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

[Foolicious]

Eyyup. The "Evolved" Nerubians look like they might as well be an entirely new race, and not in a good way.

But not just them. If i have one major complaint about the short, its the queens design. They made them look too humanoid. Compare them with Anub'arak, the ruler of the other nerubian kingdom, and their design seems pretty meh.

They are just a female version of the nerubian mages who have been part of the nerubians since forever.

[huth]

Spittle? Who on earth thought it would be a good idea to try drinking dragon spit? And is there just a group of dragons dedicated to farming spit from their mouths and selling it?

I'm going to assume that's just a metaphorical name.

Though AFAIR you can use conjured food in arenas - you just have to have a mage in the team to conjure it on the spot.

[Houle]

They are just a female version of the nerubian mages who have been part of the nerubians since forever.

You mean the nerubian viziers?

Because no, those look quite, quite different.

[loras]

They are just a female version of the nerubian mages who have been part of the nerubians since forever.

You are correct about the general layout of the design, but those humanoid lips are just entirely out of place.
Contrast her with Shek'zeer empress of the mantid and you'll know exactly what he means.

[Valysar]

There are no world quests in Azj Kahet ?

[Ersula]

You mean the nerubian viziers?

Because no, those look quite, quite different.

I do see what they mean. The Viziers have an extra pair of legs & the void ascended nerubians have an extra pair of arms. Though I would also say the nerubians in question also look more human in other ways.

[Makorus]

There are no world quests in Azj Kahet ?

You need to unlock the three sub-factions before WQs in Azjkahet show up.

[Auxis]

I'm going to assume that's just a metaphorical name.

Though AFAIR you can use conjured food in arenas - you just have to have a mage in the team to conjure it on the spot.

Honestly, that makes more sense. But it's an odd and gross sounding name for a drink xD

[Lady Atia]

I do see what they mean. The Viziers have an extra pair of legs & the void ascended nerubians have an extra pair of arms. Though I would also say the nerubians in question also look more human in other ways.

Also Anub'arak always had a mouth, so it makes sense that the queens also have one, right?

[Valysar]

You need to unlock the three sub-factions before WQs in Azjkahet show up.

I thnink I've done it (I think...), but I have no more quests here

[Makabreska]

Eyyup. The "Evolved" Nerubians look like they might as well be an entirely new race, and not in a good way.

But not just them. If i have one major complaint about the short, its the queens design. They made them look too humanoid. Compare them with Anub'arak, the ruler of the other nerubian kingdom, and their design seems pretty meh.

Eh, these evolved Nerubians will most likely disappear after TWW, since this is the result of teaming up with Xal.

Also, humanoid Ansurek and her mom are kinda necessary. You need a proper face and recognisable body to convey emotions in cinematics and these are major characters.

[Lady Atia]

Eh, these evolved Nerubians will most likely disappear after TWW, since this is the result of teaming up with Xal.

Also, humanoid Ansurek and her mom are kinda necessary. You need a proper face and recognisable body to convey emotions in cinematics.

This too, same reason they switched over to visage forms after the initial bad Dragonflight cinematics were dragons had just an open mouth and talked *shudders*.

[Makorus]

This too, same reason they switched over to visage forms after the initial bad Dragonflight cinematics were dragons had just an open mouth and talked *shudders*.

Even worse than that, they went for the odd design decision of not having any mouth movement or opening their mouth at all to the point where it seemed like telepathy.

[Raetary]

Eh, these evolved Nerubians will most likely disappear after TWW, since this is the result of teaming up with Xal.

Also, humanoid Ansurek and her mom are kinda necessary. You need a proper face and recognisable body to convey emotions in cinematics and these are major characters.

They don't need an exact human face and body to convey emotion, they just need to have the characters be able to convey expression at all.

Body language alone can convey a lot of information, without the need for a face.
Just look at Locus Walker, who communicates his gravitas with body language and good voice acting.

Or every non-humanoid character in any piece of media.

Besides, they very much can make regular Nerubian faces expressive.
They did it in the short:

[Steampunkette]

So... Tinfoil hats on, folks, this is my current theory:

The Beledar is a ship from Alternate Draenor.

K'ara worked Yrel and the other Lightbound to build a draenic starship with tons of crystals. Why? Because Draenor has been "Cleansed" and it's time for the Lightbound to seek out new worlds to bring to the Light. K'ara is just Lightforging everyone she gets her hands on because she's terrified of returning to the Dark Star state and by ensuring there's no "Corruption" around her, she can "Protect" herself.

They came through time and space and a dimensional barrier and everyone inside the ship except K'ara had to be put into some form of Stasis to survive the trip. The ship itself is damaged and trapped in the ceiling of the Hallowfall cave. K'ara sent the vision to the Emperor as a cry for help and he sent the Arathi to go find out what's up. SOMEHOW the Arathi Airships get teleported into Hallowfall.

K'ara can see them flying around, trying to figure out what's going on, through the crystal view screen or whatever. But they don't -see- a Draenic Starship because it's embedded in the rock and they've never been to the Exodar. All they see is a giant glowing crystal. So they start exploring the cave when the crystal appears to just be a source of light. Or maybe they're just defending the "Light" from the darkness of the Nerubians and other groups.

For years, K'ara has been trapped and screaming for help from people who can't hear her. She falls to despair and the Void creeps in. Dismayed, horrified even, she thinks back to Velen's Sacrifice and how he saved her...

So she pulls someone out of stasis and they sacrifice themself just as Velen did all those years ago to purify her. It works, and she's lit up golden, anew. The first "Void Phase" of Hallowfall ends.

... but they keep coming. More and more void phases, more frequently, and more and more sacrifices to end them. She's running through her supply of potential sacrifices and running out of time before the Dark Star is reborn, anew.

And what's worse: Her intent is corrupting the action. It's no longer a "Sacrifice" so much as it is murder. So the "Restoration" lasts for shorter and shorter times as the gnawing blackness grows stronger and the purple light grows more frequent...

I don't think we're going to Ka'resh for the Void Raid. I think we're going to the Beledar. Inside we'll find Voidbound Grom and Yrel as bosses, alongside the Dark Star. Ethereals are gonna help 'cause it's one heck of a fall-back for Xalatath after the Nerubians fail...

Probably not accurate, in the end... but man do I love the idea.

[Makabreska]

Now that's a blast from the past.

[Steampunkette]

My conspiracy theorycrafting grows further, but first a tiny bit of evidence about it being a draenic construct: This is Tempest Keep.



Flip one of those upside down and imagine the crystals poking out of rock and there you go. Alternatively: Exodar, since it's gotta be big enough to house the majority of the Draenor survivors. Then you don't even need Stasis since they'd have food.



What if we go to the Beledar as the void raid -with- the Arathi to fight against not only the Voidbound... but -also- the remaining Lightbound who are trying to protect the Dark Star from us until -they- can save her. No Voidbound Yrel, Lightbound and just as wicked as before.

And when we go in, when Faelin and the other Arathi see her, they fall to worship of K'ara and start sacrificing -themselves- to save her. And transport her back to Avaloren. And start Lighbinding all of the Arathi Empire off-camera.

Meanwhile we're still dealing with Midnight and The Last Titan and can't follow up on K'ara and the Emperor until the Worldsoul Saga is up... and by that time it's too late! Most of the Arathi are Lightbound and looking to conquer the world!

[Santandame]

So... Tinfoil hats on, folks, this is my current theory:

The Beledar is a ship from Alternate Draenor.

K'ara worked Yrel and the other Lightbound to build a draenic starship with tons of crystals. Why? Because Draenor has been "Cleansed" and it's time for the Lightbound to seek out new worlds to bring to the Light. K'ara is just Lightforging everyone she gets her hands on because she's terrified of returning to the Dark Star state and by ensuring there's no "Corruption" around her, she can "Protect" herself.

They came through time and space and a dimensional barrier and everyone inside the ship except K'ara had to be put into some form of Stasis to survive the trip. The ship itself is damaged and trapped in the ceiling of the Hallowfall cave. K'ara sent the vision to the Emperor as a cry for help and he sent the Arathi to go find out what's up. SOMEHOW the Arathi Airships get teleported into Hallowfall.

K'ara can see them flying around, trying to figure out what's going on, through the crystal view screen or whatever. But they don't -see- a Draenic Starship because it's embedded in the rock and they've never been to the Exodar. All they see is a giant glowing crystal. So they start exploring the cave when the crystal appears to just be a source of light. Or maybe they're just defending the "Light" from the darkness of the Nerubians and other groups.

For years, K'ara has been trapped and screaming for help from people who can't hear her. She falls to despair and the Void creeps in. Dismayed, horrified even, she thinks back to Velen's Sacrifice and how he saved her...

So she pulls someone out of stasis and they sacrifice themself just as Velen did all those years ago to purify her. It works, and she's lit up golden, anew. The first "Void Phase" of Hallowfall ends.

... but they keep coming. More and more void phases, more frequently, and more and more sacrifices to end them. She's running through her supply of potential sacrifices and running out of time before the Dark Star is reborn, anew.

And what's worse: Her intent is corrupting the action. It's no longer a "Sacrifice" so much as it is murder. So the "Restoration" lasts for shorter and shorter times as the gnawing blackness grows stronger and the purple light grows more frequent...

I don't think we're going to Ka'resh for the Void Raid. I think we're going to the Beledar. Inside we'll find Voidbound Grom and Yrel as bosses, alongside the Dark Star. Ethereals are gonna help 'cause it's one heck of a fall-back for Xalatath after the Nerubians fail...

Probably not accurate, in the end... but man do I love the idea.

I loved everything up until the ending. Please don’t waste Yrel and the Lightbound like that.

I’m all for your idea but instead Yrel and the Lightbound ally with the Arathi. You can then have Yrel with the Lightbound play a significant role in Midnight so we have a Light reprieve in a Void dominated expansion. To me, it feels fitting that if we get a revamped Quel’Thalas in Midnight, then we get a revamped Azuremyst/Bloodmyst to go alongside it. We could get throwbacks to the Shattered Sun Offensive. Patch content could be a return to the Draenei Isles with a Lightbound raid.

That said, I do also think we’re due a Northern Kalimdor expansion at some point after the World Soul Saga if we don’t immediately go to Avaloren to contest with the Arathi. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Draenei Isles be saved for that expansion. Northern Kalimdor could be the Lightbound Invasion expansion. But I could also see it as a return of the Legion expansion with either Sargeras playing his hand again depending on what goes down in The Last Titan or Denathrius taking over the remains of the Legion.

Either way, The War Within and/or Midnight seems a very good place to reintroduce Yrel & the Lightbound.

[Bwgmon]

I loved everything up until the ending. Please don’t waste Yrel and the Lightbound like that.

I don't think the timeline works quite right for it either, because the Hallowfall Arathi have been there with the crystal long enough for Faerin to grow up, and long enough that the "dark phase" is considered an unnatural development (it appears it started about the time Azeroth was stabbed at the end of Legion, which suggests they've been there for at least a few years prior to the Legion expansion if they saw "Beledar as light all day every day" as the norm).

AU Draenor seems to exist/have existed semi-parallel to our own timeline, both continue to move forward (albeit at different paces) and the event that would've made Yrel aware of the possibility of jumping timelines didn't happen until the Horde recruited the Mag'har while BfA was underway. If she followed, she'd most likely arrive sometime after that, if the Beledar is related to her, she would've had to arrive on Azeroth before the hijinks that spawned AU Draenor even happened.

This is all also assuming Yrel could figure out how to make the jump without the aid of the Bronze Dragonflight or any artifacts relating to them.

[Steampunkette]

I loved everything up until the ending. Please don’t waste Yrel and the Lightbound like that.

I’m all for your idea but instead Yrel and the Lightbound ally with the Arathi. You can then have Yrel with the Lightbound play a significant role in Midnight so we have a Light reprieve in a Void dominated expansion. To me, it feels fitting that if we get a revamped Quel’Thalas in Midnight, then we get a revamped Azuremyst/Bloodmyst to go alongside it. We could get throwbacks to the Shattered Sun Offensive. Patch content could be a return to the Draenei Isles with a Lightbound raid.

That said, I do also think we’re due a Northern Kalimdor expansion at some point after the World Soul Saga if we don’t immediately go to Avaloren to contest with the Arathi. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Draenei Isles be saved for that expansion. Northern Kalimdor could be the Lightbound Invasion expansion. But I could also see it as a return of the Legion expansion with either Sargeras playing his hand again depending on what goes down in The Last Titan or Denathrius taking over the remains of the Legion.

Either way, The War Within and/or Midnight seems a very good place to reintroduce Yrel & the Lightbound.

I don't think we're going to see Yrel as a hero, ever again.

After exterminating the Botani and the Ogres in a genocidal pogrom, she and her allies did another genocidal pogrom on the Orcs of Draenor, destroying everything about them and lightbinding them like X'era tried to do to Illidan. I think she's crossed the moral event horizon and will be an example of how the Light can be just as controlling and evil as the Void, much as Odyn, Neltharion, and the Dracthyr are giving us hints about how the Titans are the same way.

That said... I've revised my thoughts a bit.

IF we go to the Beledar raid in 11.2 it'll be with Lightbound still alive inside the colony-ship. Not something small like the Xenedar, something huge like the Exodar. With Lightbound and Voidbound sections where K'ara has been putting her victims away from the still-loyal Lightbound in order to -keep- them Loyal. Maybe even imprisoning the Voidbound somehow.

And then we'll wind up fighting Lightbound Hellscream and Voidbound Yrel or something similar.

That said... bringing up Azuremyst/Bloodmyst is a -very- good point. It would make sense if the Void energy from the Beledar that causes void-stuff to happen in Hallowfall were something we were looking into. And then during the 11.2 path "Something Happens" where the ship breaks open and starts flooding Void-Monsters into the world and we go to the Exodar for help...

And it's the Azuremyst/Bloodmyst Isle that gets updated in this expansion with tons of void-stuffs and a revamp of the Exodar to bring the zone up to modern visual standards and meld it into the map so you can Skyride to and from it as well as all over it.

The Quel'Danas and Quel'Thalas get updated next expansion as Xalatath's machinations continue into Midnight. Then Northrend in the Last Titan...

It'd be a pretty great Patch Zone upgrade if the Beledar is the final raid since you wouldn't need to add another underground cavern zone for the patch content, that way. Y'know, since the Beledar is in Hallowfall.

Could even wind up doing a "Vale of Eternal Blossoms" thing where once 11.2 hits the Beledar -stays- Voidy permanently and you can't ever go back to shiny pretty happy Hallowfall after that point!