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

[Jolly Roger]

they will never remove lfr
this has been talked about since WoD
it has been a decade since the first "remove lfr" threads started and there is still no concrete issue with lfr existing
"jimmy doesnt wanna do harder content because lfr exists" ok he still wont


if you wanna increase raid participation make the rewards equal to the effort

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Well, why not make Normal available in a queue. Heck do it in wings, use the Renown track for unlocks. I wish I could start PuG groups for HC raids in a winged format so we can do one third of the raid which is doable in a reasonable timeframe.

so flex from MoP?

[Ersula]

Well, why not make Normal available in a queue. Heck do it in wings, use the Renown track for unlocks. I wish I could start PuG groups for HC raids in a winged format so we can do one third of the raid which is doable in a reasonable timeframe.

That's literally just lfr....is what you want lfr to give better gear?

[Enteroctopus Magnificus]

There will be two classes at Midnight. A Void class and a counter class. I call it. That's my bingo.

Do you guys have a bingo for the Midnight reveal?

[Ersula]

There will be two classes at Midnight. A Void class and a counter class. I call it. That's my bingo.

Do you guys have a bingo for the Midnight reveal?

I am hoping the "two classes for the worldsoul saga" rumor is true. I think Bard & Tinker would fit for Midnight & TLT respectively. But even if they were both done & ready to go I'm sure blizzard would tapir them out to one per expansion just for the sake of hype retention & player population.

[Enteroctopus Magnificus]

I am hoping the "two classes for the worldsoul saga" rumor is true. I think Bard & Tinker would fit for Midnight & TLT respectively. But even if they were both done & ready to go I'm sure blizzard would tapir them out to one per expansion just for the sake of hype retention & player population.

Very good choices, I also think the bard would lend itself well to the Midnight theme. I hope they'll break the codes a bit and surprise us in every way with Midnight. The revelation is only 3 or 4 months away, isn't it? It's not that far away. When can you expect leaks?

[Merryck]

This leak season is going to be atrocious. It's going to be a lot harder to discern fake leaks from real leaks when everyone including the fakers know the name and underlying themes of the next 2 expansions. And they're going to be a lot less creative / entertaining.

[Khaza-R]

This leak season is going to be atrocious. It's going to be a lot harder to discern fake leaks from real leaks when everyone including the fakers know the name and underlying themes of the next 2 expansions. And they're going to be a lot less creative / entertaining.

I don't think it will be that different than Dragonflight when every single leak was dragon related.

Biggest diffference is we won't get a fake logo. Which are always fun.

[Makorus]

But if they removed lfr, combined vet/champ track and made mythic flex with regular lock outs while combining myth and hero track it'd be a net positive for the game and for onboarding new players

I also would imagine we'd end up in a situation where normal mode got significantly more battle rezes to use if it was made queable

Every single difficulty right now has a purpose. There really isn't a need to remove one other than "there's too many difficulties" which is a pointless reason. It's not like with dungeons where Heroics were entirely redundant.
Mythic Flex would also be the worst idea ever.

[Sondrelk]

So when are people expecting Midnight news anyways? I need to be ready with the last minute final prediction for launch zones, dungeons and raids.

[Just Passing through]

So when are people expecting Midnight news anyways? I need to be ready with the last minute final prediction for launch zones, dungeons and raids.

Well..I was excpecting it on a 2 year cycle...but apparently specualtions are that WWI is going to be more like an 18 month x-pac (and Midnight as well) so that the trilogy can end in 2030 or so.

[Enteroctopus Magnificus]

For the zones, I think there's a way to have Lordaeron in addition to Quel'thalas.

If we focus only on Quel'thalas, Ghostlands is just a part of Eversong Woods, so they could merge them into a single zone. There's obviously Zul'aman, and then... well, it's complicated. Quel'danas could be an additional zone, a bit like Forbidden Reach. In Chronicles, there's that famous deadly ice zone where Lake Thondroril is supposed to rise. And finally, there's this area north of the Plaguelands. So, to sum up:

- Eversong Woods (Eversong Woods, Ghostlands, Silvermoon)
- Isle of Quel'danas (Sunwell Plateau)
- Zul'aman (trolls)
- Thondroril (deadly ice zone)
- Northweald (Northren Plaguelands)

If we add Lordearon, then Tirisfal Glades + Plaguelands would be a good choice. Eastweald (Plaguelands) would merge with Northweald in this case, to make one large area.

[JohnnyCasual]

So when are people expecting Midnight news anyways? I need to be ready with the last minute final prediction for launch zones, dungeons and raids.

Gamescon, August 20th.

[Joshuaj]

For the zones, I think there's a way to have Lordaeron in addition to Quel'thalas.

If we focus only on Quel'thalas, Ghostlands is just a part of Eversong Woods, so they could merge them into a single zone. There's obviously Zul'aman, and then... well, it's complicated. Quel'danas could be an additional zone, a bit like Forbidden Reach. In Chronicles, there's that famous deadly ice zone where Lake Thondroril is supposed to rise. And finally, there's this area north of the Plaguelands. So, to sum up:

- Eversong Woods (Eversong Woods, Ghostlands, Silvermoon)
- Isle of Quel'danas (Sunwell Plateau)
- Zul'aman (trolls)
- Thondroril (deadly ice zone)
- Northweald (Northren Plaguelands)

They confirmed 4 zones for Midnight

[Dvalin]

I also wouldn't expect 11.2 news before mid-June, to be honest.

[Enteroctopus Magnificus]

They confirmed 4 zones for Midnight

So remove Northweald or make the Isle of Quel'danas part of the Eversong Woods map. Or will it initially be 2 Quel'thalas zones and 2 Lordaeron zones?

That's not counting the patch zones, right ?

[Dvalin]

So remove Northweald or make Quel'danas just a part of Eversong Woods. Or will it initially be 2 Quel'thalas zones and 2 Lordaeron zones?

That's not counting the patch zones, right ?

The Lordaeron bit is still quite a bit of fanon, though. Metzen explicitly mentioned us returning to the old world, to the fabled lands of Quel'thalas. Not to 'northern Lordaeron' or whatsoever. They're upscaling and expanding the Elven Kingdom. That's obviously not including potential patch zones, which we currently have no clue of what those will be if K'aresh turns out to be a TWW patch-zone. Though I wouldn't mind us visiting another Zereth (Lumen or Umbra), if the devs manage to give it an otherworldly vibe, that is.

I can see the following 4 zones at Midnight's launch:
- Eversong Woods (with its verdant and golden beauty, and the capital of Silvermoon)
- Quel'danas (under siege by the Void)
- Amani lands (deep forests, tribal area, ziggurats)
- Ghostlands (Blood Elf outposts and Scourge warlords)

[Darkarath]

Seems fairly complicated to have 4 zones just in Quel'thalas.

Let's say that they manage to make 2 zones out of Eversong Woods and The Ghostlands. Then we have Zul'aman. Sure, let's count that as the third zone (taken into account that if they make this, they would be subtracting significant parts of the aforementioned two zones). We still have one more that should come out of nowhere.

We know that the fourth zone is not going to be K'aresh. Hell, even if K'aresh were to come in Midnight, it would not be an initial zone. Quel'danas? Come on, maybe as the 12.1.7 patch zone. Soooo, maybe a Naga zone?

OR

Instead of stretching Quel'thalas beyond what is possible, Blizzard keeps going south and give us what we want, more revamped old zones.

[Enteroctopus Magnificus]

The Lordaeron bit is still quite a bit of fanon, though. Metzen explicitly mentioned us returning to the old world, to the fabled lands of Quel'thalas. Not to 'northern Lordaeron' or whatsoever. They're upscaling and expanding the Elven Kingdom.

I can see the following 4 zones:
- Eversong Woods (with its verdant and golden beauty, and the capital of Silvermoon)
- Quel'danas (under siege by the Void)
- Amani lands (deep forests, tribal area, ziggurats)
- Ghostlands (Blood Elf outposts and Scourge warlords)

This doesn't mean we'll be confined to elven areas. TWW takes place in Khaz Algar, a dwarven zone, but also includes Nerubian, human, goblin and perhaps Haranir or Etherian zones. Blizzard likes diversity in its expansions, so I don't think they'll want to lock us into a purely Elvish expansion, even if that is the main theme. There will be secondary themes, don't forget. Trolls are clearly not enough. 3 of the areas you mentioned are exactly the same, so I have my doubts. With new zones like the ones I mentioned above, they at least have a chance of adding some of the usual racial and cultural variety.

[Sondrelk]

I am going to stick to my initial guess. 4 zones.
Quel'thalas: Eversong+Ghostlands
Eastweald: Plaguelands
Lordaeron: Tirisfal+Hillsbrad+Silverpine
Arathi Highlands: Arathi Highlands+Hinterlands.

[Dvalin]

This doesn't mean we'll be confined to elven areas. TWW takes place in Khaz Algar, a dwarven zone, but also includes Nerubian, human, goblin and perhaps Haranir or Etherian zones. Blizzard likes diversity in its expansions, so I don't think they'll want to lock us into a purely Elvish expansion, even if that is the main theme. There will be secondary themes, don't forget. Trolls are clearly not enough. 3 of the areas you mentioned are exactly the same, so I have my doubts. With new zones like the ones I mentioned above, they at least have a chance of adding some of the usual racial and cultural variety.

The zones will be greatly expanded. And the Ghostlands with Scourge remnants, the Isle of Quel'danas with a full-on Void invasion and lots of verticality (because of its structures), maybe with some Naga, and the deep forests of the Amani already provide the usual variety. Remember that the zones will be greatly expanded, and new subcultures explored.
@Darkarath We've been at this earlier in this thread. Interviews indicate the devs expanding the zones to be the size of the usual continents we get. That means lots and lots of room for more never-before-seen details/subcultures, etc.

A full old world revamp isn't in the cards for the foreseeable future. And we aren't going to see some kind of work-in-progress, either. Quel'thalas will be the subcontinent of the Midnight expansion, just like the Dragon Isles, Pandaria, Broken Isles, Khaz Algar, etc. were.