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

[Sondrelk]

Why wouldn't it be good to send players back to old zones unless there's a lot of content to do? Surely, if they add enough little bits of content here and there, casual players will be happy. Something for everyone.

Because it would feel quite tedious to go to a random zone like Kun-lai for a single quest. It requires either setting up a ton of portals, or have players remember how to get to the zones, some of which are quite old. How many Alliance players knows off the top of their head the quickest way to Vol'dun? Or have the patience to fly all the way from Jade Forest to Dread Wastes to complete a single climbing quest for 200g and 50 rep?

You want a large chunk of stuff in a single zone so that going to said zone feels rewarding. Spending more time in a single zone also builds up some appreciation for the zones when you inevitably don't have to go back to the same ones constantly.

It's great to reuse old zones, and honestly the devs should do it way more often. But you don't want players to feel like they are being jerked around by having to spend half their playtime on just travelling between zones each day.

[Paperfox]

I decided to run an old Legion raid for mogs, unfortunately I had forgotten how to get to the underwater zone. Lol, it's a portal in the portal room in Zul'Dazar.

[Skildar]

Because it would feel quite tedious to go to a random zone like Kun-lai for a single quest. It requires either setting up a ton of portals, or have players remember how to get to the zones, some of which are quite old. How many Alliance players knows off the top of their head the quickest way to Vol'dun? Or have the patience to fly all the way from Jade Forest to Dread Wastes to complete a single climbing quest for 200g and 50 rep?

You want a large chunk of stuff in a single zone so that going to said zone feels rewarding. Spending more time in a single zone also builds up some appreciation for the zones when you inevitably don't have to go back to the same ones constantly.

It's great to reuse old zones, and honestly the devs should do it way more often. But you don't want players to feel like they are being jerked around by having to spend half their playtime on just travelling between zones each day.

That's something that always bugs me in World of Warcraft, the heavy reliance on portals to move around in the world. Even when you need to go from Stormwind or Orgrimmar to the Dragon Isles you have a portal. I understand the convenience but taking the boat makes it a better experience in my opinion.

I wish there was a way for us to do more questing in the old zones as an immersive experience while making it convenient to travel around the world

[Sondrelk]

Missing the point imo. This content would be aimed at travellers. At players who want a reason to visit all their favourite old zones. It doesn't need to be efficient or streamlined. I'd be perfectly happy if there was some exotic marketplace in Valdrakken, and some NPC asked me to collect a flower somewhere in the forests of Ashenvale. If I did so, he'd reward me with some currency or whatever. Sounds delightful.

What sort of currency would that be though? And how would it work as gameplay?

Believe me, i am all for seemingly tedious stuff like having to get to the Zangarmarsh to procure a rare mushroom for an obscure potion. But it still needs to be tied to some kind of gameplay, otherwise it's not much different from regular RP activities you can do currently.

You need some structure, and you need a reward. And if you have a reward then you need to consider the ramifications of players feeling like they are being made to waste time travelling for meager returns.

I guess you could just be talking about regular once and done story quests. And i do agree that they should be used more in that aspect.

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That's something that always bugs me in World of Warcraft, the heavy reliance on portals to move around in the world. Even when you need to go from Stormwind or Orgrimmar to the Dragon Isles you have a portal. I understand the convenience but taking the boat makes it a better experience in my opinion.

I wish there was a way for us to do more questing in the old zones as an immersive experience while making it convenient to travel around the world

Yeah. Portals are one of those conveniences that really takes away from the feel of the world. I get that players want them, but some players would like raids to be solo queue for Mythic gear, and it's quite apparent why that's not a good idea.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Yeah. Portals are one of those conveniences that really takes away from the feel of the world. I get that players want them, but some players would like raids to be solo queue for Mythic gear, and it's quite apparent why that's not a good idea.

Well for one, having no portals at all just makes the world more tedious and thats not fun nor is worthwhile content. This "Immersion" people love to talk about is really just doing nothing and if people feel immersed thats fine but don't expect everyone to feel the same.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Yeah. Portals are one of those conveniences that really takes away from the feel of the world. I get that players want them, but some players would like raids to be solo queue for Mythic gear, and it's quite apparent why that's not a good idea.

I think Cataclysm handled it relatively well by removing all the portals in previous expansion hubs except for those leading to Stormwind. Otherwise, the only portals were to higher-level locations, which was an expedience on account of how they were decentralized and spread across the old world. I'd like to see the portal rooms closed indefinitely for renovations, or wind up having an undefined incident that demands Stormwind and Orgrimmar put them under greater oversight and restrict their portal usage.

[Luck4]

June is also almost gone, and fake leaks are already appearing... just ~4 months folks.

I think this might change later, but for now, it seems like we only have Avaloren (due to ingame hints) and a Revamp (due to datamining hints) as possible expansions, or did I miss something?

It's interesting to note that Shadowlands was heavily teased in BFA through Mueh-zala, Vol'jin questline, and Tauren heritage quests. I wonder if something like this is happening right now.

[Telogrus]

Anyone have any good speculation on why the Primalists are so interested in the Dream and new World Tree?

[Khaza-R]

Anyone have any good speculation on why the Primalists are so interested in the Dream and new World Tree?

I think it will depend how they ultimately want to flesh out the dream and its connection to Life as a greater force.

But if they keep with the concept that the Emerald Dream is a titan creation to facilitate the ordering then it would make sense for them to want to destroy it. I think that's likely the case since the Primalist Future where they succeed it seems like Azeroth, or at least the Dragon Isles becomes frozen over. Likely implying that Vyranoth succeeds in the Emerald Dream.

[Telogrus]

I think it will depend how they ultimately want to flesh out the dream and its connection to Life as a greater force.

But if they keep with the concept that the Emerald Dream is a titan creation to facilitate the ordering then it would make sense for them to want to destroy it. I think that's likely the case since the Primalist Future where they succeed it seems like Azeroth, or at least the Dragon Isles becomes frozen over. Likely implying that Vyranoth succeeds in the Emerald Dream.

Thaldraszus being frozen in the Primalist Future could also just be because an area at such a high altitude and latitude would naturally be a snowy zone without the influence of Order

[Mecheon]

My personal favourite hopeful thing is the moon. Just, going to the moon, finding out Elune stuff, dealing with what inevitable secrets it has up there (plus don't forget the Blue Child occaisonally just vanishes for a few years at a time. C'mon, you know that's actually a built spacecraft or something)

yes I know endwalker just sent us to the moon but. Its got promise.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

My personal favourite hopeful thing is the moon. Just, going to the moon
yes I know endwalker just sent us to the moon but. Its got promise.

Blizzard will call Todd Howard and we will get the moon expansion, but instead of dragonriding we will be having flying shipriding.

[Luck4]

Lots of ways they could take it forward from here.

1. Other side of Azeroth, may or may not be or contain "Avaloren".

Indeed, I forgot about all the talk surrounding the Other side of Azeroth.

Emerald Dream will be teased in future patches, and if we take into account what happened in Shadowlands, the "Gardens of Life"/"Lifelands" could be the next location.

[Jekyll]

Anyone have any good speculation on why the Primalists are so interested in the Dream and new World Tree?

The Emerald dream is probably the blueprint of Azeroth before the 'corruption of the Titans', so they might want to bring the Dream to the real world.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

New trading post stuff in few days, i wonder if the monthly reward will be something else than having mount again, hopefully some cool looking full set will appear.

[Jekyll]

New trading post stuff in few days, i wonder if the monthly reward will be something else than having mount again, hopefully some cool looking full set will appear.

I'm hopping for the Blood Troll set or something Pandaren because people here really hate Asian theme design for some reason (the reason is racism).

[ImTheMizAwesome]

I'm hopping for the Blood Troll set or something Pandaren

I think blood troll armor was one of the first datamined TP sets, so i wonder if it could be it next month.. Unless they will put it first in $ shop and then TP.

[Schwert]

I personally just want to see the Scarlet stuff so people get really mad for no reason people can have it.

[Santandame]

It was touched upon a page or two back that BfA had some small little hints towards the next expansion such as Mueh’zela referenced, the heritage quest lines for Tauren and Blood Elves as well as the Vol’jin quest line.

In Legion we had the Kul Tiran and Zandalari shipwrecked sailors in Aszuna, whereas in SL we had the very subtle nod of the Draconic language alongside the other Zereths.

Ultimately these things tend to be a lot more noticeable in hindsight given how minuscule they tend to be (the BfA ones less so but still not as overt as the Sylvanas/Saurfang finale) - but are there any small hints in Dragonflight along the lines of what we’ve seen before to hint at what’s to come, that ISN’T Avaloren?

If we go off the Human and Orc heritage chains, then that would imply a revamp. It would be interesting to see what the remaining race heritage chains contest with. There hasn’t been anything Void related outside of the Aberrus content. Light as far as I’m aware hasn’t been mentioned at all. The Dream is seemingly the focus of 10.2, so that rules that out.

It seems like our real contenders are Avaloren vs Revamp. Of course, the Nightsquall references could be setting the stage for a South Seas pirate expansion but I think that’s less likely than the other two.

[Hugnomo]

It was touched upon a page or two back that BfA had some small little hints towards the next expansion such as Mueh’zela referenced, the heritage quest lines for Tauren and Blood Elves as well as the Vol’jin quest line.

In Legion we had the Kul Tiran and Zandalari shipwrecked sailors in Aszuna, whereas in SL we had the very subtle nod of the Draconic language alongside the other Zereths.

Ultimately these things tend to be a lot more noticeable in hindsight given how minuscule they tend to be (the BfA ones less so but still not as overt as the Sylvanas/Saurfang finale) - but are there any small hints in Dragonflight along the lines of what we’ve seen before to hint at what’s to come, that ISN’T Avaloren?

If we go off the Human and Orc heritage chains, then that would imply a revamp. It would be interesting to see what the remaining race heritage chains contest with. There hasn’t been anything Void related outside of the Aberrus content. Light as far as I’m aware hasn’t been mentioned at all. The Dream is seemingly the focus of 10.2, so that rules that out.

It seems like our real contenders are Avaloren vs Revamp. Of course, the Nightsquall references could be setting the stage for a South Seas pirate expansion but I think that’s less likely than the other two.

Yeah, that's my feeling as well, except I feel like Avaloren, Nightsquall, Pirate/Conquistador are all tied together in whatever new land is west of Kalimdor. Considering we've got the hint from Neltharion's journals that the Void had created a civilization in Kalimdor under a different name, I don't think it's far fetched that a continent west of Kalimdor could have retained this void society. Focus on Azshara, Naga, maybe new vehicle movement for ships like we got for dragons, Void, etc.
Or, indeed a revamp. Which seems backed by the fact that we got hints towards Gilneas being won back by the worgen, and devs said themselves that those sort of things wouldn't happen off screen. As well as the gradual implementation of updated models to things we haven't even seen in dragonflight, like Night elf and Blood elf ships, plenty of buildings, props and doodads.