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

[Hitei]

You are saying whatever to a full year stuck in the same patch? Fated Raids might keep some of the raiders and dungeoneers interested and that's it. They ain't keeping the more casual instance players, they are not keeping the overworld players. We are talking about a MoP to WoD gap in content. All the goodwill Blizzard has built by doing regular content releases would evaporate.

Feels pretty reasonable.

[Xilurm]

Feels pretty reasonable.

What kind of a tiny expansion is that going to be?

[Catastrophy349]

Imagine if DF did end with 10.2 and we got a 10.2.5/10.2.7 BUT we also got an earlier 11.0 release versus waiting until end of 2024? Prefer that or a 10.3 and late 2024 release?

[Xilurm]

I actually liked the strap. I felt it made it a little more unique. I don't know why they removed it and just didn't add a shirt mog so you could achieve the same look

Maybe because it wasn't finished (which it clearly wasn't with how it clipped through the shoulder piece) and wasn't meant to be part of the female set. Or maybe they listened to the people that didn't like it.

As a Night Elf fan, who's seen this race being reduced to the clown race of the week, each week, I don't want unique. I want precise. And this is good.

[Hitei]

What kind of a tiny expansion is that going to be?

Dragonflight. Announced April released November.

Imo the only other option is that they DO NOT announce 11.0 at Blizzcon, and instead announce it in like late March or something.

[Nymrohd]

Feels pretty reasonable.

So you would be releasing 11.0 in June? Nowhere near the anniversary date?

[Hitei]

So you would be releasing 11.0 in June?

Or July, yes. Depending on if there were 7 months between announcement and release (which is what Dragonflight was) or 8.

[Cheezits]

Imo the only other option is that they DO NOT announce 11.0 at Blizzcon, and instead announce it in like late March or something.

I doubt that, as they don't have any other big announcements besides MAYBE the name of the survival game/some footage. They will probably want one big thing and besides survival game it has to be Warcraft.

[Xilurm]

Dragonflight. Announced April released November.

Imo the only other option is that they DO NOT announce 11.0 at Blizzcon, and instead announce it in like late March or something.

You're missing the point. What you're describing in that picture is an expansion that's getting released 21 months after the previous one got released. Dragonflight was released 24 months after Shadowlands released. That's not a small expansion. 3 months is quite a lot, which would put your expansion in October/Early November.

[Plehnard]

Anyway, what do you guys think about this?

They removed the strap (which was most likely just unfinished anyway) on the Night Elf female models.

White and Blue version.
https://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/scree...al/1117421.jpg

For reference this is the old unfinished one.
https://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/scree...al/1116758.jpg

Looks better to be honest. The strap is better suited for the wider male shoulders.
The only thing I'm a bit torn on is the top of the shoulders, that's a bit much but some thing I can live with.
The art team did a great job overall

[Hitei]

You're missing the point. What you're describing in that picture is an expansion that's getting released 21 months after the previous one got released. Dragonflight was released 24 months after Shadowlands released. That's not a small expansion. 3 months is quite a lot, which would put your expansion in October/Early November.

By that metric WoD was in development for ~26 months and Legion and MoP for ~22. In other words at a loss of four months.

Not really sure you can make any sort of actually meaningful statement on expansion size or quality based on the time period between one expansion release and the next. It's about how the time is utilized and divided.

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I doubt that, as they don't have any other big announcements besides MAYBE the name of the survival game/some footage. They will probably want one big thing and besides survival game it has to be Warcraft.

I really do not see them announcing 11.0 before or right on top of 10.3 announcement. I guess the other-other option, as unlikely as it would be, would be them announcing 10.2 in the next couple weeks and announcing 10.3 in like September, before 10.2 even comes out. Basically move the problem forward so that instead of 10.3's existence being conceptually cannibalized by 11.0, 10.2 is cannibalized by 10.3, to a lesser degree, since they are both just patches.

[Xilurm]

By that metric WoD was in development for ~26 months and Legion and MoP for ~22. In other words at a loss of four months.

Not really sure you can make any sort of actually meaningful statement on expansion size or quality based on the time period between one expansion release and the next. It's about how the time is utilized and divided.

Not really quality, but size sure. They couldn't finished updating all the player models in time for WoD's release, which I'm sure has something to do with why it took so long.

Patch dev team and expansion dev team are different mind you. The patch cycle of WoD sucked, but then Legion came out faster, most likely because they put the patch team to work on it and help the expansion team.

[Paula Deen]

I believe what Blizzard has been doing with the patches this expansion is withholding unfinished content from the large patches and releasing it as minor patches. Fired contractors have tried hard to shed light on this as being a change they dislike, however, as a consumer, I take ZERO issue with this because for years they have kept up this standard of polish that is honestly unachievable and realistically the majority of us just want new things to do every once in a while.

Why do I bring this up?
Into perspective that means that Dawn of the Infinite and the time rifts were supposed to be with 10.1 on Launch. That means, most likely, the team is far ahead of where they would have been in years past. They have more time to spend and less staff to exhume on individual projects. Delays, while not good internally and probably extremely stressful to the poor workers, are making it easier for the illusion of new content to be maintained. I would venture to guess they are probably much farther along on the next expansion than they were on SL during 8.2 or DF during 9.1.

Edit: AGAIN, I am not at all negative about this, I love the patch cadence right now and if this is what they do to keep it up I would rather this than 13 Months of SoO.

[Cheezits]

I really do not see them announcing 11.0 before or right on top of 10.3 announcement. I guess the other-other option, as unlikely as it would be, would be them announcing 10.2 in the next couple weeks and announcing 10.3 in like September, before 10.2 even comes out. Basically move the problem forward so that instead of 10.3's existence being conceptually cannibalized by 11.0, 10.2 is cannibalized by 10.3, to a lesser degree, since they are both just patches.

I can see it. I think they are aware that the main 10.1.5 content is irrelevant to a majority of casual players, and they keep overtly teasing the tree/dripfeeding leaks with the PTR. Couple that with 10.1.7 being pretty small and I can see a reveal happening sooner than later.

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I believe what Blizzard has been doing with the patches this expansion is withholding unfinished content from the large patches and releasing it as minor patches. Fired contractors have tried hard to shed light on this as being a change they dislike, however, as a consumer, I take ZERO issue with this because for years they have kept up this standard of polish that is honestly unachievable and realistically the majority of us just want new things to do every once in a while.

Into perspective that means that Dawn of the Infinite and the time rifts were supposed to be with 10.1 on Launch. That means, most likely, the team is far ahead of where they would have been in years past. They have more time to spend and less staff to exhume on individual projects, delays, while not good internally and probably extremely stressful to the poor workers, are making it easier for the illusion of new content to be maintained. I would venture to guess they are probably much farther along on the next expansion than they were on SL during 8.2 or DF during 9.1.

I really really doubt it was SUPPOSED to be with 10.1, as it doesn't fit the rest of the patch at all, but more like it was being developed at around the same time. Add on top of that that there aren't a lot of new assets in 10.1.5 (reused models for all the rifts, the dungeon is a room, platforms and the Galakrond room) and it makes sense that it didn't take as long to ship.

The big patches are the patches with the most assets and Aberrus also wasn't THAT super new in regards to models, though it did have a new biome and some new species. I think that implies that the Dream is going to be wacky and very "new" in the models it introduces: see the giant sun cat, for example.

[Paula Deen]

I can see it. I think they are aware that the main 10.1.5 content is irrelevant to a majority of casual players, and they keep overtly teasing the tree/dripfeeding leaks with the PTR. Couple that with 10.1.7 being pretty small and I can see a reveal happening sooner than later.

The reveal is going to happen and the PTR is going up before 10.1.7 is off the PTR. Just like with the Forbidden Reach and 10.2

[Raetary]

To return to the nelf set for just a second, i would've preferred something akin to either of these:

[Cheezits]

I like the second tint, but people were NOT a fan of the purple/gold Darnassus colors in BFA so I can see why they strayed away from it. Hopefully both armors get three tints.

[Khaza-R]

Honestly all the heritage armors need more tints. Its a travesty that mechagnomes when are stuck with one when the other two tints exist.

[Hitei]

Honestly all the heritage armors need more tints. Its a travesty that mechagnomes when are stuck with one when the other two tints exist.

I feel like all it would take to get the others put in is a dev actually seeing a tweet pointing out that orcs and what not got all theirs and that the race's transmog restrictions make the other two tints necessary.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

"I really want to point out that Sylvanas hates Arthas and the Scourge for what they did to her and Quel'thalas. There is no way she would side with Death. She did play an important role in Arthas' downfall so I don't know why anyone thinks she will be buddies with the Jailer. Sylvanas is not the servant of anyone."

And I believe it would of faired better if that was more explored slowly then rushed and then Covid hit and the scandal.