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

[Asphyx22]

Gonna go out on a limb and guess that the leak is real. Looks very convincing to me. Definitely think that's a dreadlord. Too many vampiric features for it not to be. Can't wait to find out if I'm right or wrong!

[Safio]

was replying to someone saying that this is a lightbound orc

[Ielenia]

except Argus wasnt even plan at the time of release of legion...

It was, actually. Blizzard most likely already has at least a rough plan on where to take things through the entire expansion's lifetime. To say that Argus wasn't in the pipeline by Legion's release is... naive. Nonsensical, even.

island below broken shore on map that was original plan for the patch, later removed (thal-something? idk the name)...
when it was removed and people thought it will be scrapped patch like in wod Ion said no, patch will be but we have something else as "T-island" would be just another night elven ruins

Any evidence of that? This is the first time I've heard of that one.

[Houle]

The text is misaligned,—which is suitable to the idea it's ML-generated because any text would likely have to be added manually,—the design looks very strange and out-of-place, the design in the background looks weird and very much brings to mind the kind of thing that an ML art program might generate in the background. I'm of the mind it looks fake. Due to the way in which the text is misaligned, I'm even of the mind he might have added it after he took the photo.

But thats the thing, if that pic is AI, and the "Confidential" text was manually added later...why didnt the creator align the writing with the upper frame of the video. It would mean that dude went through the effort of having a good AI create a pretty realistic pic (as others have already said, this is better than standart AI stuff everyone could do in a minute)...only to then screw it all up by writing on it it and not even bothering to align the text with the frame, which wouldve taken around 30 seconds.
Who would spend so much of effort, only to ruin it with the most obvious and easily fixable thing at the very end.

Not saying the picture is definitely real ofc, but also not ruling it out as definitely fake so far.

[Nightmare Queen]

My one fear is that the raid takes place in the copy of the World Tree's capital city, and they design it as a raid first and foremost. So the layout gets fucked up similar to Dazar'alor and it isn't a well designed city if/when it gets transported to reality.

I hoping the three's layout is like the Grove from GW2, ex. multiple 'floors' and a spiral staircase in the center.

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Actually, Dream forms would be cool but who wants to bet they limit it to three new sets? Mecha, High Elf & Alien Druid Forms are the only new ones they make? They could go generic, and they should be giving us more form options since adding the customization feature, but I think this is better. A Mechagnome turning into a regular bear wouldn't feel right.

Elune Druid Forms: Night Elves, Nightborne
Darkspear Druid Forms: Trolls
Zandalari Druid Forms: Zandalari Trolls
Drust Druid Forms: Kul Tirans, Humans, Forsaken
Earthwalker & Spiritwalker Druid Forms: Tauren, Highmountain Tauren, Orc, Mag'har Orc (interchangable, but orcs get version without horns)
High Elf Druid Forms: Blood Elf, Void Elf
Mecha Druid Forms: Gnomes, Goblins, Mechagnomes
Argus Druid Forms: Draenei & Lightforged Draenei

I think Zandalari should be able to use the Darkspear forms too. Both ARE trolls after all.

[Foolicious]

Any evidence of that? This is the first time I've heard of that one.

It was called Tal'dranath and was shown on maps during gamescom. But vanished very quickly.

https://media.mmo-champion.com/image...t/Panel007.jpg

[Palapop]

except Argus wasnt even plan at the time of release of legion... island below broken shore on map that was original plan for the patch, later removed (thal-something? idk the name)...
when it was removed and people thought it will be scrapped patch like in wod Ion said no, patch will be but we have something else as "T-island" would be just another night elven ruins

lol... what on Earth even made you so self confident about this statement?
just lol....
if you remember Hayven Games (youtuber who passed away some years ago. he even has an ingame NPC in his honor), hes the 1 who datamined and made a video about argusian zones/sky boxes. They were in game files even in Legion beta.

it's extremely rare (*cough* WOD *cough*) that blizzard changes/abandons/adds/removes content in current expansion.
the moment some expansions hits X.0 patch, it's pretty much set in stone where it leads and they start working on next exp. Very small number of devs work on .1, .2, .3... etc, etc, etc... it was stated multiple times by Blizzard already.

[huth]

But thats the thing, if that pic is AI, and the "Confidential" text was manually added later...why didnt the creator align the writing with the upper frame of the video. It would mean that dude went through the effort of having a good AI create a pretty realistic pic (as others have already said, this is better than standart AI stuff everyone could do in a minute)...only to then screw it all up by writing on it it and not even bothering to align the text with the frame, which wouldve taken around 30 seconds.
Who would spend so much of effort, only to ruin it with the most obvious and easily fixable thing at the very end.

Not saying the picture is definitely real ofc, but also not ruling it out as definitely fake so far.

Somebody who has access to a good AI but little editing skill.

[ChairmanKaga]

Who gave the theory about another Alternate timeline? If it's supposed to be an Orcs Versus Humans homage, I'm notcing without the warm light of the room, it looks like the Human is wearing red under his armor & the orc is wearing blue, (the warm light making the blue look black) the reverse of the colors associated with them in the og cinematic. Has the prime timeline changed?

That was me spitballing though I was going with it being a Scourge Orc (Scorc?) vs a Hordey Human.

[Well Done Steak]

Another reason I think the leak is real is the "randomness" of it. What I mean is that fake leakers usually tend to draw from popular theories since they know it'll stir the pot.

For 11.0, the popular theories are pirates, titans, and light v void.

The leak has none of that.

I'd be more inclined to call bullshit if the leak was a random naaru, or a boat or some titanic figure.

Instead we get some weird distorted orc looking creature and another one too blurry to tell.


If it was fake, why make something no one can recognize.

So here's some examples on leaks that were real.

So the bolvar leak, people thought it was fake since bolvar'd body was orange while the helm was blue.

I say that's what proved it was real, because why would leaker make his helm blue??? If it was fake then his helm would have been orange too, because that's what people expect.

Now for DF, the Alex print art gave it away because of the staff that Alex was holding.

Alex never held any weapons, so why would a leaker randomly give her a staff???

So basically the more random a cinematic leak is the more likely it's real since fake leakers wanna pull people in with what they know.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

But thats the thing, if that pic is AI, and the "Confidential" text was manually added later...why didnt the creator align the writing with the upper frame of the video. It would mean that dude went through the effort of having a good AI create a pretty realistic pic (as others have already said, this is better than standart AI stuff everyone could do in a minute)...only to then screw it all up by writing on it it and not even bothering to align the text with the frame, which wouldve taken around 30 seconds.

I'm not sure what the leaker was thinking in doing so, but I think it could just be written off as a very bad idea. If I had to give a reason for how the incredibly misaligned text got through, I think it's possible the "confidential" text wasn't added to the AI-generated image, but instead added directly to the picture of the screen. While it would be a very odd slip-up to make if the text was put directly on the image and would probably require that the creator was trying to get that detail noticed due to the sheer egregiousness of the incongruity, it's easier to imagine how they could've managed to screw up the text trying to maximize its visibility while also trying to vaguely angle it in a semi-convincing way. While they may have been meticulous in generating a relatively convincing piece, which probably required some very specific parameters and references, it's entirely possible that meticulousness did not extend to the second half of creating the leak.

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I see a squidface void dude in the center, wearing shoulder armor that has two large, unwieldy spikes.

I see what looks like a spikier version of the Miraak mask from Skyrim. Still, I'm going with that it's a product of the idiosyncrasies of ML generation. While it may be blurred, it still strikes me as a dead ringer for a particularly good ML background figure.

[vintage79]

I will repeat my post again:

I see this as a remastered/reinvented version of the Warcraft 3 intro cinematic - but at the end - they kill an Inferanal or whatever comes from the sky (if) and when the "orc" takes off his helmet we see it's not an 'orc' but a DREADLORD or (Orc twisted by DREDLORDS not fel 'this time') - will fulfill the ultimate plan to corrupt/infiltrate all realites.

=>Enemy Infiltration - Preface: Shadowlands Book on Cosmos-Wide Deception Written by a Dreadlord<=


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And I will also add:

This 'second' character looks like some variation on BFA warfront alliance armor / we see a character in a horned helmet with a 2-handed axe on his back,


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There is also a small questline in current patch, where we help Nozdromu and Eternus (Infinite Dragonflight) save her sister in tanaris - by the way playing with 'time' leading to worse and worse outcome than it was before.


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From my perspective:
how come there was no Galakrond raid?!
how come they didn't do a whole patch/raid with time travel?

Is it possible that the whole Expansion will focus on jumping around in time and place - repairing the huge damage done by 'us' and our careless playing with time or by Infinite Dragonflight?

with remastered Tanaris/Caverns of Time (bronze dragonflight) - serving as a hub?
while visiting the 'reborn' Azeroth and its unreleased / scrapped parts? (from before)

with the help of Khadgar and Elisande? (and few others whom we meet on the way)

[Alanar]

With the help of Khadgar and Elisande? (and few others whom we meet on the way)

Wouldn't mind seeing her again.

[KayRule]

That is obviously Fyrakk

The amount of people so confidently saying this really speaks volumes to how fucking blind people on this forum are.

[KayRule]

So... Them nedw Tyr's Guard NPCs...
Future council raid boss, or just there to explain future paladins?

It's very interesting that each individual one has a full new suite of unique dialogue, battle lines and gossip lines.

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The orc is quite convincing ! It looks like a new art direction for fel orc. Given that the orcs want to restore their traditions and settle on Azeroth, including those in Outland, I wouldn't be surprised if the fel orcs were among them

On the other hand, the humanoid behind makes me doubt the veracity of the leak, something is wrong with these "horns". Looks like AI generated

The "horns" of the helmet are small, if there at all. The big thing on the left people think is a horn is part of the same thing on the right, and it's on their back or behind them.

[Nibelheimy]

I can understand why people are seeing the character on the right as proof of AI generation but I am reminded of the leaked dragonflight cinematic and how much I really believed it was showing an alexstrazas past scenario enslaved by orcs. I don't believe anybody guessed at that time it would be anything akin to stony Tony so it could if real be something we're just not expecting.

My immediate thought was a botani infested orc for the character on the left, but towards the sides of his head it looks like flames rather than plant matter to my eyes.

I could see the character on the right being the same as the left, but holding a warbanner or a back piece as others have suggested.

My only other guess right now is it could be a new artistic take on dragonmaw orcs. The orc heritage has left it open for some development of them, but I wouldn't think it would be for a cinematic such as this.

Cinematically speaking, if this cinematic is real, and opens on a pan of this orc on the left looking at a horizon, and the spikes are indeed a warbanner of sorts that as that character slowly approaches we can see it is indeed a dragonmaw banner so we now understand that's what the characters are. That would work on a purely cinematic scale. Especially if it's dragonmaw orcs approaching Orgrimmar. The colour scheme of the shot could fit that quite well.

[KayRule]

It looks like a Stoneborn Venthyr, the horns, the earns, the facial distribution, the eyes, even the little beard.

Though I can't imagine Blizzard would be that fucking stupid to go back to cosmos/Shadowlands shit.

[Raetary]

Today is 10.2 announcement day!

Only 10 hours and 37 minutes to go.

[Nibelheimy]

I don't think its likely (if this turns out to be real) that it's anything shadowlands related currently.

I would assume that if this is a wow cinematic. It's probably going to end up being various Fyrakk fire minions preparing to assault the dream. The armour on the left character is indeed reminescant of armour peices we've got from this expansion.

We've been told with our new Ingame cinematics Fyrakk is going to tear his own way into the dream with his armies so, sometimes the most likely answer is the right one. I'd imagine the most likely answer is that.

Fyrakk has been popular, possibly the favoured new character from this expansion. So doing a big cgi cinematic with him, assaulting one of wows most anticipated places to visit, is probably a good call.

[vintage79]

tell me if I'm paranoid but Ybara who deliberately replies to a tweet about a revamp that there would be no pirates and then this leak appears leaves me wondering

no, you are not

it's about space&time pirates!