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

[Nightshade711]

Actually I was hoping for Bards in 12.0 but I think Artificer might be even more likely. Artificers conceptually originate from the Silmarillion & are deep in general elvish lore. I just hope they don't do the Monk thing where they dump the entire class identity into a single aesthetic & ignore all the tinkering races. Establishing other kinds of Artificers here in the Exodar is a step in the right direction.

Agreed I hope they’d include all the playable tinkering races in an Artificer class. Not just Gnome/Goblin or Draenei etc.

[milkmustache]

Im going to cry if we get Dalaran again. It was cool in Legion but 3 times is too much.

Imo Ulduar should be the capital. Or a new ground based city in CrystalSong Forrest.

If it comes back it'll need something adjacent to Order Halls along with a revamp to not feel small.

But I dunno... I love Dalaran. It's nice to have people hub in a familiar place. Valdrakken is beautiful, but it sucks knowing it'll be gone for good in 6 months. An adapting, modernly built Dalaran with a smaller ground hub according to the expansions rocks.

[Nymrohd]

Im going to cry if we get Dalaran again. It was cool in Legion but 3 times is too much.

Imo Ulduar should be the capital. Or a new ground based city in CrystalSong Forrest.

I think our relation with the keepers will not be that straightforward in TLT for us to live in their house. But I also do not want Dalaran. Imo, Wyrmrest could be the new capital. We'll have had a break from dragons for a couple of expansions but I do think TLT should have a very large roster of characters like Legion did and given that I'd expect Idirikron to be part of the story in TLT, it would make the most sense to me.

[doledippers]

i wonder if theyll bother previewing the rest of the hero talents when alpha is so close (assuming they will all be available at alpha launch)

[Ersula]

But I dunno... I love Dalaran. It's nice to have people hub in a familiar place. Valdrakken is beautiful, but it sucks knowing it'll be gone for good in 6 months. An adapting, modernly built Dalaran with a smaller ground hub according to the expansions rocks.

Only until Dragonflight Remix, Christopher Robin.

[milkmustache]

Only until Dragonflight Remix, Christopher Robin.

Why stop there? Dragonflight Classic!

[Nibelheimy]

I'm not sure on what extent we're getting Northrend in TLT. Right now its hard to imagine how Borean Tundra or Zul'farak would ve relevant in the modern day or inportant in the expansion storyline.

Half of me thinks the expansion intro is going to be in Ulduar, contacting the titans after our loss in Midnight, only to witnessss Iridikrons attempts at killing them. Its possible we may even raise part of Ulduar into the sky like Odyn did after those events to be our capital and we drop into parts of Northrend for the storylines from there.

Maybe Algalon is our Stony Tony, and he gives us info on how to awaken Azeroth, the Final Titan, or purify Sargeras, the Final Titan? If Iridikron succeeds, and if either are the one in question.

Storm peaks is one of my favourite zones, if not the favourite. Im very exited to see it again. If it were me, Id make the spark of ingenuity train relvant to all TLT zones, and have it flow through and connect to them.

[milkmustache]

I'm not sure on what extent we're getting Northrend in TLT. Right now its hard to imagine how Borean Tundra or Zul'farak would ve relevant in the modern day or inportant in the expansion storyline.

Half of me thinks the expansion intro is going to be in Ulduar, contacting the titans after our loss in Midnight, only to witnessss Iridikrons attempts at killing them. Its possible we may even raise part of Ulduar into the sky like Odyn did after those events to be our capital and we drop into parts of Northrend for the storylines from there.

Maybe Algalon is our Stony Tony, and he gives us info on how to awaken Azeroth, the Final Titan, or purify Sargeras, the Final Titan? If Iridikron succeeds, and if either are the one in question.

Storm peaks is one of my favourite zones, if not the favourite. Im very exited to see it again. If it were me, Id make the spark of ingenuity train relvant to all TLT zones, and have it flow through and connect to them.

Storm Peaks and Sholazar seem incredibly important. Icecrown too if they reuse the soul engine from Zovaal's fight. Dragonblight too. Howling Fjord and Grizzly Hills are nostalgia knockouts.

I guess it depends on if they stick to the 4 zones per continent thing, but I think they'll fully redo it, maybe just combine a few. A lot of assets could be reused from Azure Span as well.

[Ersula]

I'm not sure on what extent we're getting Northrend in TLT. Right now its hard to imagine how Borean Tundra or Zul'farak would ve relevant in the modern day or inportant in the expansion storyline.

It wouldn't be the first time they choose to not explore interesting prospects of worldbuilding but there's plenty going on there. The Scourge power vacuum, All the keepers there would care that Tyr is alive again, Blue Dragonkind & Dracthyr connecting with their heritage, somebody should probably do something about a world soul euthanasia machine built under ICC, etc. There's plenty there.

[Worldshaper]

I'm not sure modern Northrend has got enough appeal, tbh. At least when you consider how much of what we used to like about it has been removed or was just seen in DF.

Arthas and his version of the Scourge are gone, alongside iconic characters like Kel'Thuzad. Yogg-Saron is dead. Tirion is gone. The Dragon Aspect storylines have been "resolved". The Nerubians are dealt with in TWW, we just had Tuskarr in DF, Galakrond is kind of used already, and so on. Heck they even did the whole Blue Dragon magic snowy place in DF.

I wonder if Metzen meant that we're returning there in TLT more as a story thing. The introduction to the story or something.

Or could it involve time travel, perhaps letting us experience Northrend 30 000 years ago?

Another possibility could be added landmasses, I suppose.

They could pull something out of their backsides, like for example Ulduar might also be a way to reach a Titan realm or something.

If they want to resolve all Titan stories though, then maybe Avaloren is also a possibility.

[Viridiel]

I'm not sure modern Northrend has got enough appeal, tbh. At least when you consider how much of what we used to like about it has been removed or was just seen in DF.

Arthas and his version of the Scourge are gone, alongside iconic characters like Kel'Thuzad. Yogg-Saron is dead. Tirion is gone. The Dragon Aspect storylines have been "resolved". The Nerubians are dealt with in TWW, we just had Tuskarr in DF, Galakrond is kind of used already, and so on. Heck they even did the whole Blue Dragon magic snowy place in DF.

I wonder if Metzen meant that we're returning there in TLT more as a story thing. The introduction to the story or something.

Or could it involve time travel, perhaps letting us experience Northrend 30 000 years ago?

Another possibility could be added landmasses, I suppose.

They could pull something out of their backsides, like for example Ulduar might also be a way to reach a Titan realm or something.

If they want to resolve all Titan stories though, then maybe Avaloren is also a possibility.

Obviously the wolvar have taken over the continent. Everybody loves those little guys, right?

I think the fact that almost every story in Northrend has been dealt with is actually a good sign that they'll be able to do something interesting with it. We've only revisited some parts of it since the Cataclysm so I think there's a fair bit of wiggle room when it comes to terraforming and new landmasses and the populations that come alongside it. If Iridikron is involved with the story then there's room for even more terraforming, and even things like phasing areas from the Elemental Plane if we need some permanent settlements quickly. But he's also not afraid to mess around with time magic and readily allies with anyone he can, so who knows.

I know some people just want nothing to do with Shadowlands at all, but I'd like it if some Devourers had made their way through while the portal was open and have established a presence somewhere. They're the most interestingly designed enemies we've had in a while and the fact that they were relegated to being mute pests is so lame.

[Alanar]

I'm not sure modern Northrend has got enough appeal, tbh. At least when you consider how much of what we used to like about it has been removed or was just seen in DF.

Arthas and his version of the Scourge are gone, alongside iconic characters like Kel'Thuzad. Yogg-Saron is dead. Tirion is gone. The Dragon Aspect storylines have been "resolved". The Nerubians are dealt with in TWW, we just had Tuskarr in DF, Galakrond is kind of used already, and so on. Heck they even did the whole Blue Dragon magic snowy place in DF.

I wonder if Metzen meant that we're returning there in TLT more as a story thing. The introduction to the story or something.

Or could it involve time travel, perhaps letting us experience Northrend 30 000 years ago?

Another possibility could be added landmasses, I suppose.

They could pull something out of their backsides, like for example Ulduar might also be a way to reach a Titan realm or something.

If they want to resolve all Titan stories though, then maybe Avaloren is also a possibility.

There are still the Vrykul and there is also this huge bastion of scarlets, maybe that coule be used. Added landmass and additional stuff will probably be part of it, I believe that as well.

[Scyth]

I am more inclined to think we will return to Northrend as part of the story or a pre-patch type of thing, not a full-time thing. I would be happy if we got to spend more time there tho as I love most of the zones. Would also love to be able to explore Iridikron's lair, although we don't even know if he is back there or in some Void world with Xal.

[Nathanyel]

I do hope someone in the community council does ask if heritage sets for allied races will be obtainable if someone levels a character in Pandamonium.

I don't see a reason why levelling via Pandamonium shouldn't count, it's no boost.
However, it might be that the character can't complete the quest that actually grants the heritage armor while still timerunning. I hope there's some way to manually bring characters out of that mode before the event ends.

Now that I think of it-- it's odd that Void Elves get High Elf customizations to essentially be interchangeable to the player, but Draenei and Lightforged are split into 2 races. At some point they need to just go core race > sub race. Select your faction, select your core race, select your sub race based on faction availability.

Oh, definitely, with lots of merged customizations.

Could even keep the displayed races as an option, with e.g. choosing "Void Elf" as a prerequisite for the VE skin tones and tentacles.
This could also determine the racials, which are just about the biggest and only real gameplay hurdle for merging ARs into base races.

In fact, it'd very much be like ancestries/subraces in D&D/Pathfinder.

[Worldshaper]

What's interesting is, if they revamp Quel'thalas in Midnight, then obviously they'll have some sort of plan to also do the rest of Azeroth in future expansions.

That means the end of the Worldsoul Saga might not be as much of a departure from old Azeroth as one might think.

This, in turn, implies the other side of Azeroth or Avaloren might come in chunks, not as one big thing.

So let's assume the report on Avaloren is a breadcrumb teaser meant to foreshadow events in TLT, just like A Song of the Depths and the Earthen report foreshadow TWW and Midnight.

With that in mind, I could see Avaloren as the main setting for TLT. But heavily tied to Ulduar.

Could it be that Avaloren is, after all, one of several other landmasses to the west (northwest, perhaps), relatively close to present day Northrend but still off the edges of our maps?

Behind it might be even more landmasses, for example where Erinethria flew. But this one might be the closest.

So the TLT landmass might consist of cleverly reused Northrend content, plus a new location. Rebuilding Northrend, if they wanted to, probably isn't hard assuming they're going with the Arathi Highlands approach (relatively empty, open space). But they could probably leave it unchanged as well, if for example they'd like to do something crazy - explode the continent as part of tvlhe story, or something.

Avaloren, then, would be this location in the west, filled with "heretics" who wouldn't follow Odyn. A sort of island kingdom about the size of Kul Tiras, perhaps a bit bigger.

The heretics could be the main Arathi kingdom, but we'll have to see. It'll be a story that challenges our perception of the Titans, for sure.

[Fahrad Wagner]

If it comes back it'll need something adjacent to Order Halls along with a revamp to not feel small.

But I dunno... I love Dalaran. It's nice to have people hub in a familiar place. Valdrakken is beautiful, but it sucks knowing it'll be gone for good in 6 months. An adapting, modernly built Dalaran with a smaller ground hub according to the expansions rocks.

I couldn't agree more: having Dalaran back for either TWW or TLT would be amazing, love that place

[Makorus]

I want a floating, uprooted Ulduar akin to Hyrule Castle in Tears of the Kingdom, with Iridikrons lair underneath is.

I fucking love floating structures.

Hell, TotK-ify all of Northrend. Tear it up.

[Nymrohd]

If I had to see Dalaran again, I wish it was scaled up. Shattrath, Suramar, Boralus all showed us a properly sized city with multiple districts and living space for people. Dalaran is tiny. It's better than the Shrines or Garrison but still very small.

[Raetary]

I want a floating, uprooted Ulduar akin to Hyrule Castle in Tears of the Kingdom, with Iridikrons lair underneath is.

I fucking love floating structures.

Hell, TotK-ify all of Northrend. Tear it up.

Isn't Iridikrons lair implied to be beneath Icecrown?

[Usagi Senshi]

Hopefully we'll get monstrosities like Galakrond wandering about the new Northrend as threats akin to Fel reavers on nitro crack.