Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Mecha Kobolds, which I thought was rather strange, but its not so strange if we're talking about Kobolds in Undermine.

Not an awful correlation, though I'm still skeptical that the guy has information on an expansion.

[Teriz]

Not an awful correlation, though I'm still skeptical that the guy has any information at all.

Also this was datamined from 10.2 last week;



And this was RAF rewards from March;



https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com...cruit-a-friend

Which is a whole lot of Goblin stuff for some reason.

Hey, it could be nothing, but it could be something. We'll know soon enough.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Alsol this was datamined from 10.2 last week;



And this was RAF rewards from March;

https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com...cruit-a-friend

Which is a whole lot of Goblin stuff for some reason.

Hey, it could be nothing, but it could be something. We'll know soon enough.

I'm not going to lie, I did forget about this. While I'm skeptical of Undermine on its face, this definitely is a strangely-consistent focus on goblins. I'm more inclined to think they'll play a substantial role in some other kind of expansion, though. If this is the case, as I said, it may still be a realistic avenue for your ideal class.

[Fahrad Wagner]

Also this was datamined from 10.2 last week;



And this was RAF rewards from March;



https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com...cruit-a-friend

Which is a whole lot of Goblin stuff for some reason.

Hey, it could be nothing, but it could be something. We'll know soon enough.

I was thinking the same... could we be having the fabled Undermine x Tinkers expansion?

[AOL Instant Messenger]

I was thinking the same... could we be having the fabled Undermine x Tinkers expansion?

If it is, that would make for quite possibly the most humbling experience I think any of us have had in our lives. I almost want to see it happen just to see the chaos that would ensue with us all taking the L in front of Teriz.

[Sondrelk]

I'm not going to lie, I did forget about this. While I'm skeptical of Undermine on its face, this definitely is a strangely-consistent focus on goblins. I'm more inclined to think they'll play a substantial role in some other kind of expansion, though. If this is the case, as I said, it may still be a realistic avenue for your ideal class.

Or, as I have pointed out before. Unless this is from the Blizzcon event or the next expansion special edition. Why would Blizzard take a great transmog perfect for the next expansion and give it to player off-hand?

Besides, this is hardly the only armor set. We also have the waveborne diplomat set, the Nelf warden set. And from previous expansions the Phoenix set and the astral set.

[Marlamin]

Also this was datamined from 10.2 last week;

Loving the Mad Max/Wild West vibe this has going on.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Besides, this is hardly the only armor set. We also have the waveborne diplomat set, the Nelf warden set. And from previous expansions the Phoenix set and the astral set.

The diplomat definitely feels like it's for something to do with the next expansion to me, though that doesn't strictly preclude the goblins having some role. Maybe the Bilgewater trade fleet oversees the colonial effort for the Horde? They are supposed to be something of a naval power, and they would have an interest in exploiting a new land.

Still inclined to guess that we're not going to see Undermine front-and-center, though, because I figure they'd sell the pet and mount with the Special Edition or as pre-order bonuses if the central location were Undermine. If we're going to see a lot of goblins, but they're not going to be central to the expansion, then that would arguably line up with this new influx of assets combined with them being dumped on a promotional event before the expansion. Wouldn't be too surprised if the transmog set is a Special Edition reward, though.

[Ersula]

Bard still seems like a stretch to me. I cannot think of any big WoW heroes that embody the Bard theme, especially not in a way that evokes the DnD Bard that I think people imagine.
Even Evokers are more about stretching the definition of a Dragon in order to make them playable than it is about Evokers having a long and stories history in WoW.

The Key art for Dragonflight did not feature an Evoker. Between Blight Boar & Elite Tauren Chieftan, and Hearthstone made an entire universe of Bard WoW characters, they have plenty to work from.

I've already told someone else. That guy looks like a hipster, not a Highborne

He's not supposed to be a Highborne. He's just a kid night elf who was raised in Teldrassil after they decriminalized mages. Besides that night elves were already the first to describe Priestesses of Elune have to train how to be arcanists before they learn to be priests.

[Murlocos]

Everyone is humans. Just a different shade. Take the recent Night Elf heritage quest for example. Lysander, a 20 year old male night elf who we're stuck with, who talks about his feelings. They have tons of races to choose from to tell a story like this, but instead they choose the race that lives for thousands of years. It's literally a human with a different size ears and different shade of skin at this point. Not to mention the preachy "tradition changing" lesson that felt so forced throughout this quest.

I missed the WC3 talk earlier and my brain is covid-fried so I'm going to struggle to be coherent here, but forced preachiness might be my biggest complaint with something as broad as the tone of the story. Was MoP very subtle in its theme? Not really. Neither was WC3, absolutely. Where they succeeded is that they felt like stories first and foremost, and not like they were trying to tell a lesson to the audience above all else. Villains would get the upper hand at points. Bad things would happen to good people.

The new writing feels like it's trying to lecture the audience first and then tell a story later. I think this is why the Murozond anti-climax is so frustrating: something long foreshadowed just gets fizzled out because it would make Chromie feel bad, and Chromie can't fail or feel bad because she's a good guy, and the good guys can't lose or have real setbacks because that would... send the wrong message to the audience? Lysander is another example where something in the back of your brain immediately tells you "this guy is going to do absolutely nothing wrong and is going to tell the audience exactly what they should be thinking". It's so wooden and unsubtle that you struggle to even take it seriously as a fictional story, at times it borders on feeling like someone is trying to write with their toddler as the target audience.

The Shandris/Voss writing in 10.2 strikes me the same way. There is no buildup to that reconciliation; Shandris apologizes multiple times to Voss about how mean the other night elves are being to her. Voss is perfect and infallible the entire questline, she is only nice and thoughtful and pleasant. Shandris seems to lash out at Voss, but don't worry, she's just possessed by a spirit. She would never truly harbor that kind of resentment because that would send a Bad Message to the Audience, and we can't have that during Danuser's unearned redemption arc instead of sending any other Horde race here. The questline ends with Voss lecturing Shandris and some dryads, who all look away with embarrassment at themselves or accept her words without question.

[Teriz]

I was thinking the same... could we be having the fabled Undermine x Tinkers expansion?

Well keep in mind, Toweliee didn't say specifically that it's Undermine, he only hinted at it being underground, which could be anything really. Undermine is simply the most likely location given its history and lore. Blizzard had plans to bring it in as a continent in vanilla, even having it visible on the map of Azeroth in vanilla opening cinematic;



That's not something you just dump and forget about.

[Luck4]

Let’s be totally honest we all know deep down whether want to admit it or not that next expansion is Avaloren or the other side of Azeroth with no more than 5 zones at max.

I need to be honest...

After the most recent hints/information(hoax), Avaloren or the Other Side of Azeroth setting doesn't feel so bad after all... which kinda sucks.

[Dracullus]

Towellie is trolling you hard. Imagine you know something more than others, giving even slightest hint in public would be last thing you want to do. Only valid thing from streamers that have contact with Blizzard are signs that some big info is coming soon, but no details about that info.

Yeah if next expansion is just Mists 2 and a brand new island again, but with factions, I may have to check out until the revamp. What a lame anniversary.

Anyone who announces his depart from WoW is least likely to do it.

[Nymrohd]

If it is, that would make for quite possibly the most humbling experience I think any of us have had in our lives. I almost want to see it happen just to see the chaos that would ensue with us all taking the L in front of Teriz.

But what about Steampunk Avaloren?

[Magistrate]

But what about Steampunk Avaloren?

Go balls to the wall with cyberpunk avaloren. Gimme shadowrun wow.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

But what about Steampunk Avaloren?

I figure if this connects to the new landmass, the goblins could head the Horde's colonial effort. They have a pretty substantial trade fleet, and they'd definitely leap at the opportunity to exploit this new land.

[Super Dickmann]

Ye of little faith, Teriz was always right, I see the Tinker class more clearly than I see any of you.

[Teriz]

Towellie is trolling you hard. Imagine you know something more than others, giving even slightest hint in public would be last thing you want to do. Only valid thing from streamers that have contact with Blizzard are signs that some big info is coming soon, but no details about that info.

Again, we shouldn’t forget that there is always the chance that Blizzard is behind Toweliee doing this. Ybarra’s “No Pirates” statement would be another example of Blizzard aggressively moving hype in a certain direction.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

I mean, a lot of people from Content creators are very close to blizzard and they're not saying anything, towellie might be just trying to get into that small island of relevancy and try to be a relevant in "oh i know something you guys don't" way, especially when he just posts it on youtube right away.

Honestly it's much more fun when it's some random appears and says something that sounds actually real or actually someone that knows stuff like scaleface and has fun riddles up to the reveal.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

scaleface

He was amazing fun, even if I was coping hard and contesting him about the Dracthyr. I hope it was all part of a deliberate leak by Blizzard and he didn't lose his job over it.