Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[huth]

This is after Thalyssra decides the Nightborne should let the Nightwell die.



She's saying it as if they did the same thing. The Sunwell has been transformed twice now, about to be transformed for a third time in Midnight. The Blood Elves can't ever let go.

Sure, but the Nightborne also have the Arcandor, the Blood Elves don't.

[Reive]

With 4 zones there is bound to be heartbreak with Northrend. I assume they will probably use Storm Peaks but other than that I am unsure what the second zone would be used but I assume Dragonblight? But who knows. I assume the rest sank into the ocean as per the fake sketch on the sketchboard.

I don't think they are as married to the concept as people thought prior to Midnight. So anything is on the table in this regard.

Northrend is roughly the size of base dragon islses. They don't need to "sink" anything but i can see them merging zones

[Khaza-R]

Northrend is roughly the size of base dragon islses. They don't need to "sink" anything but i can see them merging zones

They don't need too but I find a hard time seeing Zul'Drak not being partially nuked after it looks like we're getting a 12.1 troll raid.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Northrend is roughly the size of base dragon islses. They don't need to "sink" anything but i can see them merging zones

They have a 4 zone structure for their pipeline, so something will give either way with the Northrend "revamp". Considering Voidstorm and Harandar was not on the menu or even in the thoughts of what people envisioned Midnight to be it is also totally possible we get left field zones not tied to Northrend at all.

Although it is also possible they do dedicate 4 large zones to Northrend and that Voidstorm and Harandar were both the result of cutting and massaging the story so they can get to the climax easier and Harandar was just leftovers from TWW in which they had to release Haranir anyways.

It is very hard to guess how things will go from here on out, so I won't really be surprised whatever they've decided on.

[Makorus]

Realistically, they can get rid of Borean Tundra, Grizzly Hills, Zul'drak and Wintergrasp with no big issues. All of those zones don't really offer much of importance to anything (except Vordrassil, I guess, but Grizzly Hills quite literally is a nothing-zone).

I really wish Icecrown isn't going to be relevant but they won't be able to help themselves from jerking off Arthas.

[Sondrelk]

Realistically, they can get rid of Borean Tundra, Grizzly Hills, Zul'drak and Wintergrasp with no big issues. All of those zones don't really offer much of importance to anything (except Vordrassil, I guess, but Grizzly Hills quite literally is a nothing-zone).

I really wish Icecrown isn't going to be relevant but they won't be able to help themselves from jerking off Arthas.

Borean Tundra is definitely the easiest zone to remove, as it was a pretty boring nondescript zone to begin with. Grizzly Hills maybe, but it is connected to Howling Fjord, which is more difficult to remove.

Wintergrasp collapsing is a common theory for a Northrend revamp. Removes it, and lets you put something more interesting there. Whether that is it collapsing into a Nerubian zone, or even just becoming a lake.

[Pheraz]

This is after Thalyssra decides the Nightborne should let the Nightwell die.



She's saying it as if they did the same thing. The Sunwell has been transformed twice now, about to be transformed for a third time in Midnight. The Blood Elves can't ever let go.

I vote for a Warcraft lore AI at this point

[Hearthfinder]

Haha.

Sure, Blizzard is bringing back the ultimate piece of fan service but deletes two of the highlights: Howling Fjord and Grizzly Hills. That's pretty much like bringing back Quel'Thalas with Eversong Woods gone.

If anything, they'll lean into it.

We arrive by ship like we did in 2007. Familiar sounds of the key harp.

Howling Fjord and Grizzly Hills is almost unchanged. Pure viking experience.

Dragonblight has been overhauled to focus less on the Scourge, more on Iridikron's crusade against the Titans. If he's successful there might be the remnants of a battle, with scattered remains of fallen Titans dotting the landscape.

Borean Tundra was always pretty useless. It has a dreary Vanilla kind of ambience which is nice, but I could definitely see Blizzard either destroying it or completely changing it. Maybe destroyed or frozen as a result of the battle? Perhaps the Blue dragon island got overloaded with magic or elemental power and went boom.

Crystalsong Forest will be full of Alliance High Elves, naturally.

Sholazar Basin might be Eonar's refuge somehow, or her followers at least. Freya might rally the Freysworn and the Haranir?

Icecrown likely toppled and remade into some elemental fortress.

Storm Peaks and Zul'drak I could see merging, with remnants of the Trolls inhibiting the hills around the outskirts of the mountains, and remnants of the Titan forces fortifying Ulduar.

[Raetary]

I get that no one brings it up cause its tied to Eonar and breaks the monotony of Northrends landscape, but imo they could very easily just chop Sholazar and move all the nature related plotlines to Vordrassil in Grizzly Hills.

Sholazar is by far, the absolute easiest zone to chop on the basis of its topography.
All that needs to happen is someone/something breaking the western wall, and the whole place is flooded.

[Joshuaj]

They have a 4 zone structure for their pipeline, so something will give either way with the Northrend "revamp". Considering Voidstorm and Harandar was not on the menu or even in the thoughts of what people envisioned Midnight to be it is also totally possible we get left field zones not tied to Northrend at all.

Although it is also possible they do dedicate 4 large zones to Northrend and that Voidstorm and Harandar were both the result of cutting and massaging the story so they can get to the climax easier and Harandar was just leftovers from TWW in which they had to release Haranir anyways.

It is very hard to guess how things will go from here on out, so I won't really be surprised whatever they've decided on.

Sure, but people didn't realize that cause nobody expected Blizzard to make another Void zone after K'aresh, or bring the Haranir's home to the Light Vs Shadow expac. People at best expected either a triple in size Quel'thalas, or an entire Northern EK Revamp.

Northrend is a bit different, as it's much MUCH bigger than Quel'thalas.

- - - Updated - - -

And let's face it, a revamped Northrend with more Titan-y and Elemental themes and less Scourge themes would be peak.

- - - Updated - - -

MN Quel'thalas already feels more fantastical and enchanting than TBC Quel'thalas. The same thing might occur with TLT Northrend, with it feeling more enchanting and magical than WoTLK Northrend.

[Cheezits]

And let's face it, a revamped Northrend with more Titan-y and Elemental themes and less Scourge themes would be peak.

That's literally just the Dragon Isles, down to some almost identical zones, which is why using Northrend without the Scourge would be a huge mistake and a waste of an expansion.

Ulduar can move and so can the dragons. But DI is so derivative of Northrend that if they don't use the Scourge it will be insanely repetitive to Dragonflight with the only major difference being Vrykul. Which I can unfortunately see happening, especially if Vrykul are allies and/or playable

Zul'drak will sink because dead kingdom and immediately repetitive to Amani.

[Raetary]

Howling Fjord is the perfect staging ground for Helya and Odyn. Imagine if Utgarde Keep gets turned into a more fancy version of the Gates of Valor, taken over by Valarjar.
Grizzly Hills can get absorbed by it, and i don't think it's that difficult to have some nature shenanigan around Vordrassil or simply tie it to the Vrykul plot.

Crystalsong should be incorporated into Icecrown, as the glacier melts into it.
Wintergrasp can just be absorbed by Dragonblight (Though, i still maintain that it'd be the perfect capital hub)

I think there is potential in Borean Tundra on the basis of Coldarra existing. Maybe the Primalists set a major foothold there and are besieging the Blues, or maybe something happened on the island and now most of the zone is irradiated or has exposed Ley Lines.

Zul'Drak is the biggest question mark, because there really is not much they can really do with it.
It's a quite literally dead zone, with the Drakkari practically being wiped out, Icecrown already exists for the Scourge presence too, so there isn't much lost by nuking it.
Which is sad, i think it's visually one of the more interesting zones in the game and a revamp of it could be really damn cool.

[Reive]

Imo there will be:

-scourge. Darion said that new leaders were taking over the rampaging scourge
-elements (earth). Iridikron and his lair will be there
-titans. Ofc
-old gods. There were a bunch of concept arts for tww showing some old gods. Maybe we'll see more of them

[Cheezits]

I wonder if on her way down to the core, Xal and the Host will bust open Deepholm for some kind of power up to Iridikron.

And/or something with Magatha and the Doomstone (though Magatha deserves to be in a Kalimdor expansion and not just the second to last boss of an Iridikron raid).

[Joshuaj]

That's literally just the Dragon Isles, down to some almost identical zones, which is why using Northrend without the Scourge would be a huge mistake and a waste of an expansion.

Ulduar can move and so can the dragons. But DI is so derivative of Northrend that if they don't use the Scourge it will be insanely repetitive to Dragonflight with the only major difference being Vrykul. Which I can unfortunately see happening, especially if Vrykul are allies and/or playable

Zul'drak will sink because dead kingdom and immediately repetitive to Amani.

That wouldn't be like the Dragon Isles at all LMAOOOO

- - - Updated - - -

Similar elements? Sure. But Northrend and the Dragon Isles are fundamentally different enough to make the separations work.

- - - Updated - - -

I wonder if on her way down to the core, Xal and the Host will bust open Deepholm for some kind of power up to Iridikron.

And/or something with Magatha and the Doomstone (though Magatha deserves to be in a Kalimdor expansion and not just the second to last boss of an Iridikron raid).

I got a better idea: Why not connect MN or TLT to TWW more by opening up a way to the Worldcore from the Undersea?

Would love to see a massive hole to a Worldcore zone from Hallowfall's Undersea area.

[Count Zero]

I wonder if on her way down to the core, Xal and the Host will bust open Deepholm for some kind of power up to Iridikron.

Would love a reason for us to go back, it's a great-looking zone.

[Nathanyel]

Both BfA and SL both suffer in that pretty much all the sets there are already non-class restricted. (Not to mention the QoL change to give you lower difficulty sets automatically when you complete higher ones.)

Fun fact! BfA raids and 2/3 of SL raids are not affected by that Transmog change to unlock lower-difficulty sets! It works only with Tier sets! And only Tier items:

• You have to complete a difficulty's set of Tier items, including the non-set pieces, non-tier lookalikes do not count.
• Only Tier items of lower difficulties are unlocked, but not the lookalikes.

[Sondrelk]

Fun fact! BfA raids and 2/3 of SL raids are not affected by that Transmog change to unlock lower-difficulty sets! It works only with Tier sets! And only Tier items:

• You have to complete a difficulty's set of Tier items, including the non-set pieces, non-tier lookalikes do not count.
• Only Tier items of lower difficulties are unlocked, but not the lookalikes.

Weird change. But suppose it probably makes sense with the spaghetti code to prevent needing to unlock arbitrary appearances to unlock all previous ones. Like needing to buy a specific version of the civilian cosmetic sets to unlock all the others randomly.

[tufy123]

I vote for a Warcraft lore AI at this point

I actually tried a silly ChatGPT prompt a few days ago just for giggles to see how bad it would be.

Here‘s my prompt:

You have to write a story for a world of warcraft expansion in Eversong Woods and Zul Aman. Ignore Midnight plot. Write a base synopsis in 3 paragraphs.

The result wasn‘t half bad and seems to better match the historic racial spirits:

In this expansion, the ancient calm of Eversong Woods is shattered when the forest’s ley lines begin to fracture, bleeding unstable arcane energy into the land. Silvermoon’s magisters discover that the magic sustaining the woods is being deliberately siphoned, causing once-harmonious spirits and wildlife to become hostile. As tensions rise within blood elf society, players are drawn into a political and magical struggle between those who wish to preserve Eversong’s fragile perfection and those who believe the land must be radically transformed to survive what is coming.

The source of the disturbance lies in Zul’Aman, where remnants of the Amani trolls have uncovered a forgotten pact between ancient forest loa and the land itself. These loa, long bound beneath the ruins, are awakening—angered by centuries of elven manipulation of the forest’s magic. A new Amani leader seeks not just vengeance, but balance, believing the forest must be reclaimed from arcane dominance. Players navigate shifting alliances, uncover lost troll history, and choose how far they will go to prevent a full-scale war between troll and elf.

As the conflict escalates, it becomes clear that Eversong and Zul’Aman are bound by a single, living ecosystem—one that can no longer be controlled without consequence. The expansion culminates in a race to redefine the future of the region: whether it will remain an arcane-crafted paradise, return to a primal forest ruled by ancient spirits, or become something entirely new. The fate of the woods, its people, and its gods rests on the choices made in the heart of the forest.

[Xilurm]

Alleria in Midnight when she realizes absorbing a whole ass Naaru wasn't the best idea.



I wonder if they initially meant for the Locus Walker to be a bad guy. He certainly speaks like someone who has ulterior motives during Legion.