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

[micwini]

If they go down the route of the Queen is dead which means everyones connection to the black blood is severed my hopes of good writing post-Christie/Danuser are dashed. I absolutely hated the ending story cinematic, the light stuff with Anduin was reasonable but breaking the Dark Heart I absolutely hated, the bad guy doesn't need to keep losing, especially in a 3-part trilogy.

I also want to know why there's Void ethereal there. Although active in story, the Shadowguard Ethereals haven't been in-game since the 5 man dungeon in Argus and it was a dark naaru which lead them there.

It's just damaged as a reason to go to Undermine in 11.1

[Cheezits]

If they go down the route of the Queen is dead which means everyones connection to the black blood is severed my hopes of good writing post-Christie/Danuser are dashed. I absolutely hated the ending story cinematic, the light stuff with Anduin was reasonable but breaking the Dark Heart I absolutely hated, the bad guy doesn't need to keep losing, especially in a 3-part trilogy.

Xal got nothing but easy wins for the entire launch campaign up until the very end. Having her get setback to the point of anger is a fantastic swerve from how Sylvanas and the Jailer were presented as smug all the time for 3-6 years even in the face of death/defeat.

[OCoyne]

Xal got nothing but easy wins for the entire launch campaign up until the very end. Having her get setback to the point of anger is a fantastic swerve from how Sylvanas and the Jailer were presented as smug all the time for 3-6 years even in the face of death/defeat.

What all 3 hours of it because the campaign is remarkably short. It's like writing Fellowship of the Ring that Gandalf kills Saruman immediately, it's boring.

The Jailer literally got his first L before you even get to Oribos, infact he got alot of L's along the campaign starting with the very first one when you enter the Maw then losing sight of the adventurer, losing all the Torghast prisoners, then losing Revendreth and only started picking up W's in the following patches.

It's just piss poor writing on both accounts.

Because it's a 3-part trilogy its perfectly okay to build up a super villain right into Midnight then she can start picking up the L's.
You don't write a 3 part story with, well there's this nasty person with this nasty magical device, she did nasty things with the device and then she lost it.

MoP Garrosh has been their best effort so far. From war mongerer to complete maniac over a few patches. Garrosh and Gul'Dan are examples that the villian doesn't need to take L's, they'll get their comeuppance at the end of their stories

[Houle]

What all 3 hours of it because the campaign is remarkably short. It's like writing Fellowship of the Ring that Gandalf kills Saruman immediately, it's boring.

Its more like if Saruman experienced a major setback in the Fellowship of the Ring...which is exactly what happened, when Gandalf managed to escape from him, which fucked up everything for both him and Sauron. Ohh yeah, and also when Gandalf managed to actually fight back and hurt him a good bit before being overwhelmed, which Saruman also didnt expect. Saruman was not winning the entire time, and was not portrayed as untouchable in The Fellowship, at all. So, not exactly a good comparison for your point.

Because it's a 3-part trilogy its perfectly okay to build up a super villain right into Midnight then she can start picking up the L's.
You don't write a 3 part story with, well there's this nasty person with this nasty magical device, she did nasty things with the device and then she lost it.

Xal has been around since Legion. In all of that time, she was pretty much always acting smug and got away (more or less) unscathed, despite being clearly villainous from the start. Shes getting her first major setback after more than 2 xpacs now. Nothing really "too soon" about that, especially since its 1) kinda obvious she isnt done yet and 2) she isnt even the big villain as far as we know, shes "just" the harbinger of Dimensius.

Garrosh and Gul'Dan are examples that the villian doesn't need to take L's, they'll get their comeuppance at the end of their stories

What? Garrosh and Gul'dan have both been collecting Ls and setbacks left and right in MoP and WoD.

Garrosh for example when all his efforts with the mogu bell were thwarted by Anduin in MoP (pretty much the same scenario like what happened now with Xal actually lawl).

Gul'dan for example when Cho'Gall betrayed him, kicked his ass around and stole an entire Naaru from him. Or his very introduction, when Grom and Garrosh completely dunked on him.

[Eeram]

im seeing everyone talk about some major spoiler wowhead posted but i didnt see what it was? was it actually something big or was it the khadgar wheelchair thing

[huth]

Its more like if Saruman experienced a major setback in the Fellowship of the Ring...which is exactly what happened, when Gandalf managed to escape from him, which fucked up everything for both him and Sauron. Ohh yeah, and also when Gandalf managed to actually fight back and hurt him a good bit before being overwhelmed, which Saruman also didnt expect. Saruman was not winning the entire time, and was not portrayed as untouchable in The Fellowship, at all. So, not exactly a good comparison for your point.



Xal has been around since Legion. In all of that time, she was pretty much always acting smug and got away (more or less) unscathed, despite being clearly villainous from the start. Shes getting her first major setback after more than 2 xpacs now. Nothing really "too soon" about that, especially since its 1) kinda obvious she isnt done yet and 2) she isnt even the big villain as far as we know, shes "just" the harbinger of Dimensius.



What? Garrosh and Gul'dan have both been collecting Ls and setbacks left and right in MoP and WoD.

Garrosh for example when all his efforts with the mogu bell were thwarted by Anduin in MoP (pretty much the same scenario like what happened now with Xal actually lawl).

Gul'dan for example when Cho'Gall betrayed him, kicked his ass around and stole an entire Naaru from him. Or his very introduction, when Grom and Garrosh completely dunked on him.

The whole thing sounds like OCoyne is angry she isn't a boring invincible villain. Which would be, you know, boring.

[Joshuaj]

Xal got nothing but easy wins for the entire launch campaign up until the very end. Having her get setback to the point of anger is a fantastic swerve from how Sylvanas and the Jailer were presented as smug all the time for 3-6 years even in the face of death/defeat.

The Jailer was definitely NOT smug when in the face of defeat lmao

[OCoyne]

Its more like if Saruman experienced a major setback in the Fellowship of the Ring...which is exactly what happened, when Gandalf managed to escape from him, which fucked up everything for both him and Sauron. Ohh yeah, and also when Gandalf managed to actually fight back and hurt him a good bit before being overwhelmed, which Saruman also didnt expect. Saruman was not winning the entire time, and was not portrayed as untouchable in The Fellowship, at all. So, not exactly a good comparison for your point.
.

My guy's been watching a different lord of the rings than everyone else has, maybe one of those Amazon spinoffs they've been doing. He only disposed of Gandalf, warned him off going into the mountains telepathically which ultimately killed him, took control of Rohan and built an army to attempt to kill 1/2 of humanity as Gondor was too busy dealing with their own problems.

It also emphasises the point it's completely okay to spread it out over a full or a 2nd episode when you're doing a trilogy but you wouldn't know that because you've been a watching a completely different one than everyone else has.

I was going to a massive post how you can find a massive goldmine of Nerubian lore which entails future major characters not introduced yet but I can't be bothered after that reply

[huth]

My guy's been watching a different lord of the rings than everyone else has, maybe one of those Amazon spinoffs they've been doing. He only disposed of Gandalf, warned him off going into the mountains telepathically which ultimately killed him, took control of Rohan and built an army to attempt 1/2 of humanity as Gondor was too busy dealing with their own problems.

Or maybe he read the original because it was a book decades before it became anything else.

[OCoyne]

Or maybe he read the original because it was a book decades before it became anything else.

Fellowship of the ring wasn't a book, it was just lord of the rings, but you're right J.R.R Tolkiens version was miles first but it's hard to confuse the 2. Like for example the Giant cave troll who Aragorn fights right at the end was Sauron in the book.

[huth]

Fellowship of the ring wasn't a book, it was just lord of the rings, but you're right J.R.R Tolkiens version was miles first but it's hard to confuse the 2. Like for example the Giant cave troll who Aragorn fights right at the end was Sauron in the book.

Oh, really?

[Merryck]

Fellowship of the ring wasn't a book, it was just lord of the rings, but you're right J.R.R Tolkiens version was miles first but it's hard to confuse the 2. Like for example the Giant cave troll who Aragorn fights right at the end was Sauron in the book.

Everything you just said was wrong.

[Worldshaper]

When do you think they'll do a deep dive into Midnight?

> expansions are meant to be shorter now, and I'm guessing they will achieve this mainly by cutting the content drought at the end.
> no BlizzCon this year.
> 11.1 is likely out in February, and 11.2 will probably be out around August. So 12.0 could be out by the end of 2025 or at the very latest by early 2026.
> a Warcraft Direct and Roadmap was teased for later this year (presumably November or December).

I think the 2025 Roadmap will be unveiled during the Warcraft Direct in a couple of months, and it'll list all TWW patches as well as the Midnight release window by the end.

Maybe they'll do an event in the spring like they did with Dragonflight, and do a deep dive there?

[Dracullus]

When do you think they'll do a deep dive into Midnight?

Warcraft Direct make most sense for November as substitution for Blizzcon panel. I don't expect Midnight there, just patch teasing similar to panels we had during Legion and BfA.

I think DF had pretty much perfect length so I would like to see Midnight launching in late Spring, but I can see TWW and MD 1-2 months shorter, which would land Last Titan release on holiday season (doubt they will push it hard though, launching in November didn't really help DF sales/hype and SL was more about covid and work from home).

--

I'm really curious about whole Undermine thing. Zone #1 under roots and zone #2 under Coreway make more sense to me for patches, but definitely Undermine would create a lot more hype.

And I would REALLY love if Kezan would be put in same map as Khaz Algar, so we could fly to Kezan -> Undermine -> Ringing Deeps ->back to Dornogal.

[Lady Atia]

Fellowship of the ring wasn't a book, it was just lord of the rings, but you're right J.R.R Tolkiens version was miles first but it's hard to confuse the 2. Like for example the Giant cave troll who Aragorn fights right at the end was Sauron in the book.

I think you should go back to tolkien class if you get so much wrong just in that one sentence haha.

- - - Updated - - -

Warcraft Direct make most sense for November as substitution for Blizzcon panel. I don't expect Midnight there, just patch teasing similar to panels we had during Legion and BfA.

I think DF had pretty much perfect length so I would like to see Midnight launching in late Spring, but I can see TWW and MD 1-2 months shorter, which would land Last Titan release on holiday season (doubt they will push it hard though, launching in November didn't really help DF sales/hype and SL was more about covid and work from home).

--

I'm really curious about whole Undermine thing. Zone #1 under roots and zone #2 under Coreway make more sense to me for patches, but definitely Undermine would create a lot more hype.

And I would REALLY love if Kezan would be put in same map as Khaz Algar, so we could fly to Kezan -> Undermine -> Ringing Deeps ->back to Dornogal.

I somewhat doubt that we will ever get an overworld version of Kezan/Lost Isles again, especially if they make the Undermine huge compared to the original smaller Cataclysm Kezan. On the other hand, it could be a good test on how they connect QT to the Cataclysm EK, so who knows.

[Nebron]

When do you think they'll do a deep dive into Midnight?

> expansions are meant to be shorter now, and I'm guessing they will achieve this mainly by cutting the content drought at the end.
> no BlizzCon this year.
> 11.1 is likely out in February, and 11.2 will probably be out around August. So 12.0 could be out by the end of 2025 or at the very latest by early 2026.
> a Warcraft Direct and Roadmap was teased for later this year (presumably November or December).

I think the 2025 Roadmap will be unveiled during the Warcraft Direct in a couple of months, and it'll list all TWW patches as well as the Midnight release window by the end.

Maybe they'll do an event in the spring like they did with Dragonflight, and do a deep dive there?

I wouldn't be surprised if they went for an alternative to Blizzcon in the form of fully-online event at which they could go for such a deep-dive and some updates for other games and reveal roadmaps, so possibly it's the Warcraft Direct could be a part of this? Nothing fancy, just a little bit more organized online event. IIRC they did something like this around covid where they presented Sanctum of Domination patch content?

[ImTheMizAwesome]

I think that if we will getting 2 major patches again, the next zone like by many mentioned prob undermine will be the underground one and the second major patch(and last) will be above ground to balance things out.

[Sondrelk]

I think that if we will getting 2 major patches again, the next zone like by many mentioned prob undermine will be the underground one and the second major patch(and last) will be above ground to balance things out.

I am more inclined to believe both zones will be underground with an above ground element. Underline with a bit of Kezan above it. Or Silithus underground leading into a revamped Silithus.

[Raetary]

I think that if we will getting 2 major patches again, the next zone like by many mentioned prob undermine will be the underground one and the second major patch(and last) will be above ground to balance things out.

I don't see why that would be the case when the main plotline leads deeper into Azeroth, with the Coreway as our main obstruction, and the 2 main teased plot directions (Undermine and Rootlands) are both set underground.

At best, Undermine could make use of Kezan as an above surface mini zone.

[Ersula]

When do you think they'll do a deep dive into Midnight?

> expansions are meant to be shorter now, and I'm guessing they will achieve this mainly by cutting the content drought at the end.
> no BlizzCon this year.
> 11.1 is likely out in February, and 11.2 will probably be out around August. So 12.0 could be out by the end of 2025 or at the very latest by early 2026.
> a Warcraft Direct and Roadmap was teased for later this year (presumably November or December).

I think the 2025 Roadmap will be unveiled during the Warcraft Direct in a couple of months, and it'll list all TWW patches as well as the Midnight release window by the end.

Maybe they'll do an event in the spring like they did with Dragonflight, and do a deep dive there?

What they said is "You won't have to wait till the end of 2026 for [12.0]" so I think that means earlier in 2026...not a full year earlier. If 12.0 comes out even at the very end of 2025 that means TWW is the shortest expansion by a huge margin, 4+ months.