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

[Fahrad Wagner]

me with any leak that does not include a world revamp:

[justwatching]

And don't forget that said island has uninspired zones with little to nothing new on them. The only animals we even see are retextures.

If it was a crazy wacky island it would be a different story.

I can always only speak for myself but I really dont even care about any of the continents post Northrend. I want them to find ways to connect the world and utilize EK and Kalimdor for example I dont get why there are no timewalking WQs.

4 new zones,8 new dungeons and one raid just puts me to sleep at this point.

I think this is why a World Revamp makes so much sense.
In Dragonflight they fixed a bunch of gameplay systems, and generally made the baseline experience of playing the game exciting. Next expansion should then build on that by making an expansion exciting to see unfold, which is the weak point of Dragonflight.
After that it would just be a matter of making good on the promise of incremental improvements, with the occasional big crowd pleaser feature like Housing.

I agree and that has been my expectation...4 zones 8 dungeons on some island/continent they invented 12 months ago is not it...unless a major feature like Housing etc. is a part of it.

[Sondrelk]

I think that Khaz Algar is separate from Avaloren. Why? Because their names don't have anything in common at all.

If anything, "Avaloren" makes Me think of Avalon from the Arthurian legends, most certainly not Fantasy Dwarves.

"Khaz Modan" refers to the entire Dwarven subcontinent, but Ironforge is actually much bigger in the lore and even in-game it's implied that it spans through the entire region, even as far as Loch Modan (the little closed-off windows that are above the gates of Ironforge are also found at the borders of Dun Morogh/Loch Modan, implying that it's all an inter-connected underground settlement much larger than just city of Ironforge).

So I expect Khaz Algar to be a very large, subcontinent-wide settlement. It might get a similar treatment to Zuldazar/Dazar'alor, where Zuldazar is the entire city that spans the entire zone, and the urban core and player hub is Dazar'alor.

Even more than that, Ironforge was originally designed to have several smaller entrances. Two of them are still visible that I know of. The one to the flight range, and the one near the descent into the Wetlands.

- - - Updated - - -

Has it given them momentum? It seems like engagement with Retail related content is very low,the limited statistics we do have suggest the playerbase is overall down to about 9.2 levels and just anecdotally most lapsed players I talk to are completely uninterested in Dragonflight and they almost all say "something big is needed to bring me back".

Ultimately well find out and getting a sense of the feeling in the community at large is extremely hard but it wouldnt surprise me if the reaction to another 4 zone island expansion was pretty negative even from players that are still playing.

I feel players are generally more excited about future prospects compared to stuff like the midpoint of SL where the game seemed to have stalled. Story was uninteresting, systems were uninteresting, future prospects were uninteresting, etc.

Also future expansions can build off of the improvements Dragonflight added without having to put in the same work themselves, which leaves them open to try stuff of their own.

[Cheezits]

I'm not even sure Housing by itself would sell an Avaloren expansion as we see so far.

[SloidVoid]

Less than 48 hours, still no SUPER compelling leaks

[Sondrelk]

I think the two most credible things about the Binary leak are 1. the removal of transmog restrictions is something that we've been leading up to after moggable whites/greens, removing restrictions on most holiday gear, etc. that hasn't been included in nearly any leaks as a feature, and 2. Blizzard almost never includes fan requests exactly as suggested, such as "playable Dragons" turning into Dracthyr and Evokers. Them adding an engineer class as Artificer instead of Tinker fits this.

Just two days left. I hope the screenshot leak isn't real, but we'll see soon.

Removal of armor limitations on Transmog is one of those features I can absolutely see improve player engagement by a significant amount, simply by the fact that even casual transmog enthusiasts who usually only play a single class would have reason to play at least 4.

For those with dedicated alt armies it probably wouldnt do much, but I imagine most players are dedicated to one or two characters at most. Maybe with more for professions or what have you.
Removing transmog restrictions gives an inroad into playing alts in a way that I feel only Legion before managed with the myriad stuff you could do by the final patch.

[justwatching]

Less than 48 hours, still no SUPER compelling leaks

There is a very compelling leak but its also depressing.

[donjn]

Avaloren in 10.3 is still the hill I have chosen to die on.

I've thought of this too. Avaloren is patch 10.3.
A new expansion won't get announced. It will get announced sometime in the spring.

Look:

Legion release August 2016
BFA announce November 2017
GAP 15 months

BFA Release August 2018
Shadowlands announce November 2019
GAP 15 months

Shadowlands Release November 2020
Dragonflight announced April 2022
GAP 17 months

Dragonflight release November 2022
New Expansion announce November 2023
GAP less than 12 months

[Polybius]

They appear in the dreams of the prophets.
They whisper in the desert wind.
They cast no shadow; they bear no weight; they foster no mercy.

You and @LeConceptuel should write cultist pramphlets.

[Shalpal]

Can y'all stop crying about the zone pics, literally every expansion would look depressing with 3 random ass pics missing any context (besides Suramar).

[Nyel]

I mean I think its pure to cope to call it fake at this point. Its so extremely well made and also clearly done in engine that if its fake the person who made it could use it to get a job at blizzard.

The fact it has matching vertical fog pretty much sold it for me so I'm expecting it to be real.

Well made? A lot of effort, yes. But the quality of that was is shown is pretty poor for WoWs newest standards.

[justwatching]

I've thought of this too. Avaloren is patch 10.3.
A new expansion won't get announced. It will get announced sometime in the spring.

Look:

Legion release August 2016
BFA announce November 2017
GAP 15 months

BFA Release August 2018
Shadowlands announce November 2019
GAP 15 months

Shadowlands Release November 2020
Dragonflight announced April 2022
GAP 17 months

Dragonflight release November 2022
New Expansion announce November 2023
GAP less than 12 months

One of their stated longterm goals has been yearly expansions(D4 is targeting this as well). They very clearly want 11.0 to ship in August/September.

[Varodoc]

Even more than that, Ironforge was originally designed to have several smaller entrances. Two of them are still visible that I know of. The one to the flight range, and the one near the descent into the Wetlands.

Dwarven cities are always implied to be massive and sprawling lorewise.

Dark iron city extends from the very core of Blackrock Mountain (largest mountain in the EK) to its very summit.

Grim Batol is also implied to go much further down than what is seen in-game.

Alpha Ironforge had multiple levels and an element of verticality to it.

I expect Khaz Algar to be a zone-wide city, like Zuldazar. And much like Zuldazar, I expect it to have multiple levels and an element of verticality to it.

[Hitei]

I'm not even sure Housing by itself would sell an Avaloren expansion as we see so far.

I dunno why people act like expansions need to be sold on the highest tier of concept heirarchy.

If the trailer starts playing and the zones look sweet, or it has one vaguely interesting feature, or involves some vaguely interesting figures, the general playerbase isn't going to care that it's "omg just a random island again!!!"

[Nyel]

I've thought of this too. Avaloren is patch 10.3.
A new expansion won't get announced. It will get announced sometime in the spring.

Look:

Legion release August 2016
BFA announce November 2017
GAP 15 months

BFA Release August 2018
Shadowlands announce November 2019
GAP 15 months

Shadowlands Release November 2020
Dragonflight announced April 2022
GAP 17 months

Dragonflight release November 2022
New Expansion announce November 2023
GAP less than 12 months

Imagine them giving us a 10.3 nobody asked for and what will definitely not bring a decent amount of players back just to delay your expansion which means $$$ and will bring players back at least to try it out. This would be the dumbest financial decision ever. And imagine them wasting Blizzcon to not announce a new expansion.

[FourKuma]

People somehow thinking that wow having the most news to announce at Blizzcon means that they are going to talk about a singular patch for retail and then.. What? Classic+ How does this logic work exactly?

I'm not against the idea of Avaloren being a patch area, but saying they won't announce an expansion is actually insane given what we've heard.

[kavikor]

Imagine them giving us a 10.3 nobody asked for and what will definitely not bring a decent amount of players back just to delay your expansion which means $$$ and will bring players back at least to try it out. This would be the dumbest financial decision ever. And imagine them wasting Blizzcon to not announce a new expansion.

Agreed. If we get in and they announce 10.3 I'm gonna be pretty disappointed, but they could also announce it along side an expansion which would be better...

But I'm still hoping for a summer expansion release. I'm ready to leave the Dragon Isles.

[Edoll]

How would people feel if both the binary and the screenshot leaks were real?

[justwatching]

Well made? A lot of effort, yes. But the quality of that was is shown is pretty poor for WoWs newest standards.

Yeah I'm just gonna disagree here the DF zones arent that great either. I'm also find it really hard to judge texture quality etc. based of those screenshots especially because (if they are real) its likely in development.

People somehow thinking that wow having the most news to announce at Blizzcon means that they are going to talk about a singular patch for retail and then.. What? Classic+ How does this logic work exactly?

I'm not against the idea of Avaloren being a patch area, but saying they won't announce an expansion is actually insane given what we've heard.

Agreed.

[NikolaiShade]

People somehow thinking that wow having the most news to announce at Blizzcon means that they are going to talk about a singular patch for retail and then.. What? Classic+ How does this logic work exactly?

I'm not against the idea of Avaloren being a patch area, but saying they won't announce an expansion is actually insane given what we've heard.

well they could show us slides of their summer holydays... that would be unexpected