Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Foolicious]

Or the Void Lords are not working together. ONE of them gets to possess Azeroth and become the Dark Titan, not all of them. They are inherently in competition, no?

Also this could mean that the Void Lord the ethereals are serving is the one we face in the final raid of the expansion, leaving Xal'atath and Dimensius for Midnight. They are the ones who got the Dark Heart after all.

Would make sense since the old gods behave very similar. They all have the same goal, but still fight against each other to be the one corrupting azeroth.

[Khaza-R]

Would make sense since the old gods behave very similar. They all have the same goal, but still fight against each other to be the one corrupting azeroth.

Also Xal just flat out says this is the rule of the Void. Only the strongest survive.

Which also makes me think her goal isn't so simple as summoning Dimensius to Azeroth so he can gobble up the worldsoul. Maybe the Dark Heart is actually intended to be used on him?

[Enrif]

Had a bit of a wander around Undermine, and Gallywix's notes are interesting. Obviously how he talks about witholding the Dark Heart from Xal'atath until he manages to make weapons in order to not be easily disposed of. But also how he mentions a trump card of sorts to ensure she doesnt double cross him. Something separate from the Black Blood weaponry his goons are using, and which he pursued specifically to take over Undermine.

yeah, the note is interesting: https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Gallywix%27s_Notes

This stupid thing. The Black Blood is easy enough to distill. But no matter how much I use on the Dark Heart, it won't heal. It keeps taking more and more and depleting MY reserves.

What good is this deal if I don't get anything out of it?

I told Xal'atath I need more. More time, Black Blood, and more help. She pointed me to a place where I can all that. Bonus, just the guy I need's in the area. I can fix her trinket, make enough weapons to take over Undermine, and more.

She's too impatient. I gotta look out for my interests. I heard what happened with her other allies and I ain't no sap. That Dark Heart gets fixed when I got the gear to protect what's mine.

She thinks she hold all the cards, but I got an ace or two.

It lacks any notion of Gallywix double crossing Xal. Just that he doesn't want to be double crossed and protects his interest. So, i assume he was willing to give the dark heart when pressured. So i still don't see the need to steal it, like it was by Azir. Also, Azir didn't said a single word when he took the Dark Heart. Not something like "the Harbinger is waiting" or anything. Just pure silence while freezing Gallywix in place and telekinetically moving the dark heart.

[Auxis]

Just a random thought while I wait for the Pokemon Presents: what if the Beledar's cycle's is a void lord trying to manifest? There's been talks about it possibly being a naaru teetering on transformation, as 'Beledar' has a similar naming convention to the dimensional ships (Genedar, Exodar, Xenedar); but given it's practically a... given, that the crystal is one of the crystals that Azeroth sent out and thus the radiance comes from Azeroth's own energies I don't think a naaru is the case anymore unless one is in there for some reason.

So maybe a void lord is attempting to manifest in Beledar, and that way it is SIGNIFICANTLY close to the World Soul. It's practically next door to a highway to the core.

This of course relies on whether the manifestation is similar enough to what happened when Dimensius manifested at K'aresh. K'aresh had void and arcane portals rip open around the planet (which could be because it happened in the Great Dark Beyond and not inside the planet itself), while the Beledar cycles just has heaps of void entities spawning around Hallowfall.

[Nymrohd]

Btw having the Contract be available with just Renown 5 is kind of genious on their part. Now if you are a nolife grinder, you have an incentive to complete every single world quest on the map.

[Cheezits]

Curious about two things:

I told Xal'atath I need more. More time, Black Blood, and more help. She pointed me to a place where I can all that. Bonus, just the guy I need's in the area. I can fix her trinket, make enough weapons to take over Undermine, and more.

What was Gallywix referring to here? And what exactly IS Kajamite if it can stabilize Black Blood? Is it going to end up being chunks of another Beledar?

[Lady Atia]

Btw having the Contract be available with just Renown 5 is kind of genious on their part. Now if you are a nolife grinder, you have an incentive to complete every single world quest on the map.

Idk, I would rather have a contract for the specific cartels since you need to get paragon rep for some mounts from them.

[Nymrohd]

Curious about two things:



What was Gallywix referring to here? And what exactly IS Kajamite if it can stabilize Black Blood? Is it going to end up being chunks of another Beledar?

Kaja'mite is probably some form of Azerite. So yeah, similar to the Beledar. Alternatively it is something like the Apexis crystals. Apexis Crystals are Void and Light fused together with the Arcane and had a very similar effect to Kajamite. Though by the original lore, that's what world souls are, Light and Void clashing and concentrating. So either it is actual Azerite, or artificial Azerite.

[JMitchy96]

Curious about two things:



What was Gallywix referring to here? And what exactly IS Kajamite if it can stabilize Black Blood? Is it going to end up being chunks of another Beledar?

Probably the area in the Ringing Deeps they broke into whey're they're harvesting all the Black Blood if I was to guess.

[milkmustache]

I'm not sure where I land with Azir being allied with Xal'atath or not, but they're certainly making things blurry for a reason I think.

If it's not going to be in TWW, then I believe at some point in Midnight we'll see some form of inter-Void conflict that we'll have to take advantage of. I think this war is far bigger than we imagine, further past just Xal'atath vying for the worldsoul, and we'll be seeing that come into play.

It'd be really, really fun to see different factions within the Void forces all fighting for supremacy as they wage war on us. Xal'atath's Shadowguard vs Azir's Shadowguard vs Old God Loyalists, etc. A starting zone/encounter for a potential Ethereal race where the player is part of the Protectorate and infiltrates the Shadowguard's ranks before joining the heroes of Azeroth would be such a cool concept.

[NineSpine]

The real irony here is that the devs themselves credit the game's ongoing success with its willingness to evolve.

https://www.videogamer.com/features/...ess-to-evolve/

It turns out that what people mean when they say that "retail is stale," is actually that devs haven't listened to their super-specific, super idealistic suggestions on how the game should be developed. The game is successful in spite of them, and that makes them all the more inclined to seek validation for their (often terrible) opinions about how the game should be designed.

I know that you personally regard the wow retail developers as infallible gods, but them saying "We do a good job" is not an argument for anything. Elon Musk thinks he does a good job. If someone presented that as an argument for how awesome he is, would you seriously consider it? Or would you tell that person to get their face out of his ass?

[Joshuaj]

I know that you personally regard the wow retail developers as infallible gods, but them saying "We do a good job" is not an argument for anything. Elon Musk thinks he does a good job. If someone presented that as an argument for how awesome he is, would you seriously consider it? Or would you tell that person to get their face out of his ass?

Comparing WoW devs to a "politician" is crazy.

[NineSpine]

Comparing WoW devs to a "politician" is crazy.

Do you think Elon Musk is a politician?

Compare them to anyone. This is such a silly argument. "WELL THE DEVS SAY THEY ARE DOING A GOOD JOB!" No shit? Do you know a lot of people who publicly say they are bad at their job?

WoW has stayed relatively popular because of cultural inertia. If someone says "I want to try an MMO" they try WoW because of its cultural status, just like if someone says "I want to try a JRPG" they are probably going to play the most recent Final Fantasy even if its total shit.

[Enrif]

Curious about two things:



What was Gallywix referring to here? And what exactly IS Kajamite if it can stabilize Black Blood? Is it going to end up being chunks of another Beledar?

As JMitchy96 said, it is likely the place in the Ringing Deeps, considering that Xal'atath was in that area. As for the Person? I guess the alchemist that gets killed?.

Kaja'mite is a substance that Mimiron experimented with on some small creatures and created the goblins with it. So, if it would be azeroths world essence, they would know back than with Mimiron. So it likely isn't world soul essence. It raises intelligence, which matches the description of azerite to a certain point, as Sylvanas and Anduin got many ideas when they touched it.

Perhaps, it is all connected, but not directly.

Lets say we have pure world soul essence, for sake of argument, it is pure gold in color as it formed into beledar which is pure gold . But perhaps, the world soul essence could be combined with other energies, forming other properties. Azerite, with its blue and gold could be world soul essence, that washed through the broken worldcore construction that sargeras sword damaged and gained arcane energies to it. Meanwhile, Kaja'mite could be world soul essence that traveled through roots, absorbing the energies of life, turning it green.

[Joshuaj]

Do you think Elon Musk is a politician?

Compare them to anyone. This is such a silly argument. "WELL THE DEVS SAY THEY ARE DOING A GOOD JOB!" No shit? Do you know a lot of people who publicly say they are bad at their job?

WoW has stayed relatively because of cultural inertia. If someone says "I want to try an MMO" they try WoW because of its cultural status, just like if someone says "I want to try a JRPG" they are probably going to play the most recent Final Fantasy even if its total shit.

Idk, I'd say people are playing WoW rn for more reasons than that. There's a reason why players haven't quite quit TWW yet.

Also, I quoted the politician word for a reason.

[NineSpine]

Idk, I'd say people are playing WoW rn for more reasons than that. There's a reason why players haven't quite quit TWW yet.

Also, I quoted the politician word for a reason.

There's no doubt that tons of people like retail WoW, but this game was also a cultural phenomenon that wildly, catastrophically fell off after WoTLK in terms of player numbers. We really don't know how well War Within is doing because the big falloffs usually happen in the first big patch and they are hard to read.

What I am saying is that if someone might be interested in MMOs, they are going to try WoW, and a significant portion of them are going to say "Guess MMOs aren't for me" because WoW is so bad at new player experience and so bad at being an MMO. It's kind of a black hole that sucks and obliterates the genre.

[Dracullus]

I see that smell of new patch attracts doomsayers as usual. It was cringe to say wow died with Arthas in 2012, in 2025 I'm lost for words.

[Joshuaj]

There's no doubt that tons of people like retail WoW, but this game was also a cultural phenomenon that wildly, catastrophically fell off after WoTLK in terms of player numbers. We really don't know how well War Within is doing because the big falloffs usually happen in the first big patch and they are hard to read.

What I am saying is that if someone might be interested in MMOs, they are going to try WoW, and a significant portion of them are going to say "Guess MMOs aren't for me" because WoW is so bad at new player experience and so bad at being an MMO. It's kind of a black hole that sucks and obliterates the genre.

Tbf here, people left after Wrath cause they defeated the Lich King.

Also, fair enough on the new player experience. However, it failing as an MMO? Not quite sure about this, especially since Blizzard is very clearly trying to do things for the social experience of WoW.

[Osmeric]

The real irony here is that the devs themselves credit the game's ongoing success with its willingness to evolve.

https://www.videogamer.com/features/...ess-to-evolve/

It turns out that what people mean when they say that "retail is stale," is actually that devs haven't listened to their super-specific, super idealistic suggestions on how the game should be developed. The game is successful in spite of them, and that makes them all the more inclined to seek validation for their (often terrible) opinions about how the game should be designed.

No, it means that success being due to being willing to evolve doesn't imply that any evolution leads to success. It's quite possible to evolve the game in a bad direction.

It's like when players complain about some problem, it doesn't mean that *anything* that developers do to fix that problem will be acceptable to the players. It's the difference between "necessary" and "sufficient".

[Hitei]

There's no doubt that tons of people like retail WoW, but this game was also a cultural phenomenon that wildly, catastrophically fell off after WoTLK in terms of player numbers. We really don't know how well War Within is doing because the big falloffs usually happen in the first big patch and they are hard to read.

What I am saying is that if someone might be interested in MMOs, they are going to try WoW, and a significant portion of them are going to say "Guess MMOs aren't for me" because WoW is so bad at new player experience and so bad at being an MMO. It's kind of a black hole that sucks and obliterates the genre.

The genre isn't dead because of WoW. It's dead because no part of its core identity is popular in modern gaming spaces. Just like RTS and 4X games are all but dead. People want quick join, bite-sized, actiony gameplay where consequences are significant but not persistent. They want progression to just be unlocking cosmetics, not incrementally improving character power, and they especially don't want to do things like read quests.