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

[Auxis]

Huh? He survived his fight, he beat the guy. He's also at the end of the raid.

afaik the end of the raid takes place before his fight. He dies from his wounds after finding a cliff to look at Azj-kahet as he dies. A weird case of continuity issues due to content release. Similar to how the showdown with Xal in the Priory should take place after the raid.

[Kiivar86]

Yeah, I agree. But in the foreseeable future, I do not think that we are getting away from Azeroth other than in patches. K'aresh is probably coming in the WSS, for example. But this saga will happen in Azeroth, and the next one probably too. So we are stuck in our planet until... 2036 at least? Assuming that the next saga is a trilogy too.

True, I do think for the near-term we're planet bound again, though I think we could see something beyond after WSS.

Though as an aside, something about having all abbreviations annoys me a bit, haha. I guess its just the sure amount we have due to knowing the trilogy. Just feels like an onslaught of them all. TWW, TLT, WSS...guess we're fortunate Midnight's just one word then.

(Also it isn't a big annoyance, just a minor one)

[Alanar]

I was, but not as an allied race though.

I believe Felblood Elf features should be just the same as Eredar features for Draenei.

Perhaps a Sin'dorei Demon Hunter-led questline where we go to the Throne of Kil'jaedon and recruit the Felblood Elves scattered around that area. Perhaps, an advancement on seeing more of Outland, disintegrate into the Twisting Nether

I dont think its really implied here either, at least I wasnt. It should be a costomization option at best. Another reskin of the blood elf model as an allied race will fucking hurt my eyes. After Dracthyr I just cant anymore. They overused it.

Yes, a simply quest as a conclusion in midnight for blood elves. Like feldreanei and dark ranger skin.

[rainhard]

So Anub'Azal seems to die off screen at the end of his questline which is acknowledged by the Weaver yet he keeps giving world quests?

Thought his trainee dies not him, the one representing him, you even see the vendor change after his death in the quests to a basic nerubian representive of the general.

[micwini]

afaik the end of the raid takes place before his fight. He dies from his wounds after finding a cliff to look at Azj-kahet as he dies. A weird case of continuity issues due to content release. Similar to how the showdown with Xal in the Priory should take place after the raid.

Yep, you can find him there ingame and he's dead. He's also alive in front of the delve for some reason. I feel like that one should be deleted and maybe replace the person giving the worldquests.

[huth]

Yep, you can find him there ingame and he's dead. He's also alive in front of the delve for some reason. I feel like that one should be deleted and maybe replace the person giving the worldquests.

I feel like that one is supposed to be gone after you finish the story quests in the area and he shows up in the Weavers' place.

[Tanaria]

I dont think its really implied here either, at least I wasnt. It should be a costomization option at best. Another reskin of the blood elf model as an allied race will fucking hurt my eyes. After Dracthyr I just cant anymore. They overused it.

Yes, a simply quest as a conclusion in midnight for blood elves. Like feldreanei and dark ranger skin.

My thoughts exactly.

If the Eredar questline wasn't created, then I'd say that Felblood Elf features were impossible...but if the bloody Eredar can be made playable, then...in an expansion revolving around the Blood Elf homeland and something just for Blood Elves..

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Just did the raid.

So, that's it for the Nerubian war? We never got the grandiose war advertised in the titular expansion and on the key art. It doesn't feel like a big battle is being waged with other NPCs fighting in the background like in Siege of Orgrimmar or Antorus or Amirdrassil. It's just 15 guys running through chopping up bodyguards, and then some VIPs, and then killing the queen while she is alone. It is also disappointing that there is no epilogue. I went back to the inn in the Weaver's Lair expecting Neferess to get the news that Ansurek is dead and to come back, but that didn't happen. And at the end of the raid, the Vizier is talking about how they have to keep things hush? What? Ansurek, her two generals, and all of her loyal soldiers within the castle walls are dead. Who are you afraid of? Just tell the people the truth: Ansurek got duped.

Aesthetically, I thought the raid was good-ish. More memorable than Vault of the Incarnates. Music was forgettable. There is tense violin music playing on the boss fights that makes it a little more exciting, but I can't remember anything about it melodically. Wouldn't add it to my favorite's playlist.

The boss fight weren't anything super standout but overall better than Vault, where I can hardly remember any of the fights. I liked picking up the chunks of meat and throwing them into the first boss' mouth. Running around chasing Rasha'nan was fun. I liked the intensity of Broodtwister with her creepy-cool model and the room slowly filling up with that creeping AoE. The dual boss fight against Anub and Takazj was neat.

I don't think the dungeon journal explained the web mechanic on the Silken Council very well. It said that it causes massive raid wide damage when the web breaks, so I thought it was going to be like the DoT mechanic on Sarkareth where you can't have everyone break their webs all at once and instead have to pace them out over the course of the fight, so I was running with my partner trying not to break the web. But apparently everyone was just breaking the web immedietely? But then you also have other people who have to keep the link to trip Anub when charges. It's just not tutorialized well.

Ansurek was an underwhelming base game final boss compared to Raszageth. Raszageth appeared from the beginning of the Dragonflight story in the Forbidden Reach and then popped in a few times throughout, and then the base game culminated in you killing the main villain which was a nicer conclusion to the base expansion experience than usual. Raszageth also had a cooler design being a bird dragon that breathes lightning lasers. Ansurek however is only introduced in the last 5 minutes of the Azj-Kahet questline, and doesn't look as cool. Doesn't feel as cathartic of a final boss.

[Sondrelk]

Just did the raid.

So, that's it for the Nerubian war? We never got the grandiose war advertised in the titular expansion and on the key art. It doesn't feel like a big battle is being waged with other NPCs fighting in the background like in Siege of Orgrimmar or Antorus or Amirdrassil. It's just 15 guys running through chopping up bodyguards, and then some VIPs, and then killing the queen while she is alone. It is also disappointing that there is no epilogue. I went back to the inn in the Weaver's Lair expecting Neferess to get the news that Ansurek is dead and to come back, but that didn't happen. And at the end of the raid, the Vizier is talking about how they have to keep things hush? What? Ansurek, her two generals, and all of her loyal soldiers within the castle walls are dead. Who are you afraid of? Just tell the people the truth: Ansurek got duped.

What did you expect? This is the first raid of an expansion that is itself the first part of a larger story. This is basically the part of Lord of the Rings where Frodo and co. run away from the Nazgul. The big exciting raids have yet to come.

We have a campaign finale that gives you the narrative climax you are looking for. And the raid does a fine job of giving you the basic gist of Ansurek being duped into joining the Void and being given basically nothing for it.


Personally I thought the raid was mostly great asethetically. The first four, and the last boss are definitely the highlights. The first boss fight ending with you being thrown down into the pits below and having to fight your way back up is a great setpiece. And while Rasha'nan isnt the most exciting boss mechanically, I am a sucker for any boss that feels dynamic and like it properly exists in the space it inhabits unlike bosses like Ky'veza who just stand in a giant empty room.

The final boss I think is fantastic. Definitely not difficult on NM at least. But exciting enough as a setpiece boss fight to make you forget that. The idea of climbing up the spiderwebs and being launched into what is presumably her bedchamber as she tries you snare you up and eat her is fantastic theming.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

"It's okay that the story is boring now because it's going to get better in the future" doesn't hold up when I could be playing/reading other stories that not only get better in the future, but are also fun right now. (and historically, WoW's story never gets better). Building up for something later is futile if the present is so boring people won't stick around for the payoff. And frankly, Blizzard hasn't made me give a goat's ass about the smirking purple elf, so there is nothing to look forward to there.

[huth]

And the raid does a fine job of giving you the basic gist of Ansurek being duped into joining the Void and being given basically nothing for it.

Which is pretty much exactly what i expected once i got the backstory of how Azj-Kahet came to be. Ansurek was still a naive little shit when she usurped her mother with no understanding or appreciation for her people's past or why things are the way they are. It's no wonder a lot of the real power in the kingdom was opposed to her.

I think people aren't quite appreciating just how early in the story we still are. Right now, most stuff is going to be world building and setting up the players.

[Raetary]

I'm overall happy with the campaign, though the raid story feels lacking.
Particularly because of Ansureks utter lack of presence in the story.

We see her have her moment in the animated short, then she pops up once in Dalaran.
Her only other appearance is in the speech cinematic, in which she is a background character as the focus is solely on Xal'atath.

She then retreats to the palace and we only meet her again in the raid, where we get rid of her.

If Ansurek popped up more often throughout leveling or the campaign, so that we could see or even interact with her more often, people wouldn't feel as shitty about her.

She's supposed to be ambitious and reckless, and later become deeply paranoid, but we barely get to see any of that.

[Nymrohd]

I'm overall happy with the campaign, though the raid story feels lacking.
Particularly because of Ansureks utter lack of presence in the story.

We see her have her moment in the animated short, then she pops up once in Dalaran.
Her only other appearance is in the speech cinematic, in which she is a background character as the focus is solely on Xal'atath.

She then retreats to the palace and we only meet her again in the raid, where we get rid of her.

If Ansurek popped up more often throughout leveling or the campaign, so that we could see or even interact with her more often, people wouldn't feel as shitty about her.

She's supposed to be ambitious and reckless, and later become deeply paranoid, but we barely get to see any of that.

I think the issue is that there is little focus on the city itself during the zone questing. She doesn't have enough chances to appear and when she does, she is upstaged by Xal'atath again and again because the narrative focus is never on An'surek.

[Sondrelk]

I think the issue is that there is little focus on the city itself during the zone questing. She doesn't have enough chances to appear and when she does, she is upstaged by Xal'atath again and again because the narrative focus is never on An'surek.

It's Suramar without the extra patch of extra content added to flesh Suramar out.
There are the bones of a good story with Ansurek. But since they also needed to focus on the Nerubians as a whole there isn't really time to flesh out Ansurek specifically. Maybe if they dedicated the entire endgame campaign to her, but even then I would argue she is the most boring part of the Nerubians story. If we got more I would have preferred a deeper delve into stuff like what the sacrificial pits were used for.

Sadly this is just what has to happen for the opening raid. There simply isn't time to fully explore it if you also want to set up future patches and have some variety in questing.

[Nymrohd]

It's Suramar without the extra patch of extra content added to flesh Suramar out.
There are the bones of a good story with Ansurek. But since they also needed to focus on the Nerubians as a whole there isn't really time to flesh out Ansurek specifically. Maybe if they dedicated the entire endgame campaign to her, but even then I would argue she is the most boring part of the Nerubians story. If we got more I would have preferred a deeper delve into stuff like what the sacrificial pits were used for.

Sadly this is just what has to happen for the opening raid. There simply isn't time to fully explore it if you also want to set up future patches and have some variety in questing.

I think given they had very limited quest space for the campaign, some of them were a waste; e.g. the Ringing Depths part with the goblins and golems added nothing to the story when it could have been more questing in the City. Similarly I think they needed beefier side quests in the city. An'surek should also have popped in during the dungeons somehow.

[Dracullus]

It's Suramar without the extra patch of extra content added to flesh Suramar out.

Also Suramar got a lot more attention that rest zones in general. Now it's spreaded evenly, shit ton of Sojourner quests in every zone + max level campaign has chapter in every one. I really hope 11.0.7 will focus more on spider city, it's really waste if it won't have.

[Nymrohd]

Also Suramar got a lot more attention that rest zones in general. Now it's spreaded evenly, shit ton of Sojourner quests in every zone + max level campaign has chapter in every one. I really hope 11.0.7 will focus more on spider city, it's really waste if it won't have.

It's also the fact that Nighthold was not the first raid and that the progressive renown questing took a while. That campaign was perfectly paced and you'd constantly get new content with the raid happening at the very end. Here people will complete the raid well before they complete the Renown track and even then the six quests available through renown are not particularly meaty; they are more about the three leaders of the Threads than they are about the story itself. There isn't really a clear story being told and it is more world and character building. You do get a good grasp of who the Weaver, Vizier and General are though; they did well there.

If TWW was an old expansion expected to have four tiers/seasons, I think Azj'kahet would be the second raid with some filler raid happening first (Stonevault would work).

[Dracullus]

It's also the fact that Nighthold was not the first raid and that the progressive renown questing took a while. That campaign was perfectly paced and you'd constantly get new content with the raid happening at the very end. Here people will complete the raid well before they complete the Renown track and even then the six quests available through renown are not particularly meaty; they are more about the three leaders of the Threads than they are about the story itself. There isn't really a clear story being told and it is more world and character building. You do get a good grasp of who the Weaver, Vizier and General are though; they did well there.

If TWW was an old expansion expected to have four tiers/seasons, I think Azj'kahet would be the second raid with some filler raid happening first (Stonevault would work).

Oh, really? Now were are praising 1 chapter per week over 2 months system?

But yeah, Nighthold got advantage of being focused for 5 months before opening, while Nightmare got nothing. But it's not necessary for good build up, imo Uldir from Horde side had even better one despite being launch raid. Because it was culmination of main story from 3 zones.

[Ersula]

Oh, really? Now were are praising 1 chapter per week over 2 months system?

But yeah, Nighthold got advantage of being focused for 5 months before opening, while Nightmare got nothing. But it's not necessary for good build up, imo Uldir from Horde side had even better one despite being launch raid. Because it was culmination of main story from 3 zones.

Yeah. The Nighthold was the first tier. The only difference would have been if they released a tiny raid before Nerubar Palace & made us wait 11 weeks to do the TWW campaign & the actual tier raid. It would be a shame if they didn't continue the Nerubians story throughout the expansion but they probably will.

[Lady Atia]

Currently farming the last few wins for my 1,8k battleground blitz rating, and I need to say it's actually quite good once you are out of the initial placing games. If your MMR is way above your rating you won't loose rating which is good as even 2,2k mmr grp's regulary fuck it up, or you just get a really weird comp vs a strong one (and than again, I had like 6 wins in a row yesterday). Really hope they don't change/nerf that because arena elitists will be crying like they did with solo shuffle though. But than again, you can't really punish players if someone clowns during a bg imo.