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

[Val the Moofia Boss]

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.

Silvermoon is a place people actually care about. Also, the zones for TWW are known. Meanwhile people are wondering what the zones for Midnight will be like, if they're going to be phased over existing zones and be small enough that you can dragonride into a wall in 15 seconds, or if they are going to be a new map instance the size of the dragon isles.

[Eldryth]

To be honest, I don't see how Midnight even could be anything less than a total remake. The region, as it exists now in-game, is tiny compared to any full expansion. They'd need to vastly increase the scale of the map to be able to fit in any real amount of content, and Dynamic Flight would just make its lack of size even more clear. I'd expect a remaining more along the lines of Draenor compared to Outland... though it'd take even more changes than that to turn Quel'thalas into an expansion continent.

[Kiivar86]

Even with revamped zones I would expect some new ones as well, at the very least.

[Ersula]

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.

Huh? In Universe, the sword happened almost a decade ago. "The sword was aiming at something" The expansion cinematic could have been set in Dorn itself, the sword is so big you can see it from Hyjal. If southern Kalimdor doesn't come into play that cinematic (which was extremely short compared to most cinematics) its going to seem silly in retrospect.

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

At moderate speed dragonriding, you can span an entire vanilla contintent's longetude in less than 30 seconds.

Compared to Dragonflight zones, it's 3 at max. I forsee Quelthalas being Ghostlands, Elwynn & silvermoon all in one zone, like Tiragarde Sound. Lordaeron or "Alterac" if we're going by the mountain region is everything between there & wetlands; size wise all of that was the equivalent to Azure Span. Kalimdor can be split into Hyjal, The southern Desert area might as well be one zone. And Stonetalon, Mulgore, Barrens & Durotar together is about the same size as Ohn'ahran Plains

Did they not mention any expanded race/class combos?

No. It's actually driving me crazy that they didn't talk about anything that supposed to happen in the next 10+ months.

[Alanar]

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.

I's probably just a marketing move. They know Silvermoon would generate the hype, so people will more likely stick around.

[Vakir]

Silvermoon is a place people actually care about. Also, the zones for TWW are known. Meanwhile people are wondering what the zones for Midnight will be like, if they're going to be phased over existing zones and be small enough that you can dragonride into a wall in 15 seconds, or if they are going to be a new map instance the size of the dragon isles.

The broken clock is right twice a day.

I am really happy with what I saw these last two days. I am legitimately excited. But people are talking about the future because that's what they tend to do.

Even when, say, Legion was announced, it was less about what we knew was happening and more about how they'd expand/iterate forward on the concepts we knew were coming.

Huh? In Universe, the sword happened almost a decade ago. "The sword was aiming at something" The expansion cinematic could have been set in Dorn itself, the sword is so big you can see it from Hyjal. If southern Kalimdor doesn't come into play that cinematic (which was extremely short compared to most cinematics) its going to seem silly in retrospect.At moderate speed dragonriding, you can span an entire vanilla contintent's longetude in less than 30 seconds.

I didn't say it happened recently.

It's a cinematic decision. It does a lot more to see something at the base looming above than it does from some other place. And it means they can cheat a bit by having a simplified set of terrain while cramming in a lot of detail into their character renders.

We're not doing anything in Silithus this expansion based on the information provided. Which is not to say we won't LATER, including 11.1 or so.

Compared to Dragonflight zones, it's 3 at max. I forsee Quelthalas being Ghostlands, Elwynn & silvermoon all in one zone, like Tiragarde Sound. Lordaeron or "Alterac" if we're going by the mountain region is everything between there & wetlands; size wise all of that was the equivalent to Azure Span. Kalimdor can be split into Hyjal, The southern Desert area might as well be one zone. And Stonetalon, Mulgore, Barrens & Durotar together is about the same size as Ohn'ahran Plains

Which, again, supports what I was saying with this being a large endeavor extended over a period of time, perhaps into 14.0 and 15.0.

They said we're going to Quel'Thalas. Not also Lordaeron and Alterac and the Wetlands. And that's inferring there aren't completely new zones with it.

This is just "the Jailer isn't evil" all over again.

[Sondrelk]

Beyond the speed I just love how immersive it feels to have to actually control your mount instead of just hitting forward/auto run. Turning it into some "show off your skills" bullshit that no one else even cares about (is anyone really gonna be in awe of your dragon riding abilities? No one cares about someone else's flight...) would totally ruin the immersion for me. Why can't my flying mount effectively stay in the air longer than 20 seconds? Are its wings malformed? Is the engine busted? Why would my incompetence as a rider make my mount get tired so fast it has to land right away when I couldn't find updrafts and speed boosts?

Why do people assume this would be the case? Couldnt it be more like the difference between Dragonriding races, and Dragonriding challenge races? In both cases you have no issues staying aloft, just that in one you move significantly faster.

The way I imagine Dragonriding should look is less about never being able to do anything, and more so that you look out over a zone, see a whole bunch of options for fast movement, and your skill determines whether you go the standard, slightly boring way. Or the more challenging, but much faster and more visually interesting way.

Sure, dragons should be able to stay flying for a good while. But on the other hand, when my warrior does a whatever amazingly strong swing of his preposterously large sword I should logically slice arms off easily. Or leave my opponent crippled. But since that would be less interesting to look at and play you accept the gameplay aspect of the game.

[bruxx]

Even with revamped zones I would expect some new ones as well, at the very least.

Plenty of space north of the Sunwell for an old god or a comet to land and become a zone.

[Eldryth]

I am not backing Varodoc's position on any of this, but I just wanted to throw in that there is absolutely no way that Arthas' final fate is gonna stay as it was in SL, lol. Not even to say it should change. But I'd bet anything it will.

Judging from the cinematic, I suspect that there's some remnant of his soul left inside of Anduin right now. He had a flashback of Terenas's words from the WotLK cinematic and immediately did Arthas's iconic stance. I don't know where they're planning to go with that, but that didn't seem to come from just the PTSD.

[Vakir]

Judging from the cinematic, I suspect that there's some remnant of his soul left inside of Anduin right now. He had a flashback of Terenas's words from the WotLK cinematic and immediately did Arthas's iconic stance. I don't know where they're planning to go with that, but that didn't seem to come from just the PTSD.

I thought that was him reflecting on Varian. Similar to him talking to ghost daddy in the Broken Shore. But maybe.

[Xilurm]

Do you all think that Old Anduin comic is set during Midnight or The Last Titan?

No. I REALLY doubt we'll defeat the void completely in Midnight. That makes zero sense. They could very well save this kind of arc for like 10-20 years in the future.

[Puupi]

So are the Earthen an allied race instead of a regular race because they reuse the dwarf model and Blizz knows they would be shit on for calling that a new race? Or because they plan to add a few different ones through the expac and allied race is code for "not a full race but not the only one you'll get"?

Allied race because you need to encounter them first, grind rep to them etc. and then unlock aka ally them. Unlike a new race that just pops up as playable from the get go, like Dracthyr.

[Ersula]

They said we're going to Quel'Thalas. Not also Lordaeron and Alterac and the Wetlands. And that's inferring there aren't completely new zones with it.

No but if they're smart they'll set the major patch zones there.

[Cheezits]

I can see the Northrend revamp just being this portion.



ICC has uncomfortable baggage and unless they use the bottom of it for Iridikron's lair they may not want to touch it. Borean Tundra is classic but probably too irrelevant.

Sholozar... coinflip.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Do you all think that Old Anduin comic is set during Midnight or The Last Titan?

Metzen: "You will make your stand with the forces of the Light and banish the shadow forever!".

Anduin is old when he leads the final battle against the shadow. He will be old in Midnight.

[Xilurm]

Wonder if this means the Quel'Thalas part of the map of EK will be changed drastically. Maybe we'll get the zone that's behind Stratholme. Do you think Stratholme will be revamped and repurposed too?

[Kiivar86]

No. I REALLY doubt we'll defeat the void completely in Midnight. That makes zero sense. They could very well save this kind of arc for like 10-20 years in the future.

Honestly I think its a bad idea to permanently defeat anything, when it comes to these primordial forces. Those behind it, sure, but it still needs to exist in some form.

Because somewhere down the line you'll want to bring them back and go "well actually you see you didn't really kill them all." See the Legion, for example.

[Ersula]

Judging from the cinematic, I suspect that there's some remnant of his soul left inside of Anduin right now. He had a flashback of Terenas's words from the WotLK cinematic and immediately did Arthas's iconic stance. I don't know where they're planning to go with that, but that didn't seem to come from just the PTSD.

It wasn't Arthas' hand in the cutscene. It was Varian. It was a reference to is Sepulcher cutscene.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I can see the Northrend revamp just being this portion.



ICC has uncomfortable baggage and unless they use the bottom of it for Iridikron's lair they may not want to touch it. Borean Tundra is classic but probably too irrelevant.

I think the Last Titan zones will be Storm Peaks with Ulduar as the new city, and then we will get new original zones like the heart of Azeroth or Titan spacestations.

[Xilurm]

Honestly I think its a bad idea to permanently defeat anything, when it comes to these primordial forces. Those behind it, sure, but it still needs to exist in some form.

Because somewhere down the line you'll want to bring them back and go "well actually you see you didn't really kill them all." See the Legion, for example.

That's why it's a good idea to leave it for the future, when the time comes to put WoW to rest.