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

[Nymrohd]

And what is that?

The quest in Waking Shore?

[Berkilak]

The quest in Waking Shore?

Which was absolutely fantastic! I would love to see the main narrative take notes from that questline. It's the only writing in this franchise to leave me a little misty-eyed.

But they still have no representation within playable aesthetic content, outside of the tabard. We don't have their skintones, eyes, brands, or any armour to represent their inclusion in the Horde.

[Black Rider]

In case there was still any doubt 10.1 would be underground, look at the internal file name for the new Forbidden reach map

Nice find!

[Revamp Man]

A game being rushed doesn’t really mean much to rather it’s ready to launch or not every studio that uses church time is rushing development but that doesn’t mean all of the games they put out aren’t ready to lunch.

Without further context it being rushed could just mean the staff had to church to hit the ready point or that it was put out before the ready point we have no way to know.

Both are bad but only one is reflected on the players.

EXACTLY
All I said was that even being rushed DF was welcome because SL was such trash

Dude immediately thought I meant the game was garbage and sperged

[Varodoc]

I realize it’s early on but what’s the speculation? Any ideas?

Light vs. Void expansion on Azeroth. It's a Win for everyone. It's a Win for those who like Cosmic stories because the villains are literally intergalactic space beings of pure Cosmic power (Naaru, Void Lords, Old Gods, etc.), it's a Win for those who like more grounded expansions because the setting will still be Azeroth and iconic factions players are familiar with will be involved (Ren'dorei, Lightbound, Scarlet Crusade, etc.).

One of the patches will be about the Ethereal homeworld remnant of K'aresh. We have not yet seen a Void-infested world, we only saw snippets of this horror through Telogrus Rift and Eredath. Patch on K'aresh will be a good way to showcase the true, horrifying, destructive power of the Void, by showing the blasted remains of a planet devoured by a manifested Void Lord. Simultaneously, by making this a patch and not a whole expansion, players will not feel burned out by the Cosmic theme (and K'aresh would be similar to Argus anyway in the sense that they are not varied enough to carry an entire expansion as they are both destroyed worlds).

[Kokolums]

Light vs. Void expansion on Azeroth. It's a Win for everyone. It's a Win for those who like Cosmic stories because the villains are literally intergalactic space beings of pure Cosmic power (Naaru, Void Lords, Old Gods, etc.), it's a Win for those who like more grounded expansions because the setting will still be Azeroth and iconic factions players are familiar with will be involved (Ren'dorei, Lightbound, Scarlet Crusade, etc.).

One of the patches will be about the Ethereal homeworld remnant of K'aresh. We have not yet seen a Void-infested world, we only saw snippets of this horror through Telogrus Rift and Eredath. Patch on K'aresh will be a good way to showcase the true, horrifying, destructive power of the Void, by showing the blasted remains of a planet devoured by a manifested Void Lord. Simultaneously, by making this a patch and not a whole expansion, players will not feel burned out by the Cosmic theme (and K'aresh would be similar to Argus anyway in the sense that they are not varied enough to carry an entire expansion as they are both destroyed worlds).

That would be the typical mistake Blizzard makes. K'aresh needs its own expansion. The way Blizzard would screw it up is by just making it a patch. I mean that is a bullseye. That is exactly how to screw it up. It would be like Nyalotha all over again. People want to explore this place, and its just a patch and we barely see it. I mean that is hilarious that they would do it yet again.

[Varodoc]

K'aresh needs its own expansion.

No. It is stated verbatim that K'aresh was "destroyed":

Dungeon journal of the boss Pandemonius from the TBC Mana Tombs dungeon:

This infamous Void Lord is also known as the Duke of Chaos, the Eater of Nations, and Worldslayer. Pandemonius was one of the commanders serving under Dimensius when the ethereal homeworld of K'aresh was destroyed. He was later bound by Nexus-Prince Shaffar and forced to continue sating his unending hunger in service to the ethereals.

Canonically, the world of K'aresh has been destroyed. Like Argus, it does not have enough variety in its biome, flora, fauna, and faction composition to carry an entire expansion. A patch on this world, however, would be a good opportunity to show just how dangerous the Void can be when it manifests itself in physical reality.

K'aresh not being destroyed and having enough variety in lifeform to carry an entire expansion would completely diminish the credibility of the Void Lords as a threat (as it means that they can't even make sure all life on a single planet stays dead); on top of being a clear retcon of what is stated in the Dungeon journal.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

K'aresh not being destroyed and having enough variety in lifeform to carry an entire expansion would completely diminish the credibility of the Void Lords as a threat (as it means that they can't even make sure all life on a single planet stays dead); on top of being a clear retcon of what is stated in the Dungeon journal.

The Dungeon Journal, truly the most absolute of sources, especially when the word "destroyed" is used with no adjectives.

Let's also not forget exactly how Outland was destroyed, as well. Surely, consistency with something as absolute as the Dungeon Journal is worth sacrificing one of the most interesting possible new locales for us to explore that already exists in lore.

Oh, also, if we're taking single statements from irrelevant sources as absolute, here's an Ethereal heavily implying that K'Aresh or the remnants thereof at least still has Ethereal inhabitants.

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A patch on this world, however, would be a good opportunity to show just how dangerous the Void can be when it manifests itself in physical reality

Yes, the world-destroying power that a few Elves of dubious quality could evidently harness unrestricted. Truly, if even a people as innately destructive and irresponsible as Warcraft Elves can possess the discipline to regulate this power effectively, then we can't possibly imagine that there's anything left of K'Aresh.

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That would be the typical mistake Blizzard makes. K'aresh needs its own expansion. The way Blizzard would screw it up is by just making it a patch. I mean that is a bullseye. That is exactly how to screw it up. It would be like Nyalotha all over again. People want to explore this place, and its just a patch and we barely see it. I mean that is hilarious that they would do it yet again.

Absolutely agreed. K'Aresh has the potential for several kind of environments we haven't seen yet in Warcraft—I actually drafted an unpublished concept for a K'Aresh expansion, and people far more creative than I am have had a bit of fun with this one (though the former was admittedly more akin to what Varodoc suggested on a lesser scale, since K'Aresh was only part of a growing accumulation of a dreg heap of Void-eaten rocks, but GoldenYak really made something very fun out of the various exotic locales there)

Disregarding my curt statements to my other interlocutor, one idea I always had that would be a fun way of reconciling the threat the Void is meant to represent with having an expansion on K'Aresh would be for the entire thing to be in some kind of massive Eco-Dome (though it would be transparent near the top, of course, so that the sky with the typical Void aesthetics would be visible, with a massive sea of splotchy liquid Void outside of it. It would simultaneously make K'Aresh feel like it would've been even more impressive when it was still in its prime while also establishing exactly how much the Void destroyed the planet. It would also allow for Blizzard to avoid making another "rocks floating in space" expansion and giving Void-eaten planet remnants something of a distinct identity and aesthetic from Outland.

A couple zones I think would be very nice would be a Turkish-style steppe zone that blends into the last lush jungle left on K'Aresh, a massive desert with silver sand innately imbued with Arcane magic by the Ethereals, something like a much worse version of Deadwind Pass that used to be an experimentation ground where the Ethereals exploited more primitive races for soul-trading, a proper "Locus" zone that's exactly as Void-damaged as something can be before it become totally uninhabitable on a physical and spiritual level for mortal races, and the ruins of a massive city that used to be the technological epicenter of K'Aresh.

The thing that really interests me about a K'Aresh expansion is the opportunity for a nice and proper adventure. Plundering tombs and destroyed cities with Ethereal "archaeologists", exploring the side-effects of the Ethereal's greed combined with their advanced technology leading to the exploitation of more primitive races, exploring the culture and society of this race, re-establishing their society on their planet etc. It would be alien, but I don't think that would be a problem if it legitimately felt like a world you wanted to explore instead of a boring theme park of one-note aesthetics like Shadowlands.

Would be interesting to see how we would have to take down not only Turalyon, but Tyrande as well, Maybe have Genn swap sides eventually because he loves Anduin like a son, who knows.
Woulda sure been great to have some reason for going to the shadowlands that actually mattered to Azeroth other than BIG BAD

Eh, I'm really not a fan of villain batting everybody who's a little harsh on the Alliance side. I've been hoping that Turalyon helps to take the Alliance in a more assertive, albeit not actively warmongering, direction.

[Gurahk]

Immediately upon logging in on the PTR, I get greeted by a Jailer cutscene taking place in the dragon isles.

[Nymrohd]

Seams have been added for mining. Forgotten Shore has naga!

Place seems to have dailies and a cute little hub (there was a Tuskar village nearby if you remember it from the Dracthyr intro and every renown faction has representation there).

[arkanon]

You know, I think Blizzard could probably stand to be more subtle in their internal naming conventions specifically on account of datamining.

Haha yeah, that's not a file name it's a bloody synopsis.

[Kokolums]

No. It is stated verbatim that K'aresh was "destroyed":

but the etherals as shown in Netherstorm have hyper advanced tech called biodomes that enable them to protect flora and fauna living on asteroids. Surely they did NOT develop that tech in the Netherstorm. They obviously developed that on K'aresh to protect their own planet chunks. In fact, what we see in Netherstorm is likely just a primitive version. THey probably preserved entire continents or even oceans of K'aresh in biodomes.

So, no, very obviously K'aresh was destroyed as a planet, but astroids / oceans are floating there that contain K'aresh life under biodomes probably connected by space platofrms.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Looking at some of the Trading Post rewards, I certainly can't say I'm displeased. I'm a little suspicious of this feature eventually being monetized, but until then I feel this is a really good addition that creates a nice win-win for Blizzard and the players—it allows players to get new appearances that Blizzard wouldn't otherwise have much reason to add, and it allows Blizzard to incentivize players to drive up engagement metrics and consequently allow Blizzard to reap the monetary rewards. This kind of mutually-symbiotic marketing is highly appreciated and I hope it will become the baseline for their decision-making moving forward.

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Immediately upon logging in on the PTR, I get greeted by a Jailer cutscene taking place in the dragon isles.

We cannot escape him! It's impossible!

[Chickat]

Thats what i am expecting too. Maybe new renown levels for dragonscale expedition to unlock story content, maybe a daylie quest hub. Also more ways to get the upgrade items for the primalist gear, but nothing on the scale i expect 10.1 will have to offer.

Maybe even a light version of 7.2. Broken shore levels of content but with no mage tower, or class mount quests, dungeon, or raid. I feel like thats feasible.

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I realize it’s early on but what’s the speculation? Any ideas?

I don't think anyone has any kind of realistic clue yet. The most viable thing imo is Cata 2.0. The narrative jumped ahead 5 years, Dragon isles is open again because Azeroth is healing. Dragons prob get their powers back so Alex might even be able to speed up healing with full powers again. She hasn't had her full power since before the War of the ancients. The seed for a new nelf tree. Devs saying they wanted to revisit Gilneas etc. All the updates models and creatures over the years. Its a likely next xpac, but a lot of work so who knows. Maybe we go to Karesh for void lord boogaloo.

[Nymrohd]

Looking at some of the Trading Post rewards, I certainly can't say I'm displeased. I'm a little suspicious of this feature eventually being monetized, but until then I feel this is a really good addition that creates a nice win-win for Blizzard and the players—it allows players to get new appearances that Blizzard wouldn't otherwise have much reason to add, and it allows Blizzard to incentivize players to drive up engagement metrics and consequently allow Blizzard to reap the monetary rewards. This kind of mutually-symbiotic marketing is highly appreciated and I hope it will become the baseline for their decision-making moving forward.

Honestly the fact that once a month we will get a post about what will be in the trading post in the next month will definitely feel so much like all the cash shops in other games. And it's not for cash but I cannot help but make the association because the format is inevitably the same.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

Since im a mainly 2h axe user, Im sad that we didn't get datamined any 2h axes for trading post..

High res gorehowl from WoD would be the best fit and then the frostwolf axes that Durotan and many npc's are using but still aren't available.

Also i hope the new datamined orc banners aren't only for green orcs but also mag'har.

[Nymrohd]

I still don't get why they did not use Gorehowl as an Artifact. Especially given how Alliance-heavy artifacts were.

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Maybe even a light version of 7.2. Broken shore levels of content but with no mage tower, or class mount quests, dungeon, or raid. I feel like thats feasible.

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I don't think anyone has any kind of realistic clue yet. The most viable thing imo is Cata 2.0. The narrative jumped ahead 5 years, Dragon isles is open again because Azeroth is healing. Dragons prob get their powers back so Alex might even be able to speed up healing with full powers again. She hasn't had her full power since before the War of the ancients. The seed for a new nelf tree. Devs saying they wanted to revisit Gilneas etc. All the updates models and creatures over the years. Its a likely next xpac, but a lot of work so who knows. Maybe we go to Karesh for void lord boogaloo.

The Aspects DID have their full power after Day of the Dragon when the main universe's Demon Soul got destroyed.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

I still don't get why they did not use Gorehowl as an Artifact. Especially given how Alliance-heavy artifacts were.

Me too. It's very weird that arms warriors got a sword as artifact weapon when most-known warriors were using 2h axes, grom, saurfang, garrosh, broxigar, durotan.

[Super Dickmann]

I much appreciate how the new orc priest lore stems from the MU Mag'har, possibly the one interesting thing outside Garrosh (pbuh) to have ever spawned from them.

@Nymrohd

It took me too long to realize that even Ohn'ara was actually associated with the Highmountain story. The whole centaur thing is baffling.

@Le Conceptuel

In general reinforcing clan identity for MU orcs is something I'm of two minds on. On one hand with the Warchief spot gone and the orcs thoroughly de-orced, you might as well hearken back to an actual font of different identities. On the other hand, it ditches a major social development of the MU orcs as a hodgepodge of three overlapping clan cultures, primarily Frostwolf and Blackrock, but also a bit of Warsong. Given the datamined banners I do think a clan meet is likely so this is a likely direction and I'm not opposed to it, but I'm also afraid that rather than interaction with the AU variants of those cultures the two'd end up merging.

But honestly, this is mostly nitpicking, call me cautiously optimistic that orcish clans are finally coming up again.

[loras]

Since im a mainly 2h axe user, Im sad that we didn't get datamined any 2h axes for trading post..

High res gorehowl from WoD would be the best fit and then the frostwolf axes that Durotan and many npc's are using but still aren't available.

Also i hope the new datamined orc banners aren't only for green orcs but also mag'har.

The axe of Cenarius would've been much better imo.
Wielded by an orc, hurt Sargeras, genuinely powerful.

No offense to Gorehowl but it simply isn't that powerful an axe, it just had a legendary wielder. Especially next to many of the other artefacts.