Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Well Done Steak]

I’m just glad the “void vs light” / “light invasion” people have shut up

Antagonistic light is an inevitability. So perhaps 12.0 IF, BIG IF, 11.0 has one of it

Yrel will come to us sooner or later. We have an entire playable race that says so.

[Ersula]

The sword. Connects us to c'thun. Which would explain some of the new scarab stuff recently datamined.

I did get super excited when I saw new Silithus stuff, but those were all confirmed to be Trading Post gear, which is the least likely assets to be related to the story.

No, that quite literally means they aren't transforming physically in the same way Dwarves did. Which is precisely the part where they aren't following the normal progression of the curse.

The log doesn't say that at all. What it describes is they ARE following the normal progression of the curse, only that it began at a much later point in time. And they express confusion in that the curse spread like an infection in the other races, that these Earthen have no connection to.

Way to many assumptions. Starting with that anomaly even having anything to do with Xal'atath. You're getting lost in your headcanon.

It would be an unrelated event but the devs often work in an idea they wanted to do earlier that didn't pan out at the time & a lot of lore was given to these corrupted dwarves. So they might have become corrupted under some other circumstances & the devs manage to work in their idea of Skardyn. It makes more sense than alternative theories: If Teriz is right that means they're going to be Rock Dwarves riding Rock Gryphons; which means Blizzard took the very cool idea of Gryphon Riding Dwarves and turned it into the stupidest thing imaginable.

serious question, if I understand the story correctly there has been a "geological anomaly" in sector Ar-938, the keepers sent the earthen and then those same earthne became heretics, acting like dwarves but physically still earthen. It would be interesting to know what kind of anomaly was there. Maybe a "not-so-evil" old god or some void-related knowledge that made those earthen see the titans in a new light?

The observation of Khaz Algar & the Rebellion in Avaloren are two different things. They might be part of the same general region or have joined up at some point but based on the logs, those are two different groups of people.

It should be noted that the "Earthen" observed in those logs were from 100,000 years ago: No Earthen stayed Earthen that long. In much less time races on azeroth shrank, grew giant ears, lost their corporeal form, devolved & re-evolved. No Eathen "survived" the curse of flesh. All Earthen we see in game were made recently*** by Archaedas, Thorim or Loken. If they really didn't eventually turn into Dwarves we would need a pretty good explanation why.

***relatively recently. 10,000 years ago is still a lot closer to now than 100,000 years ago.

[Nightshade711]

Khaz Algar being confirmed doesn’t instantly mean 11.0 is an elemental, or entirely underground. Nor does it mean it is or isn’t light vs void.

[Teriz]

I’m just glad the “void vs light” / “light invasion” people have shut up

Thrall Key art + Towelliee + Chinese predictor + mount leak + sequel expansion theory pretty much put anything void or light-based to rest. I'm sure there will be void and light elements, but this ship is turning decidedly towards Underground/Elemental expansion.

[Revamp Man]

Ok so the next expansion is pretty much confirmed to be heavily dwarf/storm related and Khaz Algar being the main hub/zone or whatever

Nothing is confirmed

[Nebron]

I'm still impressed that if Khaz Algar is legit, then the true teasing for 11.0 happened waaaay back in the Uldum pre-patch. Pretty straightforward

[Akhinos]

Maybe its real but they did that to make us think it was fake. 800 IQ.

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Even if its not a World Revamp, I think its likely to be huge and heavily Marketed. They want it to be as hype as Legion or WoD, and it probably will have Legion levels of effort. Its going to be a good xpac imo either way. It has to be.

Bro plese. Dont do this with yourself.

[Dracullus]

Nothing is confirmed

It's pretty much obvious Kzal Algar will be one of the zones or continent and with that probably Dwarf theme at least in one zone. But yeah, implying it means "heavy" dwarf expac from that is nonsense - they could be as important as centaurs in DF. What is important, it buries speculation about revamp/return to old world.

Even if its not a World Revamp, I think its likely to be huge and heavily Marketed. They want it to be as hype as Legion or WoD, and it probably will have Legion levels of effort. Its going to be a good xpac imo either way. It has to be.

Every single expac is "huge" and "heavily marketed". It's nonsense implying some expac get less budget or effort. Sometimes this effort is directed in wrong direction (member 15 iterations of conduit system in SL Beta?) and sometimes they fuck up patch schedule, but that's another story.

What you probably mean is theme of next expansion. It can't be another chill expac with disney dragons. Thanks to DF community pretty much forgot how tiresome was constant saving world and even universe from Legion/N'zoth/literal devil from hell, so we are ready to up the stakes again.

[Raetary]

[Graden]

All this hype makes me want to give Dragonflight a try.

[Ersula]

I'm not sure why I have to keep saying this over and over: Dragonflight and 11.0 are the sequels to Cataclysm. They contain the same themes as Cataclysm, and they have the same main enemy as Cataclysm. Cataclysm is a Void, Elemental and Dragon expansion all at once. So is Dragonflight. So is 11.0.

If we're at a point where you can say Dragonflight is a direct sequel to Warcraft 3 AND WotLK AND Cataclsym, that pattern might be nonsensical at this point. Who is enforcing this pattern? They've gone through 3 totally different sets of creative management teams since WoD. I think someone would want to take a new direction by now.

[milkmustache]

I'm all for Khaz Algar becoming a prominent location, but I'd still dial back on dwarf theme. This could be entirely different to anything we've seen in game. I expect it to be more akin to Nightborne/Suramar was to Night Elves/Blood Elves, but we still have no clue what their plans are.

Khaz Algar being a location seems all but certain. There's a slight possibility this is on the other side of Azeroth due to the idea of "Storm Riders" along with both the Nightsquall and Naga books referring to a storm stopping travel to the other side (correct me if wrong about Naga). But I think anything else is out of hand for now.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Is that the actual model of the gryphon? I'd only seen the textures up until then. I'm starting to have second thoughts about my saronite guess; it looks far more like something unto itself like this. Probably meant to be evocative of the "storm" protecting the new region.

[Raetary]

Is that the actual model of the gryphon? I'd only seen the textures up until then. I'm starting to have second thoughts about my saronite guess; it looks far more like something unto itself like this.

It's not, i just took an image of a regular gryphon and shopped it to resemble the datamined texture as best i could.

[username993720]

Why are the Blood elves bananas?
Smolderon in the trash

[AOL Instant Messenger]

It's not, i just took an image of a regular gryphon and shopped it to resemble the datamined texture as best i could.

Ahh, I see. Saronite influence is still on the table, then. Still, this and the bit about Storm Riders now has me thinking that it could instead be aesthetically-reminiscent of the storm keeping people out of that side of Azeroth.

[Ersula]

I'm all for Khaz Algar becoming a prominent location, but I'd still dial back on dwarf theme. This could be entirely different to anything we've seen in game. I expect it to be more akin to Nightborne/Suramar was to Night Elves/Blood Elves, but we still have no clue what their plans are.

People express this sentiment but it's a bit reductive to the discussion going on. Only people not engaging are saying "Dwarf expansion eww." Every expansion adds several new unplayable subraces/cultures: Dragonflight had new Centaur, Tuskarr & Gnolls, Shadowlands had a new people for each of the zones, etc.

But you're right in that it doesn't rule anything out. It could be an Underdark-esque expansion, a high sea expansion (not pirates, but flying Sea Dwarves!), Light & Void, or even a world revamp if the Algarians are invading. Nobody thought anything when they introduced the Mana Saber mount long before Legion was announced but turns out we could have gleaned a Arcane Night Elf zone in it.

Dragonflight introduces Iridikron and the Harbinger who set 11.0 in motion.

I'm not inventing this stuff, it's all there. So clearly they decided that was what they wanted to do.

The Harbinger is related to the Void though. That's not a pattern, its just very standard narrative flow. Are you thinking Void is a kind of Elemental? It's a cosmic force. Fire/Ice are not cosmic forces.

[username993720]

Maybe 11.0 will actually give us a Dwarf child model. Wouldn't that be something?

The dude is there from cataclysm. He's an adult by now.

[Ferlion]

I'm all for Khaz Algar becoming a prominent location, but I'd still dial back on dwarf theme. This could be entirely different to anything we've seen in game. I expect it to be more akin to Nightborne/Suramar was to Night Elves/Blood Elves, but we still have no clue what their plans are.

Khaz Algar being a location seems all but certain. There's a slight possibility this is on the other side of Azeroth due to the idea of "Storm Riders" along with both the Nightsquall and Naga books referring to a storm stopping travel to the other side (correct me if wrong about Naga). But I think anything else is out of hand for now.

Something that was pointed out on Scrolls of Lore discord, I think assuming Avaloren is actually a mistake. And if that's the case, it very well could still be a world revamp, or just an expansion in the old world, or underground in the old world.

Khaz Algar is similar to Khaz Modan. Which is, Mountains of Khaz. Which is named that way in honor of the Titan, Khazgorath. If Avaloren is anti-titan, it seems unlikely to have a place named in honor of the titans.

In addition, Khaz Modan wasn't named until AFTER the Earthen woke up. Which was post Sundering. The curse of flesh didn't really change Earthen/Dwarves until the Dwarves woke up post WotA.

The timing involved for Avaloren doesn't really fit.

[Teriz]

Yeah, let's just ignore the mountains of evidence from the Dragonflight story that says the Void is coming next.

I'm not sure why I have to keep saying this over and over: Dragonflight and 11.0 are the sequels to Cataclysm. They contain the same themes as Cataclysm, and they have the same main enemy as Cataclysm. Cataclysm is a Void, Elemental and Dragon expansion all at once. So is Dragonflight. So is 11.0.

"The Void" in Cataclysm was Old God influence, not Void Lords invading the planet. I already said there will likely be old god stuff in the next expansion, maybe even an appearance by Azshara. However, the notion that this is some entry point to being ported to K'aresh is a nonsensical pipe dream.