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

[huth]

I'm undecided, but do you seriously not think Sylvanas would consider the soul of the planet being in chains pretty much the same thing as all of us being in chains? She's obsessed with independence and freedom.

I do not think she considered it at all. But that aside, yes, she'd consider it the same. I.e. she wouldn't be talking about Azeroth specificially and not trying to free Azeroth in particular.

[Worldshaper]

Which just means they copied them from the Titans. This might not even be their intended purpose.

Which we don’t know any thing about, hell Do the titans even use magic runes?

For all we know it could just be writing saying “keep out”.

This is comedy gold.

The runes chosen by the Titans themselves to adorn the cradle of their civilization, the seat of their power...

Those same runes being used by their champions on Azeroth, the Dragon Aspects, to imprison the unruly elemental spirits we call the Primal Incarnates, who would seek to undo Order and sow chaos on Azeroth...

Those runes again being written on such a prison on the very logo of The Last Titan...

That's just cool graffitti.

[Chickat]

I'm a bit out of the loop after BlizzCon.

But Midnight should feature (assuming the area around Quel'thalas is revamped):

• Main hub: Silvermoon revamped as a neutral city with different wings for different kinds of Quel'dorei, as well as Horde and Alliance. Sort of like embassies. Early on it might be a hostile city like Suramar, but then we push the enemy back to Quel'danas over the course of the campaign. I think it's fine if the Horde loses exclusivity on Silvermoon, because that's essentially what the Night Elves are going through with Amirdrassil and its surrounding areas.
• Endgame raid zone: Quel'danas revamped with a re-purposed Sunwell raid, featuring Queen Azshara or whomever ends up being in charge. Perhaps a ceaseless battle between forces of the Light and the Shadow for control over the Sunwell?
• Zone revamp: The Ghostlands and Eversong Woods are revamped and combined into one zone (Eversong Forest), essentially the heart of Quel'thalas. Some parts retain the yellow/orange/red hues from TBC, while other areas are more green and lush like in Warcraft 3. Probably pockets of undead remaining, like some rogue Necromancer working from a cave or something. Also forest troll incursions. Windrunner Spire and all that stuff will be found here.
• Zone revamp: The areas west and south of the Ghostlands are revamped, i.e. "Northeron" and both of the Plaguelands. New Stratholme. A harbour for elven and human ships in the west. The Silver Hand church is updated as a place where Tyr and players devoted to the Light are active. This zone should represent half-elves, and the elves' relationship with humans and other races (trade, culture, etc).
• New zone: Zul'Aman becomes an entire new zone to the east, full of lush forests as well as temples and such. Some of them are hostile, while others might end up joining the Horde. From their point of view, Silvermoon needs to look a bit like this large, oppressive city on the horizon, towering over their ancient forests. We as players need to get a feeling for why Quel'thalas seemed like such a threat to their existence.
• New zone: I think the expansion would need at least one more new zone, so it doesn't just feel like a rehash of old content. I'm not sure where they'd place it unless they're ready to drastically expand this peninsula, but maybe it could be some type of archipelago, large island, or even and underwater zone to the northeast of Quel'thalas. This could be a naga stronghold, and perhaps feature some vast brilliant and ancient Quel'dorei harbour from whence their war ships in the Second War would sail. Sea elves confirmed.
• New Allied Race: Quel'dorei, neutral. Essentially High Elves, full of cool features such as ranger tattos and runes, cool hairstyles, headbands, unique quivers, etc. It would make sense if Blizzard found a way to unify all current playable Quel'dorei races under this race, and then you simply customised it. But I don't think that's technically feasible at this point. So instead, both factions will probably gain access to a sort of "pure" High Elf race, untained by Fel, Void, Light, Death, or whatever else. If they're not doing an Allied Race, then a lot of new customisation options for Void Elves and Blood Elves would be the least they could do.
• Visual theme: The expansion obviously can't be set at night all of the time, because players moan enough as it is when they have to endure a few hours of darkness in the current system. So I think either a certain region will be covered in darkness, or perhaps it'll shift between Light and Dark like an extreme version of Hallowfall in War Within. Or maybe, it'll be dark but with a twist, sort of beautiful and voidy. Like how they're able to make the underground seem tolerable in War Within.
• Antagonists: Guessing the Harbinger of the Void will have filled its purpose at this point, so Queen Azshara and her naga make a lot of sense, on top of a bunch of creatures from the Void, and some who swapped sides. Maybe there's some Void Lord or whatever being summoned in the Sunwell. It's interesting to consider that the Old Gods' prophecy for conquering the world is called The Hour of Twilight, which is before nightfall if you think about it. So this needs to feel like a world in which they won, or are on the cusp of doing so.

I could see the Sunwell being our capital city tbh. The void wants to take the Sunwell, so thats our capital as Silvermoon is lost. Final raid of the expansion is The Defense of the Sunwell.

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I have to be honest, I just dont see silvermoon being changed much in a neutral way.. even with a unification, its highly possible that will be a moment in the story that could easily happen on quel'danas or sunstrider isle. If anything, maybe they will all go home after that aftermath and thats it. We dont know.

Silvermoon could still be primarly function as a horde city, well the outskirts are for the campaign etc. Maybe have a few quests inside for void elves. I have a feeling, the story will be around silvermoon and the lands, but not really about the city itself. We dont know yet how the void and alleria will function and if she is a problem/danger for Silvermoon still.

To early to tell ofc, but if we follow the story and what we know right now, then void elves living in Silvermoon is wishfull thinking. I also think high elves are off the table. We are not really missing any playable elven kinds, besides maybe the felfury, I think the ethereals are more likely, giving their silence about them in midnight.

I am just interested in seeing how Nightborne and Blood elves have melted together. In architecture and the whole feel of the city. We will likely see their banner hanging as well. I am more interested in that chemistry, then anything else at the moment.

Could also have a floating Exodar alliance city.

[bruxx]

Is the primus Aman'thul in disguise? The beard matches and it would explain the domination magic

[Worldshaper]

Oh, and those same runes just happen to be on The Last Prison where N'Zoth was kept.

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Las...ast_Prison.jpg

And in the Chamber of the Aspects:

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Yog...ragon_Soul.jpg

[Chickat]

Agreed.

There is absolutely no way Silvermoon will remain a Horde-only city. Blizzard doesn't care about faction divide anymore, Silvermoon will either fall to the Void or be shared hub between the two factions.

This is not 2007 anymore.

I agree, but they could do what I said above if they wanted to keep a divide. They wont, but could.

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Every AR has visually distinct physical features that distinguish them from the core races.
Whether that's horns or skin color, etc.

What you are suggesting is literally just the same exact elf model but with blue eyes.
Which are already playable on both factions.

They could give them a new model. Taller thinner blood elfves. Kind of a mix in height between belves and nelves but with belf skin color and blue eyes.

[Worldshaper]

I could see the Sunwell being our capital city tbh. The void wants to take the Sunwell, so thats our capital as Silvermoon is lost. Final raid of the expansion is The Defense of the Sunwell.

I could see that as well.

[Chickat]

What you're imagining that my suggestion etails, you mean. I haven't given you a detailed description of what they could be, just a quick mention toying with the idea.

But to elaborate a bit, here are some basic differences that would set them apart enough from existing races:

- New racial abilities.
- Unique hairstyles.
- New starting area.
- New racial mount.
- New heritage armour set.

Okay, those are the basics.

On top of that, Blizzard could come up with all sorts of twists.

- Perhaps these High Elves go through a cleansing ritual in the Sunwell, purging any trace of Fel, Death, or Void magic from their bodies. This might make them more radiant, and taller. Perhaps this is explained in the lore as the form the Quel'dorei used to have in the elder days, before time and corruption took its toll on their bodies.

- Or maybe these High Elves are mostly Rangers, Shamans, and survivalists. The ones who chose to remain in Exile, and stayed out of conflict for many years, watching the wilds and keeping wanderers safe in Lordaeron without anybody noticing. Highvale Lodge in the Hinterlands might've been one of their holdouts, close to the Wildhammers. So perhaps they've got unique war paints, a rougher complexion, more earthy tones, interesting hair braids, scarification, etc.

- Or maybe Blizzard decided that it's completely fine to have very similar looking races, so High Elves could be pretty much the same as other elves, and they instead go bold with other aspects of the race. A unique unicorn mount, a really cool backstory that lets you choose if you've been a Blood Elf, a Void Elf, or remained a High Elf throughout the past few years.

That said, I remain open to the idea that they just unify the existing races a lot, with leaders, lore, hubs, and cosmetic options that bridge the gap between them and make everybody feel like a proper High Elf if they want to. For example, Vereesa Windrunner could offer some sort of cleansing ritual for Void Elves that lets them skip turning blue in combat, etc.

What I'm getting at is this: Void Elves and Blood Elves both feel like they're stuck in time storywise. The Blood Elven theme has been outdated for many expansions now, and Blizzard has been leaning harder into just regular High Elf stuff for them (except red instead of blue). Void Elves, meanwhile, have been neglected for years. While their big moment is likely coming up in the next two expansions, I can't imagine they make a lot of sense after the Worldsoul Saga.

They will want to find a way back to the basics. To let Quel'dorei players find a sense of cohesion, a theme that feels more logical and up to date. Dwarves are timeless. So are Humans, and Night Elves. They're just races. Same with Orcs, Draenei, and so on.

Blood and Void Elves are more like supporters of different teams, representing different ideals, for reasons. Unify 'em!

High elves could use the belf model and still be as visually distinctive as maghar orcs are to reg orcs. Lots of options for them to make them look different.

[Merryck]

The Draenei will be relevant to Midnight. You can't have the Light vs Void expansion without Draenei. As such the alliance city may be the Exodar.

[Chickat]

<tinfoil>

Metzen returned little over a year ago. Everybody realised his ideas were better, and the narrative they had intended for the next few years blew.

They abandoned a lot of the stuff being set up early in Dragonflight, and instead honed in on the future Void and Titans story arcs. Dumped a few books in the Forbidden Reach and the Emerald Dream to build things up a little bit in terms of Khaz Algar, the Harbinger, etc.

Hastily duct taped together some of Fyrakk's storyline as the main antagonist of Dragonflight, before pivoting to War Within.

Rest of Dragonflight lets us dabble with Tyr's storyline, level new Paladins, Shamans and maybe Druids, and finally go nuts in the final season before pre-patch begins in late summer.

That's why we're getting seemingly two filler expansions in a row with Dragonflight and War Within. They needed to buy time and properly set up the big Void confrontation.

</tinfoil>

I agree with everything you said, but I don't think either expansion is or was intended to be filler. It may feel like that, but Blizzard never intends to make a trash expansion.

[Merryck]

Don't start the high elf debate again ...

[Chickat]

The Draenei will be relevant to Midnight. You can't have the Light vs Void expansion without Draenei. As such the alliance city may be the Exodar.

Agreed thats a good option too. Exodar floating above the Sunwell for defense, maybe with the Xenedar too. Would be cool.

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Don't start the high elf debate again ...

Its literally been 8 hours. Its not like im bringing up 3 day old posts.

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Not really. This is basically how it always is a week or so after the announcement.
We already know basically everything, and the parts we don't need more context from the game. Like for instance what happens at the end of the raid.

Yeah, its always this slow after blizzcon.

I will say I'm rather disappointed by most interviews this year. Some real trash questions being asked.

[Merryck]

Its literally been 8 hours. Its not like im bringing up 3 day old posts.

I'm talking about in general. The debate was put to rest when they added blue eyes to Blood Elves and Void Elves. At this point it's like asking for a separate Wildhammer Dwarf allied race because they've been described as "taller and leaner" than regular dwarves in some instances.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

This is comedy gold.

The runes chosen by the Titans themselves to adorn the cradle of their civilization, the seat of their power...

Those same runes being used by their champions on Azeroth, the Dragon Aspects, to imprison the unruly elemental spirits we call the Primal Incarnates, who would seek to undo Order and sow chaos on Azeroth...

Those runes again being written on such a prison on the very logo of The Last Titan...

That's just cool graffitti.

Or you know it’s just written (carved) words that say something and have nothing to do with the prison system it self.

Like when you see a stop or no trespassing sign do you think there magic to?

[KyleEverett]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman...h=447d9281e847

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman...h=5a9366df2268

Two new Ion interview articles.

Big news is 3 minor patches next year before 11.0, Fated will have no raid affix, and will be the 8 DF dungeons.

[Chickat]

I'm talking about in general. The debate was put to rest when they added blue eyes to Blood Elves and Void Elves. At this point it's like asking for a separate Wildhammer Dwarf allied race because they've been described as "taller and leaner" than regular dwarves in some instances.

But the void proc ruins the immersion. I don't even care about high elves, and I realize that.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Oh, and those same runes just happen to be on The Last Prison where N'Zoth was kept.

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Las...ast_Prison.jpg

And in the Chamber of the Aspects:

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Yog...ragon_Soul.jpg

The chamber of the aspects and the temple also have nothing to do with the titans was was made by the dragons them self, if the runes are there to then that’s just more credence to it just being strict and having nothing to do with prisons.

[Worldshaper]

Or you know it’s just written (carved) words that say something and have nothing to do with the prison system it self.

Like when you see a stop or no trespassing sign do you think there magic to?

I think the point is more that the title is The Last Titan and it features a prison on the logo, exactly like the one used to contain Iridikron. Historically, Azeroth has been called the final Titan.

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman...h=447d9281e847

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman...h=5a9366df2268

Two new Ion interview articles.

Big news is 3 minor patches next year before 11.0, Fated will have no raid affix, and will be the 8 DF dungeons.

10.2.5 January
10.2.7 March
10.2.7.5 or some nonsense number in May... world enhancements and stuff.
Pre-patch in August
Release in September/October

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I agree with everything you said, but I don't think either expansion is or was intended to be filler. It may feel like that, but Blizzard never intends to make a trash expansion.

Yeah I don't think they go into it thinking in terms like "filler", etc. I think they take great pride in all their work. I mean more in the sense of... a smallish expansion that is building towards something bigger.

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The chamber of the aspects and the temple also have nothing to do with the titans was was made by the dragons them self, if the runes are there to then that’s just more credence to it just being strict and having nothing to do with prisons.

I'm just bringing up the runes to establish the connection between the Dragon Aspects and the Titans. Sure, the Dragon Aspects created the prisons for the Primal Incarnates, but they're the Titans' champions.

[Chickat]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman...h=447d9281e847

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman...h=5a9366df2268

Two new Ion interview articles.

Big news is 3 minor patches next year before 11.0, Fated will have no raid affix, and will be the 8 DF dungeons.

So, guessing Christmas slows .2.5 down to feb.

10.2.5-Feb
10.2.7 fated- April
10.2.9- Bridge patch- June
Prepatch- August
11.0-September.

Works perfectly.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I think the point is more that the title is The Last Titan and it features a prison on the logo, exactly like the one used to contain Iridikron. Historically, Azeroth has been called the final Titan.

and said prison has nothing to do with the titans so is unlikely to be tied to the titans imprisoning Azeroth.

Hell it’s far more likely it’s there because it’s the prison Dwayne The Rock Dragon was kept in and his whole thing is getting the titans back to fight them.