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

[Marlamin]

It is at least on par with evidence such as "goblin raid" or "ethereal raid" icons.

Disagree on that, but again things like these are always going to be a matter of opinion and those always go in circles in this thread.

Your 'mapping' is largely interpretive based on your imagination and while I agree it is part of the creative process for sure, I definitely wouldn't put the art or what you've interpreted on the same level as actual files added to the game named by Blizzard themselves (the latter of which, names, are rare these days).

If it were a evidence ranking, I'd put it a few ranks below "in-house Blizzard concept art" (e.g. the visual zone development stuff here: #1 #2 #3), of which most of the concept art they make won't actually end up happening (nor even seeing a public release on ArtStation if it's extremely unused) either.

Then a few ranks above "in-house Blizzard concept art" is going to be assets (including icons) from the game, which aren't exactly a guarantee of something happening either (there's so much stuff in the files that never sees the light of day).

While I agree that it is awesome art that influences their general world building themes and early in-house zone concept art (like linked above), that's probably about it. I don't think it's worth going any deeper into it than that, definitely not to the level of trying to connect very specific things from the art to current/upcoming lore or future content. The release of these kind of image sets would have to go by the outsourcing people and they wouldn't okay anything that is specific enough to tie to upcoming content like that. And if it is used by future content in a direct enough manner, by us calling it out and focusing on it like this that is a great way for them to not work with said company again.

EDIT: Like Blizzard says on working with West Studio, it is just influencing, which is not as on-point/lore-specific as you're interpreting it to be.

Tyler has earned a reputation as one of the most talented concept artists in the business – I am consistently impressed by the work that he and his studio put out. His versatility, creative prowess, and raw ability are paired with strong communication, collaborative spirit, and flexibility. Each of the last three studios where I worked (EA Los Angeles, Sony Santa Monica, and Blizzard) commissioned pieces from Tyler that helped shape creative vision. I expect concepts from Tyler will continue to influence the development of many characters, objects, and worlds to come.

In one of the ArtStation posts by Jimmy Lo from the Visual Development team he specifically thanks West Studio for early ideas/designs that then go into his own concepts as well, so definitely below in-house art/assets in terms of relevance if you ask me.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I feel like "strings" attached to a live in-development product is a bit different than artwork for pre-production use cases to give a direction for production.

Ultimately, whether or not 11.2 is Underground or K'aresh it doesn't change the fact that the Live Service portion of the A Plot storytelling needs a level up whether through out of game elements or in-game elements that make it more cohesive and experiential.

I am just not really sure what this achieves beyond a "got'cha" moment and further erosion of understanding that maybe things aren't alright in this department rather than assumptive ingenuity when Blizzard has not had a failed conceptual standpoint for expansions its' just the execution that blows everything up, usually.

I feel like you can always headcanon these expansions into incredible products. Unfortunately we do not end up getting those products, no matter what. Mostly because they're out of scope of any development timeline possible within the framework of expansion time windows, product content lineups and cost with a staff that is unfortunately on a conveyor belt that moves at a pace to their superiors wishes which adds further complimentary issues.

I think it'd be amazing if we did have this type of product for the Underground expansion but as we saw they essentially used this expansion as a Warlords of Draenor -> Legion Escape hatch. At least they opted for fan service opportunities even if they remain excessively disconnected and artificial while the A Plot flaunders and looks comical.

I still appreciate the fantastical, conceptual and speculatory things that stem from this thread even if reality is unfortunately always disappointing these days.

[Scyth]

I think 'scattered elven clans' mentioned by Metzen are just Blood/High/Void Elves (+ maybe some Dark Rangers if Sylvanas will be back) and whole plot will be simply their return to Silvermoon. Night Elves and Nightborne already have their homes.

I think it means all the High Elves as well but I really hope the Nightborne get some attention and also play an important role as they have barely got anything since Legion.
Given the close relationship between Blood Elves and Nightborne though, it’s almost a given they would. Hopefully lol

Midnight will definitely end with all High Elves back on good terms and sharing Silvermoon though.

[Hitei]

I think 'scattered elven clans' mentioned by Metzen are just Blood/High/Void Elves (+ maybe some Dark Rangers if Sylvanas will be back) and whole plot will be simply their return to Silvermoon. Night Elves and Nightborne already have their homes.

By the way, where you expect next neighborhoods? If my theory that it will come with Orgrimmar/Stormwind revamp is correct, imo we should first look at places with modern capitals. Obviously neutral Silvermoon (both for High and Blood Elves) is certain in Midnight, imo next could be Goblins (Undermine central station has even unused metro line for that) and Night Elves (Amirdrassil).

Undead/Worgen/Tauren/Draenei definitely needs city revamp, Wandering Isle for Pandaren is little bit better, not sure if Dwarves/Gnomes will be covered by Stormwind or separate thing. And before them we probably see at least 1 neutral in Northrend.

I still think people expecting new neighborhoods in Midnight are strongly setting themselves up for disappointment. The Org/Stormwind ones are the Midnight neighborhoods, even if they are actually going to be released as a pre-expansion to help tide people over a la DH/Evoker/etc. They were quite adamant about the social aspect being a central pillar and that they were avoiding more than two neighborhoods for that very reason--I would not expect them to then double the number (i.e. divide the population in half) 1 or 2 patches later, especially when that potentially risks one of the first neighborhoods being completely deserted (like all blood elf players and a bunch of non-blood elf players moving to Quel'thalas).

Then a few ranks above "in-house Blizzard concept art" is going to be assets (including icons) from the game, which aren't exactly a guarantee of something happening either (there's so much stuff in the files that never sees the light of day).

Speaking of things that never see the light of day, did I correctly see that they added yet another copy of that weird ghost-gryphon-thing texture from pre 11.0 speculation to 11.1.5? We never got that mount right? Or even anything about it beyond the texture?

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I think it means all the High Elves as well but I really hope the Nightborne get some attention and also play an important role as they have barely got anything since Legion.
Given the close relationship between Blood Elves and Nightborne though, it’s almost a given they would. Hopefully lol

Midnight will definitely end with all High Elves back on good terms and sharing Silvermoon though.

I'd really like Nightborne to be neutral, their standing stance is much nicer. I think that even if it's not strictly in their plans for Midnight, they'll probably do it in a 12.1.7 or 12.2.5 patch or something with a brief questline, because there's not much reason for the Night Elves to remain awkwardly faction split when the Thalassians aren't.

[Marlamin]

Speaking of things that never see the light of day, did I correctly see that they added yet another copy of that weird ghost-gryphon-thing texture from pre 11.0 speculation to 11.1.5? We never got that mount right? Or even anything about it beyond the texture?

Genuinely don't remember if that ended up being used somewhere or not.

[Hitei]

Genuinely don't remember if that ended up being used somewhere or not.

Based on the tables (and that trying to apply the texture works, as seen below) It seems to actually be, as very early on theorized, a texture for the Stormrider CE mount. But that mount doesn't have that customization option, and it's very different from all of its normal textures, which are glowy and bright.



I'd almost just write it off as being some sort of effects overlay texture if they didn't keep weirdly updating an entire texture (rather than just the regular partial FX ones) as as baked npc every other patch.

I wonder what the deal is with it.

[Nymrohd]

If you pitch an idea multiple times and the forum doesn't seem to want to discuss it, talking about your own idea as if it is what everyone should be talking about in ever more elaborate posts is not really helping your cause. No one is biting, try another pond?

Here https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Category:Concept_art

Try any of this and then explain to me why half the concepts are entirely unused.

[Nymrohd]

I mean I just showed you AMPLE evidence that a significant part of concept art ends up never being used. Congratulations you found some of the concept art that did not get used for this expansion. And yeah, it is everyone else that is an idiot for not seeing a pattern you are obsessing over while refusing to address any critique to your "logic". What else can we say, you put it aptly yourself after all. . .

I'm sure you come back to have the last word for this. Personally I'm long done. Just surprised you even ignored Marlamin of all people.

[Sondrelk]

Based on the tables (and that trying to apply the texture works, as seen below) It seems to actually be, as very early on theorized, a texture for the Stormrider CE mount. But that mount doesn't have that customization option, and it's very different from all of its normal textures, which are glowy and bright.



I'd almost just write it off as being some sort of effects overlay texture if they didn't keep weirdly updating an entire texture (rather than just the regular partial FX ones) as as baked npc every other patch.

I wonder what the deal is with it.

Isn't that just the Alunira mount without the extra wind effects?

[Nymrohd]

I still think people expecting new neighborhoods in Midnight are strongly setting themselves up for disappointment. The Org/Stormwind ones are the Midnight neighborhoods, even if they are actually going to be released as a pre-expansion to help tide people over a la DH/Evoker/etc. They were quite adamant about the social aspect being a central pillar and that they were avoiding more than two neighborhoods for that very reason--I would not expect them to then double the number (i.e. divide the population in half) 1 or 2 patches later, especially when that potentially risks one of the first neighborhoods being completely deserted (like all blood elf players and a bunch of non-blood elf players moving to Quel'thalas).

While I agree with the logic of this, I think there would not be a need for two neighborhoods to be added; one in Quel'thalas is enough. After all I can set up shop with my human in Durotar just fine already and something tells me much of the Horde elf population will set up shop in Elwynn to begin with. A location could be set up in Quel'thalas that can fit multiple aesthetics (Blood/High/Void Elf/Nightborne, Night Elf, Forsaken, Forest Troll)

I do think that serving everyone thematically over time will require a few more places. Not many but we will need a place that works well for Dwarves and Gnomes (the Elwynn location concepts seemed very limited to a human occupied forest though it COULD have a place that works for dwarves and gnomes depending on size) and some races will be hard to fit; Pandaren, Dracthyr and I guess Draenei have very specific themes that diverge a lot (especially Pandas)

[Lady Atia]

Isn't that just the Alunira mount without the extra wind effects?

Nope, the Alunira mount actually has a different head to the CE mount which always urked me. The colour is also quite different to this one, and as someone else said, this colour was actually the one we datamined first before we got the actual CE mount reveal.

[Hitei]

Isn't that just the Alunira mount without the extra wind effects?

Nah, as Atia said, Alunira, despite looking a lot like the Stormrider, is a different model. Not just in the head, the tail is flatter, the chest is stockier and the feet are fairly differnt.

It's like an unlit full version of the Stormrider's blue variant, that they keep weirdly adding copies of in new patches, not even updating the existing files, just adding new ones.

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While I agree with the logic of this, I think there would not be a need for two neighborhoods to be added; one in Quel'thalas is enough. After all I can set up shop with my human in Durotar just fine already and something tells me much of the Horde elf population will set up shop in Elwynn to begin with. A location could be set up in Quel'thalas that can fit multiple aesthetics (Blood/High/Void Elf/Nightborne, Night Elf, Forsaken, Forest Troll)

I do think that serving everyone thematically over time will require a few more places. Not many but we will need a place that works well for Dwarves and Gnomes (the Elwynn location concepts seemed very limited to a human occupied forest though it COULD have a place that works for dwarves and gnomes depending on size) and some races will be hard to fit; Pandaren, Dracthyr and I guess Draenei have very specific themes that diverge a lot (especially Pandas)

I just feel like if that avenue were at all likely (or if more neighborhoods anytime soon were probable), they would have either:
A) Just announced they were starting with 3 neighborhoods, Stormwind, Org and later neutral Silvermoon at release.
or B) Used more vague language in the initial description of neighborhoods.

Rather than "We're doing two, zones are hard, we're focusing on these two and look forward to seeing what you do with these two."

I also think that the reason the two neighborhoods are zone amalgamations (i.e. Stormwind is Elwynn + Westfall + Duskwood, and Orgrimmar is Durotar + Azshara) is specifically because they recognized that purely human and orc aesthetics wouldn't quite fit the diversity of the two factions, but the spread means that the Stormwind one is going to have hilly bits more suited to Dwarves and dark heavy forest bits more suited to Night Elves or Worgen, etc. and the Org one will have autumnal forest bits from Azshara that suit blood elves and undead more and islandy bits that suit trolls and the canyon-y bits that suit orcs or goblins or whatnot.

As a side note, I feel like "one in Quel'thalas" would be sort of a really dick move. I get the "Thalassian Elves", "unification and such", angle but like, this basically amounts to Horde getting two neighborhoods, and Alliance getting access to a heavily Horde race themed area.

[Nymrohd]

Nah, as Atia said, Alunira, despite looking a lot like the Stormrider, is a different model. Not just in the head, the tail is flatter, the chest is stockier and the feet are fairly differnt.

It's like an unlit full version of the Stormrider's blue variant, that they keep weirdly adding copies of in new patches, not even updating the existing files, just adding new ones.

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I just feel like if that avenue were at all likely (or if more neighborhoods anytime soon were probable), they would have either:
A) Just announced they were starting with 3 neighborhoods, Stormwind, Org and later neutral Silvermoon at release.
or B) Used more vague language in the initial description of neighborhoods.

Rather than "We're doing two, zones are hard, we're focusing on these two and look forward to seeing what you do with these two."

I also think that the reason the two neighborhoods are zone amalgamations (i.e. Stormwind is Elwynn + Westfall + Duskwood, and Orgrimmar is Durotar + Azshara) is specifically because they recognized that purely human and orc aesthetics wouldn't quite fit the diversity of the two factions, but the spread means that the Stormwind one is going to have hilly bits more suited to Dwarves and dark heavy forest bits more suited to Night Elves or Worgen, etc. and the Org one will have autumnal forest bits from Azshara that suit blood elves and undead more and islandy bits that suit trolls and the canyon-y bits that suit orcs or goblins or whatnot.

As a side note, I feel like "one in Quel'thalas" would be sort of a really dick move. I get the "Thalassian Elves", "unification and such", angle but like, this basically amounts to Horde getting two neighborhoods, and Alliance getting access to a heavily Horde race themed area.

I get what you are saying and I mostly agree. I do not expect a Quel'thalas neighborhood to happen because their language very much seems to be that this is what we start with, we don't want to split people too much (because they think that this will be a very social feature which I just don't see happening tbh, not without gameplay elements added to promote it like e.g. ESO's housing tours). I just think that the way they went with it keeps probably the largest block of players by desired themes (the elves who if you aggragate outnumber the rest of us easily) from getting what they really want.

That said, you could perhaps do a neighborhood like this: Set it in the cliffs between Deathholme and Stratholme bay. You have the edges of it work for humans and forsaken, they hopefully restore Thas'alah in what is currently Deathholme which gives you an area that works for Thalassian Elves and Night Elves both. If that story involves Dar'khan we could have some void elf area on the side (maybe a void elf themed forested area on the opposite edge of the zone?). It would not fit Amani though, for that you'd want to set your neighborhood on the other coast.

Also maybe they want the story of Midnight to progress before the desired area is in the right state to become a neighborhood and they might think that some players might not engage with the new system and just wait for that to happen. Though we will see; I assume they will have some mechanic that allows us to just move our house to a different plot.

I do expect that down the line more neighborhoods WILL be added though. It will just be a shame to not use one of the most popular themes right when we are smack in the middle of it.

[Hitei]

That said, you could perhaps do a neighborhood like this: Set it in the cliffs between Deathholme and Stratholme bay. You have the edges of it work for humans and forsaken, they hopefully restore Thas'alah in what is currently Deathholme which gives you an area that works for Thalassian Elves and Night Elves both. If that story involves Dar'khan we could have some void elf area on the side (maybe a void elf themed forested area on the opposite edge of the zone?). It would not fit Amani though, for that you'd want to set your neighborhood on the other coast.

Ehhhhh. Humans don't need an area that kinda works for them because they have a purpose built neighborhood already. I also don't think Ghostlands is any better as a Night Elf area than the Duskwood region would be, they're dark forests but they aren't the wispy, druidic enchanted sort of forest that actually suits Night Elves. Like I said above, I get lumping Void Elves in with the Blood Elves and the idea of like, Ghostlands sections being a dark Thalassian forest, but the actual Void Elf aesthetic isn't nighttime forest, it's Telogrus and Eredath, proper void-scarred, cosmic-voidy places, not just a somewhat spooky forest. I expect the non-neighborhood, updated Quel'thalas to include Void Elf and High Elf sections (especially SMC), but a hyptohetical neighborhood is gonna struggle to feel very Eversong/Blood Elf AND appeal to High Elves, with their more blue green aesthetic AND appeal to Void Elves, who want full on Void shenanigans. I can't imagine the average Blood Elf player wants a neighborhood that's 20% sickly tirisfal and 20% void forest.

But I do get what you mean. I just think Quel'thalas fundamentally leans extremely Horde. Just like Undermine being a neighborhood, as neat as the zone is, would be sort of questionable when it's so wholly Goblin.

I do expect that down the line more neighborhoods WILL be added though. It will just be a shame to not use one of the most popular themes right when we are smack in the middle of it.

Of course. I don't doubt that at all. I just think people are setting themselves up for disappointment by thinking this is gonna be like a 12.1.5 patch feature and not a 14.0 feature. I think 99% of their resources and manpower re: Housing will be in putting out lots and lots of doodads and furniture house exteriors and that 12.X scope neighborhood changes will probably be systemic in nature, updates to issues people have with the setup or distribution of houses, potentially collaborative neighborhood customization like paths and fountains and public areas, expansions to the size and scale of the two base neighborhoods if they find that everyone wants a coastal house but nobody wants durotar flatlands houses.

If they focus completely on the two neighborhoods, they can deepen those neighborhoods, if they instead have to divert resources to making new neighborhoods, there'll be a lot less depth.

[Nymrohd]

You are probably right. I do hope the Elwynn area ends up diverse enough to serve humans, draenei night elves and worgen. I also think that perhaps we could have future neighborhoids that just gave fewer plots and are thus smaller and easier to make. A future QT hood does not need more than 20 plots imo.

[Sondrelk]

Nah, as Atia said, Alunira, despite looking a lot like the Stormrider, is a different model. Not just in the head, the tail is flatter, the chest is stockier and the feet are fairly differnt.

It's like an unlit full version of the Stormrider's blue variant, that they keep weirdly adding copies of in new patches, not even updating the existing files, just adding new ones.

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I just feel like if that avenue were at all likely (or if more neighborhoods anytime soon were probable), they would have either:
A) Just announced they were starting with 3 neighborhoods, Stormwind, Org and later neutral Silvermoon at release.
or B) Used more vague language in the initial description of neighborhoods.

Rather than "We're doing two, zones are hard, we're focusing on these two and look forward to seeing what you do with these two."

I also think that the reason the two neighborhoods are zone amalgamations (i.e. Stormwind is Elwynn + Westfall + Duskwood, and Orgrimmar is Durotar + Azshara) is specifically because they recognized that purely human and orc aesthetics wouldn't quite fit the diversity of the two factions, but the spread means that the Stormwind one is going to have hilly bits more suited to Dwarves and dark heavy forest bits more suited to Night Elves or Worgen, etc. and the Org one will have autumnal forest bits from Azshara that suit blood elves and undead more and islandy bits that suit trolls and the canyon-y bits that suit orcs or goblins or whatnot.

As a side note, I feel like "one in Quel'thalas" would be sort of a really dick move. I get the "Thalassian Elves", "unification and such", angle but like, this basically amounts to Horde getting two neighborhoods, and Alliance getting access to a heavily Horde race themed area.

Guess I need to look more closely at the two mounts.


For housing i still think we will eventually get a neighborhood for each core race. Or at least the ones that had a defined capital in Classic.
Maybe that just because Bel'ameth seems perfect for housing eventually. But still.

If it happens, it will probably take a good while for each one. Most likely TLT just to get one. Or 12.1-12.2 at the earliest depending on initial player reception.

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You are probably right. I do hope the Elwynn area ends up diverse enough to serve humans, draenei night elves and worgen. I also think that perhaps we could have future neighborhoids that just gave fewer plots and are thus smaller and easier to make. A future QT hood does not need more than 20 plots imo.

That would be my guess. I doubt we will ever get specific stuff like Pandaren housing in Valley of the Four Winds or anything. But eventually being able to "rebuild Lordaeron" as a Forsaken in Tirisfal with a small house would make sense.

Think it will heavily depend on player reception though. And I imagine being able to gather old zone or even raid assets are more likely than new house plots to begin with. Not just because it's easier to implement, but because it allows a wider net of overall player satisfaction, rather than just appeasing the specific players that really want a house in Dun Murogh.

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I get what you are saying and I mostly agree. I do not expect a Quel'thalas neighborhood to happen because their language very much seems to be that this is what we start with, we don't want to split people too much (because they think that this will be a very social feature which I just don't see happening tbh, not without gameplay elements added to promote it like e.g. ESO's housing tours). I just think that the way they went with it keeps probably the largest block of players by desired themes (the elves who if you aggragate outnumber the rest of us easily) from getting what they really want.

That said, you could perhaps do a neighborhood like this: Set it in the cliffs between Deathholme and Stratholme bay. You have the edges of it work for humans and forsaken, they hopefully restore Thas'alah in what is currently Deathholme which gives you an area that works for Thalassian Elves and Night Elves both. If that story involves Dar'khan we could have some void elf area on the side (maybe a void elf themed forested area on the opposite edge of the zone?). It would not fit Amani though, for that you'd want to set your neighborhood on the other coast.

Also maybe they want the story of Midnight to progress before the desired area is in the right state to become a neighborhood and they might think that some players might not engage with the new system and just wait for that to happen. Though we will see; I assume they will have some mechanic that allows us to just move our house to a different plot.

I do expect that down the line more neighborhoods WILL be added though. It will just be a shame to not use one of the most popular themes right when we are smack in the middle of it.

Going for a half measure on new neighborhoods is definitely the worst the developers could do.
The neighborhoods we potentially get in the future should be clearly defined racial hubs.
If we get a neighborhood in Quel'thalas it should be fully Blood Elven, and precisely the appearance a player would expect from a cursory glance at Eversong Woods. Just like how the initial Stormwind Neighborhood should be exactly what you would expect if you said we were getting a house in Elwynn forest.

[Nymrohd]

Going for a half measure on new neighborhoods is definitely the worst the developers could do.
The neighborhoods we potentially get in the future should be clearly defined racial hubs.
If we get a neighborhood in Quel'thalas it should be fully Blood Elven, and precisely the appearance a player would expect from a cursory glance at Eversong Woods. Just like how the initial Stormwind Neighborhood should be exactly what you would expect if you said we were getting a house in Elwynn forest.

If a zone is large enough, why is it an issue if 60% is clearly Thalassian and then there are Void Elf and Darkfallen areas on a side area? Maybe split it a bit with a cliff or a river. Level design allows for demarcation and indeed most modern Warcraft zones have disparate themes married together; the level design team excels at this. For instance I could see the Alliance neighborhood to be in a place like Hogger's hill or Three Corners; right between Elwynn, Duskwood and either Westfall or Redridge but with the river separating the plots across theme. Similarly I can see the Horde zone to use cliffs and elevation levels to create separate areas that are better themed for Orcs, Trolls, Tauren and Goblins.

Now when a theme is very divergent like Pandaren then yeah, I think a smaller neighborhood with far less plots would work better there.

[Marlamin]

You are a clever fellow, but incorrect on this one.

If there is an image of a holy human city below ground, its buildings inscribed with glowing runes, its towers infused by light from radiant crystals, and its modes of transportation crystal-powered airships, with an underground ocean featuring Leviathans nearby... that's not a personal interpretation, that's literally just Hallowfall in its early stages of development.

Let's imagine this all took place during Shadowlands. If we found early concept art from a third party that showed a dark forest with a gothic castle, everyone and his mum would immediately realise that this was linked to Castle Nathria and Revendreth. Whether Blizzard originally came up with the idea or if the third party did, everyone on this forum would go: "that's an early version of Nathria".

I've already said this influenced their zone concept art and quoted someone from the visual development team literally saying that, so I'm not sure why you're arguing that point. I feel like we're agreeing except I'm seeing a lot of nuance in the "influencing" part of it and don't think it's as clear cut as you interpret it to be, especially after we already have the end result.

It is easy to connect the end result of art that inspired or influenced something after the fact. Heck, you can probably look up any early concept art for a similar fantasy world and connect it to something in WoW.

What I inherently disagree with is it being on the same level of importance/"evidence" in regards to future content than actual assets from the game files. That's just a silly statement for the reasons I mentioned in the previous post. It by definition is from a far earlier stage in development and the earlier something is from the less likely it is to appear in that shape/form, if it makes it to the game at all.

Based on the tables (and that trying to apply the texture works, as seen below) It seems to actually be, as very early on theorized, a texture for the Stormrider CE mount. But that mount doesn't have that customization option, and it's very different from all of its normal textures, which are glowy and bright.

I'd almost just write it off as being some sort of effects overlay texture if they didn't keep weirdly updating an entire texture (rather than just the regular partial FX ones) as as baked npc every other patch.

I wonder what the deal is with it.

That might just be the case. There's some quirks with the encryption system and shared textures (which this could be if it were a fx/emission texture theoretically shared between some gryphon models) where files will reappear or change regularly when one of the related models gets any changes whatsoever. Could be related to how they convert from source assets to game assets too and it's just getting reencoded every so often.

[Limayria]

I get what you are saying and I mostly agree. I do not expect a Quel'thalas neighborhood to happen because their language very much seems to be that this is what we start with, we don't want to split people too much (because they think that this will be a very social feature which I just don't see happening tbh, not without gameplay elements added to promote it like e.g. ESO's housing tours). I just think that the way they went with it keeps probably the largest block of players by desired themes (the elves who if you aggragate outnumber the rest of us easily) from getting what they really want.

That said, you could perhaps do a neighborhood like this: Set it in the cliffs between Deathholme and Stratholme bay. You have the edges of it work for humans and forsaken, they hopefully restore Thas'alah in what is currently Deathholme which gives you an area that works for Thalassian Elves and Night Elves both. If that story involves Dar'khan we could have some void elf area on the side (maybe a void elf themed forested area on the opposite edge of the zone?). It would not fit Amani though, for that you'd want to set your neighborhood on the other coast.

Also maybe they want the story of Midnight to progress before the desired area is in the right state to become a neighborhood and they might think that some players might not engage with the new system and just wait for that to happen. Though we will see; I assume they will have some mechanic that allows us to just move our house to a different plot.

I do expect that down the line more neighborhoods WILL be added though. It will just be a shame to not use one of the most popular themes right when we are smack in the middle of it.

I also think we will probably get an elf neighborhood towards the end of midnight probably in 12.2.7 in the epilogue quest

But I also think we're going to get a very elfish neighborhood, I also hate that people still are like "it's two for the horde" or whatever not just because there are thalassian elves on both the alliance and horde but also factions are increasingly non existent as a game play mechanic and that's a good thing, you can send your human characters to live in the orc neighborhood if you want already so it's not like the alliance would be left out of a thalassian neighborhood

We also could very well get a worgen or dwarf themed neighborhood in TLT

[Nymrohd]

A Duskwood area is perfect for worgen already. If we get 5-10 plots on the Duskwood side they can work great for worgen and night elves.