Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Nightshade711]

Don't forget that originally they said "sometimes a faction won't get an AR" and the original Zandalari counterpart was Dark Iron.

KTs were never meant to be an AR originally. I'm glad we got another unique rig out of it, but it obviously wasn't worth it based on reception.

I think KTs would be better if their gut was slimmed down a bit. The texture warping is just bad.

[Mecheon]

Don't forget that originally they said "sometimes a faction won't get an AR" and the original Zandalari counterpart was Dark Iron.

KTs were never meant to be an AR originally. I'm glad we got another unique rig out of it, but it obviously wasn't worth it based on reception.

You can see the moment the ARs changed roughly around in the betas when vulpera got their switch from NPC only models to player ones and they accidentally got flagged playable, that's when they were finalised by I reckon

Mag'har also weren't supposed to be one originally, that's why the mag'har scenario unlock is in beta Gor'grond

[Cheezits]

I think KTs would be better if their gut was slimmed down a bit. The texture warping is just bad.

I think they are interesting as an inbetween on Humans and Vrykul, but Vrykul should definitely be around by now for the "big human, no strings attached" vibe.

And they will probably be playable in TLT. Honestly, both Midnight and TLT (and 11.2, if you believe Ethereals will be playable) seem to be heavily based around race requests. Helf and Amani (and Broken cus TBC) and then Vrykul.

Honestly wouldn't be surprised if the idea of "Outlands dies" comes into play during Midnight as it would be a convenient excuse to shuffle more Broken, Outland Mag'har, Ogres and Corrupted Arrakoa into Azeroth.

[Teriz]

Personally, I just think the reason it is taking so long for certain combos (like Night Elf Paladin) is because Blizzard is going to just release classes to all races like they did priest/warlock/mage. But obviously they need assets for the remaining races.

Would be cool if the Gnome Moonkin form was them inside a mech. Feel it could use the Mechagon robot models like this:

Nothing says nature magic/animal shapeshifter like sitting inside a giant mech....

[Khaza-R]

I think KTs would be better if their gut was slimmed down a bit. The texture warping is just bad.

Not to continue to harp on this but I do think its funny some people talk about how bad the Naga leg/boot textures look and argue they shouldn't be added because of it.

Meanwhile if you've played a male KT or Panderan you know how truly awful most non-3d chest pieces look on them. Now imagine that on an ogre and it would be like 5x worse. So bad that if they were ever added I wouldn't be surprised if the chest mog is disabled.

[milkmustache]

Kul Tirans are a weird case where they wanted to add another human kingdom but felt obligated to give them an AR to match the Zandalari. They were obviously just based off the alpha human models where they had different body types. It was less of an active choice and more, lets cobble this shit together and call it an AR.

It's also strange because the thin human model just never went anywhere, but is used just as much as the larger Kul Tiran model. Just another thing that overhauling character customization would help. Give the thin human rig a female counterpart and give humans 3 body types.

[Nightshade711]

Nothing says nature magic/animal shapeshifter like sitting inside a giant mech....

Nothing says elemental magic/Spiritual leader like drills and pumps


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Not to continue to harp on this but I do think its funny some people talk about how bad the Naga leg/boot textures look and argue they shouldn't be added because of it.

Meanwhile if you've played a male KT or Panderan you know how truly awful most non-3d chest pieces look on them. Now imagine that on an ogre and it would be like 5x worse. So bad that if they were ever added I wouldn't be surprised if the chest mog is disabled.

I think that if Naga are added they just won't be able to transmog boots.
But the thought of them just sticking a single boot on the tail is kinda funny to me.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

It's ..... literally the same model?? It's just bigger like any other boss model lol.

The difference is that Garrosh has a significantly smaller head on his model, then the flat scale was increased—the result looks like a normal-sized head on a big orc body instead of a small head on a regular orc body. Adapting his style for player use should be possible because it would just entail doing the same—shrink the head, up the flat scale of the player model, the illusion of a bulkier orc is complete.

[Teriz]

Nothing says elemental magic/Spiritual leader like drills and pumps

Those are totems, which can be anything from wooden sticks, to hollowed out bones, to crystal pylons, to metal axes. They're simply conduits of elemental power.

There's a big difference between that, and having a class that shape shifts into animals via nature magic turn into giant mech suits via nature magic. The thematics simply don't work.

[Nightshade711]

Those are totems, which can be anything from wooden sticks, to hollowed out bones, to crystal pylons, to metal axes. They're simply conduits of elemental power.

There's a big difference between that, and having a class that shape shifts into animals via nature magic turn into giant mech suits via nature magic. The thematics simply don't work.

We get it you want Tinkers & hate everything tech related that isn't Tinker.

Gnomes already have lore of using tech to channel/use different types of magic & you have Goblins doing the same with their totems.
This won't be that different and would be thematic for a potential Gnome/Mechagnome druid. I don't see anything else that'd match their themes

[AOL Instant Messenger]

We get it you want Tinkers & hate everything tech related that isn't Tinker.

Gnomes already have lore of using tech to channel/use different types of magic & you have Goblins doing the same with their totems.
This won't be that different and would be thematic for a potential Gnome/Mechagnome druid. I don't see anything else that'd match their themes

I actually have to agree with Teriz here—a Boomkin mechsuit is pretty thematically ridiculous compared to the more plausible explanation behind Goblin shamans. The lore justifying using technology to soft-subjugate elementals into unfavorable deals is significantly more justifiable and combines the racial and class identity much better than a druidic mechsuit.

[Nightshade711]

I actually have to agree with Teriz here—a Boomkin mechsuit is pretty thematically ridiculous compared to the more plausible explanation behind Goblin shamans. The lore justifying using technology to soft-subjugate elementals into unfavorable deals is significantly more justifiable and combines the racial and class identity much better than a druidic mechsuit.

What forms would Mechagnome/Gnome/Goblins druids get in that case. (Going with the idea that Midnight won't release with a race/class but would expand Paladins/Druids/Shamans to everyone)
They don't really have any non-mechanical animals tied to their race or culture like most of the other races do tbh.

[Polybius]

We get it you want Tinkers & hate everything tech related that isn't Tinker.

Gnomes already have lore of using tech to channel/use different types of magic & you have Goblins doing the same with their totems.
This won't be that different and would be thematic for a potential Gnome/Mechagnome druid. I don't see anything else that'd match their themes

Gnome druids would look so much better as garden gnomes.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

What forms would Mechagnome/Gnome/Goblins druids get in that case. (Going with the idea that Midnight won't release with a race/class but would expand Paladins/Druids/Shamans to everyone)
They don't really have any non-mechanical animals tied to their race or culture like most of the other races do tbh.

What you'd want to do is actually tangibly connect the race and class fantasies. What I propose is this, since it actually integrates the class identity in any way.

For goblins: an Ancient died a long, long time ago, and its magical essence still exists — in a hideously perverted form — in the oil its corpse became. The Goblins dredged up this special oil, characteristically went a little mad with power, and started a cult around ingesting it—instead of destroying their health, it imparted a twisted and warped version of the Ancient's power (and visage) on the goblins. These goblins' animal forms don't look like normal animals at all, but instead various different kinds of hideous goblin/fish hybrids, smeared in oil and covered in plastic flotsam etc.

For gnomes: this is harder to justify because gnomes are more one-note than goblins, and I think it should frankly just showcase why it's an absolutely terrible idea to extend druids to all races. However, if I absolutely had to come up with an idea, I think it would go like this: some gnomish scientists were horrified by the environmental destruction wrought on Azeroth by the invasions of numerous consecutive baddies, and they wanted to help reforest Azeroth with new, hardier plantlife. To do this, they went to their species' forebear Mirmiron and convinced him to hook them up with Eonar, who — being herself a piece of technology used to preserve nature — enthusiastically agreed to help. The gnomish animal forms invoke Eonar and Mirmiron's combined influence, not being animals at all but instead various arrangements of flowery plantlife looking like something out of Sholozar Basin.

Both of these are far more interesting and do far better at integrating druid lore with those races while remaining thematically-distinct.

[Hitei]

I actually have to agree with Teriz here—a Boomkin mechsuit is pretty thematically ridiculous compared to the more plausible explanation behind Goblin shamans. The lore justifying using technology to soft-subjugate elementals into unfavorable deals is significantly more justifiable and combines the racial and class identity much better than a druidic mechsuit.

That isn't really any different than the same sort of technology doing the same thing but with life magic.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

That isn't really any different than the same sort of technology doing the same thing but with life magic.

See above, where I demonstrate how you can make a thematically-unique gnome or goblin druid (even with the understanding it's a generally bad idea that shouldn't be done).

[Eldryth]

I admire the creativity but I think Blizz wants the class combos to still reflect on the origins of the class in lore- so if Gnome druids happened, they would truly be Gnomes turning into natural animals.

What you posted would likely be allowed through a certain class rhyming with Finker.

While I agree that a full mech would be a bit too much of a thematic departure from Druids, they did already stray pretty heavily from that theme with Kul'Tirans using wicker constructs. I could see Gnomes (and Goblins) changing into robotic replicas of animals and Moonkin.

[Monkal]

What you'd want to do is actually tangibly connect the race and class fantasies. What I propose is this, since it actually integrates the class identity in any way.

For goblins: an Ancient died a long, long time ago, and its magical essence still exists — in a hideously perverted form — in the oil its corpse became. The Goblins dredged up this special oil, characteristically went a little mad with power, and started a cult around ingesting it—instead of destroying their health, it imparted a twisted and warped version of the Ancient's power (and visage) on the goblins. These goblins' animal forms don't look like normal animals at all, but instead various different kinds of hideous goblin/fish hybrids, smeared in oil and covered in plastic flotsam etc.

For gnomes: this is harder to justify because gnomes are more one-note than goblins, and I think it should frankly just showcase why it's an absolutely terrible idea to extend druids to all races. However, if I absolutely had to come up with an idea, I think it would go like this: some gnomish scientists were horrified by the environmental destruction wrought on Azeroth by the invasions of numerous consecutive baddies, and they wanted to help reforest Azeroth with new, hardier plantlife. To do this, they went to their species' forebear Mirmiron and convinced him to hook them up with Eonar, who — being herself a piece of technology used to preserve nature — enthusiastically agreed to help. The gnomish animal forms invoke Eonar and Mirmiron's combined influence, not being animals at all but instead various arrangements of flowery plantlife looking like something out of Sholozar Basin.

Both of these are far more interesting and do far better at integrating druid lore with those races while remaining thematically-distinct.

This sounds good af.

[Thomir]

They should just make gnomes less "one-note." There could be a sect that rejects technology and opts for simpler living. I guess there's the sand gnomes ... whatever they are ...

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I mean, they don't even have to reject technology. They could just have a hyper fixation on ecology and growing shit.

[Nightshade711]

I'm firmly against the idea of all playable races gaining access to every class. That sort of approach just culls any unique cultural and racial elements in a setting.

Tbh that ship has already sailed with Night Elf, Mag’har, and Lightforged Draenei Warlocks - would be weird to stop halfway.
(Hell even Warlocks were expelled from Suramar in lore based on one of the books)

Besides, there are always going to be outliers in a society. Hince why outside of players we’ve only seen one Lightforged Warlock as an example.

I don’t really see how it would “cull any unique cultural and racial elements in the setting” anyways tbh.