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

[Ersula]

Big news is 3 minor patches next year before 11.0, Fated will have no raid affix

Huh? The raid Affix was the only reason to repeat the content.

“They should know what to look forward to in 2024."

Then they probably should have covered some of that at blizzcon. I'm shocked that a powerpoint presentation & the shortest cinematic ever was the extent of retail footage they had to offer.

“So it's really just more, let's bring all three raids back in rotation. Let's bring all of the Dragonflight dungeons back as a Dragonflight seasonal Mythic Plus pool and close out the season that way.”

Everything Ion says is shockingly bad idea. My guild really liked the new affixes. Why are we being nostalgic for content we just had less than a year ago? The theme for season 4 being "nothing new" makes me think he has to be trolling.

So, Azeroth is imprisoned, but it's for her own protection. Perhaps she was put into stasis the moment before her birth. Perhaps she was going to be born as a Void Titan, and the Titans needed to buy time in order to cleanse her.

That would be wild considering the Titans spent 100,000 years doing nothing.

[Xilurm]

So, Azeroth is imprisoned, but it's for her own protection. Perhaps she was put into stasis the moment before her birth. Perhaps she was going to be born as a Void Titan, and the Titans needed to buy time in order to cleanse her.

Or perhaps the Titans aren't as good as we thought.

[Cheezits]

I'm still going to guess that it's not "Titans/Keeper bad" and more "SOME of them are liars because reasons" with maaaaybe a couple "some of them have selfish intentions and need to be put down" (Odyn, maybe Aman'thul)

Ironically if Aman'thul is the big big bad then he could even be what Zovaal was prepping against.

[Ersula]

3. Titans find out Azeroth is too far gone, decide to put her in stasis while they figure out what to do. She's not allowed to wake up and become Voidy.

Congratulations, you just rendered every prior Sargeras & Old god plot irrelevant. Turns out Azeroth was already corrupted the whole time. Enjoy Classic.

Ironically if Aman'thul is the big big bad then he could even be what Zovaal was prepping against.

This is like "somehow palpatine returned" but worse.

[Chickat]

I say it while actively farming bloody tokens >_>

Edit: To keep this post kinda on topic.

The only time in the history of the game I was surprised by a lore developments were the end of Tomb of Sargeras and Argus. I about shit my pants when I saw that cinematic for the first time and the Sword too.

And when Sylvanas broke the crown shattering the sky. I dont think many people saw that coming tbh.

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The real wild part is gonna be when the tree materializes into the middle of the ruins of Lordaeron.

Nobody expects the Emerald Inquisition.

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10.2.5 and tree talk is getting boring here's my prediction for midnight

Quel Danas is the final leveling zone, it is now a lot bigger and is now all void coloured and the Sunwell acts as the ice crown of this expansion the final raid where we face off against Xhal

Eversong looks the same but is graphically updated and is now under Naga control

Ghostlands are graphically updated and has void necromancers and nerubians

zulaman is a full-on zone with trolls allied with the void

the area behind Strathholme is now a hub until we reclaim Silvermoon

12.0 raid is troll-focused

12.1 we get a new underground Naga zone and a battle for Silvermoon raid that starts in the Naga caverns and we work our way up to Silvermoon black temple style

12.2 we travel to Karesh and enter the Queldanas raid through the portal created in the Sunwell that is connected to Karesh

That actually sounds really cool imo.

[Nymrohd]

Or maybe the Titans arrive, find the world soul is significantly corrupted and THEN they imprison Azeroth during TLT because they think that if she wakes up, she will be a Void Titan.

Which makes perfect sense.

[Daniri]

Christ Metzen: And there, you will uncover a vast conspiracy, one that stretches throughout the history of the world. One that will challenge everything you know about the titans, their intentions and the true nature of Azeroth itself.

Azeroth is not an unborn Titan. She's a prisoner.

This wouldn't challenge what I think I know about the Titans, their intentions or the nature of Azeroth. It would be directly in line with the narrative they've been going with ever since the Chronicle was hamfistedly retconned.

[flan1337]

has anyone mentioned the Mr GM interview - they said we will get updates every 8 weeks leading up to the next xpack which doesn't add up to only being 10.2.5 - .7 hmm... could we still get a 10.3 with no raid? We know that we have to go into the nighthold maybe 10.3 will be a fated raid of the nighthold

[Chickat]

Yeah-- wasn't the Lightforged Warlock just a single NPC's dialogue? There seems to be a whole lot more of narrative bridging available for Druids & Paladins (and I guess also contextually Shamans). There's something a little different in the messaging here than there has been recently, I'm curious for 10.2.5.



I'm a 13.0 Iridikron's lair supporter; I think it'd be an incredible villain arc for Iridikron to have used the Void just to lure the Titans back to Azeroth. He could care less what they do with Azeroth, I think he just wants to kill a Titan.

Yep.

IMO, Final boss of 11.0 is Xal who may or may not die leading to Midnight.
A prominent but not necessarily final boss of Midnight is Azshara.
Final boss of Titan is either a titan or Iridikron, but Iridi definitely survives till 13.0.

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DH's can just get the same style of intro that allied races dk's have.

Demon hunters for all make sense as a 13.0 thing because Sargeras is coming back then. IMO.

[Ersula]

has anyone mentioned the Mr GM interview - they said we will get updates every 8 weeks leading up to the next xpack which doesn't add up to only being 10.2.5 - .7 hmm... could we still get a 10.3 with no raid? We know that we have to go into the nighthold maybe 10.3 will be a fated raid of the nighthold

That would actually be dope. But they've introduced raids in minor patches too. 10.2.6, 10.2.7, 10.2.8, 10.2.9... It's not like 2 point 5 and 2 point 7 or 10 point 3 are their only options.

[flan1337]

That would actually be dope. But they've introduced raids in minor patches too. 10.2.6, 10.2.7, 10.2.8, 10.2.9... It's not like 2 point 5 and 2 point 7 or 10 point 3 are their only options.

yeah patch numbers confuse me haha but we now know we should expect 3-4? patches before the next xpack.

[Ersula]

Yep.

IMO, Final boss of 11.0 is Xal who may or may not die leading to Midnight.
A prominent but not necessarily final boss of Midnight is Azshara.
Final boss of Titan is either a titan or Iridikron, but Iridi definitely survives till 13.0.

I hate this because unlike Xal, or Azshara, or Denathrius.... Iridikron does not have enough personality to be....the longest persistent antagonist we've ever had. These long-term stories never end well, just look at game of thrones: GRRM doesn't even want to finish writing it.

[Xilurm]

This wouldn't challenge what I think I know about the Titans, their intentions or the nature of Azeroth. It would be directly in line with the narrative they've been going with ever since the Chronicle was hamfistedly retconned.

Yeah but it is somehow ignored. Even with all the "Titans are assholes" narrative that DF is going with.

[Chickat]

Sylvanas was referring to the cycle of life and death when she said the world was a prison for the record. I doubt she knows shit about the world soul, and I dearly hope she's not relevant to this saga.

Oh there's at least a 50% chance shes back in 12.0 since its her homeland. I imagine she will receive a hostile/icy reception, but by the end is welcome back in Silvermoon as her defense of her homeland has her redeemed in the blood elves eyes. She will never be a leader of the horde or even undead again, but a prominent ranger hero for elves.

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Because it was framed that the Titans might have nefarious intent for the world soul and the logo for the Final Titan depicted the same rings that imprisoned the Incarnates. I'm not a fan of it either, but that seems to be the direction we're going.

You want them to be good guys? I think they are far more interesting as lawful neutral. Or even Lawful Evil in certain situations. Each titan has their own personality so I can see it varying.

Eonar will be Lawful good, while Amanthul is Lawful Evil in the end.

[Kiivar86]

Like I said, Iridikron is likely the main antagonist there..

Yeah that's what I'm suspecting. I'm happy it seems like he'll stick around a long while.

I also have to admit I started working up some really crackpot ideas about Iridikron for a moment earlier (maybe he's the last titan actually, etc) but that was just me being silly at work for a moment and...well, I dunno, I do expect some twist at least.

Also safe bet his den Harrowdeep is an area in revamped Northrend, or maybe even an instance/raid. Though it is kinda interesting to me that it may be in Storm Peaks (from what I saw, its north of where Wyrmrest would be and was based at the tallest mountain or somesuch) which is so heavily Titan-aligned after the Titans came. Very curious.

[Chickat]

But that's inaccurate.

The prison is a stasis chamber / prison created using the powers of the Titans, channeled through / wielded by the Dragon Aspects - their champions on Azeroth.

Nothing is for certain, but it is very fishy that Blizzard choses one of those prisons as a logo to go along with the title "The Last Titan", which refers to Azeroth historically.

We've also heard a ton of hints and quotes over the recent years suggesting that (1) the Titans are kind of arrogant and single-minded, and (2) the Old Gods have already corrupted the worldsoul long ago. We also know from before that the Titans' go to method when all else fails is: IMPRISON THAT THING.

Could also be technically a prison, and maybe even Azeroth herself sees it that way, but the Titans did it to protect her from the void as a safeguard. Not to lock her up out of cruelty, but fear of what could happen to her.

[Harbour]

Okay, i predict that Old Gods sent by Void Lords corrupted Azeroth's embryo despite Titan's efforts to contain them. Titans facilities are also designed to contain Azeroth in case it goes insane.
Old Gods turned Azeroth into Xal'tath. Sargeras tried to kill here before she grew up. He failed and she is free.
Twist would be that we tried to protect the villain all this time and you cant help Azeroth, its evil.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

This.

Though I do think they are probably doing shady shit to Azeroth to turn her into a Titan instead of whatever the actual natural progression of a world soul is, rings and runes are absolutely meaningless. They are used for everything.

Honestly, I don't like the idea that Azeroth's world-soul is simply being corrupted by the titans, and that titans are not the correct progression of a world-soul. It adds an extra layer that I feel is just entirely superfluous and runs the risk of corruption by concepts like the first ones. It also damages any ambiguity in letting Azeroth hatch.

[Chickat]

Here's what I think is one possibility, although nothing is for certain:

1. Aggramar discovers Azeroth, notices it is infested by the Old Gods. Alerts his buddies of the Pantheon.
2. Titans arrive, fight the Old Gods, decide the best way to do it is by imprisoning them.
3. Titans find out Azeroth is too far gone, decide to put her in stasis while they figure out what to do. She's not allowed to wake up and become Voidy.
4. Keepers and titanforged are created to order Azeroth, and then the Dragon Aspects are created to protect it. All children of the Titans, using their power.
5. The Aspects do what their creators did to resolve issues. They put the Incarnates and the Dracthyr in stasis/prison, with Titan runes all over it.
6. N'Zoth puts a little finger in the corner of his mouth and goes "Hmm, I think I want to turn the Titans' children against them. Lets open their eyes to the truth."
7. Xal'atath goes "nah, brother. I will be the one to claim the worldsoul and usher in our masters, not you!" before colluding with Azshara to make it so.
8. N'Zoth goes "heehee, I'm still lurking in the blade".
9. Xal'atath does a bunch of stuff, heroes of Azeroth eventually answer the Radiant Song of the worldsoul and realise she's being kept in chains, more or less.
10. Heroes of Azeroth have tough choices to make.

Regardless of the outcome I think we all can agree that our girl Azeroth is going to need some serious therapy in 14.0 after its all said and done.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Could also be technically a prison, and maybe even Azeroth herself sees it that way, but the Titans did it to protect her from the void as a safeguard. Not to lock her up out of cruelty, but fear of what could happen to her.

If I had to assume 100% that the image had meaning and were to connect it to a prison, it definitely looks like it's a world-soul imprisoned. I think it's more likely to be figurative than literal, though. It could also be taken as just being metaphorical for the entire universe being restricted by the titans, or it could just be a titan-based design, though I will admit Blizzard has seemed a bit more deliberate in their design direction after Legion.