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

[huth]

I think they said 2030 more so because that allows them plenty of time to pivot away from Annual expansions if they don't work out.

Unlikely. The buffer would be bigger than the running time of the expansions. I find it more likely they're aiming for 18-20 months. Which isn't really all that different from previous expansions.

18 months would still leave them with about a year of buffer.

[Berkilak]

They're subspecs. Literally. Specs are already Subclasses, so that'd make them Sub-Subclasses.

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Well, he was assumed to be dead up until Legion.

By who? Dude returned in WCIII by unknown means and has been at large ever since.

[Merryck]

Where the Fel is Medivh?

[Walrusking]

By who? Dude returned in WCIII by unknown means and has been at large ever since.

I'm pretty sure the average consensus amongst lore nerds was he returned to being dead after WC3, before Legion showed he's just been dicking around in the Nether.
"I will take my place amongst the legends of the past."

[huth]

By who? Dude returned in WCIII by unknown means and has been at large ever since.

WC3 it wasn't even clear if he was actually there or just a vision. And he didn't show up anywhere for over a decade afterwards.

[Scyth]

It's more surprising to me that Aberrus and Dawn of the Infinite felt like they might have swapped places. Like Aberrus should have been the megadungeon, and Dawn of the Infinite should have been the raid.
I am getting the same feeling I get looking back at the DS dungeons, where it feels like they felt compelled to have dungeons alongside the raid, even if that meant taking all the best ideas and spreading them too thin.

I never thought about it but now that you mention it I think they definitely should have done that. The Aberrus story, for me at least, was not interesting enough for a main patch. Sarkareth as a main boss was also a massive miss imo

[Murlocos]

I really need to see this 10.2 MSQ chapter from Blizzcon that Wowhead described. It sounds so corny and unearned that it's making me rethink my previous stance that 10.3 was probably never in the works, because it feels like a desperate attempt to make the 10.2 storyline feel like more of a finale to the expansion than it actually does.

[damonskye]

Im surprised the most by DF only having 3 raids, exactly because Sarkareth felt filler. Probably the least worthy end of raid boss of all time.

Especially since a lot of people have speculated that we may have actually lost a raid entirely in Vakthros in the Azure Span, what with barely ever visiting it (and Khadgar's complete disappearance from the story midway through. It does, after all, show up as a special raid/dungeon-style art area on the world map.)

Not sure it's really a thing, but it does bear thinking about... we do know that there were people complaining about Blizzard departures this past spring & summer on Twitter and how it was going to affect current content.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Where the Fel is Medivh?

Surfing through Exploring the Great Dark Beyond for... some reason. Perhaps they are saving his return to deal with the Void with his son Med'an... who just so happens is able to wield the Holy Light, Arcane magic, and shamanistic Elemental magic all at once. Med'an would be an asset against the Void with this in mind.


More than likely he will show up during "Midnight" and "The Last Titan" since his story is pretty intricately tied to Sargeras. Assuming Sargeras returns in TLT.

If "Midnight" is going to be the Void/Light expansion, it would be interesting to see him return then and hear his thoughts on the Void/Light conflict.

[Chickat]

IF anyone was afraid that TWW will be smaller in scope than Dragonflight, I dont think you need to worry. They were already well underway working on it before Metzen came on. He kind of took the bones they had built for that and turned it into a saga. IGN interview.



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They also said that they have 3 wow teams now, as opposed to just 1 before.

Next expansion development.
Live Content Patch team.
Next Next Expansion in development.

So I imagine they finish the WoW expansion, and then either all of that team moves to team 3 to help 12.0, OR they jump to 13.0 and start on it. Who knows.

The big take away is that they have a dedicated Patch team now. So I think that pretty much confirms a DF style patch cadence for all of these expansions, provided nothing goes wrong.

[KyleEverett]

The fact they have a dedicated patch team now plus they swear the cadence in 2024 will match 2023 has me thinking we'll see a lot more than our typical .5/.7 next year.

So my dream would be patches on Jan 9, Mar 12, May 14 and then July 16th Prepatch for a September 24th expansion release. I think many of us would be fine with a 2 month prepatch since it'd bring so many good things like mount expansion and such.

If they have to do a November or December expansion, just slot in an extra minipatch I guess.

In the "early fall" release they'd only have to do one extra patch.

[Chickat]

The fact they have a dedicated patch team now plus they swear the cadence in 2024 will match 2023 has me thinking we'll see a lot more than our typical .5/.7 next year.

So my dream would be patches on Jan 9, Mar 12, May 14 and then July 16th Prepatch for a September 24th expansion release. I think many of us would be fine with a 2 month prepatch since it'd bring so many good things like mount expansion and such.

If they have to do a November or December expansion, just slot in an extra minipatch I guess.

In the "early fall" release they'd only have to do one extra patch.

Maybe Patch 10.2.5, 10.2.7, and 10.2.9.

Followed by Prepatch and Expansion.

10.2.5 major story culmination.-late Jan
10.2.7- Fated season and minor content updates for the world. Maybe some invasions or something to keep it fresh. - Mid April
10.2.9- Bridge between DF and TWW. - Late June
11.0.1- Prepatch and setup for TWW - Mid September
11.0.3- TWW launch. - Mid October

So a patch every 2.5-3 months instead of 2. Also a lot less content than the first half, but much more content than we have ever had before.

[Merryck]

The best features in The War Within will be coming in the prepatch. The warbands and dynamic flight. It would be unusual if they hold them back.

[Joszef Kiprich]

The best features in The War Within will be coming in the prepatch. The warbands and dynamic flight. It would be unusual if they hold them back.

Dynamic flight is added in 10.2.5.

[Merryck]

Dynamic flight is added in 10.2.5.

But it's not added to most of the flying mounts, isn't it. That's a feature of the next expansion. We're getting dragon riding in the old world in 10.2.5.

[Joszef Kiprich]

But it's not added to most of the flying mounts, isn't it. That's a feature of the next expansion. We're getting dragon riding in the old world in 10.2.5.

Ah okay, I misunderstood. Yeah 10.2.5 adds dynamic in every zone. I think they won't hold down dynamic flight for all mounts when it's finished. But they have said it's a long process.

[Chickat]

But it's not added to most of the flying mounts, isn't it. That's a feature of the next expansion. We're getting dragon riding in the old world in 10.2.5.

They will for sure enable it on some existing mounts that are ready like Gryphons. They will release more during prepatch when they are done.

[Santandame]

Still feel pretty underwhelmed by the expansion and glad to see I was right that once the initial shine and hype wore off that more people would feel underwhelmed. Of course there’s still a select few diehards that will defend anything, especially the early access with the epic edition being the most egregious example. Also seeing someone attempt to argue that TWW is giving us the most content since Legion is just how hysterical. Regardless of how you feel about BfA and SL, they both provided insane amounts of content (SL less so as time went on.)

Delves I will admit look like they have heaps of potential and are a step in the right direction. I’m feeling cautiously optimistic about them. If they’re pulled off right, they could be just what the game needs.

Hero talents I’m meh on. They could be fun but there’s a lot of passives and they’re definitely not class skins like many seemed to believe upon announcement. They essentially sound like artifacts from Legion; just without the actual weapons. Why we couldn’t get them back, especially for an “epic” trilogy in which they’d be fitting, I don’t know.

Warbands again are a plus, but I don’t know why they’ve been announced as amajor expansion feature when they’re something that could have been rolled out in a .5 patch.

I don’t know why the Worldsoul Saga couldn’t have just been it’s own expansion, but I suppose money talks. It feels like we’re just getting Legion or BfA but cut up into smaller expansions.

Alas, I’ll list what I believe may and should happen based on how things seem to be going. It’s also my opinion that Blizz should not focus on raids so much anymore. It’s clear they’re not the be all end all anymore. Use that development time elsewhere please.

The War Within

Old dungeons used for the mythic+ pool:
- Grim Batol
- The Stonecore
- Blackrock Caverns
- The MOTHERLODE
- Bloodmaul Slag Mines
- The Arcway
- Siege of Boralus
- The Deadmines HC version
- Megadungeons broken up.

11.0 - all launch content aside from 4 of TWW dungeons replaced by old dungeons for the Mythic+ pool. Nerubian raid. Delves. Earthen allied race.

11.0.5 - Nerubian allied race. Small catch up zone. World content. Story content.

11.1 - Revamped Kezan as well as new Undermine zone. Undermine megadungeon. Timewalking fated Throne of Thunder raid. New Delves. New world content. Glyphs rework.

11.1.5 - Story content. New world content. Revamped Maraudon megadungeon. New hero talent tree for all classes with it providing a new role for that class. New arena.

11.2 - Harrowfall Arathi raid. Large new zone, possibly a section of Avaloren where I imagine these Arathi have come from. New Battleground. Story content. World content. New Delves. Return of the Mage Tower. Possibly a new regular dungeon.

11.2.5 - Expansion epilogue and bridge to Midnight. Timewalking fated Azshara’s Eternal Palace raid. 2/3 boss raid in the style of Trial of Valor/Crucible of Storms. Arathi humans allied race. New class/race combinations. Race customisation.

I’ll write out my predictions for Midnight and The Last Titan in a bit.

[micwini]

IF anyone was afraid that TWW will be smaller in scope than Dragonflight, I dont think you need to worry. They were already well underway working on it before Metzen came on. He kind of took the bones they had built for that and turned it into a saga. IGN interview.



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They also said that they have 3 wow teams now, as opposed to just 1 before.

Next expansion development.
Live Content Patch team.
Next Next Expansion in development.

So I imagine they finish the WoW expansion, and then either all of that team moves to team 3 to help 12.0, OR they jump to 13.0 and start on it. Who knows.

The big take away is that they have a dedicated Patch team now. So I think that pretty much confirms a DF style patch cadence for all of these expansions, provided nothing goes wrong.

Team A and B confirmed!!! Not only that! Team C!

[Echil46]

Still feel pretty underwhelmed by the expansion and glad to see I was right that once the initial shine and hype wore off that more people would feel underwhelmed. Of course there’s still a select few diehards that will defend anything

While i understand your point, and i kinda agree on the "take the blizzcon effect off and the shine dims", you can't just barge in and be all "i told you you would feel meh, and if you still feel good about it, you are a diehard and you will defend anything".

Let people have their opinion. Not sharing yours doesn't mean either is wrong. That's what's cool about an opinion.

especially the early access with the epic edition being the most egregious example.

I don't care. I mean, i'm not gonna defend it, but i won't feel grieved by it either. I'm just... it's there, okay. It won't factor in wether i take spend 90, 70 or 40€.

Also seeing someone attempt to argue that TWW is giving us the most content since Legion is just how hysterical. Regardless of how you feel about BfA and SL, they both provided insane amounts of content (SL less so as time went on.)

SL also provided lots. I feel it provided more than BFA, but still felt underwhelming, all because the story was that bad and badly delivered. But you can't judge the content of an expac that hasn't even been released.

Delves I will admit look like they have heaps of potential and are a step in the right direction. I’m feeling cautiously optimistic about them. If they’re pulled off right, they could be just what the game needs.

I'm sceptical about Delves, maybe because i'm still reeling from the mandatory expedition / thorgast. They were fun modes, but because they were mandatory, we rushed them and farmed them, which took all the fun out of it. So... i'll wait for it. Might be very cool, might be very bad.

Hero talents I’m meh on. They could be fun but there’s a lot of passives and they’re definitely not class skins like many seemed to believe upon announcement. They essentially sound like artifacts from Legion; just without the actual weapons. Why we couldn’t get them back, especially for an “epic” trilogy in which they’d be fitting, I don’t know.

Sounds like you're disapointed because it isn't what you'd hope for. I'd say i had no true hope for hero skins, so little bit more flavor in my choice of role is nice. Yeah i'd be happy with class skins, but... i'll prolly play anyway, so getting two flavors of being a war prot, i'm cool with it.

Warbands again are a plus, but I don’t know why they’ve been announced as amajor expansion feature when they’re something that could have been rolled out in a .5 patch.

I'd say that's because it's something that would change the way we see the game. In that way it's an expansion feature.

I don’t know why the Worldsoul Saga couldn’t have just been it’s own expansion, but I suppose money talks. It feels like we’re just getting Legion or BfA but cut up into smaller expansions.

Ok, on that i agree. I'll wait for the pricing and pacing before i'll say anything. But if they keep on delivering a 40/70/90€ expac, but it's every 18 months, then yeah it'll feel a bit steep.