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

[Luck4]

console release will only mean more players idk why people are acting like this a problem

Indeed, and I would go so far as to say that the WoW port to consoles is overdue. Blizzard should have made the console port many years ago to bolster the playerbase numbers and the game's popularity.

[Nymrohd]

console release will only mean more players idk why people are acting like this a problem

I assume because many of the people playing this game for two decades do not want to see significant pruning. There is a reason most people have MoP in A or S tier. Bring the player, not the class. Yes there was homogenization but by no means was it at the cost of class and spec fantasy. And we all had at least two action bars full of keybinds.

[Jaggler]

I assume because many of the people playing this game for two decades do not want to see significant pruning. There is a reason most people have MoP in A or S tier. Bring the player, not the class. Yes there was homogenization but by no means was it at the cost of class and spec fantasy. And we all had at least two action bars full of keybinds.

You don't need to prune classes to make them console-friendly.

every console has 8 face buttons and 4 triggers. with that alone console players already have access to 40 keybinds

[Ibkee]

I'm not sure if they even need a console version?

Isn't the next Xbox rumoured to be some type of PC/console hybrid that supports launchers like Steam?

If the machine is built to handle all games then they don't need a dedicated port, just an adaptable UI.

Technically yes, the Rog Xbox Ally is coming in October and is just a PC handheld with Xbox frontend, but will support (and even integrate) Steam and Battle.net within that. Though there's still Xbox dedicated hardware coming in the future, it's expected to also essentially be a PC in all but name.

So PC handhelds, Steam Deck and whatever Xbox pump out will already support WoW by default. I agree they probably don't need to push for more support than that.

In fact, it would be to the game's detriment. Look how hamstrung FFXIV was by being tethered to PS3 and now is finding itself by PS4. In the short term, support for current closed consoles like Playstation and Switch could bring in some new players (though I'd argue WoW is a poor match for the demographics) but in the long term would only restrict development.

[Hearthfinder]

Technically yes, the Rog Xbox Ally is coming in October and is just a PC handheld with Xbox frontend, but will support (and even integrate) Steam and Battle.net within that. Though there's still Xbox dedicated hardware coming in the future, it's expected to also essentially be a PC in all but name.

So PC handhelds, Steam Deck and whatever Xbox pump out will already support WoW by default. I agree they probably don't need to push for more support than that.

In fact, it would be to the game's detriment. Look how hamstrung FFXIV was by being tethered to PS3 and now is finding itself by PS4. In the short term, support for current closed consoles like Playstation and Switch could bring in some new players (though I'd argue WoW is a poor match for the demographics) but in the long term would only restrict development.

Next Xbox is rumoured to be out in 2027, so with a bit of luck we'll get a neat announcement of that at this year's Game Awards in December. But WoW and Battle.net support would probably be announced at BlizzCon 2026.

Edit:

The Xbox might be out late 2026, in fact. Various news outlets seem to be speculating late 2026 or early 2027.

[Xilurm]

I assume because many of the people playing this game for two decades do not want to see significant pruning. There is a reason most people have MoP in A or S tier. Bring the player, not the class. Yes there was homogenization but by no means was it at the cost of class and spec fantasy. And we all had at least two action bars full of keybinds.

FFXIV requires you to use more abilities and you can play it with a controller just fine.

I feel like this idea they would need to remove abilities for it to work with a controller is never going away, even though it's completely false.

[Limayria]

I assume because many of the people playing this game for two decades do not want to see significant pruning. There is a reason most people have MoP in A or S tier. Bring the player, not the class. Yes there was homogenization but by no means was it at the cost of class and spec fantasy. And we all had at least two action bars full of keybinds.

There's no need to prune and mop wasn't significantly more "bring the player not the class" than retail is currently, players just have significantly worse brain worms about meta in the modern game

Not to mention with 40 key binds with just face buttons and triggers + one button rotation already in there's be no need for pruning

Id actually take a guess that many people with a controller will learn to keybind more things because there's more easily reachable keybinds for a controller and it's harder to click stuff so you'll wanna keybinds more or less everything you need where as with m+k it's a much smaller lose to have very long CDs you click or things you don't wanna misclick

[Nymrohd]

You don't need to prune classes to make them console-friendly.

every console has 8 face buttons and 4 triggers. with that alone console players already have access to 40 keybinds

I mean I know it is possible to have a ton of keybinds but I don't think the majority of players both with console and keyboard actually function with that level of keybinding. Probably a few keybinds and the rest are just clicks. Yeah for experts players it would not be an issue. But for everyone else?

[The-Shan]

What do you guys think of this before and after of Tranquillien? You can see it looks quite a bit bigger, but Windrunner Spire also looks a lot closer than it normally is, which I guess makes sense since its larger, and the city seems to have been scaled outward.


Here's a view of Windrunner spire taken from next to the tower that is in-shot.

[xskarma]

These are ranked by tier, but also basically in order within their tier. I started in TBC, quit for a while, came back in Wrath and have been subbed since.

A tier: Legion, Mists, TBC - The best of the best in terms of dungeons, raids, patch content, world building, lore, and the X factor of personal enjoyment.

B tier: TWW, Wrath, Dragonflight - Good expansions, but with minor flaws here and there. Undermine was so so, Dragonflight started off amazing and full fo promise and then it kind of leveled off and missed that OOMPH down the stretch. Wrath, people will hate me for this, but it wasn;t as good as TBC was, and I HATED the rush rush rush, go go go mentality of the dungeon finder.

C tier: Cata, BfA, WoD - Expansions with definite problems. WoD had a lack of content in everything, and the Boating stuff in the last patch was just super annoying, by that time the shine was off of the Missions Board stuff and it sucked. Cata was also lacking in content for large stretches, but it was saved by transmog in the last patch, and funnily enough LFR, which was a gateway for MANY into raiding, and made people I played with interested in trying actual raids too. BfA is my personal outlier compared to most people I think cause I just did not enjoy that expansion for the entire second half of it. And yet...

F tier: Shadowlands - ...it was still all better than everything after the initial launch of Shadowlands. Shadowlands launched pretty well, but near the end of the first tier I was kind of done with it, and then the worst content patch ever™ happened with Korthia, and it very very nearly made me quit the game for the first time since like 2008. The Zerith Mortis patch saved it, and kept me interested long enough to get me to the end, but SL is still the worst expansion by a decent margin.


Not Played: Vanilla/Classic. What I played of the content in TBC and Wrath though, I'd place it B Tier. I very very nearly did not make it as a long term WoW player cause of the lack of clarity about what you should be doing to level from like 15 through 50 on either faction. I struggled through it once, and on my return I was so lost that I turned to an addon that basically told me which quest I needed to do next. And that got me through the second, third and fourth time, and by then we were in Cata and none of it was necessary anymore.


I think if you ask me to do this in an expansion or 2, that I might make Dragonflight and Cata their own tier together, between B and C, but for now with Dragonflight still having that recent expansion shine I think this is accurate. I might also eventually just make Legion the lone tier on top. Much will depend on the enjoyment I get from reliving it with Remix in October. It made me reaffirm how much I loved Mists so I expect similar with Legion.

[Hearthfinder]

What do you guys think of this before and after of Tranquillien? You can see it looks quite a bit bigger, but Windrunner Spire also looks a lot closer than it normally is, which I guess makes sense since its larger, and the city seems to have been scaled outward.

Here's a view of Windrunner spire taken from next to the tower that is in-shot.

If TBC Quel'Thalas looked a bit Night Elven due to Blizzard using that "old marble" aesthetic everywhere for elven ruins back then, I worry that Midnight Quel'Thalas will look a bit too much like Valdrakken.

[The-Shan]

If TBC Quel'Thalas looked a bit Night Elven due to Blizzard using that "old marble" aesthetic everywhere for elven ruins back then, I worry that Midnight Quel'Thalas will look a bit too much like Valdrakken.

I think the Valdrakken comparisons are inevitable, since dragon and elven architecture seems to be somewhat similarly inspired (And perhaps dragon architecture is derivative of elven architecture).

I don't think its necessarily a bad thing, but some people might find it a bit 'same old' simply because of how recent Dragonflight is.

[elbleuet]

What do you guys think of this before and after of Tranquillien? You can see it looks quite a bit bigger, but Windrunner Spire also looks a lot closer than it normally is, which I guess makes sense since its larger, and the city seems to have been scaled outward.


Here's a view of Windrunner spire taken from next to the tower that is in-shot.

So... the y re using a red and gold banner here but we sax a blue and gold banner in Silvermoon I wonder why

[Xilurm]

What do you guys think of this before and after of Tranquillien? You can see it looks quite a bit bigger, but Windrunner Spire also looks a lot closer than it normally is, which I guess makes sense since its larger, and the city seems to have been scaled outward.
https://i.imgur.com/WJ6e6pf.jpeg

Here's a view of Windrunner spire taken from next to the tower that is in-shot.
https://i.imgur.com/TC1cW50.jpeg

This is the best kind of revamp that's happened in WoW. I can't wait to see the whole thing.

[Hearthfinder]

I think the Valdrakken comparisons are inevitable, since dragon and elven architecture seems to be somewhat similarly inspired (And perhaps dragon architecture is derivative of elven architecture).

I don't think its necessarily a bad thing, but some people might find it a bit 'same old' simply because of how recent Dragonflight is.

True, and also the Blood Elves were quite present in the Dragon Isles so it's easy to draw the connection. Many dragons look like them in humanoid forms, as well.

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Something I really hope we get in Quel'Thalas - and this might be a nische request - is at least one section of the forest that feels very dense.

Kind of like AU Draenor's western Nagrand outside Highmaul.

Just nail that "I'm in the forest" feeling. Add a few small creeks and lakes, perhaps a secluded cabin, a couple of shrines. Let me run around there and collect wood for my house, do some fishing, or find clues about some ancient elven bow for my Hunter.

Too often, WoW forests are just "here are some hills with a few trees".

Maybe the part that eventually blends into Zul'Aman in the east would make sense for this. A wild woodland that neither of the two peoples really control. Too close to the trolls for elves to do their gardening or build any buildings, and too close to the elves for the trolls to build a bunch of huts and temples.

[Jaggler]

So... the y re using a red and gold banner here but we sax a blue and gold banner in Silvermoon I wonder why

We also saw a purple and gold banner in Silvermoon. (or rather drape) So i suppose there are small High Elven and Void Elven embassies/areas in the neutral part.
The black and gold banners with the phoenix probably denote the areas where the Alliance are guests.

[xskarma]

dragon and elven architecture seems to be somewhat similarly inspired (And perhaps dragon architecture is derivative of elven architecture).

Since Dragons were here first, I would expect them to also be first with the architecture? There's like a couple thousand years between the Dragons getting their powers and the Kaldorei empire, iirc. Surely that means the dragons made their stuff first and the Elves took note and did similar things when their empire started.

- - - Updated - - -

So... the y re using a red and gold banner here but we sax a blue and gold banner in Silvermoon I wonder why

Might also have to do with the 4 factions they mentioned that we have to work for in Silvermoon. The Open World content thing.

[Jaggler]

Since Dragons were here first, I would expect them to also be first with the architecture? There's like a couple thousand years between the Dragons getting their powers and the Kaldorei empire, iirc. Surely that means the dragons made their stuff first and the Elves took note and did similar things when their empire started.

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Might also have to do with the 4 factions they mentioned that we have to work for in Silvermoon. The Open World content thing.

I doubt any military chapter of Silvermoon would use a blue or violet color scheme lol

[Nymrohd]

I think it is inevitable that settlements will feel closer together. Most settlements from before MoP are TINY, 3-4 buildings at most. If you scale them even a little bit up without increasing the map size, they are all coming closer together.

I do think Tranquilien should have had one or two Forsaken buildings on its outskirts. We keep talking about how the Blood Elves are Horde, we should remember why they are Horde and who helped them.

[elbleuet]

Where did you see a violet and gold banner ? I m curious