Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[BaumanKing]

Yeah I loved how she vowed to hunt down Xal'atath now. Bitch what were you doing before?

Exactly. Can't wait for Alleria to make yet another vow to hunt down Xal'atath after she kills Turalyon in Midnight.

[Cheezits]

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

I think it will be Amani to pair with HE (seeing as they will likely need a Horde AR or customization to go with Helf which is inevitable) but the TBC stuff and Outlands tie-in makes Ogre possible.

Especially as Broken were teased in late Dragonflight-something that didn't make sense at the time, but now makes sense with Midnight. And they will need something to pair with.

[Wangming]

Exactly. Can't wait for Alleria to make yet another vow to hunt down Xal'atath after she kills Turalyon in Midnight.

Everyone else (including Xal'atath): You two should just get a room already.

[Capivara]

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

oh it is for me, i'm not against druid ethereals, but wouldn't this make then lake gardeners and zookeepers and not druids? I mean, for sure there is a breach there where they could fit "bc of this they comune with nature and are druids".

[Samin]

If ethereals are really coming as playable race, there racial mount would be ethereal camels?

Good joke, look forward to Shalebacks in 6 colors.

[Capivara]

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

ogre fans would be so happy that no one would ever care about 6th elf flavor lol

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Good joke, look forward to Shalebacks in 6 colors.

lol, they would look nice, at this point i think that bull guys from k'aresh were made to be there racial mount

[Wangming]

oh it is for me, i'm not against druid ethereals, but wouldn't this make then lake gardeners and zookeepers and not druids? I mean, for sure there is a breach there where they could fit "bc of this they comune with nature and are druids".

The reason for them to be druids is that etheral druid forms would looks pretty sick.

[Cheezits]

I think it's worth noting the Slatebacks and K'arrocs have Broker themed saddles, which is again pointing to Blizzard linking them more to K'aresh than the Ethereals.

The Ethereal mounts are the acid creepers and voidcrawlers, which points to them being overall Void/Space themed, as neither of those seem to be K'aresh natives (Slatebacks and Karrocs are part of ecological succession, the others aren't).

Not sure what the idea is with untethering Ethereals from K'aresh, but maybe it's kind of trying to make them more an overall cosmic race with K'aresh only serving as their origin? Makes me think if they are playable they actually won't come from K'aresh at all: could be a spaceship, could be an asteroid somewhere.

[13last]

Ethereal DHs, heard it here first.

I'm kidding, don't see it working lol, can definitely see rogue/war/priest/lock/mage. Idk about druids, theyd have cool forms though.

[Ersula]

Ethereal DHs, heard it here first.

I'm kidding, don't see it working lol, can definitely see rogue/war/priest/lock/mage. Idk about druids, theyd have cool forms though.

Honestly I feel they need to update what Demon Hunter's whole deal is. Ethereals do have a leg up though, if you notice how K'aresh has a ton of beholder demons.

[shade3891]

Based on the name they're used for Garrison Missions (or mission tables in general?) The followers there could have some different (non-standard) specializations, there's also an Outcast Demon Hunter among those icons.

These are grouped with the other class icons not specialisations.

[13last]

Honestly I feel they need to update what Demon Hunter's whole deal is. Ethereals do have a leg up though, if you notice how K'aresh has a ton of beholder demons.

Yah I feel that, we've been collecting dust since legion, at first I wasn't sold on the idea of non elf DH but Cheeze put a great version of how a troll could be one, so I'd argue it's high time for Blizzard to expand them to other races if it makes sense.

Ethereal is a weird case, because if the rumored 3rd spec is true and it's void based, who else knows more about the void other then Ethereals and Void Elves, I can maybe see it, but given Lemix is out soon, what better way to introduce the new spec and new races then include them in Lemix? That's what I'm hoping for anyway.

[milkmustache]

I have a sneaking suspicion that Slatebacks (and maybe Carrocs?) are leftover from the Rootlands. The Slatebacks feel very similar to the Ramoliths in a way I can't describe. Some evolutionary/non rock version link.

[Xilurm]

And yes, I do not get why pre-Metzen team wanted to do more original islands and new races instead of old world.

Because as Metzen said, they were worried that they wouldn't get to do their own thing once he arrived. Which honestly is a bit weird, especially in such a big company. There was a lack of leadership. That shouldn't be happening with a franchise this big. Developers in most solid teams work together to bring the director or the CEO's (if it's not a company owned by a publisher) vision to life, not their own.

Kojima Productions, Larian Studios, Sandfall Interactive, to name a few.

[Cheezits]

Because as Metzen said, they were worried that they wouldn't get to do their own thing once he arrived. Which honestly is a bit weird, especially in such a big company. There was a lack of leadership. That shouldn't be happening with a franchise this big. Developers in most solid teams work together to bring the director or the CEO's (if it's not a company owned by a publisher) vision to life, not their own.

Kojima Productions, Larian Studios, Sandfall Interactive, to name a few.

I agree, and I wish those devs really wanting to add new races and factions to Warcraft would go make their own games instead. The Dracthyr, Haranir, Arathi and KA Earthen are... okay, at best, but each one could've been something we already know.

I would be happy if we don't see Avaloren for ten years. The entirety of the Arathi feels like someone put their homebrew Warcraft campaign into the setting.

[Magistrate]

I agree, and I wish those devs really wanting to add new races and factions to Warcraft would go make their own games instead. The Dracthyr, Haranir, Arathi and KA Earthen are... okay, at best, but each one could've been something we already know.

I would be happy if we don't see Avaloren for ten years. The entirety of the Arathi feels like someone put their homebrew Warcraft campaign into the setting.

Agreed. I do /like/ the Arathi tbh but it needs more time to cook and, to your point, the new races and such lately have felt just sort of ok.

A lot of it lately has felt like.... I want to say like... There's a genre of game, or maybe an aesthetic, emerging over the last several years that's just cozycore. Everything for a few years has sort of felt like this. A haze of inoffensive, soft at the edges, stories, characters, and races that feels like it came from somewhere else.

I don't think all of it is bad but it definitely feels like a trend and quite different.

Idk what my point is anymore

I do want avaloren but I want it to maybe go through some other creatives first before coming to us. I feel like there's been good ideas but they haven't gone through a narrative or art lead who really said "like these ideas--how do we make them feel like part of the IP?"

[bruxx]

So far, the only thing about the Arathi than I care about (other than cool underground crystal sun area that looks and sounds better than Labrynthos) is the concept of a potential third massive faction on the scale of the alliance or the horde, which is just an assumption so far.

We already have medievalish light worshipping humanish kingdoms, on top of the lightforged Draenei strongly attached to the light motif. Nothing about the concept as we know of it at the moment wakes my imagination... I wouldn't say it's bad, but it is a solid "eh" tier atm.

[Wangming]

Because as Metzen said, they were worried that they wouldn't get to do their own thing once he arrived.

A sane person would sit down and think:

"If there is a high chance Metzen wouldn't let me do "my own thing" perhaps I shouldn't fucking put it in WarCraft"

It's like saying:
I'll quickly put my blueberry syrup into KFC fried chicken cause when Colonel Sander gets back he'll tell me to fuck off!
Well, maybe fuck off sooner

[Cheezits]

A lot of it lately has felt like.... I want to say like... There's a genre of game, or maybe an aesthetic, emerging over the last several years that's just cozycore. Everything for a few years has sort of felt like this. A haze of inoffensive, soft at the edges, stories, characters, and races that feels like it came from somewhere else.

Cozy/comfycore is a very big thing, it has gained popularity in recent times due to worsening socio-economic factors making people want comfortable escapism. Dragonflight was DEFINITELY made with this in mind, partly due to backlash from BFA/SL and its overwhelmingly negative tone plus the younger devs getting a hall pass due to the scandals, and there are recent WoW marketing ads that are 100% based on this (little snippets about enjoying the "world" of Warcraft with relaxing campfire, fishing, etc).

I think using it in WoW is not an inherently bad idea, it's just tying it so closely to the setting and narrative can be a bad idea if overplayed. I think we'll still get ads like that but it will be tied to Housing versus any particular expansion- and I already see TWW course-correcting from the narrative issues with Dragonflight. I have high hopes for Midnight to further course correct.

[Wangming]

So far, the only thing about the Arathi than I care about (other than cool underground crystal sun area that looks and sounds better than Labrynthos) is the concept of a potential third massive faction on the scale of the alliance or the horde, which is just an assumption so far.

What i care about is the architecture.
We used to have...human architecture. Now with Gilneas, Kul Tiras and the Arathi, we have three alternatives to the default Stormwind one.