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

[Calfredd]

dunno if anyone even remembers this cinematic (damn, its been 22 years!)

how come we went from THAT to taking pics of horse-sized ducks on rafts... :'(

Well one is a cinematic and the other is a daily/world quest.

[Chickat]

Bfa had AMAZING gameplay man.

Only thing sucked was how they handled borrowed powers (essences should have been acc-wide + corruption vendor on day 1 of last patch).

Story was "fine" up until 8.3.


If you ask me, Azshara should be 8.3 fight with us releasing N'zoth and then having The Black Empire as 9.0.

Lore-wise, Shitlands should have never EVER happened.

Nzoth could have been the one manipulating Sylvanas too. Northrend update, Azshara raid first tier to put her down for good. Bolvar/Sylvans tier. Sylvanas escpaes and is completely mad at this point. Nzoth and Sylvanas in final raid. Kill Nzoth, save Sylvanas but imprison her. Nzoth final act to rez Galakrond. DF happnes much the same but with the added threat of Gal as the final boss. Incarcnates mostly pawns but dont know it. Vyr still joins us after learning of the bargain Iridi made with the void and Galakgrond. We get 8.3 which is where we kill Gal, Iridi escapes and sets up 11.0.

[Itsgotime]

Not really? The chronicles lore basically said that the titans were created with the warcraft universes equivalnt of the big bang - light and void clashing on a big scale, which caused a big explosion from which the physical universe was born. The titens were basically big leftover energies from that event. Thats pretty straight forward.

"The First Ones made everything" on the other hand only makes sense until you start asking, who made the First Ones then? Or how did they come into existence, when there was nothing before them?

While I am not a fan of the First Ones. I wonder if they are some type of Light/Void beings or higher order Naaru. That would still keep with the chronicles theme.

Their architecture in Zereth Mortis looks like a cross between Titans and the Light. Not to mention the emphasis on sound being a tool of creation. It works well with how the Naaru communicate and instill emotion. When you stand near A’dal you hear chimes and ringing.

It was a comment made, I believe by Ion and several other developers in the lead up to 10.1 and 10.2, I believe in a question about the Dragon Isles Expedition Renown Questline searching for that Vault/Tomb. Secrets of Azeroth was 100% an attempt to test if that kind of gameplay was received well too.

Ah, thank you! also there is SOA again

[bdna]

Bfa shadow still appears in my nightmares sometimes.

BfA, Legion and even SL would be even better if they released the xpac with the X.3 systems in place, gameplay-wise.
(Ok, SL lore will never be good but still).

[Palapop]

Azerite sucked and the gameplay loop of needing to upgrade the neck on top of farming for the perfect gear sucked. If I want to grind I will go to Vanilla Reps not dungeons that already take 20 mins to play through. Those systems alone were honestly enough.

But then they added ON TOP OF IT with the Heart Inserts. Which was just as bad as Azerite Gear.

Then they added ON TOP OF IT with Corrupted Gear. Although Corruption was pretty fucking fun ngl.

Shadowlands and BFA both suffered from severe, and I do mean severe system bloat. Go back and play them now without the system bloat and you realize how horrendously bloated the content presented was. Shit even Argus was fucked beyond belief when it was current. I am really thankful the systems took a back seat this expansion and hope that, if the reprieve was just temporary, the new system(s) we get are much less hostile to gameplay.

I don't mean to sound like a fucking casual boomer, but I have like 4 hours a night a week to be home. At home. One dungeon is an hour. I am not grinding Azerite again.

I do agree that BFA-systems sucked in a way.

About "farming the most bis azerite gear" - I mean... I've been struggling with crit/haste boots on my shammy even today.

Yeah, at the end in 8.3, it was fun GAMEPLAY. (tho lore sucked).

With very few tweaks- BFA would be easily 2nd on my list. (mop/wotlk sharing first place forever)

Shadowlands.... just please, make it disappear! FOREVER AND EVER!

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How on earth have I never seen this... This perfectly captures the OG Wow vibe! And is that Optimus FUCKING Prime narrating? Peak 2000s stuff right there... Thanks for posting this.

I have/know for quite a few very, VERY old cinematics and in-game cutscenes. (1.12 is 1 of my favorites, EVER. TRUE WORLD OF WAAAAAARCRAAAFT)

[Chickat]

While I am not a fan of the First Ones. I wonder if they are some type of Light/Void beings or higher order Naaru. That would still keep with the chronicles theme.
Their architecture in Zereth Mortis looks like a cross between Titans and the Light. Not to mention the emphasis on sound being a tool of creation. It works well with how the Naaru communicate and instill emotion. When you stand near A’dal you hear chimes and ringing.

Big bang imo is the First ones experimenting and killing themselves. Maybe to save themselves, who knows. Either way it happened and the realms that the First ones were working on were fully unleashed into the Cosmos.

[Paula Deen]

Nzoth could have been the one manipulating Sylvanas too. Northrend update, Azshara raid first tier to put her down for good. Bolvar/Sylvans tier. Sylvanas escpaes and is completely mad at this point. Nzoth and Sylvanas in final raid. Kill Nzoth, save Sylvanas but imprison her. Nzoth final act to rez Galakrond. DF happnes much the same but with the added threat of Gal as the final boss. Incarcnates mostly pawns but dont know it. Vyr still joins us after learning of the bargain Iridi made with the void and Galakgrond. We get 8.3 which is where we kill Gal, Iridi escapes and sets up 11.0.

The what if to end all what ifs is what if Muezhalla was actually the bad guy in Shadowlands and whatever the fuck was going on with the First Ones and the Jailer just didnt fucking exist. Originally the big lore channels were all sure it was Muezhalla behind it all because of Vol'Jin then when the stinker dropped and we saw the fucking Snow Miser and his stiff nips everyone just kinda gave up LMAO

Edit: It is really fun coming up with different names for the Jailer.

[Palapop]

Well one is a cinematic and the other is a daily/world quest.

its the FEEL and theme.


Yes, we always had goofy/cartoonish/easter-egg characters and events in WOW.

But if you compare goofy Goblins from Booty bay/Thousand Needles/Retchet to raft WQ and DF characters dialogue.... you feel like youre in pixar-disney world made for 3 year olds.

[Chickat]

I do agree that BFA-systems sucked in a way.

About "farming the most bis azerite gear" - I mean... I've been struggling with crit/haste boots on my shammy even today.

Yeah, at the end in 8.3, it was fun GAMEPLAY. (tho lore sucked).

With very few tweaks- BFA would be easily 2nd on my list. (mop/wotlk sharing first place forever)

Shadowlands.... just please, make it disappear! FOREVER AND EVER!

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I have/know for quite a few very, VERY old cinematics and in-game cutscenes. (1.12 is 1 of my favorites, EVER. TRUE WORLD OF WAAAAAARCRAAAFT)

I was never hardcore so BFA was more fun for me than for others. Still had questionable lore towards the middle and end, and needed some work, but ive always held it to at least average XPac by rankings.

[Itsgotime]

Would you say they are light/void aligned?
I always found the new creation mythos to be odd considering their constructs were a cross between Titan Keepers/Forged and Naaru. Felt like a deliberate choice imo.

[Chickat]

The what if to end all what ifs is what if Muezhalla was actually the bad guy in Shadowlands and whatever the fuck was going on with the First Ones and the Jailer just didnt fucking exist. Originally the big lore channels were all sure it was Muezhalla behind it all because of Vol'Jin then when the stinker dropped and we saw the fucking Snow Miser and his stiff nips everyone just kinda gave up LMAO

Theres multiple ways the writing team could have salvaged Shadowlands/BFA after Afrasiabi. They did their best I'm sure, but they failed.

[Palapop]

The what if to end all what ifs is what if Muezhalla was actually the bad guy in Shadowlands and whatever the fuck was going on with the First Ones and the Jailer just didnt fucking exist. Originally the big lore channels were all sure it was Muezhalla behind it all because of Vol'Jin then when the stinker dropped and we saw the fucking Snow Miser and his stiff nips everyone just kinda gave up LMAO

had the same idea about Muezha'la (w/e spelling).


but in my eyes the "Shadowlands" would actually be the SPIRIT REALM on AZEROTH (like the 1 where we go once we're dead).

We'd enter there with help of............ druids? shamans?

Imagine if Thrall was the 1 who helped us enter "my version" of Shadowlands?
Then, allegedly Sylvanas sending assassins after Thrall, while Saurfang somehow manages to find them and follow them into the Outland.... would make a lot more sense.

That cinematic was nice, but made 0-ffing sense lore-wise.

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I was never hardcore so BFA was more fun for me than for others. Still had questionable lore towards the middle and end, and needed some work, but ive always held it to at least average XPac by rankings.

yep, idd.
lore-ending (and bridge to SL) ruined BFA heavily. was just stoooooooooooopeeeeeeeeeed.

wrote already how I'd finish 8.3 and start 9.0.

[Maalcrom]

It feels so weird not knowing anything about the new expansion... Are we all on copium hoping we get something and we won't? Is it all a dream?

[Chickat]

It feels so weird not knowing anything about the new expansion... Are we all on copium hoping we get something and we won't? Is it all a dream?

I mean. We may know a lot about the xpac. Theres no way to prove any leaks anymore with AI tbh, unless they are super high quality. We will see soon.

[bdna]

It feels so weird not knowing anything about the new expansion... Are we all on copium hoping we get something and we won't? Is it all a dream?

Dunno. Many people did not believe evokers/dracthyr were a thing, and here we are. My money is on the new xpac was already leaked but it's drowned on the sea of fake leaks.

[Paula Deen]

That cinematic was nice, but made 0-ffing sense lore-wise.

IMO Shadowlands Cinematic was the most whelmed I ever felt watching a cinematic, even DF when I eventually watched it for the first time intrigued me with its premise but SL? We kinda had already seen bits of it, we knew some of the general vibe of what was gonna happen with the Bastion press kit. I am sure if I was not aware of those things and saw it I would have found the Sylvanas ripping the helm but faking out that she was gonna put it on would have been way more fun...but because I knew where it was going generally I felt nothing.

Honestly kinda why I am excited now because even though we have 4 possible zone screenshots I cannot even begin to describe how the fuck we get from Emerald Dream Team vs Dr. Nefarious to whatever the fuck is next.

It feels so weird not knowing anything about the new expansion... Are we all on copium hoping we get something and we won't? Is it all a dream?

A dream you say?

[NoTimeToDie5426]

It feels so weird not knowing anything about the new expansion... Are we all on copium hoping we get something and we won't? Is it all a dream?

I feel like at this point we are all so insanely high on copium that no matter what comes out tomorrow we will all be mesmerized. We are pretty much talking in circles at this point to pass time (due to ingesting fucktacular amounts of copium)

[Chickat]

I feel like at this point we are all so insanely high on copium that no matter what comes out tomorrow we will all be mesmerized. We are pretty much talking in circles at this point to pass time (due to ingesting fucktacular amounts of copium)

Yep, and with that.

Well, I think I'm gonna head out for an earliesh for me night. Might watch some anime or something for a bit. When I wake up Blizzcon will only be 1-3 hours away.

Good luck. I kinda hope no leaks happen at this point.

[Itsgotime]

Is it possible we missed a random one-off text post in the thousands of pages? Or did they get combed through

[ChairmanKaga]

Speaking of Shadowlands, did they ever explain in game why the player (MawWalker!) was able to interact with the First One's stone in the Maw that let us teleport out?