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

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I just really hope it's at least larger scaled zones.

What do you mean by that(Honest question)? Combining zones or making zones bigger, I'm curious what you mean.

[Telogrus]

It could also be that Thrall is just important in 10.3

BTW one thing I haven't seen discussed
Why is Fyrakk working with Igira? What is she crafting for him? In the suffusion camps the focus clearly is shaping metal to deliver to Igira and Fyrakk. Every NPC tells us so in different ways. So they are making something. Either Igira is making spears to kill the Aspects or she is making Fyrakk plating so he can survive the shadowflame just like Deathwing did. While the second option makes more sense to me, we did just get that fight in Aberrus with Kazzara so it seems unlikely. Maybe something else entirely?
I really expect that two boss raid to happen.

I think we’re getting a mini-raid in 10.1.7. Fyrakk has been the main villain of the Black DF in Season 2, so it makes sense for him to go down in this season. Ebyssian, Wrathion, and Sabellian can show their character growth by working together to bring down their foe, and we definitely do need Ebyssian to show that he’s worthy of being the Black Aspect not just character-wise, but also power-wise. I think by the end, Iridikron will come in and suck up Fyrakk’s Shadowflame into his Dragon Soul-like device.

[Hitei]

Can i ask do you think DF zones were large or because of dragon flying it didnt feel as large?

They are fairly large in general. I think Dragonriding probably makes them feel smaller than they actually are, but they are still large even with that. If we were just riding on the ground at 100% speed, a zone like Azure Span would be absolutely massive.

What do you mean by that(Honest question)? Combining zones or making zones bigger, I'm curious what you mean.

I mean the latter. Combining zones is sort of irrelevant and doesn't actually accomplish much. Like, you could combine Elwynn, Redridge, Westfall and Duskwood into "Elwynn", but that won't address the actual problem, which is that those zones (nearly all Vanilla zones) were built from the perspective of even epic riding being a fairly late luxury.

A zone like Elwynn forest was built to be a forest when you are running around at level 1-10, without even 60% riding, just moving about at regular run speed. It's a small wooded area in the modern game. Even with 310% flying it's a quick zip across that forest, combing Duskwood into it still results in a fairly small-ish forest region. It doesn't feel like an expansive forest you can go get lost in. It did back in the day, but especially in the context of a revamp, it's size becomes a limiting factor.

Ditto a zone like STV. Even recombined into the original single zone, STV is quite small. It's not some sprawling expansive jungle in the way that Azure Span is a massive region of pine forest.

There's only a couple zones (The Barrens, Tanaris, Desolace) that actually have a decent breadth to them, and barrens aside, even those are a quick traversal.

I think it's difficult to appreciate just how small old zones are. Here is the view from the hills up by Everbloom's portal in Stormwind. Look at how close Sentinel hill (more than halfway down westfall) and the great tree (the halfway point in Duskwood) are. It's a quick jog. It takes like 20 seconds on an Evoker using soar to get from Stormwind to Duskwood.

This problem is made even worse by dragonriding, because you move through a zone so fast.

So I hope that they realize this problem, and understand that to have any hope of capturing the sense of exploration in a revmap, they need to bump up scale. Forests need to feel like large forests. A town like Goldshire needs to feel like an actual town, not like a single Inn with a blacksmith and a nearby house. Stranglethorn needs to be an expansive jungle. Tanaris needs to be a massive desert, especially if they're updating gadgetzan to be the metropolis it's supposed to be in the lore. The large lakes, Loch Modan, Moonglade's Elune'ara, Darrowmere (the scholo lake) need to be actually large lakes, not small lakes you can bound across in a couple seconds with a casual one button press on a dragonriding mount.

The vanilla scale of biomes just doesn't work as well in the current game. They should be larger.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

That sounds much cooler and I'd wouldn't mind it.

[Chickat]

No way they're going to miss the opportunity of having Metzen announcing the next expansion if he's around T-T that would be brilliant

He may not want to with his anxiety and all. I wont blame him if he doesn't, but it would be epic.

[Cheezits]

What would be a good megadungeon, or multiple, in the revamp?

Scarlet Monastery?

[Chickat]

What would be a good megadungeon, or multiple, in the revamp?

Scarlet Monastery?

I think they should remake Blackrock Depths and Scarlet monastery.

BRD would be hype as a mega dungeon imo.

It could be our first 14 boss mega dungeon. Split into 4 dungeons for the following season.

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Thats nice. I hope it will benefit the story direction and tone of the game going forward. I feel like DF is heading too much into hello kitty territory with all the over the top stageplay voice acting. It doesnt need to be grim dark like Diablo, but some classic-wrath/wod-Legion tone would be nice.

Actually, remember how in his rehiring blog post it was said he was going to be on the WoW team for a bit before moving to help with other projects? What big expansion would they need THE lore guy to help on? A world revamp. Him coming back to assist with the lore and world building for a world revamp makes so much sense tbh.

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No Faction Schisms, let the Alliance not deal with the same stuff the Horde has had to tolerate...twice.

I could see 1 patch with some fighting but a truce happens before all out War. 1 single patch of a large expansion dedicated to alliance troubles and some skirmishes with the horde could be fun. As long as its not a major focus of the expansion.

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This might be cope, but Thrall's armor looks much brighter/contrasting than it was in BFA and SL. Maybe a return to his vanilla color scheme, and an overall Vanilla themed expansion?

Inb4 We lose in 10.2 finale and the expoansion sends us back to Vanilla WoW but modern and all updated. Literally the same lore and stuff as vanilla but with modern gameplay and systems.

[Hitei]

What would be a good megadungeon, or multiple, in the revamp?

Scarlet Monastery?

I would sorta hope they'd just make a bunch of new dungeons. Don't really need to clear Scholo, Deadmines, SM and SFK a third time. Shadowforge city and BRD should be a proper dwarven and gnome held questing area by this point, not still full of enemies, same with Stratholme and Gnomer.

Make Depths of Lordaeron the new megadungeon. Add Ruins of Theramore, Azerite Falls under the Wound in Silithus, Gadgetzan Back Alleys, The Scarlet Enclave, The Husk in the burned out trunk of Teldrassil, Tel'abim.

Feels like there's not much reason for a third version of WC or ST or Mara and BFD again, when those instances exist both in cata form and perpetually in Classic. Maybe throw in like one updated old raid or instance (Grim Batol, ZF, AQ) where new forces or something have moved in.

[Kiria]

Or hear me out, WoW 2.0 a new engine new game this time we would do it right by restarting from the very beginning xD can you imagine how angry people who are attached to their characters would be.

To be honest with how people are loving classic rn I wouldnt put it past them to try a reboot of sorts.

Although personally im hoping for a world revamp and I would definitely return to lvl a new character through it.

[Kiria]

They're not gonna reboot everything.

I never said they would but I still wouldnt put it past them to think of it, not that I care current wow is proper shit atm but so are all mmo's tbh.

Wow has a massive problem right now that it is TOO big and alot of the content is made completely irrelevant to the point new players look at the game and think F that it's not worth the energy, Blizz needs to attract fresh blood because a majority of the playerbase is falling off due to rl commitments and age, WoW's playerbase is literally old people who are toxic as hell to eachother.

[Hitei]

I never said they would but I still wouldnt put it past them to think of it, not that I care current wow is proper shit atm but so are all mmo's tbh.

Wow has a massive problem right now that it is TOO big and alot of the content is made completely irrelevant to the point new players look at the game and think F that it's not worth the energy, Blizz needs to attract fresh blood because a majority of the playerbase is falling off due to rl commitments and age, WoW's playerbase is literally old people who are toxic as hell to eachother.

There is no fresh blood. MMORPGs are a dying genre that younger demographics have no interest in playing.

[Kiria]

There is no fresh blood. MMORPGs are a dying genre that younger demographics have no interest in playing.

This I understand, hell im at the point myself where I look at an mmo and think nah, boring... it's just because I played WoW when I was little I'm still curious to see whats going on to see if they reinvent themselves, hopefully I will forget about it at some point when it fails to materialise fresh material.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I would say stagnant. /10chars

[Santandame]

What would be a good megadungeon, or multiple, in the revamp?

Scarlet Monastery?

As @Hitei has already said, new dungeons would be ideal. They’ve already compiled a pretty good list, and I think Gadgetzstan would make an excellent dungeon.

Just a few more I could see would be:

Everbloom Caverns - basically a spin on Wailong Caverns but the Botani have moved in and have changed the terrain and layout massively

Isle of Dread - The Woodpaw Gnolls of Feralas have grown in number and power after Decatriarch Wratheye has united the Gnoll clans and taught them how to harness Decay magic. They’ve fortified the Isle of Dread south of the former Feathermoon Stronghold where they launch their attacks on Feathermoon and the newly reclaimed Eldre’Thalas.

Everlook Palace - The Primalists have moved into Winterspring and have destroyed Everlook. In its place they have erected a giant ice palace which they use as their base of operations in northern Kalimdor.

Siege of Booty Bay - Dread Admiral Nightsquall sends a contingent of his pirate fleet to plunder Booty Bay, in search for lost charters and maps as well as to claim further resources for his own fleet.

I could see the Ruins of Darnassus as either a raid or a dungeon for sure also.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

There is no fresh blood. MMORPGs are a dying genre that younger demographics have no interest in playing.

Honestly, that's entirely contingent on what's being pumped out. Let's not forget that a genre based in nostalgia will occasionally pop up and see a surge of popularity now and again. Throughout the 2000s - 2010s, we saw a number of indie turn-based RPGs become popular. In the 2010s, we saw the emergence of the Soulsborne genre,—which has broken into the 2020s relatively unscathed,—which was based around the general pitch of providing the classic action RPG experience. Given how much money gets funneled to scam MMOs on Kickstarter and the broad appreciation for antiquated games among my generation, I could see people ~20 years of age potentially being roped in by a new release specifically tailored to feel more like a classic MMO. WoW is in a precarious position partially because it's been watered down so significantly that it could never be advertised on that basis, and because the reputation of the company that maintains the servers has fallen lower than it's ever been in the past due to the mounting number of scandals that seems to rise on an annual basis. It doesn't help that most MMO releases that have come out recently have been exceptionally low-quality, with none of the care put into them that went into vanilla WoW. If a new MMO were to be released with the pretension of imitating the MMORPG experience at its peak, I could see it being fairly successful with my own generation.

[Revamp Man]

What would be a good megadungeon, or multiple, in the revamp?

Scarlet Monastery?

Anything to do with the scarlet crusade

[Luck4]

Updated Ironforge Guard Armour Set
https://www.wowhead.com/news/updated...31850#comments

Extremely detailed Scarlet Armour Set
https://www.wowhead.com/news/partial...0-1-ptr-331862

Updated Horde and Alliance buildings and airship
https://www.wowhead.com/news/new-and...-327800?page=3

New Weapons seemingly tied to faction, class or race
https://www.wowhead.com/news/more-th...rde-axe-331945
https://www.wowhead.com/news/class-s...-331787?page=5
https://www.wowhead.com/news/new-pla...-swords-331827

Dont forget about these updated HD scalemail Armor sets!

These are the biggest hints for a World Revamp and why I keep believing in it. We also cannot forget all the stuff already added in BFA that was barely used, such as Night Elf/Undead/Orc/Human buildings, and the fact that Draenei buildings/architecture have been available since WOD/LEGION, these alone mean the work for five races is already done.

Regarding Thrall and the elements, there are also some things that people are missing, for instance, that the elementals caused a large portion of the damage in Cataclysm, 0:55:



That we already visited all the elemental planes back in Cataclysm, and three of them are "connected with" or "established in" Kalimdor/Eastern Kingdoms: Mount Hyjal-Firelands, Uldum-Skywall, Vashji'r-Abyssal Maw; only Deepholme is disconnected.

And the last time we saw the elemental lords back in Legion, we worked closely with them and even united them to fight on our side:



Meanwhile, in BFA, Azeroth was even more damaged thanks to Sargera's sword, and Alexztraza reminds us in 4:40 about Azeroth's condition:



So, Thrall could be the guy that'll restore Azeroth, after all, the planet still is heavily damaged, and we might need the elementals' help to restore her.

Avaloren is a strong contender for sure, but we only learned about it recently, and I think a little more time is needed before going there.

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I can already hear a certain guy...

[Revamp Man]

Thrall is the world shaman
The elements didn't abandon him like he thinks
There was a shift in the planes and we see some of those shifts in Legion and hear about them in BfA

11.0 will be us discovering the turmoil with iridikron serving as a kind of guldan except of course we kill him in 10.3

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This leak season is gonna be lit

[Luck4]

This leak season is gonna be lit

I already have one that I like but it's FAKE AF, LMAO:

[Nibelheimy]

Ima laugh if it turns out we do get a partial world revamp. But not the eastern kingdoms like everyone thinks.

But Kalimdor, with a focus on the Kalimdor Horde and Alliance races. We get the new tree back, re-heal the barrens and help Durotar flourish with Thrall and Rexxar. Mean streets of Gadgetzan added in and caverns of time could be remade with updates from our next patch.

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Actually thinking about it, let's say patch 10.2 isn't the physical tree in the dragon ilses but just a portal to it's location in the dream. We protect it while it's growing from the primalists.

If this theoretical expansion would take place, the horde would have revamped orgrimmar and the alliance and night elf players would get the new fully grown Darnassus ( or whatever they will call it) as a home city for the expansion. I think a lot of Alliance players or at least night elf players really deserve that after the years of night elf neglect. Would be a great time to add Furlbog and Ogres to the factions too.

The following expansion can then tackle eastern Kingdoms and any light bound plot. I share the sentiment that Blizzard will want to avoid any WoD alternate time line shenanigans for this next expansion with the anniversaries. They're not going to want people to think 'lol remember how bad WoD was' after their potentially biggest reveal of all time. This one needs to be a biggie. No bad vibes.

After the dragonflight time skip, it's time to right the wrongs of the past now and the night elf story is in my opinion one of the most laughed at and disappointing storylines. Dire maul is highly requested, the botani in Durotar has gained interest, Gadgetzan is a hearthstone favourite of many. Baine is now open to Centaurs and Kurog was a Grimtotem that wasn't really built upon at all in game. The bronze flight story is progressing. The orcs had their festival renewed in their heritage quest. The night elves are growing a new world tree, Malfuurion has gone so Tyrande can take centre stage. 3 out of 4 of the remaining heritage quests would be on Kalimdor. I mean the more I think about it, the less outlandish it feels. If they chose to do this I feel it could be a real success for them.

One last thought, if I wanted people to remember the original zones just in time for me to revamp them so everyone could say 'wow, look how cool they look now' I'd do a temporary dragon riding event through all the main scenic points, and I'm not even team revamp here.