While we only got a brief (but pretty menacing) teaser for The Last Titan, the main focus for Blizzcon's WoW stuff, apart from, you know, WoW Forever, was Eclipse, the presumably final major patch of Midnight. Boy, doesn't it feel like this expansion just came out?
Eclipse sees Xal'atath make it down into the Worldcore, where Azeroth's World Soul was placed by the Titans (after they removed it from Harandar). It appears that Xal'atath's plan is to merge with the World Soul to become her own kind of Titan-like being.
Here are the major highlights:
First off, we have a new zone called the Mantle Vault, where the Worldcore can be found. Here, there's a subterranean hostile faction called the Deepskar Empire, composed of Troggs, Drogbar, Kobolds, and led, apparently, by hostile Niffen.
Within the Mantle Vault, we'll find the big 8-boss Worldcore Raid, which sees us have our big confrontation with Xal'atath, and where spellcasters can get their hands on Midnight's Edge, a spellcaster dagger that looks quite similar to a certain Black Blade that a certain former-mortal-turned-void-being used to live inside, though Blizzard claims at least that this is a different weapon (it's also apparently not just a rare drop, but will require a whole quest chain that includes finishing the raid. Fingers crossed it's more like the Mists/Warlords Legendary quests so I actually have a chance of getting one).
Additionally, the Gearhold will be a new Lair, the recent variation on World Bosses that... puts them in instances (not entirely sure how this is distinct from a single-boss raid, though I guess the fact that you can just walk in and be assigned a World-tier group for the boss is somewhat convenient). The boss here is an Azerite-infused cave bat called Noctinaxx.
We'll be getting a new dungeon called Thraegar's Stand, which has three bosses and seems to be kind of Earthen/Titan themed.
Also of note: Paladins will now be available to three new races: Night Elves, Trolls, and Undead. While this doesn't quite make them universal like they've done for some other classes, it does mean that we've got a ton of new options. Personally, I'm eager to make an Undead Paladin alt (if for nothing more than to see how amazing their paladin mount will look,) and given that we had Night Elf Paladin class champions in Legion a whole 10 years ago, it's about damn time that we get some cat-mounted champions of Elune's light. As for Trolls, I imagine that they've adapted some of the traditions of the Zandalari Prelates, spreading Paladin techniques across Troll-kind.
Also, perhaps unsurprisingly given how profoundly sinister he's been all expansion, our Delve nemesis will be none other than Astalor Bloodsworn. What that means for Prey is something I don't totally know (it will, evidently, still be part of the game).
Prior to this patch, in 12.1.7, we'll be getting a new game mode: Talebound.
This will apparently be a sort of Gothic Horror-vibes roguelike RPG system. If I understand correctly, this will be a bit like Plunderstorm, as a standalone thing you can play within the WoW Client. But unlike Plunderstorm's PvP battle royale, this seems to be built around single-player and co-op.
The premise is that we're snatched out of our reality to play the role of protagonist in The Storyteller's tales - a figure who prefers horror stories.
The game mode lets you play as one of three original classes, the martial Slayer, the Inquisitor, or the Witch.
Now, I think that WoW does Gothic Horror vibes immaculately, and my favorite parts of the game have tended to be when it leans into horror aesthetics, which I think are beautifully offset by WoW's cartoonish style, keeping it from getting oppressively bleak. It seems that this game mode will use environments like Revendreth, Gilneas, the Plaguelands, Parts of Kul Tiras (I know we saw the Shrine of the Storm, though I have to imagine we'll get a bunch of Drustvar) and such, and let us wear all the kind of Victorian finery that you'd want to in such a space.
This feels, basically, right up my alley, even if I generally don't like Roguelikes.
Additionally, we're getting a third expansion Remix, and having already done two of the game's most beloved and popular expansions, the next one will be bringing us to what for many was the pinnacle of WoW, Wrath of the Lich King. While I've already farmed quite a few of the tier sets for almost twenty years now, I'm sure I'll have fun soaking up every bit of Wrath nostalgia for that.
While the focus here is far more on Midnight's last patch and WoW Forever, we got a tiny little preview for the Last Titan - nothing in terms of gameplay, but we got this:
Shots of the massive, towering structures of Northrend, Wyrmrest Temple and Icecrownd Citadel, against stormy, overcast skies. As the camera lingers on Wyrmrest Temple, towering over Dragonblight, a flash of lightning reveals a silhouette - something that dwarves the temple tower, hundreds of feet, maybe a thousand feet tall. And then, glowing runes activate, and we see what appears to be an utterly colossal Titan construct walking the earth. Twin cannons on its shoulders activate and point down at us, the puny viewer in the frigid landscape, and as they begin to fire, we cut to black.
The Last Titan is due to arrive next year, in 2027.
Yeah, this is a pretty fast clip: Midnight launched only 18 months after The War Within, and it looks likely that The Last Titan will arrive on a similar schedule (I'd assume late in the year, given that Midnight only launched this year).
I... I know that the ambition back in the day was or WoW to have annual expansions, but I don't know that I think this is really a good idea. If the level cap rises and our progress in gearing and other means (I've actually been taking professions seriously in Midnight) is wiped away that much faster, it might cut into some of the extrinsic motivations to play.
I'm super jazzed to see what an updated Northrend looks like, don't get me wrong. But I think the traditional two-year cadence for WoW expansions worked fine, and if you're worried about content droughts, just give us X.3 patches! They did it in Wrath and Legion, and everyone loved those expansions!
Anyway, lots of stuff to digest. I haven't even touched on the new campaign being added to Warcraft III Reforged (hey, do you like the Forsaken? I've got good news for you.)
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