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

[Dismayxz]

Yeah, some of them look way too WoW like to be AI generated... for example, the grass on the one in the bottom right looks exactly like WoW.

First row, second from the right. Showing it to buddies, we all more or less agreed that it's not water or anything, that's a piece of land/rock floating in the Nether.

Lower row 3rd and 4th from the right, that ground on the 3rd is defo a WoW Texture and the buildings on the back of the 4th look a lot like Nazjatar/Eternal Palace-esque voidy architecture accents set against a dark background.

As for why you'd think it looks very much like AI Art is the backgrounds. But honestly, it quite easily passes as a Skybox with a lot more up-to-date Skyboxes with a lot of Neon Colors in there, but Skyboxes fundamentally can look a lot like Artwork in WoW, as it's just that spherical background canvas overlayed over a Zone.

Edit: Another buddy more or less said, if he had to give this a vibe it's a Void Expansion that is primarily also doubling as a general Twisting Nether Expansion. There's more color that you'd expect from straight void, but if you wanted to go back to a bit of Cosmic/Void stuff and have it play a big role in that Void Storyline, you'd do it in the Twisting Nether, not on Azeroth primarily.

[Woggmer]

But read my post… why would that be compensation? The Cata zones are literally already in retail. The fans of the revamp concept want a revamp to move us away from and to update the Cata-era zones currently in retail. Getting Cata classic isn’t going to be a consolation or compensation for not getting a World Revamp in retail when literally the reason why we want a revamp is to move away from the Cata zones.

The only possible idea (and this getting into tin foil hat levels of conspiracy theory) ...is that Classic is going to deviate from the original timeline and things will change course. A cataclysm will happen, but certain events will have different outcomes...

But even I don't fully believe in something like that is possible even with Blizz's new tech that they can achieve and even then, they do want to remain consistent with Classic's gameplay philosophy. It'd be much easier to give Retail the revamp they want rather than consolidate it all into Classic where there might be fewer people and servers to cater.

Whatever Towlliee's doing, it looks like he's trying to pull red herrings and throw people off from whatever they've got planned at Blizzcon. And if it wasn't an expansion, it seems suspicious that they're leading us on a wild-goose chase with this stuff.

[Santandame]

The only possible idea (and this getting into tin foil hat levels of conspiracy theory) ...is that Classic is going to deviate from the original timeline and things will change course. A cataclysm will happen, but certain events will have different outcomes...

But even I don't fully believe in something like that is possible even with Blizz's new tech that they can achieve and even then, they do want to remain consistent with Classic's gameplay philosophy. It'd be much easier to give Retail the revamp they want rather than consolidate it all into Classic where there might be fewer people and servers to cater.

Whatever Towlliee's doing, it looks like he's trying to pull red herrings and throw people off from whatever they've got planned at Blizzcon. And if it wasn't an expansion, it seems suspicious that they're leading us on a wild-goose chase with this stuff.

Classic deviating from the original timeline is definitely an interesting thought and I’m sure there would be a huge spike of players checking out classic if it was a completely new timeline with completely new zones, dungeons, raids etc. I’d check it out for sure. It’s something I wouldn’t be totally shocked to see Blizzard do either.

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Would be compensation cause a revamp would be happening, just not our revamp

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We'll get the actual retail revamp when it's ready.

But that revamp has already happened and we can already access it in game. I’m not discounting that Cata Classic will happen, it very likely will.

But it’s literally not compensation for anyone. It’s already in game, we can already access it. It’s not like the original classic zones that we couldn’t access. It’s not going to work as compensation for those who want a world revamp as we want the world revamp to update the Cata zones that are literally in game right now.

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Edit: Another buddy more or less said, if he had to give this a vibe it's a Void Expansion that is primarily also doubling as a general Twisting Nether Expansion. There's more color that you'd expect from straight void, but if you wanted to go back to a bit of Cosmic/Void stuff and have it play a big role in that Void Storyline, you'd do it in the Twisting Nether, not on Azeroth primarily.

A Void/Twisting Nether expansion would very likely take place on either Nathreza or K’aresh. Both are established lore locations with links to both the Void and the Nether. Both would be cool.

The other option is a completely new made up world but why do that when both Nathreza and K’aresh already exist and are locations fans want to visit?

[Dismayxz]

Well, just my 2 cents anyways. Apparently, I was just told, these have been clearly and irrevocably debunked as AI already? And "anyone with eyes and a single braincell could tell".

L Bozo an' all.

[Bsirk]

While using Chrome web browser you can hold Cntrl down using the mouse wheel to zoom in on those pictures. 200% is pretty the best it gets. The more I looked at it the more I feel these things are legit. Maybe one day we'll get a revamp, but if these pictures are real then I believe it won't be in this next expansion sadly.

[huth]

They look pretty cool if I’m honest. I’d be excited for an expansion that features that aesthetic.

What confuses me is that it doesn't really fit anything we are aware of. It looks more like a rave party than any known faction, including the cosmic forces.

Which is rather odd since Blizzard prefers clear distinct visual identities.

It's not necessarily a bad look, but it's one that seems oddly out of place.

[lostsoup]

Well, just my 2 cents anyways. Apparently, I was just told, these have been clearly and irrevocably debunked as AI already? And "anyone with eyes and a single braincell could tell".

L Bozo an' all.

They haven't been, they were shared by very reputable leakers who aren't sure if they're AI generated bait or promotional images.

[Dismayxz]

They haven't been, they were shared by very reputable leakers who aren't sure if they're AI generated bait or promotional images.

Well, defo more inclined to believe that until proven otherwise, then, considering who the people are that shared it in the first place.

[Melorandor]

What confuses me is that it doesn't really fit anything we are aware of. It looks more like a rave party than any known faction, including the cosmic forces.

Which is rather odd since Blizzard prefers clear distinct visual identities.

It's not necessarily a bad look, but it's one that seems oddly out of place.

First thing that came to mind when seeing the image(s) is K'aresh

[Dismayxz]

i'm actually quite surprised how many people don't see that it's AI
i mean, it's obvious, it's visible, everything is abstract without defined form
given the number of gullible people on the internet, AI will wreak havoc

Well, I don't have the time or will to somehow 'learn' the skill to immediately figure out something's AI Art. I'm not that interested in Art or will come about it often enough to suddenly care. That's not exactly gullible, is it? Just can't be arsed. And my line of thinking was to simply remind myself of what I know of WoW's Art Style and taking it at face value. And at face value, it's low size/resolution images (which can speak towards being AI, to obfuscate any flaws that would be seen at proper resolution), what I can make out, looks like I can take it and compare it to something I've previously come across in Game, as a style. And a lot of the Backgrounds would be very simply and realistically possible within Engine through the way Blizzard uses Skyboxes.

At the end of the day, it could be either for all I care. I like what's shown, I like how it looks, I wouldn't mind if it was legit and I wouldn't be disappointed if it isn't.

The one thing I do put value into is where this was posted and where it came from. Even if it's just AI, that doesn't immediately illegitimize what it might hint at.

[huth]

i'm actually quite surprised how many people don't see that it's AI
i mean, it's obvious, it's visible, everything is abstract without defined form
given the number of gullible people on the internet, AI will wreak havoc

It's obvious to somebody who spends all their time differentiating them. For everybody else, there's no clear indication.

[Dismayxz]

When I brought it up to people, we had zero hesitation in going "Probably the Twisting Nether". We have hooks that could lead there with a bit more work, off what we have at the moment.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Part of the problem is that there's no way for Blizzard to effectively create an entirely different world in a single expansion. It worked in TBC because Outland was a destroyed world, so only have 5-6 zones makes sense. When you start to get to WoD or Shadowlands, it gets silly because we're going to what is essentially different worlds and we're only getting 5-6 zones. For example in WoD we never venture to the Ogre continent which is on the map because Blizzard simply couldn't handle that much extra work in a single expansion. When you get truncated material like that, it just feels off, and the world you're supposedly venturing into just feels like a theme park visit instead of a new world. This isn't a problem for Azeroth-based expansions because you have so much of the old world already established in the game, and this new continent you're exploring just feels like another part of the world you know and love.

For K'aresh, my ideal setting for a high-concept expansion, I think the scale could work given that it's—just like Outland—shattered or rotting. Theoretically, you could use the small size to its advantage: one way I liked to imagine selling it as a whole planet while still leaving a sufficiently small playable area is that you could have a giant eco-dome or a massive wall, and everything beyond that wall is an uninhabitable Void-coated mess. This could simultaneously make it feel like a sensible part of something much larger and sell the destructive power of the Void.

[justwatching]

Whatever Towlliee's doing, it looks like he's trying to pull red herrings and throw people off from whatever they've got planned at Blizzcon. And if it wasn't an expansion, it seems suspicious that they're leading us on a wild-goose chase with this stuff.

Its much more likely he knows absolutely nothing and just makes shit up to hype up the game(and his stream). He's done that in the past and I see no reason to believe why this time is any different.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

This. Throwback to everyone, myself included, saying that the Dracthyr were fake and from a furry server. And even 3D modelers pointing out how the “wings clipped through the chest”, when they really didn’t and it was just a misinterpretation of the low quality image.

This is fair. I think I was personally arguing quite vehemently on both those points. A good number of us learned a lesson about being overly-skeptical from the Dracthyr. However, I feel like these images are subject to a different standard of scrutiny. While plenty could be said of distortion from the scale of the pictures, the nature of them feels a bit different on account of being small pictures of mostly landscape art as opposed to something being transparently sold as something in-game. It's perhaps a more arbitrary kind of skepticism when you direct it towards a decent-quality, clearly-3d image of a race standing in front of the usual background than when you wonder if a landscape is in-game, concept art, or AI-generated.

[Woggmer]

Classic deviating from the original timeline is definitely an interesting thought and I’m sure there would be a huge spike of players checking out classic if it was a completely new timeline with completely new zones, dungeons, raids etc. I’d check it out for sure. It’s something I wouldn’t be totally shocked to see Blizzard do either.

We've seen only a small amount of changes, especially with the Sons of Hodir tabard that was included into Classic, but was later added in the Time Rifts event in retail as an alternate timeline goodie.

If Classic Cata deviated from the original, it would only raise questions to what kind of changes and outcomes can happen.
Possibilities like if Cairne didn't die in his duel against Garrosh, or if Genn Greymane died to Sylvanas instead of his son, Liam at Gilneas... Or instead of going into the Firelands, we ended up in the Abyssal Maw that never made it.

Still, this is only just a couple of empty hopes and it might not mean anything, but it is fun to speculate the "what could've beens".

[Woggmer]

Its much more likely he knows absolutely nothing and just makes shit up to hype up the game(and his stream). He's done that in the past and I see no reason to believe why this time is any different.

You'd be right, but even Blizzard themselves is getting in on it and throwing people for a loop. This isn't mean believing in anything he says is true, but this doesn't seem like a troll-bait either.

[Nymrohd]

On the matter of a new world; it just has to be more than one expansion. There needs to be a good reason ofc why it is split in two but an expansion can easily have 6-7 zones if you include patch content and if you find a way to explain why it is in two parts, that means 12-14 zones in total, big enough for it to feel truly large in scale.

And honestly they could always have some zones be truly massive but also empty. Not every part of a world needs to be populated with quests.

[huth]

When I brought it up to people, we had zero hesitation in going "Probably the Twisting Nether". We have hooks that could lead there with a bit more work, off what we have at the moment.

I really don't think Twisting Nether fits. Do remember that place is more closely tied to Disorder, i.e. Demons and such.

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On the matter of a new world; it just has to be more than one expansion. There needs to be a good reason ofc why it is split in two but an expansion can easily have 6-7 zones if you include patch content and if you find a way to explain why it is in two parts, that means 12-14 zones in total, big enough for it to feel truly large in scale.

And honestly they could always have some zones be truly massive but also empty. Not every part of a world needs to be populated with quests.

They should have kept the original "stuck on Draenor" thing and have the follow-up expansion be us going to that southern continent trying to find a way back.

[Teriz]

For K'aresh, my ideal setting for a high-concept expansion, I think the scale could work given that it's—just like Outland—shattered or rotting. Theoretically, you could use the small size to its advantage: one way I liked to imagine selling it as a whole planet while still leaving a sufficiently small playable area is that you could have a giant eco-dome or a massive wall, and everything beyond that wall is an uninhabitable Void-coated mess. This could simultaneously make it feel like a sensible part of something much larger and sell the destructive power of the Void.

Beyond that sounding terrible, my question is what would Thrall have to do with such an expansion since he’s on the BlizzCon key art? Thrall doesn’t mesh well with the void or Ethereals. A more logical choice would be Alleria.