Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Sondrelk]

Scarlet Crusade RAID, it's about the damn time.

I also would like to see quests, dungeons, scenarios, etc; giving more context to cosmic planes, cosmic threats, and their leaders. Think about the Xal'atath build-up, which happened on a minor scale.

We don't know a single Voidlord name, nor the status quo of the Disorder pantheon, and why they allowed an entity from another cosmic pantheon to take control of nearly all demons.

We need more context!

Scarlet Crusade raid would be fun for sure. Not sure where it would be though. Maybe in the deepest part of Stratholme somehow.

Stomrwind Vault is another instance that might be difficult, but would be cool to have. Maybe with an Undercroft raid beneath Orgrimmar to balance things out.

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Actually. Maybe if you make Stormwind Vault and The Undercroft both dungeons, and have the entrance slightly outside Stormwind and Orgrimmar for the opposite faction. Would be a cool callback to The Stockade and Ragefire Chasm without having to make it annoying for opposite faction players to literally get inside the main faction hub.

[Nymrohd]

I'm going to guess it's the lack of frontal overbite.

I'd say a lot of the angles are more severe. Not just the underbite but also the snout is very different with a more pronounced browbone and a very different shape. I think the "disney" thing comes to it looking more like a plushie in that it is just softer. Also there is the question of why not make a greater effort to stay true to the original. Because the trophy shot definitely looks a lot closer to the vanilla version.

[Luck4]

Scarlet Crusade raid would be fun for sure. Not sure where it would be though. Maybe in the deepest part of Stratholme somehow.

I think a new stronghold would be better suited for a Raid, like in this concept:

[loras]

Seriously what are you even whining about here? That it doesn't have enough spikes?

I would guess it's more the lack of depth and the spatial homogenity of the head. Makes the horns seem "tacked on", which i suppose they kind of are due to the customisability.

The colors too are simpler and more "unnatural" somehow.

Can't say i find it hard to understand what is being said.

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Scarlet Crusade RAID, it's about the damn time.

I also would like to see quests, dungeons, scenarios, etc; giving more context to cosmic planes, cosmic threats, and their leaders. Think about the Xal'atath build-up, which happened on a minor scale.

We don't know a single Voidlord name, nor the status quo of the Disorder pantheon, and why they allowed an entity from another cosmic pantheon to take control of nearly all demons.

We need more context!

Dimensius the all devouring is the void lord that ate Ka'resh, the ethereal homeworld.

But honestly void lord names are weird, absences shouldn't have names, especially if they haven't even manifested.

[Raetary]

Spoiler: 

Old head was more narrow and saggy, with a softer jawline, rougher and more visible scales and narrow/more delicate looking horns, there's also the underbite and goofy teeth.

Whereas the new head looks like a scaly version of the chad meme.

[Luck4]

Dimensius the all devouring is the void lord that ate Ka'resh, the ethereal homeworld.

But honestly void lord names are weird, absences shouldn't have names, especially if they haven't even manifested.

Yeah, I forgot about this one, but he's dead. We need to learn more about the ones supposedly we'll see and fight in future expansions.

[ChairmanKaga]

Why do multiple people in here keep misusing overbite?

[Nymrohd]

I think a new stronghold would be better suited for a Raid, like in this concept:

I think Hearthglen, Stratholme and Scarlet Monastery should have contact through that zone with Stratholme actually becoming a port city (the area is called Stratholme Bay)

[Catastrophy349]

Well, well, well

https://www.wowhead.com/news/amirdra...testing-335017

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For reference, here is the testing schedule for 10.1…

Get your predictions ready!

https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/top...h-30-april-28/

[ChairmanKaga]

Well, well, well

https://www.wowhead.com/news/amirdra...testing-335017

- - - Updated - - -

For reference, here is the testing schedule for 10.1…

Get your predictions ready!

https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/top...h-30-april-28/

Based on that it should be October 17th? Would they release the patch a few weeks before Blizzcon or just wait until after?

[Hitei]

Based on that it should be October 17th? Would they release the patch a few weeks before Blizzcon or just wait until after?

Before is the more optimal marketing strategy, get a rush of players for patch and then when people would normally be losing interest, a second wind from Blizzcon. If you do it the other way, they overlap.

1 month sub for patch + 1 sub for Blizzcon hype
vs
1 month sub for patch and Blizzcon hype.

Also means people see any theoretical end of expansion raid finale cutscene beforehand for context if the expansion builds off the final event of the raid.

[Cheezits]

Based on that it should be October 17th? Would they release the patch a few weeks before Blizzcon or just wait until after?

Amirdrassil is about to bloom in campaign quests -> post-raid wrap up of the Dream story/Dragons get blessed (probably timegated) -> Amirdrassil City reveal at Blizzcon just a few weeks later

I have a feeling the Blue/White Nelf armor tint is related to Amirdrassil fully blooming and the reason they can't talk about it is because it's tied to that Blizzcon reveal.

[Kiivar86]

Okay some more thoughts...

Avaloren is said to have some type of earthen right, well this is prob where Uldaz is, due to the "az" suffix usually being associated with earthen and dwarves.

No actually, it doesn't.

All we know about Avaloren is it is a far ways away, expeditions were sent after "heretics" who did something against a keeper named Innaria and other keepers, it has strong defenses.

You're confusing the report about Avaloren with the Observational report: Earthen. These earthen are located at an area called Sector AR-938/Khaz Algar.

It is possible they are the same place, but nothing points to that at the moment.

You can read about Avaloren in this. This is everything we have about it at present. (Note for some reason the page does have "Observational Report: Earthen is looted from an Ancient Volume in Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr. " at the top of it - just an error)

[Makabreska]

Isn't this the first time they give us entire PTR raid testing schedule?

[doledippers]

This PTR testing schedule is pretty tricky. If they release the patch the week after blizzcon, we're looking at a patch release on Nov 7th and a raid release on Nov 14th. That's almost an entire month after raid testing ends to release the raid. I don't really see that, the wait would be too long IMO.

On the other hand, releasing it in October would be pretty tricky as well. It's not gonna be the day after raid testing ends, obviously. I think a good scenario here is Patch release on the 24th of October, have a 2 week preseason, then release the raid on the 7th. I think this could actually work because we have a larger than usual Ilvl bump from raid/m+ going from 10.1->10.2. This means that people will actually be gearing from outdoor content in a meaningful way. Mythic abberus gear is = to LFR amidrassil gear.

tldr; i think 24th patch release + 2 week preseason -> nov 7th raid release could work out

[Inxotep]

https://www.wowhead.com/news/new-pat...counter-334991



More void!

[Cheezits]

https://www.wowhead.com/news/new-pat...counter-334991



More void!

Definitely going to be a P3 Fyrakk void tantrum.

[Polybius]

I think they're just stars. It can easily be the influence of Elune considering the blessings the tree will give or be given. The purple smoke is likely Fyrakk's shadowflame touching the Dream.

[nanoneo]

I think a new stronghold would be better suited for a Raid, like in this concept:

This is What i Want Classic+ to be like

[rainhard]

I think for certain they have landscape assets for:

• Tanaris, Uldum, and Silithus (mix of assets from various newer desert zones such as Vol'dun and Thaldraszus). Silithus only needs minor tweaking at this point.
• Ahn'Qiraj (could probably be torn down, but Ny'alotha assets fit).
• Thousand Needles, Desolace, and Stonetalon Mountains (various zones like The Waking Shores, Vol'dun, etc).
• Feralas and Un'goro (Val'sharah and so on).
• Mulgore (Ohn'ahran Plains).
• The Barrens (updated WSG).
• Dustwallow Marsh (Nazmir).
• The Barrens, Durotar, and Orgrimmar (updated WSG, The Waking Shores, etc).
• Azshara (Nazjatar, Drustvar, etc)
• Ashenvale, Darkshore, Felwood, Mount Hyjal (Val'sharah, The Emerald Dream, updated WSG, etc).
• Winterspring (Azure Span etc).
• Moonglade (bits and pieces of the Emerald Dream, Val'sharah, etc).
• Echo Isles (Zandalar etc).
• Azuremyst and Bloodmyst (AU Draenor, Argus, etc).

Cities, villages and temples are pretty "simple" using a mix of assets from Highmountain, Nazjatar, updated WSG, Zandalar, Argus, AU Draenor, etc.

It's also useful to remember that the Alpha/Beta for the expansion itself will probably include a ton of assets. The whole team might've switched over from Dragonflight at that point, while 12.0 is in preproduction.

So the final pieces of the puzzle are probably yet to reveal themselves.

If they did indeed scrap a Barrens Warfront and salvage its assets in the updated WSG, then it is probable they have even more Barrens/Orgrimmar/Durotar assets that weren't used yet. After all, the Warfronts in Darkshore and Desolace featured enough for entire zones and their cities.

Reusing all those color palletes would be a bit uninspired though, i expect a world revamp to give each zone its unique color and not just copy paste vol'dun sands everywhere for example, or every marsh to end up a nazmir copy or Ungoro to turn into valsharah green.
Most things you mentioned could end up being reused but i would hope for a retint to a degree including the structure assets and not a half assed revamp.