Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Joshuaj]

It's just a zone-based ability for Undermine, I don't think there's a time limit but not sure. And yeah, it still uses some mount tech in some fashion, so maybe we could see that in the future, but this isn't a true dynamic ground mount since it's not apparently an actual mount (maybe to limit it to the zone properly? idk.)

It's probably done to limit it for the zone. But fair enough. Is it fun to ride though?

[Reive]

i predict a lot of crying for the new drive system lol

the "mount" is super fast but hitting walls is too freaking easy.

[Cheezits]

DRIVE animations are very unpolished but the system is nice. I think Undermine wasn't built 100% with this in mind, ironically, roads or no roads. It's a good driving system but the zone is hard to do speed with.

[Marlamin]

It's probably done to limit it for the zone. But fair enough. Is it fun to ride though?

The boost stuff is -very- fast, almost too fast imo. Not sure how well that'll go down.

[Joshuaj]

DRIVE animations are very unpolished but the system is nice. I think Undermine wasn't built 100% with this in mind, ironically, roads or no roads. It's a good driving system but the zone is hard to do speed with.

I mean, that's why the upgrading stuff exists, no?

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The boost stuff is -very- fast, almost too fast imo. Not sure how well that'll go down.

I mean, I'm sure the upgrading stuff will help it out a ton lol. Looked fine in the previews. Also, fast is good!

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i predict a lot of crying for the new drive system lol

the "mount" is super fast but hitting walls is too freaking easy.

With the D.R.I.V.E System, there is also an U.P.G.R.A.D.E feature

[Sondrelk]

Honestly a bit surprised there isnt an Undermine drill going to Bilgewater Harbor. Or for that matter, Booty Bay. Though there is definitely room for it if the developers ever add it in the future.
It might be a bit ambitous, but I cannot help but see all of this in light of Housing being announced. And the quite likely option of there being a building option for each core playable race, in which case Undermine might be the location of the Goblin themed house in the future. And if that is the case then having what amounts to a portal room to Orgrimmar would make perfect sense.

[Reive]

With the D.R.I.V.E System, there is also an U.P.G.R.A.D.E feature

upgrading helps a bit but the zone is full of buildings and the car from what i can see has no instant turn

[Cheezits]

Honestly a bit surprised there isnt an Undermine drill going to Bilgewater Harbor. Or for that matter, Booty Bay. Though there is definitely room for it if the developers ever add it in the future.
It might be a bit ambitous, but I cannot help but see all of this in light of Housing being announced. And the quite likely option of there being a building option for each core playable race, in which case Undermine might be the location of the Goblin themed house in the future. And if that is the case then having what amounts to a portal room to Orgrimmar would make perfect sense.

There's a third rocket present with "VIP" greeters surrounding it, unsure where that one goes. There's also apparently one that will go to the Gallagio and an empty slot beside that one.

Very interesting to note: the Voidguard ethereal mobs do not use the new model that was datamined. (Nevermind, one important NPC does, but not the generic mobs)

[Joshuaj]

upgrading helps a bit but the zone is full of buildings and the car from what i can see has no instant turn

I'll see how it is when I play the PTR.

[Raetary]

Since we are getting more campsites, i wonder if they'll finally tackle some of the old race backgrounds on the individual character screens.

Most of them look really rough compared to the newer ones.

[Pyrophax]

Shaman Lightning Bolt new animation is meh at best. Bolt is too fast and too small.
Chain Lightning still Vanilla one.
Shame.

[Nymrohd]

DRIVE as it is right now is a challenge. This will need some work.

[Teriz]

Pack Leader’s change is nice. I like the callback to Rexxar HotS and Hearthstone.

MM change is pretty underwhelming. They’re going to need better visuals for players to be okay with this over losing the option to tame pets.

Flameshaper remains the worst Evoker hero talent tree.

[Joshuaj]

DRIVE as it is right now is a challenge. This will need some work.

Looked good in the previews. I'll have to see what's up.

[Reive]

DRIVE as it is right now is a challenge. This will need some work.

it should be slower imo. bit faster than normal ground mounts but not as fast as normal flying

[Jastall]

you just fly over the canopy.

The crazy thing to me is that the solution to flying letting you avoid danger was figured one patch after flight became available. Anyone who was around in the flying-centric subzones of TBC remembers having to constantly move to not get Legion cannons destroy you, Kaliri owls dismounting you in midair or dragonriding orcs chasing you around the zone. If Blizzard wants some areas to be dangerous for flight they don't have to restrict flight they just need to add danger. Like, Azj'kahet could have been surrounded by dense webbing that you'd collapse into, having swarms of flying spider things and if you triggered to many in a row you'd get something like Tkakth (or however it was spelled) on your ass.

Flight in Undermine could simply be illegal. Let people mount up and try to fly, in 5 seconds they'd get shot out of the sky by a goblin with a weighted net that has a chance to explode. There are options to make it immersive. It's all about design philosophy being based around saying yes instead of saying no. In TTRPGs it is one of the golden rules of being a good game master.

Because there would likely be a mountain of complaints about Blizzard slowing the players down. People really, really want to zoom from one questing area to the next. I think Azj-Kahet itself would would have been far better had flight been heavily restricted there and progressively made easier as you unlock things, liberate districts and make friends among the upper hierarchy, but I do believe for every player that thinks the same there's five who want to get the WQ done as far as humanly possible so they can raidlog. Suramar was amazing but led to a crapton of complaints as I recall.

[Joshuaj]

it should be slower imo. bit faster than normal ground mounts but not as fast as normal flying

At max speed it's fasted than Skyriding. Imma try it out rn and tell y'all how I think of it.

[Foolicious]

Very "meh" reaction to updated graphics. Fire nova is fine(ish). More of an eruption than a nova, but still looks good. Crash lightning looks dope, but i don't know why the three projectiles are there. They imply a way bigger range and/or a second damage instance which is both not the case. Ice strike is just as unnoticeable as before, but the casting animation is smoother.
Lightning bolt feels off. I don't think there was a need to change it back into a projectile and it doesn't feel like a real world lightning strike anymore.
Still hope they do the elemental shields at some point.

Marksman eagle is super disappointing. you can see it for half a second when you apply the mark. Super easy to miss, doesn't fly around anywhere etc. Definetly doesn't work as a replacement for pets. Feels especially bad since the other two specs can now use whatever pet they prefer and switch abilities around.

[Albertillo]

it should be slower imo. bit faster than normal ground mounts but not as fast as normal flying

Actually I think it should be the opposite. Right now riding ground mounts doesn't make sense unless they force you to do it. They're slower than flying mounts and enemies can attack you and even dismount you, so basically we have a huge amount of mounts that we won't ever use because they're objectively worse.

In my opinion ground mounts should be faster than flying mounts so there is a balance. With flying mounts you should go a bit slower but can go through mountains and don't have to participate in any combat. With ground mounts you can enter combat and cannot take skips but you go way faster than flying mounts.

[milkmustache]

Actually I think it should be the opposite. Right now riding ground mounts doesn't make sense unless they force you to do it. They're slower than flying mounts and enemies can attack you and even dismount you, so basically we have a huge amount of mounts that we won't ever use because they're objectively worse.

In my opinion ground mounts should be faster than flying mounts so there is a balance. With flying mounts you should go a bit slower but can go through mountains and don't have to participate in any combat. With ground mounts you can enter combat and cannot take skips but you go way faster than flying mounts.

I dunno. Ground mounts being faster than flying mounts would just be silly. DRIVE kind of gets a pass because it's a car, but the initial reaction is "this is way too fast".

I definitely agree that there should be some form of ground mount incentivization, but aside from a flying unlock, we're just not there yet. Not sure what it could be, but it's clear that a majority of the playerbase loves hopping from space to space in flight.