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

[Reive]

So, what do we think about them switching the monthly reward from the peacock mount to the 350 tendies pet`?^^

I mean sure, some people will now argue with "don't take datamining too seriously" but it just takes common sense to see what's going on there, even if we didn't get the 999 cost on the mount before.

my headcanon is that they want people to spend more tendies on more expensive items so they can't buy everything. in that way they can recyle items more often because it's hard to come up with a full set of fresh items every month

[Worldshaper]

Man, I don't know what people that aren't excited about TWW are smoking. The expansion looks awesome so far.

Sure, little light on information but what we've got looks great.

The island of the Earthen looks super cool, with its little forests and beehives. The city looks amazing, like if they merged Dazar'alor, Ironforge and Valdrakken. Open air sky, beautiful surroundings, cool theme. Great!

The zones, while underground, seem great as well. I'm probably less excited about the fiery dwarf zone and Azj-kahet, simply because those aren't my favourite themes. But the other two I'm very excited about exploring.

The story feels compelling as well. Way darker vibe than Dragonflight, but more rooted in WoW and Azeroth than Shadowlands. The worldsoul, the Light and Shadow, the Titans, and so on are all great themes.

Delves, Warbands, the camp, etc are all some of the most anticipated features in years for me.

Edit:

Oh, and going into all of this, knowing that frigging Quel'thalas and Northrend are next on the menu? All the better! Having a promising future on the horizon is super important to WoW. Comparing the current future we have ahead of us, to the one we dreaded in Shadowlands (First Ones crap), is such a massive upgrade.

- - - Updated - - -

This goes back to my criticism of the Blizzcon presentation: Why aren't they making short clips or screenshots of these things? That's what they used to do. Who approved it solely being a powerpoint presentation?

Now this I can agree with x10000.

I miss, so much, the days of yore when BlizzCon meant in-depth panels on different topics such as art and gameplay systems, and each panel brought a bunch of video clips and images.

BlizzCon 2023 was a massive improvement on anything they've done since the pandemic, dgmw, but they've still toned it down a lot (probably playing it safe). They need to remember that we are nerds. We like nerdy shit. We can handle a 2 hour presentation, or two 1 hour presentations.

[Reive]

Man, I don't know what people that aren't excited about TWW are smoking. The expansion looks awesome so far.

Sure, little light on information but what we've got looks great.

The island of the Earthen looks super cool, with its little forests and beehives. The city looks amazing, like if they merged Dazar'alor, Ironforge and Valdrakken. Open air sky, beautiful surroundings, cool theme. Great!

The zones, while underground, seem great as well. I'm probably less excited about the fiery dwarf zone and Azj-kahet, simply because those aren't my favourite themes. But the other two I'm very excited about exploring.

The story feels compelling as well. Way darker vibe than Dragonflight, but more rooted in WoW and Azeroth than Shadowlands. The worldsoul, the Light and Shadow, the Titans, and so on are all great themes.

Delves, Warbands, the camp, etc are all some of the most anticipated features in years for me..

i wish i had your optimism. there isn't much to be excited about tbh because the next expansions looks more of the same. hero talents look meh, warbands is just qol and the new race is just another dwarven reskin. imo delves are what makes or breaks this expansion

i don't expect much from the story because... it's wow and also because this is just the first part of a 3 chapter saga

[Varodoc]

Warbands are just a bunch of QoL improvements that should have been in place since 2011.

The camp is... just a camp on the character select screen? We're seriously calling that a feature? Hilarious.

Earthen are a reskin of Dwarves. Boring.

Hero talents are just passive bonuses with maybe one active ability if Blizzard likes your spec. Basically a lazier version of Artefact weapons.

Blizzard knows that TWW by itself can't generate hype, that is why they revealed it alongside Midnight and were quick to say that Midnight's features will bLoW pLaYeR sOcKs OfF.

[Worldshaper]

i wish i had your optimism. there isn't much to be excited about tbh because the next expansions looks more of the same. hero talents look meh, warbands is just qol and the new race is just another dwarven reskin. imo delves are what makes or breaks this expansion

i don't expect much from the story because... it's wow and also because this is just the first part of a 3 chapter saga

I mean, you've every right to feel concerned (especially after the last few years). But does an expansion need to reinvent WoW every time?

I think we just need a return to our roots tbh.

Give me an immersive setting on Azeroth and a story that makes sense. Release content on a regular basis. Just fixing those three goes a long way.

Add cool stuff that respects my time on top of it (delves, warbands etc) and I'm sold.

Could Earthen be cooler and more unique? Sure.
Could Hero Talents be full cosmetic class skins? For sure.

But I just see those as nice extras, not something that makes or breaks the experience.

What WoW really needs and has been lacking over the past few years, is to remember its own identity. It needs bombastic, action-packed cinematics. It needs to use its main roster of characters well.

[Cheezits]

Here's the thing with TWW: like Dragonflight, it is a fairly normal expansion without any crazy new systems. The issue is that it has fewer gameplay changes than DF where Dragonriding was really a smash hit (and Evoker is fairly well-liked, even if Dracthyr aren't).

I have a feeling that Delves will be fun, and a lot better integrated than scenarios (the walking into them factor is great, better than ESO delves imo because they aren't instanced), but will more or less just be scenarios with extra steps. Otherwise there's just some new talents. There isn't really anything majorly new in terms of gameplay.

It's very much a feature-light expansion, so they really need to hit it out of the park with the races, armor and mounts in the interim waiting for Midnight. I think it's hard to fuck up the story with the Arathi and Nerubians being so cool, and Dorne Earthen culture will be interesting/fun at best and inoffensively annoying at worst. The middle patch has a lot of potential to be interesting (Undermine or Arathi) and while I'm not so sure about the final patch (Uldaz/Under Silithus can either be very boring or very cool) it will probably have a very good story.

Did you like DF gameplay? You'll like TWW. Probably. It will 100% have a better story though, because things will actually happen that matter.

[Pheraz]

Man, I don't know what people that aren't excited about TWW are smoking. The expansion looks awesome so far.
...

I agree. I think from an atmosphere and setting point of view this is exactly what wow needs. The anti hero protagonists are also abs perfect after the rather overly friendly ones in DF.
I'm confident that they will do something about hero talents
For me a good expansion needs a good setting

[doledippers]

Man, I don't know what people that aren't excited about TWW are smoking. The expansion looks awesome so far.

i feel the same way. It's essentially taking all of the good things from dragonflight (dragonriding, faster content, the talent system, new profession system, renowns instead of reps, gear upgrade system, tier acquisition etc) while also strengthening the weaknesses of dragonflight and wow in general, such as the stories theme, alt friendliness, and challenging solo content. Delves are a massive improvement to the solo player experience. Anduin, thrall, nerubians, earthen dwarves etc are all core warcraft, and warbands are a home run feature.

TWW building off of the core game improvements from DF and improving the lacking areas significantly is exactly what the game needs.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

I will be disappointed if they won't add any new batch of customization options for races or at least allied races that are lacking.

[SkyTides]

Timeless Island but South Sea Island, Arcade with Minigames, Pirate Themed event involving Nightsquall invasions.

Thats' about all I've meticulously come to the conclusion this has to be at this point.

I mean it could just be a quarter bag of pirate shaped chips distributed to our mailboxes when we login with majority being south sea air.

You could be onto something there....

I can see a Gold Saucer (aka Minigame arcade Island) being added to tide people over. If its open to retail and classic though, I guess there would have to be different rewards (low vs high polygons lol)

[Cheezits]

I will be disappointed if they won't add any new batch of customization options for races or at least allied races that are lacking.

I think it unfortunately is going to be delayed until either next year TWW or Midnight. There's a chance they may hide Druid of the Flame skintone for Nelves in this upcoming patch, but otherwise I think they wouldn't hide it.

[Varodoc]

Either people have seriously lowered their standards since the new decade began, or we were truly spoiled during the Legion/BfA eras.

I remember looking at the BfA trailer and being amazed at how many features were presented. I remember being amazed that a single expansion introduced Demon Hunters, 12 Class halls, and 36 Artefact weapons, all in one package.

My genuine hope is that Midnight will spoil Me like the Legion/BfA era did.

[Cheezits]

Either people have seriously lowered their standards since the new decade began, or we were truly spoiled during the Legion/BfA eras.

I remember looking at the BfA trailer and being amazed at how many features were presented. I remember being amazed that a single expansion introduced Demon Hunters, 12 Class halls, and 36 Artefact weapons, all in one package.

My genuine hope is that Midnight will spoil Me like the Legion/BfA era did.

Legion is an exception to WoW expansions and they have clearly shown they will never do an expansion like that ever again, for better (no more WoDs) or worse (none of them will be that insane).

- - - Updated - - -

I agree. I think from an atmosphere and setting point of view this is exactly what wow needs. The anti hero protagonists are also abs perfect after the rather overly friendly ones in DF.
I'm confident that they will do something about hero talents
For me a good expansion needs a good setting

Huh? The three main characters are classic super morally good Warcraft heroes, regardless of how Anduin dresses.

[Varodoc]

Legion is an exception to WoW expansions and they have clearly shown they will never do an expansion like that ever again, for better (no more WoDs) or worse (none of them will be that insane).

- - - Updated - - -



Huh? The three main characters are classic super morally good Warcraft heroes, regardless of how Anduin dresses.

You're talking like BfA wasn't also packed with content at launch:

- 4 Allied races (as opposed to just ONE), with two more allied races only one month after launch;

- Warfronts;

- Island expeditions;

- Azerite gear with all its passive traits;

BfA was packed with content; and we didn't even need to sacrifice an earlier expansion to create that.

I'll take your post as confirmation that we were indeed spoiled during the Legion/BfA era, thanks for the confirmation.

[Worldshaper]

Here's the thing with TWW: like Dragonflight, it is a fairly normal expansion without any crazy new systems. The issue is that it has fewer gameplay changes than DF where Dragonriding was really a smash hit (and Evoker is fairly well-liked, even if Dracthyr aren't).

I have a feeling that Delves will be fun, and a lot better integrated than scenarios (the walking into them factor is great, better than ESO delves imo because they aren't instanced), but will more or less just be scenarios with extra steps. Otherwise there's just some new talents. There isn't really anything majorly new in terms of gameplay.

It's very much a feature-light expansion, so they really need to hit it out of the park with the races, armor and mounts in the interim waiting for Midnight. I think it's hard to fuck up the story with the Arathi and Nerubians being so cool, and Dorne Earthen culture will be interesting/fun at best and inoffensively annoying at worst. The middle patch has a lot of potential to be interesting (Undermine or Arathi) and while I'm not so sure about the final patch (Uldaz/Under Silithus can either be very boring or very cool) it will probably have a very good story.

Did you like DF gameplay? You'll like TWW. Probably. It will 100% have a better story though, because things will actually happen that matter.

To be fair, all we did was bitch and moan in the past when expansions were padded with a bunch of weird new systems. The last popular one I can think of were Artifact weapons, but even those got a lot of flack.

I think just having Warbands alone is a massive, massive win for the game and all players. On top of a bunch of QOL changes it brings, such as transmog unlocks.

DF was just fine (not amazing) in terms of gameplay. It just felt too goofy and had a disjointed narrative. If they can tweak that formula, clean it up a bit and make it more "Metzen" then I'm perfectly happy with it.

I think a major change in the formula that might annoy some people is that they used to follow a tick-tack expansion development cycle. So you'd get a lighter one, then a major one that added a new class and stuff. Problem with Dragonflight is that they really goofed up by adding a race nonody cared for, and a class that hardly anybody got to play much since they didn't like the race. Spending all that effort on a class and race only to make them both so incredibly nische is just a weird choice overall. Like, I would kill for the chance to play as a badass Titan-esque wizard that used time or life magic and ancient dragonfire to smite his enemies. It sounds cool as hell. But do I want to look like a gecko lizard doing it? No. So the class adds absolutely nothing for me.

11.0 was meant to be the big-big expansion at least narratively, since it would've brought the story of the Void to its completion, just like Shadowlands did for Death and Legion did for Disorder. But somewhere along the way they brought back Metzen and decided to turn it into three expansions. This then allowed them to keep TWW relatively normal in terms of content and gravitas, with nothing too earthshattering like new classes and such, since they're selling it as a package deal with the rest to come at a later date. Instead of 11.0 being some major 20th anniversary mega expansion where we end the Void forever, it's a bit of a builder expansion eventually leading to that goal later on.

But I'm still fine with all of that, because TWW seems perfectly fine on its own, and knowing Midnight and TLT are on the horizon just makes it all the more exciting.

[SkyTides]

Legion was great, but by god we needed it after the disaster that was WoD and its content drought.

I think they could make those class halls evergreen content - it could be where new customizations like the green fire for warlocks could be added, special transmogs etc

[Cheezits]

DF was just fine (not amazing) in terms of gameplay. It just felt too goofy and had a disjointed narrative. If they can tweak that formula, clean it up a bit and make it more "Metzen" then I'm perfectly happy with it.

I thought the gameplay was pretty perfect, honestly. The few classes I played felt great and the gearing was super simple. How could it have been better do you think?

- - - Updated - - -

Problem with Dragonflight is that they really goofed up by adding a race nonody cared for, and a class that hardly anybody got to play much since they didn't like the race. Spending all that effort on a class and race only to make them both so incredibly nische is just a weird choice overall.

I thought it was a great experiment, but making it Dracthyr only was a horrible idea. They goofed by making it so Dragon-focused instead of Dragon Magic-focused.

I don't think people have a problem with Evoker but they definitely are not Dracthyr fans. Maybe Blizz will open it up and have races turn into dracs temporarily for deep breath?

[ImTheMizAwesome]

I want racial campaigns, hubs being their updated, respective cities.

I don't think they would have to reach very far to find something for at least OG races to do.

Instead of weapons they could just add few armors for each races that would be unlocked similar to legion artifact color tints, different models etc.

[Cheezits]

I want racial campaigns, hubs being their updated, respective cities.

I don't think they would have to reach very far to find something for at least OG races to do.

Instead of weapons they could just add few armors for each races that would be unlocked similar to legion artifact color tints, different models etc.

I think that may be one of the Midnight features. They keep adding shoulders and new tabards for Racial City guards, and besides Nelves they haven't made any of them accessible.

[Worldshaper]

You're talking like BfA wasn't also packed with content at launch:

- 4 Allied races (as opposed to just ONE), with two more allied races only one month after launch;

- Warfronts;

- Island expeditions;

- Azerite gear with all its passive traits;

BfA was packed with content; and we didn't even need to sacrifice an earlier expansion to create that.

I'll take your post as confirmation that we were indeed spoiled during the Legion/BfA era, thanks for the confirmation.

Eh. A lot of people argued back in the day that BfA lacked content in comparison with Legion, because Blizzard had essentially just removed features without replacing them.

Warfronts was a side-project a few people did in their spare time. "Here are some assets, go nuts."
Allied Races was the big hype feature in the interim between Legion and BfA. It was essentially Shadowlands' or WoD's version of updated character customisatiokns.
Island Expeditions held lots of promise but were never that popular.
Azerite gear was universally despised at the time.

New features are great when they make sense, especially if they are evergreen.

That's why Warbands is amazing.
That's why a new class is great.

Temporary features bring a lot of hype initially, but they usually end up causing frustration. Either because they're disliked when they're here, or because they feel wasted when Blizzard take them away (see Class Order Halls).

- - - Updated - - -

I thought it was a great experiment, but making it Dracthyr only was a horrible idea. They goofed by making it so Dragon-focused instead of Dragon Magic-focused.

I don't think people have a problem with Evoker but they definitely are not Dracthyr fans. Maybe Blizz will open it up and have races turn into dracs temporarily for deep breath?

Agreed. We discussed "Dragonsworn" a lot leading up to the Dragonflight reveal, which would have been amazing. Whether as a new class or some type of feature everybody gained access to. But Evoker + Dracthyr is a huge meh.