Midnight Expansion Trailers — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] Hello Internet, I'm Sally Essin. And I'm Evatel. And this is Midnight. Is it here? It's kind of midnight as we're recording this as well. I wish it was early.

[00:14] So we have now seen the cinematic trailer and we've seen the gameplay trailer here at Gamescom and we know what Midnight looks like. we know what it's going to be like.

[00:26] And, Everfell, we're going to go through our initial reactions and overall reactions and, like, things you're most excited about, about everything we know about the expansion at this stage. But overall, what would you say your, like, reaction to all of this has been?

[00:39] It's like all of my dreams have come true, like, instantaneously. I feel like we've got similar dreams. Yeah. Right, yeah. We'll never have it. Yeah, exactly. We're going to go into details in a minute. But, yeah, I agree. From, like, the cinematic onwards, I was just like,

[00:52] oh, Blizzard want the same stuff from this expansion that I do. We are on the same page. This is like from the very start of the cinematic to the very end of the game page trailer

[01:04] I was like, yes, alright, okay. I feel safe now. I feel like me and Blizz haven't veered off in completely different directions here. We both want essentially the same thing. Yes, yeah, absolutely.

[01:16] Although I wasn't sure right off the bat because it was like I see someone's gleaming red armor, and then you're trying to situate yourself as a town. I'm like, is this what I want? Is this what I really want?

[01:30] You didn't get it with the Sunwell straight away? I did get it with the Sunwell, but then I was like, do I want the Sunwell, or do I want a barge cramping in? Did you come into Midnight like, the one thing I don't want from Midnight is the Sunwell.

[01:42] Oh God, all I hope is that there's no Sunwell. Let's start with the cinematic, the first thing that we saw. It places us directly in the Sunwell with the Adrin and Mortimar, and it transpires.

[01:54] It is the day of the Void attack on the Sunwell. There was a couple of things that struck me about this, like, instantly. Yeah. And that was, like, how old school it looked. Yes. Like, if you compare it to the War Within trailer, bright desert sunlight, right?

[02:10] If you told me this trailer was from ten years ago, I'd believe you. It looks amazing. Yeah. It's supposed to look like it's from 10 years ago. And I found that as a good thing. And I noticed that as well, and it still has that beautiful, high-res quality, everything

[02:25] looks so good. Oh, let me see the adren, like, when she goes to Samba the second time, like, the cause on her nose. Yeah. Like, there's no shortage of, like, genuine artistry here. Yeah. And that artistry extends to that retro feel of it.

[02:38] Yes, yeah. And it's vintage. Yes, exactly. And I feel like rather than trying to feel like a Marvel film or something, right, this is just literally trying to feel like World of Warcraft it like really

[02:50] takes you back to some of those older like game cinematics doesn't it? Yeah. It's kind of like the polar opposite of the war within cinematic movies in that it does what all the best war cinematics do at times

[03:02] it's literally referencing the BFA trailer so it has that thing of like you know it starts off in the middle of an attack in the middle of like a thing just like the Legion trailer it places you right in

[03:14] the action straight away. After the war within trailer being so low-key and so conversational, it's like, oh, there's a hole in the side. Oh, the void is here. Oh, we're going

[03:26] to do some fighting. It's time, right? It's like, let's go. I think we really needed that for Midnight as well. We couldn't have another conversation. We know how the story got here, but it worked

[03:38] completely on its own. If we'd never seen Zalatath before, if we didn't know anything about the void or whatever, But this would still work as a trailer. Yes. You know, unlike, say, The War Within once. And we have Lorthamar kind of like on the front line

[03:52] versus Liadrin kind of choosing to pray at the Sunwell. Oh, he's like, no, stop praying, dude. You've got a fight, man. And then when Zalasath arrives. Oh, my God. It's just stunning.

[04:04] Unbelievable. You get some really cool, like, fighting with the elves at first. And the movement is so suggestive of those old BC trailers. Absolutely. The original Vow trailer as well. A hundred percent. And like the quality of the light and everything,

[04:17] the armor. So exciting. That's excellent. And when the four lords just give way and Zalatas flows upwards out of it in glorious 8K, you know, that looks so good.

[04:29] She looks so amazing. Oh my God. How many people did they have working on her? The way she stands there when she first appears with her void race behind her and the sun setting behind her

[04:41] and like the last little embers of the actual day as the night prepares to take over. Exactly. And her hair just kind of like floating spookily about her. I see like beautiful and menacing and like...

[04:55] And then the other looks out. Like the afternoon. And Lord of the Martyrs is like, Oh, bitch, she's going to pray again. And the waitress goes, Oh, bitch. It's like it's like you're beautiful.

[05:07] This dude has had enough with religion. He's like, we've got to fight. and obviously it really kicks off when she gets back to the Sunwell and starts praying and sets aside her mantras and her kind of written, established prayers

[05:20] and it comes from the heart and makes a genuine kind of appeal to the light and to the Sunwell. And there are loads of stills here which look like the old key art from BFF. Things I taken from this opening trailer I so glad it gives the blood elves the love that they deserve and have never had really in a cinematic like this

[05:41] I agree, completely. And it's like, I'm not, like, the greatest Blood Elf fan in the world, but it's amazing how refreshing it is to see someone other than, like, humans and orcs

[05:53] getting this kind of attention. And you're like, oh, yeah, this is a fantasy world with loads of different races in. And it's, like, so exciting to see the blood elves being badass, and they are so badass. Yeah, they're absolutely incredible,

[06:07] and their armor is so beautiful and gleaming, and yeah, you can just, you know, they have elf ears. And they're kind of fluffy. They're kind of fluffy. Lor-Tamar has definitely seen better days. He's been around for a while,

[06:19] and he's like, you know, he's an elf-thing, but you know, he's good. I do love how old Lor-Tamar is. Oh, yeah, he's 10,000 years old now. Yeah, he's so old. But he's still got it, man. Yeah, you absolutely got it.

[06:31] So I love how old school, like, the vibe and the look of it is, despite being, like, obviously incredibly well-made and high quality. Yes, yeah. And, like, it's got a really lovely climax as well, where, you know, the agent's prayers

[06:43] are literally answered, and then when she comes stomping up with the Army of Light. Someone? Is it us? I actually, like, genuinely thought at first it was the Army of Light. Yeah, okay. Like, arising.

[06:55] Yeah. And most of those would be drama, right? So I was like, yeah, okay, cool. That's awesome. and then they seem kind of human-y so I thought maybe it's a silver hand and I was like, what, is it the mouse, is it like the... The Iraqi? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Our same gradient. And, you know,

[07:07] I'm sure everyone's got to the bottom of it already on the internet. We haven't yet. Maybe it's in a serious thing we're not supposed to know. Maybe we'll get to the bottom of it in an interview or something. I love your idea that it's us. Yeah! I've called the heroes and that's not a name of mine.

[07:19] It's like, Queen is helping, you know, and like the hand goes on their shoulder and you're like, oh, who's is that? Who is it? It's mine! Yeah, it's me. It's like, I'm here. I've been called by, like, the world's soul and the light, and I've come to help.

[07:32] And, you know, I do that, yeah. I don't think that's what it is. No, I don't think it is. In my headcanon, that is us answering the call, and I really, really like that. I think that's awesome. But the kind of, like, the difference in music when they come clunking up. Oh, my God, that world's soul-like song.

[07:46] Yeah, exactly. So beautiful. And then it's basically like a complete recreation of the BFA trailer at the end there. even the moment where Zalatast, you know, she realises that there's a bit more here than she thought,

[07:58] and her little smile because of that kind of, like, you know, welcoming the challenge sort of thing, it's exactly like Corvanus' smile when Anduin kind of goes for the alliance. 100%, 100%.

[08:10] So cool, except she does note out, have you noticed? Yes, yes, yes. She smiles and she's like, hi. And I love, you know, and I love in the lead up to this, like, you know, is you have the scenes of the void, darkness,

[08:23] Lor'themar duking it out against insanely beautiful Zalatath and her little void guys. We could go on about this. It's so hot when the light shines on her as well. Well, that's what I was going to say. The face that looks a billion thumbnails.

[08:35] Yeah. And then, of course, you cut to the scene with Liadrin and in this yellow glow of the light, like the warm glow of the light. And then finally when the light kind of spills out

[08:47] and it just like washes over Zalatap it removes like the purple power from her and she got you know she gets a taste of it right and it's like she sees what it's all about and that's the other thing I think from this cinematic is like

[08:59] how much it kind of appears to set up I guess I'll follow through on this one but how much it appears to set up Midnight as very much the light versus void expansion

[09:11] remember we've always kind of talked about that you know there's kind of set expansions that you've been waiting for in WoW. One of them was, like, the N'Zoth Ashara expansion. We kind of got that. Like, one of them is the South Seas expansion.

[09:24] And, you know, one of those categories has always been the Light vs. Void expansion. And this trailer, we always knew what the setup for Midnight was, but this trailer sets up, like, the explicit Light vs. Void thing.

[09:37] Like, very purple vs. yellow. Yeah, exactly. And that means you'd come back, right? I feel like the Light is being kind of focused a lot more than maybe people would have been expecting. I think so. Yeah. As a genuine force, sort of thing.

[09:50] Yeah. But I think it's, like I say, there's something kind of nice and simple about the concept. Like it's, yeah, the good stuff versus the darkness threatens to eat everything, basically.

[10:03] And unlike in BFA, there's not much ambiguity between the sides here. No. You're on these guys again, I promise. I'm not ashamed to admit that I had a little lump. I had a little... Oh, cheers. In my throat when, like, you know, the...

[10:16] The rainy song comes up, yeah. It's so good. The music changes. You see the people coming. And they have that, like, they have that wonderful little, like, you know, Leandron comes out and starts decimating little void guys.

[10:30] And then Loras and I are like, you know, he does a little, like, little smirk. Yeah. You know. Like I say, there's a lot to get into with the synoptic analysis here. But of course the line at the beginning, after she's involved by Lord Samar, they're standing in the battlements together, she says,

[10:44] The Sun Whirl will not fall while I draw breath. And then of course the Lord Samar's final line at the end is, The Sun Whirl will not fall while you draw breath. So like, they were kind of flattered at the beginning.

[10:56] She was very religious, he was very kind of, no, put that down, we've got to go fight. And then like that, the unification of the scattered Elves tried to fight next instead, right? Yes, actually. You see like a coming together just between those two characters signified by that line and what have you and yeah there going to be a rumble and apparently this is where the expansion starts

[11:17] as well this is the depiction of the beginning of the expansion this is how it signals yeah exactly they're going to be chucked and that's another reason why I put that idea it's us that are right we are going to be chucked into this battle in the expansion and speaking of which

[11:30] of course we've also seen the gameplay trailer now as well and this is amazing because this is where we get our first shots of like the new in-game full moon uh which is fully revamped and ever strong words and also

[11:43] the other zones that will be featuring in this expansion oh my god you get some surprises right okay um so we are going to the haranir zone okay we're actually going to do a whole different

[11:55] reaction to that but i heard that they dropped that storyline what they must have done was what they must have done was they must have seen all those videos about people dropping that about and they were just rocking that storyline like a week ago

[12:07] and they must have gone, quick, put them in Midnight. We can't, the YouTubers are upstacked. Quickly, we've got to rewrite, put the Haranir in there. Like a playable Haranir that people have been running for for so long.

[12:19] And they look awesome, the Haranir. They look so good, the taste that we've had of them. Yeah, Zulaman. Amazing. Some troll action, we were saying before, and people are dying for some trolls. It could have been really easy to predict,

[12:31] but it looks like they're going in really hard. hard with the trolls as part of the leveling campaign and what have you. And of course Eversong Woods and a completely

[12:43] rebuilt Swordsmoon, which we've been told is going to be the most complex design city in the entire game. And it is like a top to bottom

[12:55] rework and then taking bits of it and growing them, turning it into a living hub. It looks... It is going to be cross-sectional, there's going to be bits that only the Horde can use though, because it is like a Horde city and this is stuff that we've heard about, so I don't know if it's been said, but it's the case.

[13:14] And the Void Zone as well, the Void Storm, which is like basically Zalatas' death, right? This is her stronghold, where the Dominar, who are her Void forces, that's where they're kind of...

[13:26] Oh my god, the criminal Void guys, the scenes where she's like... Haven't you seen the shot in the gameplay trailer? Yeah. This Voldemort-looking mofo? Yeah, yeah. With no nose, just kind of all like, yeah. She's got her own really nice... But this is the question, right?

[13:38] Yeah. If one of the zones is literally her gas, and I think the idea is this is like the max level zone, kind of like the more but not so thing, does that mean that we're going to cool down Zalatath

[13:52] and she's like the first bottle of her? I don't know. I know. I think there's a conversation to be had there. I think we will be confronting her at some point. I think so. Because, I mean, there's a lot of shots of, like, the Void moving in on the Isle of Kaldanas in here.

[14:06] The Wraith set up is incredibly interesting in the way they're approaching that. Yeah. So, I don't know. I think there's a whole conversation to be had about that. And there's a whole conversation to be had, also, about the Void being hunted. The Devourer set.

[14:19] We were such doubters. It was all true. Here's the thing about this. And this kind of ties into, like, my feeling about Midnight so far in general. in that, like, it's not subverting my expectations.

[14:31] It's not, like, throwing me for a loop. It's true. How are they, like, it's surprising when they came. It's not surprising that they did come. Exactly. Like, the voice deck is something we've talked about a lot. Exactly. So, like, the voice deck, it's been planted.

[14:44] It's been kind of discussed. It's been theorized. And it's, like, right there in the game that it could potentially happen. And then it happens. And I think, again, I was just, like, pleasantly surprised. We're not having our legs pulled or whatever. Here's a clue.

[14:56] It's very obvious. now this is happening. Also, it looks cool. Also, it's like mid-range, which means I'm probably going to play it, which is... Oh, really? What, like you play your... Yes, all the time. You just love mid-range sex, man. I do. Love that stuff.

[15:08] And I love the idea that, you know, they're sort of suffused with void. You know, they might kind of succumb to, like, Salatat's will, but that's okay. I like... Right? And, of course, avoid our demon hunters,

[15:20] which we did all the time. Yes. They look goofy. I love it. They look so goofy, your demon hunters, don't they? And I'm so here for it. It's like, you know, Demon Hunter traditionally has served Fel, but he's like the fat hoot.

[15:32] And I'm like totally here for it. Like, as always. So, you know, I think like the variety and the amount of zones that's here at launch is kind of a pleasant surprise.

[15:44] It's all based around Everthong Woods and Ghostlands. Ghostlands is basically just Everthong Woods now. Basically it's all sealed and there's like void pockets and stuff like that. But there's no forsaken, there's no storage in there.

[15:56] or anything like that. But, I've got to say, Rue de Man looks like it's had better days. Of course, there are dungeons and new delves and everything kind of based around these as well. What about the prey system? I still don't really know what this is all about,

[16:08] but it seems to be okay. Yeah, that's the thing. It's like islands. It's like delves. It's like Torgas. It's that thing where we're not going to know what it really is until we're trying it out.

[16:22] Yeah, exactly. And so, it will always remain, the thing that might be shit about the expansion, you know? But that Delphi is the thing that might be shit about War Within, and Dragon Lodging is the thing that might be shit about Dragon's Lake,

[16:35] and both those things turned out absolutely amazing. So you know I like a little shot of it in the trailer like there you are you kind of fighting a baddie and then you turn around and there this big DC Forest Troll guy behind you it like oh it been compared to the Nemesis system from the Lord of the Rings games right

[16:52] Where it's like, oh, it's that dude! Oh, no! You found me! Yeah, and the difficulty's going to scale quite high on that as well, if people want it to. Pretty cool. Again, I kind of focus on improving the in-play, day-to-day experience of solo players, really,

[17:08] and giving them more of a three-dimensional experience. and I like the idea but it's one of those things where it's pointless to get too excited about it just because of what it is exactly meanwhile what I am still really excited about

[17:20] is player housing which is easy to forget that it's coming in a way because we know that it's coming but I love how they've used it you know like again in all of this messaging the whole vibe

[17:32] literally we have homes now and hours are up and Zalatat is here to like potentially extinguish our lights I know you like I know you want Xaltas to extinguish your light. Oh, but that moment in the intro trailer, in the cinematic trailer as well, where, you know,

[17:47] Xaltas is bearing down on Lothan, and then the light comes to his rescue, and I was being like, no! No please, just give me a moment, just wait, hold that, just hold that. Give me a second, let me just try something. Yeah, I know, people literally like looking down their heads.

[18:02] And I'm like, oh my god, so how does this stuff fit quite seamlessly into the general vibe of the world? I love the intro of the gameplay trailer where it starts off in someone's home and it's got the Zalatath and all the lights just go out.

[18:16] And at the end of the gameplay trailer where the people are literally out in the street with their weapons and they haul in the sky and there's the drama over there. They're just popping the shotguns and they're ready to defend their homes, which I think is awesome.

[18:32] I love that. It's so cool. and so something that I think is interesting is this skybox that we see kind of all over the place in the game play training the fact that it is over the

[18:44] player housing bits the fact that it is over other cities and stuff as well as well as like Sylvie do we think this is going to be part of like a pre-patch or like the release rest like this skybox will kind of

[18:56] take over and everything can be very void-y for a while I think it could be I think it could be like I mean it looks like it right the way they It could just be for fun effects, but it looks like it's just being cast over, you know,

[19:08] even player housing, like car homes, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I love that. And just the whole, something about it really stirs something in me. Like, it feels old school, but it feels new, but it still is, like, hitting all the right

[19:20] notes for me. So far, it's got the thing that we all wanted, which is that Legion vibe of, like, we are defending ourselves against something. Like, something is coming, and we need to defend ourselves against it.

[19:33] Whereas, you know, you look at Shadowlands, it's like, we need to go to the Shadowlands. Like, with The Wall Within, it's like, we need to go to Dornigal, and then we'll deal with stuff there. The idea of stuff coming to us, and us being like, oh, we need to do something about,

[19:47] well, there's no getting away from this sort of thing. And you've got that sense from the cinematic and film movement, this idea, this shit's going to devour us, so it's like, you know, we don't have to leave our homes for this. And I love that, I think that's a really important vibe.

[20:00] It seems to have captured the stirring vibes of BFA that that did so well. So far, it's kind of hit everything I needed it to, to make me think that, yes, Blizz get how good this expansion could be.

[20:16] Because I think, still, I haven't seen anything that makes me think that this couldn't be one of the best WoW expansions ever. I feel like I needed to see this, I needed to see this, I needed to see this,

[20:28] and I've seen it all with this, you know? Apart from Tinker and Vi. I was going to say... Hey, do you know what we didn't see in any of this? What? We haven't seen in the cinematic or the gameplay trailer? Yeah. Alleria.

[20:40] How many times? And it's nowhere to be seen. No Arator, no Alleria, no Turalyon. Like, this... Oh, wow. So, I think that's really clever. Yeah. Apart from Xanathas, there's been... There's no, like, reference to the past expansion.

[20:54] You know? It's not like... That's funny. This is a story continuing. it's like who is the right this is the thing and I think that's really important I think it is important it feels like a new chapter it's part two right part two of the world

[21:06] love it how it says that it's its own part it's kind of you know those things are still essential and like integral to the story that they're telling they'll still be there in a way but like we have moved on to a new chapter it's a new feeling

[21:18] it's a new vibe it really does it so well oh my god I'm so excited we're going to continue We're keeping coverage of our stay here. We're not on stage. We'll be here, keeping updated.

[21:30] We want to talk about the Harrowing Earth. We want to talk about the Demon Hunters. We want to talk about... Do you want to talk about Demon Hunters? No, you know we do, mate. I want to put my cinematic analysis out as well. So stay tuned. There'll be lots of videos on this channel and we're streaming when we can from here as well. So you can catch us there. And on the official WoW streams as well when they're streaming stuff that we're doing there. Let us know what you think of these reveals in the comments below.

[21:42] Thanks to the patrons for including them out. And we'll see you next time. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. in the comments below. Thanks to the patrons for all the food in our mouths.

[21:56] And I hope you're excited about this. I was hoping that would be located. I hope you're excited about this as I am. I can't wait for even more news to come out this week and for us to get like some...

[22:08] Into the nitty gritty. And we've heard stuff around that hasn't kind of been... which will be in the next copy. We'll talk about it all then and stuff. So super exciting. until then from me

[22:20] Sal Ressen and Mia Patel cheerio