Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Hearthfinder]

Maybe retail WoW's story is ending after TLT, with the story focus shifting over to "Classic+" where they'll get another chance to tell Azeroth's story but better?

[Reive]

Just release classic+ man and don't let these fraud writers touch it

[Eldryth]

Maybe retail WoW's story is ending after TLT, with the story focus shifting over to "Classic+" where they'll get another chance to tell Azeroth's story but better?

Absolutely no way I can see that happening, that's far too dumb of a business decision. Im sure Classic+ will happen- as it should- but it's a very different game that appeals to a very different audience. Most Classic fans play Classic because they aren't interested in current WoW's gameplay, while modern WoW players like me actually like the evolutions its gone through. I doubt many, if any, of my guild will stick around if WoW goes back to a game without M+, and multiple raid tiers with flexible sizes, and gear upgrades, etc. But if Classic+ has those features, it'd lose the Classic audience. You can't merge the two, and trying would obviously waste everything they've achieved by establishing multiple versions of the game.

Plus I'm pretty sure they've already said they plan to keep releasing more expansions and have plans for up to 17.0.


I do think they're planning to wrap up most, if not all, of the remaining loose story threads throughout the Saga at this rate, but I fully expect it'll just lead to a clean slate for 14.0- a soft reset instead of a hard reboot. It'll still take place after TLT but set up entirely new storylines. Hopefully with a real, meaningful time skip (unlike the post-Shadowlands one where they skipped a few years but nothing happened except for a wedding). Let it jump forward 20-25 years or so.

[Khaza-R]

After elf reunification debacle, I think people should realize "the next 20 years of WarCraft" is mostly just marketing speak

Its not going to be some hard pivot or reset like some people are thinking.

[Hearthfinder]

Absolutely no way I can see that happening, that's far too dumb of a business decision. Im sure Classic+ will happen- as it should- but it's a very different game that appeals to a very different audience. Most Classic fans play Classic because they aren't interested in current WoW's gameplay, while modern WoW players like me actually like the evolutions its gone through. I doubt many, if any, of my guild will stick around if WoW goes back to a game without M+, and multiple raid tiers with flexible sizes, and gear upgrades, etc. But if Classic+ has those features, it'd lose the Classic audience. You can't merge the two, and trying would obviously waste everything they've achieved by establishing multiple versions of the game.

Plus I'm pretty sure they've already said they plan to keep releasing more expansions and have plans for up to 17.0.


I do think they're planning to wrap up most, if not all, of the remaining loose story threads throughout the Saga at this rate, but I fully expect it'll just lead to a clean slate for 14.0- a soft reset instead of a hard reboot. It'll still take place after TLT but set up entirely new storylines. Hopefully with a real, meaningful time skip (unlike the post-Shadowlands one where they skipped a few years but nothing happened except for a wedding). Let it jump forward 20-25 years or so.

Maybe, but I personally wouldn't mind two versions of the Classic+ experience. I mean perhaps there's one catering to Classic players who just want to beat up Onyxia-like villains all day, but with old school features and new content, and then one experience for retail players who want old WoW back without giving up all the modern enhancements.

I dunno, would players really remain engaged with retail if the next story takes us to Avaloren and there's just nothing left of all the legacy story set up in WC3? No fabled islands on the horizon, just "oh hey we found a new place called Teremenia and now our homogenised elf faction is sailing over there so we can fight the evil Kaboorg from the planet of Hezeya"? Sounds pretty awful.

[Reive]

I wonder if holly and the blizz president are going to do something about it. Do they just enjoy basking in praise? For many midnight is already as bad as shadowlands in terms of writing

[Alanar]

I wonder if holly and the blizz president are going to do something about it. Do they just enjoy basking in praise? For many midnight is already as bad as shadowlands in terms of writing

Well, midnight feels like its done. Eveything was solved rather ez and fast. What ever comes next besides the trolls island, it all feels like.. to late for some reason. Its such a weird story to follow.

[Darkarath]

Yeah it's safe to say now that the WSS whole "It's a story so big that we need 3 expansions" is a lie. Just a commercial move, and of course Metzen changes NOTHING. We can even argue that the low points of Midnight are lower than practically anything else that we got before (always with the exception of SL. I think that even for current Blizzard writing team would be difficult to fall so low).

Regarding the state of WoW after TLT... It's difficult to say what the approach will be. I think that some of the following points could happen:

- Classic + won't be like Retail, at least at the start. Meaning that if someone expect the same amount of content and support is going to be dissapointed.

- After TLT we'll see the biggest changes that WoW has received, but I don't think that those will alter the game that much. WoW will still be WoW. Blizzard wouldn't have fought the addon war if WoW was going to change massively in two expansions.

- There won't be a massive restart. Collections will stay. The risk of restarting is too big. They might lose lots of players otherwise. What I see happening is a facilitation of obtaining those thousands of collectibles. Remix could be the key here, or an improved Timewalking. I can see a Remix/TW event for each month. We conveniently have an expansion for each month:

1- January: TBC.
2- February: WotLK.
3- March: Cataclysm.
4- April: MoP.
5- May: WoD.
6- June: Legion.
7- July: BfA.
8- August: Shadowlands.
9- September: DF.
10- October: TWW.
11- November: Midnight.
12- December: TLT.

- A significant timeskip is practically guaranteed. At the very least 10 years. Also a cataclysmic event is not out of the question. It would be a decent excuse to re-visit every old zone but in a shiny revamped version. In such way Blizzard can sell us as many expansions of revamped zones as they want, as they would be able to make "little continents" with a more clear division thanks to said cataclysmic event.

- Another thing that I can see happening is that the WoW after TLT is a new version. Current Retail will stay as it is now, so that we can always go there and obtain any collectible or just to see the story. Collections and characters will be shared between both versions. It might be me but I think that a new version of WoW with a new map with everything to discover (or rediscover) sounds cool. Also I guess that the fact that Blizzard is revamping more zones from now on will be easier to do this way. I don't know anything about such things but eventually having several continents sharing an old and a new version sounds like a hell of bugs and confusion for all players, especially new ones.

[Limayria]

I see the "over hyping ourselves about the future then being mad when wow doesn't live up to our expectations" cycle is kicking up even faster now lol


And I thought I was being unreasonable thinking "maybee we'll get an in game version of trp and more body types"

[huth]

At least with Carmen Sandiego we had that epic opening with the animated version, or Rockapella with the gameshow.

We have no such enjoyment here in any capacity.

Where in the world is Xal'atath Sandiego *sing*

[Joshuaj]

You mean to tell me the guys who built a planet-wide extinction laser into their design might not have the best interests of the mortals on the planets at heart?

The same guys in charge of the laser are the ones deciding the limits of deviation from their design before the laser becomes necessary?

Couldn't be them. No way. Not those guys.

The same guys who are doing stuff for a primordial force that seemingly built a cosmic system that's functioning a very specific way for an unknown reason btw

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Talking about Primordial Order btw, assuming the First Ones aren't retconned ofc.

[allegrian]

I've been in the TLT waiting room since they announced TWW so I really need them to not fuck TLT up. It'd be nice if the whole alleria+Xalatath story finishes in Midnight and TLT is basically an standalone expansion that uses TWW and Midnight as an excuse/setup to happen, but it's not reallt that connected to them.

At the end of the day, TWW + Midnight will be the "true" windrunner saga + some TLT setup, just like WoD was setup for Legion.

[Pyrophax]

Why some people believe that after WSS there will be some major shifts or reworks?
If devs planing like for 20 years or so - unless WoW become ftp - plan unlike to change: 1 expansion every 1.5-2 years, 3-4 seasons with raids, m+, pvp and delves. Some openworld activities, shit-level grand story with ok side quests, maybe some customization options. Maybe revamp of some old zones (for Alliance), killing some Horde characters. Elves and humans everywhere. Jaina, Thrall, Sylvanas, Anduin.

[Nymrohd]

After elf reunification debacle, I think people should realize "the next 20 years of WarCraft" is mostly just marketing speak

Its not going to be some hard pivot or reset like some people are thinking.

Everything related to content and story is just marketing speak. It is just cobbled up together by a team that was completely unleashed from management due to the scandals and now everyone makes things together in an environment that probably allows no conflict (and anyone who disagrees just shuts up to not create any). It's why smaller side quests that are probably made by one writer get to be good; they are consistent. The main story quests are made by a team so everything just goes into the pot and there is no authority to keep theme, pacing, information consistent.

But the gameplay is just solid and while the reward structures are probably 95% made to keep MAUs high, they at least give everyone meaningful weekly progress.

Every expansion will just be 4 zones, 2 patch zones, 3-4 seasons. Because they have to create not just raids but also dungeons, refresh all dungeons, create delves, possibly create prey content. They have widened the scope of what is needed in a season by enough that they cannot really have depth of content.

And that's fine because this is ultimately a game and gameplay trumps story. If you want to read decent fantasy stories, just pick whatever Sanderson last published

[Wyrt]

So, if the Sun...Dawnwell no longer generates power, shouldn't all the magic floaty bits of Silvermoon fall down? There's nothing powering them anymore.

[Thomir]

What would classic+ even be? How would it differ from SoD?

I'd personally like modern graphics and combat in the classic setting, but that'd piss off the classic players. A WoW 2 sounds like a better idea in every way.

[Nymrohd]

So, if the Sun...Dawnwell no longer generates power, shouldn't all the magic floaty bits of Silvermoon fall down? There's nothing powering them anymore.

Astalor has tapped into the collective anguish of WoW internet. MMOChampion and Reddit can power Silvermoon until the heat death of the universe.

[Hearthfinder]

None of this would be such a big problem if we had more character-specific content again, by the way.

They've homogenised the story of the game to such a degree that we're all just following the same path each week, waiting for the next episode of the WoW soap opera to unlock between our grind sessions.

If there was story content specific to classes, races, specs, etc. and especially if it also tied into gameplay for horizontal and vertical progression (like artifacts and class halls in Legion) then things would be very different.

[Nymrohd]

None of this would be such a big problem if we had more character-specific content again, by the way.

They've homogenised the story of the game to such a degree that we're all just following the same path each week, waiting for the next episode of the WoW soap opera to unlock between our grind sessions.

If there was story content specific to classes, races, specs, etc. and especially if it also tied into gameplay for horizontal and vertical progression (like artifacts and class halls in Legion) then things would be very different.

All that would change is make the game more interesting for altoholics who in my experience are mostly still logged in doing their abundance grinds.

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What would classic+ even be? How would it differ from SoD?

I'd personally like modern graphics and combat in the classic setting, but that'd piss off the classic players. A WoW 2 sounds like a better idea in every way.

The only thing that would probably be very worthwhile but an immense undertaking is a complete change to how armor/transmog is rigged on the players so they don't have to custom rig it for each model only for it to clip horribly anyway. It is such a massive restraint and their only solution so far was Dracthyr and that seems to have gone very poorly with the playerbase

[Hearthfinder]

All that would change is make the game more interesting for altoholics who in my experience are mostly still logged in doing their abundance grinds.

No, it would deepen your connection with your own character and remind you that there's other stuff you care about in Azeroth other than Xal'atath's shenanigans.

As a Paladin I'm obviously a bit spoiled in Midnight but take a Shaman for example, or a Warlock. What do they have going on?

Also, I just realised we basically haven't interacted with our own factions AT ALL this expansion, which is very weird and different from what we're used to.

We're usually at least sent to Stormwind or Orgrimmar to build some embassy or rally support from the King/Warchief or whatever. This time it's like they don't even exist, which creates a huuuge vacuum in what it feels like to play and experience the game and its story.