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

[Colonel Sandor]

Have we ever had confirmed fake photo leaks as believable as the 4 leaked photos? I don't recall any for previous expansions.

[Marlamin]

It's just a wooden dragon to go with the next Chinese New Year just like how the last two were Water Rabbit and Water Tiger.

Minor spoilers ahead, but interesting tidbit about this, there is an encrypted "Auspicious Arborwyrm" mount and a "Cypress" battle pet, on Classic, all very wood themed names. Mildly interesting as e.g. the Rabbit mount only got a pet version in Classic, and they already got their 12mo sub mount in the form of the Nightmarish Emerald Drake.

I wouldn't be surprised if the retail mount we see in the silhouette ends up being an "Arborwyrm" as well and maybe the also-wood-terminology "Fyrn" pet that we already know about is going to be related to that as well. Speculation, of course, but interesting nonetheless.

[Santandame]

We have four frames of one, probably 3 minute long, reveal trailer.

We know that the images were taken from the reveal trailer because the "New Continent" text is mid-animation.

But that’s the point. They had time to take four screenshots from the reveal trailer. So they clearly weren’t in a rush. Why did they purposefully choose the most bland, least revealing screenshots to take?

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Interesting tidbit about this, there is an encrypted "Auspicious Arborwyrm" mount and a "Cypress" battle pet, on Classic, all very wood themed names. Mildly interesting as e.g. the Rabbit mount only got a pet version in Classic, and they already got their 12mo sub mount in the form of the Nightmarish Emerald Drake.

I wouldn't be surprised if the retail mount we see in the silhouette ends up being an "Arborwyrm" as well and maybe the also-wood-terminology "Fyrn" pet that we already know about is going to be related to that as well. Speculation, of course, but interesting nonetheless.

Cypress suggests Mediterranean. Hmmmmmm, interesting. Edit - Just caught the bolded classic part.

[Raetary]

I could show you four shitty frames from the Legion reveal trailer, or any reveal trailer for that matter.

These are the 4 most boring shots i could take from the feature overviews from legion, BfA, SL and DF:

Spoiler: 

Legion has new models all over.
For BfA i literally had to pick 1 shot of Drustvar and the rest from Tiragarde as everything else was so blatantly brand new. (and even then, Tiragarde is covered in new architecture)
The only SL shot that i could get that barely showed anything noteworthy was that of the carriage.

DF was a challenge, as that trailer was in non-stop motion.

[Makorus]

But that’s the point. They had time to take four screenshots from the reveal trailer. So they clearly weren’t in a rush. Why did they purposefully choose the most bland, least revealing screenshots to take?

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Cypress suggests Mediterranean. Hmmmmmm, interesting.

Oh, exactly, that first point is my entire reason it is fake.

Even if there is no feature (which is not gonna happen), surely the Dungeons/Raids are gonna more interesting than some random zone images.

But that's a bit harder to create than zone images with no new models.

I am not arguing that it's real, I am arguing that you shouldn't judge an expansion based on four images.

[Nyel]

These are the 4 most boring shots i could take from the feature overviews from legion, BfA, SL and DF:

Spoiler: 

Legion has new models all over.
For BfA i literally had to pick 1 shot of Drustvar and the rest from Tiragarde as everything else was so blatantly brand new. (and even then, Tiragarde is covered in new architecture)
The only SL shot that i could get that barely showed anything noteworthy was that of the carriage.

DF was a challenge, as that trailer was in non-stop motion.

And all of these pictures still look livelier, more fresh and just not-seen-before than anything from Avaloren. I mean as others have said, those Avaloren screenshots look exactly like the stuff thats‘s going on in Dragonflight. I‘m sure if you put four pics from DF and these four leaked together players that haven’t seen Avaloren as a leak would say it’s from Dragonflight.

The only way Avaloren and these zones are part of the next expansion is when there’s another significant reworked or revamped landmass on Azeroth. Because Avaloren as a new continent would reek like Dragon Isles copy pasta.

[NikolaiShade]

Minor spoilers ahead, but interesting tidbit about this, there is an encrypted "Auspicious Arborwyrm" mount and a "Cypress" battle pet, on Classic, all very wood themed names. Mildly interesting as e.g. the Rabbit mount only got a pet version in Classic, and they already got their 12mo sub mount in the form of the Nightmarish Emerald Drake.

I wouldn't be surprised if the retail mount we see in the silhouette ends up being an "Arborwyrm" as well and maybe the also-wood-terminology "Fyrn" pet that we already know about is going to be related to that as well. Speculation, of course, but interesting nonetheless.

*cough* Erinethria's brood *cough*

[KyleEverett]

And all of these pictures still look livelier, more fresh and just not-seen-before than anything from Avaloren. I mean as others have said, those Avaloren screenshots look exactly like the stuff thats‘s going on in Dragonflight. I‘m sure if you put four pics from DF and these four leaked together players that haven’t seen Avaloren as a leak would say it’s from Dragonflight.

The only way Avaloren and these zones are part of the next expansion is when there’s another significant reworked or revamped landmass on Azeroth. Because Avaloren as a new continent would reek as Dragon Isles copy pasta.

Or an accelerated expansion development of 18-20 months vs 2 years requires cutting corners to keep the release pace, just a wild theory that I hope isn't that true.

[Makorus]

*cough* Erinethria's brood *cough*

Nah, it's the Chinese New Year mount

[NikolaiShade]

Nah, it's the Chinese New Year mount

my comment was made in jest, I know it's related to the chinese zodiac but I think there will be wooden dragons in our future anyway, unrelated to the chinese new year

[Worldshaper]

*cough* Erinethria's brood *cough*

If you put 2 and 2 together, I think her brood are more connected to Odyn's storm drakes, especially since there are versions of those on Elunaria called Eonar Drakes or something like that.

1. Where does Odyns's dragons come from? Born of the gods, he says.

2. How'd they end up on Elunaria of all places? Well, by being dreamers of course.

3. They're the guardians of Elun'Ahir.

[Makorus]

I know but I think there will be wooden dragons in our future unrelated to the chinese new year

Dunno.

None of the other Chinese New Year mounts ever showed up in any capacity in the game.

[KayRule]

Titan Keepers and Titanforged races take inspiration from several different cultures.

- We have Norse with Odyn, Thorim, Hodir etc.
- Ra’den and the Titanforged in Uldum/Halls of Origination are Egyptian themed.
- Khoranos is Ancient Greece.
- Mogu are Mongolian.

Don't forget the keepers in Uldir too.

[Chickat]

Dunno, saying these shots are any more interesting than the Avaloren screenshots is kinda reaching.

I agree. I think they are probably fake, but they are still gorgeous pics imo. A little samey compared to Dragon Isles, but still beautiful.

[KayRule]

The first thing was the website leak.

The next thing were this guy posting.

Then came the images like a solid few days after.

Notice how the text leak references "Art looked like jungle, desert, snowy peaks and rocky peaks.", and surprise surprise, that's the four zones from the images.

Why do people keep bringing up the website leak? The AI hands on the dwarf, the Dragon Isles art re-used in the back, the multiple grammer mistakes, run on sentences and the British use of "defence" should have had people moving on from it for awhile now.

[NikolaiShade]

If you put 2 and 2 together, I think her brood are more connected to Odyn's storm drakes, especially since there are versions of those on Elunaria called Eonar Drakes or something like that.

1. Where does Odyns's dragons come from? Born of the gods, he says.

2. How'd they end up on Elunaria of all places? Well, by being dreamers of course.

3. They're the guardians of Elun'Ahir.

More likely I know, and strangely enough they are the only unconventional "dragonflight" featured in DF story we don't get as a dragonriding mount, we got a netherwinf insteead. Oh and there is that disturbing dream drake too

[KayRule]

Dunno, saying these shots are any more interesting than the Avaloren screenshots is kinda reaching.

Each picture is showcasing significant amounts of new assets.

[NikolaiShade]

Why do people keep bringing up the website leak? The AI hands on the dwarf, the Dragon Isles art re-used in the back, the multiple grammer mistakes, run on sentences and the British use of "defence" should have had people moving on from it for awhile now.

The harpy pic features the same "orc thing" model from the website leak. It has even the same shoulderpads

[Makorus]

Why do people keep bringing up the website leak? The AI hands on the dwarf, the Dragon Isles art re-used in the back, the multiple grammer mistakes, run on sentences and the British use of "defence" should have had people moving on from it for awhile now.

Because of this? The images also have the weird ogre thing.



Because if the images are real, then the text leak is real, and that means the Website is real.

Ergo, the images are fake, because the text leak screams fake, and the website even more so.

[KayRule]

What are the orcs doing there? Would that mean there's a second dark portal on Azeroth? That means there would have to be one that's connected to it on Outland.

I'm not paying mind to it because it has waaay too many details and explanations for an actual leak, but we have slowly continually been having more and more mysterious Ogre islands added to the game from the Seething Shore, Island Expeditions and Exile's Reach. It wouldn't surprise me if we end up finding Ogres/Orcs from before Medivh's opening of the Dark Portal.