Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Reive]

Classic is far more suited for watching than retail. Things like Hardcore/OF worked so well because it's such a fairly simple approach. Retail is extremely fun to play. It's not fun to watch. It's a lot to take in at once, with so many different UIs, layouts, etc.

Classic+, regardless if it meets expectations, but just based on the idea alone will be massive unlike anything since funnily enough Classic itself. I don't think it's ridiculous enough to say that if it manages to meet and possibly exceed expectations, it has the potential to take a whooooole lot of attention away from retail.

Exactly. Classic is easier to pick up as game and also has the support of streamers and old players due to the whole "Classic feeling like real wow and retail not feeling like wow at all" thing. I'm not saying this to be a doomer, but classic+ is starting to feel more and more like the future of wow. People put a lot of faith in midnight's announcement and they were disappointed . Aside of them going full a realm reborn there isn't much left to make retail wow feel hype

[Makorus]

The former would effectively be a deathknell for Retail, but I can see the latter being fairly balanced.

Lmao no shot.

People don't wanna play Classic because it just plays like ass. It's streamer slop.

[Reive]

The question is how they do Classic+ is it something like Turtle WoW where we get new levelling zones, new races, new dungeons and new raids and it is set in an alterative timeline or is just Classic with more raids and more horizontal progression?

Classic+ could just be Season of Discovery 2.0.

Osrs approach

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Lmao no shot.

People don't wanna play Classic because it just plays like ass.

Who says that?

[Makabreska]

Who says that?

Dunno, who keeps saying that no one wants to play retail and Midnight is already a failure?

[Reive]

Dunno, who keeps saying that no one wants to play retail and Midnight is already a failure?

A lot of people actually

Even in this very thread you see people not having much hope left for the new expansion

[Makabreska]

A lot of people actually

I'm sure of that. You are, after all, a reliable and unbiased source of such information.

[TheProphetLord]

Osrs approach

Osrs? Sorry not familiar with the term.

[Dracullus]

A lot of people actually

Even in this very thread you see people not having much hope left for the new expansion

Yes, after I saw posts from Reive, Reive and Reive on this god forsaken forum, I totally believed THIS TIME wow is dead.

Sigh, and here I fell for this stupid ragebait yet again.

[Hearthfinder]

I honestly think TLT is possible at BlizzCon. I know it's "too early" according to the timeline we're all going by, but come on.

What's the other option? The Game Awards? A Warcraft Direct? Neither of those make sense for the announcement of Blizzard's big finale for the Worldsoul Saga. They will want those classic moments where audiences cheer together as they watch the cinematic.

Plus, TLT is essentially the "new TWW". This is the expansion they created the Worldsoul Saga for. The reason they shuffled things around and made a rushed Midnight expansion with less content than usual (thank god Housing is there to save them).

Not announcing that at BlizzCon would be crazy, especially when it's the first in 3 years.

I think 12.2 will be revealed as well, but it'll be one of those weird K'aresh patches that feel kinda meh, like it was tacked on to the end of Midnight, whose story felt like it ended already in 12.0. So TLT knowledge won't really ruin that experience. We'll just go there, enjoy it for what it is, while happily waiting for TLT's Q3 2027 release.

Classic+ has a good chance of being announced as well.

[Reive]

I'm sure of that. You are, after all, a reliable and unbiased source of such information.

Same can be said for some of you guys. Now matter how big the turd is, some would still defend blizzard. As i said, look around. All you see for midnight is either people bitching about x and y being bad or people being like "eh w/e, I'll just play it because it's just more wow". This is not how people should feel about a new expansion

[GeometryWizard]

OSRS and RS3 comparisons are tempting but the situations are too different IMO and retail isn't in as bad a position as RS3 was hitting back then. RS3 had totally changed compared to OSRS in a way that retail hasn't compared to classic. The graphical style is totally different and it has a completely different combat system plus the UI looks nothing like the old one and is a total confusing mess with how many windows it lets you open up at once. 2026 WoW and 2004 WoW have more in common than 2007 RS and 2012 RS. The sandbox game design also makes it way easier to develop new content for that doesn't instantly obsolete old content whereas even with their Classic+ experiment in SoD each phase mostly made the last one irrelevant. If Classic+ is basically just them redoing the theme park patch and expansion system again I think that will limit the appeal

For comparison OSRS was already surpassing RS3 player numbers by the end of 2015 very few people had the appetite for RS3 and jumped ship after OSRS's rough first year while Classic has been more of its own steady thing at this point and not an explosive new idea

Really the biggest question lingering for the fate of retail is whether they catastrophically bungle the addon and class changes and if they stick to their guns on it for long if so. If retail is in tatters by Blizzcon and all they offer is more content just like 9.1 and Classic+ looks good that's when you'll probably see retail streamers plan to switch games

[Reive]

Osrs? Sorry not familiar with the term.

Besically an alternative version of wow with content that stays faithful to vanilla's vibe and gameplay.

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Yes, after I saw posts from Reive, Reive and Reive on this god forsaken forum, I totally believed THIS TIME wow is dead.

Sigh, and here I fell for this stupid ragebait yet again.

I'm not even posting much these days lol.

I didn't say wow is dead. I just said that the new expansion looks like poorly made garbage.

[Cheezits]

I was going to mention r/wow's constant activity and almost a million users but then I remembered arguing about "vibes" is pointless. I'm not seeing the anti-hype off of MMOC about Midnight other than people not liking the cinematic.

This thread may actually be the most negativity I've seen about the expansion itself.

[Lady Atia]

I honestly think TLT is possible at BlizzCon. I know it's "too early" according to the timeline we're all going by, but come on.

What's the other option? The Game Awards? A Warcraft Direct? Neither of those make sense for the announcement of Blizzard's big finale for the Worldsoul Saga. They will want those classic moments where audiences cheer together as they watch the cinematic.

Plus, TLT is essentially the "new TWW". This is the expansion they created the Worldsoul Saga for. The reason they shuffled things around and made a rushed Midnight expansion with less content than usual (thank god Housing is there to save them).

Not announcing that at BlizzCon would be crazy, especially when it's the first in 3 years.

I think 12.2 will be revealed as well, but it'll be one of those weird K'aresh patches that feel kinda meh, like it was tacked on to the end of Midnight, whose story felt like it ended already in 12.0. So TLT knowledge won't really ruin that experience. We'll just go there, enjoy it for what it is, while happily waiting for TLT's Q3 2027 release.

Classic+ has a good chance of being announced as well.

I mean, they can just say "well, at the end of midnight, something will happen that will call the titans back" and than have a cinematic of them arriving at Ulduar or something with an army of constellars or so. Not so different than "and while we fight against the lichking" or "and soon we will face death itself" for the cata / mop trailers.

Like, we didn't need to know that Xal slurped up Dimensius in order to get the Midnight cinematic / basic storyoutline aswell.

[Makorus]

Most final raid cinematics are kind of unrelated to the next expansion if you leave certain details out.

You don't need to mention the Sword when you reveal BfA. You can even mention Azerite and whatever. You don't need to know that Gul'dan initiated the invasion or was sent back. You don't need to know that Garrosh travelled back to old Draenor.

[Reive]

OSRS and RS3 comparisons are tempting but the situations are too different IMO and retail isn't in as bad a position as RS3 was hitting back then. RS3 had totally changed compared to OSRS in a way that retail hasn't compared to classic. The graphical style is totally different and it has a completely different combat system plus the UI looks nothing like the old one and is a total confusing mess with how many windows it lets you open up at once. 2026 WoW and 2004 WoW have more in common than 2007 RS and 2012 RS. The sandbox game design also makes it way easier to develop new content for that doesn't instantly obsolete old content whereas even with their Classic+ experiment in SoD each phase mostly made the last one irrelevant. If Classic+ is basically just them redoing the theme park patch and expansion system again I think that will limit the appeal

For comparison OSRS was already surpassing RS3 player numbers by the end of 2015 very few people had the appetite for RS3 and jumped ship after OSRS's rough first year while Classic has been more of its own steady thing at this point and not an explosive new idea

Really the biggest question lingering for the fate of retail is whether they catastrophically bungle the addon and class changes and if they stick to their guns on it for long if so. If retail is in tatters by Blizzcon and all they offer is more content just like 9.1 and Classic+ looks good that's when you'll probably see retail streamers plan to switch games

They're 2 completely different games at this point.

The original release of Classic was huge and sod was also fairly popular. A properly made Classic+ can definitely be successful and long term could also steal players and resources from retail.

[Ersula]

Classic is already more popular among streamers. Classic+ could unironically be huge

Only because half of that is Classic Hardcore. And Classic Hardcore has the worst retention possible for actual players. New content is basically regarded the same way when it comes to hype. It doesn't matter if its for retail or classic.

The big problem is:

Classic
Classic+
Expansion Era Classic
Anniversary Classic
Hardcore
Retail
Retail events (remix, plunderstorm, that other event they've been teasing over a year that never happened)

That's too many versions of the game

[Lady Atia]

Most final raid cinematics are kind of unrelated to the next expansion if you leave certain details out.

You don't need to mention the Sword when you reveal BfA. You can even mention Azerite and whatever. You don't need to know that Gul'dan initiated the invasion or was sent back. You don't need to know that Garrosh travelled back to old Draenor.

Well tbf, Garrosh and WoD is maaaaybe not the best example as he's literally (all of the sudden after SoO) in the cinematic haha.

But yeah, they can easily reveal TLT's cinematic and features while we are preparing for s3 without really knowing the context of s4 yet.

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Only because half of that is Classic Hardcore. And Classic Hardcore has the worst retention possible for actual players. New content is basically regarded the same way when it comes to hype. It doesn't matter if its for retail or classic.

The big problem is:

Classic
Classic+
Expansion Era Classic
Anniversary Classic
Hardcore
Retail
Retail events (remix, plunderstorm, that other event they've been teasing over a year that never happened)

That's too many versions of the game

Easy solution - merge collections (but give people a fair chance to get removed things via remixes and classic +). That would unify all the different eras into one big game again.

[Vakir]

Always remember that a sample size of like 20-30 people, maximum, is in no way shape or form a large enough sample size of how much people like or dislike a product that hasn't released yet.

Unless of course it aligns with your personal opinion, in which case it absolutely is and you should use it.

[Cheezits]

Always remember that a sample size of like 20-30 people, maximum, is in no way shape or form a large enough sample size of how much people like or dislike a product that hasn't released yet.

Unless of course it aligns with your personal opinion, in which case it absolutely is and you should use it.

I think r/wow is the most "general" WoW community. Almost 1 mil users, funny lewd pictures made with housing + people still gawking at Pepe the bird in 2026 while asking what's the best race for X and other timeless questions.