Latest / For Azeroth!: A World of Warcraft Podcast / Sitting Down with the Lady of Lore

Transcript

Sitting Down with the Lady of Lore · For Azeroth!: A World of Warcraft Podcast

0:00
Hello and welcome back to another episode of For Azeroth.
0:04
We have yet another special as we are moving closer to episode
0:09
400. This is a little bit of a more
0:11
casual thing. I'm sitting down with a special
0:14
guest each time. And today we have the amazing,
0:18
the astonishing, the queen of Lore herself, Ali.
0:24
Hello Ali, how are you? Hello, you and your intros.
0:31
Thank you, Sir. Hi, I'm happy to be back.
0:34
Warcraft's been it's been an interesting, good, interesting
0:43
with this patch this with this, not this patch of season.
0:47
It, it's been there's so much to do, but I also have been playing
0:53
a little bit less because I've been taking more time to do
0:55
things like work out and take more care of myself.
0:59
So I'm finding myself having to fight off the FOMO because I
1:03
want to do all the things, but all the things could also be a
1:06
little grindy sometimes and I don't necessarily want to always
1:11
do the grindy. But then like, I haven't even
1:14
I'm ashamed, so ashamed to say I haven't even finished all the
1:18
side question stuff. So, so right, so ashamed.
1:22
But I'll log on. I'm like, I'm going to chill and
1:24
do side quests. I'm like, oh, but I need to
1:27
delve so I can get my more mythic crests and I need to work
1:31
on some more pray because I do genuinely still enjoy pray.
1:34
But there's just all these other things like OK, we had rituals.
1:37
I like ritual sites guy get that up too.
1:39
So there's just, I keep getting distracted because there's so
1:41
many other little things to do that I haven't just let myself
1:45
just sit down and just enjoy the side quest because there's
1:47
always something else because FOMO, FOMO.
1:52
Wow, OK, we found somebody who likes ritual sites.
1:56
Thank God we're we've been looking.
1:59
We've. Been.
2:00
Looking. Like I I the whole the void
2:03
assault thing where you know, you go to the different sites in
2:06
the zone and like fill up the bar and go.
2:07
That's boring as hell. I don't like that at all.
2:10
That's I did a couple times. I'm like, I have no desire to do
2:12
this again. The FOMO be dancing damned.
2:14
I don't care. I I don't know.
2:17
It's I also am one of those people that still enjoy Dells.
2:21
Once I get to Villalair 60, which is probably going to be by
2:23
next weekend, if not sooner, then I might be done.
2:26
But I, I don't know ritual sites.
2:29
I just I, I go in, I can zone out.
2:32
It's a way for Taylor's to get an amazing amount of cloth.
2:34
So there's that going right and yeah, and I'm done.
2:41
And then I move on my life. It's definitely going to get to
2:43
a point where I don't feel the need to do it anymore.
2:48
Probably pretty soon, let's be honest, like in the next couple
2:50
of weeks probably. But I, I don't know why I just,
2:55
I put on music and I chill and I do them.
2:57
I don't know. Nice, right?
2:59
So for those of the audience that may not know you or need a
3:07
little bit of a reintroduction, Ali, you are a content creator,
3:13
a lap streamer like myself, and you have done many shows.
3:19
I first came across you doing a nice little podcast and you've
3:25
gone through and done many things, I guess.
3:29
So tell us a little bit about your history in content
3:32
creation. Oh gosh, I'm actually come up on
3:35
some kind of anniversary for that.
3:36
I think something I don't know, I started about this time in
3:40
June 2018, so it's been a bit, but I started with Dungeon
3:45
Fables, which was that solo lore exploration through dungeons and
3:50
Braids episode, the episode podcast, which was a lot of
3:54
work, but a lot of fun. And then I also joined all
4:00
things as Roth with Metros and Toasty did that for quite a long
4:04
time. And then I also started doing
4:08
Jen from Morley Gray and I band together and we did Liv La floor
4:13
and then I realized I can't do three podcasts.
4:15
That's just too much. So eventually, like I cut back
4:19
and cut back and now and then it's Morley Gray for not Morley
4:21
Gray Live La floor for a while, which was fantastic.
4:24
And Jen and I had a great time doing that for many years, got
4:28
guide each other through COVID doing that and it was a lot of
4:30
fun. But it was time to hang that one
4:33
up just this year back in February and now I just started
4:38
doing a show called after raid with A2 guildies of mine,
4:44
Seraphis and Stone Grasp. It's it's just a monthly show,
4:47
but it's it's basically the vibe of three friends sitting around
4:52
after raid chit chatting. I think there's a little bit of
4:56
Wow news in there, Stone from back in the days of Wow
5:03
challenges and behind the Avatar.
5:06
I think he did that one for a little bit, but he does a lot of
5:11
mount collecting, so he talks about that.
5:13
I get a little little segment talk about the lore, really
5:16
random crap that just three friends sitting around on
5:22
Discord would talk about after Array was done.
5:25
And it's just a fun little monthly get together that we
5:29
just started. So that streams over on
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twitch.tv slash Seraphis and I think about it like we're doing
5:40
the center of your service. Yeah.
5:41
So it's on Seraphis channel, but you can also find it wherever
5:43
you get your podcasts. I'm gonna eventually get back
5:47
into streaming cause I've, I've done some streaming here and
5:49
there and it's fun. I have to have the drive and I
5:54
haven't quite had the drive, but I've been thinking about it.
5:59
So might be returning to streaming at some point in a
6:03
very very casual manner here and there over on
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twitch.tv/alexandros. There you go.
6:14
Well, I I think that most most of us know that you are like I
6:20
introduced. It's very much about like the
6:22
lore and the story of World of Warcraft.
6:25
How have you been enjoying Midnight Story thus far?
6:29
I've been enjoying it. It's I'm a little weirded out
6:32
because as a heroic Raider, which we almost got IOTC 3.5%
6:39
wipe last week, we're like a breath away from it.
6:42
It's painfully close, it hurts. But that aside, it's weird and
6:51
that with my love for lore, you would think, oh, cool, the rays
6:55
were designed to be more focused on the lower and there's
6:59
different locations for lower reasons, and I don't like it.
7:03
I don't like having the different locations.
7:05
It makes trying to lead a ray really wonky.
7:07
I no, and they're adding another one.
7:10
Just just no. But that aside, it's definitely
7:15
been intriguing. I, I don't quite feel the doom
7:21
and gloom that I was expecting like I did for a little while in
7:26
the beginning, especially, you know, the intro, everything was
7:29
all voiding. The void was attacking.
7:31
We got through all the intro stuff.
7:33
And yes, once we got through raid and got all that and the
7:42
sun well turned into the void well, and then all the sky was
7:45
purple and it's doom and gloom. But that felt so short lived
7:49
that I don't know if I had a chance to really sit with the
7:52
doom and gloom and be like, Oh my God, we lost.
7:57
Midnight's still young. We still have lots of seasons.
8:00
Well, not lots, a couple at least.
8:02
So I might still feel more of that later.
8:05
But it it cleared itself up much quicker than I was thinking.
8:10
And sure, we don't know, like, is a Larry and Charlene alive?
8:12
We don't know. There are times it's just about
8:16
done. Anyways, I'm not feeling the
8:17
doom and gloom from the at this moment, but I don't know it's
8:21
that's how I'm feeling. What do you feel about the doom
8:24
and gloom of that we're supposed to feel for Midnight?
8:27
I I don't want to focus on doom and gloom as much as the story
8:33
beats don't have impact like you just said, like the doom and
8:37
gloom didn't last long enough for you to really feel it.
8:40
I think that's the thing. There's the entire, oh,
8:44
Terralian slashed his own son and like it.
8:48
We don't really feel him living with that.
8:49
He, we, we see him be like, I'm not going to talk about that
8:51
right now. But there wasn't like really him
8:53
feeling the guilt and, and that or the strain between his
8:57
relationship and aerator, right? Like I thought like, oh, maybe
9:01
they would do do more of that, but they just quickly skip to
9:06
Oh, and then Leilaria finds out right before we have to fight,
9:09
which just throws her off balance.
9:11
And it's like background voice lines that if you were
9:15
concentrating on mechanics you're going to miss and if you
9:18
are doing just story mode you don't have any chance of
9:24
catching that. To me is is like disastrous.
9:30
Like I yes I understand that the raid was split into three parts
9:36
and therefore story mode covers like 2 important parts and dream
9:40
rift is there right like. For some reason well.
9:46
We'll, we'll, we'll circle back to Dream Rift, We'll circle back
9:49
to Dream Rift. But really the crux of the major
9:53
story is carried in the Void Spire into the March of Quelfos
9:57
and on March on Quelfos. And then we have a two week
10:03
period or two week in that it was like Raid opened up the
10:10
second week. There was the second part of the
10:12
story in between, as well as the release of the raid, and to me,
10:18
getting the elves together felt rushed.
10:22
It did, yeah. Right, and I feel like this
10:29
isn't spoiler ish, but even after the raid is completed, the
10:33
epilogue sort of story that comes up comes after it, which I
10:36
won't go into details because I don't want to ruin that for you.
10:38
Right, Also felt like it was lacking impact because they're
10:43
because they said, OK, well, this is the result.
10:45
It's like, OK, but what does that even mean to to like the
10:49
citizens, the people that are involved, that sort of stuff.
10:53
There's one, there's one or two things that like happened in the
10:58
raid and you're like, oh, that was a cool cinematic, but like
11:04
nobody talks about it afterwards.
11:05
No, they didn't at all. And so that that to me is what
11:12
has been very strange. I have been used to World of
11:19
Warcraft at least making the end of a raid kind of have a bit
11:26
more of an impact and like, oh, wait for the next patch or like
11:31
this is what we're doing and go into into the next expansion.
11:36
And I feel like that has been lacking in the course of just
11:41
this tear. I I don't feel like the
11:44
levelling was missing that kind of thing because when trialing
11:50
did slash down air tour, there was that cool cinematic and
11:53
everything. And then you go off and do air
11:56
tours story. And yeah, the wound isn't there
12:00
anymore, but he's still like, I don't even know.
12:03
My dad went off the the the deep end here.
12:06
Like, let's what in the world is it about?
12:10
So I yeah, it's not that doom and gloom didn't feel it.
12:14
It's that I didn't get the chance to feel much of anything
12:18
before. They have quickly moved on.
12:19
Yeah. With that in mind, though, where
12:23
do you think generally that the story is going next in?
12:30
Because we are now sorry at the time of this recording, 12 point
12:34
O .7 will be coming out this coming week and then I expect
12:40
fairly quickly we'll get 12.1 on the PTR.
12:44
But where do you feel the story is going to be going into the
12:47
next patch? I would like to say something
12:52
with horror and darks. I feel between some of the rift
13:00
of on stuff, the some of the comments about the cradle and
13:05
the Goddess and all this, it just it left some little
13:08
question marks here and there that my tinfoil mind wanted to
13:12
kind of spiral about and really dive into be like, oh, what does
13:15
this mean? So I feel like there's still
13:17
some pieces that could fit in with Harandar and make Harandar
13:24
matter more. Whole of the more whole than.
13:26
Yeah, yeah. So there's that, but I think
13:32
Blizzard has an interesting opportunity to continue to use
13:39
the lore of the past like they have here and there to wrap up
13:43
some loose ends. But with a lot of you know, we
13:49
know there's some troll stuff coming up right with twelve O 7.
13:55
They've they've already announced that.
13:58
I think it's interesting and a Lor bit that a lot of people
14:02
don't know is that the corpse of Kithic is around, like Zola man
14:08
was basically built on the corpse of Kithic.
14:14
And with Zalatas piercing out. I don't know.
14:21
I just, I feel like that could come into play and that brings
14:23
in again, some allure from the past for them to utilize, which
14:29
I would like. And I want to see because I've
14:32
done it a little bit here and there with like Argentina and
14:35
some stuff from Tear when we brought him back and then he got
14:40
benched already. So like they have an opportunity
14:43
to use some stuff from the past. So I want to see what they might
14:48
do with that. That's one of my current
14:51
theories. What are you thinking?
14:54
I mean, there are a lot of flags for more things with Solomon and
14:59
that's island off the coast of Solomon.
15:02
It's. Very clearly there on the map.
15:05
Yeah, the the stuff coming in 12 point O 7 uses some things from
15:10
both Solomon and hard and are kind of pulling those two
15:13
together. But like I have also seen a lot
15:18
of a lot of things in the War Within where it's like, and this
15:23
comes out of left field. Yeah, yeah.
15:27
So it it just becomes a lot harder to to like take any of
15:33
this earmarking when the last expansion was very a very
15:39
fragmented story. But assuming that it's not going
15:44
to be like that. Yeah, I would think that it's
15:48
more of the trolls. It's bringing a bit of stuff
15:52
with like with that, I would think that the Haarendar stuff
16:00
is being used as a long sort of introduction to stuff.
16:07
So we've talked about the Cradle.
16:09
We talked about how only two of the raids are really continuing
16:12
the main story and if you do the dream rift and you just do the
16:16
dream of straight, you don't get any real story.
16:19
However, the lead into the dream rift is by doing the HAR and our
16:24
weekly quest every week until you get through to the locked
16:28
items and then those will eventually lead you into the
16:31
raid. So for people who have maybe
16:33
ignored that, that raid has no story.
16:36
For people who have done that, OK, this is a full lead in more
16:40
similar to like older expansions where they did take a while to
16:45
lead you into the raid. We'll see how that fits in with
16:49
Sporefall coming out pretty soon.
16:53
But because they're taking that long burn approach to the harder
16:58
stuff that to end because it is so connected with like the world
17:02
soul and and what happened there, I think that is going to
17:08
be more of a long burn. That's the will come that will
17:12
be relevant either in the final patch or even leading into the
17:18
last Titan as well. Yeah, Midnight has that awkward
17:21
job of being the the middle kid, right?
17:24
Because it has to hyperthin and bring Morrison story forward,
17:31
but also has to not only continue the story into last
17:36
Titan and kind of lay down that foundation for last Titan, but I
17:40
also feel like they might be planting, continuing to plant
17:44
seeds for life after the last Titan.
17:49
So I feel like Midnight has this awkward burden with being that
17:54
middle of the saga. So I'm definitely curious to see
17:58
where it's going to go. And I absolutely agree with you.
18:00
I feel like because of all that unlock stuff, if you haven't
18:04
done it yet, go do it. Because it was, it was fun, it
18:07
was interesting go read the little things in each of them.
18:11
It was really cool. But I, I think you're right, I
18:14
think it's going to come into play and be really important.
18:20
And I think people just don't expect the long, long burn
18:24
because it's definitely harder, has definitely been trashed on a
18:27
bit by the community. Honestly, if you want to roll
18:31
like a harder, you're like, oh, I'm going to do my harder druid
18:34
or whatever thing. You know, you owe it to yourself
18:37
to do those weeklies because the harder starting experience
18:41
doesn't contain the story of the harder.
18:44
It's all in that that weekly thing, which is like a very like
18:51
it's unprecedented is what it is that they that they would put
18:55
the story of the entirety of like the race and their purpose
18:59
and what leads into the raid into this this little weekly
19:03
lock lockout. So then talking about the
19:11
overarching story, because we we've got the war within.
19:15
We're now in midnight, which is basically doing the job of like
19:19
the Empire Strikes Back. How do you feel like the at this
19:25
point in the world soul saga? How do you feel that it's been
19:28
going kind of like quick little like retrospective on the war
19:32
within and this first chapter here?
19:36
I feel like it's been an interesting endeavour because we
19:40
we know they tend to work on expansions, you know, a few
19:43
ahead and that kind of thing. This is our first actual like
19:46
trilogy saga that was built that way and I feel like it's going
19:55
all right. I kind of wonder if doing the
20:00
saga this way, having it be this trilogy.
20:06
Kind of force them to move certain things around and hold
20:12
off on different things and in the end they'll all, you know,
20:17
come together nicely. But you know, for example, going
20:22
back to the Har N Deer, like we all expected a lot more of them
20:25
in the war within. Seems like it got moved over to
20:29
Midnight and it feels like they're just covering so many
20:38
things and there's so many. There's like plot a plot BA
20:43
little like C&D plot off here and there.
20:48
And as individual plots, I do find them interesting and I'm
20:55
intrigued and I want to know more, but curious know if
21:00
they're all going to weave together more eventually or if
21:03
we're just going to continue to get all these plots everywhere
21:07
that might eventually wrap up. OK, Yeah, yeah, there, there are
21:14
a lot of pans in the fire there. There's a lot of plates spinning
21:21
and and you're, you wonder if any of them are are being
21:23
ignored, if they're all going to come together at some point.
21:26
I get that. What would you, what would be
21:29
your hope that we get for the conclusion of midnight before
21:37
the last time? Where do you think?
21:39
Because like it just, I don't think anybody has a good guess
21:44
of where they're going to end midnight.
21:47
But where, where would you like it to be this sort of like
21:50
pinfoil hat on sort of thing like OK, this is this is it.
21:54
This is how we're going to do it.
21:57
That is a fantastic question. I I want to see the end of
22:03
Zalitath, which coming from a shadow priest who's had a lot of
22:08
fun with Zalitath over the years.
22:09
A lot of fun. Made a little too much fun at
22:12
times. It feels weird to say that, but
22:15
also we've seen the past where if one villain is focused on for
22:18
too long, it gets it gets a little long on the tooth, it
22:21
gets a little boring. It's like, OK, Yep, Zalatas
22:24
scheming. She's doing her thing, she's
22:25
playing her 5-10 D chess. Like at some point I want to see
22:30
her killed and I also still want to know more about her
22:35
background, but that's now they're here or there.
22:37
I think the end of midnight needs to see her death and I
22:43
think it needs to be epic and awesome.
22:49
But I also kind of wonder, because she is playing whatever
22:52
game she's playing, if maybe killing her would signal
22:57
something really bad and that would bring us into the last
23:01
time. And that would be maybe our big
23:03
like we really did lose at midnight and not just the the
23:09
little bit of a loss we felt in this first year.
23:14
How do you want to see it end? OK, this is this is AI think
23:22
along the same lines as you, where I don't want Xalataf to
23:29
fall into the same vein as the jailer.
23:32
And the reason that I felt that the jailer ended up very flat is
23:36
that he would show up and be like, ho ho, ho, I'm menacing.
23:40
And that'd be like, OK, cool, you're menacing.
23:44
And then he would do that five more times.
23:46
He'd be like, yeah, I get that you're supposed to be menacing,
23:48
but why? And so the why of Zalitaf, I
23:53
think needs to be explored sooner than later.
23:56
We've yeah, we've already seen like a little bit of her
24:00
history, like, oh, she was work. She was there at the at the fall
24:04
of this world, and she was there and trapped into the blade.
24:10
And that's like, but why was she opposing the Old Gods when she
24:16
was there at the fall of the world?
24:18
What was she trying to accomplish?
24:20
Is that what her goal is now? That stuff, I think needs to
24:26
come out. Definitely.
24:29
Yeah. And if they could do that, that
24:33
to me will validate Zalitath. They, if at that point her plans
24:41
get foiled, if at that point she dies, if at that point they say,
24:51
oh, OK, well, now we know what her ultimate plan is.
24:56
We have to do. We have to go for this.
24:59
No more cloak and dagger. This is a straight, this is a
25:02
straight out fight. That to me would be enough to
25:06
carry Zalitath. Two, I think one of the better
25:12
done villains like you, you can have a sort of slow burn with
25:18
these villains. Nobody was tired of Zalitaf when
25:21
she was in the dagger, right? Nobody was tired of Zalitaf when
25:24
she got out of the dagger and disappeared.
25:27
I think it's just that she's being stuck in the same state of
25:30
like maniacal ho ho, ho. I didn't account for you or I've
25:34
accounted for five different things that you haven't.
25:39
I'm sorry, you go ho ho ho, and I get this weird image of some
25:42
kind of Voity Santa Zalitas combination because my brain's
25:47
weird and that was fantastic. There you go.
25:52
We'll we'll do a a Zalitas with like a little Christmas hat on.
25:56
Yeah. Which you?
25:57
Can make it purple, you can make it voity.
26:00
Yep, it'll have instead of like the little star on the end,
26:04
it'll have like a black hole. Yes, that'd be amazing.
26:09
Anyway, sorry. But like she's been stuck in the
26:16
I'm trying to be enigmatic phase, unknowable.
26:18
Like, oh, what's what? Yeah, for a long time now.
26:22
Yeah, and that's why she's getting tiresome.
26:26
If you were further exploring her or exploring her quote UN
26:32
quote rivalry, because back in the war within they said, oh,
26:35
we're going to be talking about the rivalry between Zalitath and
26:40
Illyria. And then Illyria, who's now
26:43
being sidelined, may be dead or who knows.
26:49
Either way, she's missing in action.
26:51
The ultimate end to that thread was no, actually, I didn't ever
26:55
care about you. It was always about the narrow
26:56
inside of you. It's like, well, I wish you had
27:00
done a bit more rivalry sort of thing in that and like that to
27:05
me would have it would have made the like, why the hell do you
27:12
did you think that I cared about you?
27:13
Get over yourself would have made that like that much, that
27:17
much sweeter. But I guess that falls back
27:22
onto, I think that this storyline has a lot of good
27:27
ideas in it and a lot of good concepts.
27:30
But the exposition, the explanation has been lacking and
27:37
the speed has been so has been elevated that the typical story
27:45
guys like your yourself haven't had the time to be like, pick a
27:48
part and be like, oh, what did this line mean?
27:51
What did this line mean? Like Discordian Kitty, I I, I
27:55
know, I, I know you want to make like a 27 lore videos, but
27:59
they're they got to give you some of the work with Yeah.
28:02
That's true. Well, and I also, I feel like
28:05
the narrative team's almost taking on too much at this point
28:07
because yes, while Mattson talks about wanting to wrap up all the
28:10
loose ends, they're still, they still have a ton of loose ends
28:13
to wrap up. Like Denathrius, who's still
28:16
alive somewhere, Like they have so many loose ends to still wrap
28:19
up things that they already built up and then just left it
28:22
loose. And they're adding more.
28:25
And so I feel like they're just taking on so much and we're not
28:29
getting enough answers enough like meaty context for it, you
28:33
know? Yeah, I would.
28:37
I would really like to. I would really like them to stop
28:45
doing the throwaway hench men that they have been doing for
28:51
let's say 3 expansions now. If not like the I mean like the
28:58
but like. The Army of the Jailer, they
29:03
were basically soul powered constructs.
29:08
So like you weren't expecting much from them and the those
29:12
soul powered constructs were augmented by like the corrupted
29:18
or turned versions from every set of the shadow lands.
29:22
So there was reasons behind them.
29:23
You're like, oh, he got the like the the half the forces in in
29:32
one place to turn against each other.
29:34
Like when you go to the Necrolords, like they became
29:38
they in begin began infighting and their leader was gone.
29:42
So he was like, Oh yeah, let me take care of that.
29:45
He turned, he turned the half of Bastion against itself.
29:51
He had the I don't, I don't want to talk about the trust that
29:57
much because they it upsets me that they disappeared, Right.
30:01
Yeah, but like the dressed we're following and and that sort of
30:06
stuff. But like alongside that, which
30:09
those guys I felt were decently fleshed out, you get the like
30:18
the I can't even remember their name.
30:22
They were the Elementalists or the shamans that follow the
30:26
incarnations, right? Right.
30:30
They showed up at the free patch in the beginning and there was
30:33
no reason behind what the hell they were doing or why they had
30:37
come together OK, other than they just wanted a force that
30:41
could like fight, fight against us.
30:44
And then we go to the war within.
30:46
And like, yes, we got a little bit of explanation of the
30:50
Nerubians. And obviously with Gazlow's
30:53
forces, sure, but the Shadow Guard, which bled into this
30:59
expansion, I wanted to know more about like why they're fighting
31:05
on Zalataf's side. What what the King Saladar
31:11
wanted on on a deal. Like if he got that power, what
31:14
was he going to do? What it like those smaller
31:19
characters could have been more fleshed out and that to me would
31:24
have made me care more about about them or like be more
31:29
invested in the fight against them at least.
31:31
And through through that, you can sort of explain a bit more
31:35
of like Zalitaf. Like it's like, oh, like Zalitaf
31:39
isn't just trying to like have everything reduced to nothing,
31:42
like the void consumes all. No, she's trying to like save
31:46
some people, the people who are willing to do what it takes,
31:49
like they'll follow her. And that to me would make make
31:52
it be like, oh, like, wait, So what is Zelataf like fighting
31:56
against, you know, which is a story for a later expansion sort
31:59
of thing. What?
32:04
Which character would you want more explored?
32:08
Or even a faction would you want more explored before we get to
32:12
the end of the world Soul saga? Pardon, dear.
32:18
For sure. Just because they have been
32:21
around as Roth for so long and they there's just so much that
32:28
yeah, there's a lot they probably don't know as they've
32:31
just been, you know, in their own place.
32:34
But I feel like they could be utilized to learn so much more
32:37
about the history of Azeroth. For sure.
32:42
Them. That's the first one that came
32:47
to mind. I'm sure there's another one,
32:52
but I will think about that as you share with me what you're
32:56
thinking. OK, so from like the from like
33:01
the World Soul Saga, they started on the ervin and dropped
33:06
the ervin. And I kind of want them to like
33:09
come back in the picture, if not just to be justified in their
33:13
inclusion, because at this point it feels so throw away.
33:18
And because they're not the Darlings of the new expansion,
33:23
they they've been left in the dust.
33:25
That to me feels really, really bad.
33:28
If I had to go with an OG, like if I had to like continue with
33:34
the War within, I guess you've brought every L faction into
33:39
play. Do something with, right?
33:45
You already talked about the HAR and DAR.
33:48
I have I hopes, I still have hopes for the the Armani and the
33:55
different tribes in there Do do do go ahead and do those side
33:59
quests because I felt that that they did a good job with the
34:02
Armani. Strangely I feel like the Blood
34:05
Helms are getting decent service in terms of like their story
34:11
progression. The void elves are sort of being
34:17
brought along with them as like two sides of the same coin even
34:21
though they should not be getting equal balance. 1 is a
34:24
splinter of of like, I don't know, maybe a couple dozen
34:34
people that were part of the the tragic events that turned them
34:39
into the void elves. So I don't expect to see like
34:46
armies upon armies of void Els. They should be very much of a
34:49
small elite force that you could probably get a accounting of
34:55
without much without much work. I guess at that, at that point,
35:04
that's what I would want for the War Within if I had to like go
35:08
and say like, Hey, what's the next, next thing that you should
35:11
do? Like the Rathi pushed him off
35:14
Like the Rathi? OK, now I was going to actually
35:17
just mention the Rathi. Why do you want to push the
35:19
Rathi off? I feel like with us going to
35:23
North Rend in the last Titan true with us dealing with that
35:30
sort of stuff, the Rathi can be a good seed for a post last
35:37
Titan world. I would love to go to the Rathi
35:41
empire and not have it be like a mini like a middle patch within
35:51
the last Titan like we're going to go to north rend.
35:54
I'd love the continent or landmass that the Arathi are on
36:00
to be a its own world and ecosystem and not just like a
36:04
little island where it's like, yeah, we got our castle here and
36:06
that's it for the Rathi. It's like what?
36:07
No, no, no, no, no. You guys need to rival the
36:11
forces of Lord Iran and Storm and combined.
36:13
You need to be you need to be like a major player on the
36:17
continent. I don't want them fully like
36:19
they could be the biggest player on the continent, but I don't
36:21
want to be the only player on the continent.
36:24
Then there's like, as much as they say, oh, we want to like,
36:28
plant seeds for the future, They've already been doing that.
36:31
We've had, like, green Dragons that went overseas.
36:37
We've had the pirates that, like, somehow travelled the
36:40
storm. Yeah.
36:41
Yeah. All of those, like I could
36:45
imagine those all having found the continent that the Arathi
36:49
Empire was on and being factions and stuff.
36:51
I would love if the Arathi were we're fighting against like the
36:58
pirate nation as it were kind of bralessy, but like the but like
37:08
the pirate nation I would think of as like trade Princess, but
37:12
like on the on the coastal lines and stuff would be a great way
37:16
of differentiating between forces.
37:20
Anyways that's why I that's why I want the Arathi later because
37:24
I want more of them than a mid patch faction.
37:29
True. And I'll totally give you that
37:30
because I was thinking that we definitely need more Arathi
37:34
because it's kind of a big deal. There's this whole Arathi empire
37:39
and they brought up enough back story for it in War Within that.
37:44
There's got to be more coming to us at some point, but I've been
37:46
trying to figure out where it would fit in and how like if
37:50
it's just going to be a random patch, just kind of like
37:54
Undermine was, or if it is going to be something bigger.
37:56
And now that you have said that, I do see and agree with you how
38:08
holding on to it is a good thing because it should be a full
38:13
patch. I don't, I don't know if it's
38:18
interesting enough to have that be what we build for post last
38:27
Titan per SE, but I also in general cannot imagine what will
38:36
happen after last Titan because for a while there I was thinking
38:41
maybe a wrath. He could be during the last
38:43
Titan but I can see them possibly pushing it off.
38:50
I'm really torn now at what I want from the Arathi.
38:52
It's all your fault, Manny. I I'm going to, I'm going to put
38:56
my tinfoil hat back on. I'm going to spin you this tail
38:58
and. Bring it, bring it.
39:00
Let me see. It so just like we travelled to
39:03
the Dragon Isles to find the lost homeland of the Dragons, we
39:08
travel across the sea, past the storm to the lost Arathi Empire.
39:15
There we find the Arathi embroiled in a war of the
39:20
throne, because there are different houses in the Arathi.
39:23
OK. And so we befriend one house,
39:27
which we have our introduction in to.
39:31
But then the we also find that we're not the first people from
39:37
Calendar and Eastern Kingdoms to arrive.
39:39
No, the Red Dawn has collide themselves with one house and
39:46
that has caused much of the Rathi to turn a bad eye against
39:51
both the Alliance and the Horde. The Horde they are not one of
39:55
the pure races of the Rathi, they are neither elf nor nor
40:00
human. Meanwhile, the Alliance, they
40:02
fraternize with these lesser people, the gnomes, the the,
40:06
the, the, the night elves and and even Aradar.
40:15
Right. And so we do not have the
40:19
warmest welcome. It's a hostile territory.
40:21
Meanwhile, the empire they're at, the empire is beset by, like
40:25
they're resurging foes from the old days.
40:29
And the Dragons are starting to stir.
40:32
The, the, the splinter group of the green Dragons are starting
40:38
to stir. And in that you can have many
40:41
different stories. But what we also find out is
40:45
that the Empire is becoming far more powerful because they are
40:49
tapping into the light in a way never seen before.
40:51
This is when we start seeing more of that harsh light that
40:56
has been hinted at at the beginning of midnight.
40:59
Yeah, OK, OK. And so that that's where I would
41:04
like it to you go. Now that the Titans are dealt
41:08
with in the last Titan and they no longer have their
41:11
stranglehold upon the world soul.
41:13
Now the other powers start to make their move.
41:16
Life with these overtaken green Dragons light in the Arathi
41:21
empire with like far more direct influence, which causes a crisis
41:27
of faith with villain and and all the followers of the light.
41:32
This like I think this is there's like a lot of a lot of
41:36
things that you can build like the entire expansion about, not
41:38
just the patch. OK, I can see it now.
41:41
Let me let me ask you a question then.
41:42
You're talking about the green Dragons here.
41:44
Yeah. We went through that whole thing
41:46
in Dragonflight where we empowered our dragon friends.
41:50
Well, we helped Azaroth empowered them.
41:52
That's fine. We went through the whole thing.
41:54
They're empowered every red chron pieced out right through
41:56
the Void, Tear, whatever style test, whatever icon is doing.
42:00
Do you think that the dragon aspects come back in last Titan
42:05
to save the day and Ridicron comes back because he's trying
42:07
to fight off the Titans and like you know Amanthol and all them?
42:11
Or are they saving the dragon aspects for post last Titan for
42:16
your scenario here? I think that Tear and the
42:21
dragon, the dragon aspects are going to help in the last I I
42:26
would push position them in the last Titan and then I would have
42:31
it be an entire thing where it's like, wait a second, the star in
42:37
the sky fades away and out come the the Titans themselves.
42:43
And they direct the keepers right to to like reinforce the
42:51
matrix or whatever they were using the like seal away the
42:54
world's world's soul and like and like deal with this because
43:01
like the threat of Zalata has become too, too much.
43:05
Or even if she dies at the at the end of at the end of
43:09
midnight, she breaks part of the Titans mechanism.
43:16
And so they're like, OK, no, no, no, we need to we're going to
43:19
like flat out like re originate or whatever.
43:22
And so now the aspects are like, no, no, no, you, you can't wipe
43:25
out all life just to like keep keep the world soul the way you
43:29
wanted it. We realize you've been corrupt,
43:32
corrupting it. Tear decides to stand with the
43:37
dragon aspects and as Ross humanity and people to fight
43:43
against that. The Titans fighting against us
43:47
and now we're on the wrong side. And the keepers, what side do
43:52
they fall on? The rest of the keepers?
43:55
They end up fighting against us and that would be like a cool
43:58
like throwback to their old. I like it.
44:03
But this time, they're not corrupted by an old God.
44:05
I can get on board with this. That would work, and that would
44:09
be solid stuff for post Last Titan.
44:13
What would you name that expansion?
44:14
The expansion after Last Titan? What would you name it?
44:17
Give it all this Arathi stuff. Give it all.
44:20
Give it, give me your whole scenario here that you're coming
44:22
up with. Oh man, I what kind of name
44:24
would they go with? Like like a New light, The
44:34
Empire Strikes Back. The New Empire.
44:38
The New Empire, I I think there's I I'm not going to go
44:43
into marketing. I'm sure they could work up with
44:45
some amazing names. I just feel like I I love I love
44:49
spitballing stories and all of this sort of stuff.
44:53
The thing that I didn't talk about, though, is a Ridicron.
44:56
Yeah, and I would put a Ridicron actually post last Titan.
45:03
I think that he he got he gets to come in most last time be
45:08
like I told you so I told you that as soon as your your ideals
45:13
didn't align with the Titans, they were going to turn around
45:15
and kick your butt. And you are lucky to have
45:18
survived. Now I'm going to lead you to the
45:21
proper future. And then we all know that his
45:23
proper future is not anything we want and he gets to be the big
45:26
bad that he deserve to be. OK, he does deserve that because
45:29
I definitely, you know, he, he got a little bit of a build up
45:31
there. Then let me let me ask this
45:33
then, because you know, he, he pieced out through void terror,
45:37
right? Lady Ashara also kind of pieced
45:42
out through void terror. When does Lady Ashara come back?
45:45
Is Lady Ashara gonna be saved? Or are we randomly going to get
45:50
some Lady Ashara soon considering that we had this
45:53
whole Not a Presence off the coast of Ever Song?
45:57
I would I would like for her to be a post last Titan.
46:11
I think that she got to be a mid boss.
46:14
I think that there can be an entire not a takeover sort of
46:21
thing where where it becomes like a OK like he fled her
46:28
eternal palace. Where did she go?
46:30
She she hasn't been back there since and she gets to do a big
46:37
I'm I'm going to take over ass off now, now that I'm not
46:40
shackled by the old gods, right, My people will finally take
46:44
their their rightful place sort of thing, and I think that can
46:52
be in the future. I'd I like it could be if they
46:56
tease it right, like it wouldn't be last Titan.
46:58
She could be either like I, I I feel like they've used too much
47:04
of her for her to be a full expansion boss, like the the
47:07
boss at the end of an expansion like Lich King, like any of
47:12
those people before. But I think she could be built
47:17
in between things and be like a mid expansion.
47:22
Like let's say we've got the Ridicron thing and she's like
47:26
Ridicron, like sit down, kid, I'm I'm taking over.
47:31
And like, so we have to defeat her first, but then Irriticon is
47:33
like, well, thanks for taking care of my competition.
47:35
She was the only thing standing in my way.
47:37
And then we have to deal with Irriticon afterwards.
47:39
Like, I think she can be like that, that level only because I
47:42
just don't want. I feel like they've used her too
47:46
much and the only reason that they could have her as the final
47:50
big bad would have to be after we've given her enough time away
47:56
from the spotlight. Yeah, for sure.
47:58
And I do agree she's not full expansion baddy kind of level.
48:04
I have been trying to figure out if there's reason to get like a
48:07
full not a patch again, and that would be when she comes back for
48:11
like just that patch and she'd be the final boss of that patch.
48:14
But I don't know where a not a patch would fit in.
48:20
Yeah, I, I honestly think that you can't even do a not a patch
48:24
because we have done a not a patch.
48:26
We've had not a in so many different places.
48:28
So for me, it would be almost like a dark transformation sort
48:33
of thing where she like further evolves the not a into like some
48:36
new untested threat where it's like, oh, like she took this
48:43
this she took the blade that that fell from Zalitath.
48:47
It's like, shoot, yeah, she would know how to use that
48:50
because she's been studying it for thousands of years and was
48:53
originally going to use it for NASA and stuff.
48:55
And so she uses that, does a dark transformation on the, not
48:57
A, and now it's like, whoa, wait a second, these are like not a
49:01
Plus Plus. I can see so in in your the New
49:10
Light expansion, whatever we're going to call it, if we have to
49:17
cross the ocean with Night Squaw or whatever to get to the Rathi
49:20
Empire, I can see some dark empowered not a causing issues
49:27
with that. I don't know if Ashara would
49:31
come around at that point but I can see some like new newly
49:35
Ashara empowered not a getting in the way of our crossing the
49:39
ocean with Night Squaw. I, I think that that's
49:45
definitely something, I think another thing you can do is sort
49:48
of her finding a different power than the void because she's
49:55
always been connected with the old gods.
49:57
Or even if it was like, because like, yeah, if he dropped the
50:02
void, it was like, oh, I'm free of the void.
50:04
And now we're embracing like arcane power.
50:08
And so now we've got like not a with constructs where they're
50:13
like either using arcane power or something, or like they're
50:18
tapping into some font of life and now they're like life
50:22
infused so that it changes their theming a bit more.
50:26
That would, I think that would also be somewhat cool.
50:31
Like I think that it's like what we need to see from them is
50:36
either stepping higher into the powers that they're that they're
50:40
associated with or changing alignment.
50:43
And that would that kind of novelty would adjust them.
50:46
Like what would you, what would you have if the not a, instead
50:51
of being connected with the old Gods, we're now connected with
50:55
order. We're now connected with light.
50:57
We're now connected with with like death.
50:59
Like, oh wow, the not a are now connected to true death and not
51:02
that fact similarly that you know of from the shadow lands,
51:05
True death. What does true death look like?
51:09
That'd be cool. I like it.
51:14
So many things. I could do so many things.
51:18
But yeah, I, I'm really glad that I got to sit down with you
51:22
and do this kind of talk because we had like a loose idea.
51:26
We had a loose, loose plan. And then we just dove right into
51:30
so much lore. So much.
51:34
And this is being great. I do want to throw a little
51:38
curveball question at you just. Before we.
51:41
Go. So World of Warcraft is great.
51:45
We love it. But Blizzard has a lot of IPS.
51:49
And one question that kind of came up in the for Asraw discord
51:53
was what if Blizzard farmed out one of its IPS to allow a
51:59
different company to create a story based game for it?
52:05
What IP would you love to see it's a story based game for from
52:11
Blizzard's. From Blizzard's entire catalog
52:16
except the World of Warcraft. Can I have two answers?
52:20
You can have two answers. OK, very first one that comes to
52:24
mind because this is something I've wanted for a while and this
52:28
is like a huge call back that not everyone even knows is
52:30
technically a Blizzard IP. Rock'n'roll Racing, which is
52:38
like, I think, if not their first thing, like one of their
52:40
first things. Back when it before his Blizzard
52:42
was still a synapse, whatever, right?
52:46
It was on SESNES, like it was. It was so much fun.
52:50
The music was awesome, and I've always wanted a new one of those
52:57
with new awesome music and they could do so many things with it.
53:01
Granted, I'm easily mused, but give me a new Rock'n'roll
53:04
Racing, I'd be so happy. So, so happy.
53:07
Wow OK you know like I could see them doing a story mode for
53:14
that. I mean they are doing virtual
53:16
fighter as a story mode where it's where.
53:20
So like if they can do Virtue fighter with a follows along
53:24
story, I think they can do Rock'n'roll racing with the
53:26
follow along story. Yeah, like you, you build up
53:29
your own car along the way and that's they can easily
53:32
incorporate story mode for that. And then you have to go into
53:34
these races to get more money to do that and whatever.
53:38
Like if you ever play the Saints Row games, like you could just
53:41
steal cars and do all sorts of things to your cars.
53:44
Have fun with it. It'd be great.
53:45
I unless the music would just be as long as it has an epic, just
53:49
awesome rock'n'roll soundtrack, fantastic.
53:52
I'd be so happy, so happy. And then my other answer is
53:57
honestly Heroes of the Storm, because there was a like, I
54:03
stopped playing after a while just because I, I only have so
54:06
many hours in a day and I only have so much gaming time.
54:08
But I, I was like, here was the storm and I was sad when it was
54:11
done well put into maintenance mode.
54:14
And I feel it would be so fun to incorporate some kind of story
54:22
mode with that, with all these different Blizzard IPS coming
54:25
together. I don't know what that would
54:28
look like, but I feel they had so much fun with the voice lines
54:33
alone in Heroes of the Storm that they could have a lot of
54:35
fun with a story mode kind of thing for it.
54:39
Feel like if if it was heroes of the storm I would just want them
54:43
to do like a little mini series more than I would want a story
54:49
driven game for heroes in the storm.
54:51
Fair. Rock'n'roll Racing.
54:54
I, I I'm 100% with you. Like, just like you go to the
54:58
shop and you're like, yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to win the
55:00
next race and I'm going to make a name for myself.
55:02
And you go up against the characters from Rock'n'roll
55:05
Racing while you're making a name for yourself on the scene.
55:10
Wow, yeah, those are two great, great ones.
55:14
What would you do for me? Yeah, you got to answer too,
55:19
man. OK, all right, all right.
55:23
If I were to do just a show I would want Overwatch because I'm
55:27
tired of waiting for them to do any single player with that
55:30
game. And I like those.
55:31
Characters look so cool. That would be fun.
55:33
I'd play that. I'd totally play that.
55:40
I feel like they keep like right now StarCraft feels semi retired
55:48
and I think that if they were to do the story of like ghosts or,
55:53
or like because like that was a game that never came out right?
55:57
Like just like I mean, there's so many 40K games that are just
56:01
like I'm a grunt running around and keep that against the entire
56:04
thing. Give me that, but just put it in
56:06
the StarCraft universe. So yes, it feels retired, but I
56:10
feel like StarCraft is kind of heavily featured on the key art
56:15
for BlizzCon 2026. I feel like we're getting a
56:18
StarCraft announcement. So hold, hold, hold the horses
56:20
there with that retirement speak.
56:23
What's your favorite candy bar? That's random.
56:28
I have so many. I'm going to say Snickers
56:30
because that was the first one that came to mind.
56:31
OK, there is any StarCraft new title at BlizzCon?
56:38
I will buy you Snickers. OK, sounds like a deal.
56:43
I'll get your I'll get your address after the show.
56:46
What is yours? What is?
56:47
What is yours? Oh, man, I don't eat much candy
56:52
bars. I'm going to say, man, yeah, I
56:58
don't, you know? Chips.
57:03
I was going to say Hiroshay, which is not my favorite candy
57:07
bar. It's my, it's my partners.
57:12
I mean, those are really good. I got it.
57:14
Yeah, yeah, my mom loves Bounty. Like honestly, I just don't.
57:24
I like, I like, like chocolate bars are cool and everything.
57:26
I just don't have like a favorite one that sticks out.
57:29
My problems I have too many. I like that's that's a problem
57:32
for so many reasons. I got to send you some like
57:38
Canadiana like. Problem is shipping the namo
57:42
bars out to you would be like Nah impossible.
57:45
True. We'll figure it out.
57:48
I'm I'll, I'll talk to our mutual friend about about
57:51
getting this stuff out to you. But yeah, I'll figure that out
57:57
another day. All right, We'll see if we get
58:00
any. We'll see see if we get any of
58:05
the StarCraft at BlizzCon 2026. I assume you're going to be
58:09
there. I am.
58:11
Beautiful, so you guys can say hello to Ally at BlizzCon if
58:16
you're going, but if they want to see you online, where can
58:20
they find you? Well, our next recording of
58:23
After Raid is on the 19th at 1:00 PM Eastern over on
58:27
twitch.tv/seraphis. That's CERPHU.
58:33
Wait, CERAPHUS? Yes, and otherwise I'll
58:40
eventually start streaming again over on twitch.tv/alejandros and
58:46
whenever I decide to be active again on socials, you can find
58:49
me on Twitter at Alejandros K and on Blue Sky at Alejandros.
58:56
Go, but until next time guys, may all your hits be goods.