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

[Golden Yak]

I really can't see a situation where they scale up just Eversong, Ghostlands, and Isle of Quel'Danas to be an entire expansion launch worth of content. There simply isnt enough variety within to really make it work. Even assuming you make Zul'aman its own entire zone, you would still have to make Silvermoon the size of an entire zone just to get the requires 4 zones, and that just doesnt feel realistic.

I wouldn't be concerned about variety, all it takes is a little imagination and you can spin concepts out into highly varied environments - just look at Outland, Northrend, and even Khaz Algar, all variations on a theme (alien, cold, underground).

For zones, I can see Eversong as your classic gorgeous fantasy elf forest, include the revamped Silvermoon City, tons of Void incursions, magical buildings and settlements, etc.
Ghostlands can be your haunted, corrupted, dark forest where there's still a lot of the Scourge/Undead elements, with wasted zones and graveyards, some resurgence along the Dead Scar.
Zul'Aman can be a mountainous evergreen forest zone, plenty of opporunity for high mountain peaks and vertical travel there, forest troll cities, etc. 'Misty forest' like how Worldshaper said.
And I can see a brand new zone being added to the west, the 'Northeron' region that's north of Stratholme and so forth. Turn that into a coastal zone, maybe where the Arathi Empire makes landfall, huge fleet, also massive naga incursion, Undersea elements being called forth by the Void, fortresses being built, fortifying nearby islands, etc.

That gets you your big starting four even before we talk about Quel'Danas, leaving it as a potential patch zone (maybe some starting content there) with a major Void foothold around the Sunwell (you know that thing's gonna be the Voidwell at some point).

I can definitely see the conglomeration of zones you were talking about happening though. If not for Midnight, then in the future for some major Lordaeron update. I had some thoughts about that myself and took the same idea of merging zones together to make larger, DF-era sized ones.

There will probably be expansions and changes to the zones (Especially Zul'Aman), but idk if the zones will be made big enough to excuse the whole :
"4 zone" stuff. That's why I agree with the idea of them including the rest of the upper Eastern Kingdoms (Especially since I don't think Quel'Danas is going to be launch content).

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Tho, Eversong, Quel'Danas, Ghostlands, and Zul'Aman being the 4 zones would also make sense. I just like the idea of Midnight also incorporating the Plaguelands and whatnot as well, especially if we're having Light and Shadow conflicts. The Scarlet Crusade, the Silver Hand, the Argent Crusade, and the Army of the Light would have to be included for Midnight, yeah? So why not.include the rest of the Northern Eastern Kingdoms?

They go wind up going that way for sure, merging Lordaeron zones together. I'm just really fascinated to see what would happen if you took a much older zone and rebuilt it from scratch with modern aesthetics. Expanding it out, making it closer to what it was truly 'meant to be'.

Google "misty forest," and look at the images. Zul'Aman should look exactly like that. Hills with pine trees and lots of mist, and temples dotting the landscape.

Totally, that's troll country right there.

[Joshuaj]

I wouldn't be concerned about variety, all it takes is a little imagination and you can spin concepts out into highly varied environments - just look at Outland, Northrend, and even Khaz Algar, all variations on a theme (alien, cold, underground).

For zones, I can see Eversong as your classic gorgeous fantasy elf forest, include the revamped Silvermoon City, tons of Void incursions, magical buildings and settlements, etc.
Ghostlands can be your haunted, corrupted, dark forest where there's still a lot of the Scourge/Undead elements, with wasted zones and graveyards, some resurgence along the Dead Scar.
Zul'Aman can be a mountainous evergreen forest zone, plenty of opporunity for high mountain peaks and vertical travel there, forest troll cities, etc. 'Misty forest' like how Worldshaper said.
And I can see a brand new zone being added to the west, the 'Northeron' region that's north of Stratholme and so forth. Turn that into a coastal zone, maybe where the Arathi Empire makes landfall, huge fleet, also massive naga incursion, Undersea elements being called forth by the Void, fortresses being built, fortifying nearby islands, etc.

That gets you your big starting four even before we talk about Quel'Danas, leaving it as a potential patch zone (maybe some starting content there) with a major Void foothold around the Sunwell (you know that thing's gonna be the Voidwell at some point).

I can definitely see the conglomeration of zones you were talking about happening though. If not for Midnight, then in the future for some major Lordaeron update. I had some thoughts about that myself and took the same idea of merging zones together to make larger, DF-era sized ones.



They go wind up going that way for sure, merging Lordaeron zones together. I'm just really fascinated to see what would happen if you took a much older zone and rebuilt it from scratch with modern aesthetics. Expanding it out, making it closer to what it was truly 'meant to be'.



Totally, that's troll country right there.

I get this take, but I think not revamping the Plaguelands or Lordaeron would be a huge waste of potential, primarily for the Light.

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Also, wouldn't the western area just be Stratholme? We just can't properly explore it uninstanced?

[Golden Yak]

I get this take, but I think not revamping the Plaguelands or Lordaeron would be a huge waste of potential, primarily for the Light.

I definitely think it should happen eventually. If they're gonna focus mostly on the elven people for Midnight that's a lot of ground to cover already, especially if the Arathi show up (Quel'thalas is their homeland too).

In fact, I can definitely see the Arathi being focused on Quel'thalas to start with (since the immediate Void threat will be there) and then turning to the rest of Lordaeron. Them trying to seize the Eastern Kingdoms could almost be it's own expansion concept.

Also, wouldn't the western area just be Stratholme? We just can't properly explore it uninstanced?

It'd be north of Stratholme, which has always been nothing but mountains and ocean. That's why I think it's perfect to cram something in there.

Something like this:

[Joshuaj]

I definitely think it should happen eventually. If they're gonna focus mostly on the elven people for Midnight that's a lot of ground to cover already, especially if the Arathi show up (Quel'thalas is their homeland too).

In fact, I can definitely see the Arathi being focused on Quel'thalas to start with (since the immediate Void threat will be there) and then turning to the rest of Lordaeron. Them trying to seize the Eastern Kingdoms could almost be it's own expansion concept.



It'd be north of Stratholme, which has always been nothing but mountains and ocean. That's why I think it's perfect to cram something in there.

Something like this:

Ehhh maybe? Idk though. Even in lore maps, there ain't a northern region for Quel'Thalas.

This guy on Reddit did a post on what he wanted for Midnight's Zones, and I agree with it.

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Besides, the Northern Eastern Kingdoms already fits the length of the Dragon Isles and whatnot. Wouldn't hurt to revamp those zones, remake the Quel'Thalas region, etc.

[milkmustache]

Besides, the Northern Eastern Kingdoms already fits the length of the Dragon Isles and whatnot. Wouldn't hurt to revamp those zones, remake the Quel'Thalas region, etc.

Map scale =/= real scale.

I think the problem with making Tirisfal, Lordaeron, Gilneas etc zones in Midnight is a bit of too many cooks in the kitchen at that rate. These zones should have larger lore implications leveling zones in a Light vs Void themed expansion, and their inclusion takes away from the focus on Quel'thalas and the Sunwell as the flashpoint of this holy war.

Like this is Lordaeron the OG kingdom. To have it just guide your character through levels 85 to 87 is I think a misuse.

[Joshuaj]

Map scale =/= real scale.

I think the problem with making Tirisfal, Lordaeron, Gilneas etc zones in Midnight is a bit of too many cooks in the kitchen at that rate. These zones should have larger lore implications leveling zones in a Light vs Void themed expansion, and their inclusion takes away from the focus on Quel'thalas and the Sunwell as the flashpoint of this holy war.

Like this is Lordaeron the OG kingdom. To have it just guide your character through levels 85 to 87 is I think a misuse.

Well, you can just have it to where these zones could be used past Midnight.

Also, Quel'Thalas is the MAIN focus, it's not the only focused. Hallowfall takes away from the Earthern plot, but it's still big for the story.

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As long as it connects to the main theme of the expac, it's fine.

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Also, the in game map is kinda scale accurate for the game. The in game map and in game scale is NOT accurate to the lore scale and map though.

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Man, Midnight is most likely gonna be just Quel'Thalas, but I want it to be more than that so bad. Not updating the Plaguelands or so would feel like such a waste.

[OCoyne]

I'm really looking forwards to seeing what will be involved with the Midnight revisions to the Quel'thalas region. The big question is - will they keep the general geography the same and just update the art, or will it be a true rebuild with expanded geography? A retro-active overhaul making the zones into modern-sized ones designed around dragonflying? You could then make the Isle of Quel'Danas as big as you wanted. You could expand Zul'Aman into a massive zone. You wouldn't need to have content outside Quel'thalas or move things into Lordaeron - not against that, you just wouldn't need to.

Think it might be the OwnedCore community who leaked this but I know there's a revamp of Stratholme Undead side, which goes through the gate which leads to nowhere which used to be the very old Naxx entrance where you fight Rammstein.

Think there's a good chance they'll cut off half the EPL horizontally as the north part literally serves no purpose even in today's lore as Araj the Summoner was leading the last resistance in Andorhal and got killed in the reworked WPL.

It might just serve as an intro point and be Chromie Timed as they did with Blasted Lands going north west from where Stratholme is

[Joshuaj]

Think it might be the OwnedCore community who leaked this but I know there's a revamp of Stratholme Undead side, which goes through the gate which leads to nowhere which used to be the very old Naxx entrance where you fight Rammstein.

Think there's a good chance they'll cut off half the EPL horizontally as the north part literally serves no purpose even in today's lore as Araj the Summoner was leading the last resistance in Andorhal and got killed in the reworked WPL.

It might just serve as an intro point and be Chromie Timed as they did with Blasted Lands going north west from where Stratholme is

OwnedCore? Wait like they leaked stuff for the zones?

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Hmmm as cool as utilizing all of Northern EK could be, Midnight will likely just utilize Quel'Thalas and not all of Northern EK. And ngl, I'd be very disappointed if the Northern Eastern Kingdoms weren't utilized. Humans, Elves, and Trolls would be perfect.

[Nibelheimy]

We should expect 4 zones, I'm thinking similar to what others have said. Eversong woods, Ghostlands, Zul'Aman and Isle of Quel'danas. They will scale the size of these zones up. It is possible they will do Lordaeron and Tirisfal, but we don't know for sure. It is possible they could be patch content.

Getting too excited for too much to be revamped could be a problem, although there is absolutely room for story in all of these zones with themes that match what we're getting now as others have mentioned.

Expect Qual'thalas. Get exited if more is announced.

[Joshuaj]

We should expect 4 zones, I'm thinking similar to what others have said. Eversong woods, Ghostlands, Zul'Aman and Isle of Quel'danas. They will scale the size of these zones up. It is possible they will do Lordaeron and Tirisfal, but we don't know for sure. It is possible they could be patch content.

Getting too excited for too much to be revamped could be a problem, although there is absolutely room for story in all of these zones with themes that match what we're getting now as others have mentioned.

Expect Qual'thalas. Get exited if more is announced.

Fair, but I do think Quel'Danas will be the first patch zone

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Also, regarding the mass north of Stratholme, wouldn't it make more sense for Blizzard to revamp Stratholme and have THAT be the thing taking up said landmass?

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Also, weren't there leaks of updated human buildings, as well as updated elven stuff?

[Nibelheimy]

Interesting side note, just spoke to Noggenfogger at the anniversary event.

At the end of his chat options, you begin to ask him about his work with the uncrowned. He interrupts with: "Trains! Trains are great because I'm working with nothing else you need to worry about."

Probably nothing as he doesn't want to divulge some secret agent activities, but still, having an underground railway from Oppurtunity point or even Mmarl connecting to Undermine could make sense, especially if Xal ends up working with them.

If this happens, we better be able to ride the train. No portals. Give me underwater railway tram 2.0.

[Golden Yak]

I would absolutely love an underground railroad (a literal one) connection Khaz Algar to Undermine, it's exactly how I imagined that would happen. Giant high-speed goblin rail to Undermine, with the option to fly off the train and check out side tunnels and caves for creatures and treasure and so forth.

I say smaller tramways from Opporunity Point and Mmarl to a larger nearby hub, where the main railway takes you to Undermine.

[Joshuaj]

I would absolutely love an underground railroad (a literal one) connection Khaz Algar to Undermine, it's exactly how I imagined that would happen. Giant high-speed goblin rail to Undermine, with the option to fly off the train and check out side tunnels and caves for creatures and treasure and so forth.

I say smaller tramways from Opporunity Point and Mmarl to a larger nearby hub, where the main railway takes you to Undermine.

So...basically a Deeprun Tram like ordeal for Khaz'Aglar and the Undermine?

...ooo that's good...

Why didn't I think of that?

[Golden Yak]

A deeprun tram that goblins built. Giant metal goblin face on the front, lots of rocket boosters, constant explosions... it's gonna be awesome.

[Nibelheimy]

A deeprun tram that goblins built. Giant metal goblin face on the front, lots of rocket boosters, constant explosions... it's gonna be awesome.

One thing we do know now, he's definitely working on some trains.

[Joshuaj]

A deeprun tram that goblins built. Giant metal goblin face on the front, lots of rocket boosters, constant explosions... it's gonna be awesome.

That would be sick

[Sondrelk]

I wouldn't be concerned about variety, all it takes is a little imagination and you can spin concepts out into highly varied environments - just look at Outland, Northrend, and even Khaz Algar, all variations on a theme (alien, cold, underground).

For zones, I can see Eversong as your classic gorgeous fantasy elf forest, include the revamped Silvermoon City, tons of Void incursions, magical buildings and settlements, etc.
Ghostlands can be your haunted, corrupted, dark forest where there's still a lot of the Scourge/Undead elements, with wasted zones and graveyards, some resurgence along the Dead Scar.
Zul'Aman can be a mountainous evergreen forest zone, plenty of opporunity for high mountain peaks and vertical travel there, forest troll cities, etc. 'Misty forest' like how Worldshaper said.
And I can see a brand new zone being added to the west, the 'Northeron' region that's north of Stratholme and so forth. Turn that into a coastal zone, maybe where the Arathi Empire makes landfall, huge fleet, also massive naga incursion, Undersea elements being called forth by the Void, fortresses being built, fortifying nearby islands, etc.

That gets you your big starting four even before we talk about Quel'Danas, leaving it as a potential patch zone (maybe some starting content there) with a major Void foothold around the Sunwell (you know that thing's gonna be the Voidwell at some point).

I can definitely see the conglomeration of zones you were talking about happening though. If not for Midnight, then in the future for some major Lordaeron update. I had some thoughts about that myself and took the same idea of merging zones together to make larger, DF-era sized ones.



They go wind up going that way for sure, merging Lordaeron zones together. I'm just really fascinated to see what would happen if you took a much older zone and rebuilt it from scratch with modern aesthetics. Expanding it out, making it closer to what it was truly 'meant to be'.



Totally, that's troll country right there.

Personally I just can't see them increasing the size of zones like the Ghostlands by focusing on their scourge theme when they could instead just make Ghostlands lok like Eversong, and then expand the zones down to the Plaguelands, get the same aesthetic, and also gain massive nostalgia brownie points with stuff like revamping Stratholme.

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I definitely think it should happen eventually. If they're gonna focus mostly on the elven people for Midnight that's a lot of ground to cover already, especially if the Arathi show up (Quel'thalas is their homeland too)

The Arathi Empire is primarily a descendant of the human Empire of Strom though. So similarly to the Plaguelands carrying the scourge theme inherent to the Blood Elves. I just think it would feel a bit silly if the developers conjure up a new human themed zone when they could just as easily reuse the existing human/Forsaken zones.

Similarly to the Plaguelands, it would fit the theme perfectly. Have lots of nostalgia. And be in close enough proximity it would be silly to not utilize it.

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Map scale =/= real scale.

I think the problem with making Tirisfal, Lordaeron, Gilneas etc zones in Midnight is a bit of too many cooks in the kitchen at that rate. These zones should have larger lore implications leveling zones in a Light vs Void themed expansion, and their inclusion takes away from the focus on Quel'thalas and the Sunwell as the flashpoint of this holy war.

Like this is Lordaeron the OG kingdom. To have it just guide your character through levels 85 to 87 is I think a misuse.

The argument that it is just for levelling hasn't made sense since at least Legion.
Any zone in a new expansion will have associated endgame stuff, dungeons, lore, etc.

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Well, you can just have it to where these zones could be used past Midnight.

Also, Quel'Thalas is the MAIN focus, it's not the only focused. Hallowfall takes away from the Earthern plot, but it's still big for the story.

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As long as it connects to the main theme of the expac, it's fine.

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Also, the in game map is kinda scale accurate for the game. The in game map and in game scale is NOT accurate to the lore scale and map though.

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Man, Midnight is most likely gonna be just Quel'Thalas, but I want it to be more than that so bad. Not updating the Plaguelands or so would feel like such a waste.

I just can't see an outcome where what happens is a launch set purely in Quel'thalas. The scourge theme is too important to ignore the Plaguelands. And once you have gone that far it would be far more natural to just do everything north of the Thandol Span as it all fits the stuff going on in Quel'thalas to different degrees.

Plaguelands for the Scourge theme.
Lordaeron for the link to Sylvanas, as well as the Scarlet Crusader and later, Arathi.
Hinterlands for more forest troll stuff, as well as one of the portals to the Emerald Dream given the Night Elves are important.
And Arathi Highlands, because once you establish the Arathi Empire, it would feel odd to not mention where their empire originated. And of course it being the most natural border to content that is definitely not relevant.

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I would absolutely love an underground railroad (a literal one) connection Khaz Algar to Undermine, it's exactly how I imagined that would happen. Giant high-speed goblin rail to Undermine, with the option to fly off the train and check out side tunnels and caves for creatures and treasure and so forth.

I say smaller tramways from Opporunity Point and Mmarl to a larger nearby hub, where the main railway takes you to Undermine.

Would definitely be really cool. And it's a perfect way to hide a loading screen as well. And it would explain how we get to Undermine despite it being so incredibly far away from Khaz Algar.

[Rootsbum]

I wish Beledsr died, exploded, and turned Hallowfall into a eldtrich zone invaded also by the black blood

Seeing Arathi buildings covered in void and blood , the Arathi really fighting for their lives, the orphans being merged into a hivemind abomination and seeing the church in Mereldar falling of the cliff and into the void
And the roots from the rootsland trying to aid snd consuming/taking over/ coming to the rescue

A girl can dream

[Lady Atia]

No clue why some people here want to make an Expansion smaller than it should be already .... QT can carry it's own Expansion (hell, for me, TBC was basically more about QT than shitty Outlands anyways), no need to also cram Lordaeron in it (which again, also can carry it's own story arc with ease). It's almost as bad as the idea of wasting Avaloren or Tel Abim on a single patch ... do you guys want WoW to last for another 20 years or being killed off because they run out of zones to visit?

[Xilurm]

If Blizzard can create 4 massive zones out of thin air, what makes some of you guys think that they can't take two already existing zones, (three if you count Quel'Danas) split them into however many sections they want, and expand them in whatever way they want? They already have lots of the work done for them already.