Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[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.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

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

I honestly am happy enough with that because I think that will slap. In every concept of such a Raid I think they will nail it honestly. I'm just surprised if they go past X.2 with Retail announcements considering where we are on the timeline as of now if they did not decide to just scrap the current Roadmap timelines and create a new one.

[Khaza-R]

I really hope they surprise us with 12.2.

If its literally just Xal pumped void juice into the worldcore, that's just a round about way of retelling the original black blood storyline we were supposed to get. Basically we just subbed out the hypothetical dead 5th Old God and Unseeming for an anemic Void invasion. Not a good trade imo.

[Cheezits]

I honestly am happy enough with that because I think that will slap. In every concept of such a Raid I think they will nail it honestly. I'm just surprised if they go past X.2 with Retail announcements considering where we are on the timeline as of now if they did not decide to just scrap the current Roadmap timelines and create a new one.

I think the raid will be good but I'm not excited to fly around a titan orb in a cave.

- - - Updated - - -

I really hope they surprise us with 12.2.

If its literally just Xal pumped void juice into the worldcore, that's just a round about way of retelling the original black blood storyline we were supposed to get. Basically we just subbed out the hypothetical dead 5th Old God and Unseeming for an anemic Void invasion. Not a good trade imo.

I'm sure that mural will end up being Xals true form as they teased she has a more monstrous roar when she gets mad.

Also I have a feeling the black blood/Unseeming will come back- it's just not the main way the Manifold gets corrupted. Because it's a saga and it wasn't actually dealt with in Undermine it can come back at any time.

It may even be the main corruption theme of the raid as we have had a cosmic void/domanar themed raid already, and it was only a brief part of Nerubar.

[Jerhomie]

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.

I wonder if we could see more intact ruins of their architecture on the rest of the planet — if they ever choose to revisit Karesh again. Most of the planet is visible in the skybox meaning the Karesh we play on are pieces jettisoned the furthest away. We also don’t know where Ecodome Aldani is in comparison to where we play. It could be on the surface or at least a bigger chunk of land considering that’s where the word soul re-entered the ground.

[Khaza-R]

I'm sure that mural will end up being Xals true form as they teased she has a more monstrous roar when she gets mad.

Also I have a feeling the black blood/Unseeming will come back- it's just not the main way the Manifold gets corrupted. Because it's a saga and it wasn't actually dealt with in Undermine it can come back at any time.

It may even be the main corruption theme of the raid as we have had a cosmic void/domanar themed raid already, and it was only a brief part of Nerubar.

I feel like there's a strong chance she becomes a dark titan somehow in Midnight.

[Cheezits]

I feel like there's a strong chance she becomes a dark titan somehow in Midnight.

The most likely ending is her merging with Azeroth or perverting it, yeah. I do think she will be fought and "killed" either way- there are way too many cooks in TLT (Primalists, Keepers, Titans) for her to have a constant presence. But she can leave a mark on Azeroth that the Titans come back to deal with.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

It is also possible they don't merge and instead just damages the Worldcore, either way something transpires that makes the Pantheon of Order and especially Aman'thuls plan be in so much jeopardy that even though the True Timeline exists he needs to intervene. (Although considering Titanic Propaganda the "True Timeline" concept may in fact not be real.)

[Khaza-R]

She's just a void banshee at the end of the day. She could possess the Manifold itself. Which would be interesting to see her use the Titan's own creations against them.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

She's just a void banshee at the end of the day. She could possess the Manifold itself. Which would be interesting to see her use the Titan's own creations against them.

I just don't like the idea of that because ultimately it is another one of those "Hey we should be losing but we're not" scenarios, I'd prefer if something else happened in that situation than them toying with another "This character is way above anyones paygrade at this point even if we do get "Xal'atath damaging Weaponry and Armor" in the raid with them as the final boss.

[Eldryth]

It is also possible they don't merge and instead just damages the Worldcore, either way something transpires that makes the Pantheon of Order and especially Aman'thuls plan be in so much jeopardy that even though the True Timeline exists he needs to intervene. (Although considering Titanic Propaganda the "True Timeline" concept may in fact not be real.)

That seems far more likely to me.

I'd be very surprised- and disappointed- if this doesn't go in a direction that lets Azeroth herself play a role- as an actual character, not just a power source- in the end. She's supposed to be the focus of the Saga, and she's the one who suffered from the Titans' scheme. Her just being absorbed or corrupted would undermine that for the expansion that's supposed to be about her captors' conspiracy. TLT should be about a free Azeroth facing the Pantheon.

Besides, between the Pantheon, Iridikron, and potentially Sargeras, TLT's already sure to be flooded with extremely major villains. We don't need Xal'atath sticking around for a third expansion too.

[Cheezits]

I'd be very surprised- and disappointed- if this doesn't go in a direction that lets Azeroth herself play a role- as an actual character, not just a power source- in the end. She's supposed to be the focus of the Saga, and she's the one who suffered from the Titans' scheme. Her just being absorbed or corrupted would undermine that for the expansion that's supposed to be about her captors' conspiracy. TLT should be about a free Azeroth facing the Pantheon.

On the flipside, I can see the ENDING of the Worldsoul Saga being Azeroth's freedom and waking up- leading to the events of the next saga(s). Like it's her transition from a Worldsoul to a living being.

[Eldryth]

On the flipside, I can see the ENDING of the Worldsoul Saga being Azeroth's freedom and waking up- leading to the events of the next saga(s). Like it's her transition from a Worldsoul to a living being.

If it weren't for the Titan Disc weekly quests' lore, I might agree, but having heard about her fighting back against the Manifold and influencing Earthen to free herself, I don't really see her staying passive through that fight.

[Viridiel]

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.

(If you'll indulge me in some fanfiction)

I've long thought that there might be a more directly Japanese-inspired area between Pandaria and Stranglethorn, the last mysterious part of ancient Kalimdor which fits very nicely on the existing map. There's an island out there called "Hiji" (which follows Japanese phonotactics), and obviously Pandaria's next door. I'd really like it to include the marshy area on the Chronicle map of ancient Kalimdor, although I have to imagine that's one of the areas that was drawn with a lot of artistic liberty and isn't really planned. At any rate, it would be an area which at least partially historically belonged to the night elves, which also have a fair bit of Japanese influence (their arches are straight-up torii rather than hongsalmun and they use shimenawa), and I think the idea of a group of night elves with a unique culture that's more on the Japanese and Korean side than the Celtic side would be more interesting than yet another mystery race. Although I'm sure there would be another Jinyu offshoot race based on kappa, and perhaps it would be the homeland of the winged hozen (in this case based on tengu, maybe with a troll skeleton?). I know the mogu are speculated to be based on oni (personally I think they're based on mogui given the name and all), but I'd rather see that niche filled by Y'shaarj-worshipping ogres who want to resurrect him as the Yamata-no-Orochi (Nanamata-no-Orochi...?).

Mind you, while the jinyu and hozen are both partially Japanese-based, the actual role of the Japanese Empire in Pandaria was played by Garrosh and his orcs (certainly Ishi). I think that was actually a really satisfying way of making the wider world part of the theme of Pandaria, but it was also pretty on the nose and I think any similar attempt for a Japan-inspired continent would be avoided these days for a great many reasons (who could possibly serve a similar role for Japan but America...?).

This would have to essentially be the South Seas expansion with pirates and Plunder Isle (which is maybe the same as Hiji?), so it's not like it would be completely dominated by a Japanese theme like Pandaria was its Asian theme. Nightsquall would serve as the link.

[Lahis]

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.

The devs are absolutely mortified about the thought of using real life culture or accent as a base for a race. They just know someone would be offended because of it.

[Count Zero]

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.

The issue is they obviously draw inspiration from various real cultures for in-game races, but have been less obvious/direct about it with the newer races (Pandaren and the Chinese influence being an exception of that trend, but even they are a mash of various Asian cultures). I think they don't want to draw direct comparisons because it gets into questions of being influenced by vs just copying.

Ethereals and Brokers could be greatly fleshed-out but I think they're satisfied with offering just a hint of their culture - especially with their stuff wrapping up in Midnight. It would be neat to see them in their original flesh forms, and if we'd see more of their original culture and less of the, you know, manaforge-esque vibes.

[Cheezits]

The smoking gun is the Consortium, as we don't know their base of power and their Nexus-Prince is MIA. If they ever wanted to get back into Ethereals (not Brokers) they can use them.

[Auxis]

What if Ula'tek is another wind serpent wild god like Hakkar and Sethe: a malevolent, corruptive god whose venom will lead the Amani who switch to their downfall?

[Mecheon]

"Too ugly"

Have you seen the general Horde races? Lmao

I mean that's basically why they're not doing ogres. The playerbase has more than shown where their aesthetic preference lies. Haranir are going to have more in there than any hypothetical ogre would

[Cheezits]

What if Ula'tek is another wind serpent wild god like Hakkar and Sethe: a malevolent, corruptive god whose venom will lead the Amani who switch to their downfall?

I'm expecting a reveal that the Amani are green because of snake scales and/or venom.