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

[Revamp Man]

No? IoT was covered in dailies.

Yeah but the dailies weren't a huge gate
You could farm rares for rep

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I havent check in in over a month. Anything juicy I missed, or any interesting leaks even if obviously fake?

Few discord leaks

[Ersula]

nope. (Legion says hello)

A lot of that praise of Dragonflight is askew but Dragonflight's content schedule is amazing. Legion making everyone wait 11 weeks for Nighthold when it was in the game at launch & tested during Beta? That was ridiculous. And the minor patches of Dragonflight are way bigger & better than "Trial of Valor"

I'm so glad we're past the "Try to make 1 raid tier feel like 2" era of WoW.

[Skildar]

Smooth visual transition between zones is good for world coherence, but gets more dull for gameplay and recognizability. The Burning Steppes and Searing Gorge might as well be the same thing, 4.e.g. but while Vanilla had a massive landmass for its time and little experience from the devs, along with an intended naturalistic look, DF doesn't. If I'm going to be flying over these places and doing repeated content there, having them be distinct enough that I know right away if I'm one or the other via flora, general geography and color palette is key. A way to get around this are all the one-time events that keep the content itself distinct even where the zones can't manage, e.g. you can't confuse a Fyrakk assault even for a fire invasion, but it needs to go further.

It definitely became clear to me once I played the wow geoguesser . Every tree, every floor texture, every skybox is telling of which zone you currently are in, something that Dragonflight didn't manage very well. It could have been fine on its own, but this plus the fact that in half the zones, there are no denizens and for the roharts they don't mark the land all that much... it makes it very forgettable by lacking identity. If only the whole continent could have been the home of a singular race that had the ability to give a unique signature to each zone, like arcanic magic, emerald dream magic, time magic, earth magic or life magic.

And before someone tells me that there is a time area in Thaldraszus and a arcanic zone in Azure span, these areas offer some of the most disapointing visuals, especially the Azure Span as we've seen the exact same thing in Northrend.

Next expansion needs to go bolder and let creativity shine

[Cheezits]

Do we know of any particular storylines from Ardenweald and other places that are likely to continue in 10.2 and the Emerald Dream? Except for the World Tree, of course.

Any Wild God shenanigans? Loa?

As mentioned, Vol'jin may born as a loa. Other than that I think it's going to be more about new plot threads with Elune and Life in general rather than wrapping up old stories.

Maybe we'll see Lakali's original body (the loa who the gorm was trying to eat in Mists of Tirna Scithe)

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If only the whole continent could have been the home of a singular race that had the ability to give a unique signature to each zone, like arcanic magic, emerald dream magic, time magic, earth magic or life magic.

Honestly I think they didn't do this because they were worried that people would get bored if there were too many dragons. Which is dumb but I also get it: Legion worked by having it overall Nature/Elf themed without it all being about one race.

However, there is still no real "dragon zone" in Dragon Isles. There aren't enough Dragons in Thaldrazzus. They should've done it more like Mists where it was all obviously a Pandaren continent but there were plenty of civilized races to work with. The only civlized races in DF besides Dragons are Tuskarr who barely have presence, and the Maruuk who just aren't interesting.

It's kind of a problem due to lore: the Dragons just got here, so they can't have a big presence. It's a shame because it hampers the setting. It's still a good enough continent, but it's not going to be in anyone's top 3. They really needed more Dragons.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Honestly I think they didn't do this because they were worried that people would get bored if there were too many dragons. Which is dumb but I also get it: Legion worked by having it overall Nature/Elf themed without it all being about one race.

However, there is still no real "dragon zone" in Dragon Isles. There aren't enough Dragons in Thaldrazzus. They should've done it more like Mists where it was all obviously a Pandaren continent but there were plenty of civilized races to work with. The only civlized races in DF besides Dragons are Tuskarr who barely have presence, and the Maruuk who just aren't interesting.

It's kind of a problem due to lore: the Dragons just got here, so they can't have a big presence. It's a shame because it hampers the setting. It's still a good enough continent, but it's not going to be in anyone's top 3. They really needed more Dragons.

It also seemingly changed to what it originally was back in the early days for Dragons(At least by that one Dragon has a Dwarf visage acting very old and elderly).

[Black Rider]

Metzen revealing WoW on Blizzcon sorta kinda confirmed by Ybarra on twitter.

Can you link it?

[Cheezits]

It's interesting to note that Val'sharah is meant to be as close a reflection of the Dream as you could see on Azeroth. Meanwhile, the Ohn'ahran plains are supposed to be filled with flora and fauna which reflect those of the Dream. Not sure if I think Blizzard nailed that last part. Due to most of the gameplay surrounding the Centaur clans, the Ohn'ahran Plains remind me a lot more of Nagrand than of any Emerald Dream-like zone. It's also very different from Val'sharah. But I suppose that could be seen as evidence for the suggestion that the Emerald Dream isn't just a collection of Druid-like forests, but has all sorts of wildlife?

I think the Green Dragon chunks of Ohn'ahran are supposed to be the closest reflection of the Dream. But I would suspect the Dream is a collection of different biomes because not every animal can live in a forest.

[Marlamin]

Can you link it?

https://twitter.com/Qwik/status/1688374160526127104

We sent some lucky Blizzard team members to the #TaylorSwiftErasTour concert in LA. Hope they had a blast. Soon @ChrisMetzen, myself, and some Blizzard folks will see #Metallica and I can't wait.

We have some very exciting @Warcraft news that @ChrisMetzen and @Thewindstalker will show you all at #blizzcon this year. I can't wait - I'm more excited about WoW's future than ever before.

[loras]

Xal is the Harbinger
Gathering fragments of old gods influence to raise the 5th old god which is her

You see when the other 4 tore the 5th apart it left a fragment in the blade of the black empire as a kind of sentient fragment
The other Old Gods absorbed part of it's power and traces were left in things like galakrond and the piece of flesh in sark's room
Gathering all pieces will revive the true Xal'atath

Yogg: the power drained from galakrond
Ysharj: the heart
Cthun: ???
N'Zoth: the Naga queen

I know it's not gonna happen but damn would it be better than what's coming

Small note: "Xal" just means "tool" or "weapon" in their language.

Though i could see her adopting the name Atath would be her true name.

[Black Rider]

https://twitter.com/Qwik/status/1688374160526127104

We sent some lucky Blizzard team members to the #TaylorSwiftErasTour concert in LA. Hope they had a blast. Soon @ChrisMetzen, myself, and some Blizzard folks will see #Metallica and I can't wait.

We have some very exciting @Warcraft news that @ChrisMetzen and @Thewindstalker will show you all at #blizzcon this year. I can't wait - I'm more excited about WoW's future than ever before.

Thanks! Sounds great!

[huth]

Small note: "Xal" just means "tool" or "weapon" in their language.

Though i could see her adopting the name Atath would be her true name.

I mean, they are just tools from the PoV of their creators. So i wouldn't be surprised if that really is her name.

[Cheezits]

Because I see the topic on Twitter, I think that the Dracthyr "Running Wild" flying will be enabled when static flying is turned on in the Dragon Isles. While it's a stupid reason, I think the reason they didn't have it at the start is because it would "be weird" if they could fly (but not really) just like how Druids can't fly right now. I can see them thinking it would be disappointing to new players who don't understand the rules for flying.

As for actual Dragonless Dragonriding for Dracthyr, I'm not sure if that's ever happening.

[Revamp Man]

Small note: "Xal" just means "tool" or "weapon" in their language.

Though i could see her adopting the name Atath would be her true name.

The tool of X'toth

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I mean N'Zoth means seeker

[huth]

??? So that announces something heavy... He talks about the future of WoW...

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I think that means... revamp or WoW 2 for me

Blizzard devs have a history of getting excited about completely different things than the players, so i wouldn't bet on that.

[Palapop]

Blizzard devs have a history of getting excited about completely different things than the players, so i wouldn't bet on that.

Its called false advertisement.

And big multi-billion $$$ companies are good at it.

[Dracullus]

Its called false advertisement.

And big multi-billion $$$ companies are good at it.

So when they reveal 'JUST' 10th expansion, you will call it false advertisement cause dude said he's never been more excited on twitter. xD

[Luck4]

So when they reveal 'JUST' 10th expansion, you will call it false advertisement cause dude said he's never been more excited on twitter. xD

They are probably proud of their work and Dragonflight reception, which is understandable, but the last time I saw a tweet like this was before/after Shadowlands was announced.

I could be wrong, but considering the lack of charismatic villains to kill or popular unexplored places to visit, I don't think the 10th expansion, despite its number, has much to be hyped for.

[Palapop]

So when they reveal 'JUST' 10th expansion, you will call it false advertisement cause dude said he's never been more excited on twitter. xD

Nope.
They will probably announce 10.2 / give us trailer/ptr/something....

they keep 10th expansion for juicy Blizzcon. How long we've been without Blizzcon? Couple of years?

No way they gonna use new exp on gamescon.

[Woggmer]

They are probably proud of their work and Dragonflight reception, which is understandable, but the last time I saw a tweet like this was before/after Shadowlands was announced.

I could be wrong, but considering the lack of charismatic villains to kill or popular unexplored places to visit, I don't think the 10th expansion, despite its number, has much to be hyped for.

They have tried setting up a bunch of possible threats from Legion, BFA, and even parts of Shadowlands to give the idea that there are some things involved.

Saberon and Botani in the Barrens, Goren in Durotar, A group of radical Dark Irons intent on bringing Ragneros back, Sire Denathrius is still on the loose, The possibility that there's void ethereals hiding on Azeroth and observing us...
heck, In Cata there was even a Satyr (who was a night elf that lead Archimonde to the tree and was turned into a Satyr) that we let loose to get his help against Ragneros's forces in Hyjal. [Weirdly enough there were even TCG cards that reference him like he's supposed to be a big deal, but he's never referenced again after that quest.]

[Dracullus]

Nope.
They will probably announce 10.2 / give us trailer/ptr/something....

they keep 10th expansion for juicy Blizzcon. How long we've been without Blizzcon? Couple of years?

No way they gonna use new exp on gamescon.

Read what you quote next time. No one is talking about gamescom.

They are probably proud of their work and Dragonflight reception, which is understandable, but the last time I saw a tweet like this was before/after Shadowlands was announced.

I could be wrong, but considering the lack of charismatic villains to kill or popular unexplored places to visit, I don't think the 10th expansion, despite its number, has much to be hyped for.

What's next? Expansion will be shit cause you saw black cat? xD How Ybarra puting pretty standard "I'm excited" tweet relate in any way to future expac content?

We never had "lack of unexplored places to visit", it's not real world. Dragon Isles had no more established lore than Avaloren now. Pandaria was made from a joke. Even places from RTS are just 1 zone, rest is made up and introduced in expansion. And most important ANY previous zone can be revamped into 11.0 expac continent. Jesus, have some imagination, it's speculation thread.

And btw, how was SL launch failed thing? Not only we got ton of good changes compared to BfA, but also ton of people came on launch, so theme wasn't a problem. It's nonsense shit on 9.0 while whole problem were 8 month gaps between patches in first year and scandal. After that, every SL issue was taken out of proportion - which isn't entirely bad thing, since it probably speed up fixing them.