Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Chickat]

1 thing i want to see next expansion: an update to characters models. even the "new" ones are showing their age now

Doubt they will ever do that tbh. They dont need it either imo. They are already very expressive.

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10.2.5 - From the Ashes (placeholder)

• Help Keeper Tyr uncover the truth about the ancient horrors buried underneath Tirisfal.
• Horde and Alliance unite against a foe returning to claim Lordaeron: the Scarlet Onslaught.
• Settle once and for all who's the legitimate heir to the throne of Lordaeron, and what becomes of its land.
• Unlock the Paladin class for all races.
• Get ready for the upcoming expansion. What is the Harbinger after?

That sounds juicy. Hopefully its something like that.

[NoTimeToDie5426]

Devs are too afraid to get Doomhammered by Metzen. Nothing yet.

lol picturing that made me belly laugh

[Chickat]

- Revamp of the faction hub zones and cities at least.
- Paladins for all
- Dragonriding for older mounts including gryphons and Wyverns
- No new continent, but a gradual updating and rediscovery of the old world.

By the last one I mean Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, Northrend. Later on perhaps Pandaria and even Outland.

I wouldn't want them to revamp Pandaria. Its perfect the way it is and still gorgeous.

[Zers Editor]

https://blizzardwatch.com/2023/10/17/scaleborn-wow/

Warning: this one has some minor spoilers for "War of the Scaleborn".

[Pheraz]

I mean, most stories have the same basic structure and themes regardless of tone or genre. So that's a pretty silly statement.

For all Warcraft 3 was about overcoming differences, it was also about giant demons and sacrifice and blood and death. Armies marching and willpower made manifest against impossible odds. Holding the line, and marching against the oncoming storm. Grom Hellscream was a character who was literally being eaten alive by demonic forces because of an iron will.

Whereas Dragonflight is a bit more... Tear in my beard, let's talk things through.

Mind, heavy metal isn't devoid of the expression of emotion. It's an important aspect of the genre.

This isn't inherently bad. There is a place for it. Dragonflight was expressly stated to be a break, some time to cool down. And frankly, Blizzard is trying to set up the world as everyone getting along and having learned from the past mistakes of the Horde. To show they aren't monsters who literally nailed civilians to the walls of buildings in Alliance questing.

Confronting trauma through understanding and love instead of violence and aggression.

It's all very enlightened and mature and grown up.

...

Grown up... So ... At the end of the day we play fictional characters of fictional races (except humans) that spend most of their time smashing things in faces of fictional monsters or other fancy chars.
We need a reason to smash things into heads and loot their god damn corpses. I mean... What would be a reason to do this IRL? Right, if bad things happen. I'm not arguing that IRL and a video game should be compared on this level but sometimes it's nice to be really abstract on things.
I really don't think we need "grown up stories" whatever this might be. I think Warcraft needs entertainment. Ofc faction drama can get on our nerves at times, especially if it's all reasoned by some ultra bad story like sylvanas super mega plan and blizzards annoying "you will see".

[Ferlion]

Grown up... So ... At the end of the day we play fictional characters of fictional races (except humans) that spend most of their time smashing things in faces of fictional monsters or other fancy chars.
We need a reason to smash things into heads and loot their god damn corpses. I mean... What would be a reason to do this IRL? Right, if bad things happen. I'm not arguing that IRL and a video game should be compared on this level but sometimes it's nice to be really abstract on things.
I really don't think we need "grown up stories" whatever this might be. I think Warcraft needs entertainment. Ofc faction drama can get on our nerves at times, especially if it's all reasoned by some ultra bad story like sylvanas super mega plan and blizzards annoying "you will see".

Silly excuse. Stories are supposed to make us feel things. That it's fictional doesn't matter. Some of the most long lasting and enduring stories in the history of humankind are about fictional characters of fictional races.

"But it's fiction" is such a copout answer for people who don't have a rebuttal.

"Fantasy can't be grown up" is a mindset I'll never understand.

[Shadowferal]

Isn't a battle mage basically an enh shaman? What exactly would you want out of a battle mage class?

Yea...I thought about battle mage, and only see enh shaman. Heck, any spec of dk or pally would also fit. I didn't care much about the Nightborne interpretation of "spellblade."

[Woke it Up]

Heavy Metal instead of Rock Opera.

Or pop rock, as Dragonflight feels sometimes.

Yea WoD the heavy metal expansion everyone loved

[Ferlion]

Yea WoD the heavy metal expansion everyone loved

I mean, thematically yes?

WoD wasn't hated because of thematics, it was hated because we didn't get a whole lot of content.

[Scyth]

I mean, thematically yes?

WoD wasn't hated because of thematics, it was hated because we didn't get a whole lot of content.

Speak for yourself. I hated the theme of WoD.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

I think people need to stop comparing DF to disney, because disney characters are more memorable than DF ones.


DF writers probably think that resident evil series on netflix was the best thing ever.

[Ferlion]

Speak for yourself. I hated the theme of WoD.

I mean, sure that's fair. Not everyone likes every expansion. I think Wrath of the Lich King is fairly overhyped thematically. I know people who like the basics and thematics of Shadowlands. People who hated TBC because it's too high tech.

It is what it is.

[NoTimeToDie5426]

I mean, thematically yes?

WoD wasn't hated because of thematics, it was hated because we didn't get a whole lot of content.

for real, WoD would have been a top tier if it was fully cooked

[Pheraz]

Silly excuse. Stories are supposed to make us feel things. That it's fictional doesn't matter. Some of the most long lasting and enduring stories in the history of humankind are about fictional characters of fictional races.

"But it's fiction" is such a copout answer for people who don't have a rebuttal.

"Fantasy can't be grown up" is a mindset I'll never understand.

I personally don't think that wow has the setting to tell "good stories". Maybe in the the small quests this can happen. Not in the main quests. Whenever they try this we end up in some weird cutscenes like the ones with Akextrasza and Vyranoth. Also teaching us humanism is the only possible answer in almost any quest or friendship is magic because killing is bad is ofc correct IRL but I just don't want to have those kind of conversations in a video game, especially not in the main storylines. To each their own I guess, but IMO Warcraft is best when it's polemic, cliché American entertainment.

[Jaggler]

In terms of theme: Why not both? It's not like you have to just stick to one. Constant facesmashing hardcore action will get boring just like a story which is only filled with solemn beats.

The dwarf-dragon-quest or the old dragonmaw-orc quest were celebrated by many, and rightfully so. They were great one-offs which brought something unique in the game. The main issue is, that DF is missing something on the other end of the spectrum: Cool, animated large scale dragon fights and a sense of urgency.

[Pheraz]

for real, WoD would have been a top tier if it was fully cooked

I personally didn't like the WoD setting, but the intro quests were very entertaining and well thought through. Garrisons were also very half cooked, players wanted housing, not solo instances that all look the same

[Chickat]

Not sure how I missed this one...https://me.ign.com/en/comics/214182/...e-book-excerpt

Seems like its going to be a good read.

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Yea...I thought about battle mage, and only see enh shaman. Heck, any spec of dk or pally would also fit. I didn't care much about the Nightborne interpretation of "spellblade."

It could probably work as a new mage spec perhaps, but i wouldn't want it to be a new class.

[Nymrohd]

Seems like its going to be a good read.

Once again half the story is in a novel. Finally we learn what the Drakonids are. Apparently in an expansion when they are half the NPCs it was not important enough to have that part in the game . . .

Also this two tier dragon society seems like a copy from Eberrons' Argonessen.

[Santandame]

go back and quest through/interact with everything.... literally everything pre-Mist of Pandaria.


Even CATA is what WARCRAFT is about. Brought most beautiful landmass. Has some really, REALLY dark fantasy in it (Vashjir, Deepholm, Twilight Highlands....)

Compare Grim Batol to Stormstout (w/e spelling) Brewery dungeons. And you will see why MoP (and potentially 6.0) sux and has nothing to do with WARCRAFT FRANCHISE (not saying that we solely need WARCRAFT.... but WARCRAFT-TASTE)

The guy you’re quoting has some questionable opinions(which he is entitled to) but your responses to him are just immature and just aren’t funny. I’m not sure what you’re hoping to achieve but I’m sure no one aside from you and him wants to read this immature, unfunny exchange. It’s not serving the purpose of the thread to discuss upcoming content and it’s just painful to read at this point.

I’m still firmly on board of believing it’s Avaloren next. I’m not sure why people are using the “hinted in one expansion, just to be used in the one following the next expansion” argument. That’s only ever happened once with BfA referencing the Dragon Isles and hasn’t happened in any expansion prior; so it’s again just people seeing patterns that aren’t there.

Every expansion from Cata onwards has very overtly led into the next expansion.

Cats > MoP > WoD > Legion > BfA > SL

The only outlier is SL leading into DF but BfA began seeding DF so the Dragon Isles didn’t just come out of nowhere as there would be very little to setup or the Dragon Isles whilst we were in SL. And even then, we had the subtle hint in Zereth Mortis where that construct spoke every cosmic force language as well as Draconic.

Which is how every other expansion was hinted prior to Cata. In TBC we had several Arthas hints and in Wrath we had several Deathwing hints. They weren’t explicitly stated but in hindsight you can see they were there.

[Chickat]

I mean, sure, but soulbinds would NOT explain how we were able to handle Zovaal's immense power.

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Because reminder, Domination wasn't the Jailer's only factor. During the fight, he was clearly displayed to be a fucking monster physically.

We really shouldn't have defeated him. He was too powerful. He never should have been a boss we faced practically alone. With other cosmic leaders? Sure. Not alone. They really screwed up with SL. It had and till has amazing potential but it was rushed and undercooked.