Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Timester]

It's neither new, nor huge. See: Legion already doing it.

It is huge because it makes the expansion bigger and more immersive.

[Pheraz]

Often, a sequence of events can play out in a story that can place characters in a different state of mind from where they started.

Just a tip.

yes sure... would appreciate this. I just can not come up with something that doesn*t sound like its straight out of nowhere...
I mean ... in the OG eversong BEs have several quests to kill night elves... generally they are not good friends. So I am pretty sure NEs can not be considerd part of those tribes... and high elves? blood elves *are* high elves. they just painted there armor red, and said they are blood elves now. it's more of a "vibe".... so for them high elves are just people that didn't want to a) paint their armor red and b) join the horde in world of warcraft the burning crusade
soooo the most logical thing that could happen is that those "tribes" are actually invented blood elf tribes (or high elf .. however you want to call them).
and void elves? I mean *void* elves? like... the guys weilding the power that is abotu to destroy the home of the blood elves? that would be even more nonesense than night elves. must be some "invention" / lore expansion ideas from the lore team with

tribe of the hawk
tribe of the flame
tribe of the bla

but all blood/high elves

[Wyrt]

Bruh is that a female Amani Troll to the right? Talk about a muscle mommy. She-Hulk style.

And you're telling me these aren't AR's?

They're just orcs wearing troll skin.

[Cheezits]

I mean what if they are stacking ARs + a Class for The Last Titan? I don't know, could be neat.

Nah, I think it's just that, unfortunately, they seem to be putting requested races behind patches now to keep expansions alive. Especially if Ethereal in 11.2.5/7 is true.

Amani and an equivalent (Broken, High Elf) would be patch bait for Midnight similar to the different ARs in BFA.

Earthen and Haranir are leftovers from Danuser team's old plans that they are putting upfront because you'll buy the expansion anyway.

[Vakir]

If Stratholme is relevant, i hope they remember it's supposed to be a port city.

"What's that? Port in the acclaimed assets used in Reforged to update it? Say no more!"

[Chickat]

I think the way Midnight zoning is set up adds more credence to the Northrend map leak with alleged Metzen handwriting (from early July).

I hate that they cut half the continent nearly. And it looks like fjord and grizzly hills are gone. I was looking forward to those. Even if they reused DF assets for them.

- - - Updated - - -

Midnight has four zones, eight dungeons, 9 raid bosses (which is more than TWW or DF at launch), 8 Delves, a massive new feature (like Hero Talents in TWW or new talent trees in DF) and smaller features and QoL changes.
It "feels" like less because we know about the major feature for over a year now and the theme of the expansion for over two years so there isn't much of an excitement.

It has 11 delves.

[Sondrelk]

I mean what if they are stacking ARs + a Class for The Last Titan? I don't know, could be neat.

I am more so thinking how they are going to explain Void Elves helping, and then still not being welcome.
Yeah, officially joining the Alliance and all of that. But Silvermoon is still their home, and last they talked about it, a home they wanted to return to.

[kahedakylar]

the stance looks similar to a nightborne, but.. The clothes remind me of broker/ethereal stuff

oh my gooooood

ethereal copers we are so back

[Sondrelk]

I mean the fact that his storyline seems to heavily involve Lordaeron is a good sign that it may continue, but if they have us visit EPL and it still looks like shit, it's pretty much over.

Maybe we just portal into the Order Hall?

BfA used Darkshore both before and after it was revamped. Before the expansion officially launched, and after a major patch had come out, but still.

[Monkal]

Regretfully, I think it's just a nightborne NPC with a new outfit, friends. Unless they're really holding out Ethereals to end TWW with a banger addition, I think we lost this one.

[Cheezits]

I think for the new ethereal guy, it's worth noting we've never seen clothes like that before. So maybe it's from some new area (starting zone?) that elaborates more on Ethereal culture? Berets with spikes and genie shoes?

It's either that or it's someone's special OC they are adding to the Explorers Guild or something similar. But even then it might spoil that there's a new Ethereal model in the works, if it's any different from what we have in 11.2.

[Raetary]

Regretfully, I think it's just a nightborne NPC with a new outfit, friends. Unless they're really holding out Ethereals to end TWW with a banger addition, I think we lost this one.

Why would they use a Nightborne NPC with a new outfit, instead of simply adding an Ethereal?

[Local Ardenweald Faerie]

After Undermine and K'aresh, I expect to be thrown more curveballs when it comes to patch zones. But imagine places like Northern Lordaeron (healed WPL and EPL like how Ghostlands and Eversong getting merged), or Azuremyst...

[Hitei]

It is huge though. Old zones being relevant is part of why Legion felt so grand and impressive. Going back to old zones to combat the Legion there made it feel like what was happening was important, and not just a regional skirmish.

I strongly disagree. Nothing about Legion actually felt like a wide-spanning invasion. If it had sent me to a Darkshire on fire with citizens being killed or a crossroads under siege from infernals, sure that would have been neat. But instead it was "this one named demon and their ten underlings snuck into Kara's crypts, kill them to secure this artifact". It felt like a minor checkbox that existed solely for the execution of artifact weapons existing--"we need a place to pull these big name magical weapons out of".

Like it unironically broke immersion for me, being told that apparently places like the Nexus and Kara just have a stockpile of all sorts of insanely powerful weapons that are just sitting there not being used for any previous defense of the planet or taken by anyone.

[Vakir]

I hate that they cut half the continent nearly. And it looks like fjord and grizzly hills are gone. I was looking forward to those. Even if they reused DF assets for them.

Yeah that's my main hope against that, they cut two of the single most iconic zones.

Northrend also feels like a stupid place to end things, Ulduar aside.

I strongly disagree. Nothing about Legion actually felt like a wide-spanning invasion. If it had sent me to a Darkshire on fire with citizens being killed or a crossroads under siege from infernals, sure that would have been neat. But instead it was "this one named demon and their ten underlings snuck into Kara's crypts, kill them to secure this artifact". It felt like a minor checkbox that existed solely for the execution of artifact weapons existing--"we need a place to pull these big name magical weapons out of".

I agree, but I can't think of a single time Blizzard made an invasion feel like an invasion since...the last Reign of Chaos mission or something.

I mean, that's not true, the zombie plague was great, but everyone cried and mewled about it and it destroyed any possibility of the game being thematically challenging in the future.

That said, any old world return feels novel, but it is not "new." We were just in Arathi Highlands and by the end we all wish we hadn't come.

[Monkal]

Why would they use a Nightborne NPC with a new outfit, instead of simply adding an Ethereal?

Fine, but being an Ethereal NPC, of which we have several examples when it comes to customisation services, unfortunately doesn't indicate they'll be made playable.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I mean I could still see them implementing Ethereals in 11.2.7, so again I am not like shocked if they just wanted it to be a surprise. But I don't think this Neighborhood NPC is the smoking gun for that.

[Cheezits]

Fine, but being an Ethereal NPC, of which we have several examples when it comes to customisation services, unfortunately doesn't indicate they'll be made playable.

I think it's the new outfit for him that is the biggest surprise. All the Ethereals in 11.2 use similar outfits, and I don't think we've seen clothes like his before. Could be a special new character, could be a spoil of what "Ethereal clothes" look like.

Also, suspiciously the ethereal in Midnight reveal uses the old ass model instead of even an 11.2 ethereal.

[Wyrt]

Nah, I think it's just that, unfortunately, they seem to be putting requested races behind patches now to keep expansions alive. Especially if Ethereal in 11.2.5/7 is true.

Amani and an equivalent (Broken, High Elf) would be patch bait for Midnight similar to the different ARs in BFA.

Earthen and Haranir are leftovers from Danuser team's old plans that they are putting upfront because you'll buy the expansion anyway.

How does that work? If they don't advertise that they're coming in a future patch how does it keep expansions alive?

[Raetary]

unfortunately doesn't indicate they'll be made playable.

I'm aware, I'll still continue to cry about it until Midnight ends and Ethereals truly are done with their plot relevance.