Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[micwini]

https://www.mmo-champion.com/content...dio-Log-Part-1

Edit: It seems there's a 2nd one coming soon.

That post was from 19 hours ago. I saw another instance of this mod message from 4 hours ago and that one is at 48%. This means an increase of 6% in 15 hours. So roughly 0.4% per hour.
This means roughly 130 hours left from that point, so 126 hours from now, which is around 5,25 days.

Based on this I'm assuming the next audio fragment/clue is next monday.

[Enrif]

Meaning, there is no "worgen in human form" model for Gilneans that weren't bitten, like Tess, Godfrey or Liam.
And technically a worgen transformation sequence would look identical if a Stormwind human were to transform.
Do I have that right?

I'm just asking cause I very much believe that worgen form is something more races should be capable of.

yes. in the modelviewer you can look up the human animations and have the slow transformation where the hands got replaced by worgen arms (bugs out and the character just loses the arms in the modelviewer). But outside of that animation, the human and worgen form are separate.

[Cheezits]

That post was from 19 hours ago. I saw another instance of this mod message from 4 hours ago and that one is at 48%. This means an increase of 6% in 15 hours. So roughly 0.4% per hour.
This means roughly 130 hours left from that point, so 126 hours from now, which is around 5,25 days.

Based on this I'm assuming the next audio fragment/clue is next monday.

If this thing is really intended to go past the patch launch, I can see it building to Ethereal reveal before the Midnight stream (as it would be 11.2.5, not Midnight, and they'll be marketing the new expansion).

Maybe whatever this is (puzzle, dripfeed arg) "unlocks" the 11.2.5 patch notes?

[milkmustache]

If this thing is really intended to go past the patch launch, I can see it building to Ethereal reveal before the Midnight stream (as it would be 11.2.5, not Midnight, and they'll be marketing the new expansion).

Maybe whatever this is (puzzle, dripfeed arg) "unlocks" the 11.2.5 patch notes?

Maybe we end up unlocking communication with the Protectorate or some ethereal cartel that's missing from K'aresh right now, who becomes playable?

Highly unlikely additional thought; it'd be really cool if this is a continuation of the last 3 orbs from Ratt's Revenge and it plays out to show Karazhan having more magical activity than before, or something along the lines, revealing it as a dungeon or raid yet again in Midnight with the return of Medivh.

[13last]

That post was from 19 hours ago. I saw another instance of this mod message from 4 hours ago and that one is at 48%. This means an increase of 6% in 15 hours. So roughly 0.4% per hour.
This means roughly 130 hours left from that point, so 126 hours from now, which is around 5,25 days.

Based on this I'm assuming the next audio fragment/clue is next monday.

Now this is why I come here. Kidding but it makes sense to release a day before patch. Then again the secret finding discord teased something for Friday so it seems unrelated to the audio logs.

Pretty much why I wrote that one off. Seems too much like a bunch of educated guesses. Real leaks tend to have something that sounds bizarre at first because we have no context for it.

I mean I don't think this leak is real (way to much detail unless Blizzard themselves leaked it) but I wouldn't bet money against it, most leaks happen like this and we just say no way.

[Cheezits]

I went back to the audio logs and noted the subtitles call the speaker Lora. That name doesn't appear in the novella or the database.

She comes from Sufaad which is partially an area of Karesh on the map, filled with now-crazy Wastelanders. However it is North Sufaad... so what happened to the South?

https://static.icy-veins.com/wp/wp-c...6/hAXq5qP.webp

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I'm just asking cause I very much believe that worgen form is something more races should be capable of.

In theory all races would look the same as worgen, night elfs and humans are the exact same.

[Timester]

I went back to the audio logs and noted the subtitles call the speaker Lora. That name doesn't appear in the novella or the database.

She comes from Sufaad which is partially an area of Karesh on the map, filled with now-crazy Wastelanders. However it is North Sufaad... so what happened to the South?

https://static.icy-veins.com/wp/wp-c...6/hAXq5qP.webp

Easy, got destroyed/eaten.

[Wangming]

In theory all races would look the same as worgen, night elfs and humans are the exact same.

That would be fun for gnomes and goblins

But this just relates to how I view the worgen condition should be used in game. A pretty much cosmetic choice with no real difference is not it.

[Cheezits]

Easy, got destroyed/eaten.

Just think it's interesting that they bothered to name it like that.

[micwini]

If this thing is really intended to go past the patch launch, I can see it building to Ethereal reveal before the Midnight stream (as it would be 11.2.5, not Midnight, and they'll be marketing the new expansion).

Maybe whatever this is (puzzle, dripfeed arg) "unlocks" the 11.2.5 patch notes?

Sombra announcement flashbacks

[FossilFree]

you mean like Cata, where we go back in time to get the dragon soul?

Could work as part of the main story. Could also time travel back to get Anveena as avatar of the Sunwell back, or travel to the arrival of the highborne and get a drop from the original waters from the well of eternity. With time travel there are many options on the table.

That's true. A lot of possibilities there.

It got me thinking too. We have never had a proper time travel expansion. We had WoD, but an alternate universe isn't really time travel, even if there are some thematic similarities. We have had times where we have time traveled for a quest or something, but never have we had an entire expansion about it. They told us we would be going to Quel'thalas, but they never said when that would be. We assume that it will be in the current time, but what if it was a clever bit of wordplay?

Going back in time to see WC2 era Silvermoon and Zul'Aman would be a pretty epic experience, especially for long time fans that have been around since the beginning.

[Wangming]

That's true. A lot of possibilities there.

It got me thinking too. We have never had a proper time travel expansion. We had WoD, but an alternate universe isn't really time travel, even if there are some thematic similarities. We have had times where we have time traveled for a quest or something, but never have we had an entire expansion about it. They told us we would be going to Quel'thalas, but they never said when that would be. We assume that it will be in the current time, but what if it was a clever bit of wordplay?

Going back in time to see WC2 era Silvermoon and Zul'Aman would be a pretty epic experience, especially for long time fans that have been around since the beginning.

Peope have a kneejerk reaction against time travel because that was the plot of WoD, even when it was explicitly a different timeline, and not ours, like in the case of Cata.
But literally every kind of storyline can be done well or terribly. It's all up to the writer.

[Makorus]

I feel like the problem of WoD wasn't timetravel, it was the whole "One Legion" thing it introduced because quite frankly, that had to be one of the worst things ever introduced in WoW. It works fine for beings like Titans, but someone like Kil'jaeden who exists uncorrupted in a different universe, but then also someone only exists one Corrupted just doesn't really make sense.

Then again, Warcraft still has a problem with timetravel, because the War of the Ancients trilogy literally makes no sense (along with many other problems), and kinda damages the whole Night Elf-Orc dynamic and I would hope that Blizzard would just retcon it, but alas, they didn't.

[Wangming]

I feel like the problem of WoD wasn't timetravel, it was the whole "One Legion" thing it introduced because quite frankly, that had to be one of the worst things ever introduced in WoW. It works fine for beings like Titans, but someone like Kil'jaeden who exists uncorrupted in a different universe, but then also someone only exists one Corrupted just doesn't really make sense.

Then again, Warcraft still has a problem with timetravel, because the War of the Ancients trilogy literally makes no sense (along with many other problems), and kinda damages the whole Night Elf-Orc dynamic and I would hope that Blizzard would just retcon it, but alas, they didn't.

I feel like the problem was the godawful patch cadence, but whatevs. It is true that WarCraft story was never more than pulpy slop, so plotholes are bound to happen. But even pulpy slop has levels. I mean, it matters which Transformers movie we are talking about.

[Makorus]

I feel like the problem was the godawful patch cadence, but whatevs. It is true that WarCraft story was never more than pulpy slop, so plotholes are bound to happen. But even pulpy slop has levels. I mean, it matters which Transformers movie we are talking about.

I mean, obviously I am not talking about gameplay (although I will defend that Warlords was the best expansion to raidlog, because the raids are still the undeniably best raids in the game, there just wasn't anything else, plus it introduced Timewalking).

The problem isn't so much "plotholes", because what franchise doesn't have plotholes, it's just the weakest point of storytelling WoW has ever reached. I don't really wanna be a cinemasins-esque nitpicky loser, because I hate that, but if you think about the whole Legion thing for more than two seconds, you'd realise it doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

[Cheezits]

Going back in time to see WC2 era Silvermoon and Zul'Aman would be a pretty epic experience, especially for long time fans that have been around since the beginning.

I think it was mentioned at launch that it would be modern day Quel'thalas, because people were confused by the wording. A time travel area would be a great raid or megadungeon.

[Limayria]

People keep saying this but I think this would become a lot more offputting for new players. Suddenly you have to take a lore quiz to make your character. This isn't fun or helpful for someone who has no frame of reference for these things.

You wouldn't have to take a "lore quiz" you'd just read things and choose what resonates with you the most, like new players are already going to do

[Eldryth]

That's true. A lot of possibilities there.

It got me thinking too. We have never had a proper time travel expansion. We had WoD, but an alternate universe isn't really time travel, even if there are some thematic similarities. We have had times where we have time traveled for a quest or something, but never have we had an entire expansion about it. They told us we would be going to Quel'thalas, but they never said when that would be. We assume that it will be in the current time, but what if it was a clever bit of wordplay?

Going back in time to see WC2 era Silvermoon and Zul'Aman would be a pretty epic experience, especially for long time fans that have been around since the beginning.

While a time travel expansion can be good- certainly can be better than WoD- it's really hard to imagine any way that could fit with the hooks we have for Midnight.

Midnight's supposedly about reuniting the Elven tribes who wouldn't even have been divided in WC2 era, and fighting off a Void invasion that's coming in the present. Neither of those plotlines would make sense if we're time traveling.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

To be fair, Warlords premise was not followed up on and instead they just pivoted to using AU Gul'dan to get them to Legion.

In general I think they just want Midnight to be a "Member elves?" / "Big bombastic Light vs Void" (Probably just Void since they don't have time for anything like adding Light to the picture, lmao).
But yeah, I don't know we operate on such a tight and small Game Model that doesn't really allow for vast scope and even with a vast scope it will just be bad because of the limiters on getting Narrative successes.