Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Lady Atia]

BFA had slop for most of its patches and terrible systems but it was at least "hype". Expectations for WoW expansions are all over the place now.

Yeah, on top of the worst story ever thanks to Afrasiabi. The fun thing, BFA would have worked out really well if they said N'zoth was behind the faction war, have Bolvar go evil in the Shadowlands pre patch and have Sylvanas defeat him, freeing him from the helmet and leading us into the Maw to face the Jailer.

But yeah, atleast the initial cinematic was good, i will give you that haha.

[Makorus]

- no dead last two to three MONTHS of seasons anymore, which we had in TWW
- quicker NEW content, since the mini patches didn't work out at all in TWW the only real answer to that is making quicker seasons instead of dastardly duos
- more varied raids, which is something they already do with the initial tier of Midnight (3 raid biomes instead of one boring "everything looks the same just more platforms of the same type).
- we are back to four seasons, which is also something people complained a lot

We would still have 8 M+ dungeons, we would still have turboboost halfway through, we would still have delves/pray/pvp. Just less raid bosses per tier, quicker seasons, more rewards, more achievements, more zones, more mounts. Keystone legend is easily done in week 2 anyways and no one cares if the titles goes out for +19 keys instead of +23 because we had 2 months less for a season, delves journey can be adjusted so that you get more progress per week. MMR in pvp can be inflated however they like.

Really, complaining about that is like saying "one year of SOO/ICC/DS was great because I was too bad at the game to finish my goals otherwise" idk.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, regarding post launch zones .... I mean look at BFA, Dazaralor had no new zone and Nyalotha had worldquests and tentacles layered over two old zones. People still loved the fact that we had four seasons there.

1. The reason we have dead months is because we have casuals who clear Normal and we have people who do Mythic Raiding, which will still be the case. So instead of two months of "dead seasons" per season, you are going to have the same amount of "dead season" just spread out over several seasons.

2. "Just make quicker seasons!" is not really how that works, and the fact that we didn't get proper .5/.7 compared to DF should be telling that shorter seasons just aren't going to be feasible.

3. Literally irrelevant. Has nothing to do with shorter seasons and you literally name an example of it not being needed in your comment.

4. People complained about not having 4 seasons over 3 is because they lost a seasons worth of content. Having 4 half baked seasons instead of 3 proper seasons would make no difference.

Like idk, you think Blizzard just doesn't want to make new content, when I think they already hit their limit with how much content they can churn out.

Making raid bosses themselves is hardly the hard part, they still have to make the environments, the zones, and everything else, they will just populate it with... less?

[Lady Atia]

1. The reason we have dead months is because we have casuals who clear Normal and we have people who do Mythic Raiding, which will still be the case. So instead of two months of "dead seasons" per season, you are going to have the same amount of "dead season" just spread out over several seasons.

2. "Just make quicker seasons!" is not really how that works, and the fact that we didn't get proper .5/.7 compared to DF should be telling that shorter seasons just aren't going to be feasible.

3. Literally irrelevant. Has nothing to do with shorter seasons and you literally name an example of it not being needed in your comment.

4. People complained about not having 4 seasons over 3 is because they lost a seasons worth of content. Having 4 half baked seasons instead of 3 proper seasons would make no difference.

Like idk, you think Blizzard just doesn't want to make new content, when I think they already hit their limit with how much content they can churn out.

Making raid bosses themselves is hardly the hard part, they still have to make the environments, the zones, and everything else, they will just populate it with... less?

No? That's not how it works? Quicker (and shorter seasons for the raid) would mean that you would still retain the big number spike at the start of each season, and just cut out the low number at the end of it. People come back for new seasons, get their goals done, than leave. Modern players don't stick around in any game for 6 months straight without new content, and no, DASTARDLY DUOS doesn't count lol. TWW's "mini patches" were a disaster, and Dragonflight wasn't really all that better anyways.

Just look up M+ numbers and think again why simply cutting some of the end of a season would help.

Amount of People who play at the start of a season, every season > Mole people who "need" 6 months to finish their goals.

[GeometryWizard]

It's almost impossible to expect anything and IMO it all goes back to the botched Gamescom reveal. Blatantly AI generated preview articles full of errors being released alongside the devs giving incorrect info to things over and over, with a cinematic that has such a confusing ending it felt like humans animating an AI generated video. When you can't even trust official information to be correct anymore it creates this sense of dread that there's zero direction at the top level and development for WoW has become a free for all where everyone is off doing their own thing no matter if it's what players expect or not. Midnight has not escaped the stink of how bad the reveal was and we're coming up on nearly a month of no beta builds now with what's on the beta still being horribly buggy. This is the endgame of Holly's demand for faster and faster and faster content with even 8 weeks being too slow now combined with Microsoft ownership

[Ersula]

I mean, Broken Shore and Forgotten Reach don't really count, especially not Broken Shore because it was quite a bit updated between Launch and 7.2.

...But how is the Midnight Amani Island different? It's there but there's no content for it rn.

[Makorus]

...But how is the Midnight Amani Island different? It's there but there's no content for it rn.

Forbidden Reach and Broken Shore both had content.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

BFA had slop for most of its patches and terrible systems but it was at least "hype". Expectations for WoW expansions are all over the place now.

Which again showcases a strategy they should use which is to have a great pre-expansion marketing campaign with multiple things to announce and present as Youtube Videos. Sure, we're probably never going to see the Saurfang type thing again and I am not saying that but.. If there's one thing BFA did right is using out of game media to obfuscate the actual fact that the game story was essentially just "*static noise* and then into Guys, N'zoth.. Guys, N'zoth.. Omg N'zoth... OMG END OF WORLD OF WARCRAFT OMG.. Oh.. Nevermind. Old Gods are dead? Thanks Ion."

Great marketing and "great patches" (From a first observation point) overcome the Story stuff but again running this completely naked and just trying to bulldoze themselves to 13.2 will probably be a much worse decision. On top of that the Roadmap expansions so far have always had great out of the blue announcements that no one expects which makes this strategy even stronger than in BFA.

I'm going to cope for this until Midnight launches, they have the tools and they can spend their way to obfuscate this entire Story mess if they want for both Midnight and TLT expansion cycles.

I honestly have zero expectations anymore but I do like the Roadmap era of Expansions, we get a strict set of content and we get surprises its' at least in my view more engaging and exciting to be attached to the Retail World of Warcraft within this context than prior.

[milkmustache]

Atal'Utek is a really interesting situation as it would've been easy 12.0.7 fodder had there not been the Warlock tier set icons.

I'd hate to get my hopes up, but I just don't think Atal'Utek is all there is for 12.1, and the fact the entire zone was accessible in the beta for a short period leads me to believe that. If not, then it's a massive fuck up.

[Ersula]

Forbidden Reach and Broken Shore both had content.

But why is it sus that they would have a big island before adding it as formal content? That's not unusual. It's like how everyone was pointing out "There's definitely going to be a zone on the west coast of the Dragon Isles" since alpha. Like, yeah. That's what blizzard does. That's how this all works. And they do it every expansion.

[Cheezits]

The blue fire shrines datamined on Atal'utek points to Bwonsamdi IMO, which makes me think whatever is tied to it is more than just "lol go kill Zul'jan" and is more akin to The Last Troll Patch Ever Celebration. But I don't think a major patch entirely focused on that will work.

We'll need a new renown for instance, and unless it's All Trolls Ever doubling up on the Amani won't work.

[Sondrelk]

But why is it sus that they would have a big island before adding it as formal content? That's not unusual. It's like how everyone was pointing out "There's definitely going to be a zone on the west coast of the Dragon Isles" since alpha. Like, yeah. That's what blizzard does. That's how this all works. And they do it every expansion.

Having an unreachable zone in-game is worlds apart from seeing a perfect spot for a zone to exist.

The zone west of Ohn'ahran plains could have been anything. It could have collapsed into a cave. Or had floating islands descend.
Atal'utek is right there, fully visible and in-game. Not even in the same way Isle of Thunder was visible before it was added. Its just there, theoretically explorable in-game as a fully fleshed out location.

The shocking part is that it feels like Forbidden Reach in the way it's a known location that we simply can't get to normally. But also clearly must have something to do with 12.1, given the raid point there.

An option that has not been discussed, but which is admittedly possible. Is that the zone is just there to be a prelude to the actual 12.1, which will have something troll related somewhere else. Again, similar to Forbidden Reach pointing to Zaralek.

[Cheezits]

An option that has not been discussed, but which is admittedly possible. Is that the zone is just there to be a prelude to the actual 12.1, which will have something troll related somewhere else. Again, similar to Forbidden Reach pointing to Zaralek.

The actual zone could be somewhere underground (potentially tying the Trolls to Haranir, finally) but that runs the issue of two underground zones back to back (Worldcore). Also, funny that we're not just going back underground but the three teased areas that make the most sense (Sacred Flame Temple, Underground Ula'tek, Worldcore) are also underground.

Maybe someone proposed and locked in tons of patches underground (Rootlands, Undermine, Sacred Flame, Worldcore) and Metzen had to step in to make the Worldsoul Saga just to keep players from going insane.

[Hearthfinder]

According to Jez Corden at Windows Central, we will see a lot from Blizzard at this year's BlizzCon.

- New StarCraft shooter.
- Diablo IV expansion.
- WoW TLT.
- Major updates to Overwatch and Hearthstone.
- Potentially new mobile games for Overwatch and Warcraft.

Sounds very exciting, the only thing missing is Heroes of the Storm but who knows?

TLT at BlizzCon does makes sense, even if it means an earlier announcement than Midnight had. After all why skip one of your major reveals of the year, only to save it for a few months?

If Gamescom taught us anything...

[elderu]

According to Jez Corden at Windows Central, we will see a lot from Blizzard at this year's BlizzCon.
...
- WoW TLT.
...
TLT at BlizzCon does makes sense, even if it means an earlier announcement than Midnight had. After all why skip one of your major reveals of the year, only to save it for a few months?
If Gamescom taught us anything...

The amount of people I've seen writing off TLT as being showcased BlizzCon 2026 is concerning, (as I did snag a ticket myself for the first time that'd be disappointing tbh).

And yet, like you said, when would be better? Chances are 12.2 will be relatively known and easier to announce before BlizzCon anyway. We've had those moments before like "As the terrible war against the Lich King continues" before Fall of the Lich King was over, and Mists before Deathwing was a boss iirc.

Really hope that source is true-ish!

Atal'Utek is a really interesting situation as it would've been easy 12.0.7 fodder had there not been the Warlock tier set icons.
I'd hate to get my hopes up, but I just don't think Atal'Utek is all there is for 12.1,

It's not like the 12.0 launch tier is split into 3 entirely different raids or anything, and so it would be impossible for 12.1 to have multiple raids too... /s
(I agree with you, just sarcastic about the fact that almost nobody is considering this plausible route.)

[Cheezits]

The amount of people I've seen writing off TLT as being showcased BlizzCon 2026 is concerning, (as I did snag a ticket myself for the first time that'd be disappointing tbh).

And yet, like you said, when would be better? Chances are 12.2 will be relatively known and easier to announce before BlizzCon anyway. We've had those moments before like "As the terrible war against the Lich King continues" before Fall of the Lich King was over, and Mists before Deathwing was a boss iirc.

Really hope that source is true-ish!

I think they'll announce one big thing about TLT, ala Housing, but seeing the zones right around the time 12.1 releases (March-September is season 1) doesn't seem likely.

Could be T*nker, could be a customization update, could be Vrykul.

[Dracullus]

The amount of people I've seen writing off TLT as being showcased BlizzCon 2026 is concerning, (as I did snag a ticket myself for the first time that'd be disappointing tbh).

And yet, like you said, when would be better? Chances are 12.2 will be relatively known and easier to announce before BlizzCon anyway. We've had those moments before like "As the terrible war against the Lich King continues" before Fall of the Lich King was over, and Mists before Deathwing was a boss iirc.

Timeline doesn't really make sense, Blizzcon is in September just 6 months after Midnight launch. Especially if speculations about 4 tier Midnight are correct, which would very likely move TLT launch windows from late Summer '27 to Christmas season.

If TLT reveal won't be a thing, I could see:

- new game as flagship project (something like this Starcraft FPS rumor)
- second big thing Classic+, which could also release right after Blizzcon
- big info dump about Midnight S3 (could create some hype if it's Lordaeron patch)
- Overwatch/Hearthstone/Diablo IV typical updates about next seasons (I don't know what this leaker talking about D4 expansion is smoking)

all together sounds like pretty standard Blizzcon.

I think they'll announce one big thing about TLT, ala Housing, but seeing the zones right around the time 12.1 releases (March-September is season 1) doesn't seem likely.

Could be T*nker, could be a customization update, could be Vrykul.

Oof, I would prefer full reveal prematurely than spliting it in 3 parts like Midnight where 2 top box features - Quel'Thalas and Housing were spoiled in 2023 and 2024.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

According to Jez Corden at Windows Central, we will see a lot from Blizzard at this year's BlizzCon.

- New StarCraft shooter.
- Diablo IV expansion.
- WoW TLT.
- Major updates to Overwatch and Hearthstone.
- Potentially new mobile games for Overwatch and Warcraft.

Sounds very exciting, the only thing missing is Heroes of the Storm but who knows?

TLT at BlizzCon does makes sense, even if it means an earlier announcement than Midnight had. After all why skip one of your major reveals of the year, only to save it for a few months?

If Gamescom taught us anything...

Doesn't make sense, also TLT? It would essentially be the CGI Cinematic then or some sort of prelude cinematic? Either way, with the state of Midnight and the lack of any sort of "meeting the moment" it is probably going to be a strange one. I'd prefer if they just announced a Feature or some sort of cool new Class/Race at Blizzcon rather than trying to say that Midnight is old news by September. But, oh well.

[milkmustache]

According to Jez Corden at Windows Central, we will see a lot from Blizzard at this year's BlizzCon.

- New StarCraft shooter.
- Diablo IV expansion.
- WoW TLT.
- Major updates to Overwatch and Hearthstone.
- Potentially new mobile games for Overwatch and Warcraft.

Sounds very exciting, the only thing missing is Heroes of the Storm but who knows?

TLT at BlizzCon does makes sense, even if it means an earlier announcement than Midnight had. After all why skip one of your major reveals of the year, only to save it for a few months?

If Gamescom taught us anything...

I think if there are no announcements regarding Classic or a potential C+, that side of the playerbase may (rightfully so) implode.

[Cheezits]

My dream is an Ascended Nerubian reveal with a "Nerubians will return in TLT" blip. But I think it's most likely going to be Order Halls or some other kind of name for class-specific campaigns. Because that's a lower-effort box feature that people have requested.

[Xilurm]

Well let's see.

Midnight 12.0 launches on March 2nd.

12.1 would be in September, ideally a week before Blizzcon. What they could do is tease 12.2 and TLT at the same time, and give us a roadmap until TLT's launch.