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

[Nathanyel]

This just cements Aberrus as a fully distraction type of raid/story, as Iridikron planned.

Somehow I think this nuance will be lost on the vocal part of the playerbase...

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Somehow I think this nuance will be lost on the vocal part of the playerbase...

Subzone "Iridakron's Gambit" really hammers that home.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I mean a large percentile of people aren't even clued into this narrative in the first place at this point in time.

[Makabreska]

So?
How does that justify the raid ending being narratively and visually underwhelming?

And it is still a step up from the Vault. "Man, if we stop Rash then entire Primalists/Incarnates threat will disappear. I reeeealy hope she wont free her siblings, else this entire conflict will go on". Aberrus and Zalarek actually gave us some backstory on Black Dragnoflight, that they were doing fucked up experiments even pre-corruption. But yes, the cinematic was disappointing, and makes me think that 10.1.5 and Fyrrak will bring a proper resolution.

[Nathanyel]

Subzone "Iridakron's Gambit" really hammers that home.

That would require them to read.

[Alanar]

Are you guys surprised? This whole patch was a bait. Iridikron said it himself. Us going down there was just a distraction to give him time to do his thing. Sarkareth dying like a rat and for no reason was the whole point of this patch lol

Not really, it did feel like that from the start.

[Teriz]

Dumb theory. Hiding how? Blizz didn't realize the raid will be cleared on normal in 1-2h since release? They removed it, only to implement it later? Aberrus is a side story and a distraction from Incarnates. It may very well be the last of Old Gods influence in DF.

This along with the hidden Evoker legendary stuff just makes me very suspicious. Nothing I can prove, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more there that we simply aren’t privy to yet.

[Sondrelk]

So?
How does that justify the raid ending being narratively and visually underwhelming?

Seemed like a really neat bow to the Void corruption narrative to me.
Sarkareth loses his grip on reality as the Void forces that destroyed Neltharion convinces him to give up everything for a lost cause
Yes it was definitely not as high quality as it maybe should have been, but I sont really see how the cutscenes could have realistically done more, unless you just want tentacles showing up, or giant eyeballs for padding.

[Revamp Man]

Ladies and gents we got red eyes in the floor in that cinematic

Let's go old gods

[Revamp Man]

Emberthal is gonna be Aspect.

Like, they make it so obvious in every single scene she shows up.

I'm thinking double aspects with two brothers
Emberthal might end up the red aspect after Alex dies fighting galakrond

- - - Updated - - -

It just means that walking down Neltharion's path leads to well...oblivion. Leads back to basically nowhere. It's not the first time Oblivion was explored. The Void basically embodies non existence. Death (namely through Zovaal) wanted to bring about Oblivion to the players and their souls, Disorder wanted to cause Oblivion to all life in the universe, etc.

Oblivion is likely where the Dracthyr would've walked, had they continued down the Void path, nothing more.

Ngl, this storyline kinda blows, cause it basically just follows a very safe narrative, which also kinda hurts Wrathion and Sabellian's characters along with it.

- - - Updated - - -



There are no Old Gods dude. It's basically just Void fuckery, which could hint at maybe Old God influence existing in some form, but that's it.

Honestly, the people that automatically think Void Influence = Old Gods are so fucking annoying.

We see those same eyes in the mural. Legit just means the Void is watching over Sarkareth, giving him power, and now they're overseeing his demise due to us defeating him.

So when Xal is revealed as the 5th in next patch when we fight the Naga will that still be just void or can we get ppl to just accept it

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Old Gods are creations of the Void so they are connected. deal with it. I mean I'm surprised by the cutscene to but thinking about it wasn't guarented to go what we thought it would be "Void shennigans"

[Mafic]

Are you guys surprised? This whole patch was a bait. Iridikron said it himself. Us going down there was just a distraction to give him time to do his thing. Sarkareth dying like a rat and for no reason was the whole point of this patch lol

Cross your fingers patch 10.2 delivers.

[Foolicious]

Okay, but that Sarkareth void model? Would instantly play a dracthyr if they would look like that :O

https://www.wowhead.com/news/scalecommander-sarkareth-void-transition-and-new-void-empowered-model-332877

[Houle]

I mean, i guess lore-wise it makes sense that the entire patch and now the ending was so boring - it was just a big distraction fron Iridikron from the start. He literally said so himself in the patch cinematic.

But giving a story-reason why it was boring and wen nowhere doesnt change the fact that is was boring and went nowhere. "Duhhh it makes sense, its a distraction" yeah but its still boring and a waste of an entire patch's story.

[Seasz]

Any news on the "encrypted" blue dragonflight questline?

[Revamp Man]

Except unless there IS an Old God confirmation, and it somehow is connected to Life/Death in a way, then there are no Old Gods in DF, especially since it's very likely we'll be exploring the Dream next patch.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.bluetracker.gg/wow/topic...customization/

Fuck yeah! We're safe!

Why does it have to be life/death connected

- - - Updated - - -

Any news on the "encrypted" blue dragonflight questline?

I am assuming it is tied to the blue dragons that are guarding chromatus not showing up

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Aside from Zskarn which stumped us for an hour, our PUG easily cleared everything up to Neltharion before we got walled for 2 hours and disbanded. Tanks were having difficulty surviving the tank swap (instant 600k autoattack damage received upon taunting him) and people kept standing in front of the destructible walls, so when the knockbacks happened we took too much damage. Made it to portal phase. Only him and the final boss left so I might beat the patch tonight.

[Revamp Man]

Because that's quite possibly the only time we'll see an Old God ordeal next for DF, assuming 10.2 is the Dream.

Also, there is Chronicle art that depicts an Old God looking thing with a life and death motif around it. It's likely just a creative choice however.

The only thing we know about the 5th currently is that it exists and has been wiped from all in universe lore except one book. Even chronicles and the map of the black empire doesn't mention it so while we can either say blizz forgot or it's a 200d chess move the fact remains it has to be out there somehow

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

The problem with Rastakhan's death to me was the same as all hte other issues in BfA. The Horde became too cartoonishly evil under Sylvanas, and the Alliance was too toothless in retaliation.
It was difficult to have sympathy for Rastakhan when he knowingly harbored people who had just destroyed most of a civilization quite happily. You couldnt really have him turn on his heel and lament how terrible it was that the Alliance was so intent on stopping the Horde.
Conversely, the Alliance should have been much more vengeful. Killing Rastakhan should have been a small moral stumbling stone, not the sign for a screeching halt to the offensive.

Honestly that's why his death worked for me narratively TBH. Being cut the moment he actually get his head back in the game and is ready to fix things is some tragic irony, specially when he dies believing he has cursed his daughter to a crueler fate. It's a gut punch that takes advantage of his flaws, and how he tried to overcome them but failed.

Alliance side, IDK, their whole involvement with the war feels like it was losing gas the moment it started and all their reasons to go to war were just forgotten about because the narrative needed them to see it was All Sylvanas Fault Actually. Big meh.

But it would open the door for development anyway. Because if he stayed in Zandalar, Talanji could be free to roam the world and and be active hero. Horde would ain healthy family dynamic, Rastakhan would gain redemption story. And Talanji could still grow and gain experience outside of Zandalar so when the time comes she would be much more insigtful ruler becuase of the experience she got during her expeditios. What we got was a massive waste.

Sure, all plausible on a best case scenario. I just don't think we would have seen any of that given how BfA went about. I really think it would just feel like it does now, with Rastakhan just being alive. Same for Talanji, she could still be learning things now if the story used her.

And honestly OP characters were always a problem to properly balance faction dynamics. One Alliance character is perfectly capable of stopping entire army. As we saw with Malfurion and Jaina. And I am one of the people that is in favor of nerfing everyone, so armies, tactics and other factors actually matters.

Or at least put some effort in why these characters can't use their full power or have the enemies work around that. As it is now its just them being able to stop armies when it's needed, but otherwise they aren't really accounted for. It's weird.

Jaina was quite a mess for a long time, so she following the steps of her father and dying trying to invade other nation would be a good place to finally drop her for good since her character was turned to such a mess in the first place.

Have to disagree solely on the principle that Jaina's Kul Tiras arc was actually pretty good and fixed the mess her character had become. Fixing her after such an egregious turn and then killing her would have felt like a waste. She would have needed a whole different arc in Kul Tiras to make that work, which I do think could have worked.

Meaning, even if he had lived not much would have changed, outside the outcome. He should have just passed the mantle and stay as a backround spirituel leader.

Jaina was pretty vengefull since the start of bfa. Uch her whole character went from left to right and she was a perfect example of how strong the writers wanted her to be in that moment.

She was there looking down on the horde, while Rastakahn was dying. She was involved in a way.

I mean, its these things combined that ruined it for me. From the unnecessary Op flying ship and canons, teleporting when it suits them and the team. The raid, even worse. Tauning the horde to fight, knowing she has plot armor. That fight leading to literally nothing. After the raid we see her soft talking calia and later with thrall and friends like if nothing had happened. Meanwhile we lost a meaningfull character which literally just arrived.

My opinion didnt change one abit, I believe she should have bited the dust there. She lost so much credit in bfa.. she has been a drag. Its funny how quick people forget about her in bfa. Terrible.

I think that while the plot makes them intersect, their arcs are not defined by the other. Anyone could have killed Rastakhan, Zuldazar was just the conflict that solidified the pointlesness of the war for both sides.

Jaina's arc in BfA was about letting go of the hatreds that she was holding on to, Zuldazar just another realization of how the war was pointless. Killing her in Zandalar wouldn't have been much of a catharsis or fitting end for such a long standing character, so I think that was always kind of out of the question.

[Nymrohd]

Old Gods are creations of the Void so they are connected. deal with it. I mean I'm surprised by the cutscene to but thinking about it wasn't guarented to go what we thought it would be "Void shennigans"

If Avaloren turns out to be an expansion zone in DF instead of a full expac continent, we could absolutely find the last Old God there.

Interestingly, presuming that 10.2 and 10.3 have zones, what do we expect those zones to be? 10.2 could be an Emerald Dream themed zone. But what do people expect from 10.3? I doubt the Murozond plot is going to happen that late given it was mentioned so soon and that it is problematic for the narrative since we need Tyr back earlier. I will ofc always push for some upgraded/revamped zone elsewhere; Dragonblight or even Storm Peaks and bringing in Odyn can very much work (and both are sizeable zones).
Also, Forbidden Reach was kind of a free zone for Blizzard; they had to make a starting zone for the Dracthyr and for once they did not waste it and reused it (compared to brilliant zones in the past like Gilneas, Kezan, Wandering Isle or even Mardum that were barely used if used at all). Does anyone think we might get more zones like that? We could even get some small underground zone adjacent to Zaralek. Heck if we did end up going to Northrend, an additional underground area to the west of Zaralek could have tunnels that open in Northrend.