There is an island off the coast of Zul’Aman in World of Warcraft: Midnight called Atal’Utek that is very likely going to be visited during the expansion, possibly in Patch 12.1. Midnight isn’t even out yet, but speculation abounds as to where World of Warcraft will be taking players next.
World of Warcraft: Midnight is releasing early next year, with current estimates placing it with a launch date in March. This major expansion introduces tons of exciting content to the game, such as the zone of Zul’Aman, which expands the Cataclysm raid into a fully-fledged region.
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Potential World of Warcraft: Midnight Patch Zone – Atal’Utek
However, there is something hiding in plain sight in Zul’Aman that might be a big hint as to where World of Warcraft is going next. There is a large island off the eastern coast of Zul’Aman that was previously called the Isle of Fangs, now renamed Atal’Utek in a more recent build of the WoW: Midnight alpha. Though not visible on the world map in the game, World of Warcraft content creator MrGM discovered a map of the region in the game files and shared it on Twitter.
Right now, when fans try to fly across the broken bridge that once led to Atal’Utek, they are met with an ominous message before being teleported back to the coast of Zul’Aman after their screen is filled with mist. That said, this has not stopped players from snapping screenshots of the zone from afar, revealing a landscape featuring rivers of poison slime, decayed ruins, a snake temple, and seemingly even at least one dungeon entrance as well.
What makes this mystery particularly interesting is that this new name appears to reference an ancient lore deep cut. In one of the now-non-canon Warcraft RPG books, a serpent goddess named Ula-Tek was said to live at the heart of the Amani empire, whom they would make sacrifices for in the hopes of waking her. She was even called an “Old God,” and seemed to have connections to dark magic similar to the Void. Many of these story beats were seemingly used in World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 for Kith’ix, a general of the actual Old Gods, but the Shrine of Ula-Tek still appears on an old map in the World of Warcraft: Game Manual from over 20 years ago.
It is important to note that there is no confirmation that Atal’Utek will be visited in the future. Indeed, a similar teleportation barrier near the roots in Azj-Kahet from WoW: The War Within never amounted to anything. Even so, with an island this tantalizingly placed, it would be a shock if World of Warcraft didn’t use it – and while it could technically appear as a minor patch zone like the Siren Isle, its size and contents suggest it would have to be a major patch area, if anything.
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