Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Sondrelk]

I think it because the reason that the shorter expansions were short each time it was for a different reason.

WOD- Failed development, gave up

SL- Hate towards setting, story, company and systems (and/or was planned to be short)

DF- Test to see if they can change how expansions are delivered and/or planned to be short

WOD wasn't despised before it was cut, it was hated BECAUSE it was cut. Even if you believe SL was cut because it was hated it doesn't explain why DF "gets cut" when its not hated. There's just a different reason each time, and DF being intentionally shorter explains why the content cadence and minor patch sizes are improved.

tl;dr They probably planned on DF being shorter regardless of whether or not it was liked, and it being liked isn't changing that it's just three raids. DF could be the new normal, or explicitly shorter to transition to whatever 11.0 (normal size) is.

WoD sure, but SL was cut short due to Covid, and if DF is cut short it will more likely be because they are planning something big for 11.0.

This isn't the first time Blizzard will have cut a raid tier, and I doubt they are dumb enough to gamble on the small amount of goodwill they built up being enough to placate the playerbase if the next expansion isn't looking amazing from the start.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

tl;dr They probably planned on DF being shorter regardless of whether or not it was liked, and it being liked isn't changing that it's just three raids. DF could be the new normal, or explicitly shorter to transition to whatever 11.0 (normal size) is.

The latter seems much more sensible, whereas the former seems a bit like a bit of an iffy decision that could invite a bit of controversy and thus would be a bit of a questionable decision in the wake of Shadowlands and the reputation failure that came from it.

WOD wasn't despised before it was cut, it was hated BECAUSE it was cut. Even if you believe SL was cut because it was hated it doesn't explain why DF "gets cut" when its not hated. There's just a different reason each time, and DF being intentionally shorter explains why the content cadence and minor patch sizes are improved.

I think I did fail to account for the other problem, which is troubled development. We know that was a problem for both WoD and Shadowlands, whereas there aren't as many indications of that being the case for Dragonflight. It may just be less egregious and more well-concealed this time, but if it really has been cut short, it absolutely would have to be because the expansion's always been intended to be a transitory expansion that's shorter than the others. I can see—somewhat—what you mean with the patch cadence and larger volume of content in minor patches, but the former already worked with the three-patch Legion; admittedly, however, one can attribute that to WoD before it being cut short.

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This isn't the first time Blizzard will have cut a raid tier, and I doubt they are dumb enough to gamble on the small amount of goodwill they built up being enough to placate the playerbase if the next expansion isn't looking amazing from the start.

That's my best guess. They'd have to be ridiculously confident in whatever comes next or have made a very terrible mistake to deviate from prior precedent this significantly.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Can I get a source on this? Because I've never noticed anything that confirms there is an alternate Xe'ra or that she went to alternate Draenor. The naaru Yrel follows seems to not actually be named yet (not saying it isn't her, just that I've never seen it confirmed).

The main justification is that there's a mention of a Light Mother in Yrel's sermon book, which does seem pretty convincing.

Yrel doesn't seem to actually have physically joined the Army of the Light, but rather is building up her contribution to it by converting all of Draenor.

I think this is plausible. It's worth noting that the sermon doesn't mention anything about the Light Mother being physically-present, just that she's somewhere and sent visions to Yrel. It's possible that she's trying to recruit to bolster the forces of the Army of the Light from the Light or elsewhere.

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Just a thought, do you guys think the Void Elf / Telogrus Rift music is inspired by the Ethereals and K'aresh?

It sounds mildly sort of... Oriental or Arabic or something. Almost out of Aladdin, but more ominous.

That's plausible. The void elves have a pretty significant connection to the ethereals, given that it was an ethereal that effectively led to the creation of the race.

Could K'aresh be in another dimension, sort of ... on Azeroth? I wouldn't like it if we just took another spaceship there. It doesn't fit that theme.

Don't really see something like that happening. Could see it being that K'aresh is reached through a portal, though. Maybe the Sunwell explodes? Alternatively, one way of doing it that's more distinct from the Dark Portal or Felstorm would be to have a massive portal storm of numerous smaller rifts open for a Void invasion.

[Fahrad Wagner]

@Arafal Can we get the tuskarr soup chef too?

[Sondrelk]

Just a thought, do you guys think the Void Elf / Telogrus Rift music is inspired by the Ethereals and K'aresh?

It sounds mildly sort of... Oriental or Arabic or something. Almost out of Aladdin, but more ominous.

I wonder how they would pull off a K'aresh patch or expansion. They've already brought a planet to Azeroth (Argus), so that's not very original anymore.

Could K'aresh be in another dimension, sort of ... on Azeroth? I wouldn't like it if we just took another spaceship there. It doesn't fit that theme.

Don't think it's inspired by much besides reversing soundbites to sound weird.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

@Arafal Can we get the tuskarr soup chef too?

I'm tempted to suggest some kind of conquistador with the Scarlet insignia, but if Ybarra's comment holds, that won't happen because their destination was presumably the same as the Nightsquall's.

[Izalla]

@Arafal Can we get the tuskarr soup chef too?

Make sure it's a snapshot of him from the little cutscene after the soup is made

[Murlocos]

I don't see BFA as a failure. I see BFA as Legion but without the extra dev time from a half assed expansion. BFA was only really bad at the start, but became solid from 8.2 onwards.

It's a matter of quality vs quantity. BfA had a lot going on at launch: islands, warfronts, Azerite armor, but what damned it all was that the content was either just not fun or felt like a bizarre step back from Legion's iteration of a similar system. It didn't matter that 8.0 had all that content because ultimately it wasn't enjoyable. Essences turned out okay and 8.3 might be one of the most love it or hate it patches ever, but ultimately those launch failures stuck with BfA. Then we saw how SL's systems were received.

Systems aren't the problem in and of themselves, it's that they've largely just kept designing poor ones over and over for a while now (honestly I don't know where I stand on the debate that Legion's systems were bad too, just shiny and new). To me the chief challenge right now isn't whether they can put out content fast enough, it's whether they're capable of designing good new content or if "new island, M+, public events, raid, megadungeon" is all you can expect.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

I'm tempted to suggest some kind of conquistador with the Scarlet insignia, but if Ybarra's comment holds, that won't happen because their destination was presumably the same as the Nightsquall's.

However, in the instance we want to fantasize and consider it possible anyway, here's a quick edit for that.

[Raetary]

Nobody expects the scarlet inquisition.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Can I get a source on this? Because I've never noticed anything that confirms there is an alternate Xe'ra or that she went to alternate Draenor. The naaru Yrel follows seems to not actually be named yet (not saying it isn't her, just that I've never seen it confirmed). Yrel doesn't seem to actually have physically joined the Army of the Light, but rather is building up her contribution to it by converting all of Draenor.

I don’t believe it is confirmed as such beyond it being the light mother, though given that they already have all the light forged gear it seems a given they have already joined up as they had none of that stuff in Wod.

[Raetary]

Can you put this on the planet somewhere

[Sondrelk]

I feel there needs to be some text on the ancheevie. Maybe #cope?

[Luck4]

Such a Masterpiece!

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Look at those beautiful ships, ascending beyond the stars. Absolutely pristine.

[Grazrug]

Blizzard already said there will be no pirates and that there is nothing on the other side of Azeroth. But I support Thrall becoming the focus again. I am sick and tired of being forced to take from Tyrande and Khadgar who murdered many loyal members of the Horde.

[Holdodlig]

Tanaris Wastelander should be included in that hype train image.

[Raetary]

Tanaris Wastelander should be included in that hype train image.

Why though?

The wastelander set is not any more conspicous than the corsair, fire plum or darkmoon set.

[Sondrelk]

Tanaris Wastelander should be included in that hype train image.

That's true. Maybe have Metzen decked out in the gear if its possible to get a good angle on it.

[micwini]

Captain nightsquall should be on the ship