Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Joshuaj]

Is it PTR time yet? Uuuggghhh I can't wait much longer.

[Avikur]

Is it PTR time yet? Uuuggghhh I can't wait much longer.

I'd expect it Thursday/Friday if it's coming this week (I'd be happy to be proved wrong and it launch earlier though!)

[Joshuaj]

I only say earlier cause we got a dataminable build prior to the holiday break. Surely that means they're at least ready to push it.

[Avikur]

11.1 PTR coming tomorrow then :-)

[Joshuaj]

11.1 PTR coming tomorrow then :-)

Maybe. Could be today, with testing happening tomorrow.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.bluetracker.gg/wow/topic...-of-undermine/

Yeah it's coming tonight or tomorrow.

[Chickat]

DRIVE has potential for sure but until I try it out I'm hesitant to speculate too much about its future. It's built similarly to dynamic flight, but there's always the chance it doesn't feel great when translated to the ground. The system with the upgrades letting you change the way it handles seems interesting and promising, but applying that to other ground mounts outside of existing mount equipment is going to be a tough job if they proceed with it outside of Undermine to begin with.

PTR maintenance started late last week, so hopefully we'll see the build come out properly and realms go up very soon. Notably, the half-pushed 11.1 build from before the holidays did not contain the mount records for the DRIVE mount(s), but hopefully the next one will (or they hotfix it in).

I wonder how the normal non mechanical mounts would even work with drive. It would look weird to have a wolf drifting.

[Cheezits]

I wonder how the normal non mechanical mounts would even work with drive. It would look weird to have a wolf drifting.

I'm guessing they would make it so there's just magical wind around your mount when you're dynamic ground riding. With some new running animations to denote the new speed.

[Alanar]

I absolutely do NOT expect them to do this but for me, I'd have Stratholme be the expansion capital (with Stratholme Bay be the place where everything is located like with Boralus). Then you use Silvermoon for urban questing like Suramar in Legion and release it as a proper HD capital for RPers at the end of the expac.

I see them keep saying things like; what do you mean stratholme ia doomed to burn forever.

I agree tho, that Stratholme updated would be cool.

[Viridiel]

I wonder how the normal non mechanical mounts would even work with drive. It would look weird to have a wolf drifting.

There's an armadillo dynamic ground mount that's been in the files since TWW beta with different abilities. It can turn into a ball that goes faster rolling downhill and slower up-hill, and can high-jump and activate a glide mode. It's probably ditched at this point though since it would feel awful in almost every zone and has the same issue as DRIVE with not translating easily to other mounts.

In general translating dynamic ground movement to other mounts is going to be very difficult unless they do something ridiculous like strap every mount to arcane rollerblades which let them drive like a car. The other option is to break the ground mounts into families and have family-specific abilities, but I still don't know how you get a wolf going at the same speed as a car without being goofy.

[Cheezits]

There's an armadillo dynamic ground mount that's been in the files since TWW beta with different abilities. It can turn into a ball that goes faster rolling downhill and slower up-hill, and can high-jump and activate a glide mode. It's probably ditched at this point though since it would feel awful in almost every zone and has the same issue as DRIVE with not translating easily to other mounts.

I mean that just sounds like a dragonriding mount but less fun. Them moving to drifting and faster speeds on the ground was a good call.

I personally don't think arcane roller blades would look too bad. Maybe some different kinds of effects for people to customize.

[Joshuaj]

Welp, see y'all tomorrow

[Cheezits]

Welp, see y'all tomorrow

They seem to be working late tonight.

[Joshuaj]

They seem to be working late tonight.

Maybe, but tomorrow is still likely the case.

[Chickat]

This is true, but there are other ways to avoid combat that doesnt involve the ability to remove ALL combat. Flight paths for instance.

When you have somewhere in the game that is supposed to be fortified and filled with Elites, you shouldnt simply be able to fly over all of them without a care. You should have to go in with some difficulty.
Simply allowing players to engage and disengage from anywhere within a hostile area complete neuters the experience. Just see how boring Azj'kahet is compared to Suramar despite how many similarities there are. Some of it is obviously down to Suramar being a far more realized questing area compared to Azj'kahet, but quite a bit of it is down to stuff like not needing to deal with guards, or needing to use the many secret entrances and teleports within the city. Even getting kicked out has no consequence as it takes seconds to get back to where you were.

Which is the more impactful Silvermoon? The one where you have to go in through the front, use stealth to avoid guards and seeing the city from the ground. Or the one where you mount up and fly to the main castle in the middle within 4 seconds?

I honestly do miss leveling first on ground mounts.

I think First char all the way to main story completion and zones explored. Basic pathfinder that you can complete in the first week or two. Alts can fly after that from the get go. End game dangerous zones, only dynamic ground mounts, at least at first.

A lot of people would hate that, but it would be more engaging imo.

[Nibelheimy]

I honestly do miss leveling first on ground mounts.

I think First char all the way to main story completion and zones explored. Basic pathfinder that you can complete in the first week or two. Alts can fly after that from the get go. End game dangerous zones, only dynamic ground mounts, at least at first.

A lot of people would hate that, but it would be more engaging imo.

Hard agree. Skyriding is brilliant, however I do miss certain experiences that a lack of flying brought. Opening the gates of the Vale for the first time is one of those. It was a lot less cool for a new player doing that in remix who im friends with after we'd flown over the Vale to get to the quest.

I hate flying locked behind labourious grinds, but maybe just finishing the main storyline for the opening patch would be enough? Who knows. It's one issue they can't get 100% right.

[Scyth]

I honestly do miss leveling first on ground mounts.

I think First char all the way to main story completion and zones explored. Basic pathfinder that you can complete in the first week or two. Alts can fly after that from the get go. End game dangerous zones, only dynamic ground mounts, at least at first.

A lot of people would hate that, but it would be more engaging imo.

Same here. I wish we didn't get flying immediately with the new expansion.
Getting it unlocked after you get 1 character to max is good enough for me.

[milkmustache]

I don't think that they'll ever go back to unlocking flying because it seems like their current approach to zone design is focused around skyriding. I think there's a lot of us in this community that would agree upon the idea of a slower start to zone exploration, but I think we are vastly out numbered by those who would rather speed straight through. I'd wager a large percent of the player base doesn't read quest dialogue, they just follow the markers. That's fine, it's all different play styles, but skyriding seems to allow Blizzard the benefit of more experimentation in zone design, and as much as I'd like to be able to ride a ground mount for the first playthrough of the campaign, I really cannot imagine that being the case ever again.

DRIVE feels somewhat significantly different than skyriding when it comes to translation to other mounts. Dragons fly, gryphons fly, etc etc., but horses, wolves, lynxes, etc don't drift. My assumption is that DRIVE will only apply to the vehicles we're given in Undermine, as will the drifting and additional mechanics, then going into 11.2 or 12.0 we'll see a new dynamic riding function unlocked for our old ground mounts at a much lower speed (I think the difference here will be drastic compared to Dragon Isles/non-Dragon Isles flying). Maybe something far more intuitive but similar to the Brewfest ram quest, with 300% being a max speed.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Proletariat team begins work on some instanced race tracks for our DRIVE cars in future expansions (once there's enough bandwidth for them through the housing process). Or just courses only using DRIVE cars without an additional assets. Just a goblin waving a flag in an area that would otherwise exist normally in the zone.

[Cheezits]

To be fair the amount of quests where you MUST skyride in TWW aren't many, and I think you can walk to all the zones (once you unlock the Ringing Deeps elevator that is). Unsure about Azj-Kahet.

I may do ground riding when questing in Midnight just for nostalgia's sake.

[milkmustache]

To be fair the amount of quests where you MUST skyride in TWW aren't many, and I think you can walk to all the zones (once you unlock the Ringing Deeps elevator that is). Unsure about Azj-Kahet.

I may do ground riding when questing in Midnight just for nostalgia's sake.

You're right, TWW is a good progression of the zone design from DF. TWW's verticality feels a lot more intentional than DF's did, and the zones feel easier to travel. It would be interesting if they tried for a zone that intentionally makes flying annoying to encourage ground mounts. I think a densely wooded area like this hypothetical Maisara Hills or Northeron area could serve that as a great purpose. Fly if you want, but you'll have a lot of hangups zooming straight through... it's easier to just ride a ground mount.

If they were to adapt DRIVE to ground mounts, I wonder if this would work with mounts that have skyriding. Could you speed through the sky and land into a running gallop on a gryphon? Or would it be restricted to mounts that are ground restricted?

[Chickat]

I don't think that they'll ever go back to unlocking flying because it seems like their current approach to zone design is focused around skyriding. I think there's a lot of us in this community that would agree upon the idea of a slower start to zone exploration, but I think we are vastly out numbered by those who would rather speed straight through. I'd wager a large percent of the player base doesn't read quest dialogue, they just follow the markers. That's fine, it's all different play styles, but skyriding seems to allow Blizzard the benefit of more experimentation in zone design, and as much as I'd like to be able to ride a ground mount for the first playthrough of the campaign, I really cannot imagine that being the case ever again.

DRIVE feels somewhat significantly different than skyriding when it comes to translation to other mounts. Dragons fly, gryphons fly, etc etc., but horses, wolves, lynxes, etc don't drift. My assumption is that DRIVE will only apply to the vehicles we're given in Undermine, as will the drifting and additional mechanics, then going into 11.2 or 12.0 we'll see a new dynamic riding function unlocked for our old ground mounts at a much lower speed (I think the difference here will be drastic compared to Dragon Isles/non-Dragon Isles flying). Maybe something far more intuitive but similar to the Brewfest ram quest, with 300% being a max speed.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Proletariat team begins work on some instanced race tracks for our DRIVE cars in future expansions (once there's enough bandwidth for them through the housing process). Or just courses only using DRIVE cars without an additional assets. Just a goblin waving a flag in an area that would otherwise exist normally in the zone.

Them buying proletariat was such a good decision btw.