Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Ersula]

Or she could use whatever is left of Outland as a projectile and throw it at Azeroth.

How close do people think Draenor is to Azeroth? I don't think its in the same star system. The only reason the Draenei got there so quick is that they & the orcs both had access to Azeroth's location via the Legion's portal key. They didn't fly the Exodar directly like they did between Argus & Draenor.

Plus if the Titans spent a few centuries on Draenor looking for the Prime Worldsoul while it ends up being right next to Draenor would be silly.

Proto trolls in Avaloren? I missed this, where did it come from? Last I remember about proto trolls was pre Djaradin in DF.

The Arathi mentioned they went to war with the "savage" races that lived on Avaloren when they got there. They didn't say trolls but I imagined trolls. What else would they be?

Blizz should just make those the Harronir & would explain why the Harronir are obsessed with hiding their humanoid form from the Arathi.

[Capivara]

Probably, as they had the audacity to pick a question about them and say "uhhh they aren't in 11.2 but-". Otherwise why let the interviewer bring them up?

Do you remember in which interview it was? we have a bunch of weird shit going on arround ethereals this patch.

They better be.
And all their druid forms too.

their cat forms would be like this druid of the flame cat form, kinda.
but outside of eco-domes, they don't have this much conection to nature, do they?

[Cheezits]

How close do people think Draenor is to Azeroth? I don't think its in the same star system. The only reason the Draenei got there so quick is that they & the orcs both had access to Azeroth's location via the Legion's portal key. They didn't fly the Exodar directly like they did between Argus & Draenor.

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The Arathi mentioned they went to war with the "savage" races that lived on Avaloren when they got there. They didn't say trolls but I imagined trolls. What else would they be?

Well, the Dark Portal is still canonically open to Outland (shown with Saurfang and then all the Draes for the Tishamaat) so they may play with that concept.

[milkmustache]

Good point, but Velf already had the warp stalker hunter pet, so we could get a free Warp Stalker mount from them (the only other one is the TBC shop mount).

Considering how few K'aresh animals there are I could see them going with a TBC animal for hunters, maybe the new nether rays?

I like Warp Stalkers a lot and wish I had the TBC shop mount; that said, I'd much prefer energy camels.

Although the Delve fight with the Ethereal on a Voidwing was an incredibly badass look.

[Wangming]

How close do people think Draenor is to Azeroth? I don't think its in the same star system. The only reason the Draenei got there so quick is that they & the orcs both had access to Azeroth's location via the Legion's portal key. They didn't fly the Exodar directly like they did between Argus & Draenor.

Plus if the Titans spent a few centuries on Draenor looking for the Prime Worldsoul while it ends up being right next to Draenor would be silly.

The Arathi mentioned they went to war with the "savage" races that lived on Avaloren when they got there. They didn't say trolls but I imagined trolls. What else would they be?

Well it will be a pretty long throw in that case.

As for savage race? That's most of the races actually. For all we knew, it could be Tauren.
You know what would be funny? Pandaren. But not the peace loving Mainlanders, but actual fucking bears that tear your face off and beat you with them.

[Makorus]

There's been Ethereals living in every capital city for a long time now.

The demand for Ethereals has probably been more widespread than other races, even the people asking for another high elf race makes the rest of the playerbase cringe. I think if we don't get them as a pre-order, we get them halfway through midnight because they honestly were not anticipating how popular the idea of playable ethereals would be.

Typically the demand for certain races is very vocal but pretty niche. With Ethereals its more general. Everyone covering the game is like, "Ethereals when?"

In what universe were they not anticipating that playable Ethereals would be popular?

They were top 5 in most lists even before TWW. Which is the biggest reason that chances are, they aren't happening, because you don't make entirely new models for Ethereals, just for them not to be gear-compatible if you had even the slightest plan to make them playable.

[13last]

Ehhhh, Forsaken and Night Elf paladin is incredibly likely for Midnight, and yet the former hasn't actually been teased (just Calia) and the latter is a singular character from Legion (Delaryn). I think there will be some surprise racial combos like Belf Druid, and Troll DH would definitely fit the bill.

Also, potentially giving them a different meta form that has to do with Loa, akin to the Dinomancer Zandalari druids? Giving them eagle or dragonhawk wings for glide would be sick, or they could be lazy and say bat wings from Hireek

Agreed on Forsaken and Night Elf, I remember playing wotlk back in the day and seeing undead paladins by the argent crusade camp in Icecrown and I was instantly sold on them. Only took Blizzard a decade and a bit to potentially add them.

The more I read about your version of Troll DH the more I like it, the different forms based on the Loas sounds really really cool.

[klaussf]

https://x.com/Warcraft_ES/status/1955630461931212998

interesting gif

[Cheezits]

They were top 5 in most lists even before TWW. Which is the biggest reason that chances are, they aren't happening, because you don't make entirely new models for Ethereals, just for them not to be gear-compatible if you had even the slightest plan to make them playable.

Per the glamour timegating to 11.2.5 + general wonkiness of K'aresh smacking of limited development, it could've been a Kul Tiran/Vulpera situation where they just weren't player-ready for 11.2.

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https://x.com/Warcraft_ES/status/1955630461931212998

interesting gif

Lines up with the art they showed that Xal is making a giant Voidstorm.

Which is funny considering so many of us predicted BFA would have a giant Aszhara voidstorm... wonder if they took that idea and ran with it.

[Makorus]

Per the glamour timegating + general wonkiness of K'aresh smacking of limited development, it could've been a Kul Tiran/Vulpera situation where they just weren't ready for 11.2.

That would make NO sense from a development point of view, unless they realised after 11.1 that, oh yeah, Ethereals are really popular so let's randomly make two completely different sets of models.

It's actually the opposite of Vulpera, where they already had a completely functional model.

It's more akin to Nightborne, which, once again is different, in that 1.) they probably hadn't considered the concept of Allied Races yet, and 2.) didn't realise that Nightborne were actually become as popular as they were.

[Ersula]

Well it will be a pretty long throw in that case.

As for savage race? That's most of the races actually. For all we knew, it could be Tauren.
You know what would be funny? Pandaren. But not the peace loving Mainlanders, but actual fucking bears that tear your face off and beat you with them.

The problem there is Avaloren is a landmass that was separate from the Pre-Sundering Supercontinent, and the humanoid animal races are the result of Y'sarjj's blood being spilled by the titans at the location of the Well of Eternity. So it wouldn't make sense for them to be there, unless they have their own dead old god.

Although it was brought to my attention that isn't directly canon in official wow materials, even though actual sponsored WoW lore channels like Platinumwow have said this directly & doubled down on it. Honestly, at this point WoW uses them to keep track of wow canon as much as anything.

[Cheezits]

That would make NO sense from a development point of view, unless they realised after 11.1 that, oh yeah, Ethereals are really popular so let's randomly make two completely different sets of models.

It's actually the opposite of Vulpera, where they already had a completely functional model.

No, at BFA reveal, it was a lower-quality NPC model (the pirate vulpera in Freehold still uses this model). They later decided they were playable and a new model was developed. Same thing happened to big Kul Tirans during alpha, as they originally were not meant to be a playable race.

If they have a skeleton team working on TWW at this point, and Ethereals aren't meant to be playable in 11.2, they absolutely could drag out making them playable by slowly changing the model. In 11.2 they added jumping animations to the new models that debuted in 11.1, for example.

The reason for hiding them could be they come with Midnight, or if earlier, they are meant to be a surprise that keeps people engaged in retail wow during the pre-Midnight lull.

[Ersula]

In what universe were they not anticipating that playable Ethereals would be popular?

This is the company that thought wow classic would be unpopular, remember. There's always been the disconnect between what is popular & what they expect to be popular.

It's actually the opposite of Vulpera, where they already had a completely functional model.

It's more akin to Nightborne, which, once again is different, in that 1.) they probably hadn't considered the concept of Allied Races yet, and 2.) didn't realise that Nightborne were actually become as popular as they were.

Not exactly. It's not a 1 to 1 comparison to any previous situation.

Vulpera were always reskins of Goblins, so they had all the player animations. Nightborne had to be completely remade compared to the in game versions. Ethereals are decent candidates & have full combat animations, (except for class specific animations like monk & DH) but at the moment they don't have the social animations player characters have.

[Cheezits]

This is the company that thought wow classic would be unpopular, remember. There's always been the disconnect between what is popular & what they expect to be popular.

Considering they ditched the original idea for TWW and 12.0 and made it into an expansion SUSPCIOUSLY looking like it was made based on the High Elf general threads, I think they are more in tune with what players want these days.

Earthen do not count as, again, pre-Saga NPC that was salvaged for launch content. And yes, I do not get why pre-Metzen team wanted to do more original islands and new races instead of old world.

[Wangming]

The problem there is Avaloren is a landmass that was separate from the Pre-Sundering Supercontinent, and the humanoid animal races are the result of Y'sarjj's blood being spilled by the titans at the location of the Well of Eternity. So it wouldn't make sense for them to be there, unless they have their own dead old god.

Although it was brought to my attention that isn't directly canon in official wow materials, even though actual sponsored WoW lore channels like Platinumwow have said this directly & doubled down on it. Honestly, at this point WoW uses them to keep track of wow canon as much as anything.

Never said they were there from the start. They just got there before the expedition. Ya know the Wandering Isle has a long history.

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Considering they ditched the original idea for TWW and 12.0 and made it into an expansion SUSPCIOUSLY looking like it was made based on the High Elf general threads, I think they are more in tune with what players want these days.

Continent sized Gilneas, continent sized Gilneas, continent sized Gilneas

[Makorus]

This is the company that thought wow classic would be unpopular, remember. There's always been the disconnect between what is popular & what they expect to be popular.Not exactly. It's not a 1 to 1 comparison to any previous situation.

They were completely right about Classic though.

Classic was popular for a solid few months and then everyone kinda gave up on it until the changes happened.

[Ersula]

They were completely right about Classic though.

Classic was popular for a solid few months and then everyone kinda gave up on it until the changes happened.

Classic is exactly as popular as Retail is right now. Retail is surging at the moment because new content just came out but Classic pop surges the same amount when new phases are released. Their drought populations are identical.

[Capivara]

Well it will be a pretty long throw in that case.

As for savage race? That's most of the races actually. For all we knew, it could be Tauren.
You know what would be funny? Pandaren. But not the peace loving Mainlanders, but actual fucking bears that tear your face off and beat you with them.

So, the pandaren we know are the zen guys who look and fight for peace and the other ones would be like samurai? honor and blood akin to blademasters? :v

[bruxx]

their cat forms would be like this druid of the flame cat form, kinda.
but outside of eco-domes, they don't have this much conection to nature, do they?

Is a group with very bested interest in developping their abilities to nurture nature in order to revive their world not enough?

[ImTheMizAwesome]

they will blow the socks off if they would add ethereals in 11.2.5 for ethereal fans, ogres and HE in one expansion.