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

[Ersula]

They said 18 months expacs instead of the usual 2 years. 18/3 = 6 months per tier with no droughts. No fated season as well.
Anything else is breaking their promise.

All they said is "you won't have to wait till the end of 2026 for Midnight (12.0)" Which means fall, or maybe Summer. In fact since Dragonflight was a short expansion, its entirely possible Midnight comes out in October or November, making TWW longer than 24 months in duration, leaving the 2 year average length for expansions unchanged.

And it seems like they have no intention of losing the 4th season rehash tier for the foreseeable future, just so long as each season lasts shorter than 5 months.

[allegrian]

https://x.com/BoxamusMike/status/1836577161420894359

Ansurek is one of the weakest and most forgetable base patch villains who has been severely replaced and overshadowed by Xalatath, who outside of looking cool/sexy is just a generic villain that stares at the camera.

The base TWW was a letdown for me outside some main character moments (Anduin, Alleria...). The story and (local) characters of the new zones have fallen very flat outside maybe Hallowfall (because I'm a sucker for that stuff, but it's not reallt that great Aesthetics aside).
The story is super rushed.

It's hard for me to get excited in content patches (not counting Anniversary), when there's 0 buildup. The only hype stuff is knowing Midnight with a quelthalas revamp is coming with a Northrend/Ulduar revamp next.

[Lady Atia]

https://x.com/BoxamusMike/status/1836577161420894359

Ansurek is one of the weakest and most forgetable base patch villains who has been severely replaced and overshadowed by Xalatath, who outside of looking cool/sexy is just a generic villain that stares at the camera.

The base TWW was a letdown for me outside some main character moments (Anduin, Alleria...). The story and (local) characters of the new zones have fallen very flat outside maybe Hallowfall (because I'm a sucker for that stuff, but it's not reallt that great Aesthetics aside).
The story is super rushed.

It's hard for me to get excited in content patches (not counting Anniversary), when there's 0 buildup. The only hype stuff is knowing Midnight with a quelthalas revamp is coming with a Northrend/Ulduar revamp next.

Yeah, because WoW always had such deep and un-rushed lore. Honestly, I'm not sure what you are expecting?

[allegrian]

Yeah, because WoW always had such deep and un-rushed lore. Honestly, I'm not sure what you are expecting?

Well they marketed tww as Metzen's return and them taking the story seriously. I'm not saying it's worse than some of the past expansions, I simply expected somehing better

[Sondrelk]

https://x.com/BoxamusMike/status/1836577161420894359

Ansurek is one of the weakest and most forgetable base patch villains who has been severely replaced and overshadowed by Xalatath, who outside of looking cool/sexy is just a generic villain that stares at the camera.

The base TWW was a letdown for me outside some main character moments (Anduin, Alleria...). The story and (local) characters of the new zones have fallen very flat outside maybe Hallowfall (because I'm a sucker for that stuff, but it's not reallt that great Aesthetics aside).
The story is super rushed.

It's hard for me to get excited in content patches (not counting Anniversary), when there's 0 buildup. The only hype stuff is knowing Midnight with a quelthalas revamp is coming with a Northrend/Ulduar revamp next.

Sadly, one of the zone stories had to be sacrificed on the altar of irrelevance.
In the case of TWW it probably should have been the Stone vault which could have gotten an upgrade into a raid. But assuming we only get two more raids this expansion I can see why they would probably want to save the Earthen aesthetic for the final raid when we learn what is at the bottom of the Coreway.

Also. Slight aside, but I wonder if there was a reason the developers showed Azj'Kahet stretches far beyond castle.
I guess maybe they just didn't want that part of the raid to feel claustrophobic, but maybe they intended us to go beyond the castle eventually. We are after all told the Earthen at some point launched a failed expedition that would have taken them further into the Coreway, but got stopped by the Nerubians.

[allegrian]

Sadly, one of the zone stories had to be sacrificed on the altar of irrelevance.
In the case of TWW it probably should have been the Stone vault which could have gotten an upgrade into a raid. But assuming we only get two more raids this expansion I can see why they would probably want to save the Earthen aesthetic for the final raid when we learn what is at the bottom of the Coreway.

Also. Slight aside, but I wonder if there was a reason the developers showed Azj'Kahet stretches far beyond castle.
I guess maybe they just didn't want that part of the raid to feel claustrophobic, but maybe they intended us to go beyond the castle eventually. We are after all told the Earthen at some point launched a failed expedition that would have taken them further into the Coreway, but got stopped by the Nerubians.

I fear the earthen stuff will be mostly dropped outside some quick 0.5 patch questline and we'll get a (datamined) goblin patch (story filler), and a haranir patch (because they are there and it feels weird to feature them so little), with a megadungeon that could be either arathi or earthen.

[Darkarath]

https://x.com/BoxamusMike/status/1836577161420894359

Ansurek is one of the weakest and most forgetable base patch villains who has been severely replaced and overshadowed by Xalatath, who outside of looking cool/sexy is just a generic villain that stares at the camera.

The base TWW was a letdown for me outside some main character moments (Anduin, Alleria...). The story and (local) characters of the new zones have fallen very flat outside maybe Hallowfall (because I'm a sucker for that stuff, but it's not reallt that great Aesthetics aside).
The story is super rushed.

It's hard for me to get excited in content patches (not counting Anniversary), when there's 0 buildup. The only hype stuff is knowing Midnight with a quelthalas revamp is coming with a Northrend/Ulduar revamp next.

I agree with your thoughts about Ansurek. She just did not have enough screentime to be anything else than a first expansion tier boss. In all fairness, if it is not a previously established character, is hard to make a decent villain for the first raid of any expansion.

I have to disagree with your thoughts about the story, though. The shorter and more focused campaign with a lot of optional side quests has been a huge win. IMHO, TWW has the best main questline and side quests of any expansion. Although I agree that Hallowfall's campaign is weak, but the side quests and zone design are really good. I might not like the characterization of these Arathi if in the future the Arathi Empire turns out to be as supremacist as they are making it to be, as it would not be coherent that they are so different from their Empire.

I am super excited about what is next because I have no idea of what is coming !! But all the possible options seems pretty cool:

- New Goblin zone as fun as Mechagon? I'm in.
- New Harronir zone to develop the Life theme? In.
- New unknown underground zone? (that fish in Hallowfall...). Again, I'm in.

[Al Gorefiend]

I agree with your thoughts about Ansurek. She just did not have enough screentime to be anything else than a first expansion tier boss. In all fairness, if it is not a previously established character, is hard to make a decent villain for the first raid of any expansion.

I have to disagree with your thoughts about the story, though. The shorter and more focused campaign with a lot of optional side quests has been a huge win. IMHO, TWW has the best main questline and side quests of any expansion. Although I agree that Hallowfall's campaign is weak, but the side quests and zone design are really good. I might not like the characterization of these Arathi if in the future the Arathi Empire turns out to be as supremacist as they are making it to be, as it would not be coherent that they are so different from their Empire.

I am super excited about what is next because I have no idea of what is coming !! But all the possible options seems pretty cool:

- New Goblin zone as fun as Mechagon? I'm in.
- New Harronir zone to develop the Life theme? In.
- New unknown underground zone? (that fish in Hallowfall...). Again, I'm in.

I could still see the Arathi as future antagonists. They may only be helping us/accepting help from us because desperate times, desperate measures. As for if the main characters we quest with this expac join them is debatable.

Xal'atath's taunting of Ansurek lines up with my prediction so far, that Xal'atath did intentionally lure us as far away as she possibly could from the Sunwell on the other side of the planet to lead us into the next expansion. Disposable, she never expected the Nerubians to stand a chance. A distraction that is going to play off.

I agree with all your patch predictions and while I am doubtful we will get 3, I will take those 2 in that exact order!

[allegrian]

I agree with your thoughts about Ansurek. She just did not have enough screentime to be anything else than a first expansion tier boss. In all fairness, if it is not a previously established character, is hard to make a decent villain for the first raid of any expansion.

I have to disagree with your thoughts about the story, though. The shorter and more focused campaign with a lot of optional side quests has been a huge win. IMHO, TWW has the best main questline and side quests of any expansion. Although I agree that Hallowfall's campaign is weak, but the side quests and zone design are really good. I might not like the characterization of these Arathi if in the future the Arathi Empire turns out to be as supremacist as they are making it to be, as it would not be coherent that they are so different from their Empire.

I am super excited about what is next because I have no idea of what is coming !! But all the possible options seems pretty cool:

- New Goblin zone as fun as Mechagon? I'm in.
- New Harronir zone to develop the Life theme? In.
- New unknown underground zone? (that fish in Hallowfall...). Again, I'm in.

It's not hard to be better than some past wow exps. I'll have to replay it with an alt and skip sidequests to see how it feels again, but for me it felt like it went nowhere. The arathi down there are cool but are so random and disconnected to the whole earthen stuff, it clashes with the dwarves and makes you feel they should have just chosen on of them to be the main race/faction of the base expansion, city included.

The way it is now, it feels like earthen are dropped out of the story once you enter hallowfall., and the main threat (nerubians) are dealt hastily with a rushed quest chain to kill her queen with no voice acting and having xalatath looking at the camera and saying generic evil stuff.

I'd like to have an actual good villain with clear objectives and motivations + backstory. This is just saturday morning cartoon levels of villain, worse than childish superhero stuff. But she looks cool and sexy so I guess it's ok for most.

- - - Updated - - -

I could still see the Arathi as future antagonists. They may only be helping us/accepting help from us because desperate times, desperate measures. As for if the main characters we quest with this expac join them is debatable.

Xal'atath's taunting of Ansurek lines up with my prediction so far, that Xal'atath did intentionally lure us as far away as she possibly could from the Sunwell on the other side of the planet to lead us into the next expansion. Disposable, she never expected the Nerubians to stand a chance. A distraction that is going to play off.

I agree with all your patch predictions and while I am doubtful we will get 3, I will take those 2 in that exact order!

it will be 2 zone + raid content patches + 1 megadungeon one, and in DF the megadungeon was better than the second raid imo. Unless the BRD raid in the anniversary counts as the megadungeon

[Al Gorefiend]

It's not hard to be better than some past wow exps. I'll have to replay it with an alt and skip sidequests to see how it feels again, but for me it felt like it went nowhere. The arathi down there are cool but are so random and disconnected to the whole earthen stuff, it clashes with the dwarves and makes you feel they should have just chosen on of them to be the main race/faction of the base expansion, city included.

The way it is now, it feels like earthen are dropped out of the story once you enter hallowfall., and the main threat (nerubians) are dealt hastily with a rushed quest chain to kill her queen with no voice acting and having xalatath looking at the camera and saying generic evil stuff.

I'd like to have an actual good villain with clear objectives and motivations + backstory. This is just saturday morning cartoon levels of villain, worse than childish superhero stuff. But she looks cool and sexy so I guess it's ok for most.

- - - Updated - - -



it will be 2 zone + raid content patches + 1 megadungeon one, and in DF the megadungeon was better than the second raid imo. Unless the BRD raid in the anniversary counts as the megadungeon

I can get down with that. the DF formula was honestly perfect.
Which of those 2 themes would you think works best for raid/zone/megadungeon?

I think they can make the Undergrowth as the zone and the Goblins + black blood as the primary antagonists. Gazlowe still has story to develop so could play out that he is leading the fight to save the Harronir and prevent Venture Co/Gallywix from harvesting black blood. They probably want to seamlessly integrate the patch zone into the existing landscape so Undermine wouldn't make sense as a zone unless its (conveniently) located next to Ringing Deeps. Or we get a Harronir raid + zone one patch and a Goblin zone + raid another patch, though I think if we are getting only 2 major patches there is enough story they can make something totally new.

[allegrian]

I can get down with that. the DF formula was honestly perfect.
Which of those 2 themes would you think works best for raid/zone/megadungeon?

I think they can make the Undergrowth as the zone and the Goblins + black blood as the primary antagonists. Gazlowe still has story to develop so could play out that he is leading the fight to save the Harronir and prevent Venture Co/Gallywix from harvesting black blood. They probably want to seamlessly integrate the patch zone into the existing landscape so Undermine wouldn't make sense as a zone unless its (conveniently) located next to Ringing Deeps. Or we get a Harronir raid + zone one patch and a Goblin zone + raid another patch, though I think if we are getting only 2 major patches there is enough story they can make something totally new.

I'd say the goblin patch would work best as the megadungeon, for it being just fun stuff and can't see them carrying a whole content patch, unless they are merged with some other threat. But it was kinda datamined that it is actually a raid so we'll see. If we get goblin + Haranir main patches it will be very unsruprising and I didn't really liked the later that much honestly. They felt like leftover content from the pre-metzen TWW development that got cut... but they already did the main cgi movie for Orwenya so they kept them as a bunch of sidequests.

We'll see but I don't like not having any main story thread leading us through the expansion. TWW could just end here and follow xalatath to quelthalas for midnight right now.

[Viridiel]

It's not all that strange for the first raid boss to not feel very connected to the rest of the expansion's story other than a single zone's, but I'm surprised by the awkwardness of the raid story. The Severed Threads quests take place before we defeat Ansurek, but the vast majority of players won't be up to it until they've already killed her. I can't figure out at all if the campaign finale is meant to be before, during, or after Ansurek's defeat. Before makes sense, but it's strange that Xal'atath looks unfazed by the Dark Heart breaking when she appears to Ansurek. Was she just projecting a vision?

[milkmustache]

Something I'm beginning to realize lately regarding the possibilities of our patch zones is the "special" ore and herbs.

There is a lot of evident symbolism to be taken from them, ties to the story we're given.

Irradiated comes from the arcane ruins of Dalaran. Crystalized from the Worldsoul. Altered and Weeping from the Black Blood. Webbed from the Nerubians.

Then there are two more, that seem at the moment to be generic, but I believe are just further hints at what we will be getting in our patches.

For herbs, it's Sporefused. While we see a large population of fungarians in Khaz Algar, I feel this is referencing more than just them, but the general theme of life we've yet to fully interact with here. I think that the possible Rootlands/Deepgrove zone we will see will vary heavily from the Emerald Dream and offer a darker more briar patch thorny zone that fungus would fit in perfectly.

And for ore, it's EZ-Mine. EZ-Mine. I know only one group of green tinkers who love this general naming scheme and less than safe work habits.

[Chickat]

I dunno. DF worked because it launched so late in the year. TWW launched a good 4-5 months earlier. Even assuming Midnight releases a month or two before than even int the early summer, that still leaves a good two months of extra headroom that needs to be filled with something. And as much as I thought Plunderstorm and Remix were great ideas that should return in a similar seasonal format. There is a limit to how much juice can be squeezed out, barring new innovations that make it last longer.

That being said, there is plenty of time for Blizzard to create new formats or gamemodes that lengthen the time needed between major patches. SO I guess we can only wait and see.

- - - Updated - - -



DF to TWW was also only 19-20 months long though, which is the part I think many people forget.

It was like a week shy of 21 months but thats not much shorter than the average expansions anyways. I always thought 18 months was cutting it short, so a Midnight release 20 months after TWW around April seems about right to me. With the final major patch in August 2025 thats an 8 month drought. I think a 2 month S4 is fine, but people complained and called Blizzard lazy for it during DF S4.

[Trazzle]

TWW has been a banger so far, it just started, give it time/room. Literally the VERY start of the xpac AND saga.

Very tantalized/intrigued to see what’s around the corner.

[micwini]

TWW has been a banger so far, it just started, give it time/room. Literally the VERY start of the xpac AND saga.

Very tantalized/intrigued to see what’s around the corner.

yep, this is true. People expect to know everything on chapter 1 out of 9. At least this time around I feel like they've planned out the story out in advance. The fact that the dark heart has already been damaged/completely destroyed cements that for me. Normally they'd drag that stuff out until they find a fitting end, but now it seems to be done as a reason for whatever comes next.

[Samin]

https://x.com/BoxamusMike/status/1836577161420894359

Ansurek is one of the weakest and most forgetable base patch villains who has been severely replaced and overshadowed by Xalatath, who outside of looking cool/sexy is just a generic villain that stares at the camera.

The base TWW was a letdown for me outside some main character moments (Anduin, Alleria...). The story and (local) characters of the new zones have fallen very flat outside maybe Hallowfall (because I'm a sucker for that stuff, but it's not reallt that great Aesthetics aside).
The story is super rushed.

It's hard for me to get excited in content patches (not counting Anniversary), when there's 0 buildup. The only hype stuff is knowing Midnight with a quelthalas revamp is coming with a Northrend/Ulduar revamp next.

Personally, I'm more than satisfied with Ansurek, as I see her entire purpose as a vessel to explore Xal (and generally possible future plot points, like the black blood and Ethereal stuff). I agree that she's one of the weaker base expansion end bosses though. She wasn't completely shallow, but I also didn't expect huge deep character exploration for her, considering she was destined to be irrelevant (because we kill her in the first raid).

I consider the Kaheti as a whole much more important and interesting, not just as subjects and victims of Ansurek but as a society on it's own. Although I would say I'm worried they end up as a once-and-done thing maybe outside of a cameo in TLT.

I disagree on 0 buildup. Yes, we don't have the obvious cliffhanger for what's next, but saying that's 0 buildup is ignoring all the other storytelling happening even just in the campaign.

It sucks that the local stories didn't hit it off for you. For me, I actually felt the most 'meh' with the local stories in Hallowfall (not saying there weren't a couple great ones). I think the lore and implications are interesting, but the story felt the most bland or maybe just "well-treaded ground", compared to the exploration of the Earthen and Kaheti societies.

[Alanar]

Yes.

Midnight is perfect for Amani, Naga or Etherals.
TLT could add Vrykul and Furbolg.

And that's just the ones we know, Blizz could come up with brand new races as well.

I am pretty sure, people just want one of those og ones you just named.

There is less interest in new races, when we have tons available that have a history and a place on Azeroth. New races will also most likely not generate the hype, were Ethearls or Vrykul will be known and will obviously trigger more. I hope they follow that path and forget about these lame Haronir. I truly hope that wont be the next one.. like why would I give two flying fucks about some completely new, wannabe avatar race that I have never heard of before. I am playing this game since vanilla and I can count enough races who are far more interesting and have been frequently been asked to be playable.

Ogres, Arrakoa, Ethereals or Vrykul, cmon its about damn time.

[Nymrohd]

I hope the Kaheti remain relevant in the next patches. The Earthen and the Arathi are bound to remain important and I don't think the kobolds from the Ringing depths need more attention but I could see the Kaheti story be considered resolved and them just fading into the background.

[Dracullus]

I hope the Kaheti remain relevant in the next patches. The Earthen and the Arathi are bound to remain important and I don't think the kobolds from the Ringing depths need more attention but I could see the Kaheti story be considered resolved and them just fading into the background.

I think 11.0.7 will have content in spider city with easy catch up gear (and we will start investigating roots area in Azj'Kahet), but that will be final major Nerubian content until Last Titan.