wow Patch 8.2.5 Cinematics & War Campaign Spoilers

[Stan 5,240]

Patch 8.2.5 is now live in North America and players finished the final chapter of Battle for Azeroth's War Campaign, revealing the contents of all the juicy videos that were encrypted on PTR. This article contains spoilers.

Props to Wowhead for the videos.

Video #1

In the first video, the Alliance and the Horde come together and vow to save Azeroth and defeat Sylvanas.

Video #2

Next, Alliance players get teleported to Razor Hill. Alleria tells Anduin that Sylvanas may have the only forces capable of defeating N'Zoth (Undead can't be corrupted by the Old Gods), but Anduin insists we kill her. If you ask him where's Tyrande, he tells you that vengeance may have consumed her as she's gone missing.

The War Campaign continues as the joint forces press on to the gates of Orgrimmar. Pretty much everyone is there including Saurfang, Zekhan, Genn, Anduin, Jaina, Lor'themar, and more.

The second video is an in-game cinematic, where Saurfang challenges Sylvanas to Mak'gora, a duel of honor and death. All happens at the gates of Orgrimmar and the event bares resemblance to the Wrathgate. Anduin gives Saurfang his sword, but Sylvanas slices through the High Overlord with ease. She is wielding Xal'atath in the duel and delivers a single blow to Saurfang, killing him immediately. 

Afterward, she flies away and then the core characters discuss what sort of magic Sylvanas used to single-handedly killed Saurfang. It seems she is on her own now, we don't know where she went and the Horde does not interest here any longer. She tells everyone that they are nothing quite literally.

Video #3

Saurfang loyalists pay tribute to Saurfang in Orgrimmar.

Alliance players are supposed to meet Calia Menethil and Derek Proudmoore after this portion. She offered him guidance. It seems Calia will be leading the Undead in the future, or at least they're setting her up for an Allied Race or something important.

There is an alternative ending for Sylvanas loyalists. Sylvanas talks about a bargain she made with Azshara, which remains unknown for now.

Quote

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: My bargain with Azshara will yet bear fruit. The armies of Azeroth will fight her master, and he will line their streets with corpses. In the end, he too will serve Death. Enough reflection. There are preparations to be made. Nothing lasts. When next you see me, you will understand.

Horde players meet with Sylvanas at Windrunner Spire in Ghostlands, where the Lich King raised her.

Such is the ending of Battle for Azeroth's War Campaign. Completing the final chapter rewards the Veteran of the Fourth War title.

[Migol 433]

So in regards to whether or not Sylvannas is "Garroshed" like Blizzard swore up and down wouldn't happen...

Well see there’s a difference.  He started a war, tried to kill prominent characters who questioned him, failed, and they started a rebellion. That caused a siege of orgrimmar to happen! Garrosh was captured,went to trial but escaped and ran away to be used in a setup for a different storyline.

Whereas in a completely different plotline, Sylvannas started a war, tried to kill prominent characters who questioned her, failed, and they started a rebellion. That caused a siege of orgrimmar to happen! Sylvannas however escaped without capture and trial, and is awaiting setup for a different storyline.

Completely not Garrosh 2.0!

Also did we Really "Defeat" Sylvannas because she lost her @%*$ after a 2cm cut on her face, and screamed in her Auditorium voice that the Horde was nothing?    Literally all this "Brilliant strategist" had to do was not start talking as she killed Saurfang.    She would have won an honorable challenge, Anduin and Thrall would have looked dishonorable if they attacked again anyway, she'd have kept the horde.    Flashbacks to burning a world tree because some elf cried for her.

[Stan 5,240]

15 minutes ago, Migol said:

So in regards to whether or not Sylvannas is "Garroshed" like Blizzard swore up and down wouldn't happen...

Well see there’s a difference.  He started a war, tried to kill prominent characters who questioned him, failed, and they started a rebellion. That caused a siege of orgrimmar to happen! Garrosh was captured,went to trial but escaped and ran away to be used in a setup for a different storyline.

Whereas in a completely different plotline, Sylvannas started a war, tried to kill prominent characters who questioned her, failed, and they started a rebellion. That caused a siege of orgrimmar to happen! Sylvannas however escaped without capture and trial, and is awaiting setup for a different storyline.

Completely not Garrosh 2.0!

Also did we Really "Defeat" Sylvannas because she lost her @%*$ after a 2cm cut on her face, and screamed in her Auditorium voice that the Horde was nothing?    Literally all this "Brilliant strategist" had to do was not start talking as she killed Saurfang.    She would have won an honorable challenge, Anduin and Thrall would have looked dishonorable if they attacked again anyway, she'd have kept the horde.    Flashbacks to burning a world tree because some elf cried for her.

Let's not forget the parallel between Garrosh and his newfound powers acquired through the heart of Y'Shaarj and Sylvanas wielding Xal'atath, potentially also having new powers as demonstrated in Video #2.

As for her plan, it seems her goal is to feed corpses to somebody, just like Bwonsamdi, but for power. Now that she has become this powerful entity portrayed in the cinematic, factions do not interest her.

To me, this story seems like a blend of WotlK and MoP.

[Arcling 898]

5 minutes ago, Migol said:

She would have won an honorable challenge, Anduin and Thrall would have looked dishonorable if they attacked again anyway, she'd have kept the horde.    Flashbacks to burning a world tree because some elf cried for her.

I guess the only explanation is that she didn't care about Horde at this point, as she states in that ending that enough souls have been "fed". Turns out like Ashvane and Zul, she was working with Azshara all this time. What's interesting is that both Sylvanas and Azshara want to use N'zoth for their own means. Perhaps we are going to defeat N'zoth in next patch, only to find out that we've only weakened him enough, so they can force him into servitude (after all, Azshara wants to be the only ruler, and doesn't want to share any power with N'zoth). Also, her relationship with Nathanos has been confirmed in loyalist ending. Windrunner sisters really have a thing for humans...

[Migol 433]

7 minutes ago, Stan said:

Let's not forget the parallel between Garrosh and his newfound powers acquired through the heart of Y'Shaarj and Sylvanas wielding Xal'atath, potentially also having new powers as demonstrated in Video #2.

As for her plan, it seems like her goal is to feed corpses to somebody, just like Bwonsamdi.

To me, this story seems like a blend of WotlK and MoP.

Honestly, since Garrosh escaping led to TBC version 2.0, my guess is Sylvannas run off to Icecrown with her forsaken loyalists, stabbies Bolvar a lot, and picks up a helm of domination to add to her kit.     No more forsaken giving her the stink eye after they're all mind controlled slaves after all.    And there's all those scourge still kicking around so conveniently nearby.

[Stan 5,240]

9 minutes ago, Migol said:

Honestly, since Garrosh escaping led to TBC version 2.0, my guess is Sylvannas run off to Icecrown with her forsaken loyalists, stabbies Bolvar a lot, and picks up a helm of domination to add to her kit.     No more forsaken giving her the stink eye after they're all mind controlled slaves after all.    And there's all those scourge still kicking around so conveniently nearby.

Rise of the Lich Queen 9.0? ?Sometimes, I just wish we'd blow up Azeroth to make room for completely new lore, something like an expansion based around the return of Algalon and planetary re-origination now that we've destroyed Azeroth by farming all the Azerite from her woons.

[PatrickHenry 293]

7 minutes ago, Stan said:

Rise of the Lich Queen 9.0. ?Sometimes, I just wish we'd blow up Azeroth to make room for completely new lore.

meh, we've only barely scratched the surface of this new portion of the lore.

Im excited to see where it goes.

[Stan 5,240]

6 minutes ago, PatrickHenry said:

meh, we've only barely scratched the surface of this new portion of the lore.

Im excited to see where it goes.

I too am interested to see where this goes. We've seen a good junk of BfA, yet the story is still very unclear.

[elmurufdd 45]

so patch 5.3 again lol boring cant wait for next xpac this ones story is dry and dull

[Valhalen 1,484]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

Let's not forget the parallel between Garrosh and his newfound powers acquired through the heart of Y'Shaarj and Sylvanas wielding Xal'atath, potentially also having new powers as demonstrated in Video #2.

As for her plan, it seems her goal is to feed corpses to somebody, just like Bwonsamdi, but for power. Now that she has become this powerful entity portrayed in the cinematic, factions do not interest her.

To me, this story seems like a blend of WotlK and MoP.

Meh, Sylvanas was never a very interesting character to begin with, due the way the handled her. She had a lot of potential though, but in the end, she is way too edgy.

Edited September 24, 2019 by Valhalen

[Yevhen 18]

Seems like writers wanted to go GoT style. A ruler wants to make something right, fucks up and goes mad.

How u see BfA: Sylv made a preemptive strike, made several tactical mistakes that led to an all-out war, wnated to work on her side-project of returning undead to mortality, failed, thought that being immortal (not invulnerable) has some advantages, wanted to make horde not so agressive and did not get the chance to apologize.

And the only way to know that she is not really mad is by reading side stories (not represented in game).

I understand all sides, i agree with both sides, WHY CAN'T PEOPLE SIT AND TALK THINGS OUT? (because there would be no game or story otherwise)

[Badadada 184]

Don't worry - you are not the only one who doesn't get what's going on, I have no clue either, even though I was closely following the story. But that's probably normal before Blizzcon - I think they have quite a lore explanation coming with some Sylvanas future teaser. I mean, that's a 6 minute official video released (well, datamined, but I think it counts as official) just to confuse people.

But what Anduin says about Tyrande gone missing is just as interesting as what we are witnessing on the video. I mean dude - you are her line-manager, boss, king (whatever) and in the crucial moment of your crusade all you can do is sum up that she's not there? Come on, those fellas on the Alliance side doesn't seem to have a strong bond either.

Edited September 24, 2019 by Badadada

[Arcling 898]

40 minutes ago, Badadada said:

But what Anduin says about Tyrande gone missing is just as interesting as what we are witnessing on the video. I mean dude - you are her line-manager, boss, king (whatever) and in the crucial moment of your crusade all you can do is sum up that she's not there? Come on, those fellas on the Alliance side doesn't seem to have a strong bond either.

Not sure how that one is going to turn out, as devs have said that Tyrande got her revenge in Darkshore. There might be a follow up or nothing (that seems likely too). Gallywix also appears to be missing, he isn't among leaders during ending speech, Gazlowe is there instead. Doesn't look like he is loyal to Sylvanas, probably has no reason to keep following her if she abandoned the Horde.

Overall, it's a sudden change in Sylvanas' character, since even in the book she had intended to win that war and wasn't thinking about discarding her Horde. That barely makes any sense, unless she got other powers and forces now, if some death or void creatures are going to serve her. Hopefully, there is something interesting out there, because she might either simply end up as another villain or do another spin, turning into some kind of savior. After all, Illidan has been forgiven, even after doing some nasty stuff, like forcefully turning orcs in Outland into fel orcs.

[PatrickHenry 293]

the way i see it:

No matter what they do with Sylvannas, not everyone will be happy.

She is a bad guy:  OMG BLIZ PLAYED OUT GARROSH 2.0

She's a savior: OMG Illidan 2.0

She'... idk fades into obscurity?:  OMG HER STORY COULDA BEEN SO MUCH MORE

There's literally no happy medium that i can find.

So far i think theyve done a good job, given that nobody will be 100% happy.  I like the idea of a more unified azeroth, with the obvious and likely traitorous groups fighting amongst themselves.

 

[Koxsos 38]

*Kerrigan 2.0

Although Kerrigan is how would you make it good, when not appealing to teenage angst.

Sad that RTS can tell a better story than an RPG. 

World of Edgelords

[Aegrotat 80]

1 hour ago, Koxsos said:

*Kerrigan 2.0

Although Kerrigan is how would you make it good, when not appealing to teenage angst.

Sad that RTS can tell a better story than an RPG. 

World of Edgelords

As much as I love starcraft, Kerringan's "genocide multiple planets then become a god and save everything she almost destroyed" is iffy

Edited September 24, 2019 by Aegrotat

[Stan 5,240]

5 hours ago, PatrickHenry said:

She's a savior: OMG Illidan 2.0

More like Wrathion. He seems to be the person that will help us in the final fight against N'Zoth.

6 hours ago, Badadada said:

But what Anduin says about Tyrande gone missing is just as interesting as what we are witnessing on the video. I mean dude - you are her line-manager, boss, king (whatever) and in the crucial moment of your crusade all you can do is sum up that she's not there? Come on, those fellas on the Alliance side doesn't seem to have a strong bond either.

It's exactly as Sylvanas wanted in the book -- her main goal was to cause distress between Alliance leaders, so that she could weaken the Alliance and attack Stormwind.

I thought the War Campaign would be about the meeting between Anduin and Sylvanas, where she kills Calia (as outlined in the Before the Storm Novel) only to be resurrected later on. Instead, the game offers us a Lightforged Undead Calia with no explanation whatsoever. Players who don't read books are left with like no explanation...

The lore involving Calia should be explained thoroughly in the game. Anyway, here's an excerpt from the book:

 

[XeaKon 23]

I have so many things to say.

I see Sylvanas has also discarded the Forsaken or at least is terribly disappointed by them. It also seems odd that her fanatical followers would just let the Horde-Alliance army in. Was the death of Saurfang by black smoke  against the Mak'gora rules ?
 

I always supected she just wanted casualties but I still don't know why. Maybe the reason lies with Helya's bargain as we know she is alive. What if Sylvanas wants to imprison Helya in the dagger and take her powers ?

In the end, whatever she will do, she will use azerite to power it(or empower). It is because in the feast scene she said that the azerite changes everything(on this story thread she might even want to become a titan of death with the blood of azeroth).

 

[Enryu 12]

13 hours ago, Crackklaus said:

finaly saurfang dies ❤️ this retard ty blizzard for letting me see this plague die ?

now pls let green jesus die

Who hurt you to have such hate for decent and good characters

[Arcling 898]

10 hours ago, Stan said:

More like Wrathion. He seems to be the person that will help us in the final fight against N'Zoth.

I thought the War Campaign would be about the meeting between Anduin and Sylvanas, where she kills Calia (as outlined in the Before the Storm Novel) only to be resurrected later on. Instead, the game offers us a Lightforged Undead Calia with no explanation whatsoever. Players who don't read books are left with like no explanation...

They really should do something with Wrathion this time, so hopefully he's not going to disappear this time. It seemed like they had no idea what to do with him. So much preparation for Legion's invasion, only for him to disappear.

About Calia, it's what I was worried about - introducing character without any explanation what happened to her, although Calia is just one of many such examples. Not enough information in game, relying too much on books and short stories. Even characters like Valeera, who is also present in this patch, originally appeared in game without any background, for those who haven't read that comic about Varian (I guess most people still don't know her story and mainly recognise her from Hearthstone or HotS). There was a way to explain Calia, for example by introducing quest with a flashback where Anduin tells what happened.

Edited September 25, 2019 by Arcling

[PatrickHenry 293]

1 hour ago, Arcling said:

for example by introducing quest with a flashback where Anduin tells what happened.

My personal preference as well.

[Valhalen 1,484]

17 hours ago, Aegrotat said:

As much as I love starcraft, Kerringan's "genocide multiple planets then become a god and save everything she almost destroyed" is iffy

It feels incredibly forced and out of nowhere, pretty much the same with Sylvanas and this whole talk that she is doing all of this just to attack the Old Gods.

[Teufel 331]

8 hours ago, XeaKon said:

Was the death of Saurfang by black smoke  against the Mak'gora rules ?

The problem with Mak'gora is only ONE set of rules was provided that is canon so far (namely, Cairne in 'The Shattering: a Prelude to Cataclysm' - the moive taking place in a different Universe.), and it literally says nothing about magic.

Moreover, both Sylvanas and Saurfang wear armor and have more than one weapon, which violates the mak'gora rules as it is, similarly to Thrall and Garrosh breaking each rule in their duel back in WoD. Either Blizzard disregards their lore, or they just didn't want to show undead titties of Sylvanas. 

[Valhalen 1,484]

18 hours ago, Teufel said:

The problem with Mak'gora is only ONE set of rules was provided that is canon so far (namely, Cairne in 'The Shattering: a Prelude to Cataclysm' - the moive taking place in a different Universe.), and it literally says nothing about magic.

Moreover, both Sylvanas and Saurfang wear armor and have more than one weapon, which violates the mak'gora rules as it is, similarly to Thrall and Garrosh breaking each rule in their duel back in WoD. Either Blizzard disregards their lore, or they just didn't want to show undead titties of Sylvanas. 

Probably the undead titties reason.