Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Eurhetemec]

The first warcraft game features an alien invasion. Prog Rock also includes a lot of cosmic stuff. Warcraft is He-man fantasy, even if people forget He-man starts with he-man's mother being an american astronaut that gets stranded on Eternia. And I don't agree with the shadowlands takeaway that people didn't respond well to cosmic themes: The theming was fine; the storytelling & mechanics were bad.

I hope you don't think I disagree with any of that lol. Because I agree with literally all of that, though re: the cosmic theme-ing in Shadowlands, I think it was a bit more complicated, because I think a lot of people had some kind of dumb "All dogs go to heaven" ideas of the afterlife in WoW, and were deeply offended by that not being the apparent case.

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Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not implying WoW taking a huge turn into a hard sci-fi focus, what I meant was more along what Ersula mentioned. You can explore Cosmical, Astrological themes while keeping the aesthetic and feel of it all more grounded in fantasy and without going too deep into full on sci-fi.

If we did see actual Starships being made and used, I was thinking they'd be just for transport. I didn't consider actual space battles and the like. Just a huge fleet of Starships to transport us somewhere else. And in WoW's case, we can't discredit space travelling because... 1) The whole WoW Mythology starts with and always has Cosmic entities and dimensional planes at their core and 2) We've already done space travelling before.

And between Ethereals, the Void, Burning Legion, the Naaru, Elune & Titans, there are a lot of places in the cosmos for some good ol' interstellar shenanigans.

I just don't think people are going to engage very strongly with starship this starship that. I think having one starship (like, a rebuilt Exodar or something) makes sense, but anything beyond that is going to turn people off, slowly but surely.

Also if it's all very alien worlds I don't think people will engage with it as much emotionally as they will with worlds that seem less alien. So I think some care may be needed here. Spectacle and coolness and so on have their place, but if it's all that all the time, which I think is a real risk with Metzen running things, I feel like it'll end up all feeling a bit overdone before long.

[babalou1]

So Beledar is just a calcified chunk of the Worldsoul's Essence and the whole area was a Worldsoul observation post.


Since we now know what Beledar is, makes sense for the song to come from the crystal (or atleast resonate with it). With the shifting, does that mean the Worldsoul is aligned mostly with the Light and being corrupted by Void?


Also since it bears a striking similarity to Naaru ships, does that mean the Naaru have found other worlds that had souls and used their calcified chunks for their ships? Since the crystals look extremely similar?

[Cheezits]

If Beledar is indeed Azerite, that's a very interesting twist. Especially when it is named in the usual Draenei fashion.

Does that mean that Naaru come from AZEROTH?

Or are we seeing the Light crystal within Azeroth and she has crystals attuned to every magic? Fel, Life etc

[babalou1]

If Beledar is indeed Azerite, that's a very interesting twist. Especially when it is named in the usual Draenei fashion.

Does that mean that Naaru come from AZEROTH?

Or are we seeing the Light crystal within Azeroth and she has crystals attuned to every magic? Fel, Life etc

Now, this is just me saying this but I feel like Worldsouls are ALL of the 6 essences and which ever one takes hold is what it eventually ends up being.

The only ones we've seen though are Order (Titans) and Fel (Argus). So presumably they can manifest any of the 6, with the "Prime" being able to be all 6. However Azeroth appears to be losing that fight and is shifting more towards void


Naaru came from the OG fight between the light and void, with the Prime Naaru being the first to form and assumed to have been created by Elune.

[JDBlou]

If Beledar is indeed Azerite, that's a very interesting twist. Especially when it is named in the usual Draenei fashion.

Does that mean that Naaru come from AZEROTH?

Or are we seeing the Light crystal within Azeroth and she has crystals attuned to every magic? Fel, Life etc

Bereldar was named by the Arathi, and seems to mean "The Emperor's Vision"

"While caught in a tempest above the Storming Sea, the Third Fleet became enveloped in Holy Light. In a flash, the light transported the entire fleet underground, into Hallowfall. Those who survived the resulting crash settled in the cavern under the light of the crystal they named Beledar, which they interpreted as the Emperor's Vision and the fulfillment of the prophesied star."

Source: https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Beledar

So it appears to just be some co-incidental naming but who knows maybe the Arathi language is based on Naaru language, given how light-focused they are? So in a circular fashion both interpretations can be true?

[AOL Instant Messenger]

The first warcraft game features an alien invasion. Prog Rock also includes a lot of cosmic stuff. Warcraft is He-man fantasy, even if people forget He-man starts with he-man's mother being an american astronaut that gets stranded on Eternia. And I don't agree with the shadowlands takeaway that people didn't respond well to cosmic themes: The theming was fine; the storytelling & mechanics were bad.

I actually strongly agree with this. He-Man fantasy is a very good way of categorizing the original genre of WoW and making clearer what I contrast it with when I talk about "tonal modernism". It's a very particular kind of fantasy where the anachronisms are more palatable and thematic, as opposed to being totally incongruous and damaging to the fantasy (e.g. selfie cameras, which deviate because they're strongly rooted in a modern cultural trend even if selfies technically predate the current conception of them and because they are a kind of civilian amenity that executed in such a way that it takes you out of the fantasy more than, say, a tram). I've also always genuinely like high-concept WoW—TBC, as bad as the story itself was, was pretty aesthetically suitable to the setting and felt like a reasonable implementation of those cosmic elements into WoW. Shadowlands' core problems were (1) its possibly accidental existential nihilism and (2) its absolutely horrendous, incongruous aesthetic.

[Kiivar86]

Where's this Beledar info coming from? Is it the weekly quest?

Also another cat mount I see. They must've been sitting on that one for ages.

Also the silhouette for the zodiac mount, next year's a snake with the wood element and that does look kinda snake-y.

[Raetary]

Bereldar was named by the Arathi, and seems to mean "The Emperor's Vision"
snip

So it appears to just be some co-incidental naming but who knows maybe the Arathi language is based on Naaru language, given how light-focused they are? So in a circular fashion both interpretations can be true?

They named it after the Emperor's vision of a falling star.
So i would infer that "Beledar" is the name of the star and they got the name from the vision.

As for the new infodump, very interesting developments.
Guess the new island the goblins found isn't the top of Beledar but another crystal entirely.

As for Beledar itself, i don't think we should now immediately take this info for granted.

It's a wholly cut and refined crystal, covered in Naaru runes and sticks out of the cave ceiling as it would by falling through it rather than naturally forming from it.
The Emperor's vision also has it fall onto Azeroths surface.

[Cheezits]

If there is really a "goblin crystal island", it is either a minizone before Undermine or, sadly, the PVE area attached to an Underrmine raid or megadungeon.

Maybe the island is Kezan?? No idea why they wouldn't say that outright.

[huth]

If there is really a "goblin crystal island", it is either a minizone before Undermine or, sadly, the PVE area attached to an Underrmine raid or megadungeon.

Maybe the island is Kezan?? No idea why they wouldn't say that outright.

I don't see Kezan making sense for the mystery island. The way they speak about it, the place is way smaller with its main feature being that abandoned mine. Kezan would also be way to far away for a journey there from the Isle making much sense, and it's hardly abandoned.

[Thomir]

That's kind of lame. I was hoping it would be the Light equivalent of an Old God. Guess we're going back to Goblins mining azerite ...

[huth]

It's a wholly cut and refined crystal, covered in Naaru runes and sticks out of the cave ceiling as it would by falling through it rather than naturally forming from it.
The Emperor's vision also has it fall onto Azeroths surface.

I wonder... could it be that rather than smashing into the cave from above, could it have been flung against the ceiling from below? Based on its full design, it seems the majority of the crystal is visible.

[Marlamin]

It's a wholly cut and refined crystal, covered in Naaru runes and sticks out of the cave ceiling as it would by falling through it rather than naturally forming from it.

Blizzard called it a "Naaru Crystal" internally during concepting the zone, so I'd say it being that is pretty much solidified at this point (unless plans changed).

[Viridiel]

That's kind of lame. I was hoping it would be the Light equivalent of an Old God. Guess we're going back to Goblins mining azerite ...

It still might be. Calcified to me invokes the image of something having been grown over, in this case seemingly something that produces a huge amount of Light. My thinking is that regular Old Gods seeds attract the energies of a planet to create a tumour that eventually grows into an Old God, whereas an Old God seed captured by the Light instead attracts the energies to create a calcification that spreads into veins of crystals instead of flesh. When one of these crystals is broken apart, it creates the naaru which come to sing their own song instead of just resonating with the worldsoul's. If the seed inside the crystals dies or is otherwise made dormant, its veins become ley lines and the crystals themselves become ley line nexuses. Beneath the Sunwell is a Beledar-like crystal that's been shifting between Light and Void in resonance with Beledar, but it's been kept a secret and blamed on Alleria and the void elves.

[Telogrus]

Any new info from the weekly quest?

[Eldryth]

Any new info from the weekly quest?

Yeah, that's where the talk about Beledar possibly being from the Worldsoul rather than an external Light thing comes from.

https://www.wowhead.com/news/the-cor...47720#comments

[Nibelheimy]

I'll be really shocked if the Beledar has indeed just calcified into the earth at this point, although I agree it definitely looks like impact marks around it, would the earth not crack if something was to have grown within it?

Maybe the falling star is yet to come? I can't remember the description of the Emperors vision at this time, but could the star be a fallen Naaru (void) falling from space into the Sunwell?

I agree it is still open ended at this time, and there is a chance the Beledar is different from the other new mentioned crystals, but it does feel strange to introduce new Azerite crystals and associate it within the characters mind as the Beledar, if its not to be so.

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Thinking more, its really strange to have this crystal be essentially Azerite, when none of the Azerite veins in BFA had any voice influence despite N'zoth returning and influencing the world at that time.

With what we know about Naaru transitioning to void when damaged, it would make perfect sense with the Beledar being a dimensional ship akin to the Genedar and Xenedar. It crash landed and ported the Arathi down to it, then after the sword impacted the planet it damaged the Naaru within who is fighting transitioning fully into void. (or is turning to void, but being healed by other occupants within the ship)

If it is to just be a big coalescence of world soul energy in the form of a big ol' crystal, its a really strange choice in my opinion.

[OCoyne]

Thinking more, its really strange to have this crystal be essentially Azerite, when none of the Azerite veins in BFA had any voice influence despite N'zoth returning and influencing the world at that time.

Looking back The Heart of Azeroth was basically a conduit between the worldsoul and mortals.

I'm okay with the fact she represents all 6 cosmic forces. It does explain why Sargeras is hell bent on destroying Azeroth, the Burning legion mission has always been to destroy a world soul which can be tainted by the void and showing it's void-form obviously set the green light for the latest Burning Legion invasion and why he attacked her in desperation. I'm seeing very similar writing to FF14 where you have Azeroth acting as Hydalen, Sergeras as the Ascians and Dimenius as Zodiark.

What I absolute hate however is the Crystals being glorified Azerite. It feels like we're back in BFA pre-patch again.

But I don't fully understand now is Azeorth a heel world soul or a face one? Because of her ability to represent the Void she will always be a magnet for evil forces - When the crystal turns people it's not just the forces of the void she's attracting but also the fel who's mission is to rid of the void in a completely insane way.

[Khaza-R]

We already knew Xenedar was made of Argunite which is implied to be the crystalized blood of Argus's worldsoul. So the only thing that would be strange here is if Beledar is actually made of Azerite and not from some other worldsoul that crashed into Azeroth. The whole report could just explaining Naaru ships are made from worldsoul chunks.

Also I found it intresting that the early concept of the Xenedar its called "the Benodar".

[Nibelheimy]

Looking over the crystal now, when It turns from light to void and vice versa you can quite clearly see Naaru looking runes on it. One of them I'm pretty certain is usable as a head rune customization by lightforged Draenei.

I find it hard to believe this specific crystal is naturally formed. Albeit, this is a fantasy universe so anything goes. But do crystals tend to form alone this way naturally?

But if the crystal is to be a naturally formed thing from Worldsoul essence, why is it primarily light? I was okay with the idea of a Worldsoul being a primordial energy that could be influenced by any of the six forces. I liked the idea of the greater beings of the Light sending Naaru ships across the universe to reach planets and preach the ways of the light as a mirror to the void lords flinging old gods across space to infest planets.

Also, while different people's can have similar language. Calling it freaking Beledar if its not a Naaru ship is weird. We have the concept art of the crystal with a doorway, we have the Naaru ship naming convention, we have interviews were it was stated that the Hallowfall crystal is the falling star the emperor saw in his vision, it turns to void like an injured Naaru but only after the sword hit the planet, it has Naaru runes on it. If it's an azerite crystal, some plans have changed here.

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We already knew Xenedar was made of Argunite which is implied to be the crystalized blood of Argus's worldsoul. So the only thing that would be strange here is if Beledar is actually made of Azerite and not from some other worldsoul that crashed into Azeroth. The whole report could just explaining Naaru ships are made from worldsoul chunks.

Also I found it intresting that the early concept of the Xenedar its called "the Benodar".

I'm not so sure on that, the Xenedar split from the Genedar after the Naaru arrive on Argus and leave to rescue Velen and the Draenei from the planet. I don't think it would be possible for it to have been made of chunks of Argus Worldsoul essence because the ship existed (to our knowledge anyway) before arrival on Argus.

I don't hate the idea of the Naaru ships being made of Worldsoul crystals, maybe the Beledar is yet to be made into one? but I dislike the idea of the planet having already cosmic influenced power crystals growing in it. I don't want to go to an island in TLT and it has a big green fel crystal in it because 'Azeroth is made of all cosmic forces, but this one is bad, the light ones are okay though.'

My other gripe is there is no blue azerite tinge in the Beledar. Nah, I don't buy it at all. I'm gunna be stuck on team Beleder is a Naaru ship and I pray we don't get put into cut content wow hell.

- so presumably this next patch with the' goblin crystal' will be our forbidden reach styled zone for the patch cadence? I have to say as others have said, it will be pretty anticlimactic if this is just a zone with goblins mining a separate crystal.

At least if its the top of the Beledar there's some kind of interest there. Will they mine and discover an entrance to inside it? Do we have to stop them mining it before the crystal falls from the ceiling of Hallowfall into the abyss below? (Falling star? Underwater patch incoming)

If its just a seperate large Azerite crystal, I'm not really sure what story we can expect from it. Its unlikely to be Kaja'mite, because the crystal is scaring people away right? It's not making them smarter. I really REALLY hope it isn't a maw coloured spooky 'death crystal'. (can you even imagine right?)

We already had Azerite in BFA, they didn't really do it justice. I don't think I'd like to see it again with this level of scale. It was okay to have it a little bit with playable Earthern. I've gone from loving to being incredibly scared of giant crystals in one day.