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

[Lady Atia]

WoW, I come back just to read that people are really thinking Blizzard would abandon retail or make an HD classic+ instead of a retail revamp? That's absurd.

Classic servers usually have a hype spike and than die out, if anything they should make them a seasonal thing with a server transfer to retail at the end once they are finished with wotlk/cataclysm's last tier.

Besides that, Ion already said they will have to do a world revamp for RETAIL in order to have a "living world" (which btw was a codename already used during I think Shadowlands development if I remember it right, as we had some datamined strings refering to it).

[Marlamin]

Besides that, Ion already said they will have to do a world revamp for RETAIL in order to have a "living world" (which btw was a codename already used during I think Shadowlands development if I remember it right, as we had some datamined strings refering to it).

Living World was just a set of animations used by gameobjects that interact with the players location, e.g. birds flying away in the dracthyr starting zone when crossing the bridge.

[Reive]

Your anecdote is not data and makes you biased!
*Proceeds with own set of anecdotes as if they were fact

Literally not true, provide statistics or you’re just pulling it out of your own head. I play nearly every day and watch other online sources of info and discussion also, and my experience is largely the opposite of what you assert here.

https://www.twitch.tv/directory/cate...ld-of-warcraft
everyone is streaming classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc-3...b_channel=IZEN
m+ and raid numbers are way down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH_U...hannel=Venruki
pvp is dead
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...discussion/171
the forums are a whinefest
10.2 is just another lazy patch

Saying retail is doing great is being disingenuous

[Marlamin]

https://www.twitch.tv/directory/cate...ld-of-warcraft
everyone is streaming classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc-3...b_channel=IZEN
m+ and raid numbers are way down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH_U...hannel=Venruki
pvp is dead
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...discussion/171
the forums are a whinefest
10.2 is just another lazy patch

Saying retail is doing great is being disingenuous

Can we not make this a Retail vs. Classic popularity contest thread AGAIN? Come on. Nobody but Blizzard has the facts on that.

[LemonDemonGirl]

It's funny how Star Wars/Star Trek/Starcraft is too far, but the basis of WoW's lore are space-wandering gods who built immense technological marvels of machinery on worlds which - in some circumstances - are capable of terraforming planets incases of irreparable infection.

Tbh the Shadowlands are literally just borrowed from D&D/Planescape, so it's not JUST scifi lol
Oribos is basically the tower in the centre and/or Sigil.

[Cheezits]

So, Nymue the tree robot that Freya and Eonar installed in the Dream, has some fun lines.

You bring disorder!

All agents of change must be purged.

Also summons tree monsters called Cycle Wardens. So lots of parallels to the Constellars and the First Ones. Also we straight up kill her so I wonder if that will have ramifications.

Noticed that Smolderon also has a cutscene when you kill him. Maybe just a transition to the Flame Druid and Fyrakk, but I wonder if there's some loredrop after he dies relating to him.

[Reive]

Can we not make this a Retail vs. Classic popularity contest thread AGAIN? Come on. Nobody but Blizzard has the facts on that.

I'm gonna stop here because i'm probably off topic. I was just pointing out that retail isn't exactly doing amazing.

[Lady Atia]

Living World was just a set of animations used by gameobjects that interact with the players location, e.g. birds flying away in the dracthyr starting zone when crossing the bridge.

Yeah but it's still interesting to me that iirc Ion did use the words "living world" in the recent interview! :P

[Raetary]

So, Nymue the tree robot that Freya and Eonar installed in the Dream, has some fun lines.

All agents of change must be purged.

I find this line so weird.

Isn't weaving a cycle her whole thing?
Literally creating a sequence of change?

[Nebron]

It's funny how Star Wars/Star Trek/Starcraft is too far, but the basis of WoW's lore are space-wandering gods who built immense technological marvels of machinery on worlds which - in some circumstances - are capable of terraforming planets incases of irreparable infection.

Yes, but it's all about the proportion. Altough, even in classic, Titans are a thing, they are still part of mysticism and cosmology background for the story that happens. It's not a main narrative in any sense, especially not straight up thrown in your face. The whole Elune, Titans and Earth Mother's mythology is just that, legends, though - physically manifested in a presented world. This is more apparent for Titans obviously.

When it comes to Draenai, idea of space technology is definitely there, but still, it's not on the scale of Starcraft whatsoever. Outland is indeed an other world hanging somewhere in the space, yet we travel there through portal, which to me gives more of a high-fantasy, magic-rooted feeling, than sci-fi spaceships travelling one.

When it comes to me, it's just more about the general feeling, and Legion, to my taste, took it too far with Genedar, Xenedar of whatever -edar else. K'aresh is another planet as well, that's true, but after Legion and Shadowlands, I can see why people do strongly prefer more down-to-earth feeling to WoW as it's much closer to what Warcraft and early World of Warcraft expansions offered.

On top of that, it's coupled with pretty commonly shared opinion, that WoW writers aren't the greatest when it comes to creating complex, multi-dimensional cosmology, thus the effects are pretty poor - we don't even need to look that far, as Shadowlands offered quite a mess to begin with, and with which Blizzard will struggle for years to come, especially with the Zereths, Realms of X and The Primal Ones.

[Sondrelk]

I'm gonna stop here because i'm probably off topic. I was just pointing out that retail isn't exactly doing amazing.

This is basically the point in a patch cycle where the engagement is at its lowest though, so hardly fair.

[Santandame]

I mean, a world revamp being wasted on Classic would be horrible, and it would be a spit in the face to all Retail fans.

It's very much possible a world revamp isn't next, but we'll likely yet Cata Classic as a way of compensation

Why would Cata classic be compensation for not getting a world revamp? The entire purpose of us wanting a revamp is to update the zones FROM the Cata era that’s currently in game.

[Woggmer]

I did the Goblin starting zone once and hated it, will never roll a goblin again, also I steer Clear of all the Gnome/Goblin infested areas as much as possible, an expansion about them and their culture would be seriously offputting and im pretty sure im not the only one who feels this way.

To be perfectly honest, the Goblin city part of the starting zone never bothered me. If anything, it was kind of exciting and a really cool place to explore. I even liked going through the tunnel in the little car and walking through the sludge fields and driving up all the way to Gallywix's place and seeing his lavished home. That's fun.

What isn't fun is when they're on the island and the pacing feels off, the island is boring, and some of the plot elements they do on the island get...ridiculous even by WoW standards. (They killed a volcano demi-god turtle thing with rockets. No Heart of Azeroth, No Artifact Weapon, No high ilvl, no skill, just... rockets.. and it makes you go "Why haven't we done this sooner?")

Plus, it isn't as offputting nowadays where we've got the Legion coming in giant dreadnaught space ships like it was Warhammer 40k meets Star Wars.. and the whole concept of Mechagon made people more interested in the concept of an underground city... To me, the most offputting place in WoW would be places like Ahn'qiraj which doesn't even feel like it belongs in WoW's realm.

[Reive]

This is basically the point in a patch cycle where the engagement is at its lowest though, so hardly fair.

the comparison with other expansions was done at the same point in time. hardcore? it has been fairly popular for months now. at least on twtich. remember that before the official release there was the one made by the community. retail got a small bump at the start of 10.1 for the rwf but after that it was only classic again.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Too bad they wasted the “Hour of Twilight” name on patch 4.3 and also the dungeon. That would have been an excellent name for a Void/Old Gods-themed expansion.

[Eeram]

the comparison with other expansions was done at the same point in time. hardcore? it has been fairly popular for months now. at least on twtich. remember that before the official release there was the one made by the community. retail got a small bump at the start of 10.1 for the rwf but after that it was only classic again.

The thing is with Hardcore Classic is at the end of the day there is a Cap to how much fun it can be an thats the issue with it. unless they start releasing Hardcore TBC and Wrath an so forth.
Once you hit 60 what do you do? you cant PVP other then Duels but if you lose a Duel you Restart an while that may work for what i assume is a small handful of people the majority of players isnt going to restart after 60. You have Raids which are fun an good till you get your BiS but other then that there is a Ceiling to Hardcore classic. now i may be wrong because i've never played or will play it. but on paper it doesn't seem like something that will last a long time.

[pacotaco]

Living World was just a set of animations used by gameobjects that interact with the players location, e.g. birds flying away in the dracthyr starting zone when crossing the bridge.

The dragons flying in the sky you can see in Valdrakken are that too I think, right?

[Magistrate]

the comparison with other expansions was done at the same point in time. hardcore? it has been fairly popular for months now. at least on twtich. remember that before the official release there was the one made by the community. retail got a small bump at the start of 10.1 for the rwf but after that it was only classic again.

Their internal reporting stated it has the best player retention of any recent expansion, so it's at least to par at this point with... and I'm guessing... probably anything as far back as bfa. Maybe legion, unsure on how they define recent.

[pacotaco]

So, Nymue the tree robot that Freya and Eonar installed in the Dream, has some fun lines.




Also summons tree monsters called Cycle Wardens. So lots of parallels to the Constellars and the First Ones. Also we straight up kill her so I wonder if that will have ramifications.

Noticed that Smolderon also has a cutscene when you kill him. Maybe just a transition to the Flame Druid and Fyrakk, but I wonder if there's some loredrop after he dies relating to him.

Just as I said a few days ago: "What if the Dream is like the elemental planes, but for Life?"

[Woggmer]

Just as I said a few days ago: "What if the Dream is like the elemental planes, but for Life?"

That would make sense... See, there are the four elemental planes like Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth.. but there's two other elements that have been neglected for a while which is Spirit.. and the other being Decay (which we saw plenty of from the Gnolls.. and considering the leader gnoll ran away.. we'll likely see more about the decay element in a later date)

...But one thing that is interesting is that, we also have the elemental materials we get from gathering and looting. They have Fire, Earth, Water(or Frost), Air, Decay and Order. .....One of these things is not like the other.