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

[Joshuaj]

From the tone of it, I bet we wouldn't have gone to Quelthalas at all

Why are we taking anything that guy is saying seriously?

He has the nerve to say this shit in the same interview: "Our expansions were late. You know, patches weren't getting done on time. And the movie was terr— it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen."

DAWG YOU WERE THE CEO OF ACTIVISION AT THE TIME!!!

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Metzen came back, saw the initial plans of TWW and was impressed by it, but he wanted to add onto it. Obviously the expansion would eventually become the War Within, but the plan to make it a saga was something he, Terran, and MAYBE Danuser before he left planned out.

I don't think Blizzard fully knew what would occur post-War Within prior to Metzen ngl.

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Heck, that's likely part of why they brought him back.

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Idk, feels rather dishonest for us to shit on Bobby for being a scumbag, only to believe every word he says once he starts playing the victim in all of this.

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Like, y'all do realize he's playing you for fools, yeah? It's deception VIA gaslighting, simple as that.

[Khaza-R]

I was sure that all that would still be in, since they surely would have known by launch if they were changing course and could have just left all that mystery they were building up out. Now, though... the Ethereals have clearly become a bigger plot thread for TWW specifically, the entire main story has been about chasing the Dark Heart (which is now on K'aresh), and Undermined ended with a pretty explicit tease that we'd be going to K'aresh next.

At this point, I wonder if Orwenya leaving really was the last we'll see of the rest of her people for now, and they'll be left as a long-term plot hook like the Arathi Empire. I do think that she will stick around, since they kind of made a big point of her being the one speaking for Azeroth now, but she might be the only Haranir we see for a long while.

If it was indeeed cut then I think there's a chance it could be relevant again in TLT.

I could see the worldcore being part of Iridikron's story. And the haranir might pop up again when dealing with Freya.

Why are so many people sure we’re getting playable ethereals? Last I checked they aren’t exactly allied with either faction and most of their kind don’t interact with us or they’re the corrupt ones.

The way the story is unfolding it pointing towards a civil war of sorts between the Ethereals.

The Shadowguard are allied with Xal'atath and Dimensius. While the Etherium hates Dimensius and seems to want to thwart Xal'atath. So it be the enemy of my enemy type situation.

[Eldryth]

From the tone of it, I bet we wouldn't have gone to Quelthalas at all

Yeah, even the Metzen video interview itself sounds like that.

When I came back, I'm like, "All right, let's go! World of Warcraft, what do we got? What are we making? And they had already been doing War Within, or what would become, you know, War Within, for about ten months. While I liked what they were building and thought it was a cool next chapter in WoW, in my head I'm like, "For the 20th anniversary of WoW, like, I want to have a feeling, like, whatever the product becomes, I want to have a feeling of pulling all the toys out of the toy box."
The older characters, the kind of macro themes that this series has been about all of these years- Titans, Old Gods, Light and Dark- I wanted to feel like the anniversary was capturing, you know, like, this kind of mix of all of the core flavors, and ultimately proofing out that there has been this storyline all the way through, that everything kind of converges into this crescendo. And in a very real way, how The War Within was shaping up, they were like, "Yeah, dude, there's no way on Earth, right? You know, that's going to divert the course of mighty rivers. There's no way to get that done on top of what we're already in production of." So that began this idea of a larger Saga.

There was no larger story arc in mind for the first 10 months of TWW's development. He might have liked it as a standalone expansion in a vacuum, but by Metzen's own account, it was his idea to bring in all of the older stuff and turn it into the prologue of a bigger story, and the rest of the dev team was skeptical about it at first.

I'd speculate that initially, it was just going to be a one-off adventure where we hunt down and kill Xal'atath in Khaz Algar, and then we'd go do something completely different from the current plans in 12.0. Maybe the Arathi Empire? That probably would have been my guess for the next expansion based only on what we're seeing in game, if we hadn't already known about the Saga.

[Joshuaj]

IF the Worldcore stuff was pushed back (assuming it was ever planned for TWW to begin with), I wouldn't be shocked. Not rushing that part of the story and saving it for TLT would probably help a ton in terms of story cohesion. Though, on the other hand, I do think us going to the Worldcore is possible for 11.2.

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Yeah, even the Metzen video interview itself sounds like that.




There was no larger story arc in mind for the first 10 months of TWW's development. He might have liked it as a standalone expansion in a vacuum, but by Metzen's own account, it was his idea to bring in all of the older stuff and turn it into the prologue of a bigger story.

I'd speculate that initially, it was just going to be a one-off adventure where we hunt down and kill Xal'atath in Khaz Algar, and then we'd go do something completely different from the current plans in 12.0. Maybe the Arathi Empire? That probably would have been my guess for the next expansion based only on what we're seeing in game, if we hadn't already known about the Saga.

Like I said before, I'm not sure Blizzard themselves fully knew where they were going after TWW. However, it being a 1 off expac was likely the idea. I'm glad it didn't end up becoming that however, especially with Azeroth's growing importance throughout Legion, BFA, Shadowlands, and Dragonflight.

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Same with the build up regarding the Void, the Light, and the Titans.

[Merryck]

Damn. TWW would've been so boring without the Worldsoul Saga.

[The-Shan]

...You really just threw a Bobby Kotick interview at me? Really? You honestly expect me to believe a word that comes out of his mouth? Come on now, not even you believe it.

Besides, I'd rather believe what Metzen himself said, thank you very much

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You sound offended? Chris Metzen is doing PR, He can't say "My co-workers? Their ideas were AWFUL! I came in to do BETTER ideas!" He worded it diplomatically in this in this interview, but his phrasing seems like he's concealing his feelings on what existed prior to him changing things.

By contrast, Kotick has no reason to do PR on how blizzard is micro-managed, he's not involved anymore. He doesn't have to protect the feelings of any of metzens co-workers, or protect the product either.

[Joshuaj]

You sound offended? Chris Metzen is doing PR, He can't say "My co-workers? Their ideas were AWFUL! I came in to do BETTER ideas!" He worded it diplomatically in this in this interview, but his phrasing seems like he's concealing his feelings on what existed prior to him changing things.

I'm a little offended, yes. Also, you're adding emotions to Metzen that likely never existed to begin with. It's weird.

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Also, again, Bobby Kotick can still play victim to all of this. You really think a man like him is being completely honest here?

[Jolly Roger]

Y'all really overhype the changes Metzen brought in to The War Within. He actually liked what they originally had planned, but Metzen's changes were primarily focused on celebrating Warcraft's 20th anniversary. And due to the massive plans they had for the soul of Azeroth, Metzen and co felt the need to stretch it out in a 3 part saga.

source?
because i heard different in the lounge at blizzcon

[Hitei]

Why are so many people sure we’re getting playable ethereals? Last I checked they aren’t exactly allied with either faction and most of their kind don’t interact with us or they’re the corrupt ones.

Mostly the same reason people were sure we were getting covenant races in SL. i.e. they want them and they sound like a good big name addition.

[Cheezits]

If literally every single launch Khaz Algar story is wrapped up by 11.1.7 then yeah, Kotick is right. I could see Undermine being in the original draft but maybe the energy behind it has to do with it being the first thing Metzen had to do with.

[Joshuaj]

If literally every single launch Khaz Algar story is wrapped up by 11.1.7 then yeah, Kotick is right. I could see Undermine being in the original draft but maybe the energy behind it has to do with it being the first thing Metzen had to do with.

If every launch story is dealt with in 11.1.7, that just means Blizzard changed things to better fit with the Saga. I'm not crediting that fucker Kotick. Heck, Undermine basically exists to make fun of him without directly saying his name.

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source?
because i heard different in the lounge at blizzcon

Lol funny.

[Darkarath]

https://bsky.app/profile/portergauge.../3llk4npvsvs2l

Looks like they are offscreening resolutions to the Nerubian plot: Ytheki broke control from Xal.

I now fully think they are ditching Orweyna lol.

Oh, pretty cool ! Nice seeing the Weaver monitoring the situation.

I mean, I certainly understand that The War Within was made under special circumstances in which they had a original plan that had to be changed around for the Saga and what Metzen brought to the table. Its just, why even have the residual existence of Orweyna, the Black Blood, Rootlands and the potential more importance layed upon Beledar.

Probably they salvaged what they could. TWW was already underway when the WSS was born. I would say that they did a fantastic job in keeping some parts while building a greater arc.

The Harranir are OK. They build the Life theme that we would have to face eventually. I fully expect them to be very present in TLT.

The Black Blood is still a thing as the Dark Heart has tons of it.

The Beledar is the main worry ATM. They cannot finish TWW without dealing with it. Since 11.2 is most likely K'aresh, they don't have much time. Although we have no idea of what the Beledar is, so they can link it to whatever is coming.

[Nymrohd]

If literally every single launch Khaz Algar story is wrapped up by 11.1.7 then yeah, Kotick is right. I could see Undermine being in the original draft but maybe the energy behind it has to do with it being the first thing Metzen had to do with.

If 11.1.7 has something with Orweyna to wrap up her story properly, it is very much possible

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There was no larger story arc in mind for the first 10 months of TWW's development. He might have liked it as a standalone expansion in a vacuum, but by Metzen's own account, it was his idea to bring in all of the older stuff and turn it into the prologue of a bigger story, and the rest of the dev team was skeptical about it at first.

I'd speculate that initially, it was just going to be a one-off adventure where we hunt down and kill Xal'atath in Khaz Algar, and then we'd go do something completely different from the current plans in 12.0. Maybe the Arathi Empire? That probably would have been my guess for the next expansion based only on what we're seeing in game, if we hadn't already known about the Saga.

I'd assume they planned an evil Light expansion in the Arathi empire.

[Limayria]

If it was indeeed cut then I think there's a chance it could be relevant again in TLT.

I could see the worldcore being part of Iridikron's story. And the haranir might pop up again when dealing with Freya.



The way the story is unfolding it pointing towards a civil war of sorts between the Ethereals.

The Shadowguard are allied with Xal'atath and Dimensius. While the Etherium hates Dimensius and seems to want to thwart Xal'atath. So it be the enemy of my enemy type situation.

Also Etherals mirror trolls and elves being a native race that was transformed by outside forces interacting with their worlds soul like how the nelves were shaped by elune and the WoE (and thus titans) and the trolls were (presumably) influenced by the old gods and the Etherals were transformed by the void

I could also see elves reigniting kinship with a group of naga (maybe this could involve he illidari aligned naga forces?) and the naga finding a kinship with a group of friendly void touched Etherals who themselves are working with locus walker and the void elves who are reunifying with the blood elves, who are likely going to have the sunwell get merc'd leading to the blood elves once again searching for a way to state their addictions

I could also see the high elf/blood elf reunification ending up with all the elves as sin'dorei rather than reuniting the void/blood elves into a larger high elf faction

[Darkarath]

Also Etherals mirror trolls and elves being a native race that was transformed by outside forces interacting with their worlds soul like how the nelves were shaped by elune and the WoE (and thus titans) and the trolls were (presumably) influenced by the old gods and the Etherals were transformed by the void

I could also see elves reigniting kinship with a group of naga (maybe this could involve he illidari aligned naga forces?) and the naga finding a kinship with a group of friendly void touched Etherals who themselves are working with locus walker and the void elves who are reunifying with the blood elves, who are likely going to have the sunwell get merc'd leading to the blood elves once again searching for a way to state their addictions

I could also see the high elf/blood elf reunification ending up with all the elves as sin'dorei rather than reuniting the void/blood elves into a larger high elf faction

I wonder if in K'aresh we would see a flashback of how Ethereals were before Dimensius. It would be sick. I'm super interested in seeing what Blizzard could come up when making a new humanoid race, even if they're currently extinct.

Nagas will be present in Midnight. The reunification of Elves cannot happen without them, whether as an allied sub-faction or as villains.

BTW we know that Sargeras' sword will be dealt within the WSS, and most likely, Sargeras would be free or dead at the end of the WSS. If he wields the sword again, I think that there is a good chance that in the process of taking it out of Azeroth, he would destroy or severely alter not only Silithus, but the whole of South Kalimdor, which could be a way of revamping that part of the Old World.

[allegrian]

I wouldn't mind a slightly longer third tier, though I'd like having the first two raids of an expansion to have their normal/heroic modes scaled up and the ability to get AoTC in all three raids during season 3 along side dinar so you can actually realize the potential power

Well you cant get aotc on fated seasons anyway, I doubt they would do it on a normal third season

[Cheezits]

Odd question but when does the six month/year special mount swap out? I want to get a year sub but I don't like the current slew of mounts.

[Dracullus]

Odd question but when does the six month/year special mount swap out? I want to get a year sub but I don't like the current slew of mounts.

Probably October/November:

https://www.wowhead.com/news/new-12-...des-new-329655
https://www.wowhead.com/news/new-12-...arcraft-335716
https://www.wowhead.com/news/new-12-...smetics-348088

[Khaza-R]

Interesting. Blizzard apparently is licensing out the exclusive rights to the StarCraft IP to South Korean publishers to make new games.

I wonder if might ever do the same with WarCraft.

https://powerupgaming.co.uk/2025/03/...aft-ip-rights/

[Cheezits]

Probably October/November:

https://www.wowhead.com/news/new-12-...des-new-329655
https://www.wowhead.com/news/new-12-...arcraft-335716
https://www.wowhead.com/news/new-12-...smetics-348088

Damn, yeah I'm not waiting for that.

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Interesting. Blizzard apparently is licensing out the exclusive rights to the StarCraft IP to South Korean publishers to make new games.

I wonder if might ever do the same with WarCraft.

It would be a really nice idea as they clearly have no interest in making RTS anymore. May as well let someone else have the toybox.

It will definitely have to be noncanon or another timeline. Or War of the Ancients?

Or a branch timeline where something that happened in WC3... didn't. Maybe if Uther stopped Arthas from doing the culling? Or if Kael beat Illidan?