The War Within 11.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Varodoc]

So how likely is a revamp for the Eastern Kingdoms in Midnight?

> Undercity in Horde control.
> Silvermoon neutral.
> Gilneas, Ironforge, and Stormwind in Alliance control.
> Arathi return with us to settle in their old home.
> Earthen settle in the Hinterlands.
> Major updates to Blood Elves, Trolls, Void Elves, Undead, Worgen, Humans and Dwarves.

Impossible; Unlikely; Implausible.

They have already confirmed that Midnight will have 4 zones; Quel'Thalas already has 3 zones, with the fourth one potentially being Silvermoon City; Or Zul Aman Kingdom; Or C'Thrax General Tomb.

Naturally they have already confirmed that the pre-existing zones, namely Eversong Woods, Ghostlands, and Isle of Quel'Danas, will be expanded.

Blizzard have also confirmed that there will be seamless transition between Quel'Thalas and Eastern Kingdoms, which means that Quel'Thalas will still be in its own separate instance, like Zaralek Caverns. You simply won't have to go through a loading screen.

Above all else, "Midnight" is the expansion of Quel'Thalas; both narratively and thematically.

Narratively, the hungering Void seeks to snuff out the light of hope at the Sunwell, whose Light restored the hope of a nation (as mentioned by Prophet Velen).

Thematically, the Quel'Thalas is the Land of the Eternal Spring and the Sunwell; and thus the antithesis of "Midnight"; it is a clash of aesthetics, the Light of Spring vs. the Shadow of the Void.

[Eurhetemec]

The only hints that Vulpera would be playable via data mining was the Brewfest tankard icon featuring a Vulpera along with other races. Apart from that, it was all speculation and players assuming they were a foreigner conclusion because of the Goblin skeleton and them being fan favourites at the time.

I'm assuming autocorrect got you and you mean "forgone conclusion"? If so, those people were right, though, weren't they? 100% right.

Sure it was "speculation", but why does that matter? Tuskarr and Gnolls are speculation too.

The difference is, we had actual unusual factors datamined out that supported the speculation re: Vulpera - and they weren't one-off either - the skeleton got modified to make increasingly player-race-like at least once AFTER we noticed it.

Whereas with Tuskarr and Gnolls there is what?

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They have already confirmed that Midnight will have 4 zones; Quel'Thalas already has 3 zones, with the fourth one potentially being Silvermoon City; Or Zul Aman Kingdom; Or C'Thrax General Tomb.

Naturally they have already confirmed that the pre-existing zones, namely Eversong Woods, Ghostlands, and Isle of Quel'Danas, will be expanded.

Is the bolded sentence true? If so, link please.

Or are you simply assuming that because there are four zones, three must be those?

Blizzard have also confirmed that there will be seamless transition between Quel'Thalas and Eastern Kingdoms, which means that Quel'Thalas will still be in its own separate instance, like Zaralek Caverns. You simply won't have to go through a loading screen.

No.

This is a failure of comprehension of language on your part, followed by a fatuous assumption. There is now way to conclusively determine what Blizzard meant by that.

[BaumanKing]

Arathi return with us to settle in their old home.

But their old home is already occupied. Stromgarde has been restored and is part of the Alliance once again.

[The Stormbringer]

We are getting another Dwarf like race next expansion. Do you honestly think we're going to get either Tuskarr or Gnolls? They might do an allied race each expansion with a race that's central to theme of said expansion. I doubt we'll ever see either of those two. Same as Jinyu or whatever.

But what new Elf race are we getting with Midnight? Clearly they'll do one!

(Real talk, I could maybe see them do Naga for Midnight, since Naga are kinda-sorta an 'elf tribe'.)

[BaumanKing]

But what new Elf race are we getting with Midnight?

From the Amani tribe.

[milkmustache]

From the Amani tribe.

Honestly, I wouldn't doubt them half retconning the Amani to be the most elf adjacent trolls. Unsure how they would do this, but I could imagine there being some more magic influence on them, culture structures, etc that really mirror the elves. If done right, it could be really cool.

[Khaza-R]

Personally I think Midnight will heavily feature Ethereals so very possible they come the AR for that expansion.

[Cheezits]

Honestly, I wouldn't doubt them half retconning the Amani to be the most elf adjacent trolls. Unsure how they would do this, but I could imagine there being some more magic influence on them, culture structures, etc that really mirror the elves. If done right, it could be really cool.

They already turn into creatures from Eversong, I don't think there's a big jump. They may even do something with druidism based on the Amani bosses.

[AngerFork]

Personally I think Midnight will heavily feature Ethereals so very possible they come the AR for that expansion.

This is my bet as well, though I see them more as a core race than an Allied Race. While I doubt we'll get it, I'd love to see something with the Ethereals where they cycle between Light and Void like the Naaru do.

[Varodoc]

They are building up Dimensius the All-Devouring as the face of the Void Lords, like the Night King was for the White Walkers.

He is directly referenced in the Staff of the Harbinger tooltip:

"A gift of Dimensius bestowed at the height of the Black Empire. Those touched by shadow are drawn to its haunting whispers."

Dimensius the All-Devouring is a very important lore villain; he was responsible for the destruction of K'aresh and the blight affecting the Ethereals; he also threatened the world of Karkora and the Naaru T'uure (the Holy Priest artifact weapon) sacrificed itself to banish him.

Above all else, Dimensius the All-Devouring was directly referenced in an item that corresponds with the announcement of the Worldsoul saga and Xal'atath, so it is clear that Blizzard has not forgotten Dimensius and they have plans for him.

Dimensius the All-Devouring will be the final villain of Midnight and we will probably only fight a vessel or aspect of him; like how Sargeras was the final villain of Legion but we didn't really fight him. The Ethereals will be the new race of Midnight; their homeworld was destroyed by Dimensius the All-Devouring, but they have the chance for revenge.

Sarkareth's boss room and effects already give us a clear insight into how a Void Lord raid encounter will look like.

[Santandame]

They are building up Dimensius the All-Devouring as the face of the Void Lords, like the Night King was for the White Walkers.

He is directly referenced in the Staff of the Harbinger tooltip:




Dimensius the All-Devouring is a very important lore villain; he was responsible for the destruction of K'aresh and the blight affecting the Ethereals; he also threatened the world of Karkora and the Naaru T'uure (the Holy Priest artifact weapon) sacrificed itself to banish him.

Above all else, Dimensius the All-Devouring was directly referenced in an item that corresponds with the announcement of the Worldsoul saga and Xal'atath, so it is clear that Blizzard has not forgotten Dimensius and they have plans for him.

Dimensius the All-Devouring will be the final villain of Midnight and we will probably only fight a vessel or aspect of him; like how Sargeras was the final villain of Legion but we didn't really fight him. The Ethereals will be the new race of Midnight; their homeworld was destroyed by Dimensius the All-Devouring, but they have the chance for revenge.

Sarkareth's boss room and effects already give us a clear insight into how a Void Lord raid encounter will look like.

Called it a few pages back that Locus Walker is an avatar or illusion of Dimensius and that he has been manipulating Alleria for his own gain. It gives Dimensius a more personable character to interact with as players, plays into his connection with Ethereals and ties into the fact that it’s remarked that Locus Walker is just a pseudonym and at some point we’ll learn his true name.

Locus Walker/Dimensius gains access to the Sunwell via Alleria and ushers in the Void’s invasion of Azeroth.

[Varodoc]

Called it a few pages back that Locus Walker is an avatar or illusion of Dimensius and that he has been manipulating Alleria for his own gain. It gives Dimensius a more personable character to interact with as players, plays into his connection with Ethereals and ties into the fact that it’s remarked that Locus Walker is just a pseudonym and at some point we’ll learn his true name.

Locus Walker/Dimensius gains access to the Sunwell via Alleria and ushers in the Void’s invasion of Azeroth.

Yes. I've been saying for years that Locus-Walker is ominous.

1) We don't know his name; why Blizzard did not reveal his name? Blizzard makes up names for random disposable NPCs that are killed in one quest, but they can't reveal the name of a major character in the Legion 7.3 storyline?

2) Why he is free from the Void control? Every other Void Ethereal has gone mad with the Void and is hostile but this guy somehow is free from the Void control?

3) How is one Ethereal able to evade capture from the Legion for so long and single-handedly kill so many Demons?

Locus-Walker is probably a double-agent and playing the long game.

Xal'atath's whispers in reference to Alleria are also very suspicious:

This one shows promise. The whispers lure her toward her fate. (to Alleria at the Seat of the Triumvirate)

The caterpillar has become the butterfly. She is all but ours now. (after L'ura's defeat, when Alleria absorbs her power)

Who led Alleria to the Seat of the Triumvirate, who led her to absorb L'ura?




I've been saying for years that this guy is ominous.


It's almost like the Locus-Walker and the Xal'atath are playing the long game to make a Void foothold on Azeroth, and they have chosen the Ren'dorei as their pawns.

Above all else, we need the Alliance to get a cool storyline for once.

[Merryck]

Hopefully Locus Walker has the same voice actor when he returns to the story. He has a soothing voice.

[Murlocos]

This interview is from Blizzcon, but Wowhead posted it again just now and something interesting caught my eye.

https://butwhytho.net/2023/11/warcraft-john-hight/

On the topic of future expansions and World of Warcraft‘s story returning to a more cosmic threat in the void, Hight talked about what safeguard are implemented to make sure that the player character and the overall story doesn’t go off the rails. Describing the team’s guidelines, “It’s not only Chris, we have a creative director for World of Warcraft itself. That’s Chris Robinson, [who] was Senior Art Director for a long time. He actually works very closely with Chris, and he’s looking at literally every zone, every character, every quest line and reviewing it with that lens. It’s like, ‘Is this being consistent’ with who we believe this place or these individuals are?’ ‘Are we empowering the heroes in the players in a natural way, not in a way that feels wrong?'”

I believe this may be new info? His Linkedin still lists him as Art Director, albeit it's very sparsely detailed, and his social media isn't very active. I only remember seeing his name as the one introducing the character model updates, so I'm curious if we're going to see more of him going into TWW. This is the first time I'm actually getting a question mark about Danuser.

[Nymrohd]

Well art has been fairly consistently good and Chris Robinson was great in every panel I've seen him in past Blizzcons also he is a hunk

[milkmustache]

They already turn into creatures from Eversong, I don't think there's a big jump. They may even do something with druidism based on the Amani bosses.

Making Amani a ven diagram between typical troll tribes, fan depictions of tribal elves and what we know of the elves of Quel'thalas could be awesome. Of course I'm sure most of Quel'thalas is being looked at through a new lens almost two decades after it's introduction along with the possible void invasion, so there's a lot of wiggle room for Blizzard to make the Amani into something we've never seen before in game.

There's also the possibility they do the Azj'kahet Nerubian, Suramarian Shal'dorei or Highmountain Bloodtotem move and allow them to be one of the few cultures of Azeroth that takes the bargain with the enemy force... that is if the Void is looking to make bargains.

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Above all else, we need the Alliance to get a cool storyline for once.

Alliance deserve a stake in Quel'thalas finally, I think. Maybe dividing Silvermoon.

[Varodoc]

The Amani literally let Arthas and the Scourge lay waste to the land so that they could get a chance for revenge against the weakened Elves (they still failed). They are bitter, sore losers, who will gladly let an Evil power (like the Scourge) win if they can have their petty, little, selfish revenge against the Elves.

It's not hard at all to imagine a scenario where the Amani just give into the Void for more power and revenge, especially since they were stupid enough to build their city above the rotting corpse of a C'Thrax general (another C'Thrax's corpse made the High Elves go insane and forced them to leave Lordaeron).

[Vezri]

This interview is from Blizzcon, but Wowhead posted it again just now and something interesting caught my eye.

https://butwhytho.net/2023/11/warcraft-john-hight/



I believe this may be new info? His Linkedin still lists him as Art Director, albeit it's very sparsely detailed, and his social media isn't very active. I only remember seeing his name as the one introducing the character model updates, so I'm curious if we're going to see more of him going into TWW. This is the first time I'm actually getting a question mark about Danuser.

Well, that's really interesting. I was curious what he was up to when he disappeared from the credits in Shadowlands. And this dude was the art director of WoW since Wrath.

[Santandame]

Yeah I feel pretty confident in assuming the Amani will just be antagonists in Midnight and that we’ll just get Void corrupted Trolls. I imagine there will be a small splinter faction that rebels and works alongside the heroes but the majority of the tribe will be antagonists.

I think the enemies of Midnight will consist of Naga, Shadowguard Ethereals, Void Elves, Void Amani Trolls, the Scarlets, and Yrel’s Lightbound finally showing up. Of course, various Void eldritch terrors too, possibly the Pale Orcs showing up again.

[Xilurm]

The Amani literally let Arthas and the Scourge lay waste to the land so that they could get a chance for revenge against the weakened Elves (they still failed). They are bitter, sore losers, who will gladly let an Evil power (like the Scourge) win if they can have their petty, little, selfish revenge against the Elves.

It's not hard at all to imagine a scenario where the Amani just give into the Void for more power and revenge, especially since they were stupid enough to build their city above the rotting corpse of a C'Thrax general (another C'Thrax's corpse made the High Elves go insane and forced them to leave Lordaeron).

I wouldn't really call someone getting invaded and losing a war and then being angry a "sore loser". I mean, are the Night Elves sore losers because they can't just forgive and forget Teldrassil? Or the fact that they still attack Orcs that go into Ashenvale?