Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Scaleface]

@Scaleface, the images were sent to the protonmail mentioned in the Twitter bio then? How would you estimate the legitimacy of the source?

No, they do not come from an e-mail - but from the environment that informed about DF and Legion.
However, it was noted that these may be "baits", as I mentioned earlier.

If blizz sent out fake ai images to suss out leakers an muddle the speculation, like scaleface is suggesting may be a possibility, that would be a high iq move

^ this.

Unfortunately, I may cool down the hype, but it's impossible to judge whether they are legit - 50/50.

I'll go back to reading, and in the same way (although I haven't played DF too much because lack of time) I'm waiting for the new expansion like You guys

[Usagi Senshi]

I did the Goblin starting zone once and hated it, will never roll a goblin again, also I steer Clear of all the Gnome/Goblin infested areas as much as possible, an expansion about them and their culture would be seriously offputting and im pretty sure im not the only one who feels this way.

You're quite the judgemental one there, midgetphobe!

[Marlamin]

No, they do not come from an e-mail - but from the environment that informed about DF and Legion.
However, it was noted that these may be "baits", as I mentioned earlier.

Fair enough, thanks.

Unfortunately, I may cool down the hype, but it's impossible to judge whether they are legit - 50/50.

I'll go back to reading, and in the same way (although I haven't played DF too much because lack of time) I'm waiting for the new expansion like You guys

I think it is possible to confirm legitimacy, but not without sharing them more widely with people knowledgable in AI art, which would indeed increase the risk in the case they were genuine or made as bait. So yeah, we'll have to take them at face value for now. Enjoy reading, as far as is possible inbetween the drivel.

[micwini]

No, they do not come from an e-mail - but from the environment that informed about DF and Legion.
However, it was noted that these may be "baits", as I mentioned earlier.



^ this.

Unfortunately, I may cool down the hype, but it's impossible to judge whether they are legit - 50/50.

I'll go back to reading, and in the same way (although I haven't played DF too much because lack of time) I'm waiting for the new expansion like You guys

Could it be 10.3 stuff?

[Sondrelk]

https://twitter.com/towelthetank/sta...02409927987232

Never seen Towelliee be this vehemently against a concept prior to a expansion, lol.

Seems like his belief is that they would instead put all the "Revamp pls" folk on towards a Classic product that fits in that style instead.



Fascinating nonetheless.

And the point of that is?
Seems to me like a world revamp would only be satisfied by a world revamp, not smoke and mirrors in attempting to make them think that Cataclysm is actually the world revamp they want when they themselves admit it had flaws in that regard.

The only way this would work logically is if they had two sets of WoW running concurrently. One for a world revamp and one for K'aresh or whatever, and if they are capable of doing both those things well then why separate them to begin with?

- - - Updated - - -

Well I don't see how this Blizzcon isn't pure bloodshed then.

I don't see how anyone would actually think Cataclysm Classic is what world revamp people want. Unless they are talking about a Cataclysm Classic+, in which case my thought is that people would much rather just have those features in WoW proper instead.

[Kiria]

You're quite the judgemental one there, midgetphobe!

Oh im totally against puntable races, my fave quests in game are the gnome slaughtering in uldum and goblin BBQ in BFA, I do not hide my prejudice's, I really dislike them races.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Again no one thinks its referring to Cataclysm. It was a form of deflection. Again, you can read it that way but that is not what the person asking the question was asking about in that Question/Response.

1.15 is uncounted for and has been vendor'd I expected a clarification that it was SoM 2 and we could move on from it being anything curious but it has not occured yet.

It is still possible that we just get a announcement that its SoM 2 and we can move on but until then it is curious.

[Mysticdoll]

Will they really make the mistake of going offworld again? Lots of feedback about "this doesnt look/feel like warcraft" and then they go into fucking space. It makes 0 sense.

It is interesting considering outland and shadowlands are the only real cosmic expansions warlords was off planet but very primitive vibes an legion had 1 off planet patch. Both sl an bc launched/relaunched recently an were not received well bc isn't even a permanent fixture and people actively want to forget sl and most of its lore

If the images are real void auto generated island expeditions or one void based zone would definitely be a better business move

[Sondrelk]

I'm going to continue and remain boring and not invest hope in any leak that doesn't have at least one foot in reality (and I don't mean Teriz reality, actual reality), this leak season is arguably already of the lowest quality thanks to the like of ChatGPT and the constant drivel/veiled shitslinging in this thread by a select few being worse than the editions before as well.



That'd definitely be an interesting take on "Classic+", it wouldn't explain why some of the updated assets have been showing up in mainline WoW (which is a different content branch) but it might explain what 1.15 is and why it's been on encrypted patch endpoints for longer than any retail expansion has before going into Beta (let alone it not being announced yet).

If there's anything good about this run-up to BlizzCon it's how little is publicly known about the stuff Blizz is working on.

The issue i have with this hypothetical Classic+ is that it seems to work backwards from the idea of making Classic a world revamp.
If that ends up being the case and we get all the bells and whistles a world revamp could offer, but in Classic, then why couldn't we instead have that content put into Retail?

It just seems like a recipe for disaster. Classic diehards will be hesitant to give it a go because it's evidently not Classic. And those like me who prefer Retail will be hesitant because I want all the amenities from Retail.

The solution to this would in that case be either a full version of Retail bolted onto Classic, or the entirety of Classic bolted onto Retail, neither of which seem like a good idea.

- - - Updated - - -

Will they really make the mistake of going offworld again? Lots of feedback about "this doesnt look/feel like warcraft" and then they go into fucking space. It makes 0 sense.

Any sort of cosmic theme that has a distinct area away from Azeroth associated with it should really go the Legion route. You stick to Azeroth, slowly build up, and then have all the best ideas put into one big blowout ending.

It's how Legion did it. It's partially how BfA did it. It's how Shadowlands should have done it.

[Nightshade711]

Yeah, about that;



https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/K%27aresh

So we have Ethereals fleeing their homeworld into the twisting nether. And we also have K'aresh being destroyed. So if its a void expansion, us going to K'aresh is highly doubtful.

Did you even read the very thing you posted?

However, at least one ethereal appears to still operate from K'aresh, which suggests that a portion of the planet may have survived the destruction.[7][8] Dimensius may have also abandoned the planet after the ethereals fled.

And regardless, lore changes all the time.
The Shadowlands was just a copy of Azeroth at one point, until that was retconned to being “the veil” or whatever.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Well, there's a sad truth that maybe they just want to scuttle Retail completely and devalue the product this Blizzcon and they want to use Classic+ to overshadow all the bad that will be done to Retail with the new business standards being put into place (Annual Expansion, 2 Major/4 Minor Standard).

[JMitchy96]

https://twitter.com/towelthetank/sta...02409927987232

Never seen Towelliee be this vehemently against a concept prior to a expansion, lol.

Seems like his belief is that they would instead put all the "Revamp pls" folk on towards a Classic product that fits in that style instead.



Fascinating nonetheless.

Towelliee always seems to act like he knows more than he actually does during expansion-speculation season. Has he ever actually been right? Seems like he's talking shit, especially since we've heard from Ion(?) directly that a world revamp of some form is coming at some point.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Towelliee always seems to act like he knows more than he actually does during expansion-speculation season. Has he ever actually been right?

Considering this will always be clouded in bias, I am just going to say I've never seen Towelliee being this obsessed with a speculation topic to this degree in regards to there being no revamp for Retail and he seems to indicate that the Retail side has never had any interest in it.

The Gamespot interview makes it clear that we will get some form of clarification on Revamp and well considering how Steve Danuser'd Retail rumors look, the only conclusion I've come to is that if there is something connected to EK and Kalimdor its Classic.


I also want to make it clear that this could all be to dehype fans before Blizzcon and in actuality the Gamespot interview is completely correct on it being the actual North Star truth of what will transpire at Blizzcon rather than everything else which is just noise to create doubt and despair.

[Ersula]

Point out where he knew about the heart of ysharjj that he could have eaten for more power or him knowing about the knife at all

That doesn't matter because he was being told what to do by the creatures through the void window. Just like Iridirkon described. They definitely knew where Xalatath was & that she's not the Harbinger.

OMG POSSIBLE REVAMP COMING??? (at least for Lordaeron)

Here on twitter: https://twitter.com/Warcraft/status/1705313777099448456

Its literally a chest from dragonflight & pants from oribos. They're not even new.

So we have Ethereals fleeing their homeworld into the twisting nether. And we also have K'aresh being destroyed. So if its a void expansion, us going to K'aresh is highly doubtful.

Wowpedia is wild because there's a good chance you look at the source & it doesn't say anything like what the article described.

Well, there's a sad truth that maybe they just want to scuttle Retail completely and devalue the product this Blizzcon and they want to use Classic+ to overshadow all the bad that will be done to Retail with the new business standards being put into place (Annual Expansion, 2 Major/4 Minor Standard).

Classic is less appealing to players than Retail. Classic has fewer players.

Towelliee always seems to act like he knows more than he actually does during expansion-speculation season. Has he ever actually been right? Seems like he's talking shit, especially since we've heard from Ion(?) directly that a world revamp of some form is coming at some point.

Why is anyone acting like Towelliee has any actual insider information: He's repeatedly demonstrated he likes to pretend he does but he's just guessing.

[Marlamin]

The issue i have with this hypothetical Classic+ is that it seems to work backwards from the idea of making Classic a world revamp.
If that ends up being the case and we get all the bells and whistles a world revamp could offer, but in Classic, then why couldn't we instead have that content put into Retail?

Thats the million dollar question. Purely asset wise there's no real reason why they couldn't share them between mainline and classic, if anything they're inclined to share them to keep client size from getting out of hand, but you're right about the rest of the content/world as a whole. I feel like it would be a bit of a waste as well as a fragmenting the playerbase between 'new' content on both retail and classic. One could argue hardcore was a very small experiment at that as just a new feature that Retail doesn't have, but that's still very different from having diverging story content.

Towelliee always seems to act like he knows more than he actually does during expansion-speculation season. Has he ever actually been right?

He has been right in the past, but sometimes about oddly specific things. I'd say he does have some idea/fragments based in truth, but not the full picture.

[Sondrelk]

Again no one thinks its referring to Cataclysm. It was a form of deflection. Again, you can read it that way but that is not what the person asking the question was asking about in that Question/Response.

1.15 is uncounted for and has been vendor'd I expected a clarification that it was SoM 2 and we could move on from it being anything curious but it has not occured yet.

It is still possible that we just get a announcement that its SoM 2 and we can move on but until then it is curious.

Them just giving a visual revamp to Classic for those that want it could be interesting. Don't know if it's feasible, but interesting to think about.

Like so much about adding content to Classic though, I do feel it would just beg the question of why the content cannot be in Retail as well. Even more so if the classic zones get a visual revamp and it isn't available in Retail.

- - - Updated - - -

Well, there's a sad truth that maybe they just want to scuttle Retail completely and devalue the product this Blizzcon and they want to use Classic+ to overshadow all the bad that will be done to Retail with the new business standards being put into place (Annual Expansion, 2 Major/4 Minor Standard).

The playerbase of Retail and Classic want different things though. Classic wants stability and to play what they know. Retail wants new stuff constantly.

Slashing Retail just kills that playerbase, since they are unlikely to swap to Classic in a hurry. And adding content to Classic would just be shuffling the chairs around a bit.

- - - Updated - - -

Considering this will always be clouded in bias, I am just going to say I've never seen Towelliee being this obsessed with a speculation topic to this degree in regards to there being no revamp for Retail and he seems to indicate that the Retail side has never had any interest in it.

The Gamespot interview makes it clear that we will get some form of clarification on Revamp and well considering how Steve Danuser'd Retail rumors look, the only conclusion I've come to is that if there is something connected to EK and Kalimdor its Classic.


I also want to make it clear that this could all be to dehype fans before Blizzcon and in actuality the Gamespot interview is completely correct on it being the actual North Star truth of what will transpire at Blizzcon rather than everything else which is just noise to create doubt and despair.

People are this passionate about their preferred theme here though. And I can't imagine all of us have insider knowledge.

- - - Updated - - -

Thats the million dollar question. Purely asset wise there's no real reason why they couldn't share them between mainline and classic, if anything they're inclined to share them to keep client size from getting out of hand, but you're right about the rest of the content/world as a whole. I feel like it would be a bit of a waste as well as a fragmenting the playerbase between 'new' content on both retail and classic. One could argue hardcore was a very small experiment at that as just a new feature that Retail doesn't have, but that's still very different from having diverging story content.

What I could see happening is that in the case of a world revamp, the current versions of EK and Kalimdor will be preserved somehow.
If they did that, then they also have a reason to add the Classic zones into Retail as well through the same tech.
This way they can try to lure Classic players gradually back onto Retail by giving them the halfway point of Classic zones, but without the Classic mechanics.

Edit: Would also give brownie points by retroactively mending one of the big complaints about Cataclysm.

[Teriz]

Did you even read the very thing you posted?



And regardless, lore changes all the time.
The Shadowlands was just a copy of Azeroth at one point, until that was retconned to being “the veil” or whatever.

That's easier to retcon than K'aresh being conquered and possibly destroyed, because that event caused Ethereals to lose their corporeal bodies and be scattered throughout the twisting nether.

[Mysticdoll]

Any sort of cosmic theme that has a distinct area away from Azeroth associated with it should really go the Legion route. You stick to Azeroth, slowly build up, and then have all the best ideas put into one big blowout ending.

It's how Legion did it. It's partially how BfA did it. It's how Shadowlands should have done it.

Honestly a dragon isles expansion were sylvanas resurrected galakrond and then we go to sl in a 9.3 patch to defeat her would have went over better imo

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

The thing to me is the Gamespot interview (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ho.../1100-6517529/) is such a crafted piece of PR that to believe that both Holly and Ion lied in it is preposterous to me.

If you want more clarity with all this noise going around, I recommend reading it and using it to cut through the noise.

Blizzcon is free and all panels are free. There's just something not adding up unless you again believe PR and Marketing have lost their marbles and are intentionally sabotaging the franchise.

[Reive]

I'm going to continue and remain boring and not invest hope in any leak that doesn't have at least one foot in reality (and I don't mean Teriz reality, actual reality), this leak season is arguably already of the lowest quality thanks to the like of ChatGPT and the constant drivel/veiled shitslinging in this thread by a select few being worse than the editions before as well.



That'd definitely be an interesting take on "Classic+", it wouldn't explain why some of the updated assets have been showing up in mainline WoW (which is a different content branch) but it might explain what 1.15 is and why it's been on encrypted patch endpoints for longer than any retail expansion has before going into Beta (let alone it not being announced yet).

If there's anything good about this run-up to BlizzCon it's how little is publicly known about the stuff Blizz is working on.

the more i think about it the more classic+ makes sense. in particular i'm thinking about that recently datamined dragon head. that artstyle looks different from the one we have in retail. the fidelity is closer to the classic models than the ones we have on retail. I guess the prospect of a revamp fits more classic because it would allow them to have a clean start without having the baggage retail has burden the revamped zones.