Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Hitei]

I'm not saying it's complete

I'm not saying you did, I'm saying that "complete" isn't even in the same country. We are talking a small fraction of the assets needed. 6 out of like 50 zones, and even that "six" is more like 2 zones "sorta done ignoring huge missing parts" and 4 kinda underway.

I'm saying that it's unlikely this many new tree assets, foliage etc were developed solely for housing.

Based on what exactly? This has been happening for a decade.
"this many updated animals couldn't have been done solely for this area"
"this many new Arathi Highlands assets couldn't have been done just for warfronts"
"there's no way all these exile's reach assets were done just for the starting zone"
And every time it turns out there's not only no world revamp about to be announced, the devs talk about how they don't even have current plans for one.

They made, in effect, two new zones, just like they make new starting zones for races. We are going to be spending a huge amount of time in the two neighborhoods, not just before Midnight, and in Midnight, but for the foreseeable future, so they made the neighborhoods modern and nice looking and ensured they'd have good quality high res models, especially since no doubt many of these models will be housing furnishings that people can put in their yards.

I would not be surprised if some of these "Ewlynn" trees have Eversong colorations with white bark and autumnal leaves, or the spooky trees get used in whatever part of the Ghostlands is still spooky, or half the durotar plants are used in some Amanai coastal zone or Naga patch island. But we literally got told circa TWW development that they consider modern zones too much detail and complexity for a world revamp to be a viable thing.

[Cheezits]

I would not be surprised if some of these "Ewlynn" trees have Eversong colorations with white bark and autumnal leaves, or the spooky trees get used in whatever part of the Ghostlands is still spooky, or half the durotar plants are used in some Amanai coastal zone or Naga patch island.

No chance, if you remember Eversong/Ghostland foliage is completely unique modelwise. Now, Lordaeron/Plaguelands? Sure. And yeah we could get an island.

I just don't think housing team made these for the sole purpose of housing. That's all. I'm not even sure housing team made them, or if there is a squadron of the art team assigned for housing. We have yet to see a new piece of furniture after all.

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Now, art team members creating environmental assets for housing neighborhoods, with the justification that they will be used in future expansions down the line? Yeah, I can see that.

[rainhard]

Yrel would eventually turn on everyone if she is as fanatic as she seems. My idea here is that both Yrel's army and the Arathi help us against the Void, but then turn on each other, as it seems impossible to me that the vision of Yrel and the vision of the Arathi's Emperor are the same even if both belong to the Light.

They are both fanatics and would not allow to be ruled by any other or to have another Light Empire competing with them. Hence a Light civil war where we have to align with the least fanatics parts of both the Arathi and Yrel's army to build something new would be cool.

Yrerl coming back to help with the threat of the void and staying around to rise some good old faction tension would work too, like taking a different appoach at lighting everyone up and initially focusing on the horde and after we make contact with the new arathi turn it into a full blown lightvasion.

we could also see the effects of forced lightforgification on people like that the niece of dannath, forcing her to become "good" till the times right and making us realise the deal with lothraxion.

[Hitei]

No chance, if you remember Eversong/Ghostland foliage is completely unique modelwise. Now, Lordaeron/Plaguelands? Sure. And yeah we could get an island.

Historically, yes. But that doesn't mean they still will be. Historically Eversong and Ghostlands flora are extremely limited Eversong is basically just big eversong trees and small bushes. Modern zones do not work like this, they introduce significant variation, there are large trees and then smaller trees and then tiny ornamental trees and bushes and vines and shrubs and smaller leafy plants.

So an updated Eversong or Ghostlands is likely to have the big Quel'thalas trees and then ALSO smaller random trees in similar colors, and plants and bushes, etc. All of which can easily be pulled from neighborhood assets and recolored.

I just don't think housing team made these for the sole purpose of housing.

They full-on said that part of the reason there's only two neighborhoods is that making the zones is a significant amount of work. As above, I'm not even arguing that these assets must only be for the neighborhood. They are probably going to be used elsewhere. We are probably getting more Siren's Isle, Forbidden Reach style zones. We are likely getting two patch zones somewhere.

But I don't know why you would jump from "they made nice new Durotar/Elwynn centralized neighborhoods exactly like they said they would" to "no way there's not a world revamp even though they explicitly said very recently that a world revamp wasn't feasible".

I'm not even sure housing team made them, or if there is a squadron of the art team assigned for housing. We have yet to see a new piece of furniture after all.

There is an entire sub-studio assigned to housing.

[Makorus]

The Housing Team should exist for this purpose, obviously considering the precarious nature of Microsoft maybe they and the Social Team get cut but again we'll see. I think its' very likely we get a Quel'thalas themed one during the last two expansions, at least.

You would think that Microsoft understands that they have a golden goose with Housing if they handle it properly. Obviously, with the way the've been running things, they'll probably fuck it up, but if they cool it with the MTX at the start until people get properly invested in it, they really could have a new gameplay pillar.

[13last]

Housing plots on the moon!! A house in nether storm or something would be sick too

aha I know you're being sarcastic on the first part but if Blizzard really is looking at the next 20 years of WoW I would not be surprised to get some crazy locations for our houses in the future as this would be just the foundation. As a start I love Quel'thalas as a location.

The fact they are adding a social aspect to housing is super interesting. Makes the world feel alive, I'm here for it.

[Holdodlig]

I honestly wasn't expecting to see news about housing si early. I've got to say that I'm still worried that we won't be able to change the shape of the building. Hope that I'm wrong. At least, give us the opportunity to change the roof tiles' color, to add signs so we can build tavern, shop and other stuff.

[Cheezits]

I honestly wasn't expecting to see news about housing si early. I've got to say that I'm still worried that we won't be able to change the shape of the building. Hope that I'm wrong. At least, give us the opportunity to change the roof tiles' color, to add signs so we can build tavern, shop and other stuff.

I think they confirmed already in interviews that you can't edit the shape of the building, but you can choose between three gradually bigger/more ornate options per racial theme (currently seems to be Human, Orc, Night Elf, Blood Elf at launch). Color changes for the roof would be nice as would signs, even if they aren't attached to the house and are just put up outside.

Considering these four are four of the most popular races I'm not surprised those are the first. However I wonder who would be next on the list, and if it would be based on expansions or popularity.

[Joshuaj]

I think they confirmed already in interviews that you can't edit the shape of the building, but you can choose between three gradually bigger/more ornate options per racial theme (currently seems to be Human, Orc, Night Elf, Blood Elf at launch). Color changes for the roof would be nice as would signs, even if they aren't attached to the house and are just put up outside.

They confirmed we can change our roof colors, I'm pretty certain

[rainhard]

Guessing they'll eventually do that with Dwarves and Trolls (Drakkari), or Forsaken for North EK.

They mentioned how Endeavors will be monthly and there will be a choice or a forced one for specific ocassions, like winter veil im betting where they will progress visually and slowly affect the whole zones weather and theme.

That would be as close to a living world as they could tbh.

[Eldryth]

Maybe we'll also get updates on other zones throughout the world through Endeavors? I mean, not actually revamping them, but hearing about what's been going on there from the NPCs who visit our neighborhoods.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

The endeavor stuff sounds neat, and a good way to bring variety too.

I hope Stormwind and Orgrimmar endeavors get added in the future, when new housing zones are added. It would be weird if they got endeavors themed around my Panda or Val'sharah culture, but I didn't get to do theirs.

[Cheezits]

I hope Stormwind and Orgrimmar endeavors get added in the future, when new housing zones are added. It would be weird if they got endeavors themed around my Panda or Val'sharah culture, but I didn't get to do theirs.

As there are definitely going to be Human/Orc furniture in launch I think they will be at launch, they are just traveling the short distance from their city.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Honestly, the Housing System is the biggest W of all time. Literally, they are avoiding all the pitfalls. Honestly surprising considering what company we're dealing with.

Biggest issue so far is that guilds get automatic additional housing instances, but private charter do not, which is inconvenient for RP communities that span multiple guilds like The Horde Vanguard or the Grand Alliance. More tedious micromanaging individual charters.

[Limayria]

aha I know you're being sarcastic on the first part but if Blizzard really is looking at the next 20 years of WoW I would not be surprised to get some crazy locations for our houses in the future as this would be just the foundation. As a start I love Quel'thalas as a location.

The fact they are adding a social aspect to housing is super interesting. Makes the world feel alive, I'm here for it.

im not being sarcastic, i want to go to the moon and find moon bunny elves and live there lmao

and netherstorm is one of my favorite zones I would love having a tbc styled blood elf outpost in netherstorm to live in and a wastelander style sietch for ethreals would be my forever home i think

I dont think we'll get anything too out there at first but I would be more surprised if we went through midnight without getting a quelthalas neighborhood tbh

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I just hope we do get a Early Access in case they need some stress testing, it just feels like a technical marvel that its this big and so focused on both Inside and Outside customization with 50 plots on top of visitors.

This is like awe-inspiring technologically considering what they're working with.

Given that you cannot seamlessly walk into an interior, it seems to be no more intensive than FF14 housing districts.

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We know Quel’thalas is too small to host an expansion as is and while it could easily be expanded what if it’s just one or two zones?

Blizzard could pull a BFA and have two distinct landmasses again; Quel’thalas and Avaloren.

I feel this would be a waste of potential for both zones, but when has Blizzard followed through on potential lately?

A Quel'thelas reimagined at a larger scale could have many more biomes within it, though I am anticipating that the last zone will be a huge tear in the fabric of reality, where you seemlessly fly through a massive zone wide tear across Quel'thelas into the Voidlord dimension and the last zone is a part of that.

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Maybe I'm in the minority but I wish buildings/structures could be intertwined between horde/alliance or let us pick different textures.

But housing looks incredible I'm really excited for it.

It would also be neat if like FF14, the houses were further segmented so you could mix and match different walls, rooves, doors, chimneys, etc.

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The tone of this writing sounds like a Reddit post. Who's the author supposed to be?

The usual suspects. Sadly this is an issue across the Western gaming industry.

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doesn't necessary work for the characters you have. Like, why is a Draenei Shaman, a Dark Iron Warlock, a Night Elf Druid, a Worgen Death Knight and Human Paladin all in the same house? For RPers that is immersion breaking. For a normal player that just wants to park their alts it works.

You can only play one character at a time and be at one place at a time. Playing your Worgen Death Knight and being at his house means that players in the neighborhoods your alt houses are at see less activity in their neighborhood. They see your alt houses has no one there and it makes the neighborhood feel more dead.

[Nibelheimy]

I still think if they eventually did a mini version of this housing, with no social aspect, no endeavors, just a smaller home akin to the Undermine apartment, just with interior customisation and a hearth in certain zones, it would be great.

I like what I'm seeing I do, I just think the little personal homes per character is missing and could be fulfilled this way.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

On top of what everyone has already said, housing is definitely evergreen content. The amount of customization for it we are gonna get I believe is gonna be crazy. I was bummed out initially with just human/orc housing as I'm a big fan of variety with so many different cultures we have, but seeing some elven and night elf structutres in one of the pics provided gives me hope we'll get a lot of new customization for housing over time.

My biggest fantasy is having a house in the twisting nether lol. We have toys that can change the weather and the skybox so I guess it's a temporary fix but they only last 10 minutes lol.

Hopefully the devs can release 4 housing districts per year, otherwise it's going to take a decade before we get underwater bubble housing, Hallowfall housing, Townlongg Steppes, Vale of Eternal Blossoms, Jade Forest, Bastion, Valdrakken, Emerald Dream, etc.

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Amazing as expected, the only issue is that I can't be in a neighbourhood with my friends without directly going into a private neighbourhood, which would be empty as its just us.

I think you would be able to browse public neighborhoods together, though if your group is larger than 3 or 4 then it might start becoming difficult to find 4 open plots in the same public neighborhood instance that are nearby.

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In FFXIV we started with 3 housing areas. We got another one two expansions later. And two expansions after that did we get the snowy area. So chill.

My worst fear is that we are going to get similarly absurd timetables on the release of new housing zones.

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Apart from the neighborhoods, I really hope they'll consider a model more like ESO, with instanced or semi-instanced pre-built houses all over the world that you can buy and own several per character.

The neighborhoods sound nice, but I want to live in the world I know, in the areas I treasure with all my heart. Not in some new instance zone where I have to share a f*ckin palace with all my characters. *Sigh* but at least other ideas sound appealing.

ESO/Black Desert styled buying houses in the world feels very dispiriting to me. The WoW world is desolate of players outside of Stormwind/Orgrimmar and the Current Expansion City. Imagine stepping out of a house in Dalaran, and nobody else is there. Just a few old NPCs scripted to walk by. Unless Blizzard implemented GW2 styled instancing of cities and lounges to keep every hub populated, but that would also mean having to add portals and transmog and void storage and great vault access and so on to every hub, which Blizzard won't do.

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That sylvanas promo picture is a completely new CGI shot. Looks like its from Midnight cinematic (similar to how Bolvar was leaked from SL). I already compared it to all of her CGI shots and nothing matches, and they're not gonna make a new one for glasses promotion.

It would pretty easy to load in the model, pose the mouth muscles, add lighting, render picture, done.

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Maybe we'll also get updates on other zones throughout the world through Endeavors? I mean, not actually revamping them, but hearing about what's been going on there from the NPCs who visit our neighborhoods.

If Blizzard wanted to do that, then they would have done so with the Exploring Azeroth series, which was ostensibly about seeing how the rest of the world has progressed years after their expac, but the writers wound up just looking up WoWpedia and copypasting the end state there with hardly to no real advancements or surprising changes.

[Viridiel]

I think whoever the master is doesn't know a lot about Azeroth, considering what she's reporting on, so Xal wouldn't fit the bill. Denathrius makes the most sense to me outside of an unknown NPC (maybe someone related to playable Ethereals? as a meta way to have them acclimated to Azeroth)

Good point; she probably should've seen enough of our fashion and fighting styles at least while hanging out with the High Priest, and I'm not sure the timelines actually work out.

Denathrius does have a reason to be interested in the elf wells (the Sunwell for snuffing it out so its Light doesn't burn him, moonwells because they're connected to Elune and his plans might involve attacking Life), but I can't quite see it fitting in satisfactorily in the worldsoul saga. So the seed could be planted for Midnight, TLT, or the following saga, depending on who Shadreen's master is and if it's actually foreshadowing their action or just bringing our attention to the wells. It's very open.

[Joshuaj]

Think that would be Sargaras who looked like a bronzed body builder pre Fel.

We have an official look of this design in-game btw. He's bronze.