Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Khaza-R]

I'm sure that's the idea, as the main enemies of the ZA launch story are Witherbark Necromancers and Twilight Blade who are both definitively dealt with. We may be missing a big piece of context with what exactly Ula'tek is- it could be a demon robot for all we know. Or some kind of anti-Wild God (Decay God?)

Personally I think the reference to Azeroth having a cloud serpent companion was a little on the nose and Ula-tek (and probably Hakkar) were once guardians who became corrupted by the titans intervention. One this links the Haranir and Amani. Two, it makes Ula-tek less of a random troll boss and still connected to the main plot of the saga

[Ersula]

Ula'tek is confirmed to be tied to 12.1 (Amani snake loa) and there is a poison-green gladiator mount. There is a possibility that 12.1 is fully Amani-themed, though I would hope that there is another piece of content besides Isle of Fangs. If not, then Amani should be an allied race to make up for the repetitive theming.

People need an extreme reality check regarding the Gladiator Mounts:

• Just because WoWhead or even the internal numbering put the midnight gladiator mounts in that order does not mean that's the actual order they're coming out in. The Shadowlands gladiator mounts were not released corresponding to their internal numbering system, and the Dragonflight's gladiator mount system was completely different & not released early.
• It's entirely possible the Amani Mountain is 12.0.5 content & contains (one of multiple) raid entrances for a 12.1 raid. (Much like ICC or half the raids in Legion.) Personally I'm assuming all the raid tiers in midnight will have multiple smaller raids like the first season.
• If we're following the TWW expample, the themes & motifs of the tiers sets won't have anything to do with the actual raid. With the exception of the Rogue & Mage sets from the first tier of the war within, the tier sets had nothing to do with the seasonal theme. So a Venom themed warlock set means basically nothing.

[Cheezits]

If we're following the TWW expample, the themes & motifs of the tiers sets won't have anything to do with the actual raid. With the exception of the Rogue & Mage sets from the first tier of the war within, the tier sets had nothing to do with the seasonal theme. So a Venom themed warlock set means basically nothing.

The fact that the 12.1 tier set icon list has Ula'teks name in it means the 12.1 tier features Ula'tek. Just like 10.2 had the dream named in it and was in the Dream, 11.1 Goblin was a goblin patch, and etherealraid was... from an ethereal raid.

As for the glad mounts, I am going to assume the poison colored drake is going to feature in the season featuring a giant snake, and the island has green glowing rivers.

[Scyth]

Hyped for the Roadmap, really hope for more customisations for the existent races in a future patch.

Other than that, not sure if we can expect any surprises?
Another cinematic would be great too!

[Hearthfinder]

I think we should expect Ion to spend 5 min explaining a bunch of rationale around addons.

Roadmap for Classic including some kinda tease for BlizzCon.

Roadmap for Modern/Retail outlining patches but going deeper on the 12.0.5 - 12.1 bit, culminating with an ominous frozen or Titan-looking icon for BlizzCon.

And yeah doing char customisation as a big fan service at this point just seems like an insta win no-brainer, given all the feedback.

I could see them maybe splitting it up into chunks, with a bigger focus on VE DH in the first drop, as well as BE. But hopefully it's not a case of "here's more hair colours for two races" again.

[Nymrohd]

I still hope that 12.1 will feature two zones, Isle of Fangs & something else; my hope still is for Eastweald or at least EPL revamped. Troll raid and Strat Megadungeon.
And I would love to finally find out WHY Hakkar is so different to other wild gods with Ula'tek perhaps being similar.

Btw the Endeavor system seems quite the flop and depends entirely on spending time on trade chat or LFG begging strangers to let them visit their neighborhoods that are actually active

[Hitei]

I still hope that 12.1 will feature two zones, Isle of Fangs & something else; my hope still is for Eastweald or at least EPL revamped. Troll raid and Strat Megadungeon.
And I would love to finally find out WHY Hakkar is so different to other wild gods with Ula'tek perhaps being similar.

Btw the Endeavor system seems quite the flop and depends entirely on spending time on trade chat or LFG begging strangers to let them visit their neighborhoods that are actually active

It's really hard to gauge how well neighborhood systems work prior to Midnight. We have no idea what % of the playerbase even has access to housing and what % of neighborhoods are people who made their house when EA originally started and haven't logged on since.

[extasy]

I still hope that 12.1 will feature two zones, Isle of Fangs & something else; my hope still is for Eastweald or at least EPL revamped. Troll raid and Strat Megadungeon.
And I would love to finally find out WHY Hakkar is so different to other wild gods with Ula'tek perhaps being similar.

Btw the Endeavor system seems quite the flop and depends entirely on spending time on trade chat or LFG begging strangers to let them visit their neighborhoods that are actually active

Yeah systems like that will never work with wow players. Good idea, but poorly executed imo.

[Nymrohd]

It's really hard to gauge how well neighborhood systems work prior to Midnight. We have no idea what % of the playerbase even has access to housing and what % of neighborhoods are people who made their house when EA originally started and haven't logged on since.

You are absolutely right but Blizzard could have also chosen NOT to launch endeavors in the prepatch period. And should have figured out ahead of time a way to make it dynamic. Also, the cap on housing xp which is the main personal reward just makes people get to 1000 XP and then just stop the grind. I don't know if everyone in the neighborhood doing endeavors up to 1k would be enough to unlock everything but I doubt it. Ofc if people are active the easier repeatable content (honor/raids/dungeons/delves) might trickle to a lot of progress over the month.

[Jaggler]

I still hope that 12.1 will feature two zones, Isle of Fangs & something else; my hope still is for Eastweald or at least EPL revamped. Troll raid and Strat Megadungeon.
And I would love to finally find out WHY Hakkar is so different to other wild gods with Ula'tek perhaps being similar.

Btw the Endeavor system seems quite the flop and depends entirely on spending time on trade chat or LFG begging strangers to let them visit their neighborhoods that are actually active

I think the thing with endeavors is, is that it probably only works in a guild where most people actively pursue housing and charter neighbourhood. We got the problem in our guild neighbourhood, that abouth 30 people put down a house, but only half of them actively do stuff for the endeavor, so the rest of us is pretty much fucked. But it would also suck having to encourage them to leave the Neighbourhood.

I think the unlock for the housing items should be something you unlock for yourself, and there are other rewards for the progress of the whole neighbourhood (like a bunch of community coupons etc.)

The Belf endeavor, which probably is probably forced on everyone with Midnight launch, shouldn't be a problem because most tasks are basically "do Midnight stuff", so that should complete organically, since even non-housing people would do it, but i have doubts how many of our current guild neighbourhood would be willing to do stuff in Outlands, Zaralek Cavern or Kun-Lai when new content comes out.

[Bozzoltank]

I still hope that 12.1 will feature two zones, Isle of Fangs & something else; my hope still is for Eastweald or at least EPL revamped. Troll raid and Strat Megadungeon.
And I would love to finally find out WHY Hakkar is so different to other wild gods with Ula'tek perhaps being similar.

Btw the Endeavor system seems quite the flop and depends entirely on spending time on trade chat or LFG begging strangers to let them visit their neighborhoods that are actually active

Introducing both Atal'Utek and the Plaguelands would be the literal dream. We'll know by the time the roadmap comes, I suppose. "New Zones", or maybe "New & Revamped Zones", like how they introduced the Midnight zones in the Expansion Features trailer.

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I think part of the problem is that not only is it not a huge area but it's too derivative of an existing zone. Even if it's a stellar Troll patch in general, Undermine still was its own area PLUS some of Ringing Deeps.

The biggest tie-in to Xal'atath is Kith'ix, but at the same time; he's such a niche, random lore-character that only made a minor cameo in a Dragonflight sidequest to players who haven't read the books, so I can see the reception to Atal'Utek being the same as Undermine.

[Nymrohd]

I think the unlock for the housing items should be something you unlock for yourself, and there are other rewards for the progress of the whole neighbourhood (like a bunch of community coupons etc.)

Yeah, this would probably be ideal. Make it more effective if the neighborhood is active but don't lock people out cause their guild doesn't like housing or more likely their public neighborhood is dead.

[Sondrelk]

You are absolutely right but Blizzard could have also chosen NOT to launch endeavors in the prepatch period. And should have figured out ahead of time a way to make it dynamic. Also, the cap on housing xp which is the main personal reward just makes people get to 1000 XP and then just stop the grind. I don't know if everyone in the neighborhood doing endeavors up to 1k would be enough to unlock everything but I doubt it. Ofc if people are active the easier repeatable content (honor/raids/dungeons/delves) might trickle to a lot of progress over the month.

At the very least, they should not have had the full suite of endeavors during pre-patch. Maybe just have everyone do the Ethereal one or something. Wouldnt have fixed the underlying issue, but it would have made it less annoying when you know there are tons of endeavors you will miss out on immedaitely while the devs are figuring out tuning.

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I think the unlock for the housing items should be something you unlock for yourself, and there are other rewards for the progress of the whole neighbourhood (like a bunch of community coupons etc.)

Would at least remove the issue of community resentment when you feel like you are living with lazy people, when the idea behind Endeavors is fostering community spirit.

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Yeah, this would probably be ideal. Make it more effective if the neighborhood is active but don't lock people out cause their guild doesn't like housing or more likely their public neighborhood is dead.

It is pretty sad when Endeavors just prove almost conclusively that the only "good" neighborhood are the charter ones. Public ones are mostly dead, and guild ones are hit and miss, with the best ones being the ones who could have easily been charter ones instead.

[Cheezits]

Nothing sad about Charter and Guild hoods being more populated, it's the system working as intended. The only reason public neighborhoods exist is so that everyone could have a free house/the feature could technically be used by anyone, even if they don't care.

If people are super adamant that they want a an isolated private house they will add a private instanced plot in the cash shop.

[Lady Atia]

I swear .... if that cute lightforged quilen turns out to be fucking china only again ....

[Sondrelk]

Nothing sad about Charter and Guild hoods being more populated, it's the system working as intended. The only reason public neighborhoods exist is so that everyone could have a free house/the feature could technically be used by anyone, even if they don't care.

If people are super adamant that they want a an isolated private house they will add a private instanced plot in the cash shop.

What I mean is, the big neighborhoods were supposed to give a sense of community. But given Endeavors heavily reward active ones, they end up causing resentment for players in Public or smaller Guild neighborhoods.

In many ways it's similar to the old guild level system, which was similarly meant to be a reward for those who fostered a community. But ended up causing resentment for more casual guilds. Or bigger ones with a sizeable percentage of "freeloaders". Which was why it was eventually removed.

[Cheezits]

What I mean is, the big neighborhoods were supposed to give a sense of community. But given Endeavors heavily reward active ones, they end up causing resentment for players in Public or smaller Guild neighborhoods.

I would agree if there was any reward besides a vendor unlock, which you can find unlocked on LFG anyway. Unsure how many CCs you get from the bar filling up but it seems to be a more individual task.

I do think there should be a catchup system implemented. But that may be the "kill x raid bosses" tasks that will be filled out by all players passively once Midnight hits. Maybe they should add a "complete x quests" for the super casuals.

[Ochinko]

I agree on the neighborhood sentiment. People cried fomo off the bat when in reality there is nothing lost, even if your neighborhood doesnt do a single task. The community has public groups up with people offering their vendors to everyone. Its actually nice to see people come together, look at houses, have a chat and putting the M(ultiplayer) back into MMO.
It probably was not designed with this in mind but its very nice that it turned out like this.

[Nymrohd]

I agree on the neighborhood sentiment. People cried fomo off the bat when in reality there is nothing lost, even if your neighborhood doesnt do a single task. The community has public groups up with people offering their vendors to everyone. Its actually nice to see people come together, look at houses, have a chat and putting the M(ultiplayer) back into MMO.
It probably was not designed with this in mind but its very nice that it turned out like this.

Yeah people will find social solution to bad design when they can.

[Cheezits]

Endeavor difficulty scales with your Neighborhood’s activity level. However, given the lack of information for this first month, the system hasn’t yet been calibrated to your Neighborhood activity level.

Looks like there was a failsafe all along for smaller/inactive public neighborhoods. Again, lack of communication from Blizz.

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https://frvr.com/blog/world-of-warcr...vermoon-redux/

“We’re really anxious to see how players respond,” Kubit said. “If it’s positive, I think it opens up a bunch more storytelling opportunities.” At the time of writing, Blizzard is specifically looking to redesign Stormwind, the main hub for the Alliance, and Orgrimmar, the main base for the Horde. However, if players are unreceptive to changes, these areas will remain untouched.

Welp, the capital revamps are never happening if enough people don't like SMC 2.0. Hopefully this is just bait and they do them anyway.