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

[Shadowferal]

Hm..imagine an immense cavern, the miles long ceiling the concavity of a gigantic geode, the crystalline structure magnifying every light source below.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

What if the Undermine is actually Uldaz? Either the city built on top of it... or the titan facility/city "re-decorated" after generations of goblins living in it without their knowledge?

[Santandame]

I would be all for for Undermine being the setting of an expansion. There’s enough legs and creativity there for it to be so, with plenty of variety.

That said, I sadly don’t see it. I think when we do get Undermine it’ll be used as a zone in a South Seas expansion or a new one in a revamp expansion. I could also see it as potentially the capital for either a more general underground expansion or for the South Seas.

Knowing Blizzard though I wouldn’t be totally surprised to see them relegate it to either a raid, dungeon or mega dungeon though.

[Yunravel]

What if the Undermine is actually Uldaz? Either the city built on top of it... or the titan facility/city "re-decorated" after generations of goblins living in it without their knowledge?

I love this idea

[Teriz]

What if the Undermine is actually Uldaz? Either the city built on top of it... or the titan facility/city "re-decorated" after generations of goblins living in it without their knowledge?

That's definitely possible. It would explain the crapload of Azerite there and around Kezan. Not to mention the mineral Kaja'mite which makes Goblins smart.

[FossilFree]

Undermine wouldn't resemble the Maw or Zaralek.

Like do people forget the concept of Warcraft Goblins?

You misunderstand. It doesn't resemble the Maw, being trapped underground for 2 years for someone that hates being in tight enclosed spaces would feel every bit as torturous as going through the Maw for 2 years was.

[Mecheon]

You misunderstand. It doesn't resemble the Maw, being trapped underground for 2 years for someone that hates being in tight enclosed spaces would feel every bit as torturous as going through the Maw for 2 years was.

Doesn't need to be small caverns. They could do an absolutely massive one. On the planet right now we have a cave with its own cloud system inside due to the combination of size and the river running through, just amp that up for fantasy

Going underground and entering massive lost worlds is a big trope after all. See Dungeons and Dragons and its whole Underdark for the most obvious, but, its something Warcraft hasn't really touched and they can probably get some interesting stuff out of the idea

[Baraden]

BFA was the South Seas expansion - we're not getting that
Undermine would be an asspull, but it could be interesting - but I've always loved the more high tech story arcs in WoW

[Cheezits]

who said you would be stuck underground for 2 years? there would surely be access to the surface of Kezan
and a cave can be gigantic with a lot of space and light, so the complete opposite of what you describe

Kezan
Undermine
Uldaz?
???
???

It's a tough sell for zone variety. It would work with the South Seas overall but not without it.

[Teriz]

You misunderstand. It doesn't resemble the Maw, being trapped underground for 2 years for someone that hates being in tight enclosed spaces would feel every bit as torturous as going through the Maw for 2 years was.

Something like this;



Would make someone feel claustrophobic?

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Kezan
Undermine
Uldaz?
???
???

It's a tough sell for zone variety. It would work with the South Seas overall but not without it.

They would likely add Hearthstone version of Gadgetzhan to the mix too;

[Hitei]

Something like this;

Would make someone feel claustrophobic?

Really awful example, because yes, of course it would. The cavern ceiling is right there bearing down on the tops of the buildings.

[KainneAbsolute]

That's definitely possible. It would explain the crapload of Azerite there and around Kezan. Not to mention the mineral Kaja'mite which makes Goblins smart.

It always thought that Goblins were going to have a major role in BFA: the Kajamite was like an ancient type of Azerite.

[Luck4]

I simply cannot see the difference between a fully Underground, fully Underwater, or an Emerald Dream expansion, they all feel very limited aesthetically.

Yes, I agree that a couple of zones like that would be cool... but a whole expansion inside a cave? Hell no!

[Hitei]

I simply cannot see the difference between a fully Underground, fully Underwater, or an Emerald Dream expansion, they all feel very limited aesthetically.

I mean, the difference is pretty stark: the Emerald Dream is by it's very nature a very niche set of biomes. It's verdant, overgrown wilderness or verdant overgrown wilderness to which something has happened (e.g is on fire, is turned spooky by nightmare corruption, etc.) It has a strong specific theme and heavy deviation from that theme just makes locations feel out of place or like that purported theme doesn't actually hold true. If you have a sun-baked, skeleton-filled desert zone in the Emerald Dream, how is it the Emerald Dream?

"Underground" dictates nothing about biomes or what is in a location, just the overarching (literally) physical structure, i.e. it has a ceiling above. Forests like Ashenvale can be undeground, vast sandy deserts can be underground, even "sun"-baked ones with simple things like a particular sort of blinding crystal on that part of the ceiling above, icy glaciers, mountains, sprawling cities. You can stick pretty much any zone in the game into a "cavern", including the truly out there ones like Netherstorm. If you stick Netherstorm into the Emerald Dream, there's just confusion, because why the hell is a verdant life-nature place some weird rocky, lifeless arcane place?

"Underwater" sits somewhere inbetween the two. It's not as restrictive as the Emerald Dream, but not as totally unrestricted as the "Underground" environment, because for a cohesive thematic experience, biomes aside, there's going to be nautical/sea/water themes everywhere, in every enemy and city and item. You can still actually put pretty much any environment but some bits have to be thematically shifted--your sun-baked desert is basically sandy abyssal dunes, but you're going to struggle to get the dry/scorching aspect unless you remove the water element and basically make it an subarea that is just underground/underdome.

[Teriz]

Really awful example, because yes, of course it would. The cavern ceiling is right there bearing down on the tops of the buildings.

That massive waterfall in the background that's descending from even higher than the tops of a castle wouldn't alleviate that feeling a bit?

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It always thought that Goblins were going to have a major role in BFA: the Kajamite was like an ancient type of Azerite.

Yeah, they definitely didn't go as far as they could have with the Azerite concept in regards to Goblin and Gnome tech advancements. They also wasted Mogul Razdunk.

[huth]

That massive waterfall in the background that's descending from even higher than the tops of a castle wouldn't alleviate that feeling a bit?

Phobias, by definition, aren't very rational. On the other hand, that also means a large cavern isn't going to trigger every claustrophobic. That setting might even hit an agoraphobic harder.

[Hitei]

That massive waterfall in the background that's descending from even higher than the tops of a castle wouldn't alleviate that feeling a bit?

Is being at the bottom of a well not claustrophobic because you have the sky directly above you?

You can't have most of a zone pressing in on a player, and pressing in on it's own environment, like having the ceiling look like it could crush or cave in on buildings at any point, and not expect claustrophobia from people. Claustrophobia isn't a fear of not being able to see the sky, it's a fear of confined spaces. If you're going to avoid it, an environment has to feel wide and open, like the extremely vaulted dome of Deepholm. It needs to be designed with a rhythm and sense of space that pulls outwards, not pushes inwards.




You're still not going to completely eliminate the feeling of claustrophobia, just like you're never going to escape the fear of heights on a continent/archipelago that is "flying". But you can mitigate it.

[Teriz]

Towelie just posted this.

[Cheezits]

Towelie just posted this.

lol its true

https://twitter.com/towelthetank/sta...02429221900570

Is he even allowed to do this, unless he's trolling?

[SilverCoin]

Two (young?) people - looks more like the untitled survival game than Warcraft.