9.0 General Discussion

[Shadochi]

I am still sticking ot my initial prediction.

Death related shenanigans happen, dragons are the answer. Next stop Dragon isles.
This allows for the initial patches to be all about dragons, then go into death once we have what we came for, pretty much exactly like how Legion was all about the Broken isles until we got the Pillars of creation at which point the story was almsot exclusively about the Legion.

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It does, and it is a great example of why Blizzard should reuse old locations more often. It would have been decently interesting if a new patch island just happened to have Ra-den, and 2 different titan structures, but it is far more fulfilling for those of us who have played the game for a long time to go back to old locations and experience them in a new way.

Yeah, made me think wouldn't it be great for 8.2 if they extended the campaign by giving us another chapter or two to get something from Naga bases around azeroth that would help us unlock the main raid entrance.

But I'm all for reusing old zones instead of asspulling new stuff for every single patch and forgetting the zones once their expansion is done. Make is feel more like the World of Warcraft than the World of *insert expansion continent name*

The questline also seems to be a nice length too (ofc we don't know how much stuff is unavailable due to a bug, might just be 1 more quest and that's it) hope they don't butcher it by gating it over the course of multiple weeks.

[Makorus]

Yeah, made me think wouldn't it be great for 8.2 if they extended the campaign by giving us another chapter or two to get something from Naga bases around azeroth that would help us unlock the main raid entrance.

But I'm all for reusing old zones instead of asspulling new stuff for every single patch and forgetting the zones once their expansion is done. Make is feel more like the World of Warcraft than the World of *insert expansion continent name*

The questline also seems to be a nice length too (ofc we don't know how much stuff is unavailable due to a bug, might just be 1 more quest and that's it) hope they don't butcher it by gating it over the course of multiple weeks.

The fact that this (part of the?) quest chain unlocks all the features throughout it kind of says to me that it won't be timegated.

[Tiradon]

https://www.wowhead.com/news=295800/...story-spoilers

The 8.3 intro questline looks nice IMO.

Nice way also how they incorporated the effect of the cloak in the lore too.

This is one fun trip! Cannot wait for this especially that cloak part looks insane

[Mahmeya]

But I'm all for reusing old zones instead of asspulling new stuff for every single patch and forgetting the zones once their expansion is done. Make is feel more like the World of Warcraft than the World of *insert expansion continent name*

Amen to that.

[Shadochi]

reminder about the chinese gibberish about greek theme, it might be something

i kinda think next expansion will follow the bfa/legion recipe, it start smooth and "fun" with dragon isles like zandalar/kultiras/Broken isles and it passes to the next "phase" Broken shore & Argus/Naz'jatar&Nyalotha following azshara&n'zoth/Kil'jaden&Argus

thus starting with dragon isles and folllowing "shadowlands"or the death theme however.

Huh? If anything BfA and Legion aren't following the same formula. In Legion throughout the whole expansion our main goal was to obviously stop the Legion (with all zones having Legion influence and multiple dungeons), while in BfA the expansion got split into 2 themes (both relating to the name still) and while we were obviously focusing on the faction war in the background in some areas the old god forces grew.

Legion followed the "stopping the Legion" plot from start till 8.3.5 and BfA had it's plot split into two "battles for Azeroth".

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This is one fun trip! Cannot wait for this especially that cloak part looks insane

I also quite like how we end up visiting some places multiple times and it's not just we go there once, deal with issues and thats it for the questline.

[Sondrelk]

Huh? If anything BfA and Legion aren't following the same formula. In Legion throughout the whole expansion our main goal was to obviously stop the Legion (with all zones having Legion influence and multiple dungeons), while in BfA the expansion got split into 2 themes (both relating to the name still) and while we were obviously focusing on the faction war in the background in some areas the old god forces grew.

Legion followed the "stopping the Legion" plot from start till 8.3.5 and BfA had it's plot split into two "battles for Azeroth".

Legion did focus on defeating the Legion, but the first half by gathering the pillars of creation, and in the second half by actually attempting to stop the burning Legion.

BfA didnt, but that was because the plot is seemingly composed of 2 completely different stories that the writers forgot to combine.

[Shadochi]

Legion did focus on defeating the Legion, but the first half by gathering the pillars of creation, and in the second half by actually attempting to stop the burning Legion.

BfA didnt, but that was because the plot is seemingly composed of 2 completely different stories that the writers forgot to combine.

1) Why would all the stories of the expansion need to combine?
2) The stories did influence one another, we don't need blizzard to write out every little detail for us to notice it. N'Zoth obviously used the faction war to get released, the faction war was what helped him lure us to bring him Azerite and release him, otherwise he would've been trapped there for much longer. But he didn't have influence (as far as we know) in starting the war, he just reaped the benefits of it and saw his chance to escape.

Still doesn't change the fact that Legion had 1 central theme while BfA has 2 (even if they are connected, still different themes).

Also, the pillars were collected for the purpose of stopping the legion, and while collecting them most of the time we also dealt with the legion.

[Syegfryed]

Huh? If anything BfA and Legion aren't following the same formula. In Legion throughout the whole expansion our main goal was to obviously stop the Legion (with all zones having Legion influence and multiple dungeons), while in BfA the expansion got split into 2 themes (both relating to the name still) and while we were obviously focusing on the faction war in the background in some areas the old god forces grew.

different formula in the central plot, but about ongoing it is pretty much the same.

in Legion we didn't focus on the Legion either in the beginning, we past time in the broken isles, helping the citizens and gthering the pillars, pretty much like we spend time helping zandalar and kultirans, in the mid time there was Legion/faction war attacks/stories

As the expansions go forward we left this behind and we got to broken shore, now its directly related to the Legion and nothing else, we assault the tomb and kill ki'ljaden, just like we went to naj'zatar, a more old gods focused place to defeat azshara.

both raids lead to the last plot, Illidan opening the portal, and we freeing n'zoth.

We went to argus, kill the titan and imprison Sargeras, the big bad, ny'alotha went to us, we go to the city and kill n'zoth

of course there will be differences in t he narrative, but its pretty much alike, like a recipe

and since Sargeras directly made this expansion, i think n'zoth death will lead to the other, thus, focusing on the dragons first, then following the death/sylvanas.

the question is like @Sondrelk said, if they will bring the death issue first, like in Legion the burning Legion was the main point from the start, and we go to the dragon isles searching for help, or it will start smooth for other reasons there, THEN we go to the next main theme, about death/shadowlands.

or they could focus entirely on dragons, who know, but i think they will follow the recipe.

[Ophenia]

https://www.wowhead.com/news=295800/...story-spoilers

The 8.3 intro questline looks nice IMO.

Nice way also how they incorporated the effect of the cloak in the lore too.

I'm bothered by the fact we have to BURN the remains of Nefarian and Onyxia which were lying into LAVA since Cataclysm

[Shadochi]

I'm bothered by the fact we have to BURN the remains of Nefarian and Onyxia which were lying into LAVA since Cataclysm

Thinking about it... that really doesn't make any sense. I could see it if Wrathion is using his magical dragonfire to do so, but if it's just us burning it with a torch, no way (unless Black dragons are immune to lava, even their bones?)

[huth]

I'm bothered by the fact we have to BURN the remains of Nefarian and Onyxia which were lying into LAVA since Cataclysm

Well, Wrathion probably looked into how to do it properly. Lava may just not have been hot enough.

[Sondrelk]

1) Why would all the stories of the expansion need to combine?
2) The stories did influence one another, we don't need blizzard to write out every little detail for us to notice it. N'Zoth obviously used the faction war to get released, the faction war was what helped him lure us to bring him Azerite and release him, otherwise he would've been trapped there for much longer. But he didn't have influence (as far as we know) in starting the war, he just reaped the benefits of it and saw his chance to escape.

Still doesn't change the fact that Legion had 1 central theme while BfA has 2 (even if they are connected, still different themes).

Also, the pillars were collected for the purpose of stopping the legion, and while collecting them most of the time we also dealt with the legion.

I don't expect every plot thread in an expansion to come together for the end, just the one we start with.

The expansion started with faction war, and there was no point in the story where the faction war organically changed to old gods. There were old god elements building in the background, faction war was building from the start and in every war campaign questline, then in 8.2.5 the faction war story abruptly ended without a proper climax and suddenly the expansion tries to convince us this should have been obvious just from looking at the opening cinematic or pre-patch.

[huth]

I don't expect every plot thread in an expansion to come together for the end, just the one we start with.

The expansion started with faction war, and there was no point in the story where the faction war organically changed to old gods. There were old god elements building in the background, faction war was building from the start and in every war campaign questline, then in 8.2.5 the faction war story abruptly ended without a proper climax and suddenly the expansion tries to convince us this should have been obvious just from looking at the opening cinematic or pre-patch.

I don't know about you, but i always found it obvious that the expansion wouldn't end on the faction war. Even before the cinematic.

[Sondrelk]

I don't know about you, but i always found it obvious that the expansion wouldn't end on the faction war. Even before the cinematic.

Regardless, the 2 elements do not go together at all. MoP managed to marry the 2 in the first zone when Taylor and Nazgrim fighting unleash the Sha. BfA could not manage and it spent far longer trying to convince us this was a Faction war expansion.

Either the faction war stuff at the beginning was to show the theme of the expansion, in which case the final raid is a copout. Or the expansion was about old gods all along, in which case the faction war was a distracting sideshow taking away the spotlight of a full on old god expansion.
Neither are a great outcome.

[Shadochi]

Regardless, the 2 elements do not go together at all. MoP managed to marry the 2 in the first zone when Taylor and Nazgrim fighting unleash the Sha. BfA could not manage and it spent far longer trying to convince us this was a Faction war expansion.

Either the faction war stuff at the beginning was to show the theme of the expansion, in which case the final raid is a copout. Or the expansion was about old gods all along, in which case the faction war was a distracting sideshow taking away the spotlight of a full on old god expansion.
Neither are a great outcome.

It was stated before that both themes are the themes of the expansion: AKA Battle For Azeroth, and while they do intertwine a bit I don't see why they need to be directly connected.

Why does an expansion need to be just 1 main theme or have the main themes all strictly related?

Bot themes had a large presence throughout the patches (counting 8.3)

[Sondrelk]

It was stated before that both themes are the themes of the expansion: AKA Battle For Azeroth, and while they do intertwine a bit I don't see why they need to be directly connected.

Ifboth are the main themes then Blizzard didnt do a very good job of showing that in the advertising. From what i remember there were a lot of Alliance and Horde fighting, novellas on the Horde invading Ashenvale, cinematics of Sylvanas burning down Teldrassil and pre-expansions about defending Darkshore from the Horde.
Not a whole lot of old gods.

Imagine if other expansions did the same thing.
Wrath of the Lich king having a cinematic trailer showing Malygos preparing his assault on Dalaran. Or Legion showing Drogbar staling the hammer of Khaz'goroth.

I don't feel i am asking for too much if i just want the expansion to end on the same story it started with, not switch to a different story halfway. Lord of the Rings doesnt end with a final book detailing Aragorn making peace with the Easterlings, Hamlet doesnt end with Claudius running away and Hamlet having to rally his troops to fight his neighbouring country.

[Shadochi]

Ifboth are the main themes then Blizzard didnt do a very good job of showing that in the advertising. From what i remember there were a lot of Alliance and Horde fighting, novellas on the Horde invading Ashenvale, cinematics of Sylvanas burning down Teldrassil and pre-expansions about defending Darkshore from the Horde.
Not a whole lot of old gods.

Imagine if other expansions did the same thing.
Wrath of the Lich king having a cinematic trailer showing Malygos preparing his assault on Dalaran. Or Legion showing Drogbar staling the hammer of Khaz'goroth.

I don't feel i am asking for too much if i just want the expansion to end on the same story it started with, not switch to a different story halfway. Lord of the Rings doesnt end with a final book detailing Aragorn making peace with the Easterlings, Hamlet doesnt end with Claudius running away and Hamlet having to rally his troops to fight his neighbouring country.

8.3.5 still might be hunt for Sylvanas tho I guess.

[GrimReaper673]

@ercarp, doesn't one of the leaks specifically mention the corrupted gear? I remember seeing that somewhere and I know you've got a spreadsheet.

[Teriz]

Ifboth are the main themes then Blizzard didnt do a very good job of showing that in the advertising. From what i remember there were a lot of Alliance and Horde fighting, novellas on the Horde invading Ashenvale, cinematics of Sylvanas burning down Teldrassil and pre-expansions about defending Darkshore from the Horde.
Not a whole lot of old gods.

The first raid of BFA was Uldir, which contained an Old God (G'huun).

[ricardimundo]

The first raid of BFA was Uldir, which contained an Old God (G'huun).

Not an Old God in the same sense that N'Zoth and Yogg are. The Titans "accidentally" created G'huun when they were experimenting on the other Old Gods on a way to solve the corruption.