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

[Lady Atia]

Yeah, it is crystal clear that the only thing that might bring attention to WoW in a major way would be a revamp.

Both for new and especially for old WoW players, which IMO, unless there is a WoW 1.5 or a WoW 2.0 (not going to happen anytime soon, sadly), are the target of Blizzard efforts, NOTHING would make them more interested than a world revamp.

Avaloren, the South Seas, the Other Side of Azeroth, Underground expansion... you name it. New and old players would see that as more of the same. It does not matter how good the story or the systems or the continents are, it would just be more of the same for them. Now if you make a world revamp, even if everything else is bad, it would at least sell more than any other possible expansion. That the players stay playing after buying 11.0 is another topic.

But yes I agree very much with your take and especially with your last paragraph. Even if 11.0 is the long awaited world revamp, the best expansion ever, unless WoW changes fundamentally how it works, people will keep leaving.

But Dragonflight has the best player retention since prolly WotLK. So no, what they need is a big amount of new and returning players, similiar to WoD/Legion/Shadowlands, but this time, players will come for the nostalgia and far more of them will stay.

[Darkarath]

But Dragonflight has the best player retention since prolly WotLK. So no, what they need is a big amount of new and returning players, similiar to WoD/Legion/Shadowlands, but this time, players will come for the nostalgia and far more of them will stay.

Best player retention does not mean that people are not still leaving. Also best player retention after SL, when probably hundred of thousands of players left to never return.

I disagree with your opinion. While yes, veteran players returning would be good, what WoW really needs is new blood, something that WoW it is unable of achieving in a major way at this point IMO.

[Teriz]

Yeah, it is crystal clear that the only thing that might bring attention to WoW in a major way would be a revamp.

Both for new and especially for old WoW players, which IMO, unless there is a WoW 1.5 or a WoW 2.0 (not going to happen anytime soon, sadly), are the target of Blizzard efforts, NOTHING would make them more interested than a world revamp.

Avaloren, the South Seas, the Other Side of Azeroth, Underground expansion... you name it. New and old players would see that as more of the same. It does not matter how good the story or the systems or the continents are, it would just be more of the same for them. Now if you make a world revamp, even if everything else is bad, it would at least sell more than any other possible expansion. That the players stay playing after buying 11.0 is another topic.

I don’t think you could call an underground expansion “more of the same” if it’s never been done before.

[Lazarel]

I don’t think you could call an underground expansion “more of the same” if it’s never been done before.

But it is. Its exactly the same but this time underground :/

Unless it has some innovative vertical structure like someone mentioned earlier

[Teriz]

But it is. Its exactly the same but this time underground :/

Unless it has some innovative vertical structure like someone mentioned earlier

Which it very well could have, since it’s going to use stuff from Zaralek Cavern and Dragonflight. Not to mention potentially using Dragon Riding concepts for underground travel could create some interesting zone concepts.

[Dracullus]

I could see part of the expansion being underground, just not the whole expansion.

Oh, I think you can bet on that. Even if it's revamp expansion, it's likely they want show off their skills, doesn't even have to be full underground zones but smaller stuff here and there. For example, something like Timbermaw Hold would become actual underground structure, not just long corridor cave connecting 2 zones.

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Also best player retention after SL, when probably hundred of thousands of players left to never return.

Wrong. From Q2 call: "subscriber retention in the West remains higher than at the equivalent stage of recent Modern expansions". Worst case scenario is has lower retention than Legion.

[micwini]

It's a lot easier to retain less players than more players. More retention means less people total playing

[Polybius]

Blizzard gave Underground a shot and it missed terribly. Blizzard will not bank an entire 1.5-year expansion cycle on a concept that didn't land the first time.

Yeah, there are people who like Goblins and Gnomes. Majority of the player base despises them though. Sorry you had to find out this way. Once again, Blizzard will not bank an entire 1.5-year expansion on a comedic relief race.

There's a reason a majority of the expansion deals with either Elves, Orcs or Humans. It's because people love them. Pandaria is the one exception, and once again, it was an uphill people that Blizzard lost initially and had to claw back by shifting into Orcs.

Yes, there's a fraction of people who want nothing more than an Underground expansion. Yes, there's a fraction of people who want nothing more than Goblin/Gnomes in the spotlight. But you don't make games for fractions.

Also, calling Cataclysm a "dragon expansion" simply due to the big bad guy being a dragon is a bit of a joke as well. There's very little Dragon-themed content. (Only Blackwing Descent, really). Even Dragon Soul is more Old God than Dragon.

It was mostly due to it being a departure from the old WoW aesthetic. People will always gravitate towards the human-looking characters, but the criticism of sacrificing other races' screen time for elves and orcs is well-deserved. As long as we have grounded characters like Taran Zhu and Velen we'll be fine.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

Wrong. From Q2 call: "subscriber retention in the West remains higher than at the equivalent stage of recent Modern expansions". Worst case scenario is has lower retention than Legion.

I don't really follow any of these numbers or retention stuff, but monthly sub is connected with classic so how they actually count this now?

[Marlamin]

https://twitter.com/Warcraft/status/1706715323867541734

Guess he's not "just working on Classic" after all.

[Well Done Steak]

If an underground exp isn't a hallow earth type of situation like in Godzilla vs Kong then it'd be a bust.

Can you imagine 5 flavors of Zaralek???

[Gorefiend1]

https://twitter.com/Warcraft/status/1706715323867541734

Guess he's not "just working on Classic" after all.

Can't wait having him in the Blizzcon stage again! Always gets the hype train going!

[Raetary]

https://twitter.com/Warcraft/status/1706715323867541734

Guess he's not "just working on Classic" after all.

What a time to be alive man.


That said, i hope this was voluntary and he wasn't just pressured into it.

[doledippers]

https://twitter.com/Warcraft/status/1706715323867541734

Guess he's not "just working on Classic" after all.

said what "we've" been working on, so i guess he's had a substantial hand in the development for the expansion

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

They are all in on this boom or bust PR strategy.

[Dracullus]

I don't really follow any of these numbers or retention stuff, but monthly sub is connected with classic so how they actually count this now?

I don't think it has huge impact on subs beside 2nd half of 2019. Just compare number and population of servers, of course counting connected servers as one.

[Super Dickmann]

Green Jesus's remarriage confirmed.

[Cheezits]

Buccaneers of the Void Caves is basically confirmed by now.

Dev says it's an exciting time to be a WOW fan https://x.com/kirbyau/status/1706718538411786335?s=46

[doledippers]

Is he replacing anybody that we know of as Executive Creative Producer, or is it just a fancy "Arch Lore Dude" title they invented

im pretty sure ion is the game director and this is just a new role they invented. Now that isnt to say its like a "fake job", i think they just want Metzen to be more involved in the lore and worldbuilding and aesthetic, rather than systems and such. Just my 2 cents on it

[Dracullus]

Metzen on stage could sell even "Banana Time" expansion.