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

[Wangming]

It might be, it gave me a good chuckle.

The ultimate wow expansion:

After an experiment has gone wrong in the Eye of Azshara and got Corgis Unleashed the Council of Glades escaped into the Khasm to avoid the Wrath of the Bolvar.

Sounds like a modern anime title innit?

[Nymrohd]

Honestly, sounds like a neat idea. I mean there was a lot of stuff in Northrend we didn’t get to explore properly. But that’s the case with every expansion. If we get something like that, give us finally the Troll raid in Gundrak.

We know Khaz Algar is far from Uldaman, maybe it could be an underwater fissure between Northrend and Dragon Isles. The continental shelf completely breaks on the east coast of Zul'drak so maybe that's where Khaz Algar used to be and now most of it is underwater as it fell into the sea during Cataclysm. Imagine if it joins underground with Zaralek and we can fly from Northrend to Khaz Algar, to Zaralek to Dragon Isles. Or simply make it possible to fly aboveground through some mists and skybox illusion from east Northrend sea border to Dragon Isles so if they plant the tree in Ohn'ara it is still right next to the next expac and you can fly back and forth pretty fast.
Do a visual revamp of Northrend, add an Azjol Nerub zone, maybe have Elun'ahir be right next to it and part of the same underground system. For side stories we can have a Talanji storyline where she helps resettle Zul'drak, have the Taunka and Frostborn formally join the Horde and Alliance, maybe more Kalecgos in Coldarra. Heck we could find what those Saronite vapor-like things where that we found in Ulduar during the Legion pre-quests. We'd get all the keepers back as well. Northrend which means more Vrykul (maybe we even find out who the Drust where and why they left). More Tuskar, more wolvar, more Oracles. Continue the dragon story from Dragonflight by moving it into Northrend with Wyrmrest Accord becoming a capital.

[Chickat]

Absolutely, the talent tree part of the artifacts is just a base system enhancement. But the artifacts had also content added with them tied to acquiring all the skins not to mention the initial storylines to acquire them and all the unique reactions they offered with the world.
You can argue that world quests are just an evolution of dailies by dailies are a content system in and of themselves. They give you a new way to spend your time and combined with the emissary system formed a major reward cycle since Legion.
And with Mythic+ you must be joking. "Minor changes to the dungeon system". M+ changes the way dungeons are run completely and vastly increase the time one will spend playing them. That is an additional way to play the game on par with raiding instead of something you mostly do while leveling.

I stand by what i said. The new talents are too the old talents what mythic plus is to regular dungeons

[ercarp]

Sounds like a modern anime title innit?

Probably still not long enough.

[Varodoc]

The problem is, Avaloren itself is completely irrelevant so, as you said, the story needs to carry the expansion. Dragonflight had the exact issue and in that regard they totally failed, the story didn’t carry anything, it was a snooze fest. So why should we have hope for Avaloren in that case? I mean what exactly needs to be going on there to be interesting for the general player?

The continent would be new, we would most likely have the same lame ass NPCs and continued storylines from Dragonflight… like as we’ve said multiple times, it would be a retread of Dragonflight, but this time it would be worse because it‘s not even fresh anymore, its the continuation of a storyline that brought almost nobody back (aka sales figures) or kept almost nobody interested (aka subbed).

I mean lore enthusiasts might enjoy it, but Hans and Franz really couldn’t care less about all these irrelevant side characters that were promoted to main cast within 12 months and then killed off or forgotten. It just lacks punch and enticement. Sure they can bring back Thrall, but it barely helped for Shadowlands either.

Avaloren is supposed to be some kind of lost titan facility, Yes? Then you already have the set-up for a Void storyline, because the Void creatures are ever attracted to lost Titan facilities.

The problem with Dragonflight lore is that none of the villains are interesting or cool aside from Cinematic Raszageth, who had like 1 minute of screentime.

The Void storyline does not have this problem. People care and are hyped for Azshara, people care and are hyped for the Old Gods, people care and are hyped for Xal'atath (known to the casual player as "Knaifu"; she is popular and iconic).

Why can't we have a Void storyline in Avaloren (lost titan facility)? We have ALWAYS Had Void storyline in the lost titan facilities; C'Thun in Ahn'qiraj, Yogg-Saron in Ulduar, Y'Shaarj in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, N'Zoth in the Circle of Stars (revealed to be an underwater Titan facility built near Azshara's palace).

[Chickat]

I was being facetious, but here you go.

• Warcraft: New World leak from Oct 12, 2023
• "The New World" working title leak from Oct 24, 2023

They're all stored away in the ol' spreadsheet as well.

Yeah those are so fake LMAO. Thanks though

[Worldshaper]

Surviving in nature, not surviving in hiding. Also, you two should really look up how spears were actually used. Spears are actually one of the most sensible weapon choices for Survival.

The two are kind of mutually exclusive. Plus, a large theme in Survival has to do with stealthy abilities.

I think context is important here. You're not wrong to suggest spears are great weapons, but for a spec that's supposed to be sort of like Rexxar, prowling the wilderness with his pet, I do think dual wielding one handed weapons makes more sense. Especially when you consider that the weapon slot also allows for massive polearms today.

[Nymrohd]

I stand by what i said. The new talents are too the old talents what mythic plus is to regular dungeons

Cool. They absolutely are as far as dev time is concerned. But you are missing the difference in "Content that gives you more ways to spend your time playing the game" vs "Systems that change how you play the game".

[locketto]

WOW undermine is the one who make more sense of them all but we got not a single leak

[Worldshaper]

If it wasn't for the title, it would have been my favorite leak I think. The only thing that made me doubt it was the name since it felt like a massive disconnect from the otherwise tropical setting.

Good job though, you have some great ideas! And no need to feel guilty, the fake leaks are what make leak seasons so much fun.

Fair point, and cheers.

[Nymrohd]

WOW undermine is the one who make more sense of them all but we got not a single leak

Maybe because it makes no sense given there is no sensible link with Khaz Algar.

[Lady Atia]

There should definitely be a lot happening there, too. The Ebon Blade have been fighting a war against the freed Scourge since Shadowlands (still weird that the whole invasion was just ignored apart from that one questline that made it seem like Lakeshire was about to be overwhelmed), and supposedly things were dire there before the time skip. I'd like to see how that's going now, 5+ years later.

Yeah, Northrend has quite a lot of potential still. The remnants of the scourge, dealing with the remnants of the nightmare again in grizzly hills, having the Zandalari try to bring back the loa of Zul Drak (which will us have go to Ardenweald), have Odyn join his Halls of Valor with Ulduar again, and some experiments with Freya and the Emerald Dream in Sholazar. That said, Imo it wouldn't work as a stand alone expansion unlike EK/Kalimdor revamps (and even these may need an extra island so we have new zones).

Edit: Forgot about Azjol Nerub, that could work as enough extra space for a northrend expansion down the line.

[Samin]

Where did the concept of merging old zones into "mega zones" even come from? It seems really popular with the world revamp crowd. What's even the idea behind it? Like what do we or Blizzard gain from it?

[Hitei]

Where did the concept of merging old zones into "mega zones" even come from? It seems really popular with the world revamp crowd. What's even the idea behind it? Like what do we or Blizzard gain from it?

For some reason people think it's a solution to "old zones are small". But yes, basically nothing is gained.

[locketto]

Maybe because it makes no sense given there is no sensible link with Khaz Algar.

well lore wise...

If we are going to deal with the sword (as they said) it will have a good shot to be WOW: Undermine.

[Sandpaper]

The next expansion is just called Ethereal. Set on the shattered world of K'aresh, which we go to chasing Iridikron, Moira, and Azshara. The world soul (Xal'atath) was successfully corrupted by Dimensius. It was a Titan world (Ethereals are basically alien humans in their natural state - we see some as enemies). Khaz Algar is on K'aresh, their people becoming space dwarves when the influence of the titans was lifted by the Void Lords.

[Chickat]

The ENTIRE trailer showed that.

The point is that Legion trailer also showed some random hut in Highmountain, as well as that random Stormheim shot posted above.

If you were to leak Legion and show only those random boring shots, people would think that Legion is a boring filler expansion too.

The showcase of the Broken Isles literally opened with the massive Legion army pouring out of the Tomb of Sargeras. That recontextualized everything.

So basically I am not pessimistic for the next expansion setting. The leaked pics look boring as fuck, but I will wait for the full context.

Again, if you only showed that moose shot from Legion, I would think that Legion is a boring filler expansion too.

That moose shot is gorgeous?

[Nyel]

Maybe because it makes no sense given there is no sensible link with Khaz Algar.

I really think people are waaaaaay too focused on Khaz Algar. This could be a nothingburger in the end. Not saying it will be, but it very well could be in regards of the next expansion.

[Chickat]

Imagine if Legion was leaked and this was the only shot shown:




People would think that 7.0 is a boring filler expansion, no one would think that it's about the Burning Legion's grand return.

It is obvious that Blizzard wants to do more with Azshara and Xal'atath, so I expect a major Void storyline from the next expansion, regardless of how boring or generic the leaked zones look.

I don't think that's true. We hadn't seen anything like that, and everything in that shot is brand new.

- - - Updated - - -

I hope Algarian Stormrider turns out to be referencing a place called Algaria on Ka'resh which is being torn asunder by void and arcane storms.

That would be hilarious.

[Varodoc]

I really think people are waaaaaay too focused on Khaz Algar. This could be a nothingburger in the end. Not saying it will be, but it very well could be in regards of the next expansion.

It just shows you how dry the setting has become.

In hindsight, wasting iconic and badass locations like Argus, Nazjatar, and Ny'alotha for mere patches was a grave mistake.

Now we are left with crumbs of random asspulled locations like "Khaz Algar" or "Avaloren".

And no one brings up Kharesh because people are still traumatized from the Cosmic Shadowlands and want their "High fantasy!!!!!" setting.