Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Santandame]

I wouldnt expect that leak to be any different honestly. It's so broad in theme that nothing but a complete swerve would derail it.
It's used basically every hint currently in the game, and every leak from anyone of note to create an amalgam that cannot be disproven.

It’s worth nothing though that the leak was posted end of August and states an underwater zone AND Undermine.

Undermine speculation has only been the past week via Towellie. Prior to this week it was rarely considered. So it’s not like it’s jumped on the bandwagon with that. Similar with the terrarium and the naga animations datamined recently.

To be fair this Voidstorm leak is no more a hot mess of mishmashed themes than Legion was, and look how that turned out.

Legion had the Legion obviously but also the Emerald Nightmare, Naga, Vrykul, Void etc. Then there’s also BfA…

[Darkarath]

Yeah I would not trust that Voidstorm leak.

Way too detailed and way too soon to be true. Also It has a full zone dedicated to pirates and Ybarra said "No pirates".

It is just a bunch of the ideas that we usually see around together.

I think that, with a 99% chance, the only points that we can take for granted for next expansion are:

- Iridikron.

- Azshara and Nagas.

- Xal'athat and the theme of the Void in some form.

- Thrall and Orcs lore (Ion stated himself that we will be getting more Horde lore, particularly more Orc lore).

- Improvements to the bank and reputations, probably account-wide on both terms (I would give these just a 90% chance, but Ion has mentioned both).

I can throw there more ideas but that would be pure speculation, the points above, though, I would bet on them.

Right now, if we do not get a revamp in 11.0, I would say that we are going to Avaloren. Then world revamp in 12.0.

[Hitei]

It’s worth nothing though that the leak was posted end of August and states an underwater zone AND Undermine.

Undermine speculation has only been the past week via Towellie. Prior to this week it was rarely considered. So it’s not like it’s jumped on the bandwagon with that. Similar with the terrarium and the naga animations datamined recently.

To be fair this Voidstorm leak is no more a hot mess of mishmashed themes than Legion was, and look how that turned out.

Legion had the Legion obviously but also the Emerald Nightmare, Naga, Vrykul, Void etc. Then there’s also BfA…

Undermine speculation has been around for like four expansion cycles.

[Teriz]

You know what expansion was even closer to killing the game than Shadowlands? The one with Yrel.

With playable Ogres and Arakkoa, a World Revamp, and new support specs for bloodlust classes?

Doubtful.

[Santandame]

Undermine speculation has been around for like four expansion cycles.

It has, but it’s never been one that’s ever been taken seriously or ever really featured in any prominent leaks. At least not to know my knowledge.

[Sondrelk]

It’s worth nothing though that the leak was posted end of August and states an underwater zone AND Undermine.

Undermine speculation has only been the past week via Towellie. Prior to this week it was rarely considered. So it’s not like it’s jumped on the bandwagon with that. Similar with the terrarium and the naga animations datamined recently.

To be fair this Voidstorm leak is no more a hot mess of mishmashed themes than Legion was, and look how that turned out.

Legion had the Legion obviously but also the Emerald Nightmare, Naga, Vrykul, Void etc. Then there’s also BfA…

Legion was diverse, but not to this extent. Undermine with a void theme, sure. Underwater with Void theme, absolutely.
Undermine, and Underwater, and K'aresh? No.

It's way too much going on at the same time. Remove K'aresh and just go for more generic Void themings potentially leading into K'aresh similar to Legion leading into Argus and you would be onto something.

Besides, I don't trust any leak that mentions K'aresh. That location is somewhere only hardcore lore nerds have any relation to. It's really only briefly mentioned in a single zone in TBC. And while Ethereals are a mainstay as the Transmog guys, they are hardly integral to the plot like what the Draenei and Demons were in relation to Argus.

[Hitei]

It has, but it’s never been one that’s ever been taken seriously or ever really featured in any prominent leaks. At least not to know my knowledge.

What are you considering prominent? This "leak" wasn't prominent until a few pages back when people suddenly decided it was.

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...working-title)
https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...e-of-Lordaeron

Here is literally another leak with the exact same South Seas/Undermine/K'aresh amalgamation from a few days after Voidstorm was posted:

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...ary-expansion)


Also, Voidstorm's post reeks of fanfiction. You're either leaking straight-up promotional material, or you aren't.

You can't have crap like:

Unnamed islands - there are lots of smaller islands to be found at sea. These are sometimes procedurally generated, and are part of an endgame gameplay system.

The zones of Voidstorm form a large archipelago, southeast of Kalimdor. Due to large distances between the larger islands, you will have to travel seamlessly between zones by ship.

Two new playable races: an underwater species at launch (I don't know its name) and Ethereals once we reach K'aresh. Both are neutral.

written like someone just summarizing information they heard, and then also have stuff like:

This was once a picturesque paradise, famous for its snow-capped mountains, tranquil Koi fish ponds, and beautifully arranged gardens. Now, it is the freebooter's paradise. But some say you can still catch a glimpse of a mermaid in the surf at dusk, if you watch closely.

written like you are directly copy-pasting text blurbs from actual promotional material. Pick a lane.

[Santandame]

What are you considering prominent? This "leak" wasn't prominent until a few pages back when people suddenly decided it was.

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...working-title)
https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...e-of-Lordaeron

Here is literally another leak with the exact same South Seas/Undermine/K'aresh amalgamation from a few days after Voidstorm was posted:

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...ary-expansion)


Also, Voidstorm's post reeks of fanfiction. You're either leaking straight-up promotional material, or you aren't.

You can't have crap like:






written like someone just summarizing information they heard, and then also have stuff like:


written like you are directly copy-pasting text blurbs from actual promotional material. Pick a lane.

Fair enough.

I hadn’t seen the leaks in the threads you had posted. But looking over them now they seem a lot more incoherent than the Voidstorm one in terms of what’s being presented. At least with the Voidstorm leak it’s touching upon what’s been datamined and the natural progression of the story. The Perenolde leak just seems extremely out there.

I can’t really speak for how the leaks been written though. But to me, Voidstorm seems the most likely leak I’ve seen so far to be real out of the ones I’ve seen posted based off everything that’s been datamined as well as the various hints we’ve received capped off with how the story seems to be progressing. Admittedly there is some bias in there in my end because it sounds like an expansion that’s right up my street.

Either way, we’ll find out in due time but based off what we do know, as far as I’m concerned it seems the most likely to me. I’m putting more stock in that than say the potential underground only expansion idea floating around or even a world revamp which is my own personal want.

Ultimately though I do think the most likely course is just going to be Avaloren with Azshara, Iridikron and Xal’atath as villains backed up by a b-plot of Titan Keepers and Odyn with 4-5 zones on Avaloren with one of them being void themed.

[huth]

I don't buy it. It sounds very disjointed and is too much unsubstantiated detail for a leak this early on in the cycle.

My biggest issue with it as well... it's all over the place with little connective tissue. Both figuratively and literally as well.

[Myrrh]

https://twitter.com/Portergauge/stat...514343/photo/1

https://www.wowhead.com/ptr-2/spell=...nder-cosmetics

https://www.wowhead.com/ptr-2/spell=...itch-cosmetics

Naga NPCs and cosmetic spells, all added in 10.2...

The same tweet thread also shows that Jaina and Thrall may appear later on, which could be 10.2.5 stuff or post-Amirdrassil things to lead to the next expansion? Also some guys from Silithus.

Naz'jar naga (and spiritmender/tempest witches in particular) are found in the throne of the tides dungeon, which is getting the VP treatment for S3. There's clearly something going on with naga given that fancy new back piece, but I'd say everything you linked is just sprucing the old dungeon up a bit.

For reference, the Naz'jar serve Lady Naz'jar who we decidedly executed in Throne. Any naga, including entirely new ones, with this naming convention is just a fresh coat of paint to modernise a very old dungeon. Definitely arguable that they chose Throne of the Tides to reintroduce us to the Naga after some time apart, though.

[Santandame]

Naz'jar naga (and spiritmender/tempest witches in particular) are found in the throne of the tides dungeon, which is getting the VP treatment for S3. There's clearly something going on with naga given that fancy new back piece, but I'd say everything you linked is just sprucing the old dungeon up a bit.

For reference, the Naz'jar serve Lady Naz'jar who we decidedly executed in Throne. Any naga, including entirely new ones, with this naming convention is just a fresh coat of paint to modernise a very old dungeon. Definitely arguable that they chose Throne of the Tides to reintroduce us to the Naga after some time apart, though.

Did they update anything related to The Vortex Pinnacle though? Because if they didn’t that would disprove that they only updated it because it’s an old dungeon and would be more indicative of your second point that they’ve chosen this dungeon as a means of reintroducing us to the Naga as well as to update us he models like they did at the end of WoD for demons in prep for Legion.

[Holdodlig]

What are you considering prominent? This "leak" wasn't prominent until a few pages back when people suddenly decided it was.

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...working-title)
https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...e-of-Lordaeron

Here is literally another leak with the exact same South Seas/Undermine/K'aresh amalgamation from a few days after Voidstorm was posted:

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...ary-expansion)


Also, Voidstorm's post reeks of fanfiction. You're either leaking straight-up promotional material, or you aren't.

You can't have crap like:






written like someone just summarizing information they heard, and then also have stuff like:


written like you are directly copy-pasting text blurbs from actual promotional material. Pick a lane.

People thinking we're going to have an underground zone because of Zaralekk simply don't understand how those expansions are designed. Blizzard can test feature with content patch and expand them in an expansion, but they can't take a whole theme and simply say "if it works in this patch, then it's going to be a complete expansion".

That's why those leaks are not convincing IMO, more than the fanfiction stuff because WoW is somehow written like a giant fanfiction these days.

[Myrrh]

Did they update anything related to The Vortex Pinnacle though? Because if they didn’t that would disprove that they only updated it because it’s an old dungeon and would be more indicative of your second point that they’ve chosen this dungeon as a means of reintroducing us to the Naga as well as to update us he models like they did at the end of WoD for demons in prep for Legion.

Yes, most of the elementals were updated to new models along with a tonne of new or adjusted abilities (m+ only). I vaguely remember thinking they messed with the spawning/mob density a bit, but would need to look at a cata version vid to confirm.

[Well Done Steak]

Eh, voidstorm just seems like a perfect amalgamation of the best theories in one. That and the lack of any light stuff, mainly Yrel, makes it seem fake to me.

[Catastrophy349]

What are our predictions for the ending of the raid? For example, what happens to Fyrakk, the Aspects, Vyranoth (besides the datamined spell), etc. at the END of the raid (cinematic)/final MSQ quest?

[Santandame]

Eh, voidstorm just seems like a perfect amalgamation of the best theories in one. That and the lack of any light stuff, mainly Yrel, makes it seem fake to me.

Yrel is probably the least likely expansion theme out there currently; even moreso than just a strictly Undermine themed expansion.

She has no relevance at all and the story isn’t moving in a direction that indicates she is next.

- - - Updated - - -

What are our predictions for the ending of the raid? For example, what happens to Fyrakk, the Aspects, Vyranoth (besides the datamined spell), etc. at the END of the raid (cinematic)/final MSQ quest?

- Fyrakk dead unfortunately. If I had my way he’d retreat to the Firelands and take over becoming the new Firelord.

- The Aspects regain their powers and take their places at the Seat of the Aspect with Vyranoth joining them to represent the rest of dragonkind such as proto drakes, storm drakes, cloud serpents, netherwing etc.

- Tyr and the Titan Keeper storyline reserved for the eventual Avaloren expansion.

[Palapop]

If memory serves, that image was posted by an official Warcraft account.
Gimme a min, I'll try and wrangle it if I can.

Got it, it's from the official Warcraft account:
https://twitter.com/Warcraft/status/1705313777099448456

WTF?!

I'm blocked by official Warcraft account?

Am I that important to them? xD

I dont even send DMs on X lol
wtf?!

[Cheezits]

What are our predictions for the ending of the raid? For example, what happens to Fyrakk, the Aspects, Vyranoth (besides the datamined spell), etc. at the END of the raid (cinematic)/final MSQ quest?

The final cinematic will probably just be Fyrakk dying and the tree blooming to life in the Dragon Isles.

Afterwards, the dragons go to the tree and get their powers back. Why Tyr and the Oathstones aren't involved in this is suspicious and makes me wonder if the Tyr quest has to happen before the blessing quest to explain why he's not doing it.

[Catastrophy349]

https://www.wowhead.com/news/empower...ch-10-2-335137 How are we feeling about this one?

[Cheezits]

https://www.wowhead.com/news/empower...ch-10-2-335137 How are we feeling about this one?

I feel 10.2.5 is the last patch and 10.2 is the last raid. Unless Vakthros is a mini raid, though it could just be a new dungeon.