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

[Civciv]

Khadgar vs Xal

https://x.com/Warcraft/status/1823766668700508492

I'm not ready to see him beaten up.

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Holy shit, someone swore.

Garrosh did the same to Sylvanas but it's not in the game now

[Joshuaj]

Khadgar vs Xal

https://x.com/Warcraft/status/1823766668700508492

This is very much akin to Z Broly tanking Goku's Kamehameha without a scratch...

I love it.

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Holy shit, someone swore.

All he said was "like hell you will". That's not really anything crazy for WoW's standards.

[Super Dickmann]

Garrosh did the same to Sylvanas but it's not in the game now

A shame it got removed too. Though this cutscene too would've been improved if Khadgar called Xal a bitch.

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All he said was "like hell you will". That's not really anything crazy for WoW's standards.

By the standards of the last few expansions man might as well've been slinging racial slurs.

[Valysar]

I'm falling more and more in love with Xal'atath, I find that she has something more interesting than the last villains

(well, it's easy to be more interesting than the Jailer...)

[Lady Atia]

A shame it got removed too. Though this cutscene too would've been improved if Khadgar called Xal a bitch.

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By the standards of the last few expansions man might as well've been slinging racial slurs.

No, we don't need to call any of the franchises main female characters "bitch" again, Afrasiabi is no longer working at Blizzard afterall. And racial slurs also have no place in the game anymore, it's 2024 ffs.

[Joshuaj]

A shame it got removed too. Though this cutscene too would've been improved if Khadgar called Xal a bitch.

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By the standards of the last few expansions man might as well've been slinging racial slurs.

The expansion prior to this one had themes surrounding grief, dark experimentations, and self doubt, moving on from the past, and family's crumbling due to differing ideals. There was also a huge theme regarding decay, where you saw lots of corpses and rotting flesh everywhere.

And need I say what the expansion prior to that one was about? Cause Shadowlands literally had 3 extremely edgy zones (One was a literal gore looking, 80s styled battle station. Another was a Dark Souls esc castlevania trope. And the other one was literally Hell).

While I don't think characters particularly "swore" in those expansions, they were still very dark regardless lol

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I'm falling more and more in love with Xal'atath, I find that she has something more interesting than the last villains

(well, it's easy to be more interesting than the Jailer...)

Considering she is also akin to Nyarlathotep from Lovecraft (But for WoW instead), I think that makes her character a bit more interesting as well.

The Jailer was a cool villain conceptually and design-wise (Cause he was literally the Devil in WoW), but due to a lot of things both externally and internally, he wasn't given the proper development needed to become an interesting villain. And it's such a shame, really.

[Enrif]

I very much doubt we will ever see urban areas bigger than Suramar though, which I would say took up about a third of the zone at most.
Silvermoon and Zul'aman might be getting upgrades to make them larger than they are currently, but I doubt they will be made into entire zones.

Everything north of the Thandol Span still seems the most likely to me.
You have the natural border between what would be Cata and Midnight zones. You have a large amount of variety, as well as easy ways to further tease the Arathi Empire. And there are plenty of areas to leave mostly empty for flavor, and space for c-list enemies like the Gnolls or Centaur in DF.

That would be scope creep. Isle of Quel'danas, Eversong, Ghostlands,Zul'aman as four zones that are scaled up to modern expansion sizes like Kul'tiras in BfA, DF or TWW is plenty of space. Adding in 8 other zones (Tirisfall, Easter PL, Wester PL, Hinterlands, Silverpine, Gilneas, Hillsbrad, Arathi Highlands) would dilute from the zone. It also has a perfect 4 zone split, the standard seen in SL, DF and TWW. Eversong with Silvermoon will likely be the hub. Ghostlands will have potential undead themes, but can also incorporate Argend Dawn/Argend Crusade that are coming from the plaguelands. Zul'aman will be the troll zone. Ilse of Quel'danas and surrounding sea is ideal for a Naga and Void zone.

[Lady Atia]

That would be scope creep. Isle of Quel'danas, Eversong, Ghostlands,Zul'aman as four zones that are scaled up to modern expansion sizes like Kul'tiras in BfA, DF or TWW is plenty of space. Adding in 8 other zones (Tirisfall, Easter PL, Wester PL, Hinterlands, Silverpine, Gilneas, Hillsbrad, Arathi Highlands) would dilute from the zone. It also has a perfect 4 zone split, the standard seen in SL, DF and TWW. Eversong with Silvermoon will likely be the hub. Ghostlands will have potential undead themes, but can also incorporate Argend Dawn/Argend Crusade that are coming from the plaguelands. Zul'aman will be the troll zone. Ilse of Quel'danas and surrounding sea is ideal for a Naga and Void zone.

Yeah, they said it's a QT expansion, not northern EK or Lordaeron. No clue why people want to rush out stuff instead of giving the setting the size it's supposed to have ...

[Cheezits]

Quel'danas doesn't work as its own zone unless something crazy happens to it, which is possible (Azshara, Void portal because Sunwell), but it would still be aesthetically close to Eversong.

[Houle]

No, we don't need to call any of the franchises main female characters "bitch" again, Afrasiabi is no longer working at Blizzard afterall.

I dont see why not, especially if said character is a villain and deserving of it. Garrosh calling Sylvanas a bitch was very much in character and pretty fitting, considering how Sylvanas mocked him and compared herself to the fckn Lich King right before that. Same with Sylvanas calling Arthas a "son of a bitch" back in WC3, considering what he did to her previously.
Or the other way around, a villain insulting a female main character, to establish them as a major asshole, to motivate the player to fight them.

And racial slurs also have no place in the game anymore, it's 2024 ffs.

Again, entirely depends on the context. If a villain calls another character a "racial slur" to establish they have a racist attitude and to make the players really dislike them, it can work well for the story. See Garrosh and his racism towards not-orcs.

[Kiivar86]

Honestly I always felt kind of weird about Garrosh calling Sylvanas that. It isn't that I have an issue with the word itself, but it felt almost out of place, I guess? Like a kid dropping a curseword for the first time, if that makes sense.

Which I guess is kinda fitting for Garrosh, actually.

[Cheezits]

Oh wow, they are testing the full launch experience tomorrow. So the Khadgar cinematic will probably be spoiled, hence why it was teased today.

[Sondrelk]

That would be scope creep. Isle of Quel'danas, Eversong, Ghostlands,Zul'aman as four zones that are scaled up to modern expansion sizes like Kul'tiras in BfA, DF or TWW is plenty of space. Adding in 8 other zones (Tirisfall, Easter PL, Wester PL, Hinterlands, Silverpine, Gilneas, Hillsbrad, Arathi Highlands) would dilute from the zone. It also has a perfect 4 zone split, the standard seen in SL, DF and TWW. Eversong with Silvermoon will likely be the hub. Ghostlands will have potential undead themes, but can also incorporate Argend Dawn/Argend Crusade that are coming from the plaguelands. Zul'aman will be the troll zone. Ilse of Quel'danas and surrounding sea is ideal for a Naga and Void zone.

It would still be primarily an elf themed expansion, just with extra bits. Just like how DF was a Dragon themed expansion, but still had plenty of time to spend helping Tuskarr make soup, or Centaur hunt.

You have to remember that what I propose would just be the launch zones. And just like how noone really cares what happened to the Gnolls after Brackenhide, you would just leave all the non elf zones in EK behind once you go into 12.1, or more likely even 12.0.5. Maybe with a diversion back to Stratholme, Scholomance, or Scarlet Monastery for a nostalgia filled megadungeon.

It's only feature creep if you assume every zone at launch is equally important.
Arathi Highlands would only be relevant because of Stromgarde, and probably easily forgotten about. Gilneas I would only assume gets focus if it's the Alliance hub for parity with a revamp of Undercity. The Forsaken zones could easily be considered one giant lump of Forsaken themed stuff just to tease the Arathi. Plaguelands is actually relevant to the Elves given the whole deal with Arthas sacking Silvermoon. And the Hinterlands would just be an excuse to reuse Earthen stuff, as well as the zone generally being mostly about the trolls anyways, which we already agree almost has to be in the expansion anyways due to Zul'aman.

This leaves us with Elves as the A-plot. Forsaken/Arathi and Trolls as the B-plot. And a whole bunch of scattered stuff for variety.
You could even shuffle it neatly into the same four major rep factions DF has, with one spare for misc. stuff like helping the Wildhammer dwarves brew beer, or help the Argent Crusade kill some more undead.

[Enrif]

It would still be primarily an elf themed expansion, just with extra bits. Just like how DF was a Dragon themed expansion, but still had plenty of time to spend helping Tuskarr make soup, or Centaur hunt.

You have to remember that what I propose would just be the launch zones. And just like how noone really cares what happened to the Gnolls after Brackenhide, you would just leave all the non elf zones in EK behind once you go into 12.1, or more likely even 12.0.5. Maybe with a diversion back to Stratholme, Scholomance, or Scarlet Monastery for a nostalgia filled megadungeon.

It's only feature creep if you assume every zone at launch is equally important.
Arathi Highlands would only be relevant because of Stromgarde, and probably easily forgotten about. Gilneas I would only assume gets focus if it's the Alliance hub for parity with a revamp of Undercity. The Forsaken zones could easily be considered one giant lump of Forsaken themed stuff just to tease the Arathi. Plaguelands is actually relevant to the Elves given the whole deal with Arthas sacking Silvermoon. And the Hinterlands would just be an excuse to reuse Earthen stuff, as well as the zone generally being mostly about the trolls anyways, which we already agree almost has to be in the expansion anyways due to Zul'aman.

This leaves us with Elves as the A-plot. Forsaken/Arathi and Trolls as the B-plot. And a whole bunch of scattered stuff for variety.
You could even shuffle it neatly into the same four major rep factions DF has, with one spare for misc. stuff like helping the Wildhammer dwarves brew beer, or help the Argent Crusade kill some more undead.

The plot for Midnight is: Midnight, players will return to Quel'Thalas, where the forces of the Void have invaded Azeroth, intent on claiming the Sunwell and plunging the world into darkness and fear. Players will help reunify the scattered elven tribes of Azeroth and ultimately fight alongside the forces of the Light to banish the Shadow forever

The human nations, the forsaken undead, the worgen, or the dwarves are all not part of that plot, neither is any of their zones. It is clearly stated: Quel'thalas + Sunwell. At most, the argent crusade as a part of the "the forces of light" could make sense, which why i think they could be part of the Ghostlands.

[Sondrelk]

The plot for Midnight is: Midnight, players will return to Quel'Thalas, where the forces of the Void have invaded Azeroth, intent on claiming the Sunwell and plunging the world into darkness and fear. Players will help reunify the scattered elven tribes of Azeroth and ultimately fight alongside the forces of the Light to banish the Shadow forever

The human nations, the forsaken undead, the worgen, or the dwarves are all not part of that plot, neither is any of their zones. It is clearly stated: Quel'thalas + Sunwell. At most, the argent crusade as a part of the "the forces of light" could make sense, which why i think they could be part of the Ghostlands.

Sure, and the pitch for DF was that we go to the Dragon Isles to help the Dragons, and also there are elementals. Nothing about the Djaradin, or Centaur, or Gnolls, or Tuskarr. Which I assume means that I just imagined that those aspects actually happened.

The description you gave isnt untrue just because the levelling has us see the Scarlet Crusade attempt to contact the Arathi, or because there are Trolls who want to reclaim their holdings in the Hinterlands. The story we start with, and the story at endgame is what matters for the description, and again, that is just for the launch stuff. Once that is all over we have a full year of minor and major patches that can deal solely with the nitty gritty of Elves, and likely going to K'aresh.

[Joshuaj]

The plot for Midnight is: Midnight, players will return to Quel'Thalas, where the forces of the Void have invaded Azeroth, intent on claiming the Sunwell and plunging the world into darkness and fear. Players will help reunify the scattered elven tribes of Azeroth and ultimately fight alongside the forces of the Light to banish the Shadow forever

The human nations, the forsaken undead, the worgen, or the dwarves are all not part of that plot, neither is any of their zones. It is clearly stated: Quel'thalas + Sunwell. At most, the argent crusade as a part of the "the forces of light" could make sense, which why i think they could be part of the Ghostlands.

I mean sure, but I think it would be cool if the Eastern and Western Plaguelands were revamped and made into 1 zone as well to further aid the plot of the expansion.

Make it so that the Ghostlands becomes "the Darklands" or something like that, while the Eastern and Western Plaguelands become "The Holylands".

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That way, you have a Void and Light based zone, with Eversong serving as the "Isle of Dorn" or the "Thaldraszsus" of the expac.

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It's also not a complete Northern EK revamp either, since it's primarily focused on Quel'Thalas and it's surrounding areas.

[Eldryth]

The amount of people doomsaying about the Amani in Midnight are crazy to me. An Amani zone and renown feel like the most obvious thing in the world to me as the expansion is going to need diverse zones that keep it from being four zones of Silvermoon. They wouldn't just do a "Zandalar/Darkspear" renown in an area that doesn't belong to them and the Amani have the old lore of hating Aqir.

Helf/Belf, Amani, Scourge/Forsaken, Void/Naga feel like the four zone focuses we're going to get at launch. But they may split Helf and Belf into two zones. My personal opinion though is that they are going go reveal neutral Thalassian race/merge Belf into it so they may accentuate it with one renown that features both of them (Thalassian Accord?).

I can also see them skipping a Naga area for a "generic Lordaeron area for humans too" but I hope not.

Naga should definitely be prominent in Midnight. They were already teased in Dragonflight with the Song of the Depths saying Azshara plans to do something after Xal'atath carries out her plans. I don't know what role they'd have- many expected them to be antagonists for Midnight whenever this was brought up before, but to me it feels like a massive misuse of Azshara's character to be a midboss or serve under the Void again so I'm hoping for them to just exploit the situation (to build Azshara's power before she gets her own expansion later) or even side with us for now. But either way, they should definitely get a lot of focus. And they're altered elves too, so they could fit in with the elven unification plot (though, if they're uniting all elves, wouldn't that include Night Elves too? Maybe they could be in Ghostlands healing the damage the Scourge invasion caused).

[Cheezits]

Sure, and the pitch for DF was that we go to the Dragon Isles to help the Dragons, and also there are elementals. Nothing about the Djaradin, or Centaur, or Gnolls, or Tuskarr. Which I assume means that I just imagined that those aspects actually happened.

The description you gave isnt untrue just because the levelling has us see the Scarlet Crusade attempt to contact the Arathi, or because there are Trolls who want to reclaim their holdings in the Hinterlands. The story we start with, and the story at endgame is what matters for the description, and again, that is just for the launch stuff. Once that is all over we have a full year of minor and major patches that can deal solely with the nitty gritty of Elves, and likely going to K'aresh.

I find it funny that the Dragon expansion has one dragon zone and two zones where the dragons are sequestered in quest hubs (I am not counting the Ohnaran Emerald area as it is barely a hub). There is no reason to believe Midnight won't be the same thing.

[Sondrelk]

I find it funny that the Dragon expansion has one dragon zone and two zones where the dragons are sequestered in quest hubs (I am not counting the Ohnaran Emerald area as it is barely a hub). There is no reason to believe Midnight won't be the same thing.

Which is how it should be. Otherwise you grow tired of the theme by the time you get to the major patches that are supposed to really build on it.

[Nightshade711]

ultimately fight alongside the forces of the Light to banish the Shadow forever

This does make me start to think that if we get a class in Midnight that it’ll be tied to the Army of the Light (or just the light) somehow.