Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Xeladriel]

They should stop add races if they Will be races that no one asked (earthen, harronir)

[Nize]

If Amani are the primary focus of the AtalUtek patch it would make sense if they are unlocked then (with four new armor sets to dress them up in) but if there's no Ally equivalent we run into the chance of neutral Amani which would make MMOC inhospitable for the foreseeable future.

I made up a little story in my head that prior to the final battle with Xalatath, out of need, Alliance and Horde would go off to recruit more allies. Alliance quest would send you to Karesh to recruit the Kareshi while the Horde would recruit Amani. This would be done by the Void Elves and Blood Knights respectively to reflect the void and light theme of the expansion too. I'm not really the type to sign off on a million allied races at this point, but felt this was fitting for the situation.

[milkmustache]

I made up a little story in my head that prior to the final battle with Xalatath, out of need, Alliance and Horde would go off to recruit more allies. Alliance quest would send you to Karesh to recruit the Kareshi while the Horde would recruit Amani. This would be done by the Void Elves and Blood Knights respectively to reflect the void and light theme of the expansion too. I'm not really the type to sign off on a million allied races at this point, but felt this was fitting for the situation.

Hold on, let me take this dagger out of my heart.

Unfortunately, I believe Ethereals are forever out of our grasps. I'd buy into the Alliance getting Broken/Krokul, but even with the thread of the Nethersent, I'm not certain where they'd fit in. I would love to see it though, I think they'd pair nicely with Amani in the whole Burning Crusade of it all.

[Joshuaj]

They should stop add races if they Will be races that no one asked (earthen, harronir)

I think Haranir are fine, though it is weird we got them before Ogres, Jinyu, Hozen, Aman Trolls, K'areshi, and Vrykul...

[Cheezits]

I think Haranir are fine, though it is weird we got them before Ogres, Jinyu, Hozen, Aman Trolls, K'areshi, and Vrykul...

Ogres- not enough general appeal/too ugly.

Hozen/K'areshi- animation rigs too difficult.

Amani/Vrykul- actually possible as they are humanoid and related to new expansions, can reuse animations if they slap human anims on Vrykul.

Jinyu are in a weird spot where they may not have enough general appeal, but they reuse nelf, and they keep doing stuff with the Undersea (even in Midnight) so they may actually be building up to them. I think they'd be made playable in a Japanese themed expansion.

[Joshuaj]

Ogres- not enough general appeal/too ugly.

Hozen/K'areshi- animation rigs too difficult.

Amani/Vrykul- actually possible as they are humanoid and related to new expansions, can reuse animations if they slap human anims on Vrykul.

Jinyu are in a weird spot where they may not have enough general appeal, but they reuse nelf, and they keep doing stuff with the Undersea (even in Midnight) so they may actually be building up to them. I think they'd be made playable in a Japanese themed expansion.

"Too ugly"

Have you seen the general Horde races? Lmao

[Redwyrm]

I really don't know if we will get faction exclusive races again. Outside of the Allied Races, the last time we got faction specific races was Cataclysm.

[Joshuaj]

Also, pretty sure Pandaria is the general Asia-themed expac. Ik people want a more direct Japanese theme, but Pandaria is meant to mix Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Mongolian vibes.

- - - Updated - - -

Shit, the Mogu are legit a mix of Japanese Demons (Appearance) and the Mongolian Empire (General inspiration).

[Cheezits]

I'm pretty sure the Ankoan, and to an extent the Vulpera (Kitsune race with mysterious origins and several Asian names) are light foreshadowing that there is a Japan out there- especially when Nelves were Korean themed to an extent and Pandaria is primarily Chinese.

[Jerhomie]

I think Night elves started off as the general east asian analogue before the Pandaren. They had the arches similar to torii gates and the sacred paper and ropes around trees reminiscent of Japan, but also had dresses called hanbok and a cataclysm cooking daily had you ferment kimchi. But obviously they toned that all down after Mists of Pandaria.

I never felt there needed to be a more directly Japan-inspired locale, or race… unless they were kappas or something. Or like rabbit people from the moon. Well, WoW isn’t even available in Japan so it’s not like they would be catering to any demographic.

[Nibelheimy]

There absolutely is room for a Japan/Korea equivalent, if they wanted to do it, which I do not see them doing anytime soon.

With minor influences from other Asian cultures, Pandaria is overwhelmingly China inspired. With some hints of Mongolian in the Yaungol.

Damn I miss when Blizzard wasn't scared of using real life culture to influence character accents.

Why aren't the Earthen of Dornogal Irish? I appreciate the robot influence they went for,but they hurt to listen to. I remember hearing voicelines in beta and dreading world quests bubbles. And God damn, the Vulpera should of been Australian. I will never forget what could of been.

"G' DAY MATE, WELCOME TO VOL'DUN."

On a more serious note, I do genuinely miss the cultural influence certain races recieved. I liked the speculation that Nightborne would be Italian, although I did not want that at all in game.

Although those Irish notes are there with Earthen, and its absolutely okay for races to not be influenced by a certain culture, It wouldn't go amiss once in a while.

[Khaza-R]

Idk. I think Ethereals demonstrated they probably are walking back from heavy real world inspired races for a bit. It definitely feels like they tried to sanitize the Arabic influence in K'aresh.

[Cheezits]

I just realized Haranir actually open up an interesting avenue for Druid lore- you can finally be a druid or learn from a druid who isn't attached to Cenarius or another Wild God/Loa. Even the Thornspeakers were taught by the wild gods in Drustvar (I believe Ulfar says as much).

Kind of nice to finally not be pigeonholed into that role.

[Joshuaj]

I mean, there are definitely Arabic vibes with Tazavesh, same with the general K'aresh music.

The problem is, the planet is a shattered ruin, and unlike Argus and Outland, there's no major landmark that properly showcases K'aresi society pre-Dimensius.

[Eldryth]

Idk. I think Ethereals demonstrated they probably are walking back from heavy real world inspired races for a bit. It definitely feels like they tried to sanitize the Arabic influence in K'aresh.

Yeah, that was a huge issue for me, and it actually made me a lot less interested in even getting playable Ethereals at this point. Story-wise, retconning the Brokers' entire backstory to make them K'areshi too made sense- they were just a less interesting Ethereal substitute anyway- but having them primarily use Broker aesthetics (aside from the villains) just made Ethereals more boring and generic in turn.

If they had at least had distinct Arabian-like ruins to reinforce that K'aresh originally had that kind of culture, it would have helped a lot. Just one relatively intact island, like a smaller Eredath, could have done that. But we didn't even get that much.

[Cheezits]

The artists were only allowed to make the 2.0 Ethereals, the weapons/armors, a handful of new assets and the Manaforge. It really sucks. You can tell some of the animals were ripped from the original Rootlands (foxes with thorn tails? really?) and/or Voidstorm. Even the fucking AOTC is a retooled existing AOTC mount.

The other Midnight zones better be amazing to make up for Karesh being shoestring, or the artists were pulled for some kind of TLT feature like order halls or race customization.

[Khaza-R]

The artists were only allowed to make the 2.0 Ethereals, the weapons/armors, a handful of new assets and the Manaforge. It really sucks. You can tell some of the animals were ripped from the original Rootlands (foxes with thorn tails? really?) and/or Voidstorm. Even the fucking AOTC is a retooled existing AOTC mount.

The other Midnight zones better be amazing to make up for Karesh being shoestring, or the artists were pulled for some kind of TLT feature like order halls or race customization.

Yeah, I really liked TWW. But K'aresh left a very bitter taste in my mouth. It really deserved so much more.

[Cheezits]

Yeah, I really liked TWW. But K'aresh left a very bitter taste in my mouth. It really deserved so much more.

The passion put into Undermine really saves the expansion, as well as KA being pretty damn strong as a continent. But in a worse expansion a patch that lame would've tanked it.

It helps that MO is a great raid and the music this expansion is so good, but it's still one of my least favorite final patches

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I noticed a coincidence that Midnights launch and the Blizzcon happens 6 months and 11 days into the expansion. I don't have much more to say on the subject. I found it curious considering what happened last Blizzcon.

Regardless, I am sure that we're going to get a great marketing campaign before Midnight that actually fills us with enthusiasm and the possibility that they will wink to the camera that they can at least get the ending of this expansion into TLT well enough. (Please.)

Or well, if nothing else considering the time of Blizzcon it does at least maybe mean they got a good transitioning into a highlight expansion for the latter half of Midnight if they strategize in that way using Blizzcon as a marketing asset for The Last Titan being "the big one worth playing".

[Cheezits]

I noticed a coincidence that Midnights launch and the Blizzcon happens 6 months and 11 days into the expansion. I don't have much more to say on the subject. I found it curious considering what happened last Blizzcon.

I pray we get more than just a reveal of the inevitable Worldcore raid, which I assume will have a boring zone attached.