I feel we are not having our usual amount of speculation about the upcoming patch. That’s not surprising, of course, since we don’t know much at all. By design.
Blizzard is consciously keeping the War Campaign from the PTR. So… what do we know? I’ll make a little list of what I’ve heard, but I’d be happy to be able to make some additions later, if others can tell me more.
There will be a War Campaign in 8.2.5.
The patch with end the War Campaign.
We have 2 cinematics, together with the unprecedented length (for an ingame cinematic) of about 10 minutes.
In early builds there were some maps alluding to some Durotar/Orgrimmar scenario.
There was a Saurfang-model in which he was waring his son’s necklace again.
There is an undead Nightelf-based model, which could, but doesn’t have to be, War Campaign related.
Eitrigg finally gets unique voice files instead of generic orc ones. This might allude to him playing a role in PvE content (again).
The main features are syncing, the 15-year-event and a already spoiled Wrathion-questline that nicely foreshadows what weapons might be used against N’zoth.
So… the War Campaign is coming.
We’ll deal with Sylvanas. Going by other unambiguous dev statements, Sylvanas won’t just die.
Saurfang either decides he is worthy of his son’s legacy again, taking up his role as a warrior of the Horde again, or he dies and his troll friend puts it on his corpse, echoing the cinematic where Saurfang took it.
Eitrigg won’t be ignored, but will play a role, so, combined with the zone map it really seems most likely to that something will take place in Orgrimmar.
So… any more facts to act, or someone willing to restart speculation again?
Or maybe it will we both?
Apart from the fact that we don’t know who will in the end be fighting who- or where- I think such a scenario is very likely to happen.
Saurfang will do something heroic during the battle which will redeem him in the eyes of both Horde and Alliance, and then he will get the honourable death he wants and we’ll get a beautiful and really heart-wrenching scene ( no irony ) with him and Zekhan that mirrors their first one, as you say. It would fit.
And it would also explain why we have so many cinematics with him when he is, in fact, going to die in bfa.
I won’t say that it’s unlikely… but it would really be undermining Saurfang’s character arc, that was kind of a centerpiece of this addon. Wanting to die in honorable combat is what he wanted from the start. Giving him that shows that nothing that happened to him since really changed him. Giving up on his duties and self-worth, and then slowly realizing that “people like him” don’t get to hide behind a wish for final rest? Totally irrelevant. Really, for his arc to have a point he has to take up the responsibility, and create the change he wants to see. He has to leave the warrior behind and become something more. Sacrificing his life isn’t enough.
Much easier to kill him, though… and oh, so emotional. Though… while I’m at it, Zekhan dying and pressing the amulett at him could have a good effect, too.
You’re not wrong, but I really don’t see that happening. Saurfang is a warrior through and through, not a politician. Restoring the Horde’s honour will be Thrall’s job, that’s why he brought him back in the first place.
Something is happening in Durotar for sure. The zone will most likely be updated like Arathi/Darkshore (rocks in the files), so I guess we will either get a third warfront or Durotar might become daily quest/world quest hub.
If any of the two happens, my personal hope is that the Alliance takes over Tiragarde Keep as our outpost. It would make sense, given that Kul Tiras is the main Alliance focus this expansion.
As much as I’ll probably get all sorts of hate from fellow Horde and Troll players, Zekhan can go die in a ditch.
Darkspear do not need a character born out of memes, and specially not one that is blatantly going over other established and reasonably developed characters such as Rokhan and Zentabra when it comes to exposure or something as meaningful as having his own unique model.
That’s not the way to go around creating backgrounds. Let the wimp die and serve as the plot device he was supposed to be. I don’t want a Leroy Jenkins or some Keeshan as my dominant Darkspear figure.
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Regarding the topic, I’m excited to see what happens, in a masochistic/schadenfreude kind of way.
But given the fact that even Feasel tags it as a “revolution”, well…this will probably be just another 5.4
Be honest, I’m kind curious what this will mean for the Alliance rather than the Horde.
Their story seems more of a wildcard than the Horde one (which at this point is rather predictable).
We already killed Rastakhan, isn’t that enough for you?
Hm… what do you think are the open questions concerning the Alliance? I mean… we already know that some of our big name characters are willing to cooperate in deposing Sylvanas together with the Horde. So we’ll probably share the same scenario. And do you really see a chance that we won’t let bygones be bygones after that? Or do you see any high profile Alliance deaths as probable? I don’t really think so.
For the Horde on the other hand I think who takes the leadership, who dies, and if the Horde reforms in some way are very much open questions. As is Sylvanas’ motivation, of course. And wildcard Vol’jin is also still in that mix.
How willing will the rest of Alliance leaders be to accept Anduins terms regarding the end of this war. This was rather neglected last time we had this rodeo, whereas this time it seems stakes are higher regarding dissent.
How far will he be willing to take it when it comes to the conclusion of the war and the treatment he’ll have with the Horde going forth.
Tyrande and the Night elves.
Calia and Lordaeron.
With the Horde? The “revolution” that dethrones the “Bad Warchief” and pinky swears to take the Horde down a nicer road…been there, done that.
Not half as interesting when you play over it again.
At this point, even Loa’jin parting the heavens to wag his finger at a chained Sylvanas isn’t really that of a big deal. We’d be trading the Celestials for another kind of “ascended” being after all.
As I said, I personally feel like the Alliance might be the one that could surprise me with their story. The Horde one seems at this point as a giant dejavú.
Kind of a wishful thinking…but well.
Apart from the unique model thing ( and yes, I agree that Rokhan should have gotten his first ), I don’t really see that established Trolls are being overlooked in favour of Zekhan, let alone that he will become the “dominant Darkspear figure”, when Rokhan is already the confirmed new Darkspear leader.
As for me, the more major Troll characters we get the better, it doesn’t have to be just one who gets all the spotlight.
On that… while Eitrigg is getting unique sound files this patch, his Warfront-mate Rokhan isn’t. I fear that could indeed be a clue that he won’t be a part of the playable story…while I would be very surprised if Zekhan wasn’t.
Could be that the Darkspear refuse to follow Sylvanas into her final battle, same for the Zandalari. At least, if he’s not there, it means he cannot be killed, so not necessarily a bad thing
Didn’t this Feasel guy made a sad “aww” sound when someone asked him about the future of Saurfang in an interview (I think it were T&E)? So him dying is definitely on the table.
I remember the T&E interview, but I don’t remember that.
Edit:
Ok, I looked it up… and yes, it was there. They showed him a picture of Saurfang from Old soldier and he should say what he thought when looking at it. A sad “oh…” isn’t very revealing in that context, I would say, but okay.
Pretty unlikely that any big Alliance name will die. Blizzard will not throw any more hurdles into the eventual peace. After all, it is supposed to be the last faction war.
Alliance characters are pretty much invincble. Horde characters however are all on the chopping block. Rasthakan, Nazgrim, Garrosh, Zaela, Cairne, Vol’jin. No one is safe.
