Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Darkarath]

When did Ion say “more orc lore incoming”?

Nos encantó el protagonismo que tuvo Durak en la cadena de misiones Dinásticas. Él y Zekhan parecen ser la sangre nueva que necesita la Horda. ¿Veremos más de él?

«Creo que las probabilidades son realmente buenas. Creo que cuando introducimos nuevos personajes o aumentamos el protagonismo de algunos de ellos, eso se hace con algún propósito, pero también evaluamos las reacciones de los jugadores con esas historias, si quieren conocer más sobre ellos. Los comentarios son siempre bien recibidos y aunque tal vez no sean un foco inmediato de la historia que estamos contando en Dragonflight ahora mismo, pero ciertamente los Orcos y esa parte de la Horda tras los sucesos de la era Sylvanas, va a ser algo que pase al primer plano en el futuro.»

It is from an interview of Altertime to Ion on May 23th. It is an Spanish website, but in the bold part Ion says: "certainly the Orcs and that part of the Horde after the events of Sylvanas' era, are going to be something that comes to the forefront in the future".

Now take these declarations with Thrall showing up in this year Blizzcon's art and the Orc Heritage questline, and I think that it is safe to say that we will be getting Orc stuff in 11.0.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

Nos encantó el protagonismo que tuvo Durak en la cadena de misiones Dinásticas. Él y Zekhan parecen ser la sangre nueva que necesita la Horda. ¿Veremos más de él?

«Creo que las probabilidades son realmente buenas. Creo que cuando introducimos nuevos personajes o aumentamos el protagonismo de algunos de ellos, eso se hace con algún propósito, pero también evaluamos las reacciones de los jugadores con esas historias, si quieren conocer más sobre ellos. Los comentarios son siempre bien recibidos y aunque tal vez no sean un foco inmediato de la historia que estamos contando en Dragonflight ahora mismo, pero ciertamente los Orcos y esa parte de la Horda tras los sucesos de la era Sylvanas, va a ser algo que pase al primer plano en el futuro.»

It is from an interview of Altertime to Ion on May 23th. It is an Spanish website, but in the bildu part Ion says: "certainly the Orcs and that part of the Horde after the events of Sylvanas' era, are going to be something that comes to the forefront in the future".

Now take these declarations with Thrall showing up in this year Blizzcon's art and the Orc Heritage questline, and I think that it is safe to say that we will be getting Orc stuff in 11.0.

I mean story wise, all orc clans both from azeroth and now clans from outland, mag'har from draenor being on the same page is a massive force to be reckon with, so if some big baddie shows up it would be orcs probably being at the center of all action with their army.

[Jaggler]

Tbh, it is about time that we get a Horde story that isn't the Horde being villain- AND idiot-batted at the same time. even when dealing with Neutral factions, Alliance races are in the spotlight. DF and the Primalists would have been great to work with a Horde dominated Earthen Ring, but instead we deal with Kirin Tor, Night Elves etc.

Kalecgos visage form's glow doesn't match his dragon form's. It should be purple. He shares blue with Nozdormu. That being said, they look good.

It doesn't match, but it is consistent, considering he always had that mismatch between Visage and Dragon form

[Auxis]

My theory is Iridikron knows of a hidden place within Undermine that gives him direct access to the center of Azeroth (remember his plan?)
Maybe we get some sort of "Hollow Earth" expansion, just like in Godzilla! That could totally fit in with the fantasy themes of Warcraft!

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_Earth

I think a zone like that one zone in Dragon Age: Inquisition could be interesting.

Inquisition spoilers:
You venture into a massive cave with its own ecosystem and mysterious light source (it's like the sun shining through clouds, but bellow you iirc). Turns out the cave is inside the body of a sleeping Titan - an ancient, massive magical creature who's species movements is responsible for continental drift.

I could picture the deep areas of Azeroth could be similar - locations rife with pooled Spirit, Order, and whatever type of energy a World-Soul is made of. Imagine how fantastic such areas could look like.

[Nymrohd]

My theory is Iridikron knows of a hidden place within Undermine that gives him direct access to the center of Azeroth (remember his plan?)
Maybe we get some sort of "Hollow Earth" expansion, just like in Godzilla! That could totally fit in with the fantasy themes of Warcraft!

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_Earth

I've been advocating Hollow earth style expacs since at least WoD The World Soul itself just makes the perfect inner sun. Titan facilities could orbit it and create a semblance of a diurnal cycle. And you can have so many biomes, from Old God mass filled with Aqir that had breached the crust of the planet to Naga filled Oceans to Azjol'Nerub to the Blingtron wars, all of these areas would just look radically different from each other and the Hollow World style would keep them from being caverns.

The issue ofc is obvious; how do physics work in a sphere. I am pretty sure the engine has a very clear up and down concept. The fun of hollow world is that you can fly across the sphere.

[username993720]

So you don't like a possible city with a massive graphic update?

I bet they'd ruin it with their new artstyle. There was nothing wrong with Teldrassil. The most enchanted starting zone out there.

[Nymrohd]

I bet they'd ruin it with their new artstyle. There was nothing wrong with Teldrassil. The most enchanted starting zone out there.

Eh even back in vanilla it was so very easy to ruin the illusion they tried to craft for Teldrasil and that's because the concept for it was soddy. Don't get me wrong, I loved the zone and it was my introduction to WoW. But at no point while on Teldrassil did I feel I was on a tree; it looked like I was on a forest because there was soil beneath my feet (and even caverns); you'd only see the branches if you run to the edge of the zone and then you'd see the completely unnatural tree trunk that I guess had elevated a mass of soil up in the sky?

I would hope if they use Amirdrassil for the new Night Elf Capital that it is a backdrop or that buildings are around the trunk and roots (or possibly inside folds of the trunk) but definitely not just propped up on the top level

[Grazrug]

I bet they'd ruin it with their new artstyle. There was nothing wrong with Teldrassil. The most enchanted starting zone out there.

Teldrassil is overrated. Nothing about it was unique. Just a generic wood elf city and land.

[Kiria]

Teldrassil is overrated. Nothing about it was unique. Just a generic wood elf city and land.

How dare you!!!

[Annihilas]

I think a zone like that one zone in Dragon Age: Inquisition could be interesting.

Inquisition spoilers:
You venture into a massive cave with its own ecosystem and mysterious light source (it's like the sun shining through clouds, but bellow you iirc). Turns out the cave is inside the body of a sleeping Titan - an ancient, massive magical creature who's species movements is responsible for continental drift.

I could picture the deep areas of Azeroth could be similar - locations rife with pooled Spirit, Order, and whatever type of energy a World-Soul is made of. Imagine how fantastic such areas could look like.

See, now that is how you expand Azeroth, a world within a world. Traveling to Azeroth's "World Soul" meeting her people, the firstborn of the shu'halo, worshiping the one that quite literally gave them life. That is the Earth Mother if I ever heard of such a thing (See: Tauren Mythology), but this could be a great thing for the lore to build upon in the years to come!

I'd even go further to say that it could be the antithesis of Shadowlands, in more ways than just one:

-The realm is within the confines of Azeroth
-It fits in very well with the established lore
-Deities that aren't pulled out of the thin air
-An'she, Mu'sha, Apa'ro (Malorne) and Elune
-Story connecting Elven/Troll/Tauren religions

[Nymrohd]

How dare you!!!

I mean, it was poorly executed. It was no Lothlorien no Silvanost heck not even a Suldanessellar

Honestly fantasy architecture in WoW is mediocre. Karabor and Shattrath are OK as is Suramar but none of them actually make use of fantasy locations. Dalaran is a sky city but it just lacks scale and definitely doesn't make use of the fact that it is a sky city in its architecture; it is mostly flat and the spires are barely used. There are some cool places like Utgarde Keep and Icecrown but the capitals just do not push the fantasy element and lack scale. Ironforge is small and doesn't connect with all the small towers around it, havin exits on the airfield and the farms on Wetlands' side etc. Undercity was cool but lacked scale. Stormwind is too cookie cutter. Thunder Bluff stops itself with using the top of the bluffs, not using the sides or crossing to the cliffs around it. Orgrimmar doesn't even cut through the cliffs to get a protected port. Silvermoon is smoke and mirrors and Exodar is a ruin.

[Annihilas]

--snip--

Sounds like the game lacks scale... Revamp time?!

[Grazrug]

How dare you!!!

Blizzard has been sleeping on it for years. If we are serious then all cities deserve an update especially on the graphics. The new tree has the chance to bring the night elves into the current era of wow design. I just hope the TBC content is next. Zones stayed the same and boring since 2007.

[Nymrohd]

Sounds like the game lacks scale... Revamp time?!

I just want a capital city to actually have living spaces. Boralus is probably the perfect capital that can be done with WoW's limitations (if only Proudmore Keep was open and accessible; that deducts points for me). It has multiple neighborhoods where you could imagine people living there while also having impressive buildings. It was still very low fantasy.

[hipolnalrt]

So, going back to those Wowexdev "leaks" on twitter. Whether they're AI or not, I decided to look into where one image may have come from, particularly:

To me it looks like Thunder Bluff

https://imgur.com/subGjhX

[Lahis]

Because the Void lords are the creators of the Old Gods which are themselves extremely powerful. It starts to become absurd when we're fighting multiple Void lords who the titans themselves couldn't stop. So by the time you get to that point, you might as well end the game, because if you're beating multiple god-creating Void Lord, whacking a level 85 wolf just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's already starting to get weird because we beat N'Zoth very quickly.

They can just introduce Old Lords to replace Void Lords as the Bigger Bad, just like First Ones were introduced to one-up Titans.

[Radioactive]

This might already be mentioned (or image debunked) since I'm not caught up yet, but an impossibly structured monster sounds exactly like what you could expect from a void monster. The Old Gods are supposed to make you crazy just for looking at them and all that Lovecraft stuff, no? So why not have void creatures that make no physical sense? Hell maybe their structure changes constantly. If this image isn't fake I mean.

Indeed, maybe those AI images were generated by developers/concept artists, looking for inspiration to create some impossible and crazy creatures? And those images could have leaked to Scaleface & Cie, but won't be used as anything else than internal concept art.

I was really convinced that the AI images were fake and created to trick the community, but this could make sense.

[Auxis]

So, going back to those Wowexdev "leaks" on twitter. Whether they're AI or not, I decided to look into where one image may have come from, particularly:

To me it looks like Thunder Bluff

https://imgur.com/subGjhX

That image is so weird in terms of quality. The majority of it looks relatively crisp. Then there's a patch of sand/dirt in the very bottom-left/bottom-left-to-center that looks like it's been rained upon - it's got that kinda dotty texture to it as if its been pricked by raindrops. That patch looks very low res to me. Plus theres a mountain/cliff face on the left side in the distance - thats got a weird stretched texture to it like how the old mountain/cliff textures in wow were basically stretched terrain textures. Whereas the mountains on the other side look like they've been designed "properly" for lack of a better word that I can think of.

It looks part late-90s/early-00s cinematic, part current day cinematic still, part ingame screenshot.

[Dracullus]

So, going back to those Wowexdev "leaks" on twitter. Whether they're AI or not, I decided to look into where one image may have come from, particularly:

To me it looks like Thunder Bluff

https://imgur.com/subGjhX

It doesn't matter if it's AI image or not. True or fake, it is meant to be a hint, not some leaked image.

For me it clearly shows void portal in sword in silithus that either fall to ground or get stuck deeper. Which fits to already existing hints about void (10.1.5) and Kalimdor (Kodo shop mount, Thrall on keyart).

All we know that this dude put true leak last year, is he doing it again or just using his reputation to make fake leak more credible - that's unknown.

[hipolnalrt]

It doesn't matter if it's AI image or not. True or fake, it is meant to be a hint, not some leaked image.

For me it clearly shows void portal in sword in silithus that either fall to ground or get stuck deeper

To me it looks more lead dread lord armor than a sword.