsharah, highmountain, and azsuna of some random nature w/ no architecture or context wouldve come across the same way the 4 leaked image zones do right now to almost all of us unless you were particularly excited for elf lore

Except none of those zones are based on reused assets lmao

[Catastrophy349]

Question is: Do we waste the next 6 days speculating over whether or not the "leaked images" are real/fake (and what we hope/don't hope to see)? Or do we continue to speculate by ignoring it completely and thinking of other possibilities?

[kavikor]

Except none of those zones are based on reused assets lmao

i feel some people might have seen a big giant totem in the background of Highmountain shots and gone, "they are copy pasting literaly vanilla assets!" because the silhouette matched

[Chickat]

It may sound like a long time but about 1 hour 45 minutes is going to be spent on Metzen's freestyle rap and they'll sort of try to work in some WoW info around it

Its going to be an hour opening ceremony followed by 45 mins of survival game and then 30 mins to the 45 min wow panel.

[Nymrohd]

And lets not forget Khaz Algar and Avaloren could very well be in two different places

It would make more sense for them NOT to be. The Titan Keepers and their Watchers did not have access to Avaloren so how could they be observing the earthen of Khaz Algar if it was located there?

[Makorus]

Except none of those zones are based on reused assets lmao

??? Highmountain and Stormheim ????????????

[Arcinatoss]

A still shot of stormheim, valsharah, highmountain, and azsuna of some random nature w/ no architecture or context wouldve come across the same way the 4 leaked image zones do right now to almost all of us unless you were particularly excited for elf lore

i feel like this is disingenuous, take the legion feature overview for example, the first 2 zones we're shown both have completely new architecture and biomes.
Shadowlands was the same, we immediately see completely new assets.

I feel like the stills we've been shown feel like they could just as easily be from a place we've been to just cleverly edited to seem new.

[Picle]

Question is: Do we waste the next 6 days speculating over whether or not the "leaked images" are real/fake (and what we hope/don't hope to see)? Or do we continue to speculate by ignoring it completely and thinking of other possibilities?

other possibilities ... has tinker been talked about yet ?

(;

[Catastrophy349]

other possibilities ... has tinker been talked about yet ?

(;

Please don't summon "him".

[Wangming]

Question is: Do we waste the next 6 days speculating over whether or not the "leaked images" are real/fake (and what we hope/don't hope to see)? Or do we continue to speculate by ignoring it completely and thinking of other possibilities?

Insert the iconic gif from Road to Eldorado