Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Cheezits]

They very much match the Excavation Site 9 assets. That said, the new mob models in K'aresh match the Voidstorm/Black Blood set instead of K'aresh

What's funny is not only do the two tints of the KSM mount match Voidstorm but the armor is Ethereal and Void Elf (gold/pink and white/blue).

If they had to focus on one of the patches it's weird they picked a launch zone, but I guess that are putting a lot of eggs into the Voidspire and its consequences.

Also I hope this means the Worldcore will now be more interesting than Expedition Site 999.

[Super Dickmann]

They very much match the Excavation Site 9 assets. That said, the new mob models in K'aresh match the Voidstorm/Black Blood set instead of K'aresh

Yes, the organic, nerubian-esque models that're used occasionally on K'aresh were obviously not meant for it, but fit right in with both the Voidstorm Zerg and the Black Blood/Ascended up to this point.

[elderu]

It's baffling how this community is convinced that the primary 12.1 Raid AND Zone is Atal'Utek, when we just got shown that 12.1.5 (still part of the same season mind you) has been all but confirmed to have a Zul'Aman style Labyrinth, likely Atal'Utek themed, and another single-boss Raid.

A marginal portion of Zul'Aman isn't a 'new zone' that they can't talk about.

Unlike 12.0.5's off-shoot Sporefall Raid, 12.1.5's Raid , as Ion said, will be following up on the threads from the story campaign, and gee what could that be..? Zul'jan.

Like the hysteria is so bad, even these CE owners are buying into 'OH NO WE BETTER HIDE THIS!' as if it's a mistake being in there?? lol give me a break.
They don't have spoilers in those books. This whole ordeal has been fabricated by pure speculation based on a Warlock set icon- in an age where we have Raid-Specific-Renown-Rewards.

There's pretty much no surprise or super secret with Atal'Utek, there's no grand mystery, but there sure is a novel patch content delivery schedule.

[Khaza-R]

I think the Unseeming was a cool concept.

Its entirely possible the black blood plotline returns. Like the Void juice supercharged it and now its a real problem.

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It's baffling how this community is convinced that the primary 12.1 Raid AND Zone is Atal'Utek, when we just got shown that 12.1.5 (still part of the same season mind you) has been all but confirmed to have a Zul'Aman style Labyrinth, likely Atal'Utek themed, and another single-boss Raid.

A marginal portion of Zul'Aman isn't a 'new zone' that they can't talk about.

Unlike 12.0.5's off-shoot Sporefall Raid, 12.1.5's Raid , as Ion said, will be following up on the threads from the story campaign, and gee what could that be..? Zul'jan.

Like the hysteria is so bad, even these CE owners are buying into 'OH NO WE BETTER HIDE THIS!' as if it's a mistake being in there?? lol give me a break.
They don't have spoilers in those books. This whole ordeal has been fabricated by pure speculation based on a Warlock set icon- in an age where we have Raid-Specific-Renown-Rewards.

There's pretty much no surprise or super secret with Atal'Utek, there's no grand mystery, but there sure is a novel patch content delivery schedule.

People in this very thread vehemently denied K'aresh would be 11.2 and well, we see how that went...

[KyleEverett]

I read it as the 12.1.5 single boss raid is to get us back on track with the main plot. Maybe Void Infused Turalyon shows up after he disappears during launch.

I think 12.1 is just gonna be Troll Island and it will have little connection to the main plot but finish off the Amani story.

There feels like there's some desperation that surely Blizzard wouldn't do another sidequest season and raid in a 3 season expansion, but most things seem to be following the TWW pattern. Undermine, for all its positive reception, had 0 impact on the story.

11.0.5 had 0 plot. 12.0.5 on the roadmap has no story quests. I get the desire to not have a disconnected Troll Island patch and raid and there HAS to be more to it, but I'm not sold.

I do hope Blizzard moves on from the Launch Raid, Sidestory Raid, Finale Raid pattern fast if its what they think works.

[Dvalin]

Just saw a picture of the map. Three things stick out-

-Atal'Utek is straight up called "Ula'Tek". Unsure why this is, but maybe there's something weird going on and that's why the 11.1 items were called that, versus the raid actually being the snake itself. Then again there are venom rivers and a snake temple.

-Harandar is shown, Voidstorm isn't.

-The Ghostlands/Voidholme area are colored in RED. Suspicious imo considering Stratholme.

Voidstorm is on the other page. The southern part of the Eversong Woods actually do have orange trees, but they don't seem to be related to the plague/Eastern Plaguelands, at all. Just not as infused as the light, like a perpetual autumn.

@elderu You raise a good point, but I'm not so sure yet. Atal'Utek is treated as a different zone. It could be the Mechagon/Isle of Sirens of this expansion, true. But the temple complex feels quite big? So you think 11.1 could feature another zone altogether?

[Lieutenant Commander]

It's pretty obvious 12.1 is gonna be a troll patch, that's the reason Zul'Aman quests reward blood elf transmogs and almost nothing troll related, they will just pile all the troll stuff there.

[Cheezits]

Saga marketing be damned, I think that they are going with a "potential" basis for their midpatches over story importance. ESPECIALLY if we are getting two mid patches this time, or the two patch zones aren't that story important with the story content being delegated to dungeons and raids.

If Ulatek is a major troll patch (not just Amani) it makes sense because there likely won't be any serious troll racial content for a long time. Equally so if Lordaeron or Stratholme is on the table as both patches aren't about going Underground to find Xal (the logical progression of the story) but they are both cool ideas for patches.

I do personally think 12.2 isn't the Worldcore as the Light storyline needs to be addressed before we fight Xal and there's a flame themed gladiator mount (could be sacred flame, could be strath, could be bolvar, could be scarlets, etc). And a single boss raid leading to the Worldcore would be an odd choice IMO, unless it's Turalyon as stated, just to wrap up the family drama crap.

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@elderu You raise a good point, but I'm not so sure yet. Atal'Utek is treated as a different zone. It could be the Mechagon/Isle of Sirens of this expansion, true. But the temple complex feels quite big? So you think 11.1 could feature another zone altogether?

There's something odd going on about there being a troll dungeon, raid, delves and also apparently a megadelve. Don't you run out of space at some point? Why the repetition?

[elderu]

Don't you run out of space at some point?

Yes. This quite literally. Atal'Utek (Troll CITY naming convention) is just that, a mountain and a city. Most of the 'zone' is a tall, featureless, unexplorable mountain. To which people will say, 'well the zone could be underground partially', but then we have Labyrinths exploring just that lol

And again on that Artbook page, 'Silvermoon City' is labeled alongside 'Eversong Woods'... same way 'Atal'Utek/Ula'tek' is labeled alongside 'Zul'Aman'

City =/= New Zone

[Lady Atia]

Saga marketing be damned, I think that they are going with a "potential" basis for their midpatches over story importance. ESPECIALLY if we are getting two mid patches this time, or the two patch zones aren't that story important with the story content being delegated to dungeons and raids.

If Ulatek is a major troll patch (not just Amani) it makes sense because there likely won't be any serious troll racial content for a long time. Equally so if Lordaeron or Stratholme is on the table as both patches aren't about going Underground to find Xal (the logical progression of the story) but they are both cool ideas for patches.

I do personally think 12.2 isn't the Worldcore as the Light storyline needs to be addressed before we fight Xal and there's a flame themed gladiator mount (could be sacred flame, could be strath, could be bolvar, could be scarlets, etc). And a single boss raid leading to the Worldcore would be an odd choice IMO, unless it's Turalyon as stated, just to wrap up the family drama crap.

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There's something odd going on about there being a troll dungeon, raid, delves and also apparently a megadelve. Don't you run out of space at some point? Why the repetition?

I doubt they will add a troll dungeon with 12.1, the megadelve takes the space of that (basically the mole version of a mega dungeon doable by everyone).

[Cheezits]

Yes. This quite literally. Atal'Utek (Troll CITY naming convention) is just that, a mountain and a city. Most of the 'zone' is a tall, featureless, unexplorable mountain. To which people will say, 'well the zone could be underground partially', but then we have Labyrinths exploring just that lol

The only confirmed thing we know about 11.1 is Ulatek is involved and Karesh was a joke of a major content patch (particularly zone wise), Atalutek could absolutely be the only thing we get with a single dungeon or delve being unrelated (Strath or the water portal) to break up the monotony of the theming.

If that's the case, they better hope there's a new race tied up in that or they are going to get clowned on.

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I doubt they will add a troll dungeon with 12.1, the megadelve takes the space of that (basically the mole version of a mega dungeon doable by everyone).

The dungeon portal in the area is underwater going underground so it could be anything with that theming.

[JDBlou]

It's baffling how this community is convinced that the primary 12.1 Raid AND Zone is Atal'Utek, when we just got shown that 12.1.5 (still part of the same season mind you) has been all but confirmed to have a Zul'Aman style Labyrinth, likely Atal'Utek themed, and another single-boss Raid.

A marginal portion of Zul'Aman isn't a 'new zone' that they can't talk about.

Unlike 12.0.5's off-shoot Sporefall Raid, 12.1.5's Raid , as Ion said, will be following up on the threads from the story campaign, and gee what could that be..? Zul'jan.

Like the hysteria is so bad, even these CE owners are buying into 'OH NO WE BETTER HIDE THIS!' as if it's a mistake being in there?? lol give me a break.
They don't have spoilers in those books. This whole ordeal has been fabricated by pure speculation based on a Warlock set icon- in an age where we have Raid-Specific-Renown-Rewards.

There's pretty much no surprise or super secret with Atal'Utek, there's no grand mystery, but there sure is a novel patch content delivery schedule.

So instead of embracing the known quantity of "INV_Helm_Cloth_RaidWarlockUlatek_D_01", you've elected to say that the labyrinth is likely Atal'utek instead of the patch sized area (https://i.imgur.com/yoSkMid.jpeg) just floating off to the side of Zul'Aman, ominously being watched by Zul'jan at the end of the zone story. That's a brand spanking new tier set, I doubt the mini raids are going to have their own class-specific tier sets.

The preponderance of evidence points to it being the 12.1 raid, especially in light of the pattern where Undermine and Manaforge were in the files in TWW beta
"inv_offhand_1h_goblinraid_d_01"
"inv_11_0_etherealraid_communicator_color4"

Occam's Razor is a thing. And you contorted yourself into avoiding it for some reason?

[elderu]

So instead of embracing the known "INV_Helm_Cloth_RaidWarlockUlatek_D_01", -snip-

12.1.5 is still Season 2* lol. '01' means...??? I haven't ignored anything, I'm declaring this data-string tells us less than everyone insists.

Calling it a 'patch sized area' is uninformed. Maybe Mechagon (which launched alongside Nazjatar anyway) or Atal'Dazar sized.

I doubt the mini raids are going to have their own class-specific tier sets.

Fun fact, neither do main-patch raids have Class-specific RAID-THEMED sets.

[Cheezits]

And you contorted yourself into avoiding it for some reason?

The contortion is cope to pretend that Modern Blizz wouldn't hype up a Siren Isle, with a filler plot (where a punky haired sister beats her evil brother) with an even more immediately repetitive theme as a major content patch (they would).

[JDBlou]

12.1.5 is still Season 1 lol. '01' means...??? I haven't ignored anything, I'm declaring this data-string tells us less than everyone insists.

Calling it a 'patch sized area' is uninformed. Maybe Mechagon (which launched alongside Nazjatar anyway) or Atal'Dazar sized.

That whole Area labeled 2-12 seems prime for a patch zone. And if this thread: https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...ulation-thread, is right, it's about 80% the size of Zul'Aman. So who's really "uninformed"?

And 12.1.5 is verifiably not season 1, so what on god's green earth are you on about?

[Thomir]

Blizzard fell for the meme that every good expansion has a troll patch / raid.

[Cheezits]

Blizzard fell for the meme that every good expansion has a troll patch / raid.

An Amani raid makes sense, not another Amani zone (but this one has green rivers). An offensive level of asset reuse.

[elderu]

Oh got me there. 12.1 is season 2! Therefore, 12.1.5 is still Season 2 as well. 12.. '01' 5 You knew exactly what I meant.

it's about 80% the size of Zul'Aman.

Almost as if.. It's part of the zone, Zul'Aman! (and at that, half of that space is water.)

[Cheezits]

Very likely the zone team made Zulaman bigger on purpose to begin with, cut it in half to sell as patch content, and then worked on the housing zones instead as a priority. If 12.2 is Worldcore from TWW then QT/ZA quite possibly could be the ONLY original expansion content we receive that's tied to the story. That'll be $50 plus sub.

[Mecheon]

They didn't have "all" the customization options they have now in 11.0... they only had about one-third the customization options they have in 12.0 - Even then, my observation takes precedence: A lot of non-playable races are dressing-room compatible like that, and even then if they decided to make Ethereals playable it would still take a good while, which was my point. Plus, Ethereals also have a bunch of modular customization that didn't get used in 11.2

Haranir customisations were always player ready, though. Ethereals? The way they were built is fundamentally incompatible with the way players are built. Their UV mapping is completely wrong for it, unlike haranir. There's a reason we pegged haranir for a future playable race, and that's because they were nearly player ready from the start. Unlike Ethereal, who are.... Completely incompatible with the system that player models have used for the past 20+ years.

We've been over this like, ten times at this point, but they would need to completely rebuild the new ethereal models from scratch to make them player compatible. Doesn't matter about the customisations, ethereals are right now as player incompatible as hydras, frogs, magnataur or any other "Yeah that's clearly not a player race" NPC you can find.