Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Sondrelk]

Suddenly I'm all excited about 10.2.6 hehehe

Same here. Rare we get something this secretive.

Personally, if we are going for more out there ideas, then I would say a mini-raid to go along with Season 4.
You could make it pirate themed and have all kinds of fun weapons and cosmetics to go alongside it now that the Trading Post has had several pirate themed armour Transmog already.

[Varodoc]

Instanced Pirate isle where you can build your own "pirate cove".

Aka, a proto-version of Housing, to try and redo Housing in WoW after the fiasco that was WoD Garrison (hardly can be called "housing"). A first step, a first attempt at trying housing. A smart move, making experimental/proto version in a filler patch instead of selling it as an expansion feature right away.

If it works, they can then continue to develop the system for Midnight, in Revamped Quel'Thalas.

[Varodoc]

In hindsight, it's funny how the Island Expedition from BfA are literally the South Seas expansion concept that people had for years.

Just sailing the high seas on a ship, exploring uncharted, far-flung islands, and delving deep into the mysteries of the seas.

They shot themselves in the foot with Island Expeditions; what could have been an entire expansion on its own (albeit a Disney/adventure/Friends one like Dragonflight), turned into a simple endgame content, that was left to rot ever since.

We might possibly be looking at an attempt to revitalize the Island Expedition fantasy, after it was left rotting for years.

[Valysar]

Something that may or may not be noteworthy:

In the email they sent us about Cap'n Crackers, it says: "Go swashbuckling with Cap'n Crackers. Sail the high seas of World of Warcraft with the Cap'n Crackers pet perched on your shoulder with the help of Amazon Prime Gaming until 27 February 2024."

Imagine if this is literally telling us what 10.2.6 entails. Like... the patch isn't a normal patch, because it's more of an evergreen systems patch. Like when they overhauled levelling at the end of Legion I believe it was. A systems patch that completely changes how we interact with the seas of Azeroth.

Sailing between continents on our own ships. Perhaps encountering random PG islands. Maybe it even features new tech for water, with improved waves and stuff.

The date is also interesting. The offer ends on a Tuesday in late February, which is exactly when I think the patch will launch based on the roadmap.

So this means patch 10.2.6 will have no PTR testing ?

[Sondrelk]

In hindsight, it's funny how the Island Expedition from BfA are literally the South Seas expansion concept that people had for years.

Just sailing the high seas on a ship, exploring uncharted, far-flung islands, and delving deep into the mysteries of the seas.

They shot themselves in the foot with Island Expeditions; what could have been an entire expansion on its own (albeit a Disney/adventure/Friends one like Dragonflight), turned into a simple endgame content, that was left to rot ever since.

We might possibly be looking at an attempt to revitalize the Island Expedition fantasy, after it was left rotting for years.

Reusing the islands as housing is definitely an idea that would work pretty well all things considered.
They are instanced, so you don't need to worry about the Garrison problem of everyone occupying the same space.
They are varied, so each players version is more likely to fit them and look different from others houses.
It's an island, so you could connect it to basically any future WoW expansion that has a dock of its own in the future, which gives it more longevity.

Seems unlikely, but I would be down for it. Player boats would also be a nice alternative, and possibly even a nice stepping stone to actual housing in the future.

[Valysar]

It could have limited testing for about two weeks. But the omission of details on the roadmap leads me to believe there won't be much to test, as in features that can be broken and abused. If it's "just" a ship and mostly visual features, and content that doesn't lean into the competitive side of things too much, then maybe that's enough testing.

Either that, or it is heavily story-based and they don't want too many spoilers. Like with Gilneas.

As long as it doesn't end up like Gilneas, flat, boring, 10min, with an unfinished result.

[milkmustache]

Yeah, my guess is that they wouldn't be able to change direction for 10.2.6 based on Gilneas feedback, but it's probably not the same people behind the two at least. I think different designers are assigned these little projects for patch content.

That said, again I think 10.2.6 could be more systems based.

Theres also been completely different approaches to the Gilneas Reclaimation questline and the 10.2.6 mystery. I have to think that Blizz would recognize the community's issues with the Gilneas quest and in turn scale back their pirate emoji-ing if 10.2.6 was just going to be more of the same.

I think you're totally right, 10.2.6 seems to be some sort of system or at least an event a bit larger than Time Rifts & Archives.

I'd also like to note, the Azerothian Archives are actually a really cool idea that can be built on. I wouldn't mind if Archaeology took this direction in the future. The story updating week by week is a really nice touch to keep a pulse on the event, and the world quests feel new. Beef it up with a bit more detail and I think it'd be fun to bring outside of 10.2.5 and into the future of the game.

[doledippers]

I think you're totally right, 10.2.6 seems to be some sort of system or at least an event a bit larger than Time Rifts & Archives.

its gotta be, theyre doing the similar shit they did for follower dungeons, which development wise is a massive undertaking. Orlando is the one tweeting the most about it, and he's a senior SWE.

[Woggmer]

Possible Plot Twist:

This pirate stuff is part of some collaboration between WoW and Sea of Thieves.

[Cheezits]

I'd also like to note, the Azerothian Archives are actually a really cool idea that can be built on. I wouldn't mind if Archaeology took this direction in the future. The story updating week by week is a really nice touch to keep a pulse on the event, and the world quests feel new. Beef it up with a bit more detail and I think it'd be fun to bring outside of 10.2.5 and into the future of the game.

I think they did a really bad job of explaining the patch. I had no idea there were WQs and new lore books associated with archaeology sites until yesterday. I thought it was just the world event.

[Murlocos]

Standing by my earlier thoughts that this will be some kind of new feature that'll persist past DF and not just be a surprise content island or remixed world quests or whatever.

Whatever it ends up being, I think it'd be cool if we saw AI NPCs implemented into open world content. They've only been in instanced content thus far, and I feel like there's a lot they could with them to make a zone feel more dynamic and lively.

[Nokster10]

Standing by my earlier thoughts that this will be some kind of new feature that'll persist past DF and not just be a surprise content island or remixed world quests or whatever.

Whatever it ends up being, I think it'd be cool if we saw AI NPCs implemented into open world content. They've only been in instanced content thus far, and I feel like there's a lot they could with them to make a zone feel more dynamic and lively.

I hope it's some new evergreen feature too but it will probably end up being some random minigame that will be fun for like a month at most

[Valysar]

inb4 one quest, kill 25 pirates and get THE mount.

[Reive]

tbh i don't think it's going be something big. we're pretty close to the new expansion, they would probably save something important for that

[doledippers]

tbh i don't think it's going be something big. we're pretty close to the new expansion, they would probably save something important for that

suppose u could say the same about follower dungeons no? obv we don't know, but id like to believe that they aren't doing all this vagueposting and secrecy for a normal ass patch. <- definitely not copium btw

[Reive]

suppose u could say the same about follower dungeons no? obv we don't know, but id like to believe that they aren't doing all this vagueposting and secrecy for a normal ass patch. <- definitely not copium btw

imo follower dungeons are a useful tool for players but not exactly something that make you scream "hype!". they're more comparable to a qol than a gameplay feature tbh

also, i've seen the devs hype trivial and/or lame things. It's marketing for them.

[Nibelheimy]

Definately fair to keep expectations tempered at this point.

[Nymrohd]

I must have missed something because people are really expecting something crazy out of this patch. Me, I'm expecting some generous catch up system and a questline that takes you under an hour to clear.

[Varodoc]

I must have missed something because people are really expecting something crazy out of this patch. Me, I'm expecting some generous catch up system and a questline that takes you under an hour to clear.

So then you must think that Blizzard is the most tone-deaf company imaginable, which I don't necessarily disagree with.

After milking the patch mystery for so long, people rightfully expect something more complex than some random filler questline that nobody cares about.

Say, a proto version of Housing with instanced Pirate coves, to see how Housing could be implemented into the future, a first step towards Housing, would already be a feature that warrants all the milking mystery of this patch.

[Dracullus]

Definately fair to keep expectations tempered at this point.

Of course many things on last few pages are really detached from reality, but if 10.2.6 will be just pirate catch up dreamsurges on Dragon Isles, it will be Blizzard fault that people expected to much. First they hide any info on roadmap, next they wait longer with reveal than usual (usual for DF standards of course) and on top of that they are hyping it on social media on multiple occasions.

Personally I would be satisfied if 10.2.6 will be catch up islands similar to 10.0.7 + solo challenge - this is only major thing DF really lacks compared to Legion/BfA/SL. Also I need major profession knowledge catch up, but that could be done even in hotfix.