Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Well Done Steak]

I feel that's a hint that Kul Tirans (through connections to more religious human kingdoms) may get paladins but not so much everyone does. He was the only new Paladin/race combo and technically it's not a new new race for paladins in lore.

F that, if we can have maghar and LFD locks, we can have paladin anything

[Cheezits]

I never understood the whole "gather people in one capital" thing. It isn't so hard to add a bank/AH and a bunch of portals in a few places. It's not like the people actually interact with each other in capitals or anything.

If Amirdrassil (ideally the Nelf capital would be in Kalimdor but w/e) had all of that I'd definitely just put my HS there.

It's to attract a lot of people to one place to make the game look busier and more alive.

I think over time they will stop caring so much and just add transmog/portals to old cities.

[Xilurm]

Because it's their new home?

I'm talking capital with all the stuff that makes it a capital. Bank/AH/Portals. Lorewise yeah it's their home. But it would also be a waste of resources. I'm not holding my breath.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

If this is gonna be an issue, probably should've had the tree bloom at Kalimdor then...

Just saying

I mean, it was never going to be moved according to the Alpha files. They intended for the new home of the Night Elves to be on the Dragon Isles.

People have just assumed that every Night Elf Outpost on Kalimdor got a telepathic message to take a boat to Dragon Isles which is just not clarified or confirmed.

[Jaggler]

I'm talking capital with all the stuff that makes it a capital. Bank/AH/Portals. Lorewise yeah it's their home. But it would also be a waste of resources. I'm not holding my breath.

It doesn't matter, whether the capital is closer to Valdrakken or not, it will always be the same "waste of resources"

[flan1337]

Gilneas revamp for midnight is basically confirmed I feel. Could Midnight bring a revamp to Northern EK? Would love to see a whole xpack focus on that region. Its perfectly separated by that bridge also

[Super Dickmann]

I dunno. I could see Gilneas still have diehard Sylvanas loyalists to fight. Not to promote faction conflict, but to underscore once again how the loyalists are nothing like the good Forsaken the player hangs out with, and that the ones we kill are the last remaining ones, who will surely never show up ever again.

Honestly I can't really see what else it would be.
Ghosts maybe? Gnolls?

Ghosts, mutants, cultists, there's plenty of agnostic enemies. I wouldn't put it past Blizzard to have it be a joint Calia and Genn fight vs. some loyalists, I'd consider it the second likeliest option in fact, and Blizzard haven't had any Horde team-killing vs. non-Unifaction appreciators in a whole expansion so it must be starting to itch.

[Cheezits]

What stands out in this patch announcement are actually the things strangely missing that have been built up for quite a while now.

- Paladins for all
- Druids for all
- Shamans for all
- New Night Elf city
- Conclusion of Tyr quests
- Something fresh for char customization, not just more hair colours

It's like somebody who didn't really keep up with Dragonflight and where it was headed was asked to draft a patch announcement based on what might seem cool.

Conclusion of Tyr quests (and maybe Nelf city) are probably in the epilogues. The others may have been withheld for 10.2.7 when people will really be bored of 10.2 and will need a lot more to keep themselves interested.

[Xilurm]

They said 3 more updates. So 10.2.9 is also a given. Every two months maybe?

[Draedarr]

I think the best option is really to work the areas revamping them as the progress of the zones are made.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I mean, it was never going to be moved according to the Alpha files. They intended for the new home of the Night Elves to be on the Dragon Isles.

People have just assumed that every Night Elf Outpost on Kalimdor got a telepathic message to take a boat to Dragon Isles which is just not clarified or confirmed.

It’s not like There’s much left in Kalimdor to even send a message to with or pretty much just being feathermoon strong hood and Hyjal being the only ones of any decent size and the bulk of the night elfs in SW.

[Jaggler]

They said 3 more updates. So 10.2.9 is also a given. Every two months maybe?

That has been the patch cycle for all of DF basically.

Yeah this patch screams filler. Kinda like the 10.0.5 patch with the Trading Post. Mostly systems stuff with light story content spindled in so that is technically qualifies as a patch.

I hope datamining reveals something really cool, because this is a disappointing announcement.

I find it kinda... what's the word, rude? I don't know. That they still won't just conclude the Night Elf home story arc. Stop teasing. Just give Night Elves some rest already.

It's a .5 patch. That's about the size what the .5 patches have been. I dunno what you expected.
Night Elves already have their new home. It will probably be "done" once the Forsaken capital is also done and ready so both capitals can be launch at the same time.

[Cheezits]

I find it kinda... what's the word, rude? I don't know. That they still won't just conclude the Night Elf home story arc. Stop teasing. Just give Night Elves some rest already.

Well, Malfurion may return in the epilogues, but there is nothing saying the city will be built before Midnight at the very least.

[Nymrohd]

Well lore wise this is a curious patch. But AI followers for dungeons which I assume they will try to carry forward for the next xpac? Azerothian Archives, whatever that ends up being? Gameplay-wise, there is a lot of meat in this.

- - - Updated - - -

They said 3 more updates. So 10.2.9 is also a given. Every two months maybe?

That was the plan. I would assume 10.2.9 will be fated season and will also find a way to make all the content relevant; perhaps it will make catch up gear from different regions while the relevant raid is active or something similar.

[Dracullus]

Capitals for the races are essentially fluff, that's why they stopped doing them with Cataclysm. Nobody used the new capitals apart from OG/SW and the current expansions capital.

There is always only one hub (or 2 if factions are split). People have this "every city mattered" in their memory, because vanilla leveling was very, very long and you often got UPS quests between them.

Gameplay-wise, there is a lot of meat in this.

Not really, from things announced only new event is something we'll do beside launch day(s). Hopefully it's good as Time Rifts. Of course more story content is still nice.

NPC dungeons will be curiosity, but I hope this experiment will be successful, I think LFR should become story mode in the future. Also, curious choice for new customizations, as Trolls and Draenei are most likely candidates for next Heritage.

As for length, I expect it in January, then timewalking patch in late March, Season 4 patch early June (they almost always release something in March and June, even in dry years) and pre-patch in September.

[Nymrohd]

There is always only one hub (or 2 if factions are split). People have this "every city mattered" in their memory, because vanilla leveling was very, very long and you often got UPS quests between them.

I mean all you'd need for every city to matter is to either give each of them something exclusive (it's why IF somewhat matters for Alliance, a few things are actually in IF instead of SW) or to give all capitals the same utilities (so not just AH and bank but give every place a Great Vault, a Trading Post, Portal Room etc).

[Raetary]

Damn, quite some surprises with 10.2.5.

Looking forward to Gilneas and whatever the Archives stuff is.

[Xilurm]

I mean all you'd need for every city to matter is to either give each of them something exclusive (it's why IF somewhat matters for Alliance, a few things are actually in IF instead of SW) or to give all capitals the same utilities (so not just AH and bank but give every place a Great Vault, a Trading Post, Portal Room etc).

Then people would be complaining that they have to go to too many cities.

[Jaggler]

I mean all you'd need for every city to matter is to either give each of them something exclusive (it's why IF somewhat matters for Alliance, a few things are actually in IF instead of SW) or to give all capitals the same utilities (so not just AH and bank but give every place a Great Vault, a Trading Post, Portal Room etc).

Option one is just annoying and not a great solution.

People would still aggregate at one or two places, because that's what people do. even in times where capitals were relatively equal in terms of what they offer, people just hung out in the same cities.

[Chickat]

Yeah this patch screams filler. Kinda like the 10.0.5 patch with the Trading Post. Mostly systems stuff with light story content spindled in so that is technically qualifies as a patch.

I hope datamining reveals something really cool, because this is a disappointing announcement.

I find it kinda... what's the word, rude? I don't know. That they still won't just conclude the Night Elf home story arc. Stop teasing. Just give Night Elves some rest already.

Well we just got 10.2. It makes sense for .5 to be light imo.