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

[Hitei]

At this point, I don't really see much of Metzen's influence on the story. The Worldsoul Saga seems grounded in typical Warcraft lore concepts, but the characterization isn't reminiscent of his influence for better or worse. Thrall (who always appeared to be a mirror of Metzen himself) is just sitting on the sidelines, and that's just one example among many.

It's very reminiscent of his influence. People just tunnel vision Wrath and Cata and somehow forget that Metzen also did MoP. Anduin, one of his favorite characters, has been doing the exact same thing re: Light that Thrall did with the Elements. Metzen loves having Brann running around and he loves paladin/light stuff, and goblins, and dwarves and corrupted insect races, etc.

Thrall is sidelined because he is a relatively minor character post "world shaman" and when not dealing directly with Horde (read; Orc) issues.

[Khaza-R]

I don't mean to be that guy, but we don't actually know if the Rootlands was originally planned to be 11.2 lol.

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That was something we all assumed as the story focused on the Harranir a lot. However, we also know certain plots exist in TWW which will expand throughout the entire Worldsoul Saga. It's entirely possible the Harranir stuff is one of those plots.

Agreed. I don't think rootlands was intended to be the endzone of TWW at all. People just assume that because it was datamined but didn't end up in the base expansion. I think Azh'Kahet was always the endzone of TWW, the Suramar of this expansion if you will, and rootlands was probably just meant to be another leveling zone.

[Joshuaj]

Agreed. I don't think rootlands was intended to be the endzone of TWW at all. People just assume that because it was datamined but didn't end up in the base expansion. I think Azh'Kahet was always the endzone of TWW, the Suramar of this expansion if you will, and rootlands was probably just meant to be another leveling zone.

I think Blizzard initially planned it for the launch, but they probably scrapped it early so it could be the focus of a later plot (Likely related to Eonar's plot in TLT, as Elun'ahir seemingly traces back to the Titans and Elune, and ngl...that just works).

Though, if the "Rootlands" are still planned for 11.2, then cool. But, if not, then it's fine. I like to think there was an OG plan for the black blood to corrupt Elun'ahir's roots all the way to the Worldcore, but like...that may or may not be the case. Heck, it was probably never planned and I'm just assuming lol. We don’t know.

What we DO know is that "Goblinraid" and "Etherealraid" were datamined pretty early in TWW's lifespan, meaning they were at least being focused on for quite a bit now, which is good.

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Now, we just have to see if Etherealraid is relating to either K'aresh, or the "Rootlands". My HOPE was that we'd go to the Worldcore from the "Rootlands" in 11.2, but now? Idk. K'aresh might be the most likely option at this rate, and if that's the case, then whatever, K'aresh is a place I wanted to see for a while now, so I wouldn't be mad. Tho, I would be confused as to why TWW is called that...if it's gonna end off world lol. Tho, they COULD pull a fast one on us, and have us not only explore K'aresh, but also enter it's shattered subterranean depths in the raid as well. I'm just saying...it would fit.

[KyleEverett]

I still think if we go to K'aresh as our main zone in 11.2 I'll feel this expansion was a thematic failure.

There's no plot reason for our characters to want to go to K'aresh yet. The Ethereals having the dark heart is better than Xal'atath if they aren't working together. The only way they'd be a threat to us is if they attack Azeroth with it, and why would they attack anything other than the World Soul? That to me says Rootlands. Maybe K'aresh as a back drop to the final boss fight, but as a whole zone? Please no.

Blizzard promised us more connection to the story patch to patch but we haven't gotten any prologue to 11.2 and regardless of which way it goes, Legacy of Arathor doesn't feel like a prologue for 11.2.

[shooketh]

Long time lurker, first time poster - I do enjoy what some of you post on here, but I'll get straight to the point - wall of text incoming

TWW, story wise, is just as boring as Dragonflight. It follows the exact same sappy, cheesy, safe, bland, boring, sanitized formula as Dragonflight. Everything that made WoW characters or races unique is being sanded down to avoid any potential controversy coming from the overly sensitive modern audience, that doesn't really even exist, except on twitter and various other small corners of the internet.

Every character which is not a clear antagonist now falls into the same mold and ideological paradigm - morally righteous, apologetic, soft, sensitive, sentimental, tolerant, and they feel more like vessels for the writers to practice moral grandstanding on players rather than fleshed out characters with their own beliefs, traits, personalities, grievances, prejudices and part of a fictional world shaped by wars and conflict. Cheap virtue signaling at every step, gone is the era of strong, unique, resolute characters with unwavering conviction. Power of friendship, councils (even Undermine ends with a council), let's all forget the past and all the deep hatreds that run between these characters or races and everything that made them stand out (hello Forsaken!) and all their differences and just write everyone the same while holding hands around the giant bonfire as we all must 'do better'.

It's boring. It's played out. It's not Warcraft. Who finds this stuff appealing? Who are they even writing for at this point? Themselves and their orbiters on twitter? Fine, but if they continue, then they'll be only ones left interested in this giant, boring soap opera.

Also, does anyone here actually like Faerin? I'll be honest I didn't have any big issues with her until 11.1.7 was revealed (even though Anduin could've has asked, you know, Velen, his buddy, for help regarding his connection to the light, but for some reason only Faerin, this character that seemingly comes out of nowhere and which apparently has deep lore implications, could do it), when for some reason she shows up in Arathi Highlands just so Danath can bend a knee to her. Are you kidding me? Danath? Danath TROLLBANE? This grizzled out war veteran is suddenly doing a 180 on his character and many of the things he stands for because of a newly introduced, morally righteous Mary Sue who can do no wrong and is also missing one arm but also leads an army against the Nerubians but also has the time to run an orphanage and read children's stories and is also able to magically solve everyone's problems but is also able to get involved in issues that are out of her scope or topics she knows little or nothing about and make old, established characters do a 180 on their beliefs? Come on.

We need to stop dancing around these issues and put the blame where it lies, if we want things to get better.

Who writes this stuff? And for who? Players pointed out in advance how Faerin would be the driving force behind some of the worst writing to come and they were all dismissed as racists or sexists (unfortunately, some of them really were). Well, here we are now, close to 11.1.7, and the players were proven right, because from the moment she was revealed, most people knew what was coming. She will be the morally righteous character who can do no wrong and lecture the 'problematic' ones about how bad they or their actions/beliefs are and how she's just so good and perfect at everything. And let's not forget that this is Blizzard, by the way. This cheap corporate tactic of slapping as many criticism shields on a character is as old as time. Don't tell me for a second that the various aspects of her appeareance were not a deliberate choice by Blizzard so any criticism for the awful writing can be dismissed as cheap -isms. They don't really add anything otherwise. And they're all conveniently piled onto this one single character.

Rant over. So far I'm very disillusioned with this direction. We were promised by Metzen a return to what made Warcraft great, a return to the rule of cool, but so far it's still Dragonflight with another skin, equally boring and sappy. Also, what happened to the old concept of 'show, don't tell'?
This isn't Warcraft, and it's no wonder that each cinematic, each trailer, each storyline has less and less views and general interest than the previous one because they're writing for an audience that simply doesn't exist. This style of writing is clearly not for Warcraft fans. Everyone was using Danuser as the scapegoat for the terrible writing, but it seems that the issue runs much more deeper than that. The questions is - who is to blame? Who is writing this stuff and at whose direction, and is it even fixable at this point? Or is this what Warcraft will be going forward?

It's really sad that it's far more exciting to speculate, and I've read more cool ideas from everyday players, than to follow whatever Blizzard is currently writing.

Anyway, what are your thoughts?

[Enrif]

It has been proven otherwise though. We were told that it's calcified world soul essence. What you really mean is that you will disregard that piece of evidence until there is absolutely no room for doubt.

Yes, we were told. But there is a thing called "show don't tell", and we were shown that Beledar is a Light Crystal, that turns to Void and back.

[Nymrohd]

Yes, we were told. But there is a thing called "show don't tell", and we were shown that Beledar is a Light Crystal, that turns to Void and back.

And the original world soul lore has them be Light/Void things

[Joshuaj]

And the original world soul lore has them be Light/Void things

...What? Are you talking about the clouds of Light that went throughout the Dark Beyond in Chronicle? Cause I think that only applied to the Naaru lol.

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What Chronicle states regarding everything:

Light shards went throughout the Dark Beyond and suffused the matter of myriad worlds with the spark of Life.

Clouds of Light gathered and created entities of great power and potential. Among these entities were the Naaru.

Worldsouls came into the Universe and formed worlds around them. Overtime, these entities would become the Titans. Based off the wording, you COULD argue the Worldsouls are Light clouds, but you can also argue otherwise. I like to assume the Worldsouls DO have Light in them initially, but that's it. This is assuming Chronicle ain't wrong ofc (which, based off what we currently know, it isn't in a lot of things, but it is in a lot of other things, tho it being wrong is mostly due to the Titans hiding information. This ain't the fault of the person writing Chronicle in-universe btw. They're just basing their information off Titan documentations and whatnot).

[Mecheon]

I still think if we go to K'aresh as our main zone in 11.2 I'll feel this expansion was a thematic failure.

There's no plot reason for our characters to want to go to K'aresh yet. The Ethereals having the dark heart is better than Xal'atath if they aren't working together. The only way they'd be a threat to us is if they attack Azeroth with it, and why would they attack anything other than the World Soul? That to me says Rootlands. Maybe K'aresh as a back drop to the final boss fight, but as a whole zone? Please no.

Blizzard promised us more connection to the story patch to patch but we haven't gotten any prologue to 11.2 and regardless of which way it goes, Legacy of Arathor doesn't feel like a prologue for 11.2.

I heard a really good point on this: Ending TWW at K'aresh would be like ending WotLK at the Argent Tourney and never going to face Arthas in Icecrown. The entire expansion has been set up for some sort of world core incident, so that's what's going to happen.

Also, does anyone here actually like Faerin? I'll be honest I didn't have any big issues with her until 11.1.7 was revealed (even though Anduin could've has asked, you know, Velen, his buddy, for help regarding his connection to the light, but for some reason only Faerin, this character that seemingly comes out of nowhere and which apparently has deep lore implications, could do it), when for some reason she shows up in Arathi Highlands just so Danath can bend a knee to her. Are you kidding me? Danath? Danath TROLLBANE? This grizzled out war veteran is suddenly doing a 180 on his character and many of the things he stands for because of a newly introduced, morally righteous Mary Sue who can do no wrong and is also missing one arm but also leads an army against the Nerubians but also has the time to run an orphanage and read children's stories and is also able to magically solve everyone's problems but is also able to get involved in issues that are out of her scope or topics she knows little or nothing about and make old, established characters do a 180 on their beliefs? Come on.

She's appeared in, what, two zones? Anduin didn't want to go and talk to Velen and has been hiding out in Silithus since before Dragonflight (we literately had a quest about this at the expansion start) and she offers a new perspective on things to help him rather than the tried old. Frankly, let's be honest, someone around Anduin's age (like Faerin seems to be) is probably more useful on this than the incredibly, incredibly ancient Velen

and, look, if you don't like characters that come out of nowhere, I've got really bad news about Velen's history in the game and him just coming out of nowhere in TBC and suddenly he's a trifecta with Kil'jaden and Archimonde and also their backstory is completely rewritten. If you don't like Mary Sues, well, I'd be poking the arrow at Nathanos well before Faerin

Danath Trollbane is like, what, 80 nowerdays, and has had to watch as everyone else who could take over Stromgarde in his absence have been fairly awful, with Galen's whole thing in Legion and Marran's previous attempt lead to nearly starting another war. The man's obviously a little jaded having seen his kingdom fall to ruin and irrelevancy with incredibly limited future. i wonder why the man is a little jaded in his old age. hrm. I wonder why.

also like, 11.1.7 is liberate a quest about how she can't solve everyone's problems and we crush her whole hopes and dreams about what she thought. We knew there was going to be 'arathi going to meet arathi' quest at some point and this ties into that web novel published earlier

Who writes this stuff? And for who? Players pointed out in advance how Faerin would be the driving force behind some of the worst writing to come and they were all dismissed as racists or sexists (unfortunately, some of them really were). Well, here we are now, close to 11.1.7, and the players were proven right, because from the moment she was revealed, most people knew what was coming. She will be the morally righteous character who can do no wrong and lecture the 'problematic' ones about how bad they or their actions/beliefs are and she's just so good at everything. And let's not forget that this is Blizzard, by the way. This cheap corporate tactic of slapping as many criticism shields on a character is as old as time. Don't tell me for a second that the various aspects of her appeareance were not a deliberate choice by Blizzard so any criticism for the awful writing can be dismissed as cheap -isms. They don't really add anything otherwise. And they're all conveniently piled onto this one single character.

She's only been relevant to Hallowfall, two side story, and being a daily quest giver. How is she the worst writing? Her quest is still ages beyond actual worse writing in this game like, oh, I don't know, the entire half of Uldum that was an Indiana Jones parody

Faerin's whole thing in that quest is being a clueless outsider to the whole situation. She's not being morally righteous, she's an outsider. Her one moral thing is saying "yo if you kill marran she'll become a martyr and this cause will continue' which, yeah, would happen and its what Marran kind of wanted.

Rant over. So far I'm very disillusioned with this direction. We were promised by Metzen a return to what made Warcraft great, a return to the rule of cool, but so far it's still Dragonflight with another skin, equally boring and sappy. Also, what happened to the old concept of 'show, don't tell'?
This isn't Warcraft, and it's no wonder that each cinematic, each trailer, each storyline has less and less views and general interest than the previous one because they're writing for an audience that simply doesn't exist. This style of writing is clearly not for Warcraft fans. Everyone was using Danuser as the scapegoat for terrible writing, but it seems that the issue runs much more deeper than that. The questions is - who is to blame? Who is writing this stuff, and is it even fixable at this point? Or is this what Warcraft will be going forward?

Dragonflight's best story was the blue dragon one. Like, that's generally well agreed. Also the best story in this expansion is the earthen one with him losing his memories and shutting down

turns out those sappy stories like that are what people like.

Anyway, what are your thoughts?

You have a hate boner for Faerin. That's my thought. You obsess over this character and she lives rent-free in your head. Just go write a fanfiction about her if you're that obsessed, beats forum posts

[shooketh]

She's appeared in, what, two zones?

Not an argument, she's clearly set up to be an important character going forward based on her appearance in cinematics, status and name alone.

How is she the worst writing?

I said some of the worst. Just because there is stuff that is even worse than that, doesn't excuse the bad writing.

Anduin didn't want to go and talk to Velen and has been hiding out in Silithus since before Dragonflight (we literately had a quest about this at the expansion start) and she offers a new perspective on things to help him rather than the tried old. Frankly, let's be honest, someone around Anduin's age (like Faerin seems to be) is probably more useful on this than the incredibly, incredibly ancient Velen

So your argument is that a young, inexperienced character is more qualified here than an old, experienced, veteran one, arguably the light guy himself, and someone that Anduin knows personally? How does that make any sense?

Danath Trollbane is like, what, 80 nowerdays

Again, not an argument. Just like people, one doesn't make a 180 on their beliefs just because they aged from 60 to 80. Time changes certain things about people, but not everything.

Dragonflight's best story was the blue dragon one. Like, that's generally well agreed. Also the best story in this expansion is the earthen one with him losing his memories and shutting down

Quests like those resonate with people because they're taken from real life events, so someone is bound to feel a certain way towards them. My main criticism is aimed at the main story of WoW and how it's written, not side quests.

You have a hate boner for Faerin. That's my thought. You obsess over this character and she lives rent-free in your head. Just go write a fanfiction about her if you're that obsessed, beats forum posts

Well, there it is. Conveniently dismissing everything as shallow 'hate'. Not surprised to be honest, that's exactly what Blizzard had in mind when designing this character.

[Foolicious]

I thing the Beledar is a rool of cool thing that they'll just ignore from now on.

Crystal? What Crystal?

Its possible that beledar was never planned to be a central plot point in this expansion. Maybe it was always planned as a setup to be resolved in the last titan as part of the "titan conspiracy" or later in midnight or sometime else. I think we are a little too hung up on the idea that we have to know by the end of tww what it is and why it changes from light to void.

[Mecheon]

Not an argument, she's clearly set up to be an important character going forward based on her appearance in cinematics, status and name alone.

You're whining about a secondary character

I said some of the worst. Just because there is stuff that is even worse than that, doesn't excuse the bad writing.

And yet you specifically brought Faerin out instead of any others. Little suspicious.

So your argument is that a young, inexperienced character is more qualified here than an old, experienced, veteran one, arguably the light guy himself, and someone that Anduin knows personally?

Someone in a similar life span to Anduin is more relevant to talk about his relationship to religion than a character so old he pre-dates Anduin's entire species, yes

Again, not an argument. Just like people, one doesn't make a 180 on their beliefs just because they aged from 60 to 80. Time changes certain things about people, but not everything.

He literately has a cutscene where he's shown to be old and jaded about everything, compared with the excited Faerin who's going off stories, only for her view of Arathi to be crushed as the quests progress. Its the one where they're at the wall.

Its a cutscene even so you can't act like a Limbus Company player and say you don't read.

Quests like those resonate with people because they're taken from real life events, so someone is bound to feel a certain way towards them. My main criticism is aimed at the main story of WoW and how it's written, not side quests.

Then why are you complaining about Faerin and a 11.1.7 side quest? That isn't part of the main story. You won't have to do it.

Well, there it is. Coveniently dismissing every point as shallow 'hate'. Not surprised to be honest.

You're the one that decided to sound like your average 4chan poster.

[huth]

So your argument is that a young, inexperienced character is more qualified here than an old, experienced, veteran one, arguably the light guy himself, and someone that Anduin knows personally? How does that make any sense?

In something like this? Very easily. You don't know anything about psychology, do you?

[Mecheon]

Crystal? What Crystal?

Its possible that beledar was never planned to be a central plot point in this expansion. Maybe it was always planned as a setup to be resolved in the last titan as part of the "titan conspiracy" or later in midnight or sometime else. I think we are a little too hung up on the idea that we have to know by the end of tww what it is and why it changes from light to void.

I've seen an early beta map image (from when they were designing the zone) that flat out called Beledar "naaru crystal", so that was at least the original plan for it

[Timester]

Guys, it's time to think like Metzen. The WorldSoul Saga is a Titan Saga that uses concepts that were there for the War Within and split for 3 xpacs. Metzen said it in his interview a year ago, now confirmed, he is much very a "I love what you guys are doing, but... let's do things this way."

Rootlands now could be a concept used in The Last Titan, much like the Worldcore. Metzen CLEARLY changed this xpac to be Xal's prologue of creating Midnight, right now we are just chasing her and cleaning up after her. Heck, they showing us the original Xal-N'zoth deal pretty tells us this is all about Xal.

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So your argument is that a young, inexperienced character is more qualified here than an old, experienced, veteran one, arguably the light guy himself, and someone that Anduin knows personally? How does that make any sense?

Maybe because the guy with more psychological trauma in WoW history perhaps reached to the point "yeah, guys, fuck it all, just leave me alone on my cave..."?

It's not Faerin that makes Anduin reconnecting to the Light, it's Anduin own travel and adventure. Faerin just happened to be part of it.

[shooketh]

You're whining about a secondary character


And yet you specifically brought Faerin out instead of any others. Little suspicious.

Who else is there, that's new and prominent? Nobody. Some of them are so irrelevant it hurts. What is Thrall even doing there? Or Turalyon?

Someone in a similar life span to Anduin is more relevant to talk about his relationship to religion than a character so old he pre-dates Anduin's entire species, yes

Wow, ok, you're actually doubling down on this. You know, if I were to have an issue, asking a person younger than me for advice would be the last thing on my mind, especially on topics like faith or religion. Didn't we all learn as kids to listen to our elders?

He literately has a cutscene where he's shown to be old and jaded about everything, compared with the excited Faerin who's going off stories, only for her view of Arathi to be crushed as the quests progress. Its the one where they're at the wall.

Its a cutscene even so you can't act like a Limbus Company player and say you don't read.

The one where he's all apologetic and denounces everything he stands for because it might forment 'Stromic superiority'?

Then why are you complaining about Faerin and a 11.1.7 side quest? That isn't part of the main story. You won't have to do it.

How do you even know that it's a side quest? That's just baseless speculation, you have no idea where this will lead to.

You're the one that decided to sound like your average 4chan poster.

Oh, damn, I'm sorry that I don't dance around words and say what I mean.

[Worldshaper]

Have I hallucinated this, or wasn't there an early development concept map of the Khaz Algar zones, featuring a little note on it that said "naaru" or "naaru crystal" where Beledar is?

I could've sworn I've seen that before, but I can't find it right now.

[Ersula]

Crystal? What Crystal?

Its possible that beledar was never planned to be a central plot point in this expansion. Maybe it was always planned as a setup to be resolved in the last titan as part of the "titan conspiracy" or later in midnight or sometime else. I think we are a little too hung up on the idea that we have to know by the end of tww what it is and why it changes from light to void.

Or perhaps it was just a zone gimmick. They already explained what Beledar is; a crystal formation created by the worldsoul's defense mechanism. Anything else is just people reading into mundane details.

[Black Rider]

Long time lurker, first time poster - I do enjoy what some of you post on here, but I'll get straight to the point - wall of text incoming

TWW, story wise, is just as boring as Dragonflight. It follows the exact same sappy, cheesy, safe, bland, boring, sanitized formula as Dragonflight. Everything that made WoW characters or races unique is being sanded down to avoid any potential controversy coming from the overly sensitive modern audience, that doesn't really even exist, except on twitter and various other small corners of the internet.

Every character which is not a clear antagonist now falls into the same mold and ideological paradigm - morally righteous, apologetic, soft, sensitive, sentimental, tolerant, and they feel more like vessels for the writers to practice moral grandstanding on players rather than fleshed out characters with their own beliefs, traits, personalities, grievances, prejudices and part of a fictional world shaped by wars and conflict. Cheap virtue signaling at every step, gone is the era of strong, unique, resolute characters with unwavering conviction. Power of friendship, councils (even Undermine ends with a council), let's all forget the past and all the deep hatreds that run between these characters or races and everything that made them stand out (hello Forsaken!) and all their differences and just write everyone the same while holding hands around the giant bonfire as we all must 'do better'.

It's boring. It's played out. It's not Warcraft. Who finds this stuff appealing? Who are they even writing for at this point? Themselves and their orbiters on twitter? Fine, but if they continue, then they'll be only ones left interested in this giant, boring soap opera.

Also, does anyone here actually like Faerin? I'll be honest I didn't have any big issues with her until 11.1.7 was revealed (even though Anduin could've has asked, you know, Velen, his buddy, for help regarding his connection to the light, but for some reason only Faerin, this character that seemingly comes out of nowhere and which apparently has deep lore implications, could do it), when for some reason she shows up in Arathi Highlands just so Danath can bend a knee to her. Are you kidding me? Danath? Danath TROLLBANE? This grizzled out war veteran is suddenly doing a 180 on his character and many of the things he stands for because of a newly introduced, morally righteous Mary Sue who can do no wrong and is also missing one arm but also leads an army against the Nerubians but also has the time to run an orphanage and read children's stories and is also able to magically solve everyone's problems but is also able to get involved in issues that are out of her scope or topics she knows little or nothing about and make old, established characters do a 180 on their beliefs? Come on.

We need to stop dancing around these issues and put the blame where it lies, if we want things to get better.

Who writes this stuff? And for who? Players pointed out in advance how Faerin would be the driving force behind some of the worst writing to come and they were all dismissed as racists or sexists (unfortunately, some of them really were). Well, here we are now, close to 11.1.7, and the players were proven right, because from the moment she was revealed, most people knew what was coming. She will be the morally righteous character who can do no wrong and lecture the 'problematic' ones about how bad they or their actions/beliefs are and how she's just so good and perfect at everything. And let's not forget that this is Blizzard, by the way. This cheap corporate tactic of slapping as many criticism shields on a character is as old as time. Don't tell me for a second that the various aspects of her appeareance were not a deliberate choice by Blizzard so any criticism for the awful writing can be dismissed as cheap -isms. They don't really add anything otherwise. And they're all conveniently piled onto this one single character.

Rant over. So far I'm very disillusioned with this direction. We were promised by Metzen a return to what made Warcraft great, a return to the rule of cool, but so far it's still Dragonflight with another skin, equally boring and sappy. Also, what happened to the old concept of 'show, don't tell'?
This isn't Warcraft, and it's no wonder that each cinematic, each trailer, each storyline has less and less views and general interest than the previous one because they're writing for an audience that simply doesn't exist. This style of writing is clearly not for Warcraft fans. Everyone was using Danuser as the scapegoat for the terrible writing, but it seems that the issue runs much more deeper than that. The questions is - who is to blame? Who is writing this stuff and at whose direction, and is it even fixable at this point? Or is this what Warcraft will be going forward?

It's really sad that it's far more exciting to speculate, and I've read more cool ideas from everyday players, than to follow whatever Blizzard is currently writing.

Anyway, what are your thoughts?

You’re spot-on that TWW’s narrative feels like a continuation of Dragonflight’s safe, sappy tone. The “power of friendship” vibe, councils galore (Undermine’s council is a groaner), and morally righteous characters who all blend into the same mold tolerant, apologetic, conflict-averse don’t feel like the Warcraft we grew up with. The game’s roots were in a gritty, war-torn world where factions had deep-seated grudges, races had distinct identities, and characters were flawed, complex, and sometimes unapologetically brutal. Think of the Forsaken’s moral ambiguity under Sylvanas or the Horde’s internal struggles in Cataclysm. Those felt alive, grounded in a world shaped by conflict.
Now, it’s like Blizzard is sanding down anything that could be “problematic.” The Forsaken, once defined by their bitterness and defiance, are softened into generic redemption arcs. Racial tensions like the night elves’ hatred for the orcs post-Teldrassil are glossed over for kumbaya moments. This isn’t just a storytelling shift. it’s a betrayal of the lore’s depth. Warcraft thrived on morally gray characters with convictions, not cookie-cutter heroes preaching unity. You’re right: it’s boring, and it’s not Warcraft.

[Joshuaj]

Guys, it's time to think like Metzen. The WorldSoul Saga is a Titan Saga that uses concepts that were there for the War Within and split for 3 xpacs. Metzen said it in his interview a year ago, now confirmed, he is much very a "I love what you guys are doing, but... let's do things this way."

Rootlands now could be a concept used in The Last Titan, much like the Worldcore. Metzen CLEARLY changed this xpac to be Xal's prologue of creating Midnight, right now we are just chasing her and cleaning up after her. Heck, they showing us the original Xal-N'zoth deal pretty tells us this is all about Xal.

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Maybe because the guy with more psychological trauma in WoW history perhaps reached to the point "yeah, guys, fuck it all, just leave me alone on my cave..."?

It's not Faerin that makes Anduin reconnecting to the Light, it's Anduin own travel and adventure. Faerin just happened to be part of it.

Xal'atath sucks. Lemme fight Dimensius in Midnight.