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

[Ersula]

I just do not think that it is sustainable. After Legion it has become a little bit ridiculous IMO. Peak was of course SL, after defeating a being that should have killed us just with a stare, he goes and says that there is even bigger fish out there.

We were empowered by the eternals/titans in sl/legion & helped by actual warcraft heroes. The player characters aren't that powerful at all. We mostly take down large threats just from sheer numbers. And that's all a totally unrelated to the mechanics of the character advancement system which are always designed to be evergreen, then reevaluated further down the line.

[Nathanyel]

We're the white blood cells, the bees overheating the hornet with their sheer numbers.

[Cheezits]

Are we thinking two raids or three raids with TWW? I think two raids and a mega dungeon for each expansion is actually incredibly likely, for better or worse.

[Darkarath]

We were empowered by the eternals/titans in sl/legion & helped by actual warcraft heroes. The player characters aren't that powerful at all. We mostly take down large threats just from sheer numbers. And that's all a totally unrelated to the mechanics of the character advancement system which are always designed to be evergreen, then reevaluated further down the line.

Yeah I am well aware that we are always powered up in some way. That does not make it less ridiculous for me, though.

Do not make me wrong, I understand why they do it, but at some point this trend of keep fighting more powerful beings will have to stop. The game has already taken a step back with Fyrakk (which again should have evaporated us with his breath), but from now on we know that the bar is going to get raised quite a lot during the Worldsoul Saga. And it is awesome!! Let us finish this story for good !!

After that, though, a kind of reset will be inevitable and very welcomed.

BTW sheer numbers have ALWAYS been against us. The Legion? Old gods infinite army? The Scourge unlimited undead? Zooval megainfinite undead army? Again, give us more "realistic" threaths. Not everything needs to be bigger and bigger just to make the last threath (which was already superbig by any measure) seem non existant compared to the new.

[Lady Atia]

Yeah I am well aware that we are always powered up in some way. That does not make it less ridiculous for me, though.

Do not make me wrong, I understand why they do it, but at some point this trend of keep fighting more powerful beings will have to stop. The game has already taken a step back with Fyrakk (which again should have evaporated us with his breath), but from now on we know that the bar is going to get raised quite a lot during the Worldsoul Saga. And it is awesome!! Let us finish this story for good !!

After that, though, a kind of reset will be inevitable and very welcomed.

BTW sheer numbers have ALWAYS been against us. The Legion? Old gods infinite army? The Scourge unlimited undead? Zooval megainfinite undead army? Again, give us more "realistic" threaths. Not everything needs to be bigger and bigger just to make the last threath (which was already superbig by any measure) seem non existant compared to the new.

Warcraft was NEVER about "realistic" threaths though. Even the Defias in classic were manipulated by a black dragon who also played the double game in the stormwind throne room.

[Foolicious]

Are we thinking two raids or three raids with TWW? I think two raids and a mega dungeon for each expansion is actually incredibly likely, for better or worse.

If the expansions are indeed a bit shorter than they usually are i can see that. I don't think we will see a huge innovation when it comes to the amount of pve content.

[Cheezits]

Warcraft was NEVER about "realistic" threaths though. Even the Defias in classic were manipulated by a black dragon who also played the double game in the stormwind throne room.

Don't forget that the culmination of the Defias threat is a giant tugboat full of cannons in a pirate cove.

[Darkarath]

Warcraft was NEVER about "realistic" threaths though. Even the Defias in classic were manipulated by a black dragon who also played the double game in the stormwind throne room.

What I mean with "realistic" is that not every army needs to be infinite and not every threath needs to be more powerful than the one before.

The Scourge felt "realistic" even if we of course are in a fantasy world. It was well executed IMO (in WotLK). Garrosh's path to become a villain was (mostly) well done and "realistic". I think that the story was never more interesting than in MoP with the war faction and the different alliances and interactions between the races. The most down to earth expansion (MoP) was the best story in WoW by far IMO.

[Nymrohd]

The problem with using 50 characters is at that point, you have the problem of them just existing to exist instead of developing. Granted, Blizzard isn't the best at always developing characters when they only use 5 characters, but generally they are actually pretty okay.

There's a reason that every MMO with a big cast of characters only uses a few characters per expansion/story arc and rotates them after.

Fair, but how fast should they be rotated. ESO does that as well but it rotates the cast every year (and up until recently, twice a year)

[Cherry123]

Streamers really started alpha hype. I hope they know something

[Cheezits]

Streamers really started alpha hype. I hope they know something

Where is this?

[Auxis]

So I'm off to bed, which means the This Week article should be up in a few hours, or at least by the time i wake up.

I get the feeling they won't do the last batch of hero trees AND alpha date in the same week. Maybe alpha the week after to give people time to go over the trees, give written feedback b4 jumping in and testing some ingame.

Having said that, I think this week will be a Retail week. Hoping for Hero trees and/or 10.2.7 info.

[Murlocos]

Are we thinking two raids or three raids with TWW? I think two raids and a mega dungeon for each expansion is actually incredibly likely, for better or worse.

Unless this includes an 11.2 that's otherwise very meaty without a raid, I don't see how a two raid/two season cycle fits into their ~60-70 day patch cadence. You'd either need a Fated season 3 running as long as a regular season or to stretch out the two normal seasons into 7-8 or even closer to 10 months each with even more space between minor patches, which would be SL levels of major patch droughts. Unless the minor patches get serious upgrades, which hasn't been the case in the latter half of DF thus far, this would be a massive mistake and easily pointed out as them making expansions faster by simply giving you less and less content in them.

[Makorus]

Are we thinking two raids or three raids with TWW? I think two raids and a mega dungeon for each expansion is actually incredibly likely, for better or worse.

No way it's gonna be two raids.

I honestly don't know why people say that. Because they said they are looking for a shorter release cadence?

[Dracullus]

Are we thinking two raids or three raids with TWW? I think two raids and a mega dungeon for each expansion is actually incredibly likely, for better or worse.

Why break something that works? Not only in DF, people forget second half of SL had also healthy season length - Sepulcher lasted 22 weeks, S4 - 12 weeks, also 9.2.5 was this proto mini patch which we see often in DF.

Metzen promised us "little bit shorter" expacs in Blizzcon, but after that Blizzard clarified they want end saga before 2030, which doesn't sound like three 2-tier expansions. Imo main point for revealing saga at once was to convince people this storyline is something bigger and not just trip to underground.

At best I can see them throwing out fated season if really they can release Midnight earlier than 20 months after TWW, but probably they would went with shorter than 6 months seasons + fated instead.

[Valysar]

Are we thinking two raids or three raids with TWW? I think two raids and a mega dungeon for each expansion is actually incredibly likely, for better or worse.

I think every xpac will look the same now, 2-3 raids + 1 megadungeon yes + events for each patches.

[allegrian]

At what time can we expect the this week in wow post?

[justwatching]

At what time can we expect the this week in wow post?

I think around 1 PM eastern.

[Sondrelk]

No way it's gonna be two raids.

I honestly don't know why people say that. Because they said they are looking for a shorter release cadence?

Annual expansions does make some sense. Obviously a two year cycle with four raids works well since you get both the length and the consistent expansion release.
Annual expansions are not as long, but can be more focused on the main story.
18 month expansions meanwhile are both a bit too long to have a single main storyline. Too short to have several concurrent storylines. And means the expansion releases will be at different times of the year each time a new one comes out.

Importantly though, annual expansions just makes sense for the kind of story we can expect to see in the Worldsoul saga. Each expansions can work fully as a single act, focusing on a single facet of the greater story, without getting too bogged down in the weeds of minor antagonists.

[Sentynel]

Annual expansions does make some sense. Obviously a two year cycle with four raids works well since you get both the length and the consistent expansion release.
Annual expansions are not as long, but can be more focused on the main story.
18 month expansions meanwhile are both a bit too long to have a single main storyline. Too short to have several concurrent storylines. And means the expansion releases will be at different times of the year each time a new one comes out.

Importantly though, annual expansions just makes sense for the kind of story we can expect to see in the Worldsoul saga. Each expansions can work fully as a single act, focusing on a single facet of the greater story, without getting too bogged down in the weeds of minor antagonists.

So basically a cash grab. No thanks, I think 18 months is the bare minimum.