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

[Paula Deen]

It is made to sell more boxes, but whether it works or not hinges on if they've got the content cadence down or not. To me it's a massive mistake to chance the tail end of DF on a presumed earliest August-September release date. In their shoes they'd do well to introduce some kind of lower-maintenance reused asset raid. Cataclysm had Dragon Soul which had like five new models and one new area, Wrath had ToC etc. These bridging things help tide people over with something semi-new. Releasing less but faster and more consistently only works if you can actually manage

I would love to be pessimistic. I used to be all about that before, during, and after WoD. But just them appearing with three expansions planned out this far ahead should tell you they have an idea.

I doubt we are getting another raid or dungeon but I expect we are going to get some epilogue content unrelated to the tree and a fated/4th Season.

[Rathwell]

Nah, I think it's a culmination of the first 20 years of the game. They were pretty clear in stating its' going to last another 20. I just think we're talking a shift of some sorts after this saga completes. Whatever that is, who knows, but maybe a new home instead of Azeroth, maybe a sequel.

I think they were talking about Warcraft lasting longer, did they specify World of Warcraft? Because I'm sure the legacy of the franchise will continue. If it's popular I'm sure they'll do an animated TV show like a lot of franchises do these days. Maybe we'll get a WC4 at some point in the future, or something that is in essence as you say WoW 2

But I feel like they were careful to stress that because "doom & gloom" (of the sort of supplying) might not be good for their longevity, and if people thought that the game was genuinely ending at the end of the third expansion they'd probably have fewer people stick around. Seemed sort of a pre-emptive move to calm people like me, but I'm still of the belief that while they won't shut off the servers after the third expansion (because why would they, if it's even a little profitable still?) it may be the most definite end of the MMORPG it'll ever get. Maybe expansions will be smaller, less story relevant, perhaps it'll go into maintenance mode or they'll do something different, it doesn't matter, I'm sure the game will still be kept alive as long as it makes enough to carry the maintenance costs

But it still feels like an end of World of Warcraft as the MMORPG we know, you know? And it just makes me think, I'll probably never playthrough all this stuff as an Ogre or tinker, we ran out of time. We have these four years left, and after that... Who knows what they'll do, or if WoW will continue as it is today

[Stonecloak]

Probably they simply turn raid tiers into expacs now. And there will be no new leveling content.

1 Tier? Idk. It's possible but I feel like that won't suffice.

[Sondrelk]

It is made to sell more boxes, but whether it works or not hinges on if they've got the content cadence down or not. To me it's a massive mistake to chance the tail end of DF on a presumed earliest August-September release date. In their shoes they'd do well to introduce some kind of lower-maintenance reused asset raid. Cataclysm had Dragon Soul which had like five new models and one new area, Wrath had ToC etc. These bridging things help tide people over with something semi-new. Releasing less but faster and more consistently only works if you can actually manage.

- - - Updated - - -



In terms of back of the box features, this has about as much as DF, i.e not much, but eight new dungeons + four zones is an incentive to get your money's worth from them. Faster expansions that still include zones etc. are wastes of money and time for the most quickly exhausted bits of content. Two major patches of partially reused assets, as in DF they've shown to be able to do and fits with their overall faster plan.

Not in terms of features like dungeons or delves or whatever. I mean in terms of what story is likely to take place, and what the zones contain.

This doesn't seem like it has the C-list NPCs that I would associate with an expansion making itself more broad to last longer. The Tuskarr or Gnolls from DF for instance.
Rather it seems to have a well defined A plot with the Titan stuff, and a B plot directly linking up with that.

Again. This could easily change with more stuff being revealed in the Deep Dive. But my current gut feeling is that we are getting shorter expansions that focus much more intensely on the A plot specifically. In a way very much like how a 2 year Argus expansion wouldn't have been able to.

[Paula Deen]

Probably they simply turn raid tiers into expacs now. And there will be no new leveling content.

I HIGHLY doubt this for one simple reason.

Blizzard has been extremely conservative on box/overview features since the launch of Dragonflight to temper expectations and you know what specific wording we got in the overview yesterday?

"New Dungeons and Raids"

[Sondrelk]

The people who thought it up are literal rockstar developers!

Don't see why it's a bad name. Hallow, like what you might call something holy. And fall, indicating it's lower down or that something fell down.

It's a holy subterranean cave where the giant crystal might have literally fallen down from somewhere.

[Nightshade711]

Probably they simply turn raid tiers into expacs now. And there will be no new leveling content.

Highly doubt it.

Also people are looking too deep into the saga thing. Blizzard has said before they plan expansions several years in advance. This time they’re actually just giving us the premise ahead of time.

[whoisqnx]

Deep Dive is today.

oh thats awesome, do u think there is a chance we might see the first Raid tier sets' concept arts? I'd love to see new models, armors, weapons, cosmetics but i kinda forgot when some of those are revealed when a new expansion is announced.

[Nymrohd]

Probably they simply turn raid tiers into expacs now. And there will be no new leveling content.

Even the short presentation alone alludes to at least one more zone and raid (the core and whatever is there, likely Uldaz). And that is not counting that the Sword is front and center in the promotional material so it likely will also get some content (could be a dungeon or raid, could be an underground zone, could be both). I am not saying that having expansions with only two tiers is impossible; it very much could happen. I personally would not mind; I still think WoW would be value for money given how much playtime I get out of it.

[Makabreska]

oh thats awesome, do u think there is a chance we might see the first Raid tier sets' concept arts? I'd love to see new models, armors, weapons, cosmetics but i kinda forgot when some of those are revealed when a new expansion is announced.

They did give us concept art of DF first season tier sets during it's reveal, so why not?

[Wangming]

Even the short presentation alone alludes to at least one more zone and raid (the core and whatever is there, likely Uldaz).

I mean expansion zones are pretty much a given since WoD aren't they?

[Sondrelk]

oh thats awesome, do u think there is a chance we might see the first Raid tier sets' concept arts? I'd love to see new models, armors, weapons, cosmetics but i kinda forgot when some of those are revealed when a new expansion is announced.

They will almost certainly show new armor and weapons, evne if it's just half baked concept art. They know cosmetics is a big draw to the continued investment of the playerbase.

[whoisqnx]

They did give us concept art of first season tier sets of DF during it's reveal, so why not?

sick!! cant wait

[Nymrohd]

I mean expansion zones are pretty much a given since WoD aren't they?

Cata (Molten Front) and MoP (Isle of Thunder, Timeless Isle) also had them.

[pacotaco]

Doesn't Midnight seem a little out of place compared to TWW and TLT?

I get why it's happening (revamp and Quel'thalas is huge) but it seems kinda filler-y without context.

We probably get some ties to the Life pantheon on that expansion through Elune and the Night Elves, that help us make Eonar side with us vs the other Titans.

[micwini]

We should all celebrate that at long last we've broken the streak of expansions with night elf forests. They'll be back for World of Warcraft: Midnight(elves) but for now let's treasure the brief reprieve.

Can't spell Delves without elves.

[Sondrelk]

Cata and MoP also had them.

Every expansion has had them. TBC has Isle of Quel'danas obviously, but even WotLK had an oft forgotten patch island north of Icecrown with a smattering of dailies.

[Zelk]

Does the deep dive also include classic? 45 mins across 3 games is not much time at all...

[Makabreska]

WoWWiki Q&A with devs:

https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Forum:...nterview_notes

[blaatschaap]

Probably they simply turn raid tiers into expacs now. And there will be no new leveling content.

what the fuck are you talking about? no new leveling content? leveling content is literally the bulk of the content delivered in a new expansion. it is the zones and the monsters and the questing in them. that is like 90% of the created content for an expansion. they are almost certainly going to follow the SL/DF model going forward and never going back to x.3.0 major patches. Still gives 2 big content updates after every expansion, each adding a raid and a completely new zone.