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

[Nymrohd]

Maybe we'll get both and Rootlands is just a questing zone similar to what the small extension to Ringing Deeps was for 11.1, but hopefully considerably larger. Pretty high cope, but would be neat.

I could see Rootlands as the zone with Ethereal incursions in it and then a delve, dungeon and raid in K'aresh (plus a second delve in the Rootlands proper).

or it could be an Argus-sized patch that has three different zones with one in Rootlands and another in K'aresh and the instanced content split between them. The K'aresh zone could show there are other places in the skybox with ecodomes but we'd be constrained in one floating chunk (obviously no flight). Weekly event areas/world bosses for world content alternating each week between Rootlands and K'aresh, one delve in each, raid in K'aresh, dungeon in Rootlands.

[Limayria]

I could see Rootlands as the zone with Ethereal incursions in it and then a delve, dungeon and raid in K'aresh (plus a second delve in the Rootlands proper).

or it could be an Argus-sized patch that has three different zones with one in Rootlands and another in K'aresh and the instanced content split between them. The K'aresh zone could show there are other places in the skybox with ecodomes but we'd be constrained in one floating chunk (obviously no flight). Weekly event areas/world bosses for world content alternating each week between Rootlands and K'aresh, one delve in each, raid in K'aresh, dungeon in Rootlands.

id personally like to see the raid and dungeon intergrated into the patch story and one of them being set up for going to k'aresh like how ToS was for argus

[Hitei]

I could see Rootlands as the zone with Ethereal incursions in it and then a delve, dungeon and raid in K'aresh (plus a second delve in the Rootlands proper).

or it could be an Argus-sized patch that has three different zones with one in Rootlands and another in K'aresh and the instanced content split between them. The K'aresh zone could show there are other places in the skybox with ecodomes but we'd be constrained in one floating chunk (obviously no flight). Weekly event areas/world bosses for world content alternating each week between Rootlands and K'aresh, one delve in each, raid in K'aresh, dungeon in Rootlands.

Making K'aresh just a raid would be even more wild than Ny'alotha just being one.

[Eldryth]

I've seen a lot of assumptions that K'aresh would be a big departure from the underground theme, but looking at the teaser for it... I'm not really sure I'd expect us to be on the surface there. The outer part of K'aresh looks like a dead, empty husk, but there's a massive hole in it leading to a Void-filled core.


At this point, I think we'll be visiting K'aresh's core in 11.2. We'll see what the Void did to the Ethereal and Broker's world to set the stakes for Midnight- a big example of what will happen to Azeroth if we lose. The Rootlands (which is intrinsically tied to Eonar and Aman'thul) and Worldcore (might actually be the TLT logo) will be saved for TLT.

Making K'aresh just a raid would be even more wild than Ny'alotha just being one.

I agree. I want them to do Elun'ahir right too (the whole backstory with Elune and Eonar having a conflict with Aman'thul is definitely interesting), but K'aresh is far more important for them to get right. Like Argus, it's a place we've known about and have been waiting to visit since Burning Crusade.

[Nymrohd]

Making K'aresh just a raid would be even more wild than Ny'alotha just being one.

Raid, Dungeon and Delve. Everyone would get there.
But I'd lean more towards having an Argus-like scenario with a larger zone in Rootlands and a smaller in K'aresh. Rootlands could have four subzones (Undersea with a Beledar Dungeon, Harronir homeland with Elun'ahir and a Harronir themed delve, Black Blood pits, Ethereal Incursion area with portal to K'aresh), while K'aresh itself would have two subzones, a Shadowguard area overlooking the core with the raid entrance and an Ecodome area with an ethereal delve. Have the weekly events work like BfA's; one has the major event that lasts all week and is split between the raid entrance area and the Undersea area with minor events that change halfway through the reset in the other four subzones. Ethereal theme for the delves with nemesis boss in the incursion subzone. Two world bosses (The Guardian, that kraken that flies around Beledar in the Undersea zone and some void revenant in K'aresh).
No Worldcore.

[Dvalin]

Very unlikely that they were at war for the entire duration of the black empire. It wouldn't be suprising if they also had alliances, ceasefires then stabbed each other in the back etc. Just like real world politics.

Also looks more and more likely that the old gods went against their nature (probably thanks to burrowing closer to azeroth and gaining free will) and did not want to claim azeroth for the void. Xalatath was a danger to all of them if she succeeded so they banished her and then they went back to trying to claim the worldsoul for themselves. They probably knew they could not win against her alone so they banded together for a short time.

Also hope that xal gets a proper model at some point because that one they used would be super dissapointing

The Void Lords being pissed at the Old Gods for not 100% fulfilling their nature because of proximity to the Worldsoul would be a very interesting take. They're still evil and chaotic, but wouldn't have gone THAT far.

[Nymrohd]

I agree. I want them to do Elun'ahir right too (the whole backstory with Elune and Eonar having a conflict with Aman'thul is definitely interesting), but K'aresh is far more important for them to get right. Like Argus, it's a place we've known about and have been waiting to visit since Burning Crusade.

No single zone in a patch will do justice to K'aresh like 7.3 did not really do justice to Argus imo.
But you could have a zone we visit in 11.2 then in 12.0 have a new zone that is an Ethereal starting area and then down the line you could add a further zone. K'aresh should be similar to outland, chunks of rock floating in space. Having the zones be distant and released at different times can work. You could e.g. add a K'aresh zone in a future expac that shows the Broker/Ethereal relation. Because bringing Ve'nari to the story now would imo be a bit of a waste. She was one of the most interesting characters in SL (she and Denathrius are pretty much all I'd want to see again from that expac) and having her be a throwaway NPC in TWW wouldn't work for me, I want her to have her own grand plots.

I've always wanted a Multiverse traveling expac (or heck, Saga). You can have Medivh as the main character, feature the Eternal Travelers who are now joined by Ve'nari. It would explain the ouroboros symbol, how it links to planar travel and maybe link it to that prophecy about the giant space serpent thing that could well be the ultimate antagonist.

[Limayria]

off topic but

Telogrus Rift - Alliance only. Map: Telogrus Rift Scenario. Roles: 1 damage.
The Culling of Stratholme (New) - Map: The Culling of Stratholme. Roles: 1 tank/1 healer/3 damage.
The Sunwell - Horde only. Map: The Sunwell. Roles: 1 damage.
The Sunwell - Heritage Armor - Horde only. Map: The Sunwell. Roles: 1 damage.

these are lfg maps from the 11.1.7 notes and the faction specific flags are removed for the blood elf/void elf heritage armor scenarios

inc neutral elves maybe? theres also strath as a dungeon map and a "lordareon garrison" dungeon map (these two both have 1 tank 1heal 3dps for roles so i assume dungeon) maybe were getting a new dungeon dealing with the new arathi highlands faction in 11.2? mega dungeon with a revamped strat as part of the lead in to midnight prehaps?

or maybe theyre adding the scarlet enclave raid into retail?????? from sod

[Dvalin]

off topic but



these are lfg maps from the 11.1.7 notes and the faction specific flags are removed for the blood elf/void elf heritage armor scenarios

inc neutral elves maybe? theres also strath as a dungeon map and a "lordareon garrison" dungeon map (these two both have 1 tank 1heal 3dps for roles so i assume dungeon) maybe were getting a new dungeon dealing with the new arathi highlands faction in 11.2? mega dungeon with a revamped strat as part of the lead in to midnight prehaps?

or maybe theyre adding the scarlet enclave raid into retail?????? from sod

Those will be used for the Lorewalking scenarios. There is a secret one about Umbric/Blood Elves datamined, too.

[Eldryth]

off topic but



these are lfg maps from the 11.1.7 notes and the faction specific flags are removed for the blood elf/void elf heritage armor scenarios

inc neutral elves maybe? theres also strath as a dungeon map and a "lordareon garrison" dungeon map (these two both have 1 tank 1heal 3dps for roles so i assume dungeon) maybe were getting a new dungeon dealing with the new arathi highlands faction in 11.2? mega dungeon with a revamped strat as part of the lead in to midnight prehaps?

or maybe theyre adding the scarlet enclave raid into retail?????? from sod

All Lorewalking stuff, I'd guess. The Arthas one has a bit where you're sparring with people in a reskinned Scarlet Monastery, and a segment for the Culling of Stratholme.

And there's signs of a fourth Lorewalking story about the Blood/Void Elves splitting up, they might have us replay the Blood Elf heritage and Void Elf unlock scenarios in that.

[Mecheon]

I don't know what items the various etherealraid icons were used for (or if they all were), but them naming them like that (and they are official names) pretty much solidified we'd get a raid like that within the 11.x range and the only open slot for that is 11.2.

They were used for items dropping from Ky'veza, specifically the Treacherous Transmitter

Worth noting though that they were specifically noted as 11.0 icons, and the Undermine stuff added in 11.1 isn't called goblinraid or anything like that, but instead undermineraid (as distinct from outdoorundermine for world stuff), so while ethereal will probably show up in whatever we get, I remain fairly skeptical as that being

Plus, well, I remain skeptical about the idea Rootlands was a leveling zone that got scrapped on the basis we have no evidence it was intended as a leveling zone or will be scrapped. Don't forget in the DF beta we saw that giant tree that ended up where Amirdrassil was and the island where it'd turn up sat conspicuously absent for the rest of the expansion, it may have been a situation they hid the zone early to hide the work being done

[Worldshaper]

Gotta love Wowhead's logic in this post: https://www.wowhead.com/news/turbule...76673#comments

In one sentence they conclude that 11.1.7 must release on June 17th, because it is 8 weeks after 11.1.5.

In the next sentence they assume 11.2 must release on August 5th, which is only 7 weeks after June 17th.

The worst part is that their reasoning for the August 5th release date is because of when Turbulent Timeways ends, and when it has ended in the past. But the thing is, if you look at previous Turbulent Timeways they all end differently.

They all take place at the end of a season, true.

But the first time (in Dragonflight), it ended a week after S1 ended and on the same day S2 started, which was about a week into patch 10.1.

The second Turbulent Timeways event ended about a week before S2 ended, and a week before 10.2 arrived.

The most recent Turbulent Timeways ended the day before S1 ended, and the day before 11.1 was released. But this Turbulent Timeways event also lasted a week longer than the ones in Dragonflight, presumably because 11.0.7 had been extended by two weeks.

So the August 12th release date for 11.2 is actually far more likely than August 5th based on the facts.

[Enrif]

off topic but



these are lfg maps from the 11.1.7 notes and the faction specific flags are removed for the blood elf/void elf heritage armor scenarios

inc neutral elves maybe? theres also strath as a dungeon map and a "lordareon garrison" dungeon map (these two both have 1 tank 1heal 3dps for roles so i assume dungeon) maybe were getting a new dungeon dealing with the new arathi highlands faction in 11.2? mega dungeon with a revamped strat as part of the lead in to midnight prehaps?

or maybe theyre adding the scarlet enclave raid into retail?????? from sod

this likely ties into the Umbric lorewalking that someone mentioned as a hidden 4th option. This will likely follow the allied race unlcok quest for both nightborne and void elves plus some more, for the elves united theme of midnight

[Darkarath]

K'aresh might have two zones, one for the Ethereals and one for the Brokers. Maybe they were different races or just different castes, with the Brokers probably being the top one. It's going to be very interesting to find out more about their relation in 11.2.

Also is worth noting that:

- Locus-Walker is just an Ethereal, not Dimensius or any other theory. Ve'nari acknowledging him confirms this.

- N'zoth and Xal'athat are probably allies. This would explain how Iridikron allied with the Infinite Dragonflight (created by the Old Gods) through Xal'athat, which contacted them through N'zoth.

- The Void would have conquered Azeroth and probably all the universe if not for the Old Gods, our beloved saviors, which is funny. As it has been previously speculated, the Old Gods were most likely influenced by Azeroth to betray the Void.

- The Arathi being in Arathi Highlands opens up the possibility that they establish a foothold there for Midnight. The villains of this storyline would probably become allies with the remaining Scarlet Crusade, which will be present in Midnight, little doubt of that at this point.

- The Rootlands have been scrapped, but I hope that we see Orweyna in TWW again to give her a proper send-off until TLT.

[Nymrohd]

So the August 12th release date for 11.2 is actually far more likely than August 5th based on the facts.

August 12 does not give us time to see the raid finale before gamescom. August 5 does. Then August 12 is the raid release then the next reset we get Midnight reveal at Gamescom without spoiling the raid early.

- - - Updated - - -

this likely ties into the Umbric lorewalking that someone mentioned as a hidden 4th option. This will likely follow the allied race unlcok quest for both nightborne and void elves plus some more, for the elves united theme of midnight

Honestly I'd love all the allied race unlocks to be available again via lorewalking.

- - - Updated - - -

The Void Lords being pissed at the Old Gods for not 100% fulfilling their nature because of proximity to the Worldsoul would be a very interesting take. They're still evil and chaotic, but wouldn't have gone THAT far.

It could also be the Old Gods realizing that if they fulfill said nature, their individuality and ego is erased by the Void Lords taking over to possess Azeroth. So maybe a) they preferred to rule over the planet without taking over the World Soul b) wanted to find a way to take over the World Soul for themselves, not for the Void Lords. Selfishness is more interesting to me than yet another spin on "corruption by a greater force" even if it is a positive spin. Blizzard needs to fuck off with everything getting corrupted imo.

[Dvalin]

K'aresh might have two zones, one for the Ethereals and one for the Brokers. Maybe they were different races or just different castes, with the Brokers probably being the top one. It's going to be very interesting to find out more about their relation in 11.2.

Also is worth noting that:

- Locus-Walker is just an Ethereal, not Dimensius or any other theory. Ve'nari acknowledging him confirms this.

- N'zoth and Xal'athat are probably allies. This would explain how Iridikron allied with the Infinite Dragonflight (created by the Old Gods) through Xal'athat, which contacted them through N'zoth.

- The Void would have conquered Azeroth and probably all the universe if not for the Old Gods, our beloved saviors, which is funny. As it has been previously speculated, the Old Gods were most likely influenced by Azeroth to betray the Void.

- The Arathi being in Arathi Highlands opens up the possibility that they establish a foothold there for Midnight. The villains of this storyline would probably become allies with the remaining Scarlet Crusade, which will be present in Midnight, little doubt of that at this point.

- The Rootlands have been scrapped, but I hope that we see Orweyna in TWW again to give her a proper send-off until TLT.

We basically finish the Red Dawn this patch, and the Arathi don't seem to have come in numbers. Only Faerin, I believe. So, no foothold.

[Hitei]

- N'zoth and Xal'athat are probably allies. This would explain how Iridikron allied with the Infinite Dragonflight (created by the Old Gods) through Xal'athat, which contacted them through N'zoth..

She mocks him non-stop in Legion, and their agreement in BfA is reluctant and tense. My read of the 11.1.7 stuff is that Xal probably had a hand in stirring up the war between the Old Gods, and as punishment they shoved her into the Blade.

Consider what greatness could be yours, if your siblings did not stand in your way.

The tablet states she whispered in a voice only N'Zoth could hear...

That said, this:

Oh. As I suspected. The Shadowguard are after you as well?

I have not seen you since the destruction of our world. As I preferred it.

Such fangs, Locus-Walker. You wound me. Yet unfortunate as it may be, it seems we must work together one last time.

Seems to very strongly support the current idea that Xal was an Ethereal, or whatever they were before the fall.

[Dvalin]

She mocks him non-stop in Legion, and their agreement in BfA is reluctant and tense. My read of the 11.1.7 stuff is that Xal probably had a hand in stirring up the war between the Old Gods, and as punishment they shoved her into the Blade.



That said, this:





Seems to very strongly support the current idea that Xal was an Ethereal, or whatever they were before the fall.

That last dialogue is between Locuswalker and Ve'nari.

[Darkarath]

We basically finish the Red Dawn this patch, and the Arathi don't seem to have come in numbers. Only Faerin, I believe. So, no foothold.

Not foothold now, but the Arathi will make a presence in Midnight. What better place for them to be than their ancestral lands?

She mocks him non-stop in Legion, and their agreement in BfA is reluctant and tense. My read of the 11.1.7 stuff is that Xal probably had a hand in stirring up the war between the Old Gods, and as punishment they shoved her into the Blade.

That they are allies does not mean that they are best pals. I bet that Iridikron does not likes Xal'athat very much but she needs her.

The Old Gods seems like the Horde and Alliance of the old days. Continuously warring until they face a common threat.

[Worldshaper]

Here is my updated War Within release calendar based on the set prededence. It is important to note that during Dragonflight, patches started dragging on for a bit during the second half of the expansion, sometimes lasting 9 or even 10 weeks instead of the more usual 8 weeks. So it is possible the same might happen this time around as well.

Either way, here goes:

• April 22nd - 11.1.5 released. [Correct.]
• April 30th - 11.1.7 announced. [Correct, albeit with the small staggered announcement they did.]
• June 17th - 11.1.7 released AND Turbulent Timeways begins.
• June 25th - 11.2 announced.
• August 5th - Turbulent Timeways ends.
• August 12th - S2 ends AND 11.2 released.
• August 19th - S3 begins AND Midnight announced.
• August 20th - 11.2.5 announced (although it is quite possible they decide to do it on the 19th while they announce Midnight).
• October 7th - 11.2.5 released.
• October 15th - 11.2.7 announced (unless they did this at Gamescom too).
• December 2nd - 11.2.7 released.
• January 27th - S3 ends and whatever becomes the filler until pre-patch takes place for a few weeks from this date.

But yeah, this schedule can easily shift by 1-4 weeks or so in either direction.