Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Warden Shadowsong]

Man, Arcantina is turning up to be one big humiliation ritual so far. And it's supposed to be an evergreen content, dear god.

[Kiivar86]

There's a very good chance they lost interest in the sword plot and it's not going to show up again IMO. Or if it does appear it will be for a short questline with zero payoff. They lost interest in Anduin and Thrall after 1 patch and there's no way they'll remember the sword is supposed to mean something years after they obsessed over it and then moved on

What exactly can be done about the sword though? At least by us. Of course we haven't done anything with it, its a planet sized sword. The only people who could do something about it are titan-sized beings.

And hmm, who's returning in TLT?

I swear, people are so weird about that sword.

[Pyrophax]

The whole expansion is about the Light. Void gets solved in 12.0, 12.1 is a troll sidequst and then 12.2. with Light themed last boss. Either off-world cosmic zone or Siege of Stormwind against Turalyon's new Lightforged Crusade.

Xal in not solved. Quel'Thalas will be "saved" in 12.0. 12.1 about trolls and their serpent "loa". 12.2 - Xal and Void.
Light if will be evil and raided - either in TLT as side patch 13.1 or after TLT.

[allegrian]

The midnight map also shows a problem that we already had in cataclysm and SL: The new zones are just scattered around the world and accessed via portals, making it feel small and unrelated. And we're coming from TWW where the main continent does not feel open and connected as they are very different underground biomes connected via tunnels, and then 2 external portal zones accessed via portals for the patch zones.

I'm getting tired of this.

[Enrif]

Not every player reads dataminined stuff.
I don't see there place for 12.2 patch land btw. Will it be Eastern Plaguelands?

Eastern Plaguelands wouldn't fit on that map either, and zooming out you likely see the whole of the eastern kingdoms.

A popular idea is that the dranei isles could be added during the expansion, which would be added like Quel'thalas/Zul'aman to the normal Kalimdor map. But the Draenei isles don't have much on it outside of the exodar, so it can be easily used for a patch zone.

Could also tie Harandar and Teldrassil into that. The roots of Teldrassil are still burning in Harandar, so there might be something that could connect.


But, let's take a step back to TWW. In TWW we had early on NPCs that were headscratchers: goblins and ethereals, and both ended up as the patch zones.

For Midnight we have a pretty clear view that Atal'utek will be there, likely 12.1.

Now, are there any other NPCs that feel a bit out of place?

I could see the Twilights Blade as a source, but that leads to multiple areas and hard to pin down. Silithus and Twilight Highlands make sense. Even Caverns of Time make sense if it leads to Murozond involvement.

The Nethersent Draenei are a surprise to be seen, so that could lead to something draenei related. Which brings the Draenei isles idea.

There is a bit about the scarlets in the Arator questline, so the Red Dawn could be a thing. So, any place in the eastern kingdoms could work. I wouldn't mind the area from the Dalaran crater into the Alterac area. That area is not used in forever.

[Nymrohd]

At this rate it will be Zereth Lumen.

It was my earliest bet. Xal'atath against the Light itself. And while we seem to solve the Sunwell, we clearly do not solve Xal'atath. So she stays relevant through the expansion.

- - - Updated - - -

I really dig it! I wish they'd have added another structure; the Windrunner Spire, or maybe the path to the upcoming Isle, but it's done well! I like the way they included the Voidstorm and Harandar, the shattered border and the roots give it a neat twist compared to the other "island blobs".

Used to be all the dungeons got their own icons in the map

[GeometryWizard]

What exactly can be done about the sword though? At least by us. Of course we haven't done anything with it, its a planet sized sword. The only people who could do something about it are titan-sized beings.

And hmm, who's returning in TLT?

I swear, people are so weird about that sword.

Why even bring it up then is the question. In the same cinematic they have Anduin and Thrall who also vanished after the expansion launch and ended up not being very important either. Their track record isn't nailing these kinds of long term stories, they usually just handwave an ending and then move onto the next story they're obsessed with internally for a few months before getting bored of that too

Man, Arcantina is turning up to be one big humiliation ritual so far. And it's supposed to be an evergreen content, dear god.

I don't get what the point of it even is when every single quest is exactly the same

Character A: How are you enjoying this peace my friend?
Character B: It's good. Peace is good.
Character A: Yes, I enjoy the peace. I'm tired of fighting. Peace is better.
Character B: Indeed. May this peace last forever.

And it feels so weird with the actual expansion story. Why is almost every remotely important character in the world all coming to hang out at the one tavern where they all act like retired old men. It makes the whole world seem so small with nothing going on like every named character is best friends with each other and have nothing to do. It's like if in Legion every class order hall was just the characters sitting around and talking about how calm and nice their lives are while the main story is telling you the world is burning. Idk how they expect this to be evergreen content

Warcraft III you could feel the energy of a young team with something to prove. The new writing feels like the depressed writings of a middle aged woman that wants to shut herself off from the world and just take care of cats

[Garrac]

To me the troll content is the major thing, the boring stuff with the light, void, elves, and the Windrunners is the filler stuff I couldn't care less about.

But like, after Zul'Aman, now you tell me we getting troll patch? And there's even MORE amani items in the housing hub? Just gimme the news of playable amani, man, come on, Im at the verge of feeling like Zul'Jin when he woke up the day Arthas corrupted the Sunwell.

[GeometryWizard]

The midnight map also shows a problem that we already had in cataclysm and SL: The new zones are just scattered around the world and accessed via portals, making it feel small and unrelated. And we're coming from TWW where the main continent does not feel open and connected as they are very different underground biomes connected via tunnels, and then 2 external portal zones accessed via portals for the patch zones.

I'm getting tired of this.

They keep making mistakes they already figured out years and years ago. We're back to Cata problems where the zones are all broken up and lacking cohesion and we're back to the TBC problem where the story climax happens in the opening patch and then the rest of the story after is just a bunch of random zones. It's like they're asleep at the wheel

[milkmustache]

Man, Arcantina is turning up to be one big humiliation ritual so far. And it's supposed to be an evergreen content, dear god.

My gut tells me that a lot of the Arcantina quests were intended for some of the "cozy gamers" while doubling as a rotating spot for some of the less expansion focused storylines.

A lot of these quests are just very strangely written. The Garrosh and Eitrigg quests are the ones that I've seen that show massive issues. I think a big problem with the main character focus that WoW has been leaning into lately is that it is rapidly blurring the finer details on the lore. A random farmer in Arathi that somehow bridges a gap with his Mag'har neighbor is a lot more believable than larger name characters completely shedding their former personalities.

It's okay for an old soldier to repent for their mistakes or former beliefs. It's not okay for them to completely rewrite their past. All of these lore characters are being molded and refit into new molds for the writers whims, and it's a bit frustrating to watch.

[Kiivar86]

Why even bring it up then is the question. In the same cinematic they have Anduin and Thrall who also vanished after the expansion launch and ended up not being very important either. Their track record isn't nailing these kinds of long term stories, they usually just handwave an ending and then move onto the next story they're obsessed with internally for a few months before getting bored of that too

At least partly because people keep harping on the damned thing, as if anyone on the planet at present can actually do a thing about it.

Plans definitely did change, so maybe they were going to address it in some capacity, but I'd wager that even if they did address it in TWW, the sword would remain because again, planet-sized sword. There is no one on the planet, hell there's really no one outside of I guess Dimensius, who is of a size to handle it right now.

I just take issue with the idea they "lost interest" in it - we're only a third of the way through this trilogy to begin with. Bit early to be claiming it.

[Jaggler]

The midnight map also shows a problem that we already had in cataclysm and SL: The new zones are just scattered around the world and accessed via portals, making it feel small and unrelated. And we're coming from TWW where the main continent does not feel open and connected as they are very different underground biomes connected via tunnels, and then 2 external portal zones accessed via portals for the patch zones.

I'm getting tired of this.

If only SL zones WERE connected with portals. The issue with SL was that you couldn't fly from one place to another without taking the long ass fp through oribos. The portals in Silvermoon are right next to each other so it's leagues better to use

Why even bring it up then is the question. In the same cinematic they have Anduin and Thrall who also vanished after the expansion launch and ended up not being very important either. Their track record isn't nailing these kinds of long term stories, they usually just handwave an ending and then move onto the next story they're obsessed with internally for a few months before getting bored of that too

Because the cinematic was probably already in production and quite advanced when the switch from TWW to the World Soul Saga happened. I think the sword will play a part in TLT, but it was kinda too late to fix the cinematic for the new direction

[shoc]

What exactly can be done about the sword though? At least by us. Of course we haven't done anything with it, its a planet sized sword. The only people who could do something about it are titan-sized beings.

And hmm, who's returning in TLT?

I swear, people are so weird about that sword.

I want Denathrius to transfer his soul into the big sword, that way we can have an expansion villain who is literally just an enormous planet-sized vampire sword. And he's all like har har har I'm suckin up ur world soul but then then Sargeras comes back, he's like bro you're in my sword and Denathrius is like yooo hella team up.

And then in the final boss battle, Azeroth herself is born and all our characters dissolve into pure hero energy in the form of a second planet-sized sword, then we pilot Azeroth like a 25-man planet-sized gurren lagann mecha. And then we headbutt Sargeras with Storm Peaks, punch him in the face with Orgrimmar and kick him in the balls with Stranglethorn Vale. And in the end Azeroth disarms and BAM we grab Denathrius out of the air and cuts Sargeras head off Count Dooku style. And then Sargeras' head lands in the Maelstrom (which is also Azeroths belly button) and gets flushed like a toilet.

[Vakir]

Personal feelings regarding Zereths or anything like that aside, they need a very, very good reason to access any of those as a story beat.

Even in the internal logic of SL, Zovaal doing his whole plan was logistically consistent with his original M.O. which was using the system against itself - first wrecking the machine, then manipulating it, and then accessing what amounts to the source code or the creation thereof.

Nothing about our current antagonists really reflect this. They're all fight for survival consumers (the Host themselves) or schemers that prey on the emotions of mortal beings for manipulation, like Xal, not people who really understand or mess with the structural stuff.

The only present antagonist that I can see making sense with the whole Zereth business as a whole is maybe Azshara and even then I'm pretty sure the "true throne" is the Worldsoul or something we don't know yet. (Hopefully the 7th force is quietly discarded or is just free will or potential or some such, it is very "unnecessary anime wiki elaboration" in the worst way.)

[allegrian]

The arcantina is doubling down on factions being friends and peaceful but then we have stuff like kill on sight horde silvermoon. Blizzard needs to fully commit to either faction peace/merge or faction split/conflict. At this point it seems they're just checking how the playerbase feels with faction peace while letting the door open for future conflict.

I was faction peace/merge team but seeing how lame and horribly written it is (Eitrigg sons of lothar WTF) I prefer to go back to faction conflict, wars, and specially faction exclusive questing (or at least partially split, like in Mop, Wod and Legion).

[Jaggler]

I want Denathrius to transfer his soul into the big sword, that way we can have an expansion villain who is literally just an enormous planet-sized vampire sword. And he's all like har har har I'm suckin up ur world soul but then then Sargeras comes back, he's like bro you're in my sword and Denathrius is like yooo hella team up.

And then in the final boss battle, Azeroth herself is born and all our characters dissolve into pure hero energy in the form of a second planet-sized sword, then we pilot Azeroth like a 25-man planet-sized gurren lagann mecha. And then we headbutt Sargeras with Storm Peaks, punch him in the face with Orgrimmar and kick him in the balls with Stranglethorn Vale. And in the end Azeroth disarms and BAM we grab Denathrius out of the air and cuts Sargeras head off Count Dooku style. And then Sargeras' head lands in the Maelstrom (which is also Azeroths belly button) and gets flushed like a toilet.

It would be hilarious if we actually team up with Sargeras on TLT. With the threat of the Void Lords gone and his crusade becoming obsolete, he'll help us take down the titans who want to forcibly convert Azeroth. Him pulling out the sword to erase the Pantheon once again

[Warden Shadowsong]

The arcantina is doubling down on factions being friends and peaceful but then we have stuff like kill on sight horde silvermoon. Blizzard needs to fully commit to either faction peace/merge or faction split/conflict.

I was faction peace/merge team but seeing how lame and horribly written it is (Eitrigg sons of lothar WTF) I prefer to go back to faction conflict, wars, and specially faction exclusive questing (or at least partially split, like in Mop, Wod and Legion).

I still think BfA did launch zones the best. 2 continents, 1 for each faction, then max level (was it max level?) campaign in each other's zones.

[SilverLion]

The arcantina is doubling down on factions being friends and peaceful but then we have stuff like kill on sight horde silvermoon. Blizzard needs to fully commit to either faction peace/merge or faction split/conflict. At this point it seems they're just checking how the playerbase feels with faction peace while letting the door open for future conflict.

I was faction peace/merge team but seeing how lame and horribly written it is (Eitrigg sons of lothar WTF) I prefer to go back to faction conflict, wars, and specially faction exclusive questing (or at least partially split, like in Mop, Wod and Legion).

Serious question. What gave the impression they would actually merge the factions?

[Nightshade711]

This xpac is confusing when it comes to the faction stuff. One side there’s a lot of tension and potential conflict and the other they’re friends.

I want a faction war again. They can easily keep the cross-faction stuff (or even expand cross faction even more) and explain it as being mercenaries.

[Vakir]

It would be hilarious if we actually team up with Sargeras on TLT. With the threat of the Void Lords gone and his crusade becoming obsolete, he'll help us take down the titans who want to forcibly convert Azeroth. Him pulling out the sword to erase the Pantheon once again

I mean, I would bet an entire limb on this happening.

Metzen has always generally done the same two plots over and over again for better or worse. An oppressive precursor responsible for the upending of mortals or a redemption story of a character turning their power against the people responsible to find "true justice."

He has Illidan and Sargeras conveniently sitting there in the same location to do both at the same time. And we've already been told that we're not prepared. This time our warning of doom comes on wings.