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

[Sondrelk]

It feels like the Void will not be featured in The Last Titan.

Metzen said that Midnight's endgame is to banish the Shadow forever, so I think Midnight's final patch will be the conclusion of the Void storyline.

Then Last Titan will be about the aftermath of the Void and Light war, but the Void itself will already have been banished by that point.

There will probably be some void in The Last Titan, though generally I think this is following more so the pattern we have for expansions. We start with introducing the A plot, have a showdown of some kind there. Move onto the B plot, big showdown. Then back to the A plot for the big finale.
Hard to say how much this is the case for Dragonflight given the unfocused storylines in general, but still.

TWW is the introduction of the main A plot with Azeroth and Titan stuff.
Midnight is the B plot with the Void and their shenanigans.
Then The Last Titan is back to the A plot with Titans interracting with Azeroth directly.

[Cheezits]

They're saying there will not be a full update of modern zones. Not in Midnight is the context, but Midnight is still a modern expansion.

The continual, gradual asset update until most of Azeroth is covered in time for questing updates seems more likely. i.e. 14.0 or 15.0

I don't know how anyone was expecting a full world revamp in any of the three expansions announced. As unfortunate as it is, SOMEHOW we are getting a Northrend revamp before Stormwind.

[Eldryth]

It would be cool if the expansion starts out with Silvermoon being this dark (yet beautiful) bastion of the Void, from whence Xal'atath rules and controls the Sunwell. Perhaps a bit too similar to Suramar thematically, but hey. Quel'dorei from all over Azeroth must unite under one banner, along with other allies, to breach their ancient city and reclaim the well before all is lost.

I'm expecting the reverse. The title sounds really ominous when you compare it to a certain event that the Void has been working towards- the Hour of Twilight. Twilight comes just before night (or dawn but night fits better), so I expect Midnight will be what comes next after Xal'atath succeeds in finally causing the Hour of Twilight at the climax of The War Within (we might manage to kill her in the process, but whether she lives or dies, I think she will win).

We will still control the Sunwell, but it will become the sole bastion of Light left on Azeroth, and our only hope of restoring the corrupted Worldsoul. The expansion will be our last stand to defend it.

[Sondrelk]

"With the mention of specific zones in Midnight, should we expect continent-wide updates or more local updates?
Mostly local. With the detail put into modern zones, it's just not feasible to do full updates. Really want to focus and put our full effort into the specific areas related to these expansions. Expect a fresh coat of paint on specific area, but also that older versions likely won't be completely removed. Think Chromie Time."

And with that quote dies the world revamp dream

I refuse to accept the death of the World Revamp. I will happily move goalposts to claim victory instead, so be ready for when I triumphantly claim we won when Stratholme gets that fresh coat of paint as Westfall continues to be ravaged by the eternal tornado.

- - - Updated - - -

Huh? It will be fully revamped, but they aren't doing all of EK.

We weren't going to get a full EK/Kalimdor revamp until 14.0 at the earliest. But this was interesting:

"There's still so much more to dive into and to announce with each expansion that should help keep players engaged including a strong cohesive narrative. Features in Midnight are expected to blow players' socks off."

Housing maybe? Revamped cities?

Housing seems like the likely option. I stand by that it only truly makes sense if we are in EK and Kalimdor, and housing in Gilneas and outside Silvermoon does make sense for evergreen places to have them.

[Fahrad Wagner]

Huh? It will be fully revamped, but they aren't doing all of EK.

We weren't going to get a full EK/Kalimdor revamp until 14.0 at the earliest. But this was interesting:

"There's still so much more to dive into and to announce with each expansion that should help keep players engaged including a strong cohesive narrative. Features in Midnight are expected to blow players' socks off."

Housing maybe? Revamped cities?

The fact that they call the revamps for Midnight and TLT mostly local and just "a fresh coat of paint on specific area" isn't too exciting to me.
I'm not even sure there will be a 14.0 at this point, we might be heading straight to WoW 2 from there, or if there is a 14.0... I'm not sure it will be in the Azeroth we know of? The way Maria Hamilton phrased it, a full world revamp seems impossible ("it's just not feasible to do full updates").

[Vakir]

I don't know how anyone was expecting a full world revamp in any of the three expansions announced. As unfortunate as it is, SOMEHOW we are getting a Northrend revamp before Stormwind.

I don't even know if it's gonna be a full Northrend revamp, lol.

Northrend may be a key location with the Storm Peaks and Ulduar getting new coats, with 3-4 new zones around/tangentially related to it.

[Merryck]

Huh? It will be fully revamped, but they aren't doing all of EK.

We weren't going to get a full EK/Kalimdor revamp until 14.0 at the earliest. But this was interesting:

"There's still so much more to dive into and to announce with each expansion that should help keep players engaged including a strong cohesive narrative. Features in Midnight are expected to blow players' socks off."

Housing maybe? Revamped cities?

I'm more excited for Midnight than The War Within.

[Ersula]

14.0 will almost certainly be a story and core zone reboot, though. But probably just a time passage with consequences and continuations from the last 20 years of the game.

Silithus is definitely getting updated during TWW. Maybe more. Quel'thalas is definitely joining the rest of the map, so might as well set a patch in the Plaguelands. They directly stated TLT is set in Northrend. Even by conservative estimates, at that point all they would need to do is update Hyjal & Khaz Modan regions. Then the revamp is done.

[Revamp Man]

What's the story here?

So apparently the blizzard staff was planning on having free food and drinks for portal pass and giving free cans of pop for the Mt dew quest.

Today they tried giving out pop in the portal lounge but CC staff stopped them and eventually the 2nd in command for the new team responsible for blizzcon (old team got laid off because no blizzcon means no need for a team) was called and tried to get it figured out but the venue staff wasn't having it.

Security has also been very discriminatory on things like bag checks.

Add to that the failed lines on day 1 and overselling tickets it's been a cluster

[Vakir]

Features in Midnight are expected to blow players' socks off."

Housing maybe? Revamped cities?

Expectations tempered.

"High Elves!!1"

Silithus is definitely getting updated during TWW. Maybe more. Quel'thalas is definitely joining the rest of the map, so might as well set a patch in the Plaguelands. They directly stated TLT is set in Northrend. Even by conservative estimates, at that point all they would need to do is update Hyjal & Khaz Modan regions. Then the revamp is done.

Silithus isn't guaranteed it, just likely. The significance of the cinematic was depicting the aftermath of the event that already happened, not necessarily the location where Anduin was. The entrance to Khaz Algar isn't related to Silithus.

Those Hyjal and Khaz Modan regions are not insignificant. That's at least 5-6 zones.

"Might as well patch in the Plaguelands" is a pretty big "yadda yadda yadda" overlook and avoiding the reality that it's not guaranteed just because of the presence of Quel'Thalas in one expac.

But yes. Probably a fair number of zones over time, which was my point.

[huth]

Can characters of different factions(Alliance/Horde) be in the same warband?

The Warband is literally your characters. So not only can they, they will if you have any.

[Fahrad Wagner]

I'm more excited for Midnight than The War Within.

Same, but after that interview from Maria Hamilton it kind of diluted my hype. Imagine saying you're going back to Quel'Thalas for something epic, and when asked if the zone will be revamped they tell you "expect a fresh coat of paint". Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but it's kind of underwhelming. Hopefully Midnight won't be and it will be cool, but yeah

[Cheezits]

Same, but after that interview from Maria Hamilton it kind of diluted my hype. Imagine saying you're going back to Quel'Thalas for something epic, and when asked if the zone will be revamped they tell you "expect a fresh coat of paint". Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but it's kind of underwhelming. Hopefully Midnight won't be and it will be cool, but yeah

They just have weird ways of saying things. Reminds me of Ion treated the Dracthyr. They aren't marketers or salesmen.

If the marketing is "Quel'thalas!" then it will be really cool Dragonriding Quel'thalas, not just TBC with better textures. The zones look like shit right now and would get a huge rehaul.

[Izalla]

True, but I'd go out in a limb and ascribe some responsibility to Blizzard for their communication. At this point it just seems like a marketing ploy, as if applying a series of fancy names to a simple new row of talent points.

Yesterday, I think a great deal of people - including myself - dupped themselves/were dupped into believing this was an entirely different thing, far more transformative than it seems to be, both mechanically and aesthetically.

My little nature loving druid heart is broken. Why can't I just have a green wrath ability back and starfall replaced with hurricane weather effects? I'm pretty sure the pvpers will still recognize that as a druid.

And if I can't have that can't I at least have more glyphs to make my abilities visually sun based? I'll take being a sun based druid over a moon based druid.

[pacotaco]

I might be blind and deaf, but I'm pretty sure Ion showcased a UI screenshot (mock-up probably) that showed a list of characters added to your Warband, and then below that was a normal list of other characters.

He also said you can add characters from different realms. Not sure why he'd say that if they're automatically included anyway.

No, that was the new character select screen, where you can select up to 5 characters to show.

[Khaza-R]

Same, but after that interview from Maria Hamilton it kind of diluted my hype. Imagine saying you're going back to Quel'Thalas for something epic, and when asked if the zone will be revamped they tell you "expect a fresh coat of paint". Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but it's kind of underwhelming. Hopefully Midnight won't be and it will be cool, but yeah

I think your perspective if very reasonable but I also feel like the devs know how much the community want a world revamp and probably want to make it irrevocably clear they are just touching certain zones.

[Vlyse]

I think 12.0/13.0 revamped zones and new areas will be great, and there’s still so much about them yet to be announced, but I hope after that 14.0 is a brand new setting again. Those have been the best, like MOP, Broken Isles, DF, and now hopefully TWW.

I was excited about Avaloren and Tigon, lol…

[Raetary]

I feel like they kinda shot themselves in the foot by announcing the setting of each expansion.

People are more preoccupied talking about Silvermoon, than what's gonna happen in TWW.

[Stonecloak]

I expect Cataclysm level changes on these "fresh coat of paint jobs". It'll be more confined, but I don't think for example It'll just be one area in Quel'Thalas, or Northrend. I expect in the least 4 revamped zones in each of those expansions.

[Cheezits]

I feel like they kinda shot themselves in the foot by announcing the setting of each expansion.

People are more preoccupied talking about Silvermoon, than what's gonna happen in TWW.

They had to announce a revamp of a popular area because the fanbase wouldn't have done well with just another reveal of another New Island like Khaz Algar (though it is done well IMO).

Northrend is weird though because I don't think that was as popular a request as, say, Ashenvale revamp. But HD Ulduar is probably the focus because it's so popular.