Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Murlocos]

I don't even mind cooperation being canonical, but we can't be lead to believe that 100% of both factions are bought into this new friendship. Subfactions should still be skirmishing, faction leaders should be struggling to maintain their troops from old hatreds.

My big fear is that the "unification of the elven tribes" in Midnight is literal and we see a "we are one elf society" storyline that homogenizes all of the elves.

The ambiguity of that unification line is definitely my biggest worry with Midnight so far. There's so many ways to interpret it but we may be in the dark until as late as 2026 about what it means.

[Enrif]

The book actually covers the naaru and their creation, which, while similar to this, is a bit different. Light would sometimes coalesce into essentially large clouds (I picture it a bit like nebulae) from whence powerful creatures of the light would sort of spawn. Among them being the naaru, whose purpose is supposedly to guard life wherever they might find it.

So I think the crystal is more like a seed of sorts. Not a literal seed, but an object of pure Light (and Shadow, evidently) that sort of causes life to emerge on a planet.

The question is: how is this different from what the Emerald Dream, and that whole faction is doing?

Based on the description of the naaru as these guardians of life, I think Life and Light are more closely affiliated than we think.

So Light, being the most fundamental force in the universe, creates life, but "Life" as a cosmic force sort of spreads it? (World Trees for example.)

Chronicle gives the elementals as an example of life created by the shards of light. We know they existed alone on Azeroth for aeons, before the Old Gods arrived. So maybe more advanced lifeforms required the extra evolutionary power brought by the World Trees, the Well of Eternity and stuff.

Question is though, did the Shard create the worldsoul, or like... bring it to Azeroth so that it could be this life-giving battery of sorts?

There is a lot we don't know about the cosmic forces interacting. Like, according to chronicles the first forces were light and shadow, thus the other forces had to be born from those two. Life should align with light if light is nurturing life, but from Saezurah we got the following lines: "Mortis. Lumen. Ordus. Rhythm and structure.
Vitae. Umbra. Tumult. Improvisation and possibility."
She clearly puts Vitae(life) with chaos and void. And given how voidy creatures so far have been (old god creatures are an amalgamation of body parts all over the places), compared to what light creatures look like (naaru are crystalline constructs), it kinda makes sense to put life more onto the void axis instead of the light.

Perhaps that crystal that turns from light to shadow and back can explain that. It is perhaps the mix of light and void that makes life possible in the first place.

[milkmustache]

The question is: how is this different from what the Emerald Dream, and that whole faction is doing?

Based on the description of the naaru as these guardians of life, I think Life and Light are more closely affiliated than we think.

So Light, being the most fundamental force in the universe, creates life, but "Life" as a cosmic force sort of spreads it? (World Trees for example.)

Chronicle gives the elementals as an example of life created by the shards of light. We know they existed alone on Azeroth for aeons, before the Old Gods arrived. So maybe more advanced lifeforms required the extra evolutionary power brought by the World Trees, the Well of Eternity and stuff.

Question is though, did the Shard create the worldsoul, or like... bring it to Azeroth so that it could be this life-giving battery of sorts?

I still think the end result in the cosmology war will paint us an image of Light not being evil necessarily, but universally understood as manipulating far more than the others. Blah blah religion allegory I know.

Light seems to have a decent excuse to intermingle with a lot of the other forces. Like you said, Light and Life have some sort of natural closeness. Aman'thul uses holy magic (this is a bit less sturdy of an example). Light is associated with death via it's believers (Heaven vs. Hell in a way), and I guess to an extent maybe Calia's case is going to provide more insight on that.

I think that the association of "the Light" with an in-game religion across multiple culturals on multiple planets allows for it to gain far more influence than anyone in the universe is truly understanding. Partly because of the cosmology being a newer thing relative to Warcraft in whole and partly due to the writing in general, the Light seems to not even be considered much of a "force" like death, void, life, etc., I don't think the people in universe really make that connection, which I think can be utilized in a really cool way for the story without it just defaulting on "light is actually.. evil?! Lightforged Garrosh >: )" (which in some ways plz yes I miss Garrosh, but no ty)

Idk, core statement here is that I think the "conspiracy" that will be presented in The Last Titan will be that, aside from Azeroth's worldsoul being imprisoned by the Titans for whatever their motives, we will learn that the Light has far more influence on more than we ever anticipated, which causes X problems.

[Enrif]

-snip-

The cosmic forces are an interesting topic to talk about.

Depending on the view, one force aligns with another force more likely. But then there can be another view that changes those alignments.

We can take the definition of "generic good" forces (light, life, order) versus "generic evil" forces (void, chaos, death).
But then there is also a definition of "generic orderly" forces (order, light, death) versus "generic chaotic" forces (chaos, void, life).


I'm sure there are more ways to group the forces together that can make sense one way or another, without contradicting the others. I think the best way to think about them currently, until we get a lot more information, is similar to the Magic: The Gathering Color Pie. There you have also allied and opposing forces, but there is also ways to see commonality between opposing forces, and contradiction between allied forces.

[Alanar]

People coping so hard with Nerubian Allied Races.

Allied Races are Races you have to unlock i.e. you have to ally with them first, simple as that. Just because we only get one doesn't mean there will be more.

You missed the term; allied races and what that kinda means.

Using that name kinda screams more will be added, that was part of that system or else they would have called it: new race: Earthen.

[Ersula]

You missed the term; allied races and what that kinda means.

Using that name kinda screams more will be added, that was part of that system or else they would have called it: new race: Earthen.

The possibility is always there. But it's more that whether or not they're reskins of existing races. All the allied races are reskins. The exception being that Zandalari & Kul Tirans are mostly unique, but share some animations between each other, so in that sense they're reskins of each other.

Question is though, did the Shard create the worldsoul, or like... bring it to Azeroth so that it could be this life-giving battery of sorts?

A few assumptions you should be warry of:

• Narru seeded life on worlds: This is possibly an explanation for sapient life on planets without world souls, like Draenor. Sapient Life on Azeroth could come directly from the world soul. Or they could be completely independent of each other. We were told the planet spontaniously consumed all spirit elemental motes & that's how it got a world soul so adding this Naaru terraforming would be another thing the titan's lied about.
• That anything other than elementals existed before the old gods arrived. As far as we know, all life on Azeroth could be the result of Old God interference. The old gods inferred that Tauren (and possibly all animals) are the result of Amanthul stabbing Yshaarj.
• The Thing the Arathi found is one of these "shards of light." For all we know it's a space ship like the Xenedar.

[Alanar]

The possibility is always there. But it's more that whether or not they're reskins of existing races. All the allied races are reskins. The exception being that Zandalari & Kul Tirans are mostly unique, but share some animations between each other, so in that sense they're reskins of each other.

Thats the question isnt it, if these humanoid nerubians are qualified for the allied race system. Maybe they use the same model as something else, thats entirely possible. Zandalari have a lot of unique animation, same as kul tiran. I could see nerubians being part of it, but it could also not be and we will not see them playable.

I was merely refering to the term: allied race(s) it just suggest, the system is back and that also suggest more then just one. Thats the point.

[Enrif]

That said, us defeating the Void ("banishing the Shadow forever") in Midnight might have unintended consequences because the balance shifts dramatically. Maybe a world without the Void ends up giving Order unfettered control of Azeroth, meaning they no longer need to be cautious.

Huh, that made me realize just something.
In Legion we defeated "Chaos"
In Shadowland we defeated "Death"
In Midnight we probably defeat "Void"
In The Last Titans we probably defeat "Order"

This just leaves Light and Life left...

Oof, I hope they just end up conveniently forgetting all about Shadowlands cosmic lore.

Eh, i don't love it, but i can live with it.

[milkmustache]

I think it is pretty apparent we've been defeating the "bad" forces one by one, yeah. What's interesting about TLT is that it might explore the "dark" sides of the remaining three.

Will we defeat them? I'm not sure. But at least ask questions? Maybe.

It's interesting to consider that Life and Order may be the remaining strongholds at a time when a world revamp feels the most likely. A reordering could possibly happen in a sense.

[Makabreska]

Hero talents are up:

https://www.wowhead.com/news/8-new-h...n-trees-337854

[Varodoc]

Best case scenario: Blizzard learns from the success of Midnight/TLT and no longer asspulls Generic Fantasy island #22 for every yearly expansion, instead continuously revamping various areas of the OG continents, like they do for Midnight and TLT.

Best case scenario imaginable: Northern Kalimdor Revamp expansion after TLT is over. Show how the Night Elves, Draenei, and the Kalimdor Horde are doing since the Cataclysm.

The absolute worst case scenario imaginable: Blizzard doubles down on the Avengers nonsense and the expansion right after TLT is "World of Warcraft: The Progenitor Fractals of Zereth Ordus".

[doledippers]

LMFAO

[Makabreska]

LMFAO

For the truest chads out there.

[Ersula]

LMFAO

Should be at least 10% bigger if that's the main visual feature of the spec.

TL;DR
Elune's Chosen: Balance & Guardian get AOE Artanis lasers
Trickster Rogue: Feint becomes an offensive cd
Templar Paladin: Get a big hammer that shoots hammers
Herald of the Sun Paladin: You got fire mage in my Paladin...You got AoE healing in my Fire Mage
Scalecommander Evoker: AOES do more damage on a single target. Who would have imagined?
Diabolist: Demonology x2, Destruction + Demonology.
Wildstalker: Cats do more heals. Heals do more cat.
Colossus Warrior: Big guy for you

[doledippers]

Colossus Warrior: Big guy for you

i honestly heavily fuck with this version of colossus warrior. I know its like, kind of a meme, but it really is just "big guy me smash" , and for me thats like half the fun of warrior. Ur just this brolic ass dude with giant weapons fuckin shit up

[Enrif]

I like templar and colossus. simpel and fun. Templar like: i heard you like hammer, so i make your hammer, makes hammers, and if you hammer, you hammer more.

Missed Opportunity to call one of the talents for the Templar: "Hammertime!", but i dig Hammerfall.

[Makorus]

You missed the term; allied races and what that kinda means.

Using that name kinda screams more will be added, that was part of that system or else they would have called it: new race: Earthen.

I literally told you why they used the term Allied Race.

Because you have to earn access to the race through an achievement. "Normal" Races are just unlocked by purchasing the expansion. That's why Dracthyr were a race and not an Allied Race.

I don't see how them adding an Allied Race means there has to be more than one?

[Ersula]

I literally told you why they used the term Allied Race.

Because you have to earn access to the race through an achievement. "Normal" Races are just unlocked by purchasing the expansion. That's why Dracthyr were a race and not an Allied Race.

I don't see how them adding an Allied Race means there has to be more than one?

We were all surmising that Allied Races were exclusive to BFA & the addition of the Earthen in TWW as allied races show that more are possible. That's what Alanar meant.

I like templar and colossus. simpel and fun. Templar like: i heard you like hammer, so i make your hammer, makes hammers, and if you a hammer, you hammer more.

Missed Opportunity to call one of the talents for the Templar: "Hammertime!", but i dig Hammerfall.

I am preemptively asking for an Oathbreaker Hero tree to be added halfway through the expansion that has void magic.

[Kiivar86]

Templar looks fun, and yeah that's a lot of hammers. Would be nice if they have a glyph or something to change it to something else though. Still, neat.

Herald of the Sun seems kinda cool too.

[Enrif]

I am preemptively asking for an Oathbreaker Hero tree to be added halfway through the expansion that has void magic.

Found the DnD Player. Oathbreaker...hmm, could that work? Hero Talents do change visuals. So, all the light glow could be changed to a purple glow. It would have to be a Protection+Retribution specs, as healing with void light is still a bid odd. Yeah, i could dig that.