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

[Scyth]

I actually think, or rather at least that's what I want it to be lol, Xal's real form won't be a tentacle-ish being. Everything we have seen of her so far has been focused on this new cosmic Void thing Blizz has started to push, which makes me think she will be different to the Old Gods and a lot of the NPCs associated with them.

Just wishful thinking mostly though as I don't really like how the Old Gods look.

[Joshuaj]

I actually think, or rather at least that's what I want it to be lol, Xal's real form won't be a tentacle-ish being. Everything we have seen of her so far has been focused on this new cosmic Void thing Blizz has started to push, which makes me think she will be different to the Old Gods and a lot of the NPCs associated with them.

Just wishful thinking mostly though as I don't really like how the Old Gods look.

The Old Gods are basically just WoW's version of the Great Old Ones from Lovecraft. They look monstrous because the Old Ones are monstrous looking.

It is possible that the Void Lords will have a similar design to the Outer Gods from Lovecraft as well, if we take these factors into account.

[Hitei]

im pretty sure that was datamined too

The datamining here was just that the options are attached to humans. This doesn't really mean much, since races also sometimes get customization to facilitate NPCs. Like how playable Earthen "have" void skin and horn options that aren't actually playable Earthen options, they are for the Skardyn NPCs. Ditto (druid of the) flame Night Elves, Fel Orcs, etc.

Didn't they already say before the beta that they were giving it to humans as character customization?

Did they? AFAIK, this was just wowhead being typical wowhead; posting a clickbaity article based on datamined stuff without bothering to actually think through the likely context.

[Foolicious]

I don't think there are 5 Old Gods, however I do believe Chronicle may have pinned Xal as one of them for the sake of simplicity + the fact that mortals can't distinguish shit for nothin!

Reasonable assumption. Xal told us back in legion that the titans didn't understand the void so its not too far fetched to think that they made mistakes when writing chronicles.

[Santandame]

If Blizzard really want to get pedantic, can't they just say G'huun is the fifth Old God?

[SkyTides]

I would like for Xal to be something different to the old gods. And its the impression Blizz have been showing us so far. She seems the only one able to 'house' herself in various bodies or objects, and being called the Harbinger sets her apart from the others.
There must surely be more to the void than the Void Lords we know nothing about, and their minions to corrupt a world soul.

That would make mystery mural boy the 5th old god who was devoured...or maybe he was ascended to be the harbinger by the crystal sent from the void?

Are we likely to get another 'warbringer' animation this week?

[Nathanyel]

I don't think it'll be retconned, but Shadowlands was conspicuously completely omitted from the "Story so far" cinematic. Seems pretty irrelevant.

People keep saying that, usually as a way to dunk on SL, but was it, really? They could've just said "Anduin was tortured", which was the only relevant bit necessary to get into the TWW story and characters, but the opening events of SL were explicitly mentioned, even the Jailer was shown despite people claiming that he was omitted.

By the way, maybe we will be getting an AR for each cosmic force?
[...]
Death- Kobyss (necromancy powers)

Didn't play that far in the Beta, but the Kobyss rather strike me as Void-corrupted Murlocs, this article states they use Void-based abilities.
They're also way too antagonistic to be playable, and imagine the reaction if we got playable "Void Murlocs" before playable Murlocs.

[Makorus]

People keep saying that, usually as a way to dunk on SL, but was it, really? They could've just said "Anduin was tortured", which was the only relevant bit necessary to get into the TWW story and characters, but the opening events of SL were explicitly mentioned, even the Jailer was shown despite people claiming that he was omitted.



Didn't play that far in the Beta, but the Kobyss rather strike me as Void-corrupted Murlocs, this article states they use Void-based abilities.
They're also way too antagonistic to be playable, and imagine the reaction if we got playable "Void Murlocs" before playable Murlocs.

I don't really understand the whole Recap being used to shit on SL situation.

What the recap actually mentions: Azeroth being stabbed, Magni turning Speaker, Xalatath being "created"/"freed", N'zoth being defeated, Old Gods defeated, Shadowlands open, Heroes kidnapped, Anduin being tortured, Anduin being dominated and controlled, Dragon Isle opening, Iridikron specifically being freed, Iridikron taking the Dark Heart, and then the Radiant Song/10.2.7 stuff.

Gee, what a surprise, all of those things are things that are relevant to the World Soul Saga and War Within more specifically, and stuff that's not relevant to that is not mentioned at all.

It's not specifically a WoW Recap video, it's a recap video to catch people up to the War Within. They are not going to mention the Jailer, or any other Shadowlands stuff because it is not relevant to what is happening in this expansion. They mention the Anduin stuff because that actually is. Shadowlands got 1 minute of screentime in a video that's 4 minutes long. That's not "being omitted".

I mean, hell, if there's one expansion that got screwed over in the Recap it's BfA, because they don't even mention how it started, nor do they mention Azerite.

[Kiivar86]

im pretty sure that was datamined too

While datamined, they may well could remain NPC-only, like the datamined primalist eye customizations.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

If Blizzard really want to get pedantic, can't they just say G'huun is the fifth Old God?

Chronicles said there were 5 before the titans showed up and G’hunn wasn’t made until after they arrived at which point there was only 4 left so that wouldn’t work.

[Bwgmon]

If Blizzard really want to get pedantic, can't they just say G'huun is the fifth Old God?

There being five Old Gods has been used in the lore surrounding the Black Empire and the Titans warring with them for a long time, and G'huun was effectively created in a lab long after those events, so that would require a hefty rewrite.

[Joshuaj]

By the way, maybe we will be getting an AR for each cosmic force?

Order- Earthen
Life- Harronir

Then there are others around that fit the pattern:

Light- Arathi
Void- Ascended Nerubians
Death- Kobyss (necromancy powers)

Fel is the one that's a bit of a tossup, but thought it was interesting there is a race that slots into each category.

Reminder that necromancy can be used by any cosmic force.

[Polybius]

I actually think, or rather at least that's what I want it to be lol, Xal's real form won't be a tentacle-ish being. Everything we have seen of her so far has been focused on this new cosmic Void thing Blizz has started to push, which makes me think she will be different to the Old Gods and a lot of the NPCs associated with them.

Just wishful thinking mostly though as I don't really like how the Old Gods look.

She's giving off Nyarlathotep, who is more humanoid in design.

[Steampunkette]

I'm certain it's a container of Black Blood. The "black" blood is actually the exact same colour as the container in-game (bright pink) and looks similar enough to the other containers of Black Blood.

I think it's a prophecy of Xal'atath coming to enslave the Nerubians with the promise of evolution. Xal'atath doesn't currently look like a giant tentacle monster and there's a distinct lack of N'raqi, but perhaps the prophecy hasn't been fully realised yet.

While I don't agree with your prophecy the -first- part of this is suuuuuper interesting to me...

What if Black Blood is how the N'raqi and Aqir came to be? We've seen what the Black Blood does to the roughly human-like Nerubians...

What if what we're seeing there isn't Xalatath as an old god in a prophecy corrupting the Nerubians, what if it's the Old Gods using the Black Blood to corrupt Azerothian wildlife and stuff into their servants in the first place? What if the Black Blood is the Curse of Flesh, too?

This is wholly me spitballing but:

The Old Gods land. It's just them and Azeroth. No people around, yet. They use the Black Blood to infect animals on Azeroth and create minions. Faceless Ones come from Cuttlefish or Octopi or Nautiloids that N'Zoth exposes. The Aqir come from Insects like Ants and Beetles and stuff C'thun and the others are able to get their hands on. They build the empire up because they know the Titans are coming and it will be a War. So they need soldiers.

Down come the Titans, up comes Y'shaarj, down go the Earthen and the Vrykul and the Mogu and the Anubisath and the Tol'vir and Mechagnomes and whatever else to avoid killing Azeroth by yanking the Old Gods out like weeds. Massive ongoing war between Titans and Old God forces, Titans win, Old Gods caged.

Xalatath, as the Harbinger of the Black Empire, sneaks a little Black Blood to the Vrykul and Earthen on behalf of Yogg Saron at the Forge of Wills and then to the Mogu and Tol'vir and Mechagnomes, spreading the "Curse of Flesh".

Some Earthen develop into Dwarves, others get corrupted too much by the Black Blood and turn into Trogs.

Meanwhile the Mogu get ahold of the Black Blood and start using it to make servitors like the Saurok. We also know they used their dark magics to manipulate the Yaungol and make them more powerful and violent and stuff before they and the Pandaren and Hozen and Jinyu worked together to overthrow the Mogu. Those Yaungol would eventually become Tauren and Taunka, but only -after- exposure to the Mogu's "Dark Magic".

(To be clear, Jinyu, and Hozen are known to be Titan-Elevated through the experiments Freya did with the waters of the Well of Eternity in the Vale, Scholazar, and Un'Goro... but also maybe they were black-blood elevated animals the waters of the Well of Eternity 'Night Elved' like it did the Dark Trolls? Who can say?)

And we know from Chronicles 1 that the Jalgar fought a massive war against the Vrykul before the Proto-Drakes were tamed and then fled south into Kalimdor where Ursoc made them into Furbolgs and the Vale made then Pandaren... what if the Jalgar were just Black-Blood "Elevated" bears that the Vrykul tried to enslave (like Mogu and Saurok) and then drove away?

We also know that the Drogbar Concept Art was basically Furbolgs with Antlers before they became the ones we know and tolerate... Maybe they were -supposed- to be the Jalgar? Maybe they still -are- the Jalgar, but evolved over the past however many thousands of years to a different end-result like Trogs.



But that still leaves us with Uldiir. Uldiir is a place that has -only- Hezbel and other Keeper level entities like MOTHER... So... What if the Trolls were the Nazmiri Titan-Minions that got smacked with Black Blood and turned into mortals, to the last? Thanks to the presence of the Loa/Wild Gods in the area, they immediately get the Furbolg treatment, and continue living in their Titan-Constructed Pyramids and stuff?

I -feel- like this makes a lot of sense, but I'm also willing to accept that I've been wearing the Tin Foil Hat for the duration of making this post, so... YMMV.

But I wouldn't be -shocked- if we find out the Curse of Flesh is actually the Black Blood of the Old Gods being peddled throughout time by Xalatath before she got imprisoned... or even -after- it as a whispering dagger on someone's hip telling them how to get and use Black Blood.

[Cherry123]

I hope for the announcement another short . If there is no announcement today, then this was the only one before the expansion

[Zardas]

I hope for the announcement another short . If there is no announcement today, then this was the only one before the expansion

But, you already claimed that there would be three of them :

Shorts will be released soon (3 weeks) they will be about
1. Earthen
2. Hallowfall (most about the new DEI character )
3. Nerubian and Xal'atath
According to the source, it will be well written about the Earthen, the other two will be cringe...

Cringe level equal to "Star Wars Acolyte"

I'm a little disappointed, I thought that Alleria and Thrall would get their shorts, zero hype level

I guess we can't believe what you say.

[Makabreska]

New loading screen officially on Beta now:

[Xilurm]

But, you already claimed that there would be three of them :

Next one is Faerin probably.

[Makorus]

Next one is Faerin probably.

Doubt it. Faerin already got a short story.

[Santandame]

Wasn’t the Azshara short for BfA released a couple of months after the expansion launch?

That could happen again this time around.