Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[milkmustache]

You know, while we're all fantasizing about what we want, why don't we also prepare for the worst-case scenario? What's the most extravagantly awful thing you could expect being revealed for 11.0?

Elemental expansion.

Half kidding. Maybe a repeat of Dragonflight in the sense of new singular location, detatched from factions and racial groups or in general the "Warcraft" feeling. Dragonflight has been really nice, but I don't think it can be done again. Team Revamp obviously. I just think that to keep isolating the rest of the world and shuffling players into new zones that lack some sense of familiarity is getting to be a bit much. Don't need a faction war, but at least like... talking about the factions would be nice. For a 5 year time jump and "relative peace", we really don't know much about whats going on with the two things that are most recognizable in the game.

[Xilurm]

You know, while we're all fantasizing about what we want, why don't we also prepare for the worst-case scenario? What's the most extravagantly awful thing you could expect being revealed for 11.0?

Shadowlands 2.0. I don't know what that means, yet. But I'll know it when I see it.

[Pyrophax]

Back to the topic of a world revamp. I know it's a meme, but what would Silithus look and play like in a world revamp? What kind of content would be good and justify the amount of lore surrounding the giant sword?

Fuse Amirdrassil with sword.
Or wake Azeroth and she will pull it from her arse.

[Woggmer]

For a 5 year time jump and "relative peace", we really don't know much about whats going on with the two things that are most recognizable in the game.

Actually, if you also take into account of everything from Legion up until now. Lots of things happened in that span of time that it would need a whole revamp to cover everything. Heck we don't we even know how badly Lakeshire's current state is after the Scourge attack in Shadowlands... it wasn't just one guy, but several people including the blacksmith that died... and it wasn't just a small wave of undead either, it was a lot of ghouls attacking all at once.

[Sondrelk]

That depends... is there still Azerite coming out of the wound? If so, then I can see Gallywix or the Venture Co setting up shop like oil wells trying to harvest as much Azeriite as they still can.

It would also be interesting to see that stuff having an effect on the nearby Silithid and the stuff in Ahn'Qiraj.

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The other big reason why I don't see Tyr being evil is because we already faced off against an "Evil Tyr" from the Dawn of the Infinites dungeon.

There has been rare instances where they brought back an evil character boss and be like "Wouldn't it be cool to fight them again with an even cooler fight?" Though this do years in advance, not within the same expansion. So Blizzard would probably want to wait to build up something around Tyr being evil (as in right before our eyes and not stuff he did in the past.)

The way I view it, is that if the Elemental Planes are open and all the elementals come pouring out into Azeroth (aka Revamp-o'clock) then the Titan keepers will have to restart the Ordering just to get everything under control.

Would be nice to see Ahn'qiraj being given a makeover. At least partially because I am curious whether they will make it a Titan facility, or an Old God one. The ziggurats and what not seem to be a feature of both Titan Uldum, and Ny'alotha.

[Super Dickmann]

You know, while we're all fantasizing about what we want, why don't we also prepare for the worst-case scenario? What's the most extravagantly awful thing you could expect being revealed for 11.0?

I'd say Mists 3: Revolutions, but that'd be a lie, I badly want to see that plot yet again but with the current (absolute) state of the Horde.

[Cheezits]

What's the most extravagantly awful thing you could expect being revealed for 11.0?

Ka'resh. Would basically be Shadowlands 2.

Backside of Azeroth with no Revamp would also be rough.

Plotwise? Horde Council abolishes back to Warchief Lor'themar.

[Sondrelk]

You know, while we're all fantasizing about what we want, why don't we also prepare for the worst-case scenario? What's the most extravagantly awful thing you could expect being revealed for 11.0?

Any random planet only tangentially mentioned somewhere. K'aresh being a good example.
A full expansions worth of somewhere we have no connection to, whose only redeeming quality is that it looks kinda neat for the first few weeks it takes to get used to it.

[Magistrate]

They had already lost their power in Cata when that happened. I'm not sure if that is the reason Xavius was able to corrupt her so easily or not.

Oops, yep. Good counter.

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Any random planet only tangentially mentioned somewhere. K'aresh being a good example.
A full expansions worth of somewhere we have no connection to, whose only redeeming quality is that it looks kinda neat for the first few weeks it takes to get used to it.

I absolutely want argus level content for other planets to flesh out the universe but to your point I don't think I'd ever want an entire expansion in such a place until we get a lot more connective lore tissue to it.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Ka'resh. Would basically be Shadowlands 2.

Any random planet only tangentially mentioned somewhere. K'aresh being a good example.

Honestly, can't say I agree. The difference between K'aresh and the Shadowlands is that the former has had much more time to stew in the mind of the playerbase and connects tangibly to existing threats (i.e. the Void), and it's associated with a fairly well-liked race that's existed since Burning Crusade. I could see it working, myself. It's also worth noting that part of what made Shadowlands so awful was that the worldbuilding was just utterly terrible and made the First Ones look like absolute morons for putting together such an ineffective system. I don't think a "cosmic" expansion would be inherently bad if it maintains a strong thematic connection to Warcraft, is well-written, and doesn't just feel like a feature from a different franchise lazily shoved into Warcraft's IP.

[Sondrelk]

I'd say Mists 3: Revolutions, but that'd be a lie, I badly want to see that plot yet again but with the current (absolute) state of the Horde.

The Horde Council unilaterally decides to actively genocide the Nelves, starting by nuking Hyjal.
Tensions rise as our Lord and Savior Anduin returns from his journeys to prove how the Horde needs another chance.

[Cheezits]

Honestly, can't say I agree. The difference between K'aresh and the Shadowlands is that the former has had much more time to stew in the mind of the playerbase and connects tangibly to existing threats (i.e. the Void), and it's associated with a fairly well-liked race that's existed since Burning Crusade. I could see it working, myself.

An entire planet based off one race from one zone and a couple dungeons? Even SL had five existing aesthetic concepts to play with (Spirit Healers, Dreadlords, Scourge, Dream, ICC/Lich King).

Can you imagine the sheer amount of OCshit?

[Sondrelk]

Honestly, can't say I agree. The difference between K'aresh and the Shadowlands is that the former has had much more time to stew in the mind of the playerbase and connects tangibly to existing threats (i.e. the Void), and it's associated with a fairly well-liked race that's existed since Burning Crusade. I could see it working, myself.

I could see it working as a patch zone, not as a full expansion.
Have a full void themed expansion that slowly leads up to K'aresh as an endgoal. Maybe as an endgame zone with more zones as the expansion goes if you really have that many ideas.

It's not about whether there are good ideas for it, that is the easy bit. It's about whether you can sustain player engagement fighting the same enemies for a full two years.

[Murlocos]

You know, while we're all fantasizing about what we want, why don't we also prepare for the worst-case scenario? What's the most extravagantly awful thing you could expect being revealed for 11.0?

Shadowlands 2 is the easy answer: completely detached from the rest of the world in some cosmic realm helping races we've never met before that we'll never see again, vague monologues of intangible threats by boring villains, a new mystery box every patch. One of the faction leaders who tagged along says "For the Xlands."

The spicier answer is some sort of Azeroth expansion, Avaloren or revamp or otherwise, where the edges of the setting are completely sanded off. All races become reskinned humans lead by councils that share the same ideals as each other. All the good guys are pristine and boring, all the bad guys are toothless. Azeroth is united as one homogeneous bland blob, which I guess would inevitably lead to SL 2 as the next expansion anyways. This may sound like doubling down on Dragonflight's tone, but I'm thinking more them totally giving up on faction writing after BfA.

Content for both would just be the standard 4 zones, 4 reps, 8 dungeons, 1 raid, world quests, etc. with nothing else.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

I'd say Mists 3: Revolutions, but that'd be a lie, I badly want to see that plot yet again but with the current (absolute) state of the Horde.

Definitely fun to imagine how that would come about. Using precedent from Exploring Kalimdor, I figure it'll be the goblins' fault: "long-nosed greedy race uses multiculturalism to distort a faction" sounds like something that wouldn't usually fly, but doesn't seem too outlandish after someone seriously thought to publish the well-poisoning thing.

[Cheezits]

The spicier answer is some sort of Azeroth expansion, Avaloren or revamp or otherwise, where the edges of the setting are completely sanded off. All races become reskinned humans lead by councils that share the same ideals as each other. All the good guys are pristine and boring, all the bad guys are toothless. Azeroth is united as one homogeneous bland blob, which I guess would inevitably lead to SL 2 as the next expansion anyways. This may sound like doubling down on Dragonflight's tone, but I'm thinking more them totally giving up on faction writing after BfA.

Content for both would just be the standard 4 zones, 4 reps, 8 dungeons, 1 raid, world quests, etc. with nothing else.

That was literally BFA. After the fanbase had a massive hysterical tantrum about being "forced" to play bad guys for two years, they got rid of GALLYWIX. Who wasn't even THAT bad.

Bad/edgy is done, at least more than the level of Heritage Forsaken.

[Sondrelk]

Shadowlands 2 is the easy answer: completely detached from the rest of the world in some cosmic realm helping races we've never met before that we'll never see again, vague monologues of intangible threats by boring villains, a new mystery box every patch. One of the faction leaders who tagged along says "For the Xlands."

The spicier answer is some sort of Azeroth expansion, Avaloren or revamp or otherwise, where the edges of the setting are completely sanded off. All races become reskinned humans lead by councils that share the same ideals as each other. All the good guys are pristine and boring, all the bad guys are toothless. Azeroth is united as one homogeneous bland blob, which I guess would inevitably lead to SL 2 as the next expansion anyways. This may sound like doubling down on Dragonflight's tone, but I'm thinking more them totally giving up on faction writing after BfA.

Content for both would just be the standard 4 zones, 4 reps, 8 dungeons, 1 raid, world quests, etc. with nothing else.

Avaloren being Pandaria 2.0 with laid back races would be pretty awful I imagine.
Something like the backside of Azeroth hiding from the Titan Keepers would need a strong martial race of xenophobes, or at least actively hostile to Titans.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

Content for both would just be the standard 4 zones, 4 reps, 8 dungeons, 1 raid, world quests, etc. with nothing else.

Really, that'd be the actual Shadowlands 2.0. regardless of the theme.

The spicier answer is some sort of Azeroth expansion, Avaloren or revamp or otherwise, where the edges of the setting are completely sanded off. All races become reskinned humans lead by councils that share the same ideals as each other. All the good guys are pristine and boring, all the bad guys are toothless. Azeroth is united as one homogeneous bland blob, which I guess would inevitably lead to SL 2 as the next expansion anyways. This may sound like doubling down on Dragonflight's tone, but I'm thinking more them totally giving up on faction writing after BfA.

That sounds even worse than the first option given that an expansion set in an entirely unrelated realm wholly disconnected from Azeroth and preexisting lore comes with the caveat that it can't irrevocably destroy the setting like a terribly-handled expansion on Azeroth can. See: Shadowlands and BfA, where the consequences of the latter effectively left an entire faction thematically-crippled for the foreseeable future.

[Sondrelk]

That was literally BFA. After the fanbase had a massive hysterical tantrum about being "forced" to play bad guys for two years, they got rid of GALLYWIX. Who wasn't even THAT bad.

Bad/edgy is done, at least more than the level of Heritage Forsaken.

That was by the ending though. BfA had probably one of the most gripping concepts for an expansion since Wrath. But every patch made it worse and worse, until it even gave up the main theme and setting for the final patch.

[Zardas]

You know, while we're all fantasizing about what we want, why don't we also prepare for the worst-case scenario? What's the most extravagantly awful thing you could expect being revealed for 11.0?

Goblins invent a toy to reduce the size of entire armies, they push the wrong button and all the adventures are sized down. Gallywix seize this opportunity to take control of the world by eating us all. We then spend the whole expansion inside the fat goblin's body, fighting against diabetes.