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

[Nightshade711]

It was a valid pattern for preSL WoW, but people forgot just how many times the devs have said "BFA/SL made us rethink literally everything about the game"

This is said in the recent Korean interview as well.

That’s actually a fair point.
Though I think the only way we’d see Tinkers (or any other new class) in 11.0 would be if they were already mostly finished.

Which could be the case for Tinkers if my theory of them being worked on but scrapped for BfA is true.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

What I think they should do (and it seems that they will) is doubling down on customization. Warlocks pets is just the beginning. Skills customization is coming and hopefully class skins too. I honestly think that a good class skin system could bring more joy than new classes, especially taking into account that the talent system would probably get much crazier in the next expansion, allowing more ways to play our classes.

There are lot's of NPC abilities animations and effects plus probably many others that are in the game files that they could use for skills.

I would prefer more customization options for existing classes than adding new class again.

[Nathanyel]

[joke fake leak]
zaralek is testing the waters for underground zones

Ah yes, that gives me one good way to detect fake leaks: since the theme and location of 11.0 is most likely already set in stone by now, do not trust any claims that 11.0 is underground "because Zaralek worked", this cave arrived way too late to affect 11.0 in such a major way as not being underground if it hadn't worked.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Did you lot catch this one yet?
My sister's girlfriend's ex's brother's aunt whispered me some stuff about presently cooking developing stuff.

It's all very "subject to change" but nerubians, dragons and old gods oh my.

Turns out the scythid are related to the nerubians somehow, zaralek is testing the waters for underground zones, dragon isles is connected to Northrend, Azjol Nerub reaches to it. And old god shenanigans.

A bit hazy on the rest, but i think that's just my memory fucking itself over as usual.
Might remember more (dunno if there is more mind you), might hear more.

Peace.

Don't toy with my emotions! QQ

[ImTheMizAwesome]

Ah yes, that gives me one good way to detect fake leaks: since the theme and location of 11.0 is most likely already set in stone by now, do not trust any claims that 11.0 is underground "because Zaralek worked", this cave arrived way too late to affect 11.0 in such a major way as not being underground if it hadn't worked.

Everyone knows that next expansion will be about azmerloth.. anduin changed into a old god murlock and we have to save him!

[Teriz]

That’s actually a fair point.
Though I think the only way we’d see Tinkers (or any other new class) in 11.0 would be if they were already mostly finished.

Which could be the case for Tinkers if my theory of them being worked on but scrapped for BfA is true.

I think so too. Mechagon was certainly intended for the establishment of tinkers, or in any case, a good development base for them.

We already have "dev confirmation" that Undermine will be content at some point in the future. When you get Undermine, you'll get Tinkers. And yes, the HotS and WC3 abilities will almost certainly be the foundation of that class.

Given the statements surrounding Zaralek Caverns, I think it's going to be sooner rather than later.

[Nathanyel]

BTW, when Dracthyr are able to be other classes, do you believe that they would combat in their visage form all the time? There is no reason for them to switch forms unless they want to fly.

Ran into that thought, too, it's a, bit of a conundrum.

It could be handled more like Worgen, where any combat shifts you into Dracthyr, but that's kinda bad, especially as we see dragons fight in their Visage, too.
It would also speak against Evokers getting another version of Chosen Identity that only shifts you into Dracthyr during necessary spells, and then back into Visage immediately, even in combat.

One compromise would be that like for Evoker, certain 'powerful' spells per class/spec would take you into Dracthyr, which would then also work with the automatic shift back into Visage during combat.

However, more likely than other Dracthyr classes to me are other Evoker 'races' - or actually, Evokers with different Visage races. The regular race customization, plus some draconic features like the scales and horns.

[Nightshade711]

Ah yes, that gives me one good way to detect fake leaks: since the theme and location of 11.0 is most likely already set in stone by now, do not trust any claims that 11.0 is underground "because Zaralek worked", this cave arrived way too late to affect 11.0 in such a major way as not being underground if it hadn't worked.

I mean they could’ve already had an underground zone made before and used Zaralek to test the zoning tech.

Though with the new zoning tech it doesn’t even have to be Underground. I’m sure they could do something with “portals” utilizing the tech like the Dark Portal in the Warcraft movie.

[huth]

I mean they could’ve already had an underground zone made before and used Zaralek to test the zoning tech.

Though with the new zoning tech it doesn’t even have to be Underground. I’m sure they could do something with “portals” utilizing the tech like the Dark Portal in the Warcraft movie.

You could have something like a cloud tunnel to a mountain peak area or a sky island as well. Probably would be a bit to obvious if there was no containing structure (i tend to get a short jolt when the area switches), but not fundamentally impossible.

[Berkilak]

I mean they could’ve already had an underground zone made before and used Zaralek to test the zoning tech.

Though with the new zoning tech it doesn’t even have to be Underground. I’m sure they could do something with “portals” utilizing the tech like the Dark Portal in the Warcraft movie.

That would certainly be interesting to fly into a portal seamlessly that takes you into a "tunnel" to the other side. I've seen a few recent tech demos of reality-incompatible perspective-shifting game spaces. I do wonder if they could work like that in WoW...

[Revamp Man]

Flying islands
Get to it via certain sky tunnels through tornadoes
Do the same with an underwater world, and a path to the fireman's.
BOOM 11.0 and the elemental expansion where our incarnates are the gulfan of the expansion

[Kiivar86]

Amusingly, the whole mini portal thing hearkens back to one of the fake leaks for Shadowlands (that there were small mini portals at edges of zones leading to other lands).

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Does anyone else remember before 10.0 Teriz was THE adamant Bard denier, and has done a complete 180 now that Augementation Evokers were revealed?

To play Teriz's advocate, I do believe there's some degree of sense behind his willingness to start entertaining it. The introduction of a support specialization opens up a number of possibilities that would be conducive to the introduction of a Bard class. Then again, I'm of the mind the most realistic approach would be to make it a fourth specialization for Rogues.

[Nymrohd]

To play Teriz's advocate, I do believe there's some degree of sense behind his willingness to start entertaining it. The introduction of a support specialization opens up a number of possibilities that would be conducive to the introduction of a Bard class. Then again, I'm of the mind the most realistic approach would be to make it a fourth specialization for Rogues.

Really, when there is material for a playstyle but the theme is theme or the possible themes are too disparate (a common issue with bardic subclasses in every fantasy genre; a Skald, a Song Mage and a Jester have nothing in common thematically), and given that the bard has no thematic racial distinctions, better to just add him to a core class that already fits the overarching theme.

- - - Updated - - -

Flying islands
Get to it via certain sky tunnels through tornadoes
Do the same with an underwater world, and a path to the fireman's.
BOOM 11.0 and the elemental expansion where our incarnates are the gulfan of the expansion

We could have Iridikron BREAK the Elemental Planes. That would mean that the Elemental Lords would return to Azeroth and any elementals that died would also be reborn in Azeroth. I don't know if they'd just spawn randomly or in their original domains (Uldum for Air, Blackrock for Fire, probably somewhere close to Darkshore for Water and close to Tirisfal for Earth judging by the original map?)
Only issue is we'd have another set of zones that were very separate. Making them flying islands does not at all fit Water and Earth and barely fits fire btw. And traveling via tunnels from zone to zone means no good transitions and back to the Shadowlands mess of completely disconnected zones so yikes.

- - - Updated - - -

You could have something like a cloud tunnel to a mountain peak area or a sky island as well. Probably would be a bit to obvious if there was no containing structure (i tend to get a short jolt when the area switches), but not fundamentally impossible.

I'd assume you could make another zone part of the local skybox; fly high enough and you change zones, the previous continent is part of the skybox (well the bottom part) and the zone starts becoming more distinct.

- - - Updated - - -

However, more likely than other Dracthyr classes to me are other Evoker 'races' - or actually, Evokers with different Visage races. The regular race customization, plus some draconic features like the scales and horns.

First, I'll say this is offtopic. There is an entire thread about it. Second, other Dracthyr classes are confirmed by Ion (and he specifically mentions warrior and mage abilities) so I don't see how anything could be "more likely" than that.

- - - Updated - - -

Ah yes, that gives me one good way to detect fake leaks: since the theme and location of 11.0 is most likely already set in stone by now, do not trust any claims that 11.0 is underground "because Zaralek worked", this cave arrived way too late to affect 11.0 in such a major way as not being underground if it hadn't worked.

Yeah I would assume that Zaralek's reception might influence 12.0 but definitely not 11.0

That said, underground zones add some much needed variety to the patch zone theme of yet another island so there is that. So Zaralek reception could influence 11.0 patch content imo.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Really, when there is material for a playstyle but the theme is theme or the possible themes are too disparate (a common issue with bardic subclasses in every fantasy genre; a Skald, a Song Mage and a Jester have nothing in common thematically), and given that the bard has no thematic racial distinctions, better to just add him to a core class that already fits the overarching theme.

That's a fair point. I would argue against you on the grounds of the absence of a strong lore basis for a Bard, but I think Evokers have sort of removed that requisite. I do have to wonder what kind of expansion would enable that, however; a world revamp seems most plausible for the addition of a Bard class. A Necromancer or—and I can't believe I'm about to be on record as saying this—Tinker would something more interesting to me, but I can see there's some demand for a Bard class, and it would be a nice addition to see.

[Teriz]

That's a fair point. I would argue against you on the grounds of the absence of a strong lore basis for a Bard, but I think Evokers have sort of removed that requisite. I do have to wonder what kind of expansion would enable that, however; a world revamp seems most plausible for the addition of a Bard class. A Necromancer or—and I can't believe I'm about to be on record as saying this—Tinker would something more interesting to me, but I can see there's some demand for a Bard class, and it would be a nice addition to see.

Evokers have a very strong basis in lore; The history of Black Dragons in WoW creating chromatic/artificial (and even human-like) dragons. Evokers also have the lore basis of dragons being empowered by the five aspects, and the ability to take the form of a mortal. In terms of heroes to base them on, you have hero characters like Alexstraza, Chromie, and Deathwing from HotS to provide a mechanical basis for abilities. Finally, you have a potential expansion location that fits their theme; The Dragon Isles.

You put that together and you have a strong basis for a WoW class.

It’s important to note that Bards have nothing like that in WoW. The closest they have is the ETC, which is fundamentally a joke character with zero actual lore.

[huth]

Evokers have a very strong basis in lore; The history of Black Dragons in WoW creating chromatic/artificial (and even human-like) dragons. Evokers also have the lore basis of dragons being empowered by the five aspects, and the ability to take the form of a mortal. In terms of heroes to base them on, you have hero characters like Alexstraza, Chromie, and Deathwing from HotS to provide a mechanical basis for abilities. Finally, you have a potential expansion location that fits their theme; The Dragon Isles.

You put that together and you have a strong basis for a WoW class.

It’s important to note that Bards have nothing like that in WoW. The closest they have is the ETC, which is fundamentally a joke character with zero actual lore.

You mean like Chen? I guess that guarantees that we'll eventually see bards then.

[Nymrohd]

That's a fair point. I would argue against you on the grounds of the absence of a strong lore basis for a Bard, but I think Evokers have sort of removed that requisite. I do have to wonder what kind of expansion would enable that, however; a world revamp seems most plausible for the addition of a Bard class. A Necromancer or—and I can't believe I'm about to be on record as saying this—Tinker would something more interesting to me, but I can see there's some demand for a Bard class, and it would be a nice addition to see.

See if it is just an additional spec, it doesn't need nearly the same set up that a new class does. It even has many mog options (Antorus rogue tier is pretty much Bard mog). As for the reasoning, I'd assume it would be added specs to multiple classes. Not necessarily ALL of them but easily 2-4 new specs added to classes other than druid.

[Teriz]

You mean like Chen? I guess that guarantees that we'll eventually see bards then.

You mean the WC3 hero that Blizzard built into a franchise character, and made it clear by Vanilla that Pandaren and Pandaria were a legitimate race and location on Azeroth?

In short, Chen left joke status rather quickly. ETC has been around for two decades and he’s still a joke character.

[huth]

You mean the WC3 hero that Blizzard built into a franchise character, and made it clear by Vanilla that Pandaren and Pandaria were a legitimate race and location on Azeroth?

In short, Chen left joke status rather quickly. ETC has been around for two decades and he’s still a joke character.

Last i looked, Tauren and Mulgore are a legitimate race and location. In fact, they were so even before Pandaria. It's also one of the icons of the franchise. By your own logic, that makes him a non-joke character.