Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Dracullus]

All I know is that if I ran a billion dollar company, I'd make sure I overwhelmed my community with cool news everyday. Whether it's a blog post, a podcast episode, a YouTube video, a notable tweet, or what have you.

Yeah.. I wouldn't predict bright future for your billion dollar company if you would overstimulate your audience with random shit every day.

Listen guys, you have clear issuses with attention span and it has nothing to do with being geek or wow fan.

[Murlocos]

After the disaster that was SL, they focused on regular communication for DF. I think for plenty of people, this has been a probationary period for Blizz. A lot of trust has been lost over the past few years and how long it takes for different people to get them out of probation varies.

My thoughts exactly. It's on Blizzard to show that they're committed to a better path for the game for the long-term, not just for one expansion and then going right back to their old ways. Viewing goodwill as a resource to be built and spent leads to you generating less and less of it with each avoidable mistake and gaffe.

People have become so accustomed to bad/weaker expansions following well received ones that I think that it presents a genuine mental hurdle they have to overcome with TWW, in the same vein that SL was boosted by some people buying along for the simple rationale that good always followed bad in the past. They can't afford to go right back to majorly slipping up every 2 years, but on the flip side, sticking the landing again (for the most part) is how you really start speaking to long lapsed players again.

[Makorus]

Again, no one dragged you into this thread. This thread exists for that "very, very small sub-set of people" who enjoy speculating about the future of retail. There's no need to come in here and berate dorks like us.

I mean, I enjoy speculating about the future of retail.

Bitching because Blizzard hasn't given us a blogpost on 10.2.7/released Alpha as if someone they are obligated to do it, or that we are entitled to it is just a bit embarassing and honestly a bit weird.

[doledippers]

im just curious the thought process of not doing this week in wow remotely on time or at all this week. It feels like This Week In WoW is pretty much reserved for shit nobody cares about and any time theres actual news its just randomly dropped and not on the weekly preview

[Raetary]

I mean, I enjoy speculating about the future of retail.

Bitching because Blizzard hasn't given us a blogpost on 10.2.7/released Alpha as if someone they are obligated to do it, or that we are entitled to it is just a bit embarassing and honestly a bit weird.

They are free to cut off any and all communication with us if they like, people are just as free to piss on them for it.

I was fine with 10.2.6 having no updates, they did communicate that wasn't gonna happen afterall.

But now that we are past that, it'd be nice if they could turn their mic back on and continue with regular dev updates.

Hell, it's wednesday and this week we didn't even get a TWIW, which is the bare minimum.

[Hyrja]

another day, another no this week in wow bluepost?

[doledippers]

https://x.com/algalon_ghost/status/1777834141649715465 10.2.7 just hit vendor 2

edit; nvm its been on there a while disregard

[Padwarle]

https://x.com/algalon_ghost/status/1777834141649715465 10.2.7 just hit vendor 2

edit; nvm its been on there a while disregard

They pushed the new build to it though, that's a good thing.

[doledippers]

They pushed the new build to it though, that's a good thing.

yeah, its been updated a few other times today as well

[Marlamin]

10.2.7 PTR realms are listed now, so only the build to go.

[Reive]

10.2.7 PTR realms are listed now, so only the build to go.

10.2.7 blog post this week?

[Chickat]

I do not know. If we have not get Drakonid (which by a certain questline were heavily teased IMO) and Tuskarr in DF, I just do not see us getting Mogu. And that is good by me, honestly. Impopular opinion but I do not want more playable races. Focus on what we have and develop them properly.

Tuskarr would be a good race for The Last Titan along with Vrykul.

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Tuskarr will prolly be playable with TLT and our return to Northrend, while Drakonid never were on the table thanks to superior Dracthyr imo.

And there is literally no harm with more playable races, they are usually the main feature besides a new class, and allied races are relatively cheap to churn out as we saw with BfA.

Especially if they are using AI to shape armor for races now. Allows Artists to actually create instead of doing chores.

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The thing wis sod is that it's already deviating from what most people wanted out of classic +. New content makes the world liveless, like power levelling through incursions, and the raids are being designed closer to retail than era-TBC-early wotlk. It's all reused content as well and they didn't add new races or race-class combos.

The only really exciting stuff was p1 with game changing runes like warlock tanks and healer mages, there's not really that much to discover in p2 or p3, as most runes don't change the gameplay too much and are only small improvements of P1 builds.

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TLT is a good place to add Vrykul

Agreed and if we are ever getting Naga or Ethereal it will be in Midnight.

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I highly doubt that we will get playable Tuskarr if we have not get them in DF. But who knows?

IMO we will get Ethereals in Midnight or TLT. Also pretty sure that the fact that we are getting Earthen in TWW implies that we will get more Allied Races in TWW. People are speculating about humanoid Nerubians which will be wild. Arathi humans could be an option I guess, especially if we see that they have an unique model in alpha. Otherwise I do not think that we will get them, because I think that at least all TWW's Allied Races will be neutral.



I believe that they are too big and I feel that they are more valuable as their own thing. Not every race has to become part of the Alliance or the Horde. IMO it is good that some races and parties persist outside our main factions. If in TWW we start to see doors taller than usual, though, they are becoming playable for sure

Could be a splinter of Vrykul that broke off because they mutated and were shorter. I could see Vrykul casting out pitiful 7 foot members.

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I would definitely love it if Timerunning: Pandamonium was a condensed version of MoP questing, giving us not only more old content to play during Timewalking weeks, but also a neat way to connect Xal'atath and the heart of Y'Shaarj. Heck, maybe it's presented as a sort of Season of Discovery-like twist on the old game, where Xal'atath's involvement on Pandaria is just another "found photograph" that explains future story.

Maybe we see her stealing the remnants of the heart before it is destroyed, or perhaps she claims some of its power before Garrosh even arrives.

Heck, maybe something she does takes place just before another event which has already played out in the game, and we have a mind-blowing eureka moment when we realise WoD, Legion, etc wouldn't have happened if it weren't for her.

If they do that it could be a test for how MSQ in WoW would work for TWW or future stories. It would greatly benefit them to condense the Main quest better for new people. Im a long time player and I get confused logging into Retail on new toons. Theres hundreds of quests everywhere. Its overwhelming for me, so it must be for newer players too.

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The point of leveling raids is to just pad the content with no need of creating new assets. Retail already does what sod does: Few levels every expansion and then 3-4 sesons with new raids. A retail expansion with 10 levels has no room to pad it even more like sod does with its 100+hour 1-60 leveling content.

The only expansion they could do anothern sod with, is cataclysm.

Even then classes in Cata are so complex that adding a bunch of new spells wouldnt really work.

[PenguinChan]

Especially if they are using AI to shape armor for races now. Allows Artists to actually create instead of doing chores.

I really hope this means we'll start getting clothing physics outside of belts and weapons. And not only that, but more varied robes, cloaks, and all that kinda stuff.

[Chickat]

Assuming Hero Talents are going to stay after TWW, it is highely unlikely that we will actually see 4th specs, and given the precedent with rogue/warlock tanks and mage healer in SoD with a simple rune (revamp for the glyph system perhaps?), seems more plausible then betting on 4th specs, that are a bit at odds with hero talents later on.

Yeah wtf are they going to do with Hero talents in future expansions anyways? They cant just keep stacking new systems on top.

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I really hope this means we'll start getting clothing physics outside of belts and weapons. And not only that, but more varied robes, cloaks, and all that kinda stuff.

That would be really cool. Probably wouldn't happen in time for TWW though. I think they are just now starting to use AI for stuff like that.

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That is assuming Hero Talents will stay rigid after TWW. Ignoring the balancing nightmare, there could be additional Hero Talents in MN or TLT. Or the new specs get "added" to existing trees.
And runes like in SoD would run into the same problem, turning one spec with two specific Hero Talent trees into a different role.

Overall, entirely new specs make more sense, but will of course take time, and may be delayed if we get a new class in 12.0 or 13.0

Could they get by with only adding 3-6 specs per expansion? Thats nearly as much work as a new class. I cant see them adding 13 specs in one expansion. Its just not feasible imo. It would be even more work than Artifacts in Legion.

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Hero Talents are likely going to stay around for the entire trilogy. After the trilogy we will probably see yet another redesign of the class system and I assume elements of everything they'd have built up till then will remain.

Id like to see the 2 tree system continue but having the class based skills like a MoP tree. There is so much useless fluff in the class tree. Its the spec trees that are fun.

IMO a level squish after TLT from 100 back to 50. Every level you get a talent point for the class tree and every 5 from 20-50 you get a class point that is like the MoP tree. I think that would be more interesting and easy to read for newer players anyways.

[Redsmith]

I expect them to rework the race system at some point. I wouldn't mind some of these allied races being merged back in. The Dwarf/Dark Iron, Tauren/Highmountain, Orc/Maghar style allied races could really just be unlockable barber shop options. Give the merged race the option to choose either racial.

[Chickat]

I still hope Hero Talents are gonna stay horizontal rather than vertical.

Add new ones, but leave the old ones the same. Makes the most sense, and there is no power bloat. That's how Guild Wars 2 does it, essentially.

I think it would make more sense to turn them into class skins with 0 power after TWW or The World Soul Saga. It would be impossible to keep adding player power class skins forever. Eventually blizzard would be balancing like 15 classes with 3-4 specs each and 5-8 class skins per class. Wouldnt work.

[PenguinChan]

Yeah wtf are they going to do with Hero talents in future expansions anyways? They cant just keep stacking new systems on top.

My assumption is that going forward, the main talent tree will (mostly) be untouched and kept up-to-date with future balance changes, while they evolve and develop the heroic talents as time goes on. So you have three systems: Base Class + Specialization + Build customization. At least, that's how I see it going forward, it makes the most sense. Bring back Glyph style customization in the form of evolved hero archetypes and push the power fantasy with clear and defined alterations.

That would be really cool. Probably wouldn't happen in time for TWW though. I think they are just now starting to use AI for stuff like that

Probably not, or at least nothing that's in development currently. We may see cash shop appearances with future tech as a showcase, or unique rewards for the last patch / pre-order of the expansion after TWW.

Could they get by with only adding 3-6 specs per expansion? Thats nearly as much work as a new class. I cant see them adding 13 specs in one expansion. Its just not feasible imo. It would be even more work than Artifacts in Legion.

They have two big teams working on the major patches, cosmetics and expansion, and a (relatively) smaller third working on the future expansions. It's always possible for them to slapdash shit together and test it more for another expansion launch. No reason to conflate TOO much into one expansion as then it'll be feature bloat, even if you push it out. Not as bad as adding literally nothing in a new expansion though, beyond a gear reset and story continuation.

[Merryck]

I think it would make more sense to turn them into class skins with 0 power after TWW or The World Soul Saga. It would be impossible to keep adding player power class skins forever. Eventually blizzard would be balancing like 15 classes with 3-4 specs each and 5-8 class skins per class. Wouldnt work.

Yeah ... they should've just been cosmetics from the beginning. Not very "evergreen."

[Chickat]

one more thing to look forward to about Alpha is actually getting more concrete info on how Warbands and the removal of the "Unlock Restrictions" for transmogs will work.

I have a feeling Warbands will eventually turn into more than just account wide stuff. I could see them adding Swotr style followers for world and solo instanced content and using your own alts for that would be fun.

[Ersula]

They just posted a blog article about the Cata prepatch release date (April 30th). I really hope that's not it for the day.

Warlords of Draenor classic is going to last 5 months. At this rate, Classic might catch up with retail by 14.0 ...then they can start the cycle over again.

Edit: Let's theorycraft this. If length of classic expansions correspond to their original popularity:
TBC Classic - (June 2021) 15 months
Wrath Classic - (September 2022) 20 months
Cata Classic - (May 2024) 11 months
MoP Classic - (April 2025) 10 months
WoD Classic - (Feb 2026) 6 months
Legion Classic - (August 2026) 10 months
BFA Classic - (June 2027) 5 months
Shadowlands - (January 2028) Classic - 6 months
Dragonflight Classic - (September 2028) 8 months
TWW Classic - (May 2029)