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

[Khaza-R]

I can see that, yeah. I do hope we get a Night Elf Neighborhood in Midnight as well.

Would be nice. But based off what they said I wouldn't expect future neighborhood zones to be very race specific or faction-locked. Seems like they are going with multiple biomes to try to hit a few fantasies in one big package.

Quel'thalas works because you can tie in Ghostlands/EPL for those who also want a spooky vibe.

[Sondrelk]

Would be nice. But based off what they said I wouldn't expect future neighborhood zones to be very race specific or faction-locked. Seems like they are going with multiple biomes to try to hit a few fantasies in one big package.

Quel'thalas works because you can tie in Ghostlands/EPL for those who also want a spooky vibe.

I disagree. I think going more specific is the way forward. The ones in Stormwind and Orgrimmar will probably be the ones that are given more generic stuff. While future ones will be very specific to hit people who specifically want to live like a Nelf or whatever.

[Daniri]

Why would you need more than one house per zone anyways (especially when the whole thing releases and you are still starting to collect stuff to put inside)? They are slowly rolling out more zones and from the look of it, you will be able to get a house in each zone.

On top of that, TWW warband changes basically made it so that you have a huge dr on using your alts for anything not power related - they did it with timewarped badges and now the love tokens. No way they are creating Housing so that we altoholics can create hundreds of Houses in the first two zones. Everything you can do with 50 characters, you will be able to do with just 2 aswell.

I'm surprised you call yourself an altoholic and need to ask why you'd need more than one house. Why do you have so many alts? I do because I like creating characters. I give them all different appearances, different specs, different mounts, different titles; you think I want to give them all the same house? That my orc shaman is going to have the same taste in decor and locale as my orc warlock? Or my human paladin with my human mage? Even my two orc hunters aren't going to share an aesthetic appreciation.

It'd be like if they lifted all transmog restrictions, letting you transmog anything on one character, and then asking, "Well, why do you need more than one when you could do it all on one character?".

Last but not least, allowing people to create a bunch of houses with them not even seeing use goes directly against the social pillar thing. They want you to be in your house in your neighberhood, and focus on that.

It doesn't go against it any more than private neighborhoods do. Whether my alts are my neighbors or just the critters, I'm still going to be in my own neighborhood. And not allowing it goes against the boundless expression pillar. Which is far more important to me.

Surely we all know the socialization pillar is going to crumble, anyway? It's a struggle just to get people to interact when they're in the same party. Even guildies generally don't know or talk to each other, most guilds are driven by core clique. There might be a surge in social activity for the first few weeks, maybe months if they're lucky, but only a few private neighborhoods will maintain a sense of community in the long run.

[Lady Atia]

I'm surprised you call yourself an altoholic and need to ask why you'd need more than one house. Why do you have so many alts? I do because I like creating characters. I give them all different appearances, different specs, different mounts, different titles; you think I want to give them all the same house? That my orc shaman is going to have the same taste in decor and locale as my orc warlock? Or my human paladin with my human mage? Even my two orc hunters aren't going to share an aesthetic appreciation.

It'd be like if they lifted all transmog restrictions, letting you transmog anything on one character, and then asking, "Well, why do you need more than one when you could do it all on one character?".



It doesn't go against it any more than private neighborhoods do. Whether my alts are my neighbors or just the critters, I'm still going to be in my own neighborhood. And not allowing it goes against the boundless expression pillar. Which is far more important to me.

Surely we all know the socialization pillar is going to crumble, anyway? It's a struggle just to get people to interact when they're in the same party. Even guildies generally don't know or talk to each other, most guilds are driven by core clique. There might be a surge in social activity for the first few weeks, maybe months if they're lucky, but only a few private neighborhoods will maintain a sense of community in the long run.

Yeah but like, you will be able to create a house for your Orcs in Durotar, and down the line there will be more fitting zones for your other alts anyways.

And I mean, I have 113 characters so I get you kinda, but for my houses I will be busy enough with my Durotar House and my Elwynn Bar for the start that it won't matter.

[Khaza-R]

I disagree. I think going more specific is the way forward. The ones in Stormwind and Orgrimmar will probably be the ones that are given more generic stuff. While future ones will be very specific to hit people who specifically want to live like a Nelf or whatever.

I am just going off what they said :

Having many housing zones conflicts with the second pillar of designing a feature that is “Deeply Social.” In a world where players can live in many different zones, they become increasingly spread out and even with aggressive sharding, the chance of seeing other players, much less interacting with them, drops quickly.

Putting it bluntly, zones are a lot of work. We’d much rather do a great job with a small number of zones than do a passable job on a large number (or come up with solutions that take the player out of the world into their own personal instance of a zone). We chose these as our starting points because of how iconic they are for their respective factions and how much they feel like home to so many players already.

Of course its an evolving concept though. It doesn't make sense to make racially specific zones for Gnomes an example for large 50-plot area that's intended for huge guilds. Although that would work just fine if they end up shifting to smaller, more intimate zones intended for personal use or smaller groups of friends.

[Sondrelk]

I am just going off what they said :

Having many housing zones conflicts with the second pillar of designing a feature that is “Deeply Social.” In a world where players can live in many different zones, they become increasingly spread out and even with aggressive sharding, the chance of seeing other players, much less interacting with them, drops quickly.

Putting it bluntly, zones are a lot of work. We’d much rather do a great job with a small number of zones than do a passable job on a large number (or come up with solutions that take the player out of the world into their own personal instance of a zone). We chose these as our starting points because of how iconic they are for their respective factions and how much they feel like home to so many players already.

Of course its an evolving concept though. It doesn't make sense to make racially specific zones for Gnomes an example for large 50-plot area that's intended for huge guilds. Although that would work just fine if they end up shifting to smaller, more intimate zones intended for personal use or smaller groups of friends.

I don't think we will be getting loads and loads of housing plots. But one per core race seems plausible to me. 8 different options for housing in the major hubs don't seem that unlikely. Less if you exclude Valdrakken for Dracthyr, or Pandaren who don't have a racial city.


I should specify again. Racial cities. I can't see the developers adding random zones to the list of available houses unless there is a pivot further down the line in how they are designed.

[Daniri]

Yeah but like, you will be able to create a house for your Orcs in Durotar, and down the line there will be more fitting zones for your other alts anyways.

I'll be able to create a house for an orc. Just one of them, or maybe two or three could be justified living together. I have 16. Like I said, they're not all going to share the same tastes. Look at that concept art again. I'd want my warlock to live down in that cleft, and my shaman near the waterfalls. I'd have my warrior by the coast, and it's easy enough to imagine other races here too. Even blood elves. If it's just one per zone I won't be able to explore any of that, unless I demolish and start over.

And I mean, I have 113 characters so I get you kinda, but for my houses I will be busy enough with my Durotar House and my Elwynn Bar for the start that it won't matter.

Elwynn bar is a good idea, but what about a mage tower near the mentioned Duskwood elements? Or a guardhouse near the Westfall ones? Or just a simple cottage tucked away in the woods? There's no good reason, to my mind, that you should be stuck just doing one of these ideas.

[Cheezits]

Azshara/Durotar is very much Orc/Troll (pre Ech Isles)/Bilgewater, I don't think it's a sign towards fewer race neighborhoods or more generic ones.

If they want to merge zones they will but I doubt they would have Lordaeron smash into Quel'thalas just to save resources. More likely they will do a Barrens/Mulgore for Tauren and other Horde races, or Dun Morugh merged with the nearby zones to cover the Dwarves AND Gnomes.

Some combos work while others would be jarring.

[Joshuaj]

Paywall 'em

That won't be a paywall. Something like Chinese New Year house decor or so could end up on the store tho.

[Enteroctopus Magnificus]

Some combos work while others would be jarring.

That's why it's a bad idea right now. It guarantees that some areas will never have homes.

Housing is being built as an evergreen addition to the game, with its own roadmap, reaching across multiple patches and into future expansions.

I'd really like them to share the housing roadmap in the near future.

[Joshuaj]

Azshara/Durotar is very much Orc/Troll (pre Ech Isles)/Bilgewater, I don't think it's a sign towards fewer race neighborhoods or more generic ones.

If they want to merge zones they will but I doubt they would have Lordaeron smash into Quel'thalas just to save resources. More likely they will do a Barrens/Mulgore for Tauren and other Horde races, or Dun Morugh merged with the nearby zones to cover the Dwarves AND Gnomes.

Some combos work while others would be jarring.

Was thinking something like this:
Before Midnight: Elwynn/Westfall/Duskwood and Durotar/Azshara Neighborhoods. Human and Orc alike. Foundations for Housing are established and put in place.

Midnight- Bel'Ameth and Silvermoon Neighborhoods. The Silvermoon Neighborhood could take place at a hypothetical revamped and rebuilt "Ruins of Silvermoon" ngl. Troll Zandalar Neighborhood for patch content maybe.

TLT- Dun'Morogh/Loch Modan/Searing Gorge and Tirisfal/Silverpine Neighborhoods. Dwarf and Forsaken alike. Worgen Neighborhood for patch content.

The expansion after= Amethyst Isle/Bloodmyst Isle and Mulgore/Barrens Neighborhoods. Tauren and Draenei alike.

The expansion after- Undermine/Kezan and Gnomeregan Region (Maybe?) Neighborhoods. Goblins and Gnomes alike. Pandaren Neighborhood for patch content.

- - - Updated - - -

Would be nice. But based off what they said I wouldn't expect future neighborhood zones to be very race specific or faction-locked. Seems like they are going with multiple biomes to try to hit a few fantasies in one big package.

Quel'thalas works because you can tie in Ghostlands/EPL for those who also want a spooky vibe.

Sure, but Blizzard also seemingly wants players to live in places that are thematic to their respective race. And besides, why wouldn't a Tauren want to thrive at Bel'Ameth?

[Polybius]

At least some of them were used at the anniversary event area, from memory. But there's no way they were created specifically for that, and there's already an indication that they'll be used for housing since the teaser featured a hunting trophy.

The moment I saw those I speculated with a friend on housing.

There are several other new doodads from the revamped world events. Seems like they’re playing around with player sizing so wonder if that’ll translate to housing item scaling.

[Cheezits]

What do we think the meta mount is going to end up being for TWW?

It would be cool if it's a light elemental similar to the shadow ones. I have a feeling it will be something semi-unique (like Taivan, Jani, unarmored Shadebeast) and probably flying.

That being said... this meta is, so far, much much MUCH easier than any of the others, so I do wonder if it will be something relatively simple.

[milkmustache]

So it was announced that Hour of Twilight releases on Feb 18th. Using this as a light basis for reference, we can still expect an Undermine(d) release of 2/25 if announced next week.

[Sondrelk]

What do we think the meta mount is going to end up being for TWW?

It would be cool if it's a light elemental similar to the shadow ones. I have a feeling it will be something semi-unique (like Taivan, Jani, unarmored Shadebeast) and probably flying.

Could always be something we have not seen yet. Though if I were to throw a wild bit of speculation out, then I would guess the boats used by the Arathi flight masters.

Of course. It could be a mount. Could also be a unique piece of furniture for the house that will probably be added roughly the same time.

[Cheezits]

Could always be something we have not seen yet. Though if I were to throw a wild bit of speculation out, then I would guess the boats used by the Arathi flight masters.

A full reskin of the explorers dirigible that makes it an Arathi ship would be really cool, pretty thematic too.

[Eldryth]

A full reskin of the explorers dirigible that makes it an Arathi ship would be really cool, pretty thematic too.

I could see that being S3's Delve reward if they continue the airship trend there (which would give us a customizable Arathi ship and a cool skin for the Delve challenge). The way the story is going, I'd expect that season to focus on the Haranir with Ethereals as villains, but airships don't really fit either of their themes.

For the expansion meta, I'd guess something themed around the Worldsoul itself, or maybe the Worldcore. Light and Void seem like they'd fit Midnight better.

[Worldshaper]

So it was announced that Hour of Twilight releases on Feb 18th. Using this as a light basis for reference, we can still expect an Undermine(d) release of 2/25 if announced next week.

I freaking love this fact. Deathwing was the former harbinger of the Old Gods, and the Hour of Twilight was the patch in Cataclysm when he, well, sought to usher in the Hour of Twilight (the coming of the Old Gods).

At almost the exact same time, modern WoW gets 11.1.5 and "Nightfall" on the PTR, which appears to be the current harbinger's version of the Hour of Twilight, or at least the start of it.

"The fall of Night reveals her true face. She will bring only ruin."

[Marlamin]

Music build!


edit: its perfect

[Dracullus]

So it was announced that Hour of Twilight releases on Feb 18th. Using this as a light basis for reference, we can still expect an Undermine(d) release of 2/25 if announced next week.

I fully expected 3 weeks season ending notice this week, just realized there was none. Still expect patch 25th/26th when timewalking thing ends, so imo either we will have 2 weeks notice or we will go back to ending current season when next raid, not main patch starts.