Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[COBRAstriker]

See? It's that easy!

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So...did you actually read that? Or?

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We're literally fighting the representation of the heat death of the universe next patch. Lay off a bit...

You seem very proud of bearded female dwarves as if they've been some resounding success. Pretty funny actually
Have you ever seen someone playing as one? I genuinely don't think I have
I don't even know who are they for? All that devtime could have went into something that the majority of people actually want, like long requested customizations for existing races
This loops back into the idea of prioritizing tiny, niche audiences over the rest. That just doesn't work, especially for an MMO

[Nibelheimy]

See? It's that easy!

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So...did you actually read that? Or?

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We're literally fighting the representation of the heat death of the universe next patch. Lay off a bit...

I read it fine. It does not say Earthern can change their gender by using gems. It says they can change their gender, but it explicitly says one example is for changing hair colour and length, using gems. Not gender.

We can fight the heat death of the universe without handwaving away any and every lore explanation as "it's fantasy lol" my point stands. It's reductive to the genre.

This isn't some 10 hour gameplay movie which is all about stunning visuals and dramatic moments for a short lived time. This is a 20 year old mmorpg that requires and deserves a thoughtful universe, lore and reasoning for the choices they choose to make within its universe.

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Maybe you should try to read again because it cleary saiys that they change their gender and other stuff "through different processes if an individual earthen wishes".

Yeah again, I read it fine. It doesn't say they change gender through minerals, at all. In fact different processes implies something else. I was simply pointing that out.

You're blinded by the idea that I have a problem with them changing their gender. I do not. Re-read what I actually said.

Sounds like multiple people read my correction, and made an incorrect judgement about my thoughts on the matter.

[Jastall]

This isn't some 10 hour gameplay movie which is all about stunning visuals and dramatic moments for a short lived time. This is a 20 year old mmorpg that requires and deserves a thoughtful universe, lore and reasoning for the choices they choose to make within its universe.

Man are you invested in the wrong franchise then. Blizzard has always done things because they want to, and worried about in-universe excuses to handwave away their choices as a distant afterthought.

[COBRAstriker]

Man are you invested in the wrong franchise then. Blizzard has always done things because they want to, and worried about in-universe excuses to handwave away their choices as a distant afterthought.

Maybe. But at least stuff used to be cool. Now it's just lame and boring

[Nibelheimy]

Man are you invested in the wrong franchise then. Blizzard has always done things because they want to, and worried about in-universe excuses to handwave away their choices as a distant afterthought.

I don't see this game as a lost cause just yet. Im happy to keep fighting the good fight for good story telling with a game I love. I don't think saying hey, this 20 year old franchise needs more reasoning than "It fantasy so whatever/lol" is that crazy a thing to say.

[Jastall]

I don't see this game as a lost cause just yet. Im happy to keep fighting the good fight for good story telling with a game I love. I don't think saying hey, this 20 year old franchise needs more reasoning than "It fantasy so whatever/lol" is that crazy a thing to say.

It isn't, but that's basically been how Blizzard has rolled for decades. Metzen himself gladly sacrificed consistency on the altar of whatever he thought sounded cool at the time

Besides, I wouldn't see this as anything more than yet another convenience for players. We already have barbers that moonlight as magical plastic surgeons able to change your appearance, sex and more besides, which I'm pretty sure isn't fully lore accurate much like resurrection isn't as ridiculously easy and commonplace as it is in-game. I really don't see how it would be some immersion and story-shattering disaster.

[COBRAstriker]

I wonder if K'aresh as is now will release in this form. Hopefully they read the feedback and add more ethereal NPCs and architecture in future builds
Seems to be a common complaint/question as to why are there are so many brokers in what's supposed to be an ethereal patch

[Joshuaj]

I wonder if K'aresh as is now will release in this form. Hopefully they read the feedback and add more ethereal NPCs and architecture in future builds
Seems to be a common complaint/question as to why are there are so many brokers in what's supposed to be an ethereal patch

They're both K'areshi dude...

[COBRAstriker]

They're both K'areshi dude...

I know, we learned that now. But older fans like me wanted to see the focus be on ethereals. Would have been the perfect patch to reintroduce TBC ethereal factions and characters

[Mecheon]

You seem very proud of bearded female dwarves as if they've been some resounding success. Pretty funny actually
Have you ever seen someone playing as one? I genuinely don't think I have
I don't even know who are they for? All that devtime could have went into something that the majority of people actually want, like long requested customizations for existing races
This loops back into the idea of prioritizing tiny, niche audiences over the rest. That just doesn't work, especially for an MMO

Earthen have always been somewhat requested? Basically ever "add new race to the game" slotted them in for the Alliance at some point. They were never in the higher portion of it, but there was a tepid fanbase for them, probably around the level of say, furbolg where its "yeah that'd be neat but there's a lot other races we need first"

As for players, I have seen far more earthen than I've seen mechnagnomes, that's for sure, and we even had a laugh at a normal raid a few weeks back when someone brought an earthen alt along and mentioned how he couldn't eat the feast

The main reason Earthen are playable is probably because Earthen have been re-occurring NPCs and enemies in Vanilla, Wrath, Cata, Legion, BfA, DF and now TWW, so Blizzard giving them a unique model rather than "We just applied a stone texture to dwarves" like they were in Vanilla lets them re-use the model multiple times, and it just so happens to be unlocked for players as well, or because they were tired of using the Cata era model from Deepholm and it was an easy update into player status.

Blizzard got more bang for their buck making Earthen fully customisable and playable, than they'd get for more customisations on player models. It basically comes down to that.

[COBRAstriker]

Earthen have always been somewhat requested? Basically ever "add new race to the game" slotted them in for the Alliance at some point. They were never in the higher portion of it, but there was a tepid fanbase for them, probably around the level of say, furbolg where its "yeah that'd be neat but there's a lot other races we need first"

As for players, I have seen far more earthen than I've seen mechnagnomes, that's for sure, and we even had a laugh at a normal raid a few weeks back when someone brought an earthen alt along and mentioned how he couldn't eat the feast

The main reason Earthen are playable is probably because Earthen have been re-occurring NPCs and enemies in Vanilla, Wrath, Cata, Legion, BfA, DF and now TWW, so Blizzard giving them a unique model rather than "We just applied a stone texture to dwarves" like they were in Vanilla lets them re-use the model multiple times, and it just so happens to be unlocked for players as well, or because they were tired of using the Cata era model from Deepholm and it was an easy update into player status.

Blizzard got more bang for their buck making Earthen fully customisable and playable, than they'd get for more customisations on player models. It basically comes down to that.

They're just reskinned dwarves of which we have multiple flavors of already
If they wanted to get people hyped, it should have been nagas, ethereals, ogres, vrykul or drakonids
Races like dracthyr or earthen just ain't it
We have so many og races that people want, I don't know why they choose to kill excitement every time they decide to add a new race by revealing these lame ones

[Ersula]

This isn't the argument you think it is. "it's fantasy so whatever" is reductive to the genre and doesn't solve anything.

What needs to be solved? This isn't a real problem & grossly offtopic.

[Thomir]

I made my mage Earthen and I think they're pretty cool. I'd probably swap him to an Ethereal if they became playable though.

[Viridiel]

I know, we learned that now. But older fans like me wanted to see the focus be on ethereals. Would have been the perfect patch to reintroduce TBC ethereal factions and characters

All of the TBC factions and several characters are present. Consider playing the content before reviewing it.

[COBRAstriker]

What needs to be solved? This isn't a real problem & grossly offtopic.

There's a tendency among some to use "it's a fantasy world, so anything goes" as shallow justification
WoW has literal spaceships, but I bet that you wouldn't want to see a Lamborghini added to the game, would you?
It's all about maintaining the suspension of disbelief by respecting the medium. The moment you break it, you failed

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I made my mage Earthen and I think they're pretty cool. I'd probably swap him to an Ethereal if they became playable though.

I have nothing against Earthen specifically, they're fine. But I think that when deciding on adding a new race, fine isn't enough

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All of the TBC factions and several characters are present. Consider playing the content before reviewing it.

Oh, that's great news then. I hope I get to see and quest with some of the ethereals from Nagrand or Netherstorm, that would be cool
I generally avoid playing PTR myself, so I don't spoil literally everything

[Mecheon]

They're just reskinned dwarves of which we have multiple flavors of already
If they wanted to get people hyped, it should have been nagas, ethereals, ogres, vrykul or drakonids
Races like dracthyr or earthen just ain't it
We have so many og races that people want, I don't know why they choose to kill excitement every time they decide to add a new race by revealing these lame ones

Naga can't mount (and already have a player-compatible model). Ethereals have barely been relevant since TBC (and just got a model update which probably indicates they're not being considered for playable), Ogres got out-voted by trolls and goblins, Vrykul have a player compatible model and aren't really relevant, drakonids have always been fairly irrelevant and only got popularity once dracthyr were revealed because people want big bara shirtless dragon men and women instead of dragon twinks.

Like I'll give you naga, ethereals, ogres and vrykul being desired, but drakonids were basically earthen level popularity before DF hit and the aformentioned desires kicked in for folks

[Aucald]

This thread is not about discussing different in-game body types or voice settings, it is about the discussion of future content for TWW and the Worldsoul Saga in general. Let's drop the derailing tangent about personal likes/dislikes or real-world politics and get back to the actual topic at hand.

[COBRAstriker]

Naga can't mount (and already have a player-compatible model). Ethereals have barely been relevant since TBC (and just got a model update which probably indicates they're not being considered for playable), Ogres got out-voted by trolls and goblins, Vrykul have a player compatible model and aren't really relevant, drakonids have always been fairly irrelevant and only got popularity once dracthyr were revealed because people want big bara shirtless dragon men and women instead of dragon twinks.

Like I'll give you naga, ethereals, ogres and vrykul being desired, but drakonids were basically earthen level popularity before DF hit and the aformentioned desires kicked in for folks

Maybe nagas could coil around mounts, somehow? I agree that it would take some real creativity to make it work. A naga in a gyrocopter would be silly
Drakonids, I mean we all knew the ones from BWL, if they wanted to add a cool new race in the dragon expansion, those should have been it
I still hope that the surprise at the end of the dungeon will be an ingame hint that playable ethereals are coming. That would be a very cool way to introduce them, and a very cool and unique way to end the patch's story

[Mecheon]

Maybe nagas could coil around mounts, somehow? I agree that it would take some real creativity to make it work. A naga in a gyrocopter would be silly
Drakonids, I mean we all knew the ones from BWL, if they wanted to add a cool new race in the dragon expansion, those should have been it
I still hope that the surprise at the end of the dungeon will be an ingame hint that playable ethereals are coming. That would be a very cool way to introduce them, and a very cool and unique way to end the patch's story

For naga to be playable, you need a series of animations that works on all of the myriad mounts in the game, and that's always been the biggest obstacle to them, given they've been considered since Vanilla. You say it'd be silly but like, that's something they should be able to do, given the Delver mounts available at the moment

Drakonids have never had much support to them. Genuinely, their big support came in DF given that gave some drakonid characters the limelight

11.2 is probably hurting Ethereal chances more than its helping given, well, it seems more tuned at being a Brokers orientated patch as opposed to Ethereals, given Brokers are the friendly bunch and ethereals are, for the most part, hostile.

[Enteroctopus Magnificus]

The simplest solution is to make a new bipedal model.

BfA has introduced two new versions of the naga: a “centaur” crab and a tripod octopus that looks like Azshara.

You can easily imagine a scenario similar to the Nerubians, where they manipulate the Black Blood to create a new elite, better adapted to terra firma for the void invasion.