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

[Enrif]

I've also seen the point come up before that the lack of face might make them less easy to connect with, but I don't think that should be an issue; if the body language is endearing and distinctive enough, there should be enough identity in the characters even without faces. It'd take longer to develop that connection, but it could still be fostered without a visible face or face supplement.

I think, Ethereals having no face can actually be a positive, as it could incentivize using helmets. Most people hide any helm transmog. Ethereals with no real facial features could be a prime race to actually show helmets and other head gear of. Hoods will also look awesome on ethereals.

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This doesn't really make sense considering the biggest Rootlands tease happened in the Emerald Dream. That's where we learned about Elun'ahir in the first place, and it doesn't really make sense to tease a big mystery- which is extremely important to the ongoing Titan plotline- after the resolution to said mystery has already been scrapped.

If Amirdrassil would have been in TWW instead of DF, i don't think the roots would need to be hinted at, at all, as the story of the roots would be likely more pronounced in the campaign of TWW instead.

[Jolly Roger]

azeroth is so huge yet empty because they do nothing with all the zones. just the classic leveling zones being redone could cover like 4 expansions but no some are still stuck in the naga invading

[Eldryth]

If Amirdrassil would have been in TWW instead of DF, i don't think the roots would need to be hinted at, at all, as the story of the roots would be likely more pronounced in the campaign of TWW instead.

Sure, but I have no idea how that hypothetical leads you to conclude that the Dream replaced the Rootlands.

Of course the buildup would have been different if the Dream and Rootlands were mutually exclusive. But that's not the story we've been getting. Elun'ahir- which by all indications is the roots the Haranir are protecting- was first teased in the Dream itself. And in the process, it was tied to important Titan lore that can be used to flesh out Eonar and Aman'thul rather than rushing it all in TLT, and gave us our first mention of the Haranir. It makes no sense to drop such a big tease for an important place that, had the Dream replaced it, would have already been scrapped before work on the Dream started.

And on top of that, instead of scrapping the buildup to it in TWW proper, we've been getting steady buildup and Orwenya as a main character. There would have been plenty of time to abandon that before we even learned about them, and make someone else the focal character for the Radiant Song instead. Especially given that we didn't learn about her at all until alpha/beta, which would have given them several months more to change that part of the story. It doesn't make sense to me to keep setting up a plotline that's already been abandoned.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

For me Warcraft is all about Azeroth and at most we should be off world for a single patch like Argus.

Other planets/plains can shove it with the ones we got being the worse parts of wow if you ask me and with an updated world scale like we’re getting with Midnight we aren’t lacking in areas or story’s that can be told with the Azeroth zones if they all get made bigger.

[huth]

For me Warcraft is all about Azeroth and at most we should be off world for a single patch like Argus.

It hasn't been since WarCraft 2, so that'd just mean you're wrong what the story is about.

[Nymrohd]

I think new locations even outside Azeroth can work just fine as long as they are integrated well in the story and our adventures there feel consequential. Draenor was very well integrated in the history of Warcraft but our WoD adventure felt inconsequential because of the time travel shenanigans and the fact that the Ironmarch failed before the expansion even started. Shadowlands failed mostly because of the content drought and poor gameplay system and less because of the content itself imo but still I felt it was integrated very clumsily into the history of Azeroth.
They seem to be doing a solid job of building to Avaloren so that when we get there it will definitely feel organic.
That said, I still expect K'aresh to be an Argus-style patch or even for us to visit it during a raid or dungeon and not actually adventure there until later down the road.

[Hitei]

They could easily give them masks for people who a face to customize.

God no. One of their distinguishing features is being faceless. Not having a face is a complete non-issue. It is literally 1 of like 10+ customizable features on any other given race, and it can just be replaced by different head configurations of wrappings.

[Merryck]

I wonder if Ethereals will be like the Dracthyr in that they can't see gear on their bodies, but rather pick clothing / armour as customisation options.

[Lady Atia]

God no. One of their distinguishing features is being faceless. Not having a face is a complete non-issue. It is literally 1 of like 10+ customizable features on any other given race, and it can just be replaced by different head configurations of wrappings.

Or, just release masks via tradingpost for everyone to use instead of making it a customization.

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I wonder if Ethereals will be like the Dracthyr in that they can't see gear on their bodies, but rather pick clothing / armour as customisation options.

Why? If you want to around as a "naked" Ethereal you can just hide your armour. Imagine if we could play them but not use the current ethereal rogue nexus princess set lol. Would be terrible.

[Enrif]

Why? If you want to around as a "naked" Ethereal you can just hide your armour. Imagine if we could play them but not use the current ethereal rogue nexus princess set lol. Would be terrible.

yeah, another dracthyr situation would be horrible.

But having their ethereal armor as a customization option that is not part of your gear could be nice, and could be matched with different types of transmogs

[Hitei]

Why? If you want to around as a "naked" Ethereal you can just hide your armour. Imagine if we could play them but not use the current ethereal rogue nexus princess set lol. Would be terrible.

Sort of seems redundant since the main draw of that set is applying the bandage look that would be inherent to Ethereal, but I would hope that transmog works fully on them and also that their energy effects clip through armor and are set with such positioning that when in full armor, it seems to be leaking through the gaps. e.g. at the top of boots/gloves.

[Ersula]

Other planets/plains can shove it with the ones we got being the worse parts of wow if you ask me and with an updated world scale like we’re getting with Midnight we aren’t lacking in areas or story’s that can be told with the Azeroth zones if they all get made bigger.

I think the quality just depends on the person in charge, and Metzen was the one guy on the team who was like 'Orcs are aliens and there's this alien planet called Draenor....and this alien planet called Argus with even more aliens..."

[Cheezits]

I mean the new ethereal model can be stripped down to the very base so they likely can wear armor if they are playable. There's even a wrap mode that covers up all the energy almost entirely so they just look like a regular mummy.

They already look like humans, the one distinguishing thing if they were covered in regular armor would be their funky pose and animations.

[Enrif]

And transmog allows to hide all slots. So you can play a "nude" ethereal to show of the bandages. And i think, compared to other races, ethereals can pull off the nude look much better

[KOUNTERPARTS]

When the new Ethereal models were datamined for 11.1. and how certain armor times were fitting on the skeletons, that cemented my belief that we will be getting playable Ethereal in the future.

Although the majority of the models have the models wrapped up completely in bandages. They look like glorified mummies. Perhaps potential customization in the future could see parts of the arcane-infused body being shown between bandages. Or, poorly wrapped bandages with the silhouettes of body parts (arms, legs) being shown with hues of purple/pink/red energy.

These are my favorite one so far, to showcase what I'm talking about:





Effectively the bandages would function as the skin, so there should not be any clipping issues or potential misaligned armor visuals.

[Cheezits]

When the new Ethereal models were datamined for 11.1. and how certain armor times were fitting on the skeletons, that cemented my belief that we will be getting playable Ethereal in the future.

If they were just getting new models I wouldn't think much of it, but them bothering to add a second body type (with rounded chest, which is a bit silly), a model that can be fully naked, and more customization than the Haranir made me think it's happening. Especially the full body wrap option because that feels very "doesn't fit the race but players will want it". That sentiment extends to the boobs actually.
Zero reason for them to have boobs besides a feminine model for players to express themselves.

Also, yeah I agree that them getting the new models so early does feel like they may be a preorder bonus. It would fit with the accelerated dev time for the saga, their starting zone may be complete well before Midnight. Maybe with a K'areshi Camel mount as we likely won't get K'aresh mounts and items for a while.

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I had no idea there was a completely normal head option... c'mon, that feels on the nose.

It's odd as from my testing on the PTR, only a single new ethereal model is included, but they included the full suite of customization for them.

Messing with Phase-Thief Azir's animations, I noticed he has animations for both Mounts, and also MountWide (where their legs are spread wider). From my looking around, most NPC races lack multiple mount animations.

https://www.wowhead.com/ptr-2/npc=23...ase-thief-azir

[Marlamin]

I had no idea there was a completely normal head option... c'mon, that feels on the nose.

It's odd as from my testing on the PTR, only a single new ethereal model is included, but they included the full suite of customization for them.

This is relatively normal for these kind of models. They started doing it with the dreadlords in SL and it's been relatively common on models that see a lot of use for many creature variations.

Definitely expect to see more variations of them this expansion still, but don't jump as far as equating it with character models.

[Cheezits]

This is relatively normal for these kind of models. They started doing it with the dreadlords in SL and it's been relatively common on models that see a lot of use for many creature variations.

Definitely expect to see more variations of them this expansion still, but don't jump as far as equating it with character models.

Oh yeah, I don't think customization = playable. The Ascended have a good chunk as did the new Nathrezim. Plus the Covenant races were decently varied.

I was thinking more the customizations seem suspiciously made with playability in mind, including some areas of the body you may not see on a covered-up NPC. If I was designing them as NPCs I would make them far more similar to the TBC versions with weirder stances and bandages that actually float vs acting as a tight skin wrap.

It seems similar to Legion Launch Nightborne vs AR Nightborne.

EDIT: Do NPC races usually get two+ mount animations? I'm looking through them and trying to find another. Seems like playable races + playable race NPCs get up to three: Mount, MountMedium and sometimes MountWide to accommodate their size. NPC (so far have checked: NPC Nightborne, Vrykul, Sethrak, Tortollan, Kyrian, Venthyr, Gladiator Maldraxxi, Sylvar, Drakonid, Ascended Nerubian) races just have Mount. However, Phase-Thief Azir has Mount and MountMedium on his list.

Zaqali have "MountWide" as well.

Orweyna has a "MountExtraWide" animation which I hadn't seen before on the list!

[Joshuaj]

I agree Warcraft should focus primarily on Azeroth.

It's all right to have other "worlds" (preferable to "planets" in this context) be referenced every now and then. It can add new possibilities (like the Draenei).

Obviously, Outland/Draenor has been part of it almost since the beginning. But for the most part, it was treated as just another "realm," accessed through a magical portal.

There's a metric crap ton they could still do with Azeroth.

- Revamp zones, at once or in chunks. Lets us see new story in familiar places, but also a chance to improve existing places. For example, Stormwind could have a new district, or a dungeon. Alterac could be expanded and have some bigger ruins and villages. Elwynn could easily fit another village or two

- Travel south, north, west, or east from existing landmasses (without going all the way to the other side of Azeroth). What islands lie here, like the Dragon Isles and Isle of Dorn? Is Avaloren a similar place in the northwest? Is there some tropical paradise in the southeast, below EK?

- Decide everything we know is just the northern hemisphere, and add a south one. Tropical archipelago? Deserts? After all, KA and EK are pretty much North America and Europe, so there's room for more.

- The obvious one: other side of Azeroth. Could literally fit multiple continents if they wanted to.

- Time travel to Azeroth's past.

- Seafaring expansion that cleans up what's left of the Great Sea. Plunder Isle, Tel'Abim, Zuldare, etc.

- A new take on an Emerald Dream or Shadowlands type of expansion. Instead of us going there, it comes to us. Like originally envisioned. For example, death might spill over into the physical world. "The veil" could tear everywhere across Azeroth, like little blue rifts.

- Enter a quirky pocket-dimension. Maybe the Darkmoon Faire always had a shadowy realm inside Elwynn Forest, like a dark and haunted woodland.

"Instead of us going there, it comes to us like originally envisioned"

You do realize Shadowlands started out that way, yeah?

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Also, an expansion on us going back in time to Azeroth's past is, while cool, also very risky to do. Arguably more risky than us going to a cosmic realm.

[Khaza-R]

Eh, I hope they never do something time-related as the primary story for a future expansion

Being a custodian who just keeps things in order isn't fun imo.

Then you also run into the same mess as Alt Draenor where you effectively created a place that's disconnected from the rest of the setting. Seeing primordial Azeroth would be cool. But then what? Its relevance would fade and basically never be used after the expansion ran its course.

I think it can be good if done correctly but that's well beyond the scope of what WoW usually does.