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

[Nymrohd]

BfA really did screw us over with 8.3. That patch threw so many great ideas out as filler.
Want to see a true Mantid swarm? Best you get is a questline where you are told the Mantid have allied with N'zoth.
Want a return to the Qiraji in Silithus? Best we can do is let you kill some insects in a world quest.
Want a triumphant return of Ra-den and an exploration of Titan structures? Shame we only have time to briefly touch on the whole "tunnels spanning Pandaria connecting all installations".

I'll say again, the return of the Qiraji was wasted now with TWW. They should have kept Nerubians for TLT and done Qiraji in Azj'Kahet.

[Sondrelk]

I’m expecting patch content to be:

12.1 - Lordaeron /w Stratholme raid
12.1.5 - Scarlet Monastery mega dungeon
12.2 - K’aresh

Launch content as; Eversong, Ghostlands, Zul’aman, an island raised off the coast by Azshara; though I’d be lying if I didn’t say I would prefer Vashjir 2.0.

Then you can have the Sunwell as the opening raid, with the Isle for max level content.

I am still going to stand by my prediction of everything north of the Thandol Span being part of the expansion.
Tirisfal and other Forsaken levelling zones to tie up the Forsaken plotline and build towards Avaloren with the Scarlet Crusade. The Plaguelands to tie up the scourge invasion there, as well as leading into Stratholme eventually. The elf zones obviously. And the Hinterlands and Arathi Highlands for variety, in a similar vein to Centaur in DF.

[Vakir]

I fully expect the patch content will go into either the Void or K'aresh tbh.

Most likely. But even for that initial launch, I'd be surprised if the Void didn't bleed elsewhere.

And I have to ask, non-Euclidean geometry is awesome when you are doing artwork or even in a TTRPG but has any game really managed to do it justice in an interactive 3D environment?

In terms of being traversable, no. It would be partly skybox or set dressing. But there's still a lot on the table stylistically to go through that they didn't and so many enemy variations that have been Old God aligned that they crammed into such a small space.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Have any of those really been truly successful as singular leaders?

What about Velen, the objectively religiously-correct, multi-millennia old theocratic prophet? Also, Turalyon is a de facto military dictator who has consistently been successful in war and is seemingly running a tight ship at peace.

If anything this is proof of how one person leading is bad and the actual success is a group of people leading.

This seems to be more indicative of the importance of alliances and international friendships among monarchs than inherent proof of the supremacy of multiple leaders within a single system.

Sprinkle in some hints of Goblin culture with stuff like gun/explosive focus, radio music, pin-ups and their generally crass and crude culture. Not only is it lore-friendly but it would be incredibly funny and flavorful. I also can't help but think they'd love smoking though that may not fly with the ratings.

That seems very difficult to reconcile with their pseudo-fascistic, military-dominated social order.

- - - Updated - - -

Part of it is that the leaders have to be boring, but I also think part of it is that the Maghar were infinitely doomed to the BFA era "compromising" where they also had to hit the same notes of the MU Maghar that people (for whatever reason) also wanted. Hence why their race mount is a generic wolf and their racials are all about being Orcy Orcs instead of focusing on their unique background and culture. They racials should be about using guns and radios, not ancestors. Their mount should've been an iron star wheelie or some kind of motorcycle on steroids.

It doesn't really matter as they immediately pivoted to the engineer thing with their quests in BFA 8.1 but still, it kneecapped them a bit. I realize wish they would lean in more to the technology and their unique clans (Shadowmoon/Laughing Maw/BB). Now that the green orcs are being traditional again we can let these guys be modern.

I think making them "modern" would dramatically undermine the fantasy and completely fail to mesh with the base concept of "industrialized ultramilitarist orc". Their form of industrialism should be consistently more militant and gritty than, say, goblins, and they ought to remain more solidly slotted into that "anachronistic military industrialism" niche (cf. Warcraft II) rather than become yet another race that's excessively modernized. The S.E.L.F.I.E. camera and its consequences must not be hammered in further.

- - - Updated - - -

I think that at this point it's hard to justify most races and factions not being council based. They're not stupid, they're (socially) largely beyond the feudal era and into to the period where populism should be the default

You're skipping over a number of major points, namely absolutism, which — despite being one of the worst mistakes in European history behind Austrian painter man and a total downgrade in every conceivable way from feudalism — is far closer to the apparent time period the setting is trying to channel in the rare case they focus it in any capacity. More pertinently, "populism" only became the default around the beginning of the 20th century. Up until then, we had a transitory period of constitutional monarchies, absolutism, emerging merchant classes, and the struggle of emergent capitalism and mercantilism.

Which actually brings to mind the other point, which is that Azeroth hasn't really had a general shift towards true market economies, and only a few societies seem to use division of labor. With capitalism exclusively existing in goblin society, we're not likely to see the merchant class fully challenge the royalty just yet, and by extension we're not likely to see that much progress towards individualism. Similarly, we also are unlikely to see much in the way of Marxist-analogue thought since that school of thought has very little capitalism to respond to.

[Scyth]

So beta starts next week which means TWW launch will most definitely be in September, possibly second week?
I saw someone on reddit say that DF Beta to launch was 88 days so if the same applies to TWW we should see it in September.

Wonder if Shamans and Hunters will get big reworks like other classes have got. Seems odd that they have received basically 0 communication during Alpha, does not bode well.

[milkmustache]

So beta starts next week which means TWW launch will most definitely be in September, possibly second week?
I saw someone on reddit say that DF Beta to launch was 88 days so if the same applies to TWW we should see it in September.

Wonder if Shamans and Hunters will get big reworks like other classes have got. Seems odd that they have received basically 0 communication during Alpha, does not bode well.

I've felt for a while that the 3rd or 10th of September are most likely. There was something that was leftover and meant to be removed in an article indicating that something is shipping on the 31st (it said on or no later than the 31st of August), which would make sense for early access.

Early Access on the 31st, full launch on the 3rd.

It all depends on when prepatch comes following Remix. If Remix ends the same day prepatch launches (which makes sense), it should be the 3rd. If they wait a week, the 10th.

[Houle]

They are, but you can't sustain a flashpoint of that size for a 1.5 year story. We've been there. Even with a new coat of paint to depict the physical space of Sunwell Plateau, how could they justify a goal to get there that's that much of a slow push where the Legion managed to snag it so effortlessly?

You need to diversify and expand a bit to make a threat interesting. Kind of like how the Legion was going for the Nightwell and Illidan but ALSO everything else we had to fight.

Just doing Nya'loatha versions of old zones probably wouldn't have been compelling enough. Actually going into Nya'loatha full time as a proper "continent" would have been a good eventuality with some diversity of the theme and getting a chance to go ham with the Cosmic Horror elements. You get the "everything is made of slimy tentacles" zone, the Nerubian zone, the Mantid zone, the Qiraji zone, the Faceless zone, etc. as options to get more fleshed out and have impossible and uncomfortable geometry rather than just "everything is compiled in one spot and vaguely Egyptian."

Adding to that, besides being "just" a raid, the Nyalotha version that they did release wasnt even really visually impressive, considering how much it was teased.

Funnily enough, they had a location design which wouldve been much more creative one xpac later: Hakkars dungeon boss room in SL.




Imagine if Nyalotha wouldve been designed more like that background. Misty, some upside down buildings, trees, etc etc.

[Scyth]

I've felt for a while that the 3rd or 10th of September are most likely. There was something that was leftover and meant to be removed in an article indicating that something is shipping on the 31st (it said on or no later than the 31st of August), which would make sense for early access.

Early Access on the 31st, full launch on the 3rd.

It all depends on when prepatch comes following Remix. If Remix ends the same day prepatch launches (which makes sense), it should be the 3rd. If they wait a week, the 10th.

I reckon pre-patch launches on the same day Remix ends as there is no real reason for them to wait a week to launch since nothing is really happening anyway.
So 3rd of Sept as official launch makes sense yeah.

[Dracullus]

I reckon pre-patch launches on the same day Remix ends as there is no real reason for them to wait a week to launch since nothing is really happening anyway.
So 3rd of Sept as official launch makes sense yeah.

It really doesn't. We need at least week to sort out release bugs before actual event start (in DF that phase lasted 3 weeks). Then we have actual event that usually last 2 weeks, but I wouldn't be surprised if they extend it to 3 (because early release already cut last week in half).

[Scyth]

It really doesn't. We need at least week to sort out release bugs before actual event start (in DF that phase lasted 3 weeks). Then we have actual event that usually last 2 weeks, but I wouldn't be surprised if they extend it to 3 (because early release already cut last week in half).

The time from Beta to Launch (was 88 days for DF) lines up though, which makes early September very likely. They should announce a release date soon-ish I guess so we'll see!

[Grazrug]

Is it worth it to buy the epic edition so I can play the Beta?

[Makabreska]

Is it worth it to buy the epic edition so I can play the Beta?

Dunno, is it? Do you want to play Beta? You also get 1 month game time, collectibles and "early access", which is probably the main drive.

[Nymrohd]

Is it worth it to buy the epic edition so I can play the Beta?

I mean the difference is 40€, subtract the extra month of gameplay so 29€ for Beta Access, Early Access for 3 days, a mount (and some unique but fairly easy dragonriding challenges), a full mog, a pet and two toys (one is a hearthstone).
So the question is how much will you make use of these things? And do you have the disposable income (I know that for plenty of places in Europe, 30€ is a decent amount of money)

[loras]

Adding to that, besides being "just" a raid, the Nyalotha version that they did release wasnt even really visually impressive, considering how much it was teased.

Funnily enough, they had a location design which wouldve been much more creative one xpac later: Hakkars dungeon boss room in SL.




Imagine if Nyalotha wouldve been designed more like that background. Misty, some upside down buildings, trees, etc etc.

Easily the best dungeon in SL.

- - - Updated - - -

I mean the difference is 40€, subtract the extra month of gameplay so 29€ for Beta Access, Early Access for 3 days, a mount (and some unique but fairly easy dragonriding challenges), a full mog, a pet and two toys (one is a hearthstone).
So the question is how much will you make use of these things? And do you have the disposable income (I know that for plenty of places in Europe, 30€ is a decent amount of money)

€30 is three cheap meals here, more if you go to less inflation-stricken countries.

[Auxis]

Is this a new set? I genuinely think I've never seen it before (The belt is from the Kirin Tor Scholar set and the boots I think I've seen. The chest/crystal collar is completely throwing me off).

[Ersula]

Is this a new set? I genuinely think I've never seen it before (The belt is from the Kirin Tor Scholar set and the boots I think I've seen.

Its the TWW pre-order set mixed with the shop kirin tor set.

[Lahis]

I think the boots are from Plunderlord set.

This was a funny Short, but not in the way they wanted. It was supposed to be a Tmog celebration, tagget with "When transmog is the endgame and you are final boss", but after this initial mix piece set, it just went Full Set Andy for the rest of the video.

[huth]

Is this a new set? I genuinely think I've never seen it before (The belt is from the Kirin Tor Scholar set and the boots I think I've seen. The chest/crystal collar is completely throwing me off).

Collar is from the Stormrider races. It's part of the chest.

That's just a mix of various different sets, that's all.

[Auxis]

Ah. Didn't think to look at that set. Didn't realize it had a collar and thought there was more plate one the chest as opposed to those belts.

[allegrian]

Why is Jaina in the new TWW artwork? Sure she's very popular since W3 and specially since BFA with her remodel, but I thought she was not going to have any prominent role in TWW. I was also surprised to see her in the latest cinematic in dalaran. Could they be setting her up as Khadgar replacement or something like that?