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

[Nightshade711]

Pre-Legion:

- Azshara/Naga centric expansion, mainly South Seas. Purely because of the shipyard.

So I remember this because “Eye of Azshara” was trademarked (or copyrighted?) by blizzard a good bit before the announcement so we thought it was the name of the expansion.

But it ended up just being the name of the dungeon.

[Zoupa7]

If I recall correctly, these were the main leaks/theories discussed the last few leak seasons.

Pre-WoD:

- The actual WoD leak.

- I vaguely remember some discussion around the WoD name being accurate but the content not, and that the Warlords would be Legion commanders on a new part of Outland.

- The Dark Below

- Heroes of the Storm

- Corgis Unleashed. Rightfully seen as a meme by most but was some genuine discussion surrounding Corgis being the name of a Void Lord. Yes, that happened.

Pre-Legion:

- Azshara/Naga centric expansion, mainly South Seas. Purely because of the shipyard.

- Council of Glades. I remember at the time of this being “leaked”, the majority of folk were happy to assume this would be the one.

- Ogre island south of Draenor was discussed, with Legion influence. Corrupting the Ogres instead of the orcs.

Pre-BfA

- World revamp because of Sargeras sword.

- Kul’Tiras because of the data mined items.

- An expansion focused on reclaiming Lordaeron.

Pre-SL:

- Dragon Isles cause of Wrathion mentions and Island Expeditions

- The fake Shadowlands map leak that Asmongold and Pyromancer were championing.

- Wrath of the Bolvar

- Wrath of the Lich Queen (Sylvanas takes the crown, revamped Northrend)

- The Undead in SW harbour.

Pre-SL leaks were almost entirely about Dragon Isles and Shadowlands. They ended up being the next 2 expansions.

[Catastrophy349]

https://twitter.com/MrGMYT/status/16...689204224?s=20

[Santandame]

Good list. IIRC, there have been more discussions around datamined items. Wasn't there some metal object or whatever in 5.4 that said Iron Horde?

Oh and when was Wrath or Eye of Azshara?

Yeah, I remember the Iron Horde datamined discussion. It was briefly flirted with as an expansion idea but the consensus seemed to be we wouldn’t have an expansion so similar to Siege of Org right after Siege of Org had ended.

Eye of Azshara was datamined during pre-Legion leak season. This was around the time when we began to take notice of Blizzard testing ideas and techs in the current expansion and utilising them to greater effect in the following expansion. The Halfhill in MoP leading to the Garrison in WoD was the main example. So the name, along with the shipyard introduced in the final WoD patch had us convinced for a time that the expansion that would end up being Legion, would be a seafaring South Seas expansion expanding on the Garrison and shipyard technology to give us our own ships as we take the fight to Azshara.

As @Nightshade711 has said though, that name ultimately ended up being used for the dungeon in Legion instead.

- - - Updated - - -

https://twitter.com/MrGMYT/status/16...689204224?s=20

On the subject of us lot discussing theories. Remember when a lot of us during Dragonflight leak season were convinced this guy was a Blizzard employee sent here to get discussion and hype riled up?

[Kiivar86]

The story behind the WoD leak (I may be misremembering some things.)
I was an active member of Scrolls of Lore, and another active member worked at blizzard as customer service or something. A couple weeks before blizzcon, it was "all hands on deck", so most of the company got a glimpse of what was being announced.
He wrote up the "leak" in an email and sent it to me, Red shirt guy, and maybe 5 to 10 others that he felt were trustworthy. One guy (wasn't me) copy-pasted it to Mmo champ and SoL.
Hoping to protect the leakers identity so that he didn't get fired, RSG asked one of the mods of SoL to remove the post. That mod was an intern at blizz and simped hard for the dev team, so instead of helping the guy, he ratted him out which got the leaker fired, sent back to his home country, and aided in the eventual death of SoL.

Former SoL poster here as well, that lines up with what I recall. Though honestly just sharing it was a bad idea, of course it would get back to Blizzard somehow.

I miss SoL sometimes, I must admit, but it also felt like it got super toxic near the end, sadly.

[Dracullus]

If 11.0 will launch in Summer, there is no need for 10.3, remaining time could be filled with small patches and S4 fated season could have proper length from March to August. Problem starts if expac is November again, it would mean seasons longer than 5 months and year+ last big patch. Something we had in the past, but we want things improved this time.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

If 11.0 will launch in Summer, there is no need for 10.3, remaining time could be filled with small patches and S4 fated season could have proper length from March to August. Problem starts if expac is November again, it would mean seasons longer than 5 months and year+ last big patch. Something we had in the past, but we want things improved this time.

We can wait a little bit for the expansion, they shouldn't remove 10.3

While I'd love a shorter expansion, it seems safe to assume they'll want to release 11.0 around the 20th anniversary. 23 November, 2024

Thats fine, no need to rush out another expansion, besides no yearly expansion nonsense(Or trying to do it).

Not sure what you mean by remove. It has never been announced. With 10.2 launching 1 year after DF release they won't do a 10.3. There isn't a single expansion that had a .3 patch with .2 releasing so late. They wouldn't start now with player count lower than ever between launches.

Look at BfA where 8.2 released in June and 8.3 releasing in October

How is 10.2 late? By what margin? Not being announced doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Its not impossible for them to show a roadmap that 10.3 would be next year.

10.2 will be the last patch and that was clearly planned. Then it will just be fated and some very minor stuff after that.

Thats a lot supposition. We don't even know what 10.2 is going to be composed of besides the Emerald Dream.

[Zoupa7]

We can wait a little bit for the expansion, they shouldn't remove 10.3

Not sure what you mean by remove. It has never been announced. With 10.2 launching 1 year after DF release they won't do a 10.3. There isn't a single expansion that had a .3 patch with .2 releasing so late. They wouldn't start now with player count lower than ever between launches.

Look at BfA where 8.2 released in June and 8.3 releasing in October.

10.2 will be the last patch and that was clearly planned. Then it will just be fated and some very minor stuff after that.

[Luck4]

On the subject of us lot discussing theories. Remember when a lot of us during Dragonflight leak season were convinced this guy was a Blizzard employee sent here to get discussion and hype riled up?

I still think he is, but I'm not going to say why, because that would be a giveway.

[Dracullus]

We can wait a little bit for the expansion, they shouldn't remove 10.3

No one talks about removing anything. I simply think devs could shift some resources from raiding since it isn't main thing anymore and put it to for example bigger patch zones and more frequent patches. Some people forget that before SL X.1 was just some new dailies/world quests, questline and new raid. If 10.2 is another big zone (and I think everyone expect that) we will have most packed expac ever.

In the past we had initial raid + 3 raid tiers, now 3 raid tiers + fated season could became standard. As long as seasons don't extend beyond 5 months and we get patch, bigger or smaller, every 2 months there won't be any drought.

Hell, when I think about it, I wonder if we get another dungeon in 10.2 (let's say Vakthros) that would launch as M+ in Season 4, so we would have at least 1 fresh dungeon in every season.

[Sondrelk]

I still think he is, but I'm not going to say why, because that would be a giveway.

Have to agree. I am not convinced this guy wasn't at least told to hype up threads in the lead up to Blizzcon. Personally I don't have any facts to back it up, but my gut feeling says I'm right.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

No one talks about removing anything. I simply think devs could shift some resources from raiding since it isn't main thing anymore and put it to for example bigger patch zones and more frequent patches. Some people forget that before SL X.1 was just some new dailies/world quests, questline and new raid. If 10.2 is another big zone (and I think everyone expect that) we will have most packed expac ever.

In the past we had initial raid + 3 raid tiers, now 3 raid tiers + fated season could became standard. As long as seasons don't extend beyond 5 months and we get patch, bigger or smaller, every 2 months there won't be any drought.

Hell, when I think about it, I wonder if we get another dungeon in 10.2 (let's say Vakthros) that would launch as M+ in Season 4, so we would have at least 1 fresh dungeon in every season.

I don't think they need to move raiding resources anywhere. I just don't think short expansions are a good thing and lengthening the expansion isn't bad. An extra raid tier(Or tier of content whatever). Zaralek Caverns being allegedly not a lot I think is mostly the world content involved.

Have to agree. I am not convinced this guy wasn't at least told to hype up threads in the lead up to Blizzcon. Personally I don't have any facts to back it up, but my gut feeling says I'm right.

I'm not gonna discount it, always seems to point out if something is happening. Its odd.

[Santandame]

Have to agree. I am not convinced this guy wasn't at least told to hype up threads in the lead up to Blizzcon. Personally I don't have any facts to back it up, but my gut feeling says I'm right.

There was also the post he very quickly edited where he said something along the lines of “we’re so excited to show you what we’ve been working on” to “I’m so excited to see what they’ve been working on.”

[Cheezits]

Bit of an out-there theory, but Ion mentioning "The Sword" (Gorribal) again so soon made me think of something. What if...

A) The "Dream Zone" isn't the tree, but a prototype or a chunk of the Dream itself
B) Uldaz is some kind of Titan/Watcher facility used to connect the Dream to Azeroth
C) The endgoal of Gorribal is to be replaced by/swapped for the Tree, and the end of DF is Alex and Ysera turning Silithus into a lush forest capital of the Nelves?

It would be an interesting twist and explain why the hell the Sword has been around for so long. And a Kalimdor positional shakeup.

[Santandame]

Bit of an out-there theory, but Ion mentioning "The Sword" (Gorribal) again so soon made me think of something. What if...

A) The "Dream Zone" isn't the tree, but a prototype or a chunk of the Dream itself
B) Uldaz is some kind of Titan/Watcher facility used to connect the Dream to Azeroth
C) The endgoal of Gorribal is to be replaced by/swapped for the Tree, and the end of DF is Alex and Ysera turning Silithus into a lush forest capital of the Nelves?

It would be an interesting twist and explain why the hell the Sword has been around for so long. And a Kalimdor positional shakeup.

Definitely an interesting possibility that I haven’t considered. My only reservation about this though that it would feel slightly jarring to go from an enchanted elven forest to desert zones the next zones over.

I think another cool idea would be to turn Silithus into a demon controlled zone, with demons building a demonic city around and within the sword. It could serve as a fun raid or dungeon.

[Hitei]

Bit of an out-there theory, but Ion mentioning "The Sword" (Gorribal) again so soon made me think of something. What if...

A) The "Dream Zone" isn't the tree, but a prototype or a chunk of the Dream itself
B) Uldaz is some kind of Titan/Watcher facility used to connect the Dream to Azeroth
C) The endgoal of Gorribal is to be replaced by/swapped for the Tree, and the end of DF is Alex and Ysera turning Silithus into a lush forest capital of the Nelves?

It would be an interesting twist and explain why the hell the Sword has been around for so long. And a Kalimdor positional shakeup.

Would be weird having AQ in their backyard if they don't take control of it.

[Luck4]

Bit of an out-there theory, but Ion mentioning "The Sword" (Gorribal) again so soon made me think of something. What if...

A) The "Dream Zone" isn't the tree, but a prototype or a chunk of the Dream itself
B) Uldaz is some kind of Titan/Watcher facility used to connect the Dream to Azeroth
C) The endgoal of Gorribal is to be replaced by/swapped for the Tree, and the end of DF is Alex and Ysera turning Silithus into a lush forest capital of the Nelves?

It would be an interesting twist and explain why the hell the Sword has been around for so long. And a Kalimdor positional shakeup.

That would be good, but the tree being so near C'thun wouldn't corrupt it?

Also...



... they'll need lots of pesticides.

- - - Updated - - -

Anyway, I still think that would be a lot better than having it placed in Dragon Isles.

Just making it clear.

[Cheezits]

Would be weird having AQ in their backyard if they don't take control of it.

Maybe it turns into a jungle ruins zone with Botani?

[Berkilak]

On the subject of us lot discussing theories. Remember when a lot of us during Dragonflight leak season were convinced this guy was a Blizzard employee sent here to get discussion and hype riled up?

I still harbour a suspicion.

[Luck4]

I love how this thread is starting to get steam, growing a few pages every day.