Thread by @keyboardturn

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Zereth Mortis confirmed, lots of First Ones stuff, it creates Afterlives. SAND
getting a lot of precursors vibes from this

the chicken came first #spoilers

"They're consuming this *weird energy*, and it's causing them to mutate and to fall apart."

...weird energy huh?
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It's the guy mentioned in the Tazavesh Expedition reports, Al'firim. It seems he abandoned the cartel prefix and is just Firim now.
wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Al%27firim
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there's the First One stuffs. We definitely never seen it before which is why it's difficult to find anything. It's basically a First Ones language.


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Sepulcher of the First Ones is the raid... why is a Constellar here? Aren't those Titan-aligned? Arcane? hmmmmm
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Tier set concept arts #spoilers

Ingame class sets (1/2) #spoilers

Ingame class sets (2/2) #spoilers

darkmoon faire "dance studio" 🙃 #spoilers

That looks liek something that's either going to be manipulated by an addon to auto-translate or some sort of actual alphabet we have to "learn". #spoilers

and that seems to be all, so I'm going to rewatch and take apart things in the video now, any minor details, things *not* mentioned (character customisation) and so on. 👀 #spoilers

"final chapter" - with the patch name "Eternity's End"
That seems like a final patch of the expansion to me tbh
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Progenitor runes without the crusty twitter quality:
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/90… #spoilers

Cypher of the First Ones... seems to be another conduit / talent type of deal... I notice they're named after classical musical vocal ranges, which is fitting given the musical nature of these guys #spoilers

Press release fact sheet. "Climactic final chapter of the Shadowlands saga" - again, think this is our final patch. 9.3 seems poof... 11 boss raid, including mythic+ class armour sets and 2 / 4 set bonuses. #spoilers

m+ class armour sets feels like a reward going away in 10.0 tbh, since m+ doesn't really stick around next expansion. #spoilers

Zereth Mortis may be something not actually in the Shadowlands itself but merely connected to it and every other world - the mention of "even realms we haven't discovered yet" is suspect wording. #spoilers

"original look of the zone was when the progenitors were first establishing this workspace for themselves" - so this came before the progenitors then. #spoilers

"What we'll eventually see elsewhere."

So... realms of Life then? Or later in the expansion? Later in the zone? 🤔
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Jailer's new ingame model #spoilers

oh hello 👀

so yeah, why are they kind of crumbling away eating energies? eating Life magic stuff maybe? Something antithetical to Anima?


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Sylvanas is a Good Guy™ now and accompanies us in the raid I guess #spoilers

jailer's weapon has actually been around for quite some time and now appears to be the one he uses in the raid, don't recall him ever actually having ever used it yet
mace_2h_jailernpc_d_01
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ok so art dump now (1/5)
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art dump (2/5)
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art dump (3/5)
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art dump (4/5)
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art dump (5/5)
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Going to go through the developer interviews and stuff now. Keep in mind I'm not exactlly caught up because I've been looking through other stuff carefully. This is the part where I want to try to get all facts 100% correct and analyse. #spoilers

So yeah, we still won't have enough info on whether this is "Sylvanas redemption". imo it really looks like it with the raid model but, always remember PTR and everything is not final. Wording possibly suggests "punishment" is still in order.

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Tyrande+Sylvanas' interactions are not over, and Danuser hints heavily that this may not end in a friendly manner, as well as confirming Tyrande will indeed make an appearance.

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9.3 may or may not be the last patch of the expansion, but it's the last patch of this particular story pertaining to Shadowlands. It's very likely we may be returning back to Azeroth. #spoilers

this one is in Korean, which my translation skills for such are not great so expect Google Translate wonkiness (I'm more versed in Japanese)

Again, noting that 9.2 is the last *chapter* with 3 chapters (launch/9.1/9.2?) initially planned.

>inven.co.kr/webzine/news/?…< #spoilers

Yeah, 9.0/9.1/9.2 were the three chapters. Also this actually does make sense, as much as timegating is stinky. I'm curious if this Domination magic stuff will continue as a character trait for Anduin in the future. #spoilers

info most probably know by now - seems the raid scheduling is going to be like, 8 bosses first week, 11 bosses second week, mythic third week. One extra week to complete the raid doesn't seem like a massive timegate imo #spoilers

a random thought but this "end of Shadowlands story" but still possible hints of 9.3 feels kind of like a Ruby Sanctum in Wrath sort of thing might be planned (though Ruby Sanctum was "filler" while waiting for Cata) #spoilers

This is probably going to get lost in translation, I guess each content gives a singular tier set that can have its appearance changed according to how it was obtained? Other source said PvP/M+ gear can be upgraded via currency *into* tier items? #spoilers

The Constellar is going to reveal some lore stuff through dialogue, since they were supposed to be Titan stuff and whatnot and now we may get a good explanation of that. #spoilers

Wondering how this will play out for deaf people or just not having sound in general (since so many people play without sound...) #spoilers

Zereth Mortis is meant to be approximately the size of Nazjatar. #spoilers

Yrel discussed as a possible future story content 👀 #spoilers

Shadowlands itself was delayed in how the patches were released, but it was always planned to have 9.0/9.1/9.2 be the primary story arc.
Don't think we're seeing cross faction raiding in 9.2 but they're definitely looking into it (btw Alliance was Allah lol...) #spoilers

With that interview done, moving on to the next interview. Took a while to get through because of translation and correction.

>gamerbraves.com/shadowlands-et…< #spoilers

"expansion and story" is mentioned as being concluded so again idk if there's gonna be a 9.3. I don't want to feel like their words should corner them into *not* providing more content.
Alt-friendliness and catchup seems intended, no new "big system" thing too

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We may see some twists and "WIP" versions of the pantheon, and also pretty much implying heavily their designs are... well, designed. I'm sure this ties in heavily with the question of free will and predeterminism.
Also... Guardian of the First Ones boss/section #spoilers

More Tier set info, this seems to be intended as a much more alt-friendly system and just in general a system to obtain tier gear without "requiring" PvP/M+ players to raid. I hope this plays out well. #spoilers

So the rune language is Cyphers, might be neat to see music / sound further expanded upon in gameplay.
3d printer wing seems fun, really curious what "previous" 0.1 versions of big god-like beings would be made as... has me wondering about Titans/Elune too. #spoilers

They might do the cinematics with the story chapter conclusion like what happened in Korthia rather than locking it behind the raid encounter exclusively, could be neat to see carried forward.
Also, we might not actually rescue Anduin still... that seems up in the air. #spoilers

very interesting implication in hinting what's next, such as "many areas yet in Azeroth to be discovered" and epilogue after the raid.
Also glad to see some experimentation and openly saying feedback determines whether or not a new system will continue forward
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This one is going to be a LOT more rough than the Korean one. Google Translate really butchers a lot of terms in this, so I did my best to fill it together. I did my best.

Highlights include wrapping up (wc3?) story and Tier Set catchup.

>bbs.nga.cn/read.php?tid=2…< #spoilers

It seems like a good deal of the wildlife is causing First One constructs to go mad I think, and the absence of them has also influenced some of the zone designs I think.

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Mal'ganis and the Dreadqueen (Kin'tessa?) we saw in Korthia will make an appearance as Dreadlord twins.
Jailer fight will be the "craziest"
Tier sets determined by player feedback.
Torghast new rewards including First One assets under Jailer control and such.
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Legendary grind no longer exclusive to Torghast. *maybe* new legendary weapons for classes other than hunters.
The double legendary unlock is account-wide.

other region community councils outside of NA are being considered for later (such as for China).

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some possible adjustments to heirloom gear to be better balanced.

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Moving on to the french article

9.2 is the last major content update it seems. Again, not looking good for the state of 9.3, 9.2.5 may still yet be possible however (heritage armours perhaps?)

>millenium.org/news/383835.ht…<
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Some neat stuff about Zereth Mortis - it may possibly exist for other realms too in its own way, not just Shadowlands.... And we may question some things that are existential and maybe pertain to predeterminism?

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Some more details about Zereth Mortis, how it was made to look very alien compared to our normal environments of Azeroth and the like.

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Zereth Mortis intended to be much more alt-friendly both in gameplay and story.

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PTR Soon™ (next few weeks)
mention of "sacred geometry"
Zereth Mortis seems intended to be flyable if I'm reading this translation correctly 👀

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Some discussion on the difficulty and release schedule

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No plans on a global release, reasons given (mainly due to timezones)

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Some interesting bits about the lore and storytelling vehicles - and also what they look to prioritise for lore, such as Kil'jaeden and the creation of the Lich King.

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Nathanos is abound, we'll likely learn of his fate and such - nothing to share atm though, intended to learn in due time.

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Design philosophy on Tier sets and its difficulty to make such for every raid (which tbh I find actually understandable)
Zereth Mortis comparable to about the size of Nazjatar approximately, it's a fairly large zone.

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For players without authenticator, they're probably a bit SOL when it comes to making a group in the LFG tool, as it does a lot more good than harm to require such. I do actually agree with this sentiment and there's still the ability to list a non-customised text gruop
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Renown rewards and levels will not continue in 9.2 - it will remain as lvl80. A normal progression system will be implemented via the Cyphers and such as always.

Some details on the PvP Solo Shuffle thing also

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so yeah as said before, catchup systems, new Legendary tiers, and Torghast no longer being the primary source of legos (and of course the double legendaries)

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dev team is discussing the potential to expand more class/race combinations, particularly Void Elf paladin was brought up as an example.

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As said before, heritage armours are usually dedicated to x.x.5 patches (9.2.5?) - although we didn't see any in 9.1.5 or 9.0.5 sadly...

They're also aware of how they need to provide more frequent patch updates (something that covid no doubt had a hand in)

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Nothing necessarily said for or against adding new customisations in Shadowlands, but there's nothing coming for 9.2. "not all patches will contain this type of content, we want to make sure it's on time". I think that's fine, but I wish we'd hear more info.

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Jailer was pretty much always planned as well as the Sepculcher of the First Ones. Other details were pretty much stated before. We *might* learn more about how death works for the Nathrezim soon.

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No spoilers for Denathrius and nothing to indicate necessarily if he'll make an appearance. We know at least something of him remains so he's out there somewhere.

And so concludes this interview.

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This is I believe the last interview I need to go through. I'm going to take a short break and then I'll dissect it in a bit.
>buffed.de/World-of-Warcr…<
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Alright, continuing on where I left off. Let's try to wrap this up.

Interesting other bits here - powerful souls
Also a bit of a note near the end I think worth remembering "when we go on PTR, [...] they won't know the context how that encounter is gonna take place"

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Some more info on Zereth Mortis, details about creating an actual language in the game and how it'll even show up in text boxes, and other stuff like challenging outdoor content (plus some neat things like "driving" the robot like a car with friends?)

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some other interesting bits - I've long since suspected that blueprints for creatures exist for some time such as elekks/mammoths.
it's also nice to see them reflect and admit about how repetitive content, no matter how cool, might still not be found fun.

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Doesn't seem like they intend on actually removing any story content if you want to go back and do it, but they do intend that you have the ability to just jump right into Zereth Mortis once you hit max level.

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expect to be a lot more powerful this tier (as has been pretty standard for every end-of-expansion.

oh, and yeah I think it's pretty clear at this point this is the final major patch, along with the "effectively end of the expansion" statement.

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They still want to maintain mystery in the raid, hinting about surprise mythic modes despite its drawbacks.

the tier sets are by no means meant for only the raid environment.

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more insight about how they've perhaps received feedback in the past and how that may be changing (it sounds positive)
Also the faction split debate has been around for at least 10 years internally at Blizzard, seems they want cross-faction grouping (but done correct)

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Some insight on the changes made to some of the old references in the game (which frankly I agree with this sentiment.)
I hope this mindset is carried on moving forward. "I think humor at the expense of others is never special."

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And final bit of the interview - they have a general idea when they want PTR/Live to hit, but obviously no specific dates so not to set up for failure. Frankly, I think this should be encouraged so not to set up disappointment for delays. Curb crunch where possible.

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