Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Enrif]

I know. I just think it speaks to the narartive quality of BfA when the whole thing with the Zandalari navy being so strong was sweeped under the rug. It so strongly tells a story of how Blizzard really wanted the Zandalari to be equals to the Kul Tiran despite their vastly different cultures.

They were equal, at the start of BfA, but during the questing, the alliance sabotages a big part of the zandalari fleet which was destroyed during the battle for dazar'alor. Meanwhile, the kul tirans got their missing fleet back, bolstering their armada. If it was a 50%/50% at the start of BfA, during the later part it had become a 20%/80%. Zandalar does not have the fleet to be really representative anymore.

[Valysar]

All this timegating thing always kills the release hype.

[OCoyne]

This saves Ka'resh for the Midnight expansion.

Ka'resh doesn't exist. It was destroyed a very long time ago. Midnight is centred around the Sunwell, more than likely Dimensius the All Devouring popping out the Sunwell just like Kil'Jaedan did.

[Steampunkette]

Ka'resh doesn't exist. It was destroyed a very long time ago. Midnight is centred around the Sunwell, more than likely Dimensius the All Devouring popping out the Sunwell just like Kil'Jaedan did.

Kinda my thought on the Sunwell, yeah.

My prediction is we'll go to Silvermoon to unite the elven tribes while Xalatath tries to corrupt the Sunwell for Dimensius. We'll slow her down and then pull a Legion/Argus/Outland to go to the floating ruins of Ka'resh where we'll find out Dimensius is the World Soul of Ka'resh who got void-empowered and hatched as a Void Lord instead of a Titan to reinforce the threat that Azeroth faces.

That the Radiant Song is a final warning before the Void Levels get too high on a planet and the world soul gets turned Voidy.

Final fight at the Sunwell.

Yes. I know that kinda contradicts the lore we've got (in that Dimensius 'Came to Ka'resh' rather than got hatched from it) but it's less of a retcon than some of the stuff the Devs have provided and feels like it's a small enough narrative difference they can handwave it that the Ethereals couldn't really tell the difference between him coming across the void or bursting out of the planet.

[huth]

Possible. It is just partitioning the story so it works with the patch system. But they did have a long while down there before the Day of Darkness from what I understand. Most of the settlements were built before that.

On the portal thing it is always so inconsistent in Warcraft; like most anything in Warcraft it only works as the narrative requires. At one point you have teleportation arrays just being dropped in completely hostile territory with constant fel interference or you have Occuleth create stable portals for mass transportation. Heck we open stable portals to another plane of existence that allow for regular foot traffic.

Those tend to be much shorter range, though. The arrays also have physical beacons while Occuleth is a millenia old specialist in the field. The Hallowfall Arathi have a single apprentice available who by his own admission was never very good at it to begin with and consequently didn't focus on that area until cicumstances forced him.

I get the feeling the Empire is just very bad at portal magic, too.

Of course, the Vindicaar is causing issues here again; the Lightforged should have it trivially easy to get to Avaloren and should already be aware of its existence at this point. For that matter, the Alliance should now have a complete world map and be aware of at least all major surface factions.

[Nebron]

Ka'resh doesn't exist. It was destroyed a very long time ago. Midnight is centred around the Sunwell, more than likely Dimensius the All Devouring popping out the Sunwell just like Kil'Jaedan did.

I can totally see that - Dimensius being summoned through corrupted Sunwell - obviously doings of Xal'atath, Dark Heart and possibly Alleria being baited.

Alternatively I can see the Light vs Void wet dream being realized here - Army of the Light being summoned through purified Sunwell, possibly by Turalyon??, for the last stand against the Void and Dimensius, somehow leading from that point to The Last Titan, Illidan and Sargeras comeback

TWW - we lose to Xal'atath;
Midnight - Sunwell is corrupted, Relanish being the finale -> we fight Dimensius with the help of Ethereals and Army of the Light;
TLT - we deal with the Sword, some stuff with Azeroth being a Worldsoul; and then, with Illidan's help -> titans + Sargeras, possibly some Burning Legion background;

What's interesting to me is that characters are being developed in a way to have some insight in certain topics:
Alleria + Locus-Walker - about the Void;
Ethereals - about Dimensius;
Turalyon and Army of the Light - about the Light itself;
Illidan - about the Titans;

[Al Gorefiend]

Not only that place. At least 2 places in Ringing Deep has invisible walls with roots and lights comes from them. Azj'Kahet have 2?
Another one is place where Fog Monsters go, same place.
Rootlands 100% new patch zone. But I hope we will see Kezan too, and not like megadungeon.

I hope we don't see Kezan.

New expac main hub, I'll wait another decade if I have to.

Patch content and we get something like a mega dungeon would break my heart

[Varodoc]

I hope we don't see Kezan.

New expac main hub, I'll wait another decade if I have to.

Patch content and we get something like a mega dungeon would break my heart

You know that Gazlowe was featured prominently in the TWW marketing, right? Even getting his own story and artwork.

You cannot possibly believe that his contribution to TWW will amount to getting kidnapped by Nerubians.

It is now all but confirmed that Kezan will feature in TWW. Naturally, as with every patch zone, it will be Neutral.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Blizzard does not consider G'hunn an old god in any way that matters.

Too bad he is still considered an Old God! And guess who decided that?

Blizzard

Yep! That's right.

You can continue to scream into the Void to argue/justify your reasoning. I'm not interested, because as I stated before, this is not an open ended topic.
You should move on.

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Why no one talks about the Arathi orphan Alyza Bowblaze, the future supreme ruler of all Azeroth and the Cosmos?

Is this sarcasm or is there something to this?

I ask because, I'm all in for the New Arathi Empire swinging their dick around Azeroth.


EDIT: I should not have made a figurative reference to "swinging dicks" in a post speaking about an orphan.

[Timester]

Is this sarcasm or is there something to this?

I ask because, I'm all in for the New Arathi Empire swinging their dick around Azeroth.

It's some sidequests with a genocidal little Arathi orphan girl. Just one of her phrases "Salt his bones, take his head, and laugh as his tribe crumbles!".

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Aggravating feminist writing where the strong man who does his job and protects everybody gets shat on in favor of the woman girlboss who deserted her post. Also, women with beards. Won't waste more words on that.

Good god, I actually was reading your entire post for whatever reason, and of course, knowing who you are as a poster, you HAD to start with this utter nonsense.

You say you won't waste more words, and here you made a fucking novel of a post with GIF's.

Time and time again you have shown how your perceptive lens towards World of Warcraft is... skewered, to say the least. It's unfortunate that in a high fantasy setting that is World of Warcraft... you take issue with female dwarves with beards, as if that's an actual fucking sticking point.

I guess even the females of fantasy races -- beings made up entirely out of rock and stone -- can't have beards, as you don't usually see IRL rock & stone female races having beards either.

[Timester]

Good god, I actually was reading your entire post for whatever reason, and of course, knowing who you are as a poster, you HAD to start with this utter nonsense.

You say you won't waste more words, and here you made a fucking novel of a post with GIF's.

Time and time again you have shown how your perceptive lens towards World of Warcraft is... skewered, to say the least. It's unfortunate that in a high fantasy setting that is World of Warcraft... you take issue with female dwarves with beards, as if that's an actual fucking sticking point.

I guess even the females of fantasy races -- beings made up entirely out of rock and stone -- can't have beards, as you don't usually see IRL rock & stone female races having beards either.

Don't feed him, it's pointless. Female dwarves with beards is the most Tolkien concept that could exist.

[milkmustache]

You know that Gazlowe was featured prominently in the TWW marketing, right? Even getting his own story and artwork.

You cannot possibly believe that his contribution to TWW will amount to getting kidnapped by Nerubians.

It is now all but confirmed that Kezan will feature in TWW. Naturally, as with every patch zone, it will be Neutral.

I think the neutral thing is pretty much a given lore wise with Goblins anyway, that's one of the more fun things about Goblin settlements in WoW.

I hope there's a larger focus on Horde races in it, though. I loved the campaign, no complaints there, but it would be cool to see some Mag'har and Earthen engineers conferencing with Goblins, Thrall and Gazlowe buddy cop adventure or something, but also maybe some Mekkatorque in there?

Warcraft is at its best worldbuilding when they manage the diversity of their playable and nonplayable races properly. Khaz Algar has done a pretty good job at that so far, so I have high hopes.

[OCoyne]

p -> titans + Sargeras, possibly some Burning Legion background;

What's interesting to me is that characters are being developed in a way to have some insight in certain topics:
Alleria + Locus-Walker - about the Void;
Ethereals - about Dimensius;
Turalyon and Army of the Light - about the Light itself;
Illidan - about the Titans;

I think the story is leaning towards all the cosmic forces coming into play

We've already seen Death and Chaos as The Jailer and Sargeras.

We've got Elune'Era as Life
Xala'tath as Void
Aman'Thul as the leader of the Pantheon of Order
Safe to say Azeroth will represent Light.

The 6 forces need to be equally balanced otherwise hell all breaks loose. And the Fatescribes did also mention The Jailer running out of Anima only caused a small crack in the balance.
Azeroth being the strongest titan of them all will more than likely upset the balance meaning Death and Chaos will also need to gain power aswell as Life and Order turning them villian in the process possibly - Death and Chaos are not permanently killed off for a reason. I can see a situation where The Jailer returns to restore the balance.

[Nymrohd]

This is for me the true question for TWW. Will we lose? Usually the trilogy formula has you win book 1 only to realize you failed to stop a greater evil. But you still win the fight in the first installment. It is in the second one where you actually lose with the true stakes being revealed only for the last part to be about saving the world. Moreover we know the second one is the one with actual stakes; ultimately a loss in Khaz Algar means the locals who we just meant are fucked but we'd still be able to reverse whatever happens for the world at large later on. But a loss in Midnight would mean Quel'thalas is toast. Even if we win the trilogy itself, it would be much more substantial than the nerubians dying (the Earthen can come with us, the Arathi are just transplants anyway and even the Nerubians we befriend would have a second chance in Azjol-Nerub). So it does make more sense for us to lose in TWW.

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I think the neutral thing is pretty much a given lore wise with Goblins anyway, that's one of the more fun things about Goblin settlements in WoW.

I hope there's a larger focus on Horde races in it, though. I loved the campaign, no complaints there, but it would be cool to see some Mag'har and Earthen engineers conferencing with Goblins, Thrall and Gazlowe buddy cop adventure or something, but also maybe some Mekkatorque in there?

Warcraft is at its best worldbuilding when they manage the diversity of their playable and nonplayable races properly. Khaz Algar has done a pretty good job at that so far, so I have high hopes.

Goblins are thematically closer to the Horde anyway. So a goblin-centered area will feel closer to the Horde regardless. That said, Gazlowe will be the main character for such content anyhow. They have made it clear he is neutral enough that the Alliance doesn't need a foil when he is the main character in a story otherwise we'd be seeing at least some gnome come with Jaina and the Sons of Lothar.

[Steampunkette]

I think the story is leaning towards all the cosmic forces coming into play

We've already seen Death and Chaos as The Jailer and Sargeras.

We've got Elune'Era as Life
Xala'tath as Void
Aman'Thul as the leader of the Pantheon of Order
Safe to say Azeroth will represent Light.

The 6 forces need to be equally balanced otherwise hell all breaks loose. And the Fatescribes did also mention The Jailer running out of Anima only caused a small crack in the balance.
Azeroth being the strongest titan of them all will more than likely upset the balance meaning Death and Chaos will also need to gain power aswell as Life and Order turning them villian in the process possibly - Death and Chaos are not permanently killed off for a reason. I can see a situation where The Jailer returns to restore the balance.

I don't feel like Azeroth will represent Light. We've got Naaru for that. Nor did Sargeras "Represent" chaos/fel. He was inundated with it, shaped by it, but he was still a Titan at the core of what he was. The Burning Legion and demonkind in general represent chaos which kind of lacks a strong central figure or council. Sargers was imposing Order on Chaos while he was there by forming a legion with ranks and hierarchy that normally doesn't exist.

I feel like Azeroth is going to be a balance of the 6 forces. Some chaos, some shadow, some light, some order, and plenty of life and death, too.

Or, at least, that's what we're aiming for while the individual powers all try to sway her in one direction or the other.

[PenguinChan]

all that for an allied race? please.

No, all that because the explanation is probably locked behind story that wouldn’t make sense otherwise. Is it dumb that an allied race is locked behind a time gate? Yeah but a week isn’t really long tbh. Can get your main geared up and get some upgrade currency in the meantime.

[Nebron]

This is for me the true question for TWW. Will we lose? Usually the trilogy formula has you win book 1 only to realize you failed to stop a greater evil. But you still win the fight in the first installment. It is in the second one where you actually lose with the true stakes being revealed only for the last part to be about saving the world. Moreover we know the second one is the one with actual stakes; ultimately a loss in Khaz Algar means the locals who we just meant are fucked but we'd still be able to reverse whatever happens for the world at large later on. But a loss in Midnight would mean Quel'thalas is toast. Even if we win the trilogy itself, it would be much more substantial than the nerubians dying (the Earthen can come with us, the Arathi are just transplants anyway and even the Nerubians we befriend would have a second chance in Azjol-Nerub). So it does make more sense for us to lose in TWW.

Maybe you're right, but I'd like to see us getting some real punches and heavy losses, so that in order to fight the Void off, we need to get some help from the outside, thus Army of the Light and Ethereals come to use I do strongly believe that Renilash is the storyline of the Worldsoul Saga's second installment.
To follow your trilogy formula, that would be epic, if we lost there, but then, the story from Midnight would need to drag onto The Last Titan, and I'm not sure about that due to thematic oversaturation

[PenguinChan]

It is a bit shady tho that they waited until the EA was over to clarify.

They should’ve clarified yeah. They technically did like a day in from a customer service rep but just like any other time they’ve added allied races it always comes with a catch…

[Nymrohd]

Maybe you're right, but I'd like to see us getting some real punches and heavy losses, so that in order to fight the Void off, we need to get some help from the outside, thus Army of the Light and Ethereals come to use I do strongly believe that Renilash is the storyline of the Worldsoul Saga's second installment.
To follow your trilogy formula, that would be epic, if we lost there, but then, the story from Midnight would need to drag onto The Last Titan, and I'm not sure about that due to thematic oversaturation

I think having the Empire show up in Midnight can absolutely work.
You start with an intro tier showing we cannot push the Void off alone then the Avaloren fleet arrives and we win the day on the second tier and then on the last tier we have to evict them when it is clear their intent is conquest, not just Renilash. We go to Northrend for the finale and then after the World Soul saga we can go to Avaloren to stop the Empire from invading.
It could give us an Army of Light moment.

My own fan theory; the Emperor's prophecy is not his own, it is X'era. She had contacted the Empire and guided the Emperor to send the Third Fleet to Khaz Algar. While they've been missing, Yrel's forces have escaped from Draenor into Avaloren and fully radicalized the Empire by giving them knowledge of Lightforging but also of how to make people Lightbound. It would give us a proper Army of Light moment that Legion badly botched.