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

[Telogrus]

Also something with Ethereals down the line. We interrupt the Ethereal boss in Nerub'ar having a secret conversation, which she points out as a secret she must kill us to protect, then when she's defeated she leaves through a portal to meet again. "etherealraid" item names have been datamined, but I believe they coincide with the items dropped by this boss.

Ethereals imminent, maybe not in TWW as a raid or major patch theme, but expect them to continue to be brought up and utilized.

Extra tinfoil says that the Shadowguard Ethereals will be working with whatever cartel Gallywix is running in Undermine.

The real Princess Ky’veza has roughly 85,000 million health (on Heroic) when you click on her after the fight. That’s over 10x the HP of current raid bosses. Seems like an obvious sign that the Ethereal raid is in the next xpac and not this one

[Nightshade711]

I’m still hoping that blizzard doesn’t forget that non-void Ethereals exist.

I’d love to see the more arcane-based Ethereals up-ressed to current standards.

[Lady Atia]

Feel like a better "how?" case would be a Pack Leader Marksman.

That's easy - packleader marksman would just play with their pet? Actually, that would make me play it in an instant lol.

[Sondrelk]

Honestly, I can't see any kind of alternate hero talent being a big selling point unless it's a completely new set of them for every spec, or something more drastic like choosing a second one.
No matter how silly the complaint is, it would be a hard sell to people to give them nothing new if they already enjoy their current hero talent.

[Eeram]

im unsure if this has been talked about yet. but there has been a ton of World of warcraft Artist posting about the Warcraft Direct saying things along the lines of "You really dont wanna miss this one" an things like that.
Yall think we might be seeing a new spec or maybe Info for Midnight?

[Sondrelk]

im unsure if this has been talked about yet. but there has been a ton of World of warcraft Artist posting about the Warcraft Direct saying things along the lines of "You really dont wanna miss this one" an things like that.
Yall think we might be seeing a new spec or maybe Info for Midnight?

They would say that almost regardless of what is actually being shown in the Direct. Anything but the most standard of mission statement briefings would be advertised as if they will release a new class, or give you double the expansion for Midnight.

It's very unlikely we will get anything regarding Midnight beyond features we already know about, but which might be pushed back to the next expansion. Like saying Warband screens will have more configurations other than the 4 we have now. But that it will only come in Midnight. Or story stuff like saying that we won't be seeing much of the Ethereals until Midnight.

[Makabreska]

im unsure if this has been talked about yet. but there has been a ton of World of warcraft Artist posting about the Warcraft Direct saying things along the lines of "You really dont wanna miss this one" an things like that.
Yall think we might be seeing a new spec or maybe Info for Midnight?

Not sure why artists would hint at a new spec. And honestly, they have hard enough time fixing and balancing current specs and their Hero Talents that I really doubt they want that extra work. Also, kinda early for Midnight info. We are halfway Season 1.

[Seiklis]

It doesn't work like that in WoW. If it will be retaken, it will turn into dead/completed zone like Suramar or Amirdrassil.

For city to be alive in game it needs to be hub, and hubs are established in the beginning. So if they wouldn't give us Silvermoon hub after 20 years of this cardboard copy that pretends to be a city, it would be huuuge L from Blizz.

Personally I think Silvermoon will not only be a hub, but also first iteration of housing.

2nd as I believe this is the reason Bel'Ameth is so empty

You'll have 2 beginning options in silvermoon/ bel'ameth with maybe a void based premium in the CE

[Eeram]

Not sure why artists would hint at a new spec. And honestly, they have hard enough time fixing and balancing current specs and their Hero Talents that I really doubt they want that extra work. Also, kinda early for Midnight info. We are halfway Season 1.

Well, i think Artist have alot to do with New specs as they are making the VFX and the art an screens an what not. But yeah im unsure why they would be hyping this up unless they are just excited about undermine? idk

[Joshuaj]

im unsure if this has been talked about yet. but there has been a ton of World of warcraft Artist posting about the Warcraft Direct saying things along the lines of "You really dont wanna miss this one" an things like that.
Yall think we might be seeing a new spec or maybe Info for Midnight?

IF we get info on Midnight, it'll be a more in-depth explanation of the setting.

What we'll likely see is 11.1 info however.

[Cheezits]

Heavily agree on Housing being the big feature for Midnight. Regardless of "is it worth developing" arguments it is a hugely popular feature in MMOs and is in MOST other MMOs, dare I say a majority of them. It makes sense to debut in the first Azeroth revamp expansion since Cata.

[Joshuaj]

What implies we'll see housing for Midnight?

[Polybius]

I don't think we'll see housing but those trophies put on display in the Anniversary event are very interesting.

[Khaza-R]

What implies we'll see housing for Midnight?

Far more likely we will see updated order halls / class hubs at some point

Even then, that's probably more likely to be a TLT feature

[Trazzle]

My hopium fueled brain is anticipating a new class :3

[Khaza-R]

Warcraft Direct Stream Description

Welcome to the epic celebration of 30 years of Warcraft! Join us on a heartfelt journey through three decades of adventure, camaraderie, and unforgettable moments in Azeroth and beyond. In this special 45-minute video, we're bringing together the creative minds behind World of Warcraft, Warcraft RTS, Hearthstone, and Warcraft Rumble.
Hear firsthand from our development teams as they reflect on the milestones of the past:

○ 30 Years of Warcraft RTS: Hear from the team working on the games that started it all as they look to bring some exciting new updates to Warcraft III Reforged and more.
○ 20 Years of World of Warcraft: Relive the evolution of the world's most beloved MMORPG and discover what's next on the horizon for both WoW Classic and Modern…and a special announcement at the end.
○ 10 Years of Hearthstone: Celebrate a decade of strategic card-slinging fun and get a sneak peek at the game-changing updates coming your way.
○ 1 Year of Warcraft Rumble: Join us for our 1st Anniversary and share our exciting additions on the horizon.

This is more than a look back—it's a warm thank you to our incredible community and a visionary glimpse into the future of the Warcraft universe. Whether you're a lifelong fan or rekindling your passion, there's never been a better time to dive back into the world you love.

Let's embark on the next chapter together. The adventure continues!

So Reforged 2.0 confirmed.

And a "special announcement for WoW". What are we thinking it is?

[Sondrelk]

Heavily agree on Housing being the big feature for Midnight. Regardless of "is it worth developing" arguments it is a hugely popular feature in MMOs and is in MOST other MMOs, dare I say a majority of them. It makes sense to debut in the first Azeroth revamp expansion since Cata.

If we get housing then I would argue that we will almost definitely get Gilneas and Lordaeron as faction hubs. Frame the player housing as rebuilding the cities. Both factions get one next to an iconic city. And it's not as obviously in an expansion hub as it would be if both Alliance and Horde got stuck in the northernmost tip of EK in a very strikingly themed city.

- - - Updated - - -

What implies we'll see housing for Midnight?

For me, mostly the fact that it's about the right time for it to show up considering when we got confirmation the developers were considering it. And the fact that for housing to be as evergreen as possible (*cough* garrisons *cough*), it would need to be tied to somewhere like EK or Kalimdor to feel as rooted in base game WoW as possible.
Midnight is going to take place in EK, and having the housing be tied to an already established faction hub like Silvermoon, Lordaeron, or Gilneas, makes it an easier sell in terms of communicating it won't just be Garrisons 2.0.

TLT is a decent option as well, given Northrend is a very iconic location. But there are not really any standout areas that makes sense as the place to have a generic player house.
Assuming that you could place the house anywhere is nice, but for housing I think it's important for it to be as "boring" as possible to begin with to ensure the developers don't have to rebuild it from scratch later.

[Worldshaper]

Godlike Direct:

• New repeating cycle of the three original versions of the game for WoW Classic, with Vanilla launching in November, followed by TBC next year and WotLK in 2026. Once those end, TBC and WotLK get Era servers as well. Launch in November.
• Classic MoP launching in the spring.
• Classic+ once SoD ends next year.
• Hearthstone year of 2025 outlined, with the first expansion set on Pandaria and bringing the Monk class.
• Warcraft 2 Reforged.
• Warcraft 3 2.0.
• Warcraft Rumble update with new season, mini type and heroes.
• WoW Modern 11.1 fully detailed. Undermine. New Tinker class.
• WoW Modern 2025 Roadmap teases all patches coming in TWW.
• Concept art and early look at Midnight, without spoilers. Just to keep people excited. A view of Silvermoon.
• Warcraft animated series coming in 2025.

[Sondrelk]

So Reforged 2.0 confirmed.

And a "special announcement for WoW". What are we thinking it is?

I would say some major feature that's layers are anticipating. Housing is a decent contender, though probably unlikely given it would likely have to come with the caveat that it will only be available in Midnight.

Serious guess though is probably Remix coming back. It wouldn't be surprising given it was a smash hit that seemed easy to replicate. But would be nice to have it confirmed rather than inferred.

[Ersula]

and a "special announcement for WoW". What are we thinking it is?

For all we know this could just be referring to the formal announcement of MoP Classic - so curb your expectations, hard.

Classic+ once SoD ends next year.

But what does this entail. For the last year pretty much every person talking about classic+ has their own definition of classic plus, so literally any new features for classic fits the criteria. I expect another season with its own new features, because that's the entire premise of the seasons in the first place.

Also if there were going to be a new class this expansion, they would have foreshadowed it in some way, like they did with Augmentation. Including a whole new class even if it came out much later would be one of the selling points of the expansion.