The Fate of Dalaran in The War Within... Devs Explain Why They're Doing it

The War Within Alpha is HERE and with it all the datamining, hero talent testing, warband updates and new zones you'd expect. But we need to talk about Dalaran, and how it is destroyed by the Nerubians at the very beginning of the World Soul Saga...

[@TaliesinEvitel]

No confirmation yet on the drop rate for War Within raid gear but for Dalaran it is very high

[@cxfxcdude]

Damn man, good one

[@zimattack9994]

Dude to soon

[@annamayhem5974]

how about the drop rate of not putting up spoilers on your video titles and thumbnails?

[@gasolinefires]

doubles down on spoilers. Lmao what a joke content creator.

[@godlygamer911]

So not only are you a shill, you are also shitty to anybody that disagrees with you even when you know you're wrong about something and then you just scream at them... And now you're putting spoilers in the title. Are you trying to lose subs or do you need therapy? Also your wife has NOT aged gracefully.

[@beeurd]

Citizens of Dalaran! Lower your eyes to the ground and observe!

[@Tandran]

Boooooooooo

[@nigelhirth2181]

I'm calling it now. Khadgar remains behind to make some heroic last stand, then we find out later he got saved at the last minute when he shows back up with Medivh in tow.

[@hempracer]

lame

[@Boxkar24]

Sorta hope this doesn't happen, does that make me weird? I feel like wow actually has too many characters who aren't going anywhere at the moment. Not saying they should kill them all off but I feel some characters' stories have pretty much gone as far as they should and sometimes a heartfelt goodbye is the best way to cap them off. With that said, I'm an idiot, what do I know? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@deathminder9206]

I was thinking that exact same thing. Medivh comes back.

[@ChanJustWon]

@@Boxkar24 I just wish they would not kill off one of the few cool and interesting characters, cuz like, who else is alive and cool and interesting? Tirions dead, Saurfangs dead, Garroshs dead, Wrathian turned lame, Anduin has always been a bitch-boy, Thrall turned giga lame, Voljin is dead, Varian Wrynn is dead, Illidan might aswell be dead, Tyrande is so 1 dimensional, Jaina... I'd be fine with her dying tbh, the Aspects are all forgettable, Chromie is ehhhh, and Baine, I actually like Baine, but that's bout all I can think of.

[@ChristinaI]

Like Gosetsu and Yotsuyu? Wait...

[@rae_diant]

I rp as a kirin tor mage. im both extremely excited and absolutely DEVASTATED

[@loruth]

Oh god, the weekly AD Dalaran Market :(

[@FlasKamel]

@@loruth OH NO!

[@Iqnacio.]

I don't rp anymore but my character was an undead human that died when Dalaran was sieged by the Scourge, this dude has lost Dalaran (kinda), Undercity and Dalaran again, I'll need to rp a psychologist if I ever play like that again

[@HawkknightXC88]

Same here as well. I am going to miss Dalaran.

[@christabelle__]

Yeah, it's been such an amazing RP hub for YEARS. And my Kirin Tor high elf I've long played...well. Dalaran means a lot to High Elves and Humans since they built it together for the original Alliance between their people, and the elves taught humans most of what they know about magic, and it was this big symbol of unity. And for elves to lose Silvermoon to Arthas, and try to rebuild...only to lose Dalaran later? Boy my elf will be devastated. (Plus I can't stop thinking about all the 'college students' there, essentially, who will be killed by this.)

[@olhristov]

I like the idea of Xal being intimately aware of what pivotal role Dalaran played in the last alien invasion and is making sure it won't be able to provide the same support against hers. Good start! RIP Dalaran ;(

[@akariel123]

Yeah my guess is Xal let Alleria see just enough to lure her and the Kirin Tor to the Isle of Dorn. It fits Xal'atath's perchant for plans within plans.

[@Anergyne]

Makes sense, too. After all, Xal was there for all of it.

[@RodrigoLeaf15]

All those theories from back in Legion, that Xal'atath was learning from us, studying us, to eventually betray us... they are coming back in full swing xD She KNEW we would use Dalaran as our base of operations if she tried anything, so she decided to attack first. (Also sidenote, props to her for succeding were Arthas, Malygos and the Legion failed XDDDD)

[@tordb]

Xal is annoying and worthless, just like Sylvanas

[@viktorlindqvist5308]

@@RodrigoLeaf15 Very true that xD It does a lot for establishing her as a capable schemer and a significant threat

[@MagCynic]

I cannot wait to see how spiders stuck to the ground managed to take down a floating city that even alien spaceships couldn't take down.

[@blockedperfection9278]

Hey woah, they aren’t *just* spiders stuck to the ground, They’re spiders with *brains* stuck to the ground.

[@redhandtheblack]

Big fuckin' web probably. :)

[@xxKatsimexx]

Seeing the Sandstone Drake flying with Dragonriding mechanics is all I needed to see.

[@mossysnail6857]

aww LETS GO?!

[@ImaplanetJupiteeeerr]

Timestamp plz, I missed it? ^^

[@tiyangina3571]

@@ImaplanetJupiteeeerr 5:39 and onwards

[@eagleflies9515]

SO real

[@Average_Brad]

It's a pretty cool Dracthyr cosplay :P

[@deployed246]

The end of Shadowlands made it seem to me that Khadgar was facing his mortality head-on when he visited Orobos, to the point that his inclusion in DF made me think that he had witnessed his demise in some prophecy and that was going to be explored in DF. Nothing happened. Other than "Kirin Tor are in Azure Span, so Khadgar is too, and gets wrapped up in Kalec's story because of their shared time in Dalaran as leaders of the Kirin Tor", his presence in Dragonflight felt very wasted. That said, stories change, and with the case of Tony Amendola, his availability or even his willingness to be involved voice acting may well be coming to an end. The guy is in his 70's, and not being beholden to VO contracts where he has to drop everything with little notice for a few days may well be something he is done with. That is obviously a lot of conjecture, but its worth allowing a character from a respected actor to have an end. We all know how frustrating things get when VAs get changed, regardless of the reason.

[@BobMobBom]

The real question for this expansion is: are we receiving a new "Dalaran Crater" portal?

[@Fervus18]

For another 40 dollars. 50 and the toy will teleport you to the bottom of the crater, so you wont take fall dmg.

[@PenguinPlays1235]

Dalaran's been my favourite city for a while. I love its music, the old lamp lighter guy, the random tiny details. My fav memories are probs running around with my friends there playing tag :)

[@mossysnail6857]

i think i see of your buddies' arms under that slab there . _ .

[@ChristinaI]

Kinsey's dad

[@SHACKLEFORD868]

I think something that people kinda never consider is that Tony Amendola is giga-old and I know personally I'd rather they not recast Khadgar and maybe the devs don't want to either.

[@cainemarko5021]

Giga-old? What do you mean? Like 60? 😉

[@madjunkratter6952]

@@cainemarko5021 He's 72

[@cxfxcdude]

I understand it, but that doesn’t mean i have to be happy about it. I hope Mr Amendola is doing well though

[@CallieCEntertainment]

Jesus, he isn't that old. Good lord, you sound like he's practically dead!

[@Brooke-rw8rc]

all honour to Master Bratac!

[@Draethar]

What if Khadgar doesn’t die. What if they think he died and he comes back as Khadgar the White!

[@720vii]

Makes me wonder how long they knew that this would happen to Dalaran, since the portal to Legion is Azsuna in the portal rooms.

[@zelimpdna]

I thought that was more just because we have the Dalaran Hearthstone as a toy, so another portal there would be a bit wasted?

[@edelleaa]

this doesn't make much sense since we still also have a portal to dalaran there, its just the wotlk one... i think thats the only reason the legion one isnt to dalaran anymore. even tho it woudlve made much more sense to me to have the legion dalaran portal stay and have the northrend portal be to wyrmrest just like it used to be before. instead they removed the legion dalaran portal and removed the wyrmrest temple portal... just to make a more useless portal to azsuna and wrath dala.

[@zero1eye]

Nah

[@Dhalin]

Just as long as they replace Dalaran with another city that has similar logistics and design. I loved Dalaran because all of its features were so close to each other, and travel times were minimal which made it easy to get stuff done. I don't really like huge sprawled out cities. It's fine if you have everything in the center core, and then have a bunch of stuff that doesn't matter around it, but I hate it when you have to travel a mile between the AH and the bank, for example.

[@HollyToadstool]

As a Roleplayer I am devastated. We used Dalaran for our Weekly Market (visited many many RPers every week) for YEARS. It's home for many of our characters. I would like to move to another cool hub like SW or Gilneas but we're neutral and my character is Forsaken. I am not happy about this. :(

[@Kiwii156]

Wouldn't Valdrakken be the perfect place to move to? It's gonna be near empty in War Within so the fps drops won't be an issue, and it suits the Isles being a huge neutral hub for everyone to come together. As for Dalaran being your character's homes, sounds like amazingly fertile ground for some interesting rp to me. It makes me wanna rp a mage just for the story potential tbh

[@christabelle__]

Yeah, the best alternative is Valdrakken, I'd say. Lots of empty buildings - to include an empty tavern looking place. So, it's viable as a fallback, but I feel you 100% - as a roleplayer, this city is very dear to me...and everyone who RPs, I think. It's *always* been a great neutral hub for RP, ever since Wrath! But...angsty RP stories are good, too, even if it means a permanent loss. It gives characters some motivation, something to grieve, and...well, one of my elves is a Kirin Tor mage, herself. She'll be out of a home - and this will be the second city she has considered home to be destroyed! She was in Dalaran when the Scourge hit SMC, and it was crushing. I imagine this time, she won't be so lucky.

[@necropasha]

Booty Bay Wednesdays will still be a thing hopefully, but admittedly the market is shadier there, different vibes

[@XCeazyX]

I'm sure you will still be able to go to Legion and Wotlk Dalaran. I know for RP that doesn't work as well, but RP is about story, and this is a story event. It is sad, but that's the point sometimes.

[@Dornaden]

i mean dalaran will still exist in its legion form, so really unless you're keeping to current lore timelines then you still have dalaran, and if you are in modern day then most likely there will be a kirin tor refuge place in the new zone that will give you more story to roleplay off and grow your guys plotlines, otherwise why keep it up to date. the only downside is if you are playing in modern will have to hope kirin tor figure out a new floaty city in the future for more content lol

[@Sithicas]

So, guess I have to avoid the internet entirely to avoid spoilers then

[@HatMachine]

Yep! Or you have to accept that WoW has a very different relationship to spoilers than other games, and that for better or worse reveals like this are how the story is told.

[@joshcarknee]

Kinda pissed at Tali and the entire WoW community for this one. Can we not get one piece of the story kind of left for us to discover? This is a huge event for the majority of longtime WoW players and it is immediately spoiled by all these stupid Alpha players and videos. Frustrating as hell honestly.

[@madcalibur9410]

@@joshcarkneeWe still don’t know how it will happen and why. It may look like a massive spoiler rn but it will be nothing down the road.

[@Vaishino]

@@madcalibur9410 How could the destruction of one of the most important cities in game lore be "nothing down the road"?

[@eodyn7]

@@joshcarkneelmao bruh. Why are you watching this video if you don't want stuff spoiled?

[@filipfenix]

So the Legion did a Planet wide invasion with SPACE SHIPS and all, and Dalaran was perfectly fine with that , but a bunch of spider butts..... right.

[@naggie6358]

To be fair, the Legion DID almost destroy Dalaran twice with their fleet (the first time was avoided at the last minute because of an emergency teleport that itself might have destroyed the city, and the second time because we infiltrated and destroyed the ships the Legion sent)

[@spindoggytheexplorer2915]

Fascinating. Personally after back burnering Khadgar for 2 maybe even 3 expansions killing him off would be a colossal misstep. Let’s hope they aren’t that stupid. I’m all for killing off important characters for dramatic impact but it doesn’t hit right when the character isn’t important anymore and they just scrap him. This better be good man.

[@congelatore]

I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS!

[@HawkknightXC88]

I kind of gotten use to it.

[@midnightblue3285]

same

[@nicolaj990]

Just a heads up, your vid title is also a spoiler

[@ChinnuWoW]

It’s not a spoiler if it’s the very first thing you find out about. There is nothing in the story that comes before it.

[@xandroy1273]

They adress this in the first 60 seconds

[@shaunmil]

@@xandroy1273 No. they say they will be going into it that is a spoiler. I Personally think they could have titled it anything else. It is indeed a spoiler for a good chunk of people

[@zenmindgamer]

Honestly, if I hadn't seen their original video title I wouldn't know about Dalaran to this day =/ First expansion in awhile I've been trying to dodge spoilers for in a long ass time so that kinda sucked.

[@Big.Stepper.]

Trying to explain why it's ok for him to use a massive spoiler in the title for clicks when he knows it's a shitty move.

[@ChinnuWoW]

It’s not at all a spoiler. It doesn’t spoil anything. It’s literally the first thing that happens. You’re up to date and haven’t missed anything up until this point.

[@redlady37]

Crash Dalaran, we can rebuild. But Khadgar? I cried when Wrynn went down at the beginning of Legion. I was completely taken aback. But thanks to tuning into this. I won't be shocked at the beginning of TWW. I think I must of missed the spoiler warning.

[@cxfxcdude]

Ive shed many a tear for Varian and Tyrion, i dont want to lose Khadgar too

[@ChinnuWoW]

I can’t imagine shedding a tear for a fictional character.

[@fandomdancer]

​@@cxfxcdudeKhadgar has been my favorite character of the franchise since I met him over 10 years ago. If he's dead or if we see him die I will be freaking devastated. 😢

[@stephiec4062]

If they kill off Khadgar the whole Medivh future plot would go out the window. I don't think he's dead, but then again, I'm coping really hard here for him to be alive 🥲

[@ellagg]

The photo with you two, Bellular and Mr. GM is awesome.

[@HeartoftheWinter]

Blizzard killing off/replacing one of the leaders of old? I guess Jaina should start to feel worried soon! (That being said Xal knowing how Dalaran and Khadgar played a key role in defeating the Legion it kinda makes sense for her to stab directly at him)

[@WalterRiggs]

Jaina is their do-nothing darling. She’ll never die

[@Einomar]

​@@WalterRiggsDo nothing? Lol sure bub

[@DarkScreamGames]

jaina has nothing to worry about- Tirion, Varian, Garrosh, Arthas, Khadgar - There is something all of these killed/soul destroyed characters have in common that Jaina doesn't. Can you see the pattern?

[@ScottKent]

Does the book that takes you to the room in the tower still work in crashed Dalaran? Was Nomi still in the kitchen? If he survived, can we possibly still make "it" look like an accident? Are they selling a ring to port you to this Dalaran too?

[@azzarash]

Ohhh.... I feel so much love and pasion to Wow looking at all of this once again... THIS is why I love this game and you guys so much... AAAAAA!!

[@darthbane6958]

Keep the info coming my man.

[@influx8450]

I wonder what happened to all the prisoners at the violet hold...

[@cxfxcdude]

That’d be a good quest/chain. Probably some void baddies in there

[@zom8680]

The same thing that happened to all the pets on the Titanic

[@HarrisonEast]

The fact we can go to Dalaran on The Broken Isles and/or Northrend kind of takes away from the "high stakes". The same went for Teldrassil; especially since you still level there on new Night Elf characters.

[@Tonittooooo]

How does this work, story wise, with the class order halls that were within dalaran or linked to dalaran via portal (lock, priest, rogue and mage) and their place in potential story going forward?

[@Pravaification]

While I am sad for Dalaran and especially Khadgar, I appreciate that the story seems to have found its teeth again (as Rezan once said about Rastakhan). If this is how they START the Worldsoul saga, I can only imagine what madness awaits us in the rest of the story

[@ArcaneEther]

See, what Blizzard isn't telling you is that Dalaran was destroyed because Khadgar saw a sale on dad sandles at Tazavesh. He was too excited to just Portal to the Shadowlands and tried to move the whole city there instead, then just epically messed up the spell.

[@fandomdancer]

After seeing the shit Khadgar has pulled since we met him, I could completely believe this.

[@4F0xSake]

In terms of the character moment, thought for a while that there is probably a limit to how long that VA would continue to do that role for a variety of reasons.

[@Synthatic]

Dalaran in Wrath is where I met my wife. And where she showed me all the token vendors for the raid items. And where she invited me along to join her guild in a raid. Dalaran was a formative point in my life.

[@BrentHollett]

Thanks Tallie. I'm doing Wrath Cooking Dailies in Dalaran right now, and you're making me sad.

[@leonov7157]

Knowledge is power

[@Romanthony2007]

Untill we know more, I think its just a part of Dalaran because honestly, it looks alittle... small honestly. It just looks like a section of the city, rather then all of it. Also Dadhgar might of teleported the rest of it away so is MIA because of it I dunno. maybe im copium

[@ripfangs8375]

man, i'm gonna miss dalaran. hanging out in the hall of shadows as a rogue in legion was so fun, i loved all the secret doors and staircases around the city in various shops.

[@Bioblom]

Midnight coin fishing in Dalaran was nice and relaxing... and the "Post office" questline was awesome! Will miss it... but 100% agree with the decision 😊

[@Vaishino]

I like that Ion straight up says "the intro event isn't being tested because we want players to experience it together when it goes live" and every WoW creator in youtube has decided to just tell us how it ends.

[@Shadeius]

"Experience it together" unless of course you don't pay for 30€ extra then you will experience it 3 days later and everything has been spoiled by then.

[@tiyangina3571]

I mean... thats like saying LOTR is spoiled by the fact that you know from the start "the good side" is going to win and Frodo is going to survive. like...? Isnt the journey worthwhile even if the result is predictable? Isnt that half the point of stories like these?

[@Vaishino]

@@tiyangina3571 that's not analogous at all. A vague "the good guys will win and the protagonist will survive" isn't even in the same ballpark. This is like telling us "Frodo will meet the rightful heir to the kingdom of men in the first town he comes to after leaving the shire." It spoils a major step on the journey, albeit one near the start.

[@luckytenno]

​@@Vaishino the previous point is still valid with your less generic example. The journey Frodo takes is fairly epic even before meeting Strider. But I feel like people fit into one of two categories when it comes to spoilers, those that are there for the journey, or those that seek confirmation. The latter cares more about the end results than how it happens.

[@tiyangina3571]

But, to stay with you analogy, we dont know that aragorn is the heir. we only know theres some human dude whos helpful. We dont have the details the circumstances of a characters absence are incredibly important. Khadgar likely didnt die just because he fell to death with the city (man a mage after all!). so what happened?

[@sgtDrumriX]

I think what worries me about the reasoning as presented, is that it feels non-specific to Dalaran, so it's hard to feel like these are narrative consequences as much as a narrative device. That is to say I don't want Dalaran to just get Jobbed just to trigger some arachnophobia

[@ecwfanatic]

Players: Wow needs to evolve and feel alive *Monkey's paw curls* Devs: Blows up Dalaran

[@Nicholas1994]

My fondest memory of Dalaran has to be the first time I took the portal to Netherlight Temple. Such a stunning area. Also roleplaying in the horde Inn in Legion.

[@duanefalk219]

Not khadgar!! Can we trade like, 2 Turalyons and Calia Menethil to get him back, please? Then I wander also if we just lose our Dal hearthstone or it will be redirected to some other place on broken isles.

[@maniek2207]

Take Jaina instead.

[@catrinastars]

What makes it even more personal is the fact that we caused it by freeing the being that is responsible for it.

[@Lady_Nila]

One of my favorite memories was the Mammoth parades done in Dalaran during Wrath. So many players (myself included) from both factions just RP walking in a circle on big mammoths together and just enjoying the city. I also enjoy every year seeing all the people in Dalaran during the Love is In the Air event with their romantic picnics. Destroying Dalaran feels personal, and I'm ready to fight every baddie that made it happen. GG, Devs. I'm devastated that my favorite city is gone, but so excited for where this is going!

[@LightsFuzzy]

I mean "taking a moment" is very vague, if he were captured or something they might need to "Take a moment" to think of a way of rescuing him, so I wouldn't write him off just yet. But I could see him appearing to sacrifice himself in order to teleport the city away at the last second leaving his fate a mystery but to the characters they just assume he's dead until we eventually rescue or encounter him later on while questing.

[@Joulespersecond]

bruh. Massive spoiler in title of a video months before any of us are able to realistically play it, then some nonsense about how it isn't actually a spoiler because you got to play the Alpha in London with other streamers? bruh.

[@FeralSheWolf]

Be great if Blizz then went "-but ACTUALLY it was an OLD GOD VISION"

[@hallo-mt5tx]

blame blizzard, they seemingly dont care that content creators immediately spam spoilers into their video titles on day 1 of alpha

[@ChinnuWoW]

It’s not at all a spoiler. It doesn’t spoil anything. It’s literally the first thing that happens. You’re up to date and haven’t missed anything up until this point.

[@FeralSheWolf]

@@ChinnuWoW Some folks don't want spoilers on a major plot event even if it happens early on, until they play it. It costs nothing to add "spoiler" to the title

[@ChinnuWoW]

@@FeralSheWolf What difference does it really make to you if you find out about a "spoiler" versus finding out immediately as you start the quest? It spoils nothing at all. You can have the moment of "OMG" now or later, doesn't change anything. You didn't miss anything beforehand.

[@kennethwright5664]

"maybe he's tied up in a dungeon and being tortured and degraded by Xal'atath... lucky bastard." Taliesin just told us quite a bit about himself there... and lets face it, most of us agree.

[@invictus7736]

Statistically speaking, no, most of us don't agree

[@kennethwright5664]

@@invictus7736 Okay, I guess I should have limited it to the straight guys (and ladies that swing that way) my bad.

[@plamen699]

I was absolutely stunned when I first learned about this and continue to feel gutted and devastated. I have always mained a mage and Dalaran has always been my home, even back in Vanilla when I would go to visit the bubble. To this day I always log off my mage in Dalaran. I am dreading seeing the cutscene where it’s beautiful spires will come crashing down (for the second time no less) and not at all looking forward to reliving that particular type of trauma, especially as a long time New Yorker.

[@ZachariahGallos]

Dalaran Nostalgia: I love having a hearthstone that goes to a barbershop.

[@Orgrimmar21]

The burning of Teldrassil itself was not bad. What was bad was the story around the event. There was nothing about the War of Thorns to make sense which made the burning of Teldrassil feel stupid and unnecesary. But things like the battle for lordaeron at start of BFA or destroying something like Teldrassil is cool as fuck. It just needs a good story to support it.

[@Kacpa2]

Especially when it was Sylvanas effectively and stupidly buying herself into servitude like moron, and being a vicious bitch towardw everyone when whole point of her character was hating servitude she wss fofced into by Arthas. Why the hell would she do this same shit willingly? Just like many other things in wow it made no sense and ruined yet another Wc3 character for nothing of worth...

[@violetbliss4399]

It was still pretty bad to us that started the game there. :) But I also agree that storytelling is really important to make anything like this work.

[@Pixelkip]

well blizzdoesn't really know how to make good stories anymore,, they just try something then never use that place again, destroy it then move on lol.

[@dakotaravenwood7755]

I bet they wanted to get rid of Dalaran so people don't ask why the powerful floating city of mages aren't helping in the story to come. I'm sure they'll forget the two space ships we have control of as well or find a way to disable them too.

[@Orgrimmar21]

@@dakotaravenwood7755 They clearly want to move from the softy dragonflight, to a more war brutal story which seems to be the direction for TWW. Think the only way to feel that is by killing important characters or cities. Destroying a faction city is not good idea cuz that means you have to destroy the equivalent for the opposite faction for balance issues. Dalaran is probably the only neutral city that is actually important and active in Azeroth rn so it was 100% the best option. I hope they have a good reason to bring it down tho and hopefully the story makes sense and is well written. I trust Metzen

[@patrickboyle1135]

Well, that thumbnail was a cool way to find out.

[@williamgunderson3002]

What about the poor boss monsters that were in the Violet Hold? Are we going to have to hunt them in the wild now?

[@leighbomaya]

Tons of happy memories of Dalaran. Feel quite sad about this.

[@Hugmaster1986]

Them saying "nothing is safe" probably does the opposite they want it to do. It makes me dissociate from everything narrative wise because "Oh what's the point investing in this person or place, they can just destroy it later"

[@Kacpa2]

It made me disscon ect wth Warcraft long time ago last time Metzen ruined his charcaters just for sake of it. He ruined Thrall and Jaina this way in Cata and MoP and expended good characters the same way in other expansiosn under his helm. Either wasting then like a moron as throwaway bosses(TBC for a prime example) or killing them for lame shockvalue like Varian, or Tyrion Fordring in Legion or by making them into morons (Thrall) or manchildren (Garrosh). Its just a tragic waste of potential setup by Warcraft 3 and WoW at times almost from the earliest years of the expansions. Only some of it was recouped by some nicer writing staff after Metzen left and menaged to fix some.of the damage he did or use it for something meaningful (Jaina Kul Tiras plot) and menaged to sneak under Danuser's generally equally awful direction.

[@Kacpa2]

As for Dalaran, just like many other thigs they ruined by shortsighted "story telling" they couldve pulled something more intersting. Instead of just destroying it the way they ruined Theramore, Teldrassil or Lordaeron(last two for stupid attempt at "symmetry" just like forcing nightelves into alliance and forsaken into horde so each continent has mirrorred control of territory relative to the other in vanilla. Even tho bith should be their own neutral factions storywise). Have Dalaran loose the magic that made it float as a mystery cae of sabotage, Kirin Tor menage to soften the landing loosing some people and Dalaran being grounded, and hevaily damaged. Pulling something mkre Like Exodar situation. They can escape and are location caught in local conflict and fauna is altered by destruction of magical artifacts mutating the environment. Loss kf magic extends mysteriously to most mages including player and Kadghar, who has to protect now deshevelled city and its effectively like Exodar mixed with Outland settlements in terms of vibe and it is a big shakeup, but without needlessly killing key characters.

[@Gonourakuto]

Horde players that have had that happened to most of their lore and characters over the last couple of years : First time ?

[@leonardceres9061]

Srsly the only way blizzard knows how to make an impact is through either destroying the city or killing off a character. Forget nuance, creative writing good story arcs that taken to Account all the established lore. Nope. I feel like a new writer walking into blizzard gets handed a worksheet. Come up with storyline for X character. Writer: But i don’t know about them or what they’ve done. Blizzard: It’s okay it’s mostly old news that half the players don’t even remember anymore just do whatever.

[@panthrax555]

I had no idea about Varian and Voljin when I went into Legion, and I was hyped for the xpac, played my DH on early access for it etc. I guess I was probably going to get spoilt on this plot point, but I had just watched a video where Ion said it was being kept off the PTR to keep it a surprise. Thanks Tali! (FYI, I got spoilt by your video title, not actually watching. Watching because you already spoilt it for me).

[@MichelleRivail]

will we be able to still go batch to both dalarans?

[@ZenFr0g]

I sure love being spoiled about a major event from a haplessly thrown-out video title Absolutely brilliant

[@davidmcdonald6997]

Yep. Was trying to keep Spoiler free- No more I guess.

[@JockenN]

Gotta clickbait first, then edit the title and claim they keep it spoiler free in the titles.

[@cxfxcdude]

Guys calm down. This is going to get out there unless you live under a rock for the next 5 months

[@ThatOneGuy15270]

People need to get over themselves. This would have been spoiled to you soon anyway. The Devs are talking about it in Interviews. You would have escaped this unless you had just gone no Internet for the next few months

[@ZenFr0g]

​@@ThatOneGuy15270 Which is possible. People can turn off War Within related content on WoWhead and avoid spoilers in relevant discord servers and the wow subreddit. But most people are browsing youtube for things All it takes a shred of common sense and courtesy to realize "Hey, this text is going to be plastered directly on someone's feed. Will it ruin the experience of the story for them if they aren't looking for it?" It's clickbait in the end, and probably very deliberate. Lo and behold, I am here, making comments, driving up "engagement", so it worked.

[@rayv98k]

Bruh, its an alpha and some people dont want to get spoiled, the fuck was that thumbnail?!

[@Joulespersecond]

And title: "Dalaran Destroyed in War Within! The Devs Explain Why They Blew Up Our Favorite City..."

[@mistformsquirrel]

Yeah... lil salty on that tbh

[@madcalibur9410]

Did you listen to the video? The devs obviously want us to know about it. It will probably be one massive cinematic at launch or it will be the pre patch event. It is a spoiler yes, but not a major one

[@jtowensbyiii6018]

Its not a spoiler, its literally a public announcement, dont go to a channel talking about wow if you dont want to hear about wow like a dumbass

[@Vaishino]

@@madcalibur9410 it's absolutely a major spoiler.

[@Muhan1969]

So what will happen, when using the Dalaran Heartstone, when new expansion goes live?

[@zyongli5760]

Holly insisting on going to chat with you both is so sweet. love her

[@autumnleaf2263]

I genuinely hate this. Knowing Dalaran, my favourite city, is destroyed and Khadgar, one of my all time favourite characters, gets killed actually severely reduced my hype levels for this expansion.

[@ToastyMcGrath]

I love when they shake things up, but removing Dalaran from the present-day setting sort of screws over RPers. Dalaran is a great resource for role playing, and it really sucks that it will now be permanently removed.

[@Spreadsheet_Hero]

Don't take this the doomer way my fellow RPer! Consider this: the destruction of Dalaran is an event that we as players and our character will have experienced in basically real-time, and we'll continue telling stories after it's happened. It's a character-defining moment like the destruction of the Greymane Wall, or the bombing of Theramore, and it will impact RP forevermore. We don't get all too many of these kinds of moments, and they define the generation of stories to come. In so many ways, the destruction of Dalaran will continue to be a great resource for RPers - just a different kind of resource. There's so many juicy opportunities here for survivor stories and the impact on existing characters!

[@Pixelkip]

Im sad i never played wrath classic now

[@amazingGatsby]

finaly u can talk about this ^^

[@omarfuentesmola8307]

is going to be an explosive start for the saga, iam very hype for the future

[@XtrmPlays]

Love how the second something is datamined it's plastured all over recommended feeds. This just seems so shitty given how TWW is supposed to be more story focused and we still have people just throwing out spoilers.

[@Sk_Et]

Let's goooo 🎉🎉

[@CKallDay164]

There should be an expansion long community event where weeklies and world quests are themed on building new dalaran.

[@CinHotlanta]

Been in love with Dal since arriving there for the first time in WotLK and hearing that unbelievable music, and that (with very close competition from Grizzly Hills) remains my favorite in the game.

[@witster6121]

well that's unfortunate, Massive spoilers in the title / thumbnail is just something i cant stand and for that reason im out.

[@PawPawKitty]

I think this will be a failure, much like Cataclysm. It's obviously too late for it to be changed. The storyline is set at this point. Cataclysm was meant to be a shake up and make change to freshen up the game. I hated what it did in terms of destruction of old content and beloved characters (my Auberdine peeps especially). The new additions that Cata brought were fine, and I didn't mind the overall storyline, but destroying my Azeroth that I loved was the wrong thing to do. This will also be the wrong thing to do.

[@Kacpa2]

Its sadly what Metzen seems to love to do. Destroy his world and characters and focus on some dumb 'cosmic, epic titan shit". He run all wc3 characters into the ground, Thrall and Jaina the most of still living characters. While killing and wasting others prior left and right. From stupid throwaway bosses in TBC to waste of newer and potentially godo characters with Tyrion and Varian. Its like he cant help himself...

[@Pixelkip]

ever since legion this game has sucked story wise lol.. idk why people actually play this shit

[@KirkpatrickSounds]

Heroic Sacrifice from Dadgar o7 Now, can we expect Medivh to return?

[@InfiniteSpace001]

While chatting with the higher ups I hope you found a chance to mention several people at least are excited for player housing one day.

[@DocThuggly]

Really fucking sucks to have videos just have giant spoilers as their title and thumbnail.

[@manthe3711]

Yeah, if the Warcraft lore hadn't been total trash for like 10 years, I'd be really pissed right now.

[@Pixelkip]

@@manthe3711 ^ truuue

[@cxfxcdude]

It wasnt the best move to put it font and center like that. But you arent going to be able to avoid this at all. Blizz is putting it out there for alot of things

[@ChinnuWoW]

It’s not at all a spoiler. It doesn’t spoil anything. It’s literally the first thing that happens. You’re up to date and haven’t missed anything up until this point. Quit being a crybaby.

[@Nevarmoer]

I have to call BS on the logic for putting a huge spoiler in the title of this video... I don't agree that "everyone is going to know anyway," is either true or a reason to spoil the reveal, particularly in the title of the video. Love your stuff, but this bummed me out.

[@Magstarcutie]

It's more of, they WANT you to know. The devs want you to know

[@Nevarmoer]

@@Magstarcutie Not really. None of the other major WoW news creators even mentioned it.

[@Autumnal13]

Same

[@ChinnuWoW]

It’s not at all a spoiler. It doesn’t spoil anything. It’s literally the first thing that happens. You’re up to date and haven’t missed anything up until this point.

[@Nevarmoer]

@@ChinnuWoW Clearly you need a refresher on your definitions... starting with "spoiler."

[@CarterArts]

My biggest memory of Varian dying was the night before Legion's release (or prepatch, I can't remember when the scenario happened), going into Stormwind keep (on a non RP-realm, mind), and seeing hundreds of players knelt around him in a halfcircle. One of my favourite memories from this game, just a real sense of community. I wonder if there will be some form of vigil held in both instances Dalaran, or not, as they will still exist (at least until The Last Titan I suppose, when I imagine Northrend Dalaran will be gone)... Or for Khadgar.

[@HeyheyReirei]

I need that print of Xal'atath that Tali is longingly standing next to at 1:39.

[@Arxareon]

Spoiler alert? holy shit. it's on the thumbnail.. is it already everywhere? ----- never mind they straight up mention it in the WoWCast. Alright, but I wish they didn't decide to spoil this one.. and found a way, any way during testing of making sure this will be a surprise. Oh well..

[@Vaishino]

they actually don't straight up mention it in the WoWCast. They say there's familiar looking rubble. There's no mention of Dalaran.

[@ChinnuWoW]

It’s not at all a spoiler. It doesn’t spoil anything. It’s literally the first thing that happens. You’re up to date and haven’t missed anything up until this point.

[@Vaishino]

@@ChinnuWoW It absolutely is a spoiler. Just because it's the launch event doesn't mean it isn't a spoiler. Spoiling the first act hook that's meant to get us engaged deflates the impact of it.

[@ChinnuWoW]

​@@Vaishino What difference does it really make to you if you find out about this "spoiler" versus finding out immediately as you start the quest? It spoils nothing at all. You can have the moment of "OMG" now or later, doesn't change anything. You didn't miss anything beforehand.

[@bellaplays2702]

Alpha time

[@panzeidoodlebug9205]

If you think about, Xala’tath probably went plenty of times to Legion Dalaran with US as Knaifu and was possibly scouting things it and making mental notes of weaknesses.

[@TheNameOfJesus]

What happens to my very much used Dalaran Hearthstone toy? Will today's "New Dalaran" (later called "Middle Dalaran"?) still exist, much like the original "Old Dalaran" is still reachable?

[@mesmedor]

I feel like their go-to means of adding stakes is a) killing someone and b) destroying a capital. It also irks me that there is explicitly no plot related or story internal reasoning. I'ts just "it's what we wanted to do." There's no internal story related reason why it had to be Dalaran. I wonder if they'll be actually ever able to achieve satisfying storytelling, when the reason for why things happen or why people die or cities get destroyed is so very openly "we thought it would be appropriate to do that now."

[@christabelle__]

Yeah, that's why I laughed and put in my comment - "Hey, how do we make an impact on the players? Really let them know it's serious?" >Raze Silvermoon >Burn down Stormwind (And this, after the Orcs basically razed it once before, as well. We're on SW 3.0 now?) >Blow up Theramore >Attack Orgrimmar >Burn down Teldrassil >Blow up Dalaran Am I missing any cities that have been razed/blown up? (The whole 'blow up a city to evoke emotions' isn't new, and isn't some cool, big thing they've never done...they do it a LOT, actually. Come up with something new!)

[@mesmedor]

@@christabelle__ You forgot Undercity!

[@patrikzotaj4528]

but khadgar will never be killed so easily😢😢😢.

[@219Hexagons]

I remember back in Wrath as a kid when i first played corpse running my first vastly underlevelled character from the boat in borean tundra to dalaran to see the amazing city all my max level friends were raving about. It was a special place and it will be missed.

[@Inufan2005]

Favorite Dal Memory is the last day before the Cata Prepatch, since they had announced they were getting rid of Tree form we had a Druid Dance party in Dal. About 40 of us spent the last hour or so until the servers went down dancing in Dalaran. All in Tree Form.

[@Jerryz0t]

Yeah guys what was that for? Dalaran being destroyed is a huge spoiler.

[@davidmcdonald6997]

When clickbait is too important. They're usually pretty good about this, but since they have this video primed for alpha launch, they wanted to capitalize on the new-ness.

[@Joulespersecond]

Yeah, kind of disappointing tbh

[@caiocarvalho8844]

Just watch the video, they explain it

[@mackenzie_the_scrimblo]

basically the wow devs want you to know. This is the buildup hype, and they’re making a point to make sure you know through basically all outlets.

[@Vaishino]

@@mackenzie_the_scrimblo the devs video lets you know it's going to be about TWW Alpha content and then never actually says "it was Dalaran." Ion said it's not being playtested because they want people to experience it fresh when the expac goes live. They clearly don't want us spoiled on this.

[@yattayayfications]

the whole title is a spoiler D:

[@Z3ROR]

I am really curious if we get another cinematic trailer for TWW where we can see this event happen.

[@mattsoutham]

Varian Death scene still gives me goosebumps. RIP.

[@trentonbuchert7342]

Destroying Dalaran is a ballsy move, but one that I respect.

[@dakotakirby4112]

Really wish they didnt announce the fall of dal or kahddy daddy's death. Feel like experi3cing the news for both should have been in the game. Using the example of varian and vul'gin, you didnt hear about those outside of the game. You had to play the intro to legion before you found out about their deaths

[@cxfxcdude]

Everyone was talking about Varian being dead for months before legion dropped

[@Vaishino]

@@cxfxcdude Funny, if you look at T&E's coverage of Legion there isn't a single video with a thumbnail of Varian exploding or a title that says "Varian's Dead!"

[@gustavrasslan8440]

Narratively it also helps establish why we need a different hub city for every expansion of the World Soul Saga since Dalaran can't just fly to each location

[@chrislss8]

Phew. I literally felt something aeeing Dalaran on the ground. Like a lost childhood or something. (I was 16 during Wrath) Very interested to see where they go with that!

[@Ricotta_Cat]

yayyyyy I am walking home to this !!! Feels good

[@lovelylych7643]

Spoilers!!! Give people a chance to avoid this kind of information!

[@koletonnelson6310]

This whole thing is a game of chess for Xal. And she just took our rook. (Also our dad.)

[@whispersalone6673]

So...what about the prisoners inside the Violet Hold? Will they all be dead? Escape?