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

[blaatschaap]

How did you find out?

Hot mic I think. Crazy

[Sondrelk]

First of all, the sword isn't gorribal, that's not canon.

Second of all, I think you are misinterpreting thrall. I felt the implication of the dialogue was sargeras was trying to kill something that was working to corrupt the world soul. Of course it could be me misinterpreting things. I'm fairly certain they aren't gonna pretend BFA heart of azeroth/world soul communion (even back during end of legion actually iirc) didn't happen. Given that ties directly into the sword in the first place...

It's almost certainly called Gorribal. We already know that Aggramar had the weapon Taeschalach because it's a weapon we can get. And given it looks partially broken I think it's clear the developers intended the old lore with Gorschalach to be the case.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Btw, I wonder if the idea of a balance between light and dark is now out of the window. So far it certainly seems like the next 2 expansions will be once again light good, dark ebil.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

every patch this dude is finding his new place in the horde

Thrall is coping with the reality that he doesn't fit in with his race. He was raised by humans to act like a human, and then only began learning about Orcish culture second hand when he was in his late teens. Then he tried living his idealized version of Orcish culture, passed on to him by romantic stories from Grom and using human ideas of what civilization should look like. He modelled Orgrimmar after human cities and kingdoms when the Orcs had no cities or kingdoms on their homeworld. He became unpopular with the Orcs after Wrath and was pressured into selecting Garrosh as his successor as he was popular with the Orcs. Then Thrall stepped away and came back to find out that the Orcs had reverted back to the evil Orcish Horde. And then it happened again. Thrall has realized that the Orcs don't want to live in a civilized human-styled kingdom, nor live up to the idealized expectations of Grom. Thrall is ideologically closer to the humans, but they're not his people and trying to live among them would be awkward. Thrall is a knight without a kingdom worth serving. So he wanders.

[Murlocos]

The key art gives a strong impression that this is a group of grizzled adventures who step away from the Horde / Alliance faction boundaries.

Thrall and Anduin appear more like lone / rogue adventurers than as representatives of the Alliance or Horde.

For sure. I think one of my concerns/fears with how this new story structure is being laid out is that, at least for TWW, it seems like we're doing the 3rd expansion in a row of a completely neutral expedition to mysterious lands where we help a disconnected native group unique to each zone. I guess the Dragonscale Expedition is meant to be that link back, but they're so bland and inconsequential that it didn't work for me at all in DF.

I'm still not sure what I think of this all, and I can't really sit on it since I have to go leave and watch the 3 and a half hour long Scorcese movie in a few minutes. It feels like this is all building up to the end of WoW, or at least what we've recognized as it, while I've been hoping for a revamp that focused on the individual races and advancing their stories more. Like, why were they even bringing Gilneas up if it seems like (right now) it's still not going to go anywhere? Maybe Midnight will be more in that vein. Just feeling overwhelmed at the moment.

[Nebron]

Oh boy... I'm not sure how I feel about it...

I have a feeling, that we have entered a very weird chapter of WoW, where instead of continous development, we get reiteration of the same pattern for at least the next 3 expansions.

There's nothing groundbreaking in this. At first, saga sounded to me like "reimagining" the game from top to toe, but the more I think about it, I fear that doesn't bring that much to the table.

Delves, yeah, that's new, and I hope it's cool, but didn't excite me too much sounds a bit like mainly a single player scenario that will get boring after a month or two.

The reveal sounded more like "half-expansion" or a massive, massive patch, rather than a proper expansion. That wasn't too hypey to me.

Storyline seems to be:
1) we are dealing with Nerubians and Xal'atath and some other foes that come in probably 2 patches;
2) we venture to revamped northren Eastern Kingdoms, which will become Quel'thalas and deal with Void and Sunwell stuff, where Alleria's story continues and she's the main protagonist there;
3) we go to revamped Northrend and some cool stuff happen there with the titan's lore;

Based on Ion said about revamping the world being done partially, it seems like a logical follow-up.


On one side, the story flow smoothly, that's for sure, as that is basically the main idea behind it. On the other hand, it may feel dull and we'll be dragging the story from one place to another. At least, I hope it opens up a possibility for new heroes and foes to flourish naturally.

The risk there is - if it comes out poorly, we are stuck with this pattern with quite some time. Hopefully it turns out to be refreshing.

[Vakir]

First of all, the sword isn't gorribal, that's not canon.

Second of all, I think you are misinterpreting thrall. I felt the implication of the dialogue was sargeras was trying to kill something that was working to corrupt the world soul. Of course it could be me misinterpreting things. I'm fairly certain they aren't gonna pretend BFA heart of azeroth/world soul communion (even back during end of legion actually iirc) didn't happen. Given that ties directly into the sword in the first place...

Maybe, but Taeschlach is canon, as is Gorschlach in the trinket name. Just making it simple here.

Maybe? That's not a misinterpretation if it's speculation right now. Either way, Thrall would have no reason to overinterpret that unless this cinematic is in medias res further into the saga.

Either way, they don't seem to really know that she's a Titan. I thought it was common knowledge at this point! Even Khadgar was told that.

[kavikor]

Hmm.

One potential point of mild criticism I might have against Blizzard would be the choice of the Earthen as an Allied Race. They look cool and all, but they're really just earthy, crystallised dwarves.

Don't dwarf players prefer proper dwarves?

It's a bit like the Dracthyr situation. Did dragon players really want gecko lizards, or did they really want drakonids?

To respond to this, I've been waiting for a 'Titanforged' race for a long time.

True mechagnomes, vrykul, metal dwarves. etc

[Wangming]

First of all, the sword isn't gorribal, that's not canon.

Second of all, I think you are misinterpreting thrall. I felt the implication of the dialogue was sargeras was trying to kill something that was working to corrupt the world soul. Of course it could be me misinterpreting things. I'm fairly certain they aren't gonna pretend BFA heart of azeroth/world soul communion (even back during end of legion actually iirc) didn't happen. Given that ties directly into the sword in the first place...

To be fair the mystery box really is strange. The obivous answer is that Azeroth is a titan world soul and she is talking to them. But the very fact that they act like it is a mystery suggests otherwise.

[Raetary]

Hmm.

One potential point of mild criticism I might have against Blizzard would be the choice of the Earthen as an Allied Race. They look cool and all, but they're really just earthy, crystallised dwarves.

Don't dwarf players prefer proper dwarves?

It's a bit like the Dracthyr situation. Did dragon players really want gecko lizards, or did they really want drakonids?

Yeah honestly, we should've got the Nerubians instead.

It's really dumb that they are continueing with that trend for ARs.
Another race slot wasted on a race that should've been customization options for an existing one.

And it feels really weird to have dwarves on the horde.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

The reveal sounded more like "half-expansion" or a massive, massive patch, rather than a proper expansion. That wasn't too hypey to me.

I feel that way, as well. A bit of Shadowlands flashbacks on that front.

[Auxis]

So the Binary riddler may have been right?
The last hint given was an image of a black planet cracked with gold lines according to ercap's imgur album. That is exactly what the background of the logo is this time - Azeroth cracking open.

[George Lucas]

To be fair we also have four humans (regular, fat, werewolf, dead)
And four elves (night, nightborne, blood, void)
So three dwarves isn't that much.
Would I have been happier with Naga? Or the Tiger people? Or Jinyu?
Most likely, yes. But I might still get some nice stuff with hero talents. I mean Dark Ranger is right there.

The four humans you mentioned all have their unique animations.

Three out of four of the elves also have their unique animations.

The Earthen are a slight alteration of the existing dwarves, exactly like the Dark Iron. All have the same animations and base model. With full armor they are completely identical.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Yeah honestly, we should've got the Nerubians instead.

It's really dumb that they are continueing with that trend for ARs.
Another race slot wasted on a race that should've been customization options for an existing one.

And it feels really weird to have dwarves on the horde.

I imagine we'll get the nerubians later, though I'm really not a fan of the new humanoid design. They have dracthyr syndrome in that they don't really look at all like what they're supposed to be, albeit even moreso than the dracthyr. I was hoping we'd get something more like the seers.

[Sondrelk]

Maybe, but Taeschlach is canon, as is Gorschlach in the trinket name. Just making it simple here.

Maybe? That's not a misinterpretation if it's speculation right now. Either way, Thrall would have no reason to overinterpret that unless this cinematic is in medias res further into the saga.

Either way, they don't seem to really know that she's a Titan. I thought it was common knowledge at this point! Even Khadgar was told that.

Even if they know there is a Titan inside Azeroth, why would they immediately assume the voice is said Titan? Sure, it's a possibility, but it could be any number of things with a world as weird as Azeroth.

[blaatschaap]

It's almost certainly called Gorribal. We already know that Aggramar had the weapon Taeschalach because it's a weapon we can get. And given it looks partially broken I think it's clear the developers intended the old lore with Gorschalach to be the case.

Gorschalach is explicitly non-canon as the origin of the two swords. So taeschalach's existence in the game has no bearing on the sword of sargeras

[Cheezits]

Yeah honestly, we should've got the Nerubians instead.

It's really dumb that they are continueing with that trend for ARs.
Another race slot wasted on a race that should've been customization options for an existing one.

And it feels really weird to have dwarves on the horde.

Nerubians still feel like an AR, especially when they made a humanoid version. Why would they otherwise?

It's just a longer story than the Earthen.

[The Stormbringer]

Yeah. Upon further inspection it seems like Quel'thalas will be time travel for some reason? It says the old Quelthalas so I guess it will expand it to be continent sized. They will have all those assets for a revamp too.

Then Northrend will be modern times and a full revamp.

14.0 will be basically WoW2 Azeroth wakes up it doesnt kill us. World revamp of EK and Kal since Northrend is already revamped in 13.0.

Also since the void will be invading Past Quel'thalas, perhaps we will go to Karesh pre or during its breakup and fight Dimensius for the final patch?

No, it says the "old world", referring to old zones that we've been to before. It's not time travel, it's a revamp.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

1) we are dealing with Nerubians and Xal'atath and some other foes that come in probably 2 patches;
2) we venture to revamped northren Eastern Kingdoms, which will become Quel'thalas and deal with Void and Sunwell stuff, where Alleria's story continues and she's the main protagonist there;
3) we go to revamped Northrend and some cool stuff happen there with the titan's lore;

Have to say I'm pretty unexcited about The War Within; the latter two expansions sound far more interesting on every possible level.

[Nebron]

Didn't they say in the presentation we'd be going to past Quel'Thalas? I may have misheard this, to be fair no time travel would make 100% more sense.

I believe a reference to the "old world" is indicative of a north Eastern Kingdom revamp, especially that Ion suggested recently, that the revamp is happening but it comes in steps - probably when the story needs it.