Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Futhark]

Ways to contribute:

• Keep an eye on social media accounts, both from Blizzard official sources and content creators. There might be clues.
• Browse hashtags etc online to see if some partner of Blizzard (doing BlizzCon prep or whatever) slips something.
• Scan through trademark databases in search for new names from Blizzard.
• Look through the merch shop to see if new products are released that spoil anything.
• Check out the Blizzard websites to see if any new subdomains appear, or if anything slips in the code.
• Keep checking sources like MMO-Champ, Reddit and 4chan to see if anything leaks there.

Anything I'm forgetting?

At this point, I think I might just check out. I'll just be surprised by the reveal for a change.

[blaatschaap]

So the general thought is that we definitely aren't getting 10.3 right? If so, we get a late summer 2024 release date in the best case (based on previous launch dates), so we get a period from early november to late august with barely any new meaty content. That seems extremely unenticing in terms of keeping people subscribed. And that's best case, if it releases in winter 2024 the drought will be even worse. Hopium makes me think they'll sneakily announce 10.3 anyway, but I'm ready to get disappointed.

[Paula Deen]

• Create well thought out/creative fake announcement notes, logo or other artwork "leaks"

[**]If unable to do the above just use AI to create a logo and then heavily shake a phone Camera and post whatever blurred mess you got with your desired wishlist because the staff won't ban anyone who is posting low effort leaks because it drives site traffic...

I mean hello. Good ideas yes.

So the general thought is that we definitely aren't getting 10.3 right? If so, we get a late summer 2024 release date in the best case (based on previous launch dates), so we get a period from early november to late august with barely any new meaty content. That seems extremely unenticing in terms of keeping people subscribed. And that's best case, if it releases in winter 2024 the drought will be even worse. Hopium makes me think they'll sneakily announce 10.3 anyway, but I'm ready to get disappointed.

I would honestly expect a 10.3 announcement to be like the Allied Races in Legion. Both MoP & Legion did later (and extra) patches and subscribers surged. Im surprised they don't attempt to replicate it.

[Hitei]

So the general thought is that we definitely aren't getting 10.3 right? If so, we get a late summer 2024 release date in the best case (based on previous launch dates), so we get a period from early november to late august with barely any new meaty content. That seems extremely unenticing in terms of keeping people subscribed. And that's best case, if it releases in winter 2024 the drought will be even worse. Hopium makes me think they'll sneakily announce 10.3 anyway, but I'm ready to get disappointed.

Pretty much every single piece of evidence says there's no 7.3

[flan1337]

So the general thought is that we definitely aren't getting 10.3 right? If so, we get a late summer 2024 release date in the best case (based on previous launch dates), so we get a period from early november to late august with barely any new meaty content. That seems extremely unenticing in terms of keeping people subscribed. And that's best case, if it releases in winter 2024 the drought will be even worse. Hopium makes me think they'll sneakily announce 10.3 anyway, but I'm ready to get disappointed.

We still have 10.2.5 and 10.2.7 which will most likely continue the story and give us a dungeon. As for raids I wouldn’t expect one unless we get a mini one.

[keelr]

A new one, this sounds fake, lets see if the induvidual will actually "leak" more

[Paula Deen]

A new one, this sounds fake, lets see if the induvidual will actually "leak" more

Whispering looks weird in a title. For that alone I call BS. It just...it does not scream World of Warcraft Expansion Logo Material....a patch though?

[huth]

Will you say that after every second quest has a five-minute scene of ethereals talking about their feelings with no facial expressions and a monotone voice?

Well, we already know they don't have monotone voices, so that's half your point dead in the water.

[Raetary]

A new one, this sounds fake, lets see if the induvidual will actually "leak" more

I'll never understand why people put redundant articles in titles that already contain more than 4 syllables.

[Harbour]

The Whispering Abyss sounds like shit for new expansion title. patch title maybe, but not an expansion.

[Hitei]

The Whispering Abyss sounds like shit for new expansion title. patch title maybe, but not an expansion.

It's more like a zone name than an expansion title.

[huth]

Pretty much every single piece of evidence says there's no 7.3

Right, Argus was just a fever dream. *cough*10.3*cough*

[lanerios]

The problem is that there's no way you can build a new character at this point to be a hook for an upcoming expansion. Even Xal isn't big enough to do it.

And where oh where did I say it had to be a new character? We have:

Vyranoth -> Currently in a "friendly" relationship with Alex? (We don't know for sure how this situation is outside a few quests)
Iridikron -> Nozdormu literally states he is "beyond sight" as in can't be found. Sounds like a good lore hook to me. Looking for other places of great power?
Fyrakk -> Going after Amirdrassil. Current quest stuff implies he survives this fight (source; wowpedia). Another hook option
Nozdormu -> Realising that he can't see all (Iridikron, dawn of the infinites) and his own situation could be a hook
etc
etc

There are enough existing hooks.

[Hitei]

Also

An enigmatic chasm appears, leading to an underground world filled with ancient mysteries and long-forgotten civilizations. Players delve into the depths of this abyss, uncovering secrets that could reshape Azeroth.

This is just awkwardly written and tensed.

Right, Argus was just a fever dream. *cough*10.3*cough*

What?

edit: Oh. Yeah, lol. Sorry.

[lanerios]

Pretty much every single piece of evidence says there's no 7.3

Please provide your "evidence". And no "There is an eternal rune, therefor it's 100% true there is no 10.3!"

I am not saying you are wrong, but if I missed it I would love to see it.


Also: 7.3 was the Argus patch :P

[ro9ue]

• Create well thought out/creative fake announcement notes, logo or other artwork "leaks"

We need some entertainment in case Blizzard is keeping things tight for the rest of leak season.

I was going to but I just don't have the time anymore. Sorry all.

[Hitei]

Please provide your "evidence". And no "There is an eternal rune, therefor it's 100% true there is no 10.3!"

I am not saying you are wrong, but if I missed it I would love to see it.


Also: 7.3 was the Argus patch :P

I agree, that "there's an eternal rune therefor it's 100% impossible for 10.3 to exist" is a poor argument. The issue is that there's a LOT of little things saying the same thing:

-An eternal rune
-the Ahead of the Curve mount that always corresponds to the last boss of an expansion is on Fyrakk.
-There are internal dragonriding(?) strings for 10.1.7, 10.2, 10.2.5, 10.2.7(?) and 11.0, but no 10.3
-Holiday graphic updates all the way through firefestival (next summer) were put in 10.2
-We are, in all likelihood, about ten days away from an expansion announcement and we haven't even heard about 10.2.5 yet, let alone 2.7
-The current PTR data contains not just the Glad mount for 10.2, but also the Glad mount for the season after(?), something that should be in a 10.3 if 10.3 was coming, but makes sense in 10.2 if we're getting a fated 10.2.5/7 season.
-The 11.0 preorder stuff was all encrypted into the 10.1.7 build. Which means that doing the initial work for 10.2 prior to that reveal, they were already preparing for an 11.0 around the corner.
-The Pathfinder achievement in 10.2 has a rep/renown component, that achievement says to reach 15 renown with "all major factions on the Dragon Isles", including the 10.2 added one. Suggesting there's no additional major factions coming after that.

We also haven't seen any indication, anywhere for more coming. Which there usually are. No miscellaneous data strings pointing at it, or references to other raid tiers, all our main storylines (Tyr, the Aspect empowerment, the fight against the Icarnates, the infinites, the Black Aspect throne) are concldued or being concluded in 10.2. The one outlier is Iridikron, who has completely absconded to instead target the Titans and work with void forces, much like Gul'dan nope'd out of Hellfire and Sylvanas nope'd out of BfA.

All this together is pretty strong evidence we're not getting another "major" patch or raid tier.

[Murlocos]

Please provide your "evidence". And no "There is an eternal rune, therefor it's 100% true there is no 10.3!"

I am not saying you are wrong, but if I missed it I would love to see it.


Also: 7.3 was the Argus patch :P

This is just off the top of my head:

Fyrakk dropping an AOTC mount, something that has been reserved for end of expansion raid bosses.
Dragonriding races having patch categories covering up to 10.2.5 and 11.0 since release, but not being updated since.
The infinite augment rune, again typically reserved for the final raid patch.

I think there's at least one other thing I'm missing, but regardless, it's less one smoking gun and more so an increasing amount of small bits of evidence supporting no 10.3, while there's nothing contrary suggesting there will be that's popping up. It's entirely possible that we get a 10.3 and 11.0 reveal at Blizzcon, it happened once before with 3.3 and 4.0, but the way things are playing out I believe it's more likely that 10.3 was never in the cards.

[ro9ue]

I am decent at world building and I don't know how I'd make an entire expansion just out of Khaz Algar. It's a fissure somewhere and there are some dwarves in it. What else? Fold it into Elun'ahir? Maybe place it in an existing area and then use it as the start of an Underground expac? If it is a new zone dominated by a fissure, I'd would need at least 2-3 zones to surround it so that the concept pops properly and that makes you a new expansion "continent".
Maybe Avaloren would be a continent with multiple landmasses and the area where Khaz Algar is lies on the edge of the storms protecting it?

Could do something like this:



Start out at new land that goes all the way down, then use Zaralek tech to link up every surface zone underneath. (Don't laugh at my placement, just to show the idea lol)

[ercarp]

A new one, this sounds fake, lets see if the induvidual will actually "leak" more

Interesting.

On October 19th, there was another leak that claimed the acronym for the expansion was TWA, which is what The Whispering Abyss would stand for. Both leaks were equally vague.

Pretty clever if the leaker saw the earlier TWA leak (which went mostly under the radar) and decided to expand on it. Makes it seem more "legit" than it is.