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

[Cheezits]

Having a random ass Fel Troll .1 patch would be a really weird choice in an expansion that’s supposed to be the Void’s version of Legion

It's very much looking like it's done with in the launch campaign, hate it or love it. Just like TWW the box story is just the base game.

I can see Xal still being the final boss, as she is not in the first bunch of raids, but I can't see another Void Raid after Voidspire and Assault on Queldanas.

[Nymrohd]

They really took the story of a possibly epic expansion (maybe with even 4 normal seasons) and stretched it to three expansions with tangentially related storylines after launch.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

They really took the story of a possibly epic expansion (maybe with even 4 normal seasons) and stretched it to three expansions with tangentially related storylines after launch.

Would any one really want an expansion where silvermoon and then dealing with Northrend and the titans are just patches though?

[Nymrohd]

Would any one really want an expansion where silvermoon and then dealing with Northrend and the titans are just patches though?

I don't think Silvermoon was ever in the original story and the TLT part of the story could probably have happened in Silithus/Uldum just as well. Instead of making it about the Sunwell, it could have been a more fleshed out story about the Beledar.

[Makorus]

Having a random ass Fel Troll .1 patch would be a really weird choice in an expansion that’s supposed to be the Void’s version of Legion

I don't think Ul'atek will be .1, I do think it will be .5/.7, and idk why people think it's fel when I am 99% sure it's supposed to be river/pools of poisons, seeing how it's a snake-themed island.

[Khaza-R]

They really took the story of a possibly epic expansion (maybe with even 4 normal seasons) and stretched it to three expansions with tangentially related storylines after launch.

I think the issue is that the story feels more disjointed rather than stretched.

As of now it seems really weird we didn't just end TWW in Harandar and that K'aresh wasn't more fleshed out and part of Midnight. Maybe there's some reason for this that will make sense in 12.1 and 12.2 but just feels like poor story planning at the moment.

[Nymrohd]

I think the issue is that the story feels more disjointed rather than stretched.

As of now it seems really weird we didn't just end TWW in Harandar and that K'aresh wasn't more fleshed out and part of Midnight. Maybe there's some reason for this that will make sense in 12.1 and 12.2 but just feels like poor story planning at the moment.

I mean that there was a coherent story somewhere and the coherent parts are stretched across multiple expansions which is why everything else being added is disjointed; it is filler stories that are contained within the patch they appear in.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I don't think Silvermoon was ever in the original story and the TLT part of the story could probably have happened in Silithus/Uldum just as well. Instead of making it about the Sunwell, it could have been a more fleshed out story about the Beledar.

Silithus would have likely been last patch if not just last raid stuff, Uldum seems unlikely to get another return after BFA to.

They also set voiding the sunwell up in legion so I think we would have always gone there as a kind of pallet cleanser for Titan stuff so the expansion would be. TWW launch content as Titan set up su well pay off of the black blood, then we go to Ulduar to do Titan stuff.

And the root lands some where in the mix to play around with the DF tree story and how titans bad.

[GeometryWizard]

More and more it looks like TWW's totally disjointed patch structure isn't a fluke and more the norm now. They want to use this epic main story as a selling point for this trilogy but the main story gets shorter and shorter every expansion and the amount of side quests keeps going up and up. It's like they actually want to do something more like vanilla where we're just wandering all over seeing different places without very strong connective issue which isn't an inherently bad thing at all but it completely clashes with the vision they're trying to sell. We've somehow regressed to TBC levels of story structure where the plot is basically over at the start and everything afterwards is just random events and raids

[Nymrohd]

More and more it looks like TWW's totally disjointed patch structure isn't a fluke and more the norm now. They want to use this epic main story as a selling point for this trilogy but the main story gets shorter and shorter every expansion and the amount of side quests keeps going up and up. It's like they actually want to do something more like vanilla where we're just wandering all over seeing different places without very strong connective issue which isn't an inherently bad thing at all but it completely clashes with the vision they're trying to sell. We've somehow regressed to TBC levels of story structure where the plot is basically over at the start and everything afterwards is just random events and raids

Yeah, focusing on side quests works if the main story is not urgent. Yet they are doing a "sky is falling" main story which only lasts 3-4 chapters per zone while sidequests are 2-3 times as many. This is probably more of a gameplay concern btw; they are mandating completing the main story and they want people who only want to run M+/raid to be able to get through the main story in as few hours of gameplay as possible.

[GeometryWizard]

Yeah, focusing on side quests works if the main story is not urgent. Yet they are doing a "sky is falling" main story which only lasts 3-4 chapters per zone while sidequests are 2-3 times as many. This is probably more of a gameplay concern btw; they are mandating completing the main story and they want people who only want to run M+/raid to be able to get through the main story in as few hours of gameplay as possible.

IMO part of the issue too is that those side quests are being split into dozens of short little disconnected chains instead of less but longer ones that could be more impactful. The worldbuilding feels more disjointed when it's spread across like 100 quests divided into chains that are all neatly 5-6 quests long each. With how the writing has been lately too it feels less like a cohesive world and more like you keep getting glimpses into someone's headcanon of what they think that zone or culture or WoW itself should be like. The democratization of the writing room has put too many chefs in the kitchen and so much of what is put out is bland slop that doesn't appeal to anyone but the one person that wrote it

[Cheezits]

It's like they actually want to do something more like vanilla where we're just wandering all over seeing different places without very strong connective issue which isn't an inherently bad thing at all but it completely clashes with the vision they're trying to sell.

While it's really a bait and switch marketing wise, I definitely don't mind it in that regard. It's just almost completely a scam, similar to BFA marketing. Everything was pointing to this being a reskinned purple Legion (down to the pre-new lore Void Lords) but they just do not want to or are not able to do that.

Could be that data shows people fuck off after launch so higher ups are putting effort mostly on launches versus patches. So these main stories happen in launch primarily, a break in the middle, and then some interconnective tissue storywise at the end.

[Telogrus]

I wonder if Azshara will show up at some point and play a prominent role, or if that setup for her return that we got in DF is meant to be payed off after this saga is over.

I guess the rest of the seasons could play out like this:

12.0: Voidspire and Quel’Danas
12.1: Random troll patch with Ula’tek
12.2: Xal’atath’s defeat and the World Core being compromised

13.0: Iridikron starts his plans
13.1: ???
13.2: Aman’thul

[Capivara]

Let's kill everyone and start with just OC. Heck nuke Azeroth, we can move to a new planet.

that would be my fuckind dream right here. i say we lose in the next expansions, with what is left of azeroth she takes as with a portal to a new planet far away, somewhere we know nothing and have to starta again with our lives and citys, each exp is about uncovering a new part of an untamed world. no champions of azeroth anymore, just adventurers.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

We're so lost at this point and its' funny to se Nymrohd think Shadowlands 2.0 is a good idea. Again, squeezing epic content into one expansion worked for Legion because we had a basic understanding story structure of A - B - C if you look at the structure of Legion and then compare it to where we're at now its' pretty evident how this pivot patch problem is at this point one of the most disastrous decisions they keep making.

Again, I understand if we do have a identity crisis and they do want the flexibility then maybe our stories should move away from Cataclysmic level threats and instead have a overarching villain but one that is specifically tied to the World state on Azeroth (or hell a local area of influence on Azeroth) which in turn lets the flexibility make more sense as its' not some absolutely bonkers threat level entity that make the pivots to B plots and side plots not as odd.

Honestly, I still don't get the Base idea they have. Having a Start - Stop should not be the case for Base it should instead lead into whatever else they want to tell it should not be necessary to rugpull the audience to stop caring because the core concept of the expansion has been dealt with. The reality of Base is that it should not be the endpoint it should be where you entice players to keep the interest and not just go "Oh, the thing you cared about? The concept of the expansion? Yeah, its over and uh pivot time to smaller scale stuff.". Obviously if this is accounted for in their spreadsheets and thats' why everything is the way it is, oh well. I just scratch my head when it comes to the way Base Story of the expansions end nowadays.

[Nymrohd]

that would be my fuckind dream right here. i say we lose in the next expansions, with what is left of azeroth she takes as with a portal to a new planet far away, somewhere we know nothing and have to starta again with our lives and citys, each exp is about uncovering a new part of an untamed world. no champions of azeroth anymore, just adventurers.

Why are you even playing Warcraft . . .

[Limayria]

that would be my fuckind dream right here. i say we lose in the next expansions, with what is left of azeroth she takes as with a portal to a new planet far away, somewhere we know nothing and have to starta again with our lives and citys, each exp is about uncovering a new part of an untamed world. no champions of azeroth anymore, just adventurers.

I don't think azeorth will be destroyed, but I would love an expansion or two focused on exploring space, seeing worlds untouched by the legion or helping rebuild worlds that were destroyed. It could also expand even more on ethereal culture showing us a glimpse at the etherals who gave up on k'aresh and built lives in the universe at large

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I mean, I would at least like to see the World Soul dealt with in a consequential manner whether its' Azeroth travelling away from Azeroth and leaving it in such a manner that we aren't burdened by the issues of the Cosmology or she sticks around but obviously thats' the dangerous part.

I do not like the Crackening of Azeroth idea, it just feels like a really bad idea to split Azeroth into several Outlands with new context.

Also obviously I do not want to see the World Soul continue to persist as a object after the World Soul Saga. There has to be some truth to their marketing and that means actually doing something with the World Soul.

[Santandame]

If the expansion is about returning to Quel'thalas it's a one patch expansion.

It was never advertised as a Quel’thalas and Lordaeron expansion though. It was sold purely as a return to Quel’thalas.

I was originally of the hope that launch content would be QT and Lordaeron but we’re getting QT with Harandar and Voidstorm instead. Condensing Lordaeron down into patch content is a total waste of something that could carry its isn’t expansion. People constantly fanfic Gilneas, Capital City, Stratholme etc which would have been fine for launch content but patch wise is just ridiculous.

No point shoehorning all of that into one single patch for an expansion dedicated to Quel’thalas; where Lordaeron isn’t the focus in the slightest.

[GeometryWizard]

Blowing up or disfiguring Azeroth more than the Cataclysm is the creative equivalent of them trying to make WoW 2 and force everyone over there it'd be complete suicide and even I don't think they'll do it. Even if they wanted to do it top Blizzard execs would kill the idea for nuking their cash cow. They know the immense buy-in that the old writing and world has with people and very few want to ditch all of it to start from almost zero at the mercy of the modern writers