Inaccessible zone in World of Warcraft: Midnight hints at next update

Blizzard has long been engaged in a quiet battle with World of Warcraft dataminers who find content in game files. These days the discoveries are relatively minor but can still hint at future, unannounced updates. During Midnight's alpha and beta testing, players found an island called Atal'Utek that couldn't be reached by normal means; stepping onto it would kick you out.

That area remains in the final release, and more players are starting to notice something odd about it. Entering Atal'Utek applies a debuff named 'Coiling Suffocation' that eventually teleports you back. The debuff and icon names include 'coiling' and 'UIatek', which point toward a serpent goddess called Ula-Tek worshipped by trolls from Zul'Aman—a new location in Midnight—making her a convenient candidate to feature in a future raid.

Blizzard has said the next major patch, 12.1, will arrive in the summer; if these clues prove true, the island could open then with a new storyline and a raid.

wow, midnight, atal'utek, datamining, coiling suffocation, ula-tek, zul'aman, raid, patch 12.1, debuff