Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Holdodlig]

You want it to be fake, absolutely isn't confirmed yet.

As I said before unless he's gaslighting us into thinking it's fake, the fact Taliesin who was invited into pre BlizzCon press tour says it's probably fake is just a big "Yeah it's fake but I can't say stuff because of NDA but I'm still doing youtube videos about this so let's pretend I don't know" in my opinion.

I hardly see him troll about this as his youtube channel is mostly based on ideas and theories and having him bullshit us when everybody know that he knows would be a bad youtube move. But it can still happen so I'd say it's a 90% chance of it being fake.

[ercarp]

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Storm_Rider
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Storm_dragon
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Storm_drake

So Odyn says Storm Drakes were born of the Gods, while the Storm Dragons of Skywall have unknown origins, but protodragons may have evolved from them.

Friends, it is obvious that the Algarian Stormrider is an elemental dragon that is able to traverse the Storm.

To add to your theory, there's also a storm proto-dragon added in Dragonflight called Wizened Stormrider. This is a mob that was probably added when they were already working on 11.0 in some capacity (and thus might have known what the Algarian Stormrider is).

[Ebonn]

It can be a typo, Defence instead of Defense I mean.

For example, there's boots dropped by Trollgore in Drak'tharon, "Terrace Defence Boots".

Small example I know but one I could find.

Had to look for those boots myself, but this means that them spelling it as defence on the website leak means absolutely nothing.

I still think it’s fake, but it can’t be used as a reason at all if there is literally an item in game with that spelling. It’s still proper, and very possible a developer from that part of the world typed it. It’s not incorrect, just unusual.

[Vakir]

But there's also Storm Riders in the Storm Peaks that are elementals.

It's a cool semi-generic name. Hence why some of the earliest fakes and even past leak seasons loved things like Stormbreaker, Stormfall, Storms of X (even before SoA), etc.

They sound punchy.

[Kiivar86]

Had to look for those boots myself, but this means that them spelling it as defense on the website leak means absolutely nothing.

I still think it’s fake, but it can’t be used as a reason at all if there is literally an item in game with that spelling. It’s still proper, and very possible a developer from that part of the world typed it. It’s not incorrect, just unusual.

For what its worth I'm not a supporter of the website (though I do think the four zone images are real), just throwing it out there to show that spelling defense as defence is in game at least once (if not more). Though also I'm getting that thing now where you see a word repeated and it just starts looking stranger and stranger, heh.

edit: And yeah I wouldn't look into "stromrider/storm rider" names of mobs much, its just a name.

[kavikor]

It's as obvious as any AI art, but technically yes, not confirmed.

People keep saying "But maybe it's just Blizzard slipping in quality", but the dwarf hands and the staff are big issues. Like, not the nitpicking type issues that was happening with Dracthyr with stretched texture or pixel quality. But actual, verifiable, bad artwork.

That isn't Blizzard's bag.

given the quality of the image of the dwarf, i actually cannot make out any obvious "AI" issues

incredibly zoomed in i can make out all 4 fingers and it may look a little wonky but i would hesitate to say "this is AI" w/o a sharper image

given that the Agg'orond creature is in both image leaks is just too favorable for me to outright dismiss either of these things based on some grammar and faded artwork

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As I said before unless he's gaslighting us into thinking it's fake, the fact Taliesin who was invited into pre BlizzCon press tour says it's probably fake is just a big "Yeah it's fake but I can't say stuff because of NDA but I'm still doing youtube videos about this so let's pretend I don't know" in my opinion.

I hardly see him troll about this as his youtube channel is mostly based on ideas and theories and having him bullshit us when everybody know that he knows would be a bad youtube move. But it can still happen so I'd say it's a 90% chance of it being fake.

is this the first time Taliesin has been invited? he's been wrong many times before about expansions

[ercarp]

Oooh the plot thickens.

I think @Marlamin also said that something in the datamining suggests the possibility that the mount may in fact be a dragon (or at least it can't be ruled out yet), but take that with a grain of salt as I may be misremembering.

EDIT: Please don't execute me if I'm making this up, great bird. I'm tagging you so I can be rightfully corrected in case I'm accidentally spreading misinfo.

[Ebonn]

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Storm_Rider
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Storm_dragon
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Storm_drake

So Odyn says Storm Drakes were born of the Gods, while the Storm Dragons of Skywall have unknown origins, but protodragons may have evolved from them.

Friends, it is obvious that the Algarian Stormrider is an elemental dragon that is able to traverse the Storm.

"As one storm recedes, another rises."

This means several things.
Deathwing failed but his duty to usher in the Old Gods it carried on by the Harbinger and Iridikron.
Razageth died and her storm over the Forbidden Reach dissipated, but now a new storm is on the horizon.

The Storms of Avaloren are elemental in nature, and Odyn tapped into that power long ago. That's why he has Storm Drakes.

That's why Thrall will be important, the World Shaman who can wield the storm in the palms of his hands.

The storm isn't just a thing preventing us from going to Avaloren. It is a fundamental theme of the expansion. Hence the mount.

Make no mistake, the Void is the main antagonist. But the elements will be a large part of the expansion alongside Life and Order.

I’m not sure that but about protodragons evolving from them is true. The dragons with that body shape are that way because of order magic, meaning it would have gone the opposite direction. I don’t have a source, I can’t remember specifically where I read it, but I’m preeeetty sure they talk about it Dragonflight leveling quests. Protodragons were first, they wouldn’t evolve into order dragons and then back into protodragons.

Again I can’t pinpoint a source so I’m not saying I’m right, just pretty sure. Happy to be proved incorrect with any sources.

[milkmustache]

Legion went all in on the Burning Legion after 6.2.

Shadowlands doubled down on Sylvanas and her frigging shenanigans and new secret Death powers after 8.3.

Be certain 11.0 will go all in on a lot of the stuff from Dragonflight.

This is a great point to add. I will say thought that 11.0 feels a bit uncertain in terms of I suppose where exactly we go.

We knew we'd be dealing with the Legion and Guldan in some form, we knew we'd deal with Sylvanas and wherever her interested laid; I suppose we deal with Iridikron and maybe the Void in some form, but aside from that it's still really open ended (which I guess the other two were as well).

It's just a really interesting spot to be in. I don't know if it's good or bad, but it's certainly an interesting time for Warcraft.

[kavikor]

also after scouring the dragonflight zone concept map in 2k wallpaper quality I can't really match up the website background with any specific place on the map

definitely similar colors and elements, but not any specific location

i could just be dumb cause i was never good at where's wally

edit: maybe someone could've fed the dragonflight concept art into an AI and have it replicate a similar look?

Idk how that kind of stuff works, but in the website leak there's 4 mountain peaks in the background that kind of repeat that I could see as being kind of an AI issue

[Ebonn]

I think @Marlamin also said that something in the datamining suggests the possibility that the mount may in fact be a dragon (or at least it can't be ruled out yet), but take that with a grain of salt as I may be misremembering.

Would not be surprised at all if it were a dragon from Erinethria’s brood, and they just evolved to handle the storms.

[Nyel]

The Website leak is a confirmed fake because it features very obvious AI art.

If so the leaked screencaps are also fake because they share the exact same model we haven’t seen before. If one is undoubtly fake, so is the other. But people seem to forget that and still cling to the screenshot leak as being likely real.

[Holdodlig]

given the quality of the image of the dwarf, i actually cannot make out any obvious "AI" issues

incredibly zoomed in i can make out all 4 fingers and it may look a little wonky but i would hesitate to say "this is AI" w/o a sharper image

given that the Agg'orond creature is in both image leaks is just too favorable for me to outright dismiss either of these things based on some grammar and faded artwork

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is this the first time Taliesin has been invited? he's been wrong many times before about expansions

It's not the first one. In fact he was the Q&A host when the Bill Clinton kid did his "Free Hong Kong" stunt at BlizzCon. And if I recall the time he was wrong was during Shadowlands, during covid and I think nobody was even allowed to step into Blizzard's HQ back then. Not even their employee.

[ercarp]

But there's also Storm Riders in the Storm Peaks that are elementals.

It's a cool semi-generic name. Hence why some of the earliest fakes and even past leak seasons loved things like Stormbreaker, Stormfall, Storms of X (even before SoA), etc.

They sound punchy.

Yeah, that's also a valid point. There are even NPCs that are called Stormriders. Dwarves and Vrykul.

I only consider the Wizened Stormrider example worth mentioning because it's the most recent use of "Stormrider" in the game, meaning plans for the Algarian Stormrider mount may have already been drafted when the former was added to the game.

It would be a bit strange to name a mob that if they intended to release a mount less than a year later with the same name that's something completely different.

[Calfredd]

This thread got like 60 pages or so since I last looked, tldr nothing is real?

We purposefully invoked Teriz and that inflated page count quite a bit and 22mage22 and Algarstorm may or may not be the same person.

[kavikor]

It's not the first one. In fact he was the Q&A host when the Bill Clinton kid did his "Free Hong Kong" stunt at BlizzCon. And if I recall the time he was wrong was during Shadowlands, during covid and I think nobody was even allowed to step into Blizzard's HQ back then. Not even their employee.

i think he also bought into a Dragonflight leak as well that turned out not to be true, but idk if this was before he was invited or not

[Rathwell]

Well I have new hope that the four images may indeed be fake now, so that's a relief!

[JDBlou]

Well I have new hope that the four images may indeed be fake now, so that's a relief!

Colour me intrigued...

[Vakir]

They're not competing theories. Like I said, it all connects back to Skywall. Think about it, man.

Just as we're unravelling the true nature of Life and Order in 11.0, it looks like we're doing the same with the elements.

I don't really think there's just that much interest or focus placed onto names in that sense. To ride a storm can theoretically be anything that is adept at traversing the hostile skies and/or using that same power. Elementals, dragons, adept gryphon-riders, hell you can make up a small airship that can cut through that kind of weather. "Skybreaker" anyone?

Also, the gryphon textures.

Also, the "Algarian" part does sorta-kinda get in the way of the enhanced focus on it being exclusively elemental dragon focused. Khaz Algar will likely involve elements but not exclusively be elemental focused.

I am "thinking about it, man." People should never get obsessive about predictions or wish-lists to the point of signatures or banners because basic cognitive distortions are going to get in the way of realistic expectations or observing all information.

Fandom isn't bad, but I've seen too much in almost 17 years here to put so much stock into these sorts of things.

[Wangming]

We purposefully invoked Teriz and that inflated page count quite a bit and 22mage22 and Algarstorm may or may not be the same person.

Correction, they may or may not agree that they are the same person. Real Fight Club shit.