In the german localization of the dialog Nexus-Princess Ky'vesa refers to her boss as "Meisterin" which translates to mastress and implies her boss is a woman.
I wonder why the localisations went with woman and the English one went with man. Seems to be an oversight, as mistress is a word that English can also use. I don't really think we can use it for anything atm
I suppose my interpretation of the Alleria scene is a little different. I was a little disappointed at first, until I realized that the cool thing isn't that Alleria shot the Dark Heart. She made it pretty guessable that she was going to aim for it. But! Xal'atath moved it. Alleria didn't shoot at where it was, but predicted where it _would be._ Now, the Void has future sight powers, of course. But Xal'atath's should be better at Alleria at prediction. Only it wasn't. Because Alleria caused Xal'atath to panic, breaking her focus.
I love that so much. I said the same thing during the cutscene. Alleria told her she was aiming for it, then proceeded to aim to the side of it. Amazing! 🤩
I would have expected the Dark Heart would’ve been destroyed in the end of Midnight. It had an early demise after the buildup it received in the end of Dragonflight. This is just Blizzard’s poor storytelling.
@@adamslosslessmusiccollection I mean we really don't know what happened to it. All we know is that she hit it with an arrow, it cracked, allowing Khagdar to escape. Being whiny about the story telling when we don't have conclusive information is kinda pointless but do you.
Yeah, I think it is a misinterpretation of the scene, to assume the Dark Heart has been destroyed. It's damaged, forcing Xal'atath to withdraw, rather than complete her plan. But the pay-off here is the return of Khadgar, not the annihilation of the Dark Heart. After all, Xal'atath has already shown herself to be a match for us. The reason for her to leave, is to save her artifact. If it was beyond saving, she could have fought us to get her revenge. (Assuming it wouldn't have exploded)
@@BattleF08 you would think that the Dark Heart would have lasted longer, though. It just seems very premature to have it damaged so early like it wouldn’t be of any use so early on. And considering that TWW is an extremely short campaign with only 30 minutes of cutscenes, this makes the whole item a waste of a plot device and it was rushed.
There is a Stay Awhile and Listen that is after the mission where you save the Queen after she has been changed in the Trasformium and I didn’t even knew it was there, and it’s one of the sweetest moments in the game, and I have heard no one talk about it, and I feel it’s a shame.
If Xal’atath already has energy from 3 realms of the cosmos-chart, the roots we’ve seen might be a hint as to where she’s going to get energy of the life-realm. Fel I’m not sure, the sword should be pretty dormant, but could also still be part of War Within. And what if she’s getting Light from the Sunwell, the last of the six, kicking off the events in Midnight.
@@JT-mt6ku Xal'atath was still a dagger and did not have the Dark Heart, when the artifact weapons were used on Sageras' sword. And they were all powerless afterwards. In BfA Xal'atath's power needed to be restored, by feeding it blood & souls, so I doubt she managed to store some of that sword's energy somehow.
@@Tyradriknows I mean, I know we Night Elves worship the Moon, but the moon is just reflecting the Light of the sun. I always come back to the Tauren when it comes to Azeroth lore lol, they got the closest. Azeroth being female and immensely powerful, but iirc, the moon/sun are also considered deities and are named. And cosmically linked. Two sides of a coin. Like light and shadow. Taking the sun would be so cool though. No need for inky black pots anymore.
This man hasn't done the side quests???? This expansions has some of the most immersive and emotional sidequesting of any WoW xpac before it. Even if you consider that an exaggeration, it still beats out 80% of the other wow expansions. I've played since vanilla and I have genuinely had such an incredible time with TWW.
Hallowfall stands out in that regard, but all the zones are good. I said aloud multiple times "how are they making me care about rocks?!?" While doing Isle of Dorn's Sojourner achievement
Okay, bare with me, because this may be tinfoil hat stuff, but my personal theory is that Ethereals that are working against Xal’atath are the ones who are actually working in the service of the void, not Xal. In Legion, Xallie mentions that the Naaru are misguided siblings of the old gods, hinting that their shifting to void forms when they die may be more akin to a reverting to their “true” forms a la a werewolf turning back into a human, rather than a corruption. With this in mind, I think the answer to the question over whether the object in the fresco Xal crawls out of in the “2.5D cinematic” is Xal or Beladar is YES. Because I think it’s both. I think Xal’atath *IS* Beladar. Which means Xal didn’t just unleash us on the nerubians, she unleashed the Arathi on them too. After all, the Arathi never said which side of the war of light and shadow they would fight on. I think it’s totally possible that Xal will be the final boss of the expansion, and her role in the trilogy will shift to ally after she is defeated, and her proper form as a creature of the light realm is recovered and cleansed. May be a long shot, but I think it would be cool.
I've really enjoyed the story and cutscenes they have done so far. However, I can't help but feel when Xalatath says, "My...power..." she looks so much like a disney/pixar character. I get they are 3D characters like disney/pixar, but it is more the movements for me that evoke that sense rather than the models. I feel it would have been better for Xalatath to get a satisfied evil smirk to her eyes as she tilts her head downwards, looking up at the camera. The motions she uses when she says that reminds me of the quirky princess from any disney movie rather than a villain who has achieved their goals. But as Tali said, "Don't mind me, I'm just old".
11:19 Bellular says the raid and its cutscene canonically happen *before* the attack on Hallowfall campaign chapter. Guess you're both gonna have to fight to know who's right!
I've heard more people say this and I'm unsure myself. But it feels so weird to release the campaign chapters in a way where people will complete them before the raid (as raid times are whenever in the week) and then say the raid canonically comes after the campaign. Like that would be a pretty big miss if true. They should have released the final campaign chapters the week after the raid came out then. And they have done so in the past
Yeah I was wondering about this too. I’ve heard people say it’s been “confirmed” both ways but haven’t actually seen any confirmation myself? Does anyone know if/where blizz have commented about it?
I think they talked about this with Matt on stream and concluded that it must happen some time or immediately after the Dawnbreaker dungeon, because the final boss of that dungeon is one of the raid bosses that runs back home to defend the queen. I could be wrong though.
This has honestly been one of the best moments in WoW that I'd ever played. All the little dialogue bits and bites made it feel like an old-school RPG where you'd click on those dialogue boxes because they just might tell you something more. It felt SO GOOD to be able to get more story that way--lots of wonderful reading. And for people like me that really appreciate and enjoy that, it's frankly amazing. PLEASE DO MORE OF THIS! Also, good job, Tali and Evi!
One of the first adventure games I remember playing as a child was the legend of Zelda. I loved it simplistic story, and the fact that the goals were very straightforward. I was a hero link and it was my mission to save the princess, Zelda. One of the first adventure, movies I ever remember, seeing as a child that my father showed me was the seventh voyage of Sinbad. The character of Sinbad was a swashbuckling hero, who had to go on a perilous voyage to save his betroth princess. When I started playing role-playing games in general and by extension MMO or PG’s, I had a clear vision of the type of character I was trying to replicate. World of Warcraft has been one of my favorite past times for almost 20 years because of how it allows me to create the hero that I want to play. Happy to see so many others playing the hero that they imagine themselves as .
my only complaint is with delves still, not in difficulty but i hate all the spore based ones, and Brann's hitbox is fucking gigantic. when i try to click on well anything herbs, chests, the jars of xp i click on brann instead and he's not even close to the object.
My only complaint about the story so far is that they brought Khadgar back too soon. As a story beat, it didn't give the wound time to fester. It should've happened during Midnight or at the end of the expansion, so the loss actually sunk in before pulling a 180. Other than that, I really like the worldbuilding they're doing, even if they had to retcon a lot of previous stuff to manage it. Really excited to see what they do with the Arathi in the future.
Bold of you to assume he's back after marinating in a void sphere for X weeks with no shadowy strings attached. This is why the shadow worshipers laugh at us guys, we keep falling for it.
100%. Or even keep him dead lol. I love him, but i'm so tired of tv shows/ movies / games being scared to kill off main characters. I WANT to feel loss, I WANT to feel nostalgia, I WANT to want justice for lost npcs.. if they had to revive him, let him come in 3 minutes till midnight to surprise us all and save the day.
@@nochancewithoutpasta7637 Strings attached or not, the story beat is the same. It's a massive victory and diminishes Xal as a baddie. Completely undoes the stakes that were set back at the beginning of the expansion. Even if it has shadowy strings attached to it, the momentum is gone.
@@ux92 Mate, what are you even talking about. She still BAITED AND BLEW UP DALARAN, but only after literally draining all its Guardian juice. Y'know, the stuff that made mages capable of going toe to toe with a Fel Titan. At best, it's a minor victory. Dadghar unloaded his most powerful Artifact fueled magic Kamehameha and it did NOTHING to her. There wasn't even smoke. She's an ancient void goddess or whatever, I'm pretty sure she knows how to repair her equipment. At most she lost a bit of energy from Dalaran and note she immediately bamfed away to, presumably, stem the flow of energy. She's still absorbed most of the energy pantheon, and I have a hunch she's not done yet.
Ya know... I want to toss into the ring of ideas about Xal... We never thought about the Dark Heart and why Xal has it and why she is pulling the powers of each school of magic/reality... What happens if Xal is the void side of Azeroth, separated from her leaving two distinct forms. Azeroth is a radiant light whenever it speaks to people so far, the Light as we have seen it always has an equal darkness. Where is hers? We always assumed the Void was out to "corrupt" Azeroth, and it may be the case but that is from the aspect of what Light aligned/Titan aligned things say. The corruption is re-introducing the void back to the soul of Azeroth after it had been sheared away and sealed. I am sure others have probably said that by now, but eh I am saying it again here.
ehhh your idea of using a portal to actually hit the dark heart is cool, but for me it emphasised Xal'atath's own hubris and assuredness in her own power, she is so sure there is nothing any one can do to stop her plan that she becomes sloppy enough that Alleria's gamble pays off and she is able to hit the dark heart
I get your worry about losing momentum for the main story, but I trust it will be fine. What I mean is that the devs have probably also had that worry and put in some nuggets of content to keep us still intrigued. I mean, they snuck in a hidden Xal’atath in Seasons of Discovery which had people losing their minds for weeks, so we don’t need much to stay engaged. I actually think the reason the expansion came out in August was to allow November to be dedicated to the 20th celebration, so they’ve clearly planned this out.
@@ShamanWolves Yes, I did all the quests on my main character BEFORE the side quest to defeat the raid ever appeared. This implies we were meant to see her take that shot BEFORE the raid ever happened (at least since we didn't take the quest or enter the raid through a Bronze escort). Blizz has fudged timelines before, especially when the quests could be done in either order, but they would have held back that shot until the week the end boss was available in LFR (as they have done many times) and probably given the raid quest as a splitting side quest before the confrontation scene if they intended that order. Either the order didn't matter... or the shattering of the focus happened first. It could even be why Xal'atath wasn't able to interfere more and ramp up the spider war.
@@ShamanWolves To me the fact we got the quest to deal with Xal'atath in Hallowfall before we got the quest to do the raid (or the raid even unlocked, IIRC?) means the burden of proof lies on whoever wants to claim the raid takes place after the nerubians attack Beledar.
Tali, you remember in Alleria's animated short film, when she's talking about "hunting Xalatath", it showed her on Argus or somewhere fel, killing demons infused with void, so it looks like Xalatath had already grasped fel energy beforehand.
Because when she was conjuring the arcane quasiform substance, it used her mind as the matrix in which the physical shape was determined, and since Modera is used to thinking of a wheelchair with wheels, it simply manifested with wheels. (I completely made this up.)
Really like the expansion so far in almost all its aspects. Only thing I don't like is how the main story line is always full of cheesy oneliners and clichés. Alleria is basically a walking one-liner. WoW has often been like this, and I find that such a shame. Some of the side quests show a lot more depth, and I just wish we weren't bombarded with these cringe lines all the time. I play this game primarily for the m+ seasons, so I've gotten used to ignoring it. But I'd be way more into the story if it just wasn't so cringe.
Yeah, no. I think Aleria managed to do something the void has always been good at successfully for the first time. Seeing future possibilities and making the one you want to happen, happen. Aleria would only hit the dark heart if Xal'atath dodged, she made her dodge and successfully predicted in what direction. All because Aleria was able to see the bigger picture after letting go of her obsession with Xal'atath.
The storytelling compared to FREAKING dragonflight, actually is just so damn solid. i love these characters, i love how they realize "HEY MAYBE WHAT I AM DOING IS PRETTY CRINGE AND I'MA STOP NOW" we helped every faction, we now have SO many damn allies, We got the Arathi, and the Sacred Flame, we got the Severed Threads, we got EVERY EARTHEN ON THE ISLE OF DORN, and the deeps, WE EVEN HAVE SOME KOBOLDS! like bfa, and how we restored 'order' in Kul'tiras, and Zandalar, this went 300% further. and actually did something with it. SEE THIS IS HOW you include Azerite, this is how you include the void, etc, this was written WELL and i will fight you with a flail in my eyestalk right now. So go on, Take your best shot at the snail, and pray! 18:35 WHAT THE FUCK?!!! OH MY GOD!
Frankly the change I would make to the cutscene of shooting the dark heart is just make it so the heart stays behind xalatath, she shoots, xalatath disappears again, mocks her, and Aleria does the smug “I wasn’t aiming at you’. Is it cheesy? Extremely. Is it satisfying? I think so. Also also did you read the book in the mage house side quest? Where it mentions imagining the cosmic forces as a hexeteron? Because that is a real 5 dimensional shape and insinuates some very important things about the lore, which I would best sum up with ‘the only reason it looks like certain cosmic forces are polar opposites of others is because of our particular placement in the cosmos, any 2 forces could be enemies or allies just as easily as any other 2, but for the mortals of Azeroth this sense of antithesis remains” I could go on an hour long rant about wow cosmic powers and how I think they could be much cooler an idea than we think.
The best compliment I can give the writers is this: My biggest complaint with the story is Khadgar's wheelchair. Like why is it glowy and purple? Just make him one out of wood and metal guys, thats so janky looking. But if that's my biggest complaint then they did a really good job imo.
I took a break from WoW at the end of Dragonflight, after having played for almost 20 years, I did have a temporary break at the end of Shadowlands too, but I came back to Dragonflight. I have yet to return for TWW which makes this the longest break I've ever had, but I am contemplating it, but I don't know if I should yet. I wanna make sure it's actually worth it, cuz Dragonflight was good, but I slowly lost interest. I'm still keeping up, so as to know what happens and eventually decide if I should return. And who knows, maybe Midnight could be the one that finally convinces me to come back, as it sounds like it'll be Elf-focused, and I love Elves. They are my favorite race in Fantasy.
You could do what I did and sub for a month. That’s plenty of time to level a couple of characters and scope out the zones. You’ll be sky riding almost immediately and getting pathfinder is stupid easy in this expac
maybe denathrius? i mean we know he got saved by the nathrezim which are demons now as well, meaning they can go or maybe hide in the twisting nether? and is pissed at us?... maybe
The bloodbound horror we fight in Nerub-ar Palace LITERALLY lives in the Ghostbusters slime, I call it the Ghostbusters arena, ever since I first ran the raid.
I kinda love Xal'atath. She straight up called me out for murdering hundreds of thousands, if not millions, tbh, of in-game NPCS which to them, are, y'know, people. Usually. But it's not just people, it's animal, beasts of nature, abominations of Fel, Shadow, every part of the damn energy pantheon. We are the most dangerous, deadly creature on the planet, arguably (that's the status you get when you Kamehameha an Old God and live to right click about it) and void mummy STRAIGHT UP called us out for it. I felt seen, tbh. Like, finally, our questing efforts have been noticed by the lore record. And I don't mean Onyxia, Illidan, Arthas, Deathwing, Lei Shen, Garrosh, Alternate Grom, Sargeras, etc. I mean the random mobs in between me and right clicking to complete a quest for that sweet sweet golden exp glow up. We're mass murderers, and the Big Bad Evil Girl knows it.
History is written by the winners, by us. We are actually the big bad the jailer was scared of. In the real history of WoW, we're the ones who locked up Azeroth, stole her powers and went on a psychomanic killing spree of anyone who dare tries to save her and stop us. Old Gods, Titans, Death Pantheon, The Light, Naru, Burning Legion, etc. We then spit on their name when we defeat them and tell the stockholm syndrome citizens of Azeroth they we're the evil ones and we are the good saviors of Azeroth
I'm so curious about who Ky'veza is working for! I don't think it's Xal. Fun fact: Using the Treacherous Transmitter in the open world (or Hallowfall specifically it seems) may summon an Ethereum Void Reaper with some unique dialogue who tries to kill you. If you kill him, he drops the toy "Infiltrator's Shroud" that makes you take on his appearance.
7:17 Curious, how would she absorb enough Disorder without the Burning Legion? We know demons and fel still exist because otherwise they'd have to remove Warlock and DH from the playable classes but the good guys who use them haven't really had an active role since Legion, with two of the Black Harvest warlocks making a breif cameo in Dragonflight and Akama (and not the Shade of Akama) appearing in a now-removed trial at the Brawler's Guild in BfA and that's it.
This is the best expansion ive played in a long time, of any game. Actually got a 6 month sub. So much to do, so many good side quests. Great job Blizz
portal arrows? Too big of a ploy, it Screams that you are trying to obfuscate and thereby telegraphs your actual target. way too showy. The "I wasn't aiming at you" lands because it is meant to be subtle. Like if you're holding a mug in front of you and I point a gun at you, You can't tell I wasn't aiming at you. You are bigger than the mug you assume you are the target because you are CLEARLY bigger and more important than the mug, right? Portal already says "I am trying to trick you" Which means you already have to question if you are the target and if you aren't the target What IS the target? Because there's only one other thing there, the dark heart AKA the mug. Then logically it HAS to be that. Which means action has to be taken to defend it properly. Instead of the reactive instinctive reflex to dodge.
I have liked most things about the expansion so far, and nothing has been a deal breaker for me. Great intro quest and story cinematics, warband banks, the ability to just auto complete all main story quests on an alt, and the Arathi zone and soundtrack. The only things I am salty about is the profession knowledge grind returning and that I have to do a 5 sec cast to switch flight style. I wish it was a setting on the mount page so I could go back to having a dragon ride mount and a swim fly mount button.
So, one idea about how us foiling Xal'atath's plan can lead into 11.1: We damaged the Dark Heart, which has been established as a dark version of the Dragon Soul. The Dragon Soul was made by the goblins. I wonder if there is a goblin, who is unscupulous enough to help Xal out, probably has the knowledge and resources to do so and could lead us straight into the speculated goblin raid?
17:24 Not necessarily. Ky'vessa could be more of a mercenary working for anyone who pays, so the job with Ansurek and our bounties could be from separate people. Wouldn't surprise me if there's a lot of bounties on our heads after all we've been up to throughout the expansions. That being said, 100% agree with it not being Locus walker, even if it would be funny if he saw the state Alleria was in when she left and was like "Y'know what, I'm hiring an assassin to take care of this as well. Just in case..." 20:18 He can roll over her XallyToes
Remember the trow away line from Alexstraza(?) in Dragonflight. She remarked that the Darkheart looks like an older version of the Dragonsoul. What was the Dragonsoul used for? To absorb the energy of the flights and thus wield domination power over them... Xal'atath is doing that on a cosmic scale.
I wonder if each infusion is going to be added and azeroth will only be born after the fact. So far she has been infused with order (titans), death (zoval boss fight), fel (corruption of sunwell for kiljaeden, sword of sargeras, sundering of the well of eternity after corruption), void (old gods), light (baledar) and finally life (eonars tree)
Khadgar appearing like that forcibly reminds me of how Anduin dropped the compass at the end Sanctum of Domination. There's also the parallel to Sylvanas falling unconscious before she could tell us anything. But it makes me wonder (if that was done on purpose): is Khadgar the compass that will show us the way, or a red herring from Xal'atath to throw us off the scent?
with the way people keep calling Xal "mummy" and the way she's been using the Dark Heart (and reacting to it being damaged), I'm reminded of a middle-aged lady with her favourite Tupperware box lol
I keep thinking that while Xali wasn't defeated, It could be argued that our protagonist won their own internal "within" wars. This includes the Earthen, Alleria, Anduin, Thrall, Moira and family.
On the topic of elements, I think she wants to combine all the elements of the universe to ascend to some sort of higher form. Khadgar mentions the Dark Heart broke down magic/power into a basic form, which she could then use to ??? I think that ??? Is to make her above it all. She calls both us and Azeroth “hers,” while declaring Elune an upstart goddess. What if Xal used to be a goddess in her own right, that was siphoned and broken apart by the Old Gods? No one more than her would understand “the true lesson of the Void” in that case. And we, as players, have certainly down our own depowering and dismantling of godlike beings, so we know that’s possible. Which, would then tie back to why she was trying to break magic down into a basic form to empower herself.
im probably misremembering the lore but i think if a planet gets sufficiently messed up it sort of drifts into the twisting nether which iirc happened to outland for example, so locus' house might technically be in the twisting nether?
For the most part I enjoyed it. Not every single % I love the Light vs Void theme(Not the arathi themselves) in Hallowfall. I like the Earthen story arc and them deciding their own fate. I don't care about the Titans being overly authoritive aholes but I've said that for awhile, it feels very non nuanced. Is it still entertaining and compelling? Yes. I aboslutely love Xal'atath, watching her is just fun. She makes Fyrakk look meh in comparison and its not the gender either. Az'kahet was a fun zone to, creepy and uncomfortable to be in, It had some Suramar vibes in it. I was absolutely shocked that the Dark Heart was destroyed so early, including Khadgar's return. I truly believed(Until that cinematic) that he was gone, and I think in some ways he should of stayed that way. It was an incredible gut punch and the destruction of Dalaran just as much. I am just wondering what happens now and what Xal'atath even wants, at most I imagine the Az'kahet war(As I'm calling it). It was merely a distraction but thats speculation. I also am not very confident that Alleria is safe from the Void now, can't be that easy. Anduin finding his Light is all well and good but I still wish he didn't have to go through that arc. Thrall... well he's ok right now. I do like the banter between Turalyon and that mag'har orc, I appreciate the factions still existing and having that tension. I can go on but its a strong start but not everything is to my desire.
I agree with a couple other people here. I thought the Alleria and dark heart cinematic was done pretty well, because what it showed us was that xalatath was way more confident than she should have been. She was so focused on her own body always being shot at, that she was purely planning for another attack against herself. Proudly proclaiming that alleria will never hit her. But then completely forgetting to protect the other vaulable item in her possession, and actually losing that time to her own overconfidence. It also showed us that alleria is actually extremely clever. She knew that xalatath would dodge in anticipation of the arrow hitting her, so alleria aimed slightly to the side, because she knew that she could hit the dark heart then as xal turned to dodge the arrow That's what I got out of the cinematic while watching it in game myself, before seeing the internet or anyone else's opinion on it. And personally, I don't think your idea of using a portal would hit quite the same way
I actually like the way Alleria "wins" because it further shows what Tali talked about in his raid cinematic breakdown - Xali'tah's arrogance. She turns around, not hiding the heart at all. Faunting it, even. Because why not? She's sooooo smart and powerful. And Alleria's just...shoots. It isn't a physical victory, it's a humbling.
i mean she goaded her into moving to try and block the attack with the slight "im not aiming for you" the fact she was able to read zal and know which direction she would guard is the impressive part
We’re lined up for Xally to spite void poison the sunwell to get back at Alleria for foiling her plans. If not that, we’re still playing into her plans.
Honestly what surprises me is how a lot of the conflict in this expansion got solved relatively quickly at launch. We reunited the Earthen, destroyed the Dark Heart, saved Khadgar, dealt with Ansurek, and have made a lot of allies already like the Arathi, Nerubians, Kobolds and the Earthen as mentioned before. My original theory for how the Worldsoul Saga would go is that we kill Xal in War Within, Azshara in Midnight, and Iridikron in The Last Titan. Apparently Xal is gonna survive this expansion but I still reckon Azshara is gonna play a huge role eventually, and might even be who the Nexus Princess is talking to. On top of this, we might have another Klaxxi situation later, where the Halowfall expedition reunites with the empire, and the majority end up becoming our enemy similar to the Scarlet Crusade, while some of them such as Faerin choose to side with us.
Storyline for War Within is amazing through it does leave alot of questions through like now that we stopped the Nerubian threat what else is there for huge threats now? Nerubian Xal'atath Royalists, remnants of the old gods, rootlands, ethereals, and etc for later patches? One thing is for sure that Xal'atath's plans are far from over.
I was a few weeks behind in my leveling and was suprised no one is talking about Salandria. (From childrens week and is almost attacked by the bronze dragonflight for future crimes) She is all grown up and accompanied Lady Liadian. She even has unique voice lines...
I also didn't love the way Alleria beat Xal until I realized something. The cinematic is not only meant to show us Alleria's growth but also Xal's biggest weakness: her arrogance. She was one step ahead of us the entire campaign, she felt unbeatable, invincible. And even when beat she says "this changes nothing", which seems to me like a moment of denial. So maybe this is the way we beat her. She might not be that worried about us because she's probably more worried about the Void Lords or some other cosmic power. And that might be the big mistake that all cosmic powers will make, to think that we are below them and not worth their effort.
You see, I was also wondering about that. Becoming evolved basically takes away your nerubian-ness and makes you more humanoid looking. It’s a genecide, but so that Xal can take control of them, but it isn’t clear to me on why Xal had to get rid of that spider appearance along the way. Unless Nerubions actually stand as a threat to the old gods as they were. Maybe something to do with binding? They do web everything, after all.
So, since no one seems to have mentioned this. Claudia Christian voices Xal'atath. She played Ivanova from Babylon 5, a sci-fi series that had an antagonist that is literally called "The Shadow" and they're opposed to the Vorlon, who represent Order. I'm sure these data points have no relation.
"Her dreams sing beneath the surface. Our dreams. Our song." "She is not the last, but the first. Drown her and you will see." "When the arrow finds its mark, the last fetter will fall away." "The fall of night reveals her true face. She will bring only ruin." "Six seats at the high table. Six mouths that hunger. One will consume all others." Just some whispers of N'zoth to think about.
I like how, in the moment that Anduin is surrounded, Alleria forgets that she could shoot an arrow accurately from one continent to another and decides to just watch 🤣🤣
Reno Jackson is in WoW now who was a Hearthstone character his nemesis is Rafam an ethereal crime lord who is usually the butt of jokes but could be using him? Perhaps? or its our buddy from Shadowlands that helps in the Maw.
My biggest niggle is that - in this storyline - the Arathi People disappeared within Anduin's lifetime... Now... I started playing WoW at the end of vanilla, and have never played any of the Warcraft precedents, so I could be mistaken for thinking the Arathi People had disappeared many, many years in the past..? Did they have a presence in any of the pre-WoW games/lore? Haven't all the Arathi castles/bases/properties been vacant and long-time abandoned since our first 3rd-person-footsteps on Azeroth, back in the day..? Have I completely missed some/any reference to the Arathi People, on orders from their Emporer, to go sailing one day? And as for "The Emporer"..... Where's he? Some dialogue in the game states that some of the fleet ended up down in Hallowfall, while other dialogue claims it was the entire fleet... WTF, Blizz..? Did the Emporer order his People to go to war while he stayed behind? Or did he lead the vanguard - and if so, is he down in Hallowfall somewhere with "the entire fleet", OR, is he - and "the rest of the fleet" further off to the West, on the surface of Azeroth, either still doing that Renilash side quest, all dead and bones bleaching in the sun having lost at Renilash, or... did they win in that "final battle", and have created a new Empire around the other side of the planet, and at some point He's gonna sail back to the Eastern Kingdoms to reclaim his long-abandoned Arathi strongholds, see that Stormwind "no longer has a King", and decide he's up for the job..? But I'm probably fixating on something that Blizz will brush away with two or three lines of dialogue between some random NPC's, but only if you happen to be passing by at the RNG'd point of activation, and any & all talk of "The Emporer and His Glorious battle for the Light" will disappear into the gaps between the Void...
Tali - with love - You need a big leather couch to sit in while you talk about lore with a pipe or a cup of tea for the most amazing wow experience ever!
I think we will get more ethereal stuff in TWW, and I think it will completely coincidentally be in the same patch as we get Tazavesh back in the M+ rotation (no, not confirmed).
Perhaps a bit out there, but it feels like Xalatath is getting the story that should have been given to sylvanas. Not the details but in terms of the arc. The whole getting people to fight to feed this larger entity is very familiar. I'm excited to see what a more cohesive team can make with Xal!
They have compared the Dark Heart to the Dragon Soul before So are part of the Old Gods power locked within the heart much like the Aspects with the Dragon Soul? "When the arrow finds its mark, the last fetter will fall away" All the prisons surrounding the Old Gods are becoming unlocked :D
I don't think all these Ethereum bits are going to be expanded on in The War Within. We are in a unique situation now that hasn't been the case in Warcraft history. For the first time ever, we already know that there are two more expansions coming and their names; Midnight and The Last Titan. I think all of this Ethereum stuff are seeds being planted for Midnight.
To be honest, even if 11.0.5 is just Anniversary- stuff, I think it's fine. I'm planning to get three of those remastered sets, and that will take time.
The End Cinematic of the Raid i think reveals what she wants. Power. "Only the strongest will survive" So what does that mean for her? Give people strength and control them. Forge them in Battle to see who comes out ahead, and in the end, control them to do her bidding. The question is why. Is she aligned with the Void Lords? Or does she want to oppose them?
I have enjoyed the storytelling of TWW so far, there is a lot of actual character development over time. I love all of the stay for awhile conversations and things. BTW, it's Telogrus rift and NOT Telgorus rift.
Anyone else notice how many parallels there are between the opening cinematic of the Human campaign in Warcraft 3 and Khadgar’s escape from the Dark Heart? The Medivh vibe is strong in TWW so far. First they made it a point to show that Xal’atath has shattered Atiesh, the staff of the Guardian. Then, khadgars escape from the Datk Heart as a spectral RAVEN. He lands, retakes human form, and speaks to a king. Sound familiar?
Okay the question I had for all of Hallowfall which I would love an answer to: When did the Arathi set sail? Because it feels like there has been a time jump here. Arathor as an Empire did not exist at the start of WC1, it was already broken up into disparate human kingdoms. Stormwind hadn't been founded or heard of when these people left. And yet... theres only 3 generations of them. They appear to be Half-elves of some form (which is a question in and of itself really) so presumably have longer life, but then Beledar only started going dark when Sargeras stabbed Azeroth and thats what, like 5ish years ago? The timeline confuses the hell out of me, and if anyone knows then please help me out. I was keeping an eye out for this as I did all the quests and didn't see this really explained anywhere.
The Arathi Empire fell in the Eastern Kingdoms 1200 year ago so it would be AT LEAST that long ago that the Ancestors of the Hallowfall Arathi set sail, so the Empire on the other side of the planet is at least 1000 years old. Faerin and the other arathi in Hallowfall setr off on their crusade from said empire 16 years ago and were teleported then, so they've heen in Hallowfall for 16 years :)
@TaliesinEvitel Does no one want to just outright ask them where the fuck they've been? It seems weird that Anduin doesn't say anything, or shit why doesn't Alleria never at any point go "right but your empire died 1600 years ago, and I should know I was there" where the fuck did you guys come from? I know this is obviously set up for something they'll explain later but I'd have appreciated it being addressed during the initial meeting even slightly.
Is the raid after the campaign quest? It feels like it's before and was only after it because of timegating the raid. It feels like the story was supposed to be Ansurek sending the nerubians against the Arathi as a way to distract people away from the Priory/crystal. Xal'atath seems too calm in the final raid cinematic for it to be after the final campaign cinematic. Xal'atath isn't mad Ansurek failed/was defeated only pities her for not being stronger, whether Ansurek was stronger doesn't really change anything with Xal'atath plan if she was only meant as distraction anyway, it only speeds up the plan if she didnt last as long as Xal'atath would have liked, but it doesn't change it.
![Combat Masteries Change Everything in Leagues V! [OSRS]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ufpE3TvC5pQ/mqdefault.jpg)
In the german localization of the dialog Nexus-Princess Ky'vesa refers to her boss as "Meisterin" which translates to mastress and implies her boss is a woman.
Same thing in the french version.
Same as well in the Spanish version. She says Amante which means mistress, female version of master
German was mentioned in the comment section 🙋🏼♂️🍺🥨🚗
@@iGizmoTech"amante" means lover
I wonder why the localisations went with woman and the English one went with man. Seems to be an oversight, as mistress is a word that English can also use. I don't really think we can use it for anything atm
I suppose my interpretation of the Alleria scene is a little different. I was a little disappointed at first, until I realized that the cool thing isn't that Alleria shot the Dark Heart. She made it pretty guessable that she was going to aim for it. But! Xal'atath moved it. Alleria didn't shoot at where it was, but predicted where it _would be._ Now, the Void has future sight powers, of course. But Xal'atath's should be better at Alleria at prediction. Only it wasn't. Because Alleria caused Xal'atath to panic, breaking her focus.
I love that so much. I said the same thing during the cutscene.
Alleria told her she was aiming for it, then proceeded to aim to the side of it. Amazing! 🤩
I would have expected the Dark Heart would’ve been destroyed in the end of Midnight. It had an early demise after the buildup it received in the end of Dragonflight. This is just Blizzard’s poor storytelling.
@@adamslosslessmusiccollection I mean we really don't know what happened to it. All we know is that she hit it with an arrow, it cracked, allowing Khagdar to escape. Being whiny about the story telling when we don't have conclusive information is kinda pointless but do you.
Yeah, I think it is a misinterpretation of the scene, to assume the Dark Heart has been destroyed. It's damaged, forcing Xal'atath to withdraw, rather than complete her plan. But the pay-off here is the return of Khadgar, not the annihilation of the Dark Heart.
After all, Xal'atath has already shown herself to be a match for us. The reason for her to leave, is to save her artifact. If it was beyond saving, she could have fought us to get her revenge. (Assuming it wouldn't have exploded)
@@BattleF08 you would think that the Dark Heart would have lasted longer, though. It just seems very premature to have it damaged so early like it wouldn’t be of any use so early on. And considering that TWW is an extremely short campaign with only 30 minutes of cutscenes, this makes the whole item a waste of a plot device and it was rushed.
There is a Stay Awhile and Listen that is after the mission where you save the Queen after she has been changed in the Trasformium and I didn’t even knew it was there, and it’s one of the sweetest moments in the game, and I have heard no one talk about it, and I feel it’s a shame.
I watched that, feeling hopeful she will be returned to normal and become an ally.
Tali did it on stream at least. But yeah most people missed that one
It's haunting. horrible horrible fate, even for a spider
If Xal’atath already has energy from 3 realms of the cosmos-chart, the roots we’ve seen might be a hint as to where she’s going to get energy of the life-realm. Fel I’m not sure, the sword should be pretty dormant, but could also still be part of War Within. And what if she’s getting Light from the Sunwell, the last of the six, kicking off the events in Midnight.
Would be interesting if the sun is of light origin and she takes that away, sending Azeroth into eternal midnight.
She already drained the sword
@@JT-mt6ku Xal'atath was still a dagger and did not have the Dark Heart, when the artifact weapons were used on Sageras' sword. And they were all powerless afterwards. In BfA Xal'atath's power needed to be restored, by feeding it blood & souls, so I doubt she managed to store some of that sword's energy somehow.
@@Tyradriknows I mean, I know we Night Elves worship the Moon, but the moon is just reflecting the Light of the sun. I always come back to the Tauren when it comes to Azeroth lore lol, they got the closest. Azeroth being female and immensely powerful, but iirc, the moon/sun are also considered deities and are named. And cosmically linked. Two sides of a coin. Like light and shadow.
Taking the sun would be so cool though. No need for inky black pots anymore.
This man hasn't done the side quests???? This expansions has some of the most immersive and emotional sidequesting of any WoW xpac before it. Even if you consider that an exaggeration, it still beats out 80% of the other wow expansions. I've played since vanilla and I have genuinely had such an incredible time with TWW.
Hallowfall stands out in that regard, but all the zones are good. I said aloud multiple times "how are they making me care about rocks?!?" While doing Isle of Dorn's Sojourner achievement
Okay, bare with me, because this may be tinfoil hat stuff, but my personal theory is that Ethereals that are working against Xal’atath are the ones who are actually working in the service of the void, not Xal.
In Legion, Xallie mentions that the Naaru are misguided siblings of the old gods, hinting that their shifting to void forms when they die may be more akin to a reverting to their “true” forms a la a werewolf turning back into a human, rather than a corruption.
With this in mind, I think the answer to the question over whether the object in the fresco Xal crawls out of in the “2.5D cinematic” is Xal or Beladar is YES. Because I think it’s both. I think Xal’atath *IS* Beladar.
Which means Xal didn’t just unleash us on the nerubians, she unleashed the Arathi on them too. After all, the Arathi never said which side of the war of light and shadow they would fight on.
I think it’s totally possible that Xal will be the final boss of the expansion, and her role in the trilogy will shift to ally after she is defeated, and her proper form as a creature of the light realm is recovered and cleansed.
May be a long shot, but I think it would be cool.
I have a solid question:
Where is Rexxar?
Kidnapped by alternate dimension Draenor Yrel and forced into marriage
@@J479fstknvds We have to rescue him!
@@Skollshorties afraid it's too late for that.. he has been forced into death by snu snu 😞
I've really enjoyed the story and cutscenes they have done so far. However, I can't help but feel when Xalatath says, "My...power..." she looks so much like a disney/pixar character. I get they are 3D characters like disney/pixar, but it is more the movements for me that evoke that sense rather than the models. I feel it would have been better for Xalatath to get a satisfied evil smirk to her eyes as she tilts her head downwards, looking up at the camera. The motions she uses when she says that reminds me of the quirky princess from any disney movie rather than a villain who has achieved their goals.
But as Tali said, "Don't mind me, I'm just old".
11:19 Bellular says the raid and its cutscene canonically happen *before* the attack on Hallowfall campaign chapter. Guess you're both gonna have to fight to know who's right!
I'm open minded; I'd love to hear thr reasoning for that!
I've heard more people say this and I'm unsure myself. But it feels so weird to release the campaign chapters in a way where people will complete them before the raid (as raid times are whenever in the week) and then say the raid canonically comes after the campaign. Like that would be a pretty big miss if true.
They should have released the final campaign chapters the week after the raid came out then. And they have done so in the past
Yeah I was wondering about this too. I’ve heard people say it’s been “confirmed” both ways but haven’t actually seen any confirmation myself? Does anyone know if/where blizz have commented about it?
I think they talked about this with Matt on stream and concluded that it must happen some time or immediately after the Dawnbreaker dungeon, because the final boss of that dungeon is one of the raid bosses that runs back home to defend the queen. I could be wrong though.
Fight, fight, fight, fight! 😂
This has honestly been one of the best moments in WoW that I'd ever played. All the little dialogue bits and bites made it feel like an old-school RPG where you'd click on those dialogue boxes because they just might tell you something more. It felt SO GOOD to be able to get more story that way--lots of wonderful reading. And for people like me that really appreciate and enjoy that, it's frankly amazing. PLEASE DO MORE OF THIS! Also, good job, Tali and Evi!
10:00 "now you're thinking with portals"
One of the first adventure games I remember playing as a child was the legend of Zelda. I loved it simplistic story, and the fact that the goals were very straightforward. I was a hero link and it was my mission to save the princess, Zelda.
One of the first adventure, movies I ever remember, seeing as a child that my father showed me was the seventh voyage of Sinbad. The character of Sinbad was a swashbuckling hero, who had to go on a perilous voyage to save his betroth princess.
When I started playing role-playing games in general and by extension MMO or PG’s, I had a clear vision of the type of character I was trying to replicate.
World of Warcraft has been one of my favorite past times for almost 20 years because of how it allows me to create the hero that I want to play.
Happy to see so many others playing the hero that they imagine themselves as .
Violence and hate feeding the blood of an old god is something that we can also find in the quests of silithus in vanilla wow.
my only complaint is with delves still, not in difficulty but i hate all the spore based ones, and Brann's hitbox is fucking gigantic. when i try to click on well anything herbs, chests, the jars of xp i click on brann instead and he's not even close to the object.
The monthly reset! Kidding aside glad you guys are back.
My only complaint about the story so far is that they brought Khadgar back too soon. As a story beat, it didn't give the wound time to fester. It should've happened during Midnight or at the end of the expansion, so the loss actually sunk in before pulling a 180.
Other than that, I really like the worldbuilding they're doing, even if they had to retcon a lot of previous stuff to manage it.
Really excited to see what they do with the Arathi in the future.
Bold of you to assume he's back after marinating in a void sphere for X weeks with no shadowy strings attached.
This is why the shadow worshipers laugh at us guys, we keep falling for it.
100%. Or even keep him dead lol. I love him, but i'm so tired of tv shows/ movies / games being scared to kill off main characters. I WANT to feel loss, I WANT to feel nostalgia, I WANT to want justice for lost npcs.. if they had to revive him, let him come in 3 minutes till midnight to surprise us all and save the day.
@@nochancewithoutpasta7637 Strings attached or not, the story beat is the same. It's a massive victory and diminishes Xal as a baddie. Completely undoes the stakes that were set back at the beginning of the expansion. Even if it has shadowy strings attached to it, the momentum is gone.
@@ux92 Mate, what are you even talking about. She still BAITED AND BLEW UP DALARAN, but only after literally draining all its Guardian juice. Y'know, the stuff that made mages capable of going toe to toe with a Fel Titan.
At best, it's a minor victory. Dadghar unloaded his most powerful Artifact fueled magic Kamehameha and it did NOTHING to her. There wasn't even smoke.
She's an ancient void goddess or whatever, I'm pretty sure she knows how to repair her equipment. At most she lost a bit of energy from Dalaran and note she immediately bamfed away to, presumably, stem the flow of energy.
She's still absorbed most of the energy pantheon, and I have a hunch she's not done yet.
But.. what if Khadgar is Xallie's new corpse puppet?
Ooooh love that idea!
Or she corrupts Khadgar with the void and he becomes the dark guardian.
This is my theory currently as well
@@HawkknightXC88ooooh, and Medivh is supposed to be coming back at some point. I wonder if he falls and so the real guardian is forced to step back in
This is kinda obvious if true tho
You are so ABSOLUTELY RIGHT about Alleria opening a void portal behind Xali to hit the dark heart! I love it! 💜❤
Ya know... I want to toss into the ring of ideas about Xal... We never thought about the Dark Heart and why Xal has it and why she is pulling the powers of each school of magic/reality... What happens if Xal is the void side of Azeroth, separated from her leaving two distinct forms. Azeroth is a radiant light whenever it speaks to people so far, the Light as we have seen it always has an equal darkness. Where is hers? We always assumed the Void was out to "corrupt" Azeroth, and it may be the case but that is from the aspect of what Light aligned/Titan aligned things say. The corruption is re-introducing the void back to the soul of Azeroth after it had been sheared away and sealed.
I am sure others have probably said that by now, but eh I am saying it again here.
I doubt it because Locus Walker recognized Xal from Kuresh.
ehhh your idea of using a portal to actually hit the dark heart is cool, but for me it emphasised Xal'atath's own hubris and assuredness in her own power, she is so sure there is nothing any one can do to stop her plan that she becomes sloppy enough that Alleria's gamble pays off and she is able to hit the dark heart
I get your worry about losing momentum for the main story, but I trust it will be fine. What I mean is that the devs have probably also had that worry and put in some nuggets of content to keep us still intrigued. I mean, they snuck in a hidden Xal’atath in Seasons of Discovery which had people losing their minds for weeks, so we don’t need much to stay engaged.
I actually think the reason the expansion came out in August was to allow November to be dedicated to the 20th celebration, so they’ve clearly planned this out.
I love all the 'stay a while and listen' parts.
I'm pretty sure I saw a video from Bellular where him and Matt prove that the end of the raid cinematic happens BEFORE Aleria confronts Xalatath.
I saw a video where Bellular claimed that, but I didn't see any proof.
@@TaliesinMyrddin Is there proof that it happens after?
@@ShamanWolves Yes, I did all the quests on my main character BEFORE the side quest to defeat the raid ever appeared. This implies we were meant to see her take that shot BEFORE the raid ever happened (at least since we didn't take the quest or enter the raid through a Bronze escort). Blizz has fudged timelines before, especially when the quests could be done in either order, but they would have held back that shot until the week the end boss was available in LFR (as they have done many times) and probably given the raid quest as a splitting side quest before the confrontation scene if they intended that order. Either the order didn't matter... or the shattering of the focus happened first. It could even be why Xal'atath wasn't able to interfere more and ramp up the spider war.
@@ShamanWolves I admit, this isn't solid proof, but it heavily implies an order or the non-existence of one.
@@ShamanWolves To me the fact we got the quest to deal with Xal'atath in Hallowfall before we got the quest to do the raid (or the raid even unlocked, IIRC?) means the burden of proof lies on whoever wants to claim the raid takes place after the nerubians attack Beledar.
Tali, you remember in Alleria's animated short film, when she's talking about "hunting Xalatath", it showed her on Argus or somewhere fel, killing demons infused with void, so it looks like Xalatath had already grasped fel energy beforehand.
The REAL question is if Khadgar's chair floats then why does it have wheels???
Archmage Modera made it apparently, wich makes Khadgar fond of it for ... reasons.
floating ..it costs mana...so probably sometimes he has to be on the ground
Because when she was conjuring the arcane quasiform substance, it used her mind as the matrix in which the physical shape was determined, and since Modera is used to thinking of a wheelchair with wheels, it simply manifested with wheels.
(I completely made this up.)
I think the real question is: does it have dynamic flying?
@@corvusalbus7276 It 100% does the barrel roll animation when speed-boosting. There better be a seatbelt on it.
Really like the expansion so far in almost all its aspects. Only thing I don't like is how the main story line is always full of cheesy oneliners and clichés. Alleria is basically a walking one-liner.
WoW has often been like this, and I find that such a shame. Some of the side quests show a lot more depth, and I just wish we weren't bombarded with these cringe lines all the time.
I play this game primarily for the m+ seasons, so I've gotten used to ignoring it. But I'd be way more into the story if it just wasn't so cringe.
Yeah, no.
I think Aleria managed to do something the void has always been good at successfully for the first time. Seeing future possibilities and making the one you want to happen, happen. Aleria would only hit the dark heart if Xal'atath dodged, she made her dodge and successfully predicted in what direction.
All because Aleria was able to see the bigger picture after letting go of her obsession with Xal'atath.
Not having Dagran meet Dagran would be a missed opportunity.
Dagranbowl
The storytelling compared to FREAKING dragonflight, actually is just so damn solid. i love these characters, i love how they realize "HEY MAYBE WHAT I AM DOING IS PRETTY CRINGE AND I'MA STOP NOW" we helped every faction, we now have SO many damn allies, We got the Arathi, and the Sacred Flame, we got the Severed Threads, we got EVERY EARTHEN ON THE ISLE OF DORN, and the deeps, WE EVEN HAVE SOME KOBOLDS! like bfa, and how we restored 'order' in Kul'tiras, and Zandalar, this went 300% further. and actually did something with it. SEE THIS IS HOW you include Azerite, this is how you include the void, etc, this was written WELL and i will fight you with a flail in my eyestalk right now. So go on, Take your best shot at the snail, and pray!
18:35 WHAT THE FUCK?!!! OH MY GOD!
re-restore order 😨oh boy
🐌guys it wasn't actually a flail it's just some celery *eating it* . _ .
The damaging of the Dark Heart is true to WoW’s oldest philosophies: ALWAYS remember to repair your gear before raids!
Frankly the change I would make to the cutscene of shooting the dark heart is just make it so the heart stays behind xalatath, she shoots, xalatath disappears again, mocks her, and Aleria does the smug “I wasn’t aiming at you’.
Is it cheesy? Extremely. Is it satisfying? I think so.
Also also did you read the book in the mage house side quest? Where it mentions imagining the cosmic forces as a hexeteron? Because that is a real 5 dimensional shape and insinuates some very important things about the lore, which I would best sum up with ‘the only reason it looks like certain cosmic forces are polar opposites of others is because of our particular placement in the cosmos, any 2 forces could be enemies or allies just as easily as any other 2, but for the mortals of Azeroth this sense of antithesis remains”
I could go on an hour long rant about wow cosmic powers and how I think they could be much cooler an idea than we think.
The best compliment I can give the writers is this: My biggest complaint with the story is Khadgar's wheelchair. Like why is it glowy and purple? Just make him one out of wood and metal guys, thats so janky looking. But if that's my biggest complaint then they did a really good job imo.
Thank you for making the Ghostbusters 2 reference! I knew I wasnt the only one!
I took a break from WoW at the end of Dragonflight, after having played for almost 20 years, I did have a temporary break at the end of Shadowlands too, but I came back to Dragonflight. I have yet to return for TWW which makes this the longest break I've ever had, but I am contemplating it, but I don't know if I should yet. I wanna make sure it's actually worth it, cuz Dragonflight was good, but I slowly lost interest.
I'm still keeping up, so as to know what happens and eventually decide if I should return. And who knows, maybe Midnight could be the one that finally convinces me to come back, as it sounds like it'll be Elf-focused, and I love Elves. They are my favorite race in Fantasy.
You could do what I did and sub for a month. That’s plenty of time to level a couple of characters and scope out the zones. You’ll be sky riding almost immediately and getting pathfinder is stupid easy in this expac
@@TheRockinDonkey I'll consider that.
maybe denathrius? i mean we know he got saved by the nathrezim which are demons now as well, meaning they can go or maybe hide in the twisting nether? and is pissed at us?... maybe
The bloodbound horror we fight in Nerub-ar Palace LITERALLY lives in the Ghostbusters slime, I call it the Ghostbusters arena, ever since I first ran the raid.
I kinda love Xal'atath. She straight up called me out for murdering hundreds of thousands, if not millions, tbh, of in-game NPCS which to them, are, y'know, people. Usually.
But it's not just people, it's animal, beasts of nature, abominations of Fel, Shadow, every part of the damn energy pantheon. We are the most dangerous, deadly creature on the planet, arguably (that's the status you get when you Kamehameha an Old God and live to right click about it) and void mummy STRAIGHT UP called us out for it.
I felt seen, tbh. Like, finally, our questing efforts have been noticed by the lore record. And I don't mean Onyxia, Illidan, Arthas, Deathwing, Lei Shen, Garrosh, Alternate Grom, Sargeras, etc. I mean the random mobs in between me and right clicking to complete a quest for that sweet sweet golden exp glow up.
We're mass murderers, and the Big Bad Evil Girl knows it.
History is written by the winners, by us. We are actually the big bad the jailer was scared of. In the real history of WoW, we're the ones who locked up Azeroth, stole her powers and went on a psychomanic killing spree of anyone who dare tries to save her and stop us. Old Gods, Titans, Death Pantheon, The Light, Naru, Burning Legion, etc. We then spit on their name when we defeat them and tell the stockholm syndrome citizens of Azeroth they we're the evil ones and we are the good saviors of Azeroth
I'm so curious about who Ky'veza is working for! I don't think it's Xal.
Fun fact: Using the Treacherous Transmitter in the open world (or Hallowfall specifically it seems) may summon an Ethereum Void Reaper with some unique dialogue who tries to kill you. If you kill him, he drops the toy "Infiltrator's Shroud" that makes you take on his appearance.
7:17 Curious, how would she absorb enough Disorder without the Burning Legion? We know demons and fel still exist because otherwise they'd have to remove Warlock and DH from the playable classes but the good guys who use them haven't really had an active role since Legion, with two of the Black Harvest warlocks making a breif cameo in Dragonflight and Akama (and not the Shade of Akama) appearing in a now-removed trial at the Brawler's Guild in BfA and that's it.
There's a big fel sword in Silithus :)
This is the best expansion ive played in a long time, of any game. Actually got a 6 month sub. So much to do, so many good side quests. Great job Blizz
I've really been surprised by how well crafted the story for this opening patch has been. Lots of strong feelings.
portal arrows? Too big of a ploy, it Screams that you are trying to obfuscate and thereby telegraphs your actual target. way too showy.
The "I wasn't aiming at you" lands because it is meant to be subtle.
Like if you're holding a mug in front of you and I point a gun at you, You can't tell I wasn't aiming at you. You are bigger than the mug you assume you are the target because you are CLEARLY bigger and more important than the mug, right?
Portal already says "I am trying to trick you" Which means you already have to question if you are the target and if you aren't the target What IS the target? Because there's only one other thing there, the dark heart AKA the mug. Then logically it HAS to be that. Which means action has to be taken to defend it properly. Instead of the reactive instinctive reflex to dodge.
I have liked most things about the expansion so far, and nothing has been a deal breaker for me. Great intro quest and story cinematics, warband banks, the ability to just auto complete all main story quests on an alt, and the Arathi zone and soundtrack. The only things I am salty about is the profession knowledge grind returning and that I have to do a 5 sec cast to switch flight style. I wish it was a setting on the mount page so I could go back to having a dragon ride mount and a swim fly mount button.
So, one idea about how us foiling Xal'atath's plan can lead into 11.1: We damaged the Dark Heart, which has been established as a dark version of the Dragon Soul. The Dragon Soul was made by the goblins. I wonder if there is a goblin, who is unscupulous enough to help Xal out, probably has the knowledge and resources to do so and could lead us straight into the speculated goblin raid?
17:24 Not necessarily. Ky'vessa could be more of a mercenary working for anyone who pays, so the job with Ansurek and our bounties could be from separate people. Wouldn't surprise me if there's a lot of bounties on our heads after all we've been up to throughout the expansions.
That being said, 100% agree with it not being Locus walker, even if it would be funny if he saw the state Alleria was in when she left and was like "Y'know what, I'm hiring an assassin to take care of this as well. Just in case..."
20:18 He can roll over her XallyToes
When I saw Khadgar’s expression when he is being hugged after being brought back to life, I immediately thought it might be Xal.
Remember the trow away line from Alexstraza(?) in Dragonflight. She remarked that the Darkheart looks like an older version of the Dragonsoul. What was the Dragonsoul used for? To absorb the energy of the flights and thus wield domination power over them... Xal'atath is doing that on a cosmic scale.
That Trial of Style easter egg is insane lol
I wonder if each infusion is going to be added and azeroth will only be born after the fact. So far she has been infused with order (titans), death (zoval boss fight), fel (corruption of sunwell for kiljaeden, sword of sargeras, sundering of the well of eternity after corruption), void (old gods), light (baledar) and finally life (eonars tree)
Khadgar appearing like that forcibly reminds me of how Anduin dropped the compass at the end Sanctum of Domination. There's also the parallel to Sylvanas falling unconscious before she could tell us anything. But it makes me wonder (if that was done on purpose): is Khadgar the compass that will show us the way, or a red herring from Xal'atath to throw us off the scent?
with the way people keep calling Xal "mummy" and the way she's been using the Dark Heart (and reacting to it being damaged), I'm reminded of a middle-aged lady with her favourite Tupperware box lol
I'd like to propose a totally uneducated guess as to who is the master of Ky'veza. Cause one that creeped into the back of my head was Ve'nari.
I skip the 'ad' potion of every channel, but will be honest that i actually stuck around to see this one...laughed every time the acronym was said :)
I keep thinking that while Xali wasn't defeated, It could be argued that our protagonist won their own internal "within" wars. This includes the Earthen, Alleria, Anduin, Thrall, Moira and family.
Great comment 👍
On the topic of elements, I think she wants to combine all the elements of the universe to ascend to some sort of higher form. Khadgar mentions the Dark Heart broke down magic/power into a basic form, which she could then use to ???
I think that ??? Is to make her above it all. She calls both us and Azeroth “hers,” while declaring Elune an upstart goddess. What if Xal used to be a goddess in her own right, that was siphoned and broken apart by the Old Gods? No one more than her would understand “the true lesson of the Void” in that case. And we, as players, have certainly down our own depowering and dismantling of godlike beings, so we know that’s possible.
Which, would then tie back to why she was trying to break magic down into a basic form to empower herself.
im probably misremembering the lore but i think if a planet gets sufficiently messed up it sort of drifts into the twisting nether which iirc happened to outland for example, so locus' house might technically be in the twisting nether?
For the most part I enjoyed it. Not every single %
I love the Light vs Void theme(Not the arathi themselves) in Hallowfall. I like the Earthen story arc and them deciding their own fate. I don't care about the Titans being overly authoritive aholes but I've said that for awhile, it feels very non nuanced. Is it still entertaining and compelling? Yes. I aboslutely love Xal'atath, watching her is just fun. She makes Fyrakk look meh in comparison and its not the gender either. Az'kahet was a fun zone to, creepy and uncomfortable to be in, It had some Suramar vibes in it. I was absolutely shocked that the Dark Heart was destroyed so early, including Khadgar's return. I truly believed(Until that cinematic) that he was gone, and I think in some ways he should of stayed that way. It was an incredible gut punch and the destruction of Dalaran just as much.
I am just wondering what happens now and what Xal'atath even wants, at most I imagine the Az'kahet war(As I'm calling it). It was merely a distraction but thats speculation. I also am not very confident that Alleria is safe from the Void now, can't be that easy. Anduin finding his Light is all well and good but I still wish he didn't have to go through that arc. Thrall... well he's ok right now. I do like the banter between Turalyon and that mag'har orc, I appreciate the factions still existing and having that tension.
I can go on but its a strong start but not everything is to my desire.
I agree with a couple other people here. I thought the Alleria and dark heart cinematic was done pretty well, because what it showed us was that xalatath was way more confident than she should have been. She was so focused on her own body always being shot at, that she was purely planning for another attack against herself. Proudly proclaiming that alleria will never hit her. But then completely forgetting to protect the other vaulable item in her possession, and actually losing that time to her own overconfidence.
It also showed us that alleria is actually extremely clever. She knew that xalatath would dodge in anticipation of the arrow hitting her, so alleria aimed slightly to the side, because she knew that she could hit the dark heart then as xal turned to dodge the arrow
That's what I got out of the cinematic while watching it in game myself, before seeing the internet or anyone else's opinion on it.
And personally, I don't think your idea of using a portal would hit quite the same way
That climax moment almost kinda reminded me of Genn and Sylvanas in the Stormheim climax
I actually like the way Alleria "wins" because it further shows what Tali talked about in his raid cinematic breakdown - Xali'tah's arrogance. She turns around, not hiding the heart at all. Faunting it, even. Because why not? She's sooooo smart and powerful. And Alleria's just...shoots. It isn't a physical victory, it's a humbling.
i mean she goaded her into moving to try and block the attack with the slight "im not aiming for you" the fact she was able to read zal and know which direction she would guard is the impressive part
When the arrow finds its mark, the last fetter will fall away.
We’re lined up for Xally to spite void poison the sunwell to get back at Alleria for foiling her plans. If not that, we’re still playing into her plans.
Honestly what surprises me is how a lot of the conflict in this expansion got solved relatively quickly at launch.
We reunited the Earthen, destroyed the Dark Heart, saved Khadgar, dealt with Ansurek, and have made a lot of allies already like the Arathi, Nerubians, Kobolds and the Earthen as mentioned before.
My original theory for how the Worldsoul Saga would go is that we kill Xal in War Within, Azshara in Midnight, and Iridikron in The Last Titan. Apparently Xal is gonna survive this expansion but I still reckon Azshara is gonna play a huge role eventually, and might even be who the Nexus Princess is talking to.
On top of this, we might have another Klaxxi situation later, where the Halowfall expedition reunites with the empire, and the majority end up becoming our enemy similar to the Scarlet Crusade, while some of them such as Faerin choose to side with us.
That commercial was god tier only cuz of the short for the race xD
I had the exact same thought about Alleria using a void portal to redirect her arrow shot, would have been much cooler.
Storyline for War Within is amazing through it does leave alot of questions through like now that we stopped the Nerubian threat what else is there for huge threats now? Nerubian Xal'atath Royalists, remnants of the old gods, rootlands, ethereals, and etc for later patches? One thing is for sure that Xal'atath's plans are far from over.
I was a few weeks behind in my leveling and was suprised no one is talking about Salandria. (From childrens week and is almost attacked by the bronze dragonflight for future crimes) She is all grown up and accompanied Lady Liadian. She even has unique voice lines...
I noticed that Xal'atath was wearing wrappings similar to what the ethereals also wear.
I LOVE all of the "Stay and Listen"s
I also didn't love the way Alleria beat Xal until I realized something. The cinematic is not only meant to show us Alleria's growth but also Xal's biggest weakness: her arrogance. She was one step ahead of us the entire campaign, she felt unbeatable, invincible. And even when beat she says "this changes nothing", which seems to me like a moment of denial.
So maybe this is the way we beat her. She might not be that worried about us because she's probably more worried about the Void Lords or some other cosmic power. And that might be the big mistake that all cosmic powers will make, to think that we are below them and not worth their effort.
You see, I was also wondering about that. Becoming evolved basically takes away your nerubian-ness and makes you more humanoid looking. It’s a genecide, but so that Xal can take control of them, but it isn’t clear to me on why Xal had to get rid of that spider appearance along the way. Unless Nerubions actually stand as a threat to the old gods as they were. Maybe something to do with binding? They do web everything, after all.
So, since no one seems to have mentioned this.
Claudia Christian voices Xal'atath. She played Ivanova from Babylon 5, a sci-fi series that had an antagonist that is literally called "The Shadow" and they're opposed to the Vorlon, who represent Order. I'm sure these data points have no relation.
I was not expecting LORE in the trial of style!
I just finished everything from the first patch and I’m loving this xpac
My question is what’s with the Guardián NPC you find Flying outside on the Horizon where you we freed Khadgar.
"Her dreams sing beneath the surface. Our dreams. Our song."
"She is not the last, but the first. Drown her and you will see."
"When the arrow finds its mark, the last fetter will fall away."
"The fall of night reveals her true face. She will bring only ruin."
"Six seats at the high table. Six mouths that hunger. One will consume all others."
Just some whispers of N'zoth to think about.
I like how, in the moment that Anduin is surrounded, Alleria forgets that she could shoot an arrow accurately from one continent to another and decides to just watch 🤣🤣
Reno Jackson is in WoW now who was a Hearthstone character his nemesis is Rafam an ethereal crime lord who is usually the butt of jokes but could be using him? Perhaps? or its our buddy from Shadowlands that helps in the Maw.
My biggest niggle is that - in this storyline - the Arathi People disappeared within Anduin's lifetime...
Now... I started playing WoW at the end of vanilla, and have never played any of the Warcraft precedents, so I could be mistaken for thinking the Arathi People had disappeared many, many years in the past..? Did they have a presence in any of the pre-WoW games/lore? Haven't all the Arathi castles/bases/properties been vacant and long-time abandoned since our first 3rd-person-footsteps on Azeroth, back in the day..?
Have I completely missed some/any reference to the Arathi People, on orders from their Emporer, to go sailing one day?
And as for "The Emporer"..... Where's he? Some dialogue in the game states that some of the fleet ended up down in Hallowfall, while other dialogue claims it was the entire fleet...
WTF, Blizz..?
Did the Emporer order his People to go to war while he stayed behind? Or did he lead the vanguard - and if so, is he down in Hallowfall somewhere with "the entire fleet", OR, is he - and "the rest of the fleet" further off to the West, on the surface of Azeroth, either still doing that Renilash side quest, all dead and bones bleaching in the sun having lost at Renilash, or... did they win in that "final battle", and have created a new Empire around the other side of the planet, and at some point He's gonna sail back to the Eastern Kingdoms to reclaim his long-abandoned Arathi strongholds, see that Stormwind "no longer has a King", and decide he's up for the job..?
But I'm probably fixating on something that Blizz will brush away with two or three lines of dialogue between some random NPC's, but only if you happen to be passing by at the RNG'd point of activation, and any & all talk of "The Emporer and His Glorious battle for the Light" will disappear into the gaps between the Void...
Tali - with love - You need a big leather couch to sit in while you talk about lore with a pipe or a cup of tea for the most amazing wow experience ever!
So far its been blast! The story was fun and felt chunky withouth too much waff in between. Overall it has been a fun adventure in every way
I think we will get more ethereal stuff in TWW, and I think it will completely coincidentally be in the same patch as we get Tazavesh back in the M+ rotation (no, not confirmed).
Perhaps a bit out there, but it feels like Xalatath is getting the story that should have been given to sylvanas. Not the details but in terms of the arc. The whole getting people to fight to feed this larger entity is very familiar. I'm excited to see what a more cohesive team can make with Xal!
They have compared the Dark Heart to the Dragon Soul before
So are part of the Old Gods power locked within the heart much like the Aspects with the Dragon Soul? "When the arrow finds its mark, the last fetter will fall away"
All the prisons surrounding the Old Gods are becoming unlocked :D
I don't think all these Ethereum bits are going to be expanded on in The War Within.
We are in a unique situation now that hasn't been the case in Warcraft history.
For the first time ever, we already know that there are two more expansions coming and their names; Midnight and The Last Titan.
I think all of this Ethereum stuff are seeds being planted for Midnight.
Algeria was charging that shot the whole time, she finally got ahead of xalatath
Can't say it different: i LOVE your videos and the way you are talking and what you are saying!
Greetings from Germany
Xal is obviously grabbing energy to be able to rip a tear in reality, so the Void Lords can finally enter reality.
To be honest, even if 11.0.5 is just Anniversary- stuff, I think it's fine. I'm planning to get three of those remastered sets, and that will take time.
The End Cinematic of the Raid i think reveals what she wants. Power. "Only the strongest will survive" So what does that mean for her? Give people strength and control them. Forge them in Battle to see who comes out ahead, and in the end, control them to do her bidding. The question is why. Is she aligned with the Void Lords? Or does she want to oppose them?
I have enjoyed the storytelling of TWW so far, there is a lot of actual character development over time. I love all of the stay for awhile conversations and things.
BTW, it's Telogrus rift and NOT Telgorus rift.
Anyone else notice how many parallels there are between the opening cinematic of the Human campaign in Warcraft 3 and Khadgar’s escape from the Dark Heart? The Medivh vibe is strong in TWW so far.
First they made it a point to show that Xal’atath has shattered Atiesh, the staff of the Guardian.
Then, khadgars escape from the Datk Heart as a spectral RAVEN. He lands, retakes human form, and speaks to a king. Sound familiar?
“Tempest Ke … er, the Priory was just a setback.”
Okay the question I had for all of Hallowfall which I would love an answer to:
When did the Arathi set sail? Because it feels like there has been a time jump here. Arathor as an Empire did not exist at the start of WC1, it was already broken up into disparate human kingdoms. Stormwind hadn't been founded or heard of when these people left. And yet... theres only 3 generations of them.
They appear to be Half-elves of some form (which is a question in and of itself really) so presumably have longer life, but then Beledar only started going dark when Sargeras stabbed Azeroth and thats what, like 5ish years ago? The timeline confuses the hell out of me, and if anyone knows then please help me out. I was keeping an eye out for this as I did all the quests and didn't see this really explained anywhere.
The Arathi Empire fell in the Eastern Kingdoms 1200 year ago so it would be AT LEAST that long ago that the Ancestors of the Hallowfall Arathi set sail, so the Empire on the other side of the planet is at least 1000 years old. Faerin and the other arathi in Hallowfall setr off on their crusade from said empire 16 years ago and were teleported then, so they've heen in Hallowfall for 16 years :)
@TaliesinEvitel Does no one want to just outright ask them where the fuck they've been?
It seems weird that Anduin doesn't say anything, or shit why doesn't Alleria never at any point go "right but your empire died 1600 years ago, and I should know I was there" where the fuck did you guys come from?
I know this is obviously set up for something they'll explain later but I'd have appreciated it being addressed during the initial meeting even slightly.
Is the raid after the campaign quest? It feels like it's before and was only after it because of timegating the raid.
It feels like the story was supposed to be Ansurek sending the nerubians against the Arathi as a way to distract people away from the Priory/crystal. Xal'atath seems too calm in the final raid cinematic for it to be after the final campaign cinematic. Xal'atath isn't mad Ansurek failed/was defeated only pities her for not being stronger, whether Ansurek was stronger doesn't really change anything with Xal'atath plan if she was only meant as distraction anyway, it only speeds up the plan if she didnt last as long as Xal'atath would have liked, but it doesn't change it.
the master is Gallywix!
22:44 those kinda what?????
plural noun: niggles
a trivial criticism, discomfort, or annoyance.
This expansion so far had destroyed all expectations in the best possible way 🎉
Legion was perfect
Accept the fishing I needed to do for that damn evil ashbringer skin