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

[Aeluron Lightsong]

If only there was a "is revamp" flag on these models, then one could tell.

That would be far too obvious.




Or a brilliant troll move for dataminers. Hmmm...

[Catastrophy349]

I'm conflicted, personally. I have "no expectations/hopes" for 11.0. I've always been of the mindset that Blizzard could literally announce anything for a new expansion and I'll eat it up lol.

[Santandame]

He's on a constant string of hopium. I'm keeping it real.

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah, whatever, I'll see y'all the week of September 5th

You don’t need to respond to everything. Just apply some humility and move on.

Either way, we’re going to get news when we get news. Not the end of the world that we haven’t gotten anything, and when it does come it will be nice.

Hype can still accumulate in lieu of this.

[KurtMash]

So far, seven versions of WoW were placed on Azeroth, and only three outside of it. Whenever the expansions takes place outside of Azeroth, people want to go back. At the same time, space on a world map is limited and Blizz is running out of islands big enough to facilitate their own expac. I would expect, that with the backside of Azeroth Blizz wants to make more space and lore to be explored without leaving the planet. The question is - would a small island, regular expac style, be sufficient? Or do we need something more substantial? A new continent, with half of it hidden with magic, so that things can be added to it later? A big new continent added all at once (not likely)? Or maybe, Warcraft 4 expanding the lore behind the backside of Azeroth to familiarize us with zones that could later be introduced to WoW?

[Darkarath]

So far, seven versions of WoW were placed on Azeroth, and only three outside of it. Whenever the expansions takes place outside of Azeroth, people want to go back. At the same time, space on a world map is limited and Blizz is running out of islands big enough to facilitate their own expac. I would expect, that with the backside of Azeroth Blizz wants to make more space and lore to be explored without leaving the planet. The question is - would a small island, regular expac style, be sufficient? Or do we need something more substantial? A new continent, with half of it hidden with magic, so that things can be added to it later? A big new continent added all at once (not likely)? Or maybe, Warcraft 4 expanding the lore behind the backside of Azeroth to familiarize us with zones that could later be introduced to WoW?

Ohhhh, how amazing would it be if they were to announce Warcraft 4 along the next WoW expansion? It would be a really good way to introduce The Other Side of Azeroth and Avaloren (I am guessing that they are at least two different continents), so that we actually care about what is happening there.

BTW, again, no news today. I am guessing that we will not get anything until next week. It is really frustrating but at the same time, when 10.2 is announced, we will have something new and shiny to look at right until Blizzcon.

Good times ahead of us indeed.

[Darkarath]

I'm not a fan of people wanting to go back to Azeroth every time we leave it. Honestly just seems like they're bitching for the sake of it to me.

The thing is that of the three times that we have been out of Azeroth, two have been absolutely disastrous (WoD and SL), especially lore-wise.

I am not against the cosmic theme, but I think that the Legion approach works better for now (a patch centered in another planet / plane / dimension / cosmic stuff). Keep building the cosmic theme until there is actually a lore reason to go out of Azeroth, and make people excited about it. Another cosmic trip in which Blizzard pull from its ass another SL which inhabitants are suddenly responsible for everything that has happened since the beginning of time, and WoW's lore would not be able to recover from it. Hell, it has not recover from SL yet.

Chris Metzen is there again so hopefully things will be alright.

[Revamp Man]

I kinda want a mini revamp
A handful of zones with more redone each patch

Plus side is the ones who scream for a 100% revamp will say it's awful but still play

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I kinda want a mini revamp
A handful of zones with more redone each patch

Plus side is the ones who scream for a 100% revamp will say it's awful but still play

Hate playing unintentionally define some wow players.

[Kiivar86]

I'm not a fan of people wanting to go back to Azeroth every time we leave it. Honestly just seems like they're bitching for the sake of it to me.

It always struck me as a little amusing how some people belly ached so much about leaving Azeroth, as though we were gone for multiple expansions and not just, one.

[Luck4]

Chris Metzen is there again so hopefully things will be alright.

I believe Chris Metzen can still fix things because even when we had the first two "filler" expansions (Warlords/Pandaria), he managed to make it cohesive at the same time that both expansions felt like a proper progression of events.

Although I agree that Warlords was a bad expansion in general, it was mostly due to a lack of content, the lore was acceptable if we ignore the damage caused by the alternate time/travel time plot holes.

Metzen left in Legion, and the lore took a massive nosedive as soon BFA pre-patch events started.

It could be a coincidence? For sure! But I think it's not.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

It always struck me as a little amusing how some people belly ached so much about leaving Azeroth, as though we were gone for multiple expansions and not just, one.

Shadowlands derangement.

[Luck4]

I'm not a fan of people wanting to go back to Azeroth every time we leave it. Honestly just seems like they're bitching for the sake of it to me.

I don't think leaving Azeroth to explore other planets is a bad thing; this rule only applies to Cosmic planes such as Shadow/Void/Life/Order/ETC-lands, where they change the established rules and lore to create stuff out of the blue.

For instance, I still think that the Argus plot not being covered in a fully-fledged expansion was a mistake.

[Worldshaper]

New 10.2 Theory

• Within the Emerald Dream, ancient secrets lie hidden. We are about to find out the true nature of the Dream. Life was always an inherent property of Azeroth, and the Dream is basically her dream. But so are all of the other cosmic forces. The slumbering world-soul manifests beautiful creations, capable of good and evil. Beings of Light and Shadow, who live and die within the Great Cycle, both orderly and chaotic in nature. Free, untamed and wild. But also structured, organised, and so many other things. We are given evidence from this with Khaz Algar, a.k.a. Sector 938, the underground fissure which turned Earthen into Dwarves thousands of years before the Curse of Flesh. That was simply Azeroth's power seeping out from within the world.
• Every cosmic force has agents seeking to disrupt balance in the universe. To have their side win. To shape existence according to their own vision. They're not villains per se, or heroes. It's just in their nature. The Titans are Order personified. All they know is to make things orderly. Perfectly designed. Controlled. The same goes with the Shadow (Void). It's neither good or evil, but ever-changing, uncontrollable, and dark. It has much in common with Disorder, in a way. All it knows is to spread the darkness wherever it goes. For some reason, it has used Old Gods and other tentacled beings to do so, but that is probably just a historical coincidence, much as how Demons and Eredar came to take part in the Burning Legion.
• The Old Gods corrupt (or perhaps liberate, from their point of view). They draw power from places, things, and beings. They consume. They draw the essences from everything around them and use it to strengthen themselves. This is a central theme for their race. We're seeing it happen right now, as Iridikron gathers at least the essence of Galakrond to give to the Harbinger. What is likely is that Yogg-Saron and the other Old Gods have also tapped into Azeroth's powers over the years, one of them being the ability to create life. That's why Yogg-Saron was able to turn Titanforged beings into mortals, in what is known as "The Curse of Flesh". He isn't our creator, as the Old Gods would suggest. He merely steered Azeroth's powers in our direction. She is our creator. The reason he did so is because he wanted to make a mockery of the Titans' creations, and to plant the seeds of chaos for the future. By turning their creations into unruly, free-thinking mortals, they had ensured the Titans' plans would no longer proceed as planned. By extension, they had also ensured their own liberation from imprisonment, because without mortals they would never have been able to break free.
• Queen Alexstrasza turns against her makers. This is the culmination of her recent experiences, from her interactions with her long-lost friend Vyranoth, to the recent Drakonid rebellion. It'll be explained further in the War of the Scaleborn book, and in the coming patches. She might not turn in 10.2 proper, but what she learns therein, and the story surrounding Vyranoth in this patch, will push her over the edge at last. Maybe in 10.3. Note, she won't turn evil or corrupt. Nor are the Titans evil. She simply chooses a different path, after learning more information about her origins and how the Titans affect things around them. She chooses Azeroth, and freedom for all her children. Free from influence of the cosmic forces (the shame she feels over the Protodrake eggs that got altered by the Titans plays into this).
• So Avaloren becomes our next step. We'll either join the "Heretics" there alongside the Dragon Aspects, or we end up being the Heretics described by Odyn all those years ago, due to some time-travel shenanigans. But the former is probaly more likely.
• Our quest becomes to save Azeroth's waking world-soul from the encroaching Shadow, now that the Titans have lost their grip on their grand vision. We, her children, must protect our world from Queen Azshara and Xal'atath the Harbinger, as the Hour of Twilight falls once again.
• This is it. All eyes shall be opened. We're about to wake up and realise the truth of the world. I'm guessing Uldaz has something to do with this.

[micwini]

I believe Chris Metzen can still fix things because even when we had the first two "filler" expansions (Warlords/Pandaria), he managed to make it cohesive at the same time that both expansions felt like a proper progression of events.

Although I agree that Warlords was a bad expansion in general, it was mostly due to a lack of content, the lore was acceptable if we ignore the damage caused by the alternate time/travel time plot holes.

Metzen left in Legion, and the lore took a massive nosedive as soon BFA pre-patch events started.

It could be a coincidence? For sure! But I think it's not.

WoD lore was probably only bad BECAUSE of the cut content. It truly felt like a part of the story was missing too, in addition to the missing gameplay content.

[Woggmer]

I feel like I'm the only one here that actually thinks SL didn't harm the lore that much...

Despite how much I'm one of those types that prefers to be on Azeroth... I would have to agree, its not so much the Shadowlands itself that is the issue but how everything in the Shadowlands is connected and loops back to the Jailer. If they make an expansion in a realm of nature and life, but if Elune was the focal point and is written badly then the whole thing falls apart because everything is connected to her and we'd have to be stuck with her for the entirety of the expansion.

As for why I want to back to Azeroth, simple, because BFA and Legion were setting up a bunch of plot points that haven't had a conclusion or addressed. The Cult of Ragnaros, The Botani and Saberon let loose in the Barrens when the Mag'har came over, whoever made those pamphlets in Tirisfal about the Scarlet Brotherhood, and a whole bunch of other stuff... I wouldn't mind too much about leaving Azeroth if they didn't give us a bunch of reasons to go back...

[Shadowferal]

Despite how much I'm one of those types that prefers to be on Azeroth... I would have to agree, its not so much the Shadowlands itself that is the issue but how everything in the Shadowlands is connected and loops back to the Jailer.

I agree...a strange agreement from me. But SL didn't harm the lore nearly as much as those damned "Chronicles," which was initially set in stone, only to be amusingly doubled down by Blizz almost as fast as it was called "canon."

[Zaganite]

WoD lore was probably only bad BECAUSE of the cut content. It truly felt like a part of the story was missing too, in addition to the missing gameplay content.

I still standby this, WoD story was actually quite enjoyable and if you look at the reception when it first released it was well received. It went down hill after that but the story and lore initially was awesome

[Kiivar86]

Shadowlands derangement.

Which also amuses me because honestly the Shadowlands were pretty damn Azerothian when you get down to it. Maldraxxus they outright said at one point was designed to emulate the Plaguelands, Ardenweald isn't too different from Night Elven forests (just more blue instead of purple). Revendreth I can't really say anything it reminded me of so I'll give that a pass, and Bastion was pretty different from the norm at least. But honestly, at least for me, I never felt like the Shadowlands were all that alien, which was one of my biggest disappointments.

WoD lore was probably only bad BECAUSE of the cut content. It truly felt like a part of the story was missing too, in addition to the missing gameplay content.

I'm still fascinated by what could have been with WoD. The Chronospire, Gorgrond's complete gutting, giving up on Karabor and Bladespire as capitals, and then there's Farahlon of course.

What could have been...

[Zaganite]

Im still wondering how the Aspects will become empowered again. To date we know Kalecgos got his because of the embrace but I dont think it actually went into any details of how did that work? There wasnt any Tyr or other keepers present and it had to do with the two moons coming into alignment. We know Merithra was able to interact with the thingy in Lunedane and only the Aspect could do that so the rules are a bit different

[Jaggler]

Im still wondering how the Aspects will become empowered again. To date we know Kalecgos got his because of the embrace but I dont think it actually went into any details of how did that work? There wasnt any Tyr or other keepers present and it had to do with the two moons coming into alignment. We know Merithra was able to interact with the thingy in Lunedane and only the Aspect could do that so the rules are a bit different

Most likely it's connected to the oathstones + reforged Tyr