Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Murlocos]

Whatever your stance on Metzen, it's always important to remember that he wasn't Danuser's predecessor, Dave Kosak was. Kosak was Lead Narrative Designer for WoD and Legion before leaving for the Hearthstone team at the end of 2016, but Lead Quest Designer prior to that and important enough to be handling a lot of PR all the way back to Cataclysm. Very important to note that Kosak's involvement with WoW ended only a few months after Metzen's, and Micky Neilson also left close to the start of the year. 2016 was a large shift in the creative side of the team.

Metzen juggled every game Blizzard put out, as well as being involved with promotion, collaborating with authors on books for those games, and eventually the Warcraft movie. I imagine his involvement with WoW only decreased over the years, and I back that belief up with interviews like the first one he did post-retirement in 2017, where his description of the years leading up to it are almost exclusively about Titan and Overwatch's development. The forums are dead and I don't want to try hunting the guy down so I can't post proof of this, but I remember Scrolls of Lore's admin interning on WoW's story team around 2011 or 2012, and when describing his schedule noting that Metzen would only pop in once or twice a week.

I realize this is kind of pedantic, but I just think it's important to remember that Metzen announcing expansions at Blizzcon didn't mean he was intimately involved with their development on a daily basis. If the description of his role is accurate, this will be the most he's been involved with WoW since the mid-00s, but I wouldn't go in expecting him to be the WoD/Legion-style writing guy or whatever. Frankly, I have no idea what to expect from him.

[Enrif]

I just can’t see Khaz Algar being in the EK. The original place we learn of its existence explicitly states that the Earthen/Dwarf people there evolved similarly despite being separated by great distance and time. In the EK would be as close as possible to all the others lol.

i think the leaker explains that distance, as a distance of depth, instead of across the globe.

Like, the core of the earth is farther away then the distance between new york and london

[Hitei]

i think the leaker explains that distance, as a distance of depth, instead of across the globe.

Like, the core of the earth is farther away then the distance between new york and london

Doesn't really make any sense in the context of the report, which is about how it's strange that both groups are showing similar symptoms despite the large separation in time and space.

If one group is directly on top of the other, even if it's "very far" below, then it's not strange at all, it's just that there's contamination that penetrates deeply in that one spot, or some path between the two depths.

[FossilFree]

11.0 - Storms of Avaloren

The storm is a defining feature of this expansion, in which we discover the fabled lands of Avaloren far to the west.

Dragonflight seems like the sequel to Cataclysm. You have dragons, elementals, Deathwing resolution, and now even the return of Firelands stuff in the next patch. What expansion came after Cataclysm? Mists of Pandaria of course.

Storms of Avaloren ≈ Mists of Pandaria

Newly discovered, but ancient continent hidden by a mix of air and water (storm vs mist)? ✓
Exotic version of existing race ("storm dwarf">dwarf, pandaren>furbolg)? ✓
Possible remains of "new" Old God? ✓
Void presence via Iridikron? ✓
Someone wants to plunder the place (Nightsquall vs Garrosh)? ✓
Expands Titan lore (Odyn's failed invasion vs Mogu)? ✓

I'm sure there are more connections too, but the evidence is sure stacking up for MoP 2.

[PotHockets]

Doesn't really make any sense in the context of the report, which is about how it's strange that both groups are showing similar symptoms despite the large separation in time and space.

If one group is directly on top of the other, even if it's "very far" below, then it's not strange at all, it's just that there's contamination that penetrates deeply in that one spot, or some path between the two depths.

Not to mention that the dwarves we already know have dug much deeper than is in game.

[matijwow]

The report was also about monitoring Earthen who spread across the world. Seems a little redundant for Blizzard to frame it that way if it's just below EK.

It would be weird to change it so soon, and I don't think this is a credible leak, but they have changed locations of things before for convenience or because it would seem cooler.

Originally, the entrance to Deepholm was going to be in the crater north of Stormwind instead of through the Maelstrom, and Vashjir was probably going to be around the Maelstrom.

Azshara (the zone) has never made since as the zone where Zin-Aszhari was since Chronicle created the pre-Sundering Kalimdor map, yet it was used as such in a couple Legion quests.

Nazjatar was supposed to be on the seafloor next to the Maelstrom, while N'Zoth's prison was just off the west coast of the Eastern Kingdoms. Then both were combined to be in the same spot, along with a remnant of Zin-Azshari (which bordered the Well of Eternity before it became the Maelstrom), in some unknown other ocean location.

[Enrif]

Doesn't really make any sense in the context of the report, which is about how it's strange that both groups are showing similar symptoms despite the large separation in time and space.

If one group is directly on top of the other, even if it's "very far" below, then it's not strange at all, it's just that there's contamination that penetrates deeply in that one spot, or some path between the two depths.

well, the report also tells of a distance in time and space. We don't know the timeframe of the report. For all what it's worth, Khaz Algar could have been long lost and abandoned. Also, cultural crosspollination through kilometers of solid rock and earth is much more difficult than it would be across the globe. Even if dwarves are digging, they never dug that far from what we know. I think Uldaman or Old Ironforge is the deepest they got

[ImTheMizAwesome]

Dragon Isles is bigger than both BFA zones combined.

I mean i don't really care if Dragon isles are bigger with 4 starting zones, they have a lot less variety in zones than BFA by a long shot.

It might be even bigger than northrend, but still northrend eats it with the variety of the zones.

[Hitei]

well, the report also tells of a distance in time and space. We don't know the timeframe of the report. For all what it's worth, Khaz Algar could have been long lost and abandoned. Also, cultural crosspollination through kilometers of solid rock and earth is much more difficult than it would be across the globe. Even if dwarves are digging, they never dug that far from what we know. I think Uldaman or Old Ironforge is the deepest they got

Right, but my point is...

Imagine you are a Titan keeping records on (Earth) history. 30,000 years ago you send a group of mining drones to investigate some weird readings deep, deep underground, beneath what is now Australia. The drones turn sentient and start calling stuff "kangaroo".

Then, 20,000 years later, you've built an underground facility in Austrailia. Your worker drones in that facility turn sentient, start calling stuff "kangaroo", and transform into birds.

In what reality do you then write a report going "Woah, it's super weird that despite being separated by 'vast swathes of distance and time' these two groups of drones show such similar symptoms"? It's not weird at all, and they aren't separate at all. Very obviously whatever happened to the first group of drones is still happening under Australia and is somehow extending upwards affecting the surface drones". It doesn't matter how far down is, if you're getting the same symptoms in that same location, the connection is immediate and obvious, and time hasn't done anything to stop whatever is happening.

But if instead, the first set of drones were in Canada, suddenly that report makes sense, because you have a totally separate location and it's weird that after all that time, you're getting identical symptoms across the world with a new set of drones.


The report doesn't make much sense if it's happening straight down from Uldaman.

[matijwow]

Dig deep enough and you come out on the other side of the planet. Maybe that's what he's trying to say.

[Hitei]

Dig deep enough and you come out on the other side of the planet. Maybe that's what he's trying to say.

Seems pretty unlikely phrasing to use. If anything it'd be tunnels that lead far off to the side, like you're going under the ocean. Both of these seem pretty unreasonable though, how would you even communicate the distance? You can't just have it take five minutes to fly down to the zone. Does flying down trigger warp speed? There's only so much practicality to the Zaralek airlock system, the point of it is to feel like a seamless 1:1 transition, not to be a warp animation in place of loading screen.

[Nymrohd]

If he's legit, it sounds like he says the expansion will be 90% Eastern Kingdoms revamp, but somewhere there'll be a large opening deep into the earth where we find Khaz Algar that we fly straight down vs the winding narrow path of Zaralek. I suppose that could happen in the Baradin Bay.

Only thing that I would worry about is how would Blizzard be okay with revamping Stormwind, but not Orgrimmar at the same time.

Because if there was a Silvermoon revamp, most of the Horde would move there. The rest can go to Undercity.

- - - Updated - - -

Get your MS Paint on then friendo. Show us them skillz. I think this is nonsense, honestly, but if there is anything this thread really needs it is 'leakers' providing their own poorly made Paint diagrams.

Maybe something like this


Damn it turned out amazing. Go through the massive gates to lands below while a great city spreads across the cliff's bottom. I should have added flying gryphons and a storm.

[Gloriandus]

If it's dwarves and digging deep, bets on how heavy-handed the LOTR references will be? Like, a few or full Uldum?

Seems like the "previous expac tech" Blizzard like to carry forward would be dragonriding (some form of it), Niffenseeking, and Zaralek Caverns.

[matijwow]

We travel west across the Veiled Sea, and into the Storming Sea.

We explore a continent hidden behind the storm. From the abyssal depths of the sea, to the thundering sky, and across the war-torn land, we engage with the forces of Queen Azshara and Xal'atath.

We will discover the mysteries of Khaz Algar, and unlock the secrets of Uldaz. What lies hidden underneath the earth, and what has become of Erinethria's brood?

Stop the Void from consuming the world-soul, and ensure a bright future for Azeroth, in World of Warcraft: Storms of Avaloren!

Tagline: Become the Storm, or Master the Storm.

Now that you tied all these threads together, it makes me realize these would all be really obscure things to foreground for the 10th expansion that releases around the 20th anniversary. I would think they want to make the main thing something more perennial.

[Nymrohd]

Now that you tied all these threads together, it makes me realize these would all be really obscure things to foreground for the 10th expansion that releases around the 20th anniversary. I would think they want to make the main thing something more perennial.

See here is the thing. If Avaloren is massive, that can be enough hype. Imagine if the map we are shown is not just the 5 zones we get at launch. Imagine if we are shown a massive map with 12-15 zones. Then they highlight 5 of those and tell us that we will see the rest later.

Back at the WoD reveal Blizzcon, people actually expected that there would be a follow up into the Ogre continent. If you see it in the map, you expect to get there. So far we have almost always been burned with those areas ending up cut. But Blizzard could expressly tell us, they have started working on the rest of the continent already and we'll know how we get there as we experience the expansion. HYpe people up that they are going to get an epic story and a massive new land to explore. Sure it will not be truly massive for a few years still. But it will get there.

[Harbour]

I have a good feeling bout this. This is the second Terran's post about Yrel in a couple weeks.

[ercarp]

Here's the Youtube video. /watch?v=ROeOmAJAQBE
You can use auto translate on the captions. It was uploaded the same day as the mmochamp post. There's nothing about the Diablo files that would tell you the WoW expansion name, so maybe he just took the info from this video about Diablo and tacked on a fake one sentence WoW leak at the end.

Yeah, this could be it.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

I have a good feeling bout this. This is the second Terran's post about Yrel in a couple weeks.

whenever she shows up 2 or 5 years from now, my mag'har orc will be ready.

[Merryck]

I have a good feeling bout this. This is the second Terran's post about Yrel in a couple weeks.

Hope she gets a model like that.

[matijwow]

Would be interesting to see a female draenei in a rendered cinematic with the skin still on.