iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

can you guys imagine if wod classic does the impossible and finishes the expansion. we would finally cleanse the timeline of people saying a finished wod would be good.

also spoilers but datamining scripts confirm xal'atath makes history as the first warcraft villain to reach the worldsoul! this officially puts xavius in 2nd place (who knew the rift of aln was so close) sargeras antorus in 3rd, n'zoth in 4th, and the jailer in 5th for worldsoul getters

me and porter are kind of beating a dead horse when we say this but it's just so weird that the level up and the voidspire were so incredibly strong and everything after that is just....not. like why did nuance just evaporate after voidspire.

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ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

they are at least partially succeeding on the "oh my god why are we just constantly under direct attack" this expansion which should hit a boiling point in 12.2 when xal's army pops out of the ground. as ive said, they cant write other zones, but the core 'saga' thread is intact.

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don't know who tweeted this but someone sent it to me and i hate, hate, hate this line of thinking. this is so presumptuous. you do not get to automatically assume someone who comments on a piece of media doesn't do anything irl. many of us do-and work in actual changemaking!

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ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

day 6 of realizing 12.1 really was just to kill zul'jan because literally nothing else meaningful changes in the status quo, much like how shadowlands was written specifically to stabilize sylvanas. what a sham.

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ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I thought midnight was gonna be the best of the trilogy story-wise and it’s certainly doomed to be the worst purely because of 12.1 what a shame

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ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I think they might make it even worse and make zul’jan a loa if they decide they suddenly do wanna act on feedback about him

ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

even 11.1 had a point and had things worthwhile happen. like the undermine revolution is sick even with no xal ties. what actually is the point of 12.1 other than to execute zul’jan in the most disrespectful way possible. there were 10 other ways to break kith’ix out than ula’tek

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serial orc enthusiast @eternalseething.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Please also notice that the same expansion that suddenly reveals all the Amani actually hate Zul'jin is the same one that has the elves unify in the name of Anasterian, a leader previously portrayed as a moron whose isolationism and nationalism lead to the massacre of his people.

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ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

same for me. it’s mostly because the other ones were doomed from the start-this one wasn’t. midnight 12.0 in ZA was spectacular. the major issue I had in 12.0 was elven unity. this was an unforced error for no reason. these other endings were already pretty cooked imo. jan wasn’t.

Serpentwined -Midnight Spoilers- @serpentwined.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Reposted by ilyana

Yeah...This is how it feels. Black and brown people will see the pattern repeat over and over again in our world, in our fiction, and our stories. People that do not see the problem will continue to pull the wool over their eyes and try to deny that there even is one.

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Khono Chronos @khonochronos.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

as always! im never ever saying lose job or have bad things happen to people! not at all! that's reserved for severe breaches of conduct or being a shitty person. making a poor story decision does not mean someone deserves to lose a job. we are all in agreement.

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Reposted by ilyana

I shouldn't really have to say it. But just incase... No, I do not condone the demand of firing writers over the story decisions I heavily disagree on. I want reflection. I want fixes. But I don't think people deserve to lose their jobs. That is not my angle. I'm upset and angry. That's all.

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Sean Gardner @seangardnerxiv.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I think a lot of people would like to deny this so they don’t have to think about it, but if a setting draws heavy inspirations from a real life culture for a fictional race, then said race’s portrayal deserves to be scrutinized as if it were portraying the race itself, at least to a degree.

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also how i am feeling. idk if tww was just uniquely good or what, but tww definitely pranked me into thinking they locked back in and knew what i wanted. midnight has obliterated that again at an SL level (and i was a huge "it isnt SL bad" defender at launch). we are there.

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beginning to really think the war within was just luck because the war within was so fucking cool and so was midnight level up but wtf are we doing since then lol

couldnt agree more, and i have been a sylv fan since 2004. this is an insane double standard lol

Grox: Australian orc/troll guy @groxi.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Reposted by ilyana

Same expansion, very different treatment of regretful villain.

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staying far away from the incoming swath of nice well meaning white folks on loretwt talking over fans of color who are upset

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tempest keep truther @mothy.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

wanna signal boost how tone deaf all of zul’jan 12.0.7-12.1 was and idk which writer doesn’t know how offensive they were but yes, they were. it is not bad behavior to inform devs that they were wrong (like in shadowlands). it is bad behavior to say death threats (like in shadowlands).

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Reposted by ilyana

putting on my woke shirt and I’m going to go so far as to suggest that shaving the “angry” black+indigenous guy is racist

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ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I hadn’t thought about this being Dazar’alor two yet. Zul’aman the zone was far better than Zandalar was for starters. I also think rastakhan and zul’jan play entirely different roles in their respective zones. the talanji and zul’jarra parallels are taken seen and agreed with though.

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Juan Manuel CC (Baal) @andeanhermedic.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

That entire cinematic was deeply ugly. 1) saying that the Zul'jarra alone is the strength of the Amani 2) implications that they lived in the destroyed villages of TBC and were forced into relocation by Belves 3) shaving his head given the role of hair in Black/Native culture

static.klipy.com

Side-eye Chloe Meme

ALT: Side-eye Chloe Meme

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Stromgarde Enjoyer @nilocor.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

In all seriousness: I am personally a little let down, but more than that I’m sad for my troll-fan friends who I know are disappointed by the very predictable way this story played out. The fact that people saw this art and IMMEDIATELY clocked what was going to happen is an indictment on the story.

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ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

thanking god i shut down my blog and detached myself from the narrative a bit more because even while there is hope for 12.1.5 and 12.2, this is a complete and total L fly high beautiful man

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ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

as a reminder mcdonalds sponsors apartheid and genocide by feeding IDF soldiers. if you buy this promotion you are engaging in funding that! www.wowhead.com/news/world-o...

wowhead.com

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ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

i got a bit carried away discussing why my 12.1 issue isnt even ab writing quality, it's genuinely problematic trope work. as a reminder, i care so so deeply about world of warcraft story and setting-it is 40% of my brain-and every time i comment it is from a place of deep love for all involved.

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ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

ive been going insane this week trying to explain to people what the problematic element of zul'jan's 12.1 depiction is and it's just a bunch of yt folks explaining to me why he isn't an angry native trope (intentional or not) and it's driving me insaaaaaane

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ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

thinking about a year ago when ghosts of K’aresh and manaforge came out which was the most united i’ve ever seen lore people we used to have it all

ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

finally doing 12.1. cannot believe how well-written lady liadrin has been for this entire expansion. i think her scenes with zul'jarra are the best part of the patch by far.

ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

ran some errands. gay. plays mage. cares about writing integrity. xoxo.

ilyana @buff-fire-mage.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

one of my pleasant surprises in midnight is for sure these 12.0.7 void invasion zones. they both help you feel like azeroth is actually still under attack and have interesting tidbits for ethereals and draenei. not to mention, the holdover from legion 7.3 was fabulous. more more more!