Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Enrif]

Surveys have been real, but they transitioned from email to desktop client. Strangely enough, the housing survey was through email but that one was also dismissed as a hoax.

They also regularly hold research interviews at Irvine.

most of my surveys (for diablo for some reason) i got through email. And the last one i took still had that blue background.

Perhaps blizzards uses different types of surveys for different purposes. The blue survey seems to be market interest types of survey, while the white survey seem more angled at actual features?

Would be interesting to hear from others who got surveys what they think.

[Khaza-R]

Survey was real. It was on the launcher which was new. All the previous ones I've gotten were via email.

Here's more SS from other pages where it asked you to individually rank your interest in each of the 10 proposed new specs

[Al Gorefiend]

It's like Ana from overwatch or that one rogue healer from rift, shooting people with healing pots, almost like the alchemist class concept that's been thrown around by people for years or like medics crossbow in TF2

Can we stop and think though for a sec.

You are. Shooting people. To heal them.

Even if they got some super soldier serum on an arrow, it's just a dumb idea to me.

I am willing to change my mind if someone sells it for me though.

[Ersula]

Would anybody want an Abathur-like spec in WoW? One where you can piggyback onto another player?

[Al Gorefiend]

Healer Hunter

- Very unappealing

Support Priest

- Somewhat appealing

Ranged DPS Monk

- Neither appealing or unappealing

Tank Shaman

Very appealing

Tank Rogue

Somewhat unappealing

Ranged DPS Priest

Somewhat appealing

Support Paladin

neither appealing or unappealing

Tank Warlock

somewhat appealing

Ranged DPS Death Knight

somewhat appealing

Healer Mage

neither appealing or unappealing

[Rhlor]

The monkey paw is already curling and the customization pass for Blood and Void Elves is the upcoming neutral Thalassian race.

The Thalassian are already a neutral race; in the Horde they are Blood Elves, and in the Alliance they are Void Elves, just like the Pandaren are Houjin in the Horde and Tushui in the Alliance. With some customizations, they are indistinguishable.

If you want, you can give all the Blood Elf customizations to the Void Elves, but not the Light customizations; those should remain unique.

[huth]

Would anybody want an Abathur-like spec in WoW? One where you can piggyback onto another player?

How would that work in solo play?

Maybe as a pet class where you piggyback on your pet instead, otherwise i see some practical issues with it.

[Lady Atia]

Would anybody want an Abathur-like spec in WoW? One where you can piggyback onto another player?

Lmao, do you really want a "boosted" spec in the game? Not having to move yourself literally takes away 90% of your gameplay especially in midnight with dumbed down specs. Imagine if you could ride on your friend while using your one button rotation hahaha.

[Cheezits]

Obligatory ontopic post: I believe they may have spoiled what happens with the belf/velf sharing as the horde NPCs in the portal room don't have purple eyes, while the alliance NPCs dont have green eyes. AKA they will have some limited customs between them to keep them unique.

More important offtopic post: I anyone else getting absolutely NUKED with ads on the front page of MMOC? I'm getting so many it lags my entire computer, even with adblock. This only started happening recently.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Yeah, just like the previous one was "actually on bnet".

Unless I see more than that one photo, I won't buy that it's real.

I'm sure it doesn't matter to you, as it sounds you're pretty set on your belief, but I also got the same survey that was on my Battle.net app front page-- same list of questions and "proposals." It is legit.

- - - Updated - - -

Can we stop and think though for a sec.

You are. Shooting people. To heal them.

Even if they got some super soldier serum on an arrow, it's just a dumb idea to me.

I am willing to change my mind if someone sells it for me though.

I share the sentiment, but the concept of a "gunner healer" that shoots healing darts/bullets that is visually (and thematically) distinctive from "healing rays" or "healing lasers" has been around in media for a long time. That being said, implementing that concept into an already established fantasy of WoW's hunter -- in my opinion -- would not gel.

In terms of just the visual of the heal itself is a big thing for me. While you have Restoration shamans sending out waves of blue water, Holy priests and paladins summoning beams of light above their allies, and the rest... would it be satisfying to just watch a small object beam across the screen from your gun to your target to heal them? For me: no it would not.

Then you go into playstyle, where you repeatedly can cast healing spells over and over and over to heal somebody. The visual: repeatedly shooting your ally over and over and over. Mechanically not a big deal; but the visual of it would be meme'd to hell. I'd be all for it just so it could get meme'd.

[Nightshade711]

Healer Hunter

- Very unappealing

Support Priest

- Somewhat appealing

Ranged DPS Monk

- Neither appealing or unappealing

Tank Shaman

Very appealing

Tank Rogue

Somewhat unappealing

Ranged DPS Priest

Somewhat appealing

Support Paladin

neither appealing or unappealing

Tank Warlock

somewhat appealing

Ranged DPS Death Knight

somewhat appealing

Healer Mage

neither appealing or unappealing

Ranged DPS DK to me seems neat. It'd have bonus points if it had a permanent lich form. (But knowing Blizzard they'll make it a cooldown)

- - - Updated - - -

I could see Blizzard potentially adding 2-3 new specs to existing classes in TLT instead of adding a new class. The lich ranged DK spec and the earth tank shaman spec seem like they'd be a good fit for TLT.

[Raetary]

What's also pretty interesting about these spec descriptions, is how generic they are.
None of those descriptions are tied to a particular narrative theme or another, they more or less sound like expansions of existing archetypes that could be added whenever and be linked to anything.

Unlike the previous class survey with class ideas that were really out there, brand new and tied to some really specific themes.


We know that Blizzard does not really add such content unless it thematically fits the expansion its introduced in, or i guess the patch if we get them later.
So it makes me wonder what they are planning for the future, maybe we are getting somewhat of a reset after TLT after all.

[Sondrelk]

What's also pretty interesting about these spec descriptions, is how generic they are.
None of those descriptions are tied to a particular narrative theme or another, they more or less sound like expansions of existing archetypes that could be added whenever and be linked to anything.

Unlike the previous class survey with class ideas that were really out there, brand new and tied to some really specific themes.


We know that Blizzard does not really add such content unless it thematically fits the expansion its introduced in, or i guess the patch if we get them later.
So it makes me wonder what they are planning for the future, maybe we are getting somewhat of a reset after TLT after all.

A soft reset after TLT with a level squish, and a heavy focus on a fresh start would make sense. "Go to the other side of the world, and learn about them and about your class" could be an easy blurb.
Yes, it's a bit of a retread of Dragonflight, but with the saga approach from the get go, and hopefully refined after this one. It would probably work perfectly as a concept.

[Khaza-R]

What's also pretty interesting about these spec descriptions, is how generic they are.
None of those descriptions are tied to a particular narrative theme or another, they more or less sound like expansions of existing archetypes that could be added whenever and be linked to anything.

Unlike the previous class survey with class ideas that were really out there, brand new and tied to some really specific themes.


We know that Blizzard does not really add such content unless it thematically fits the expansion its introduced in, or i guess the patch if we get them later.
So it makes me wonder what they are planning for the future, maybe we are getting somewhat of a reset after TLT after all.

Tbh, I thought they were AI generated at first. So I went back and did the survey 3 more times, giving it wildly different inputs just to test it but it always came up with those 10 specs and other people have shared they only have seen the same.

That's perhaps why the DK spec is so interesting. Its by far the most specific and actualized. But it also makes sense. The strongest classes/specs tend to emulate specific characters or units in lore. So a Lich themed spec has much more to draw from then lets say a Shaman Tank. Which felt very generic to me despite it being a very appealing combo.

[Cheezits]

That's perhaps why the DK spec is so interesting. Its by far the most specific and actualized. But it also makes sense. The strongest classes/specs tend to emulate specific characters or units in lore. So a Lich themed spec has much more to draw from then lets say a Shaman Tank. Which felt very generic to me despite it being a very appealing combo.

Shaman has always been one of the most generic classes to me in the context of the game. Every single racial shaman group acts the same and are pigeonholed into acting like the Earthen Ring- basically the opposite of Paladins as well as Druids where several of them practice differently than the Cenarion Circle. So Shaman Tank being "lol use rocks" didn't feel any different from Ele or Enh to me.

The one exception is Kul Tiras with Tidesages.

[Nightshade711]

What's also pretty interesting about these spec descriptions, is how generic they are.
None of those descriptions are tied to a particular narrative theme or another, they more or less sound like expansions of existing archetypes that could be added whenever and be linked to anything.

Unlike the previous class survey with class ideas that were really out there, brand new and tied to some really specific themes.


We know that Blizzard does not really add such content unless it thematically fits the expansion its introduced in, or i guess the patch if we get them later.
So it makes me wonder what they are planning for the future, maybe we are getting somewhat of a reset after TLT after all.

Depending on where/how they handle the story in TLT I could see the ranged DK and earth shaman spec being relevant to TLT.
Moreso the earth shaman spec because TLT is probably where we're dealing with Iridikron? Ranged DK only because it is in Northrend, assuming there'd be scourge content.

[Makabreska]

Well, even Bellular caught up on the extra specs topic and made a clickbait video about it.

[Khaza-R]

Shaman has always been one of the most generic classes to me in the context of the game. Every single racial shaman group acts the same and are pigeonholed into acting like the Earthen Ring- basically the opposite of Paladins as well as Druids where several of them practice differently than the Cenarion Circle. So Shaman Tank being "lol use rocks" didn't feel any different from Ele or Enh to me.

The one exception is Kul Tiras with Tidesages.

I think there's a lot of design space for them explore. But like, raises boulders to tank? Wtf.

The only thing I found interesting from that concept was the "manipulate terrain" part. Something borrowed from CRPGs like BG2, D:OS2 where you can interact with environment would be very interesting. But sounds like a balance and encounter nightmare unless it was built into the class.

[Ersula]

Lmao, do you really want a "boosted" spec in the game? Not having to move yourself literally takes away 90% of your gameplay especially in midnight with dumbed down specs. Imagine if you could ride on your friend while using your one button rotation hahaha.

What if your movement was strategically jumping from ally, to ally or even enemy - Like if your abilities are needed to buff and heal the tank but you have to avoid tank busters because you actually take double damage your host takes.

[Cheezits]

I think there's a lot of design space for them explore. But like, raises boulders to tank? Wtf.

The only thing I found interesting from that concept was the "manipulate terrain" part. Something borrowed from CRPGs like BG2, D:OS2 where you can interact with environment would be very interesting. But sounds like a balance and encounter nightmare unless it was built into the class.

"Manipulate Terrain" just sounded like a fancy way of saying "make the ground shake" like the tremor spells or what Augvoker does, not any kind of map shifting. I really think it would just be a generic shaman with more ground elemental abilities (which augvokers use anyway because nelth).

Which from what I know has been the request for shaman tank anyway. Basically melee augvoker without the time abilities.