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

[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.

[Schwert]

I'm on team revamp.
We're in desperate need of one anyways that's a better introduction to the game's basic story in modern times, and it's easier to address stories in the old world (Gilneas bein the major one they've alluded to) during a revamp. You can only bronze dragon a zone so many times before it becomes convoluted.

Starting every race off again with a fresh slate allows things to progress properly again, get new players actually invested in x or y race, and allows those that got burnt (pun intended) by horrid writing the chance to actually get excited again.

Tacking on brand new concepts constantly is just exhausting. I do not care about Zerith whatevers. I care about the races I picked to play, and the conflicts they have with both NPC races and the other faction.

Gilneas is worrying me though.
If there's no fight there with Belmont, what's the point?

[Worldshaper]

Taliesin had an interesting idea, that going to the other side of Azeroth might be the start of several new expansions. Basically, a whole new side of Azeroth with multiple continents to be released over the next few years, which would allow Blizzard to do a soft reboot of the lore and offer new lands similar to EK and KA without having to revamp those.

[Schwert]

Soft reboot of lore right now is troublesome.
I don't want "new" lore with entirely made up concepts. I want expansions on the things I'm already playing and invested in.

We keep getting NPC races with more world building than playable races.
I don't want more stuff like these new Centaur when Vulpera and Void Elves are sitting there having to make up a million headcanons just to have a basic roleplaying game experience.

Other side of the world?
Can't care.
I want updates on what's happening with what's already there.

[RahEndymion]

Taliesin had an interesting idea, that going to the other side of Azeroth might be the start of several new expansions. Basically, a whole new side of Azeroth with multiple continents to be released over the next few years, which would allow Blizzard to do a soft reboot of the lore and offer new lands similar to EK and KA without having to revamp those.

Pretty sure Tali is just following this thread. I say that, because this is from May:

Rather than unlock the whole continent in 11.0, I think it would make a shit ton more sense to set up a EK/Kali sized continent, and have that be the basis for multiple expansions where the lore is built and expanded upon and it slowly gets unlocked over time. I know the usual characters will say this would be 'too samey' or something like that but honestly, there is absolutely no reason why you couldn't have more cosmically influenced zones / areas within such a large space. It would give them more room to fully flesh things out too rather than just a spontaneous 'LOOK NEW ISLAND'.

I know this isn't going to happen because it would make me far too happy.

Which I still think would be the best possible outcome. There is nothing I would like more than to be able to see the zones of the next xpac on the map, have been working towards getting them unlocked and finding out what's inside and then to finally get a prepatch where a wall comes down or a barrier is breached and so on. That sort of long term thinking is really missing in current wow.

[Hitei]

Pretty sure Tali is just following this thread. I say that, because this is from May:



Which I still think would be the best possible outcome. There is nothing I would like more than to be able to see the zones of the next xpac on the map, have been working towards getting them unlocked and finding out what's inside and then to finally get a prepatch where a wall comes down or a barrier is breached and so on. That sort of long term thinking is really missing in current wow.

Having a map full of places that do not exist and can't be accessed because there's just some magic wall or fog in the way sounds awful.

[RahEndymion]

Having a map full of places that do not exist and can't be accessed because there's just some magic wall or fog in the way sounds awful.

Why? It's the same amount of zones and same size as any other expansion? What is it you find that is worse than 'here's an island that didn't exist for the last 15 years of flying/sailing over this patch of ocean' ?

[Berkilak]

MI don't want more stuff like these new Centaur when Vulpera and Void Elves are sitting there having to make up a million headcanons just to have a basic roleplaying game experience.

More to the point, I don’t want new Centaur when we already have existing Centaur that necessitate the use of the word “new” to differentiate from.

If you want to dig deeper into Centaur culture? Revisit the Centaur. Want to give us softer Centaur? Show us the Centaur getting to that point.

I don’t mind new additions. What gets on my nerves is replacing and reinventing.

[Worldshaper]

Soft reboot of lore right now is troublesome.
I don't want "new" lore with entirely made up concepts. I want expansions on the things I'm already playing and invested in.

We keep getting NPC races with more world building than playable races.
I don't want more stuff like these new Centaur when Vulpera and Void Elves are sitting there having to make up a million headcanons just to have a basic roleplaying game experience.

Other side of the world?
Can't care.
I want updates on what's happening with what's already there.

I think there's room for a nice middle ground. Think of a family tree. Two people alive today who are third cousins probably don't know each other, and have very little in common. But a couple hundred years ago, the branches came from two shared great-great (etc) grandparents.

If we went to a new place, there can still be traces of old lore which unites new with old.

There can be Titan relics.

There can be shipwrecked sailors who, over hundreds of years, formed colonies and started to spread (think of America, except if Europe had no knowledge of what's going on).

There can be Naga, Murlocs, and Gnolls. The fundamental pieces of what makes Azeroth into what it is could be in place.

BUT.

What we wouldn't necessarily have to deal with:

- Anduin
- Sylvanas
- Outdated cities
- Horde v Alliance
- The Dark Portal opening for the umpteenth time
- The Lich King's legacy being mishandled again
- Etc

It would be a way to write new stories and adventures I'm a familiar setting.

[Kiivar86]

Having a map full of places that do not exist and can't be accessed because there's just some magic wall or fog in the way sounds awful.

Isn't that basically what already happens? Suddenly new islands or whatever appear out of the fog or ether or what have you.

[Hitei]

Why? It's the same amount of zones and same size as any other expansion? What is it you find that is worse than 'here's an island that didn't exist for the last 15 years of flying/sailing over this patch of ocean' ?

You kill a boss. It drops a pair of item level scaling gloves, which you loot and equip.

You kill a boss, it drops two items gloves and boots. You loot the gloves like normal, but when you go to mouse over the boots, instead of displaying the regular gear tooltip, you get a message that says "unlocks in two years". It's still just a regular pair of boots, but it only exists as a placeholder, non-viewable item for the next two years.

In both these situations "you get the same amount". One is a significantly less enjoyable experience.

It's the same as playing an early access game, walking down a path, finding a fork and when you try to go left you get an "Area to be added in future update" message. All it does is break immersion and create a hypothetical thing that you want to interact with, but can't because it isn't actually in the game, it's just a placeholder. Better to just have the single path and then when you want to add another area, make the path split than have the player running into artificial walls.

I would rather have a single continent map that expands into a two continent map, and then a three continent map, than have a three continent map knowing that 2/3 of that it's gonna be half a decade before one of those three places is even accessible. Especially when it means that there's no surprise about what is coming next because it's going to be that second place you already have on your map, and the third (or those are getting delayed a couple years).

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Isn't that basically what already happens? Suddenly new islands or whatever appear out of the fog or ether or what have you.

Pressing 1 for Lightning Bolt and having a cast bar come up, and pressing 1 for sinister strike and then waiting for energy and GCD are, in distilled essence, the exact same action of pressing the same button every second or two to attack an enemy. Their presentation is everything.

There is a large difference in experience between a map full of invisible walls and areas that aren't actually there, and a map that is fully explorable to which additional things are added, even if the distilled essence is that both involve a similar size of landmass and more places later.

[RahEndymion]

You kill a boss. It drops a pair of item level scaling gloves, which you loot and equip.

You kill a boss, it drops two items gloves and boots. You loot the gloves like normal, but when you go to mouse over the boots, instead of displaying the regular gear tooltip, you get a message that says "unlocks in two years". It's still just a regular pair of boots, but it only exists as a placeholder, non-viewable item for the next two years.

In both these situations "you get the same amount". One is a significantly less enjoyable experience.

It's the same as playing an early access game, walking down a path, finding a fork and when you try to go left you get an "Area to be added in future update" message. All it does is break immersion and create a hypothetical thing that you want to interact with, but can't because it isn't actually in the game, it's just a placeholder. Better to just have the single path and then when you want to add another area, make the path split than have the player running into artificial walls.

I would rather have a single continent map that expands into a two continent map, and then a three continent map, than have a three continent map knowing that 2/3 of that it's gonna be half a decade before one of those three places is even accessible. Especially when it means that there's no surprise about what is coming next because it's going to be that second place you already have on your map, and the third (or those are getting delayed a couple years).

Okay, but that's not actually analogous at all. In the scenario I described you would will get two usable items and the third would be outside of your level range. You're getting the same and more that is withheld, rather than half and half like you suppose.

In the scenario I described, you can literally have a mountain that is unscalable, a lake that you cannot cross due to fatigue or a desert that does likewise. You don't even have to have it shown on the minimap. The whole point is that you are getting one single coherent landmass with a single coherent narrative set much like you do in vanilla.

Do you really just want random mini contents of 4-5 zones that appear one day forever all because the idea of having to work towards or wait for something triggers you?

That sounds truly absurd. You've had a lot of L takes in this thread lol.

[Alanar]

Hardmode drops hero track gear and aspect crests

Let's goooooo

If I would be running these modes because X, I would be pretty darn dissapointed with these rewards lol.

I understand excitement over gorehowl etc, but tracker set...or some weird wooden shite on my back.. Who the f cares?

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There are better ways to show infinite motivations than with having the player help keep Alexstraza trapped, given how messed up that bit of lore is it's better not to be involved.

What was so messed up, that you are spefically mention it?