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

[Sondrelk]

Also, shouldn't the bananas be inside the stew pot?

[Teriz]

We don't NEED Draenor for playable Ogres. Lots of people missed it, but Seething Shore had Ogre architecture. It was just a beach of a much larger land mass off the west coast of Silithus/Feralas.

It’s the most likely entry point though, since the ogres on Draenor were far more organized and we interacted heavily with their civilization during WoD. Additionally, Draenor ogres allows the alliance to get Arakkoa. Another highly requested race.

As for the “leaked image” gaining traction, I still contend that it is orcs warped by the light/naaru, because I don’t believe we’d venture back into Shadowlands lore so quickly, and Blizzard has never seemed too keen for us to dive completely into an old gods expansion.

[Nightshade711]

I don’t believe we’d venture back into Shadowlands lore so quickly

We’ve been touching back on/venturing into Shadowlands lore throughout the Xpac, especially Ardenweald.

Even next patch they all make an appearance in the Emerald Dream zone.

[Skildar]

you're not prepared for a cinematic reveal of the next expansion with a video focused solely on Gallywix and how he banded all brokers of every worlds and dimensions

joke aside, the chances of us seeing this little rascal next expansion are quite big. If they decide to show him in a similar way as they did during the Shadowlands, it could become funny and interesting.

[Teriz]

We’ve been touching back on/venturing into Shadowlands lore throughout the Xpac, especially Ardenweald.

Even next patch they all make an appearance in the Emerald Dream zone.

There’s a big difference between Ardenweald being part of a patch dealing with the Emerald Dream, and Shadowlands 2.0 being the next expansion.

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you're not prepared for a cinematic reveal of the next expansion with a video focused solely on Gallywix and how he banded all brokers of every worlds and dimensions

joke aside, the chances of us seeing this little rascal next expansion are quite big. If they decide to show him in a similar way as they did during the Shadowlands, it could become funny and interesting.

I believe we’ll see Gallywix as part of an Undermine expansion. Whenever that occurs is anyone’s guess.

[Cheezits]

Maybe the moonkin animations suggest we're getting a slightly smaller iteration of Ogres vs a half-measure with Mok'nathal?

[Teriz]

Maybe the moonkin animations suggest we're getting a slightly smaller iteration of Ogres vs a half-measure with Mok'nathal?

I don't think Blizzard wants to dive too deeply into the origins of the Mok'nathal to make them a playable race. Their story is a bit problematic.

[Raetary]

If we get a new race, i want it to be Botani.
They got some nice ED lore potential given that Azeroth lacks the spirit that made the everbloom as powerful as it was.

[Santandame]

Maybe the moonkin animations suggest we're getting a slightly smaller iteration of Ogres vs a half-measure with Mok'nathal?

I reckon if they do Ogres it’s either the full hog or Mok’nothal. I don’t think they’ll ever go for smaller Ogres or any other hybrid.

If these animations do in fact confirm Ogres as playable then it’s seemingly even more evidence for a World Revamp. I could see them starting in either Feralas with Dire Maul as their capital or in Dustwallow as the Horde’s Ogre allies settled there. They could build upon the ruins of Theramore and then at least they’re close to both Durotar and The Barrens.

As an outside chance I could see it indicating South Seas with us seeing Ogrezonia.

Outside of Ogres as playable then I think we could get a few others if it’s a World Revamp:

Ankoan (Alliance) - have them settle in Vash’jir as their starter zone and capital. It’s close to Stormwind too.

Broken (Alliance) - Feels like we’re getting closer to that point and they’re thematically and aesthetically different enough to Draenei to get their own race. As far as starter zone goes then it just makes sense to lump them where the Draenei start. Sort of like Orcs/Trolls and Dwarves/Gnomes in classic.

Another race for Horde I’m quite stuck on. I don’t think Naga fit a world revamp expansion and Hozen I just can’t ever see as playable. Mogu seem like the most likely option out if what we have left and they do fit the Horde thematically. One other potential option is the Dragon Isles Centaur. They’re a Horde race to a tee and the Baine questline may be the precursor to them as playable and joining the Horde. Tuskarr are also an option I guess.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

If we're talking about races now, I'm on team Naga. They'd likely be suitable for the next expansion and people have wanted them for some time. The only real impediment to them becoming a race after the Mechagnomes and Dracthyr is working with mounts, and I honestly don't think that's going to be an issue because they could just ride sidesaddle. There's pretty much nothing that would realistically impede them at this point and they'd absolutely be suitable to a number of potential expansion themes. While I'm not certain at all that we'll get them, I am confident they're very much within the realm of possibility.

[Jastall]

I have to disagree. BFA, while easily worse for the setting, was also massively more entertaining to discuss. Every patch spawned new and more powerful memes as the plot grew more and more retarded on its trainwreck course to its conclusion. SL on the other hand, while also great to take the piss out of, was slow and laborious and inevitable. The True Potential of Humans, Morally Gray Sylvanas, Baine's achey tauren heart, Sadfang and Memeboi's story and so on are eternal. SL only has the Bald Man retcons and cosmic gobbleygook which the writers were too afraid to push to its actually interesting conclusion, but not half-assed enough to not piss everyone off.

SL was bad from start to finish in a predictable, even standard way, with all its worst elements frontloaded and obvious. BFA on the other hand grew exponentially worse and therefore more entertaining with each patch.

DF is mostly just there.

To be quite honest while I of course didn't predict every curveball in the expansion's trainwreck of a story, I did foresee most of the main plot points the moment Sylvanas burned the tree; evil Warchief plot redux, Saurfang is the new Vol'jin but dies, Jaina learns the virtues of peace and cooperation, NEs get laughed at as usual, sad Horde gets no punishment because playable faction, Azshara as patch content and N'zoth as the final boss. The segway into Shadowlands felt out of nowhere to me but hey, I got most of the beats right. It's why I gave up on trying to take the "faction war" expansion seriously before it began. It was always going to be a farce the moment they turned Sylvanas eeeeeevil.

By contrast I was a lot more wrong about Dragonflight, as I was sure the Incarnates were filler for the filler god and Murozond would be the final boss. I'm actually happy to be wrong this time around, they're likely the best new main villains we've had in a while, which is hardly a high bar to clear but still. All the other good ones like Azshara and Denathrius were dispatched fairly quickly after becoming relevant.

[Sondrelk]

Hey guys, do y'all think the HD additions are for a world revamp? Or do y'all think they're things for the backside of Azeroth?

Well given quite a lot of them only really make sense in established settlements it would be weird to find them on the backside of Azeroth. Why would there be a full contingent of Human houses for instance. Or why would there be Silver moon lampposts?

[Cheezits]

Alliance- Jinyu (hinted at in 10.0 files, "Jin'yu 2.0 Player Tester)

Alliance- Krokuul Broken (implied at end of Man'ari Questline)

Horde- Ogres (possibly hinted by Moonkin Rework)

Horde- ???????

What if it's Sethrak? Horde tied, and it could match with Jinyu who likely would be a one-body race. I feel like they would finally reveal Female Ogres here and Female Krokuul are probably a simple model.

Ultimate fanservice race deployment for the 20 Year Anniversary. Two one-body races to save on costs and also they make sense (no snaketits or fishtits)

[Sondrelk]

Alliance- Jinyu (hinted at in 10.0 files, "Jin'yu 2.0 Player Tester)

Alliance- Krokuul Broken (implied at end of Man'ari Questline)

Horde- Ogres (possibly hinted by Moonkin Rework)

Horde- ???????

What if it's Sethrak? Horde tied, and it could match with Jinyu who likely would be a one-body race. I feel like they would finally reveal Female Ogres here and Female Krokuul are probably a simple model.

Ultimate fanservice race deployment for the 20 Year Anniversary.

Sethrak is probably difficult to justify. They are only in one zone in BfA, and didn't even have much relevance there. Though most importantly they have a very weird body shape to make work with gear.

The more likely Horde race is either Mok'nathal given Rexxar has a fully fleshed out model based on the Kul Tiran rig. Or they could get Mogu, given they are similarly based on an already playable rig with the Draenei.

[Cheezits]

Sethrak is probably difficult to justify. They are only in one zone in BfA, and didn't even have much relevance there. Though most importantly they have a very weird body shape to make work with gear.

The more likely Horde race is either Mok'nathal given Rexxar has a fully fleshed out model based on the Kul Tiran rig. Or they could get Mogu, given they are similarly based on an already playable rig with the Draenei.

I think Mogu are unlikely unless they change their rig. Jinyu are already cutting it as they used to be Night Elf rig, but unless they change their animations entirely that would be 3 races reusing Alliance racial rigs. People would only give Broken a pass because they are scrunkly Eredar in canon.

Sethrak are incredibly popular for a Horde race pick, moreso than Moks I would argue. I think the 4th pick for Horde is a weird spot as the Horde is mostly complete feeling without any major "gaps" besides Ogres or huge surprises like Gnolls, Quillboar, or the fabled Horde Human (never happening imo, and no I am not counting Forsaken)

Also I don't think any of the 4 are going to double up on theming. So no two Ogre races, Pandaria races, etc.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Alliance- Jinyu (hinted at in 10.0 files, "Jin'yu 2.0 Player Tester)

I was unaware of this new addition. That's definitely a bit of a smoking gun. Is there anything it could be for other than a playable race?

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The more likely Horde race is either Mok'nathal given Rexxar has a fully fleshed out model based on the Kul Tiran rig.

If we're also getting ogres, Mok'nathal would be a bit redundant, no?

[Hitei]

Sethrak is probably difficult to justify. They are only in one zone in BfA, and didn't even have much relevance there. Though most importantly they have a very weird body shape to make work with gear.

The more likely Horde race is either Mok'nathal given Rexxar has a fully fleshed out model based on the Kul Tiran rig. Or they could get Mogu, given they are similarly based on an already playable rig with the Draenei.

Sethrak work fine with gear. They just have long necks and small heads.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

I think if they would add ogres then the other race would be vrykuls - 2 giant races.

[Cheezits]

I was unaware of this new addition. That's definitely a bit of a smoking gun. Is there anything it could be for other than a playable race?
[

I really doubt it could be anything else. It was in 10.0 and snuck by Wowhead, unless they were asked not to cover it.

Though the "Jin'yu" name is odd unless there's a lore reason, or they are being goofy and just changing their name from Jinyu to Jin'yu.

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Sethrak work fine with gear. They just have long necks and small heads.

I think if they are in they will just have headgear hidden. Same with Jinyu.

[Raetary]

I think if they are in they will just have headgear hidden. Same with Jinyu.

Why would Jinyu have their helmets hidden?

The fin on their heads would just be hidden and covered when enabling a helmet, just like with hair on every other race.