Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Jaggler]

Oh no we dont need to know everything about it in detail, some mystery around it is good, fully agreed.
That wasnt the point tho. The guy i was arguing with said the addition of the First Ones cleared things up and made for a better defined story. I was just making the point that that very much isnt the case.

Oh okay, then i misunderstood, i apologize

[kavikor]

Agreed. People acting like every screenshot in an expansions presskit looks amazing.

However I think the reason most people are bummed is cause it indicates another 4 zone island expansion.

Even so, a 4 zone island could be about titans, old gods, void, etc. The only thing 4 zone island doesn't mean is zone revamp unless Blizzard decides to surprise us with a 4 zone island AND some world revamp stuff.

edit: 4 not 5

[Nymrohd]

Even if it is, people shouldn't judge an entire expansion based on 4 stills of probably 1% of each zone.

There could be a lot to it.

At the very least, it still means it is a themepark continent. Instead of trying for thematic consistency, it has 4 zones with wildly diferent visual themes. And that is jarring and breaks immersion.

[Valysar]

Where are the real leaks ...

We can't have true leaks now with AI
(one true leak between thousands)

[justwatching]

Even so, a 4 zone island could be about titans, old gods, void, etc. The only thing 4 zone island doesn't mean is zone revamp unless Blizzard decides to surprise us with a 4 zone island AND some world revamp stuff.

edit: 4 not 5

I think for a good chunk of people(me included tbh) its revamp or bust. An Island expansion would need a major feature to even have a chance at grabbing my attention.

[SloidVoid]

I really hope we don't do Dwarf/Khaz Algar expansion next
BfA was a step in my ideal direction, Shadowlands was a step WAY too far (skipping over what I wanted), and then Dragonflight was several steps backwards.
Leave Khaz Algar and Avaloren for 12.X stuff just like how the Dragon Isles was brought up in BfA but wasn't relevant until 2 expansions later.
Bring on the Light, Void, and Arcane invasion for 11.X

[Nyel]

Its the 4 Screenshots.

It‘s maybe the most convincing fake leak yet.

[vintage79]

I still think this was best shot we got so far
same as red-eyed bolvar and dragon before df

[Marlamin]

I still think this was best shot we got so far
same as red-eyed bolvar and dragon before df

This was already confirmed fake by the author.

[ercarp]

Has someone written up a recap of everything the binary riddler has claimed? I would like to add their info to the spreadsheet but it's so spread out (and in binary...) that it's a bit difficult to do that.

[Murlocos]

The lack of the faction Dracthyr feels intentional. If this is a two-part expansion then I'm sure we will get stories where they actually come into the factions.

I'm not so sure. The two faction leader dracthyr never really got any spotlight; Sarkereth suffers the same problem in that he's a borderline nobody unless you played the dracthyr starting zone, but he had the much larger story burden to carry in the end. It feels less intentional and more like they got slotted into DF's storytelling methodology of developing a ton of sidestories and questlines at the expense of a strong and compelling main story.

If their plot threads are meant to continue on into 11.0, then I guess I'll just be baffled. People grew weary of even much more positively received expansions by their end. I don't think anyone can argue that the appetite for more dragon and dracthyr focus is even stronger than it was in 2022. I honestly don't know if an Avaloren expansion that's practically just DF 2 would make me more or less dumbfounded than WoD's reveal.

If they do show back up, then pile another one onto the list of DF spending more of its time spinning up new plot teases and hooks rather than trying to get you invested into the story happening in the moment. Not really a good omen that we're also three expansions in a row where they don't seem to figure out what the whole story will be until after it's over.

[Sondrelk]

At the very least, it still means it is a themepark continent. Instead of trying for thematic consistency, it has 4 zones with wildly diferent visual themes. And that is jarring and breaks immersion.

It's several things I would say. It's theme park zones, which is always slightly annoying. The parts we see are boring, which doesnt bode well for the zone overall given the zone is supposed to only be shown from the choicest of angles in the trailer. And the zones look like ones we already have, which is a stak departure from how basically all zones outside revamps or callback zones offer at least a subtly different take on the same idea. Uldum being difficult to mistake for Vol'dun for instance, despite both being desert zones with Titan pyramids in them.

A lot of this could be explained by these being the few seconds on the trailer that only show boring stuff, though that seems unlikely given four images are a large sample size given they dont seem to be taken in succession.

[justwatching]

It‘s maybe the most convincing fake leak yet.

I mean I think its pure to cope to call it fake at this point. Its so extremely well made and also clearly done in engine that if its fake the person who made it could use it to get a job at blizzard.

The fact it has matching vertical fog pretty much sold it for me so I'm expecting it to be real.

[Xennethia]

At 2400 pages in and the only semi-real looking leak is the four screenshots (and I don't buy them) either Blizzard has something really big to reveal and are playing it incredibly close to the vest or there's no expansion announcement, lol.

[Raetary]

Has someone written up a recap of everything the binary riddler has claimed? I would like to add their info to the spreadsheet but it's so spread out (and in binary...) that it's a bit difficult to do that.

Revamp + Khaz Algar
Earthen playable race
Artificer class
N'zoth and Xal relevancy
Removal of transmog restrictions
Path of the Titans.

[Fahrad Wagner]

Perhaps, but they're still the 'realest' of everything so far

because there is a screenshot doesn't mean it's the real deal, for all we know a lost leak page 1312 could end up being the one leak, and then would be the realest thing. If we had a leak similar to what happened with SL and DF, sure, I'd be ok with calling it the realest thing out there. But those 4 screenshots... are not that.
If they end up being the real deal, I'll apologise for how persistent and annoying I've been about this, but I will say it again: these screenshots are f-a-k-e.

[kavikor]

At the very least, it still means it is a themepark continent. Instead of trying for thematic consistency, it has 4 zones with wildly diferent visual themes. And that is jarring and breaks immersion.

I do think worst case scenario would be getting another 4 zone island that has similar visuals to the Dragon Isles, that we dragonride all around, with no additional new major gameplay feature. It would actually feel like DF 2.0, but this is their 10th expansion and I'm hopeful.

[FlemmMinis]

Watch one of the AI looking leaks being real because they used AI for Environment building

[Woggmer]

So far the realest leak is still the 4 images, I'd love to get something else.

I used to think so too, but then more glaring things came up like "Why reuse assets for an island that we've never seen before?" and "Why make the new biomes the same as what we've seen in the Post MoP setting?" Like how the first image looks like Stormheim, the second image with the blue dwarf/drogbar looks like a Frostfire Ridge, the third image with the harpies look like Vol'dun and Gorgrond, and finally the last one is basically Val'sharah with Ohn'ahran Plains with Troll Bridges and Titan Sentinels.

Like, none of this stuff is going to get people excited...

[Edoll]

Assuming additional classes get unlocked for dractgyr, what would you play? I don’t think I’d make another dracthyr, but paladin or druid might be cool.