Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Dracullus]

Not sure it understood the context of the assignment

I knew it's too soon to be afraid of Matrix/Terminator scenario.

[Kiivar86]

If Dragonriding wasn't a success, you'd have the forums and social media be in uproar about it, as with all things that the playerbase doesn't like.
Instead, any post about Dragonriding has overtly positive responses.

Back before Dragonflight and dragonriding, I was pretty harsh on the idea of changing flight. I remember getting into it with someone here about it.

I'm eating crow. I love dragonriding. I do think there's still space for regular flying, but I won't lie, whenever I mount up in old world areas, I do have a moment of disappointment hit me.

[Skildar]

I haven't noticed earlier in this thread, has there been much speculation about which villain's ghost we are going to shove unknowingly into Tyr's new body?

I'm still wondering if Wrathion titanic power that he has absorb during Mist will play a role for this thread, the thread of which black dragon should inherit the aspect title or will it be a forgotten trait of his story.

I'm in a place where I don't really care how we end up there but want dragons that have been tainted by either titans or elements to be regarded as foes and primal ones be regarded as dangerous beasts that we shouldn't poke too much.

Just let Ysera be the only dragon in which we can place some trust and let's loose the the others. I like what they've been doing with Wrathion all these years and truly despised what they're doing with Alexstraza, Nozdormu and Kalecgos.

What will the Tyr body be a tool for is an interesting question but I'm dreading the answer. Will it be just another M.O.T.H.E.R? That would be a disaster. Will it be a powerful leader in a civil war amongst keepers? That could be interesting. Will it just be a Ra'den that would sacrifice himself through the expansion and give his powers to Koranos? Probably, I mean rock boy serves no purpose. Or will Koranos sacrifice himself to jumpstart Tyr's body? Probably as well, it would be a bit more interesting ngl.

Anyway, for now the expansion doesn't start on the greatest note story wise and worse lorewise.

[Cheezits]

It would be cool if Tyr is kind of like Odyn in how he's ACTUALLY an order-focused robot demigod instead of the carebears that the Titans were portrayed as in Legion. However I doubt he'll be as much of a dick as Odyn, or if he is he'll be a very different kind of character.

[Grimbold21]

What I want is for Blizzard to take Pauldrons of Wild Magic ( Shaman tier 2 recolor) and make the whole set available with the red colour, with a modernized texture look to it. Add it to the trading post.

I've tried a few times to make a xmog around these shoulders, but it just ain't the same. They could even add red lighting to the shoulders and a red light to the head piece.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

It would be cool if Tyr is kind of like Odyn in how he's ACTUALLY an order-focused robot demigod instead of the carebears that the Titans were portrayed as in Legion. However I doubt he'll be as much of a dick as Odyn, or if he is he'll be a very different kind of character.

I would prefer not having an antaganistic Titan aligned character. I don't know why people are this determined to want to put the Titans as bad.

[Arai]

People disliked WoD because the capital hubs were empty due to Garrisons (big problem in a MMORPG) and there was barely any content, as well as a lot of cut content (Faralhon, Shattrath raid, being able to place Garrisons everywhere, Karabor capital city, etc.) not because of the themes and aesthetics.

People actually praised WoD levelling as the best levelling they ever made (and they continue to do so in 2023, so it's not recency bias). People loved Karabor, that's why they were so disappointed when it wasn't the player hub. People found it very cool to see Outlands before it became Outlands. People were angry that the Shattrath raid was cut because they wanted more lore development for Yrel (who was hyped as the main Alliance protagonist of that expansion).

People liked the themes and aesthetics of WoD, it was an incredibly hyped expansion, they even put Gorehowl statue in Times Square.

People will not dislike an expansion about Yrel and the Lightbound based off of its aesthetics and themes.

And this is not historical revisionism. Even during WoD, people praised the questing and cinematics of the expansion. The problem people were complaining about were always Garrisons, the joke 6.1 patch, the story (characters like Yrel and Lady Liadrin having cut content, joke final boss), and the lack of content, NOT the themes and aesthetics of the expansion.

For instance, I think that WOD Shadowmoon Valley is one of the most beautiful zones they've ever made, and I wouldn't mind at all to revisit it decades into the future, under the control of Yrel and the Lightbound.

Beyond that, Draenor is the second most important planet in the Warcraft Cosmos. I don't think it's too unrealistic to expect a third expansion based on it. Furthermore, we know that the planet of Draenor is somehow dying, with its water resources running scarce, and so its zones might look different now from how they did in WoD.

This is so true. WoD is still my favourite expansion from a theme standpoint. I do like Zuldazar more but the stories etc were really cool in WoD. SV was idd a marvelous zone, too bad everything underdeveloped besides that. I personally cant do much with DF too be honest. It doesnt fit, too much disney.

[Alanar]

I can't go back, I WON'T go back! Old flying is terrible compared to dragonriding. I hate going anywhere outside the Dragon Isles now.

Its funny, because I had the same feeling at first. Then after 2 days (durotar dueling) I got completely used to it again and it was so nice to just hang idle in air, no pressure. I know some kind of idle abillity is coming, but why not include it at shipping..

I still found many moments, were I had to sit idle on the ground waiting for things to get back up before I can take the skies. Especially if you farming, that part is realy unfun.

I mean how many times I missed a rare cus of this.

Love/hate relationship has been formed over past months honestly.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

This is so true. WoD is still my favourite expansion from a theme standpoint. I do like Zuldazar more but the stories etc were really cool in WoD. SV was idd a marvelous zone, too bad everything underdeveloped besides that. I personally cant do much with DF too be honest. It doesnt fit, too much disney.

.....Too much disney....Wow's always been cartoonish and furthermore, wow's aesthetics aren't bad, it doesn't make them dated as much compared to photorealistic or something out of Unreal Engine.

[Arai]

.....Too much disney....Wow's always been cartoonish and furthermore, wow's aesthetics aren't bad, it doesn't make them dated as much compared to photorealistic or something out of Unreal Engine.

There is a huge difference between something like WoD, Wotlk and DF. Im also not talking about colors. Also Tinkers are not gonna happen. We will get Warden as next class, thats also why we get the mog from the trading post. I also hope they ramp up endgame content by atleast 3x because atm the game is rather barebones with the usual boring M+ and 8 boss raid zzz. Feels like 100 person dev team rather than 1k.

[Alanar]

And why do we have to have this choice in the first place? Enough with the keepers becoming our enemies.

I agree.

Also, anything that makes us player special has kinda gone way out of hand for my taste.
I rather not be Neo and act as some support role in the big picture, it's just easier with storytelling as well.

[ChairmanKaga]

I'm still wondering if Wrathion titanic power that he has absorb during Mist will play a role for this thread, the thread of which black dragon should inherit the aspect title or will it be a forgotten trait of his story.

I think that was only to establish the Titans were gone.

[Lady Atia]

There is a huge difference between something like WoD, Wotlk and DF. Im also not talking about colors. Also Tinkers are not gonna happen. We will get Warden as next class, thats also why we get the mog from the trading post. I also hope they ramp up endgame content by atleast 3x because atm the game is rather barebones with the usual boring M+ and 8 boss raid zzz. Feels like 100 person dev team rather than 1k.

Why would you think that giving away the Wardens iconic armour to EVERY class as a cosmetic set would mean we will get Wardens as a new class oO?

It's the other way round - Wardens are dead, the most you will get is if Blizzard would allow Rogues (alongside other meeles) to wield glaives, which is a slim chance sadly.

[Schwert]

People are just really obsessed with getting exactly what they want, when what they want is already something that can be played through something already available.
Like, anything that is just super exclusive to just one race isn't usually going to take up a class slot, with Demon Hunters obviously being the exception (and likely to be expanded on someday), and Evokers being just created in general because ... firebreathing magic dragon can't really be covered any other way.

But there's just so many things where the class (or race) fantasy is fulfilled already by something already there.
If I wanted to play a Warden, I could get that vibe from not even just a Rogue, but an Arms Warrior with a related weapon as well. And that saves on development time, and opens particular concepts to more players in general.

Warden isn't happening.
Just like how Dark Rangers as a whole class / race weren't happening. Hunters and rogues already existed and that fantasy can be fulfilled by reasonable people through appearances and transmog. Only thing really missing for a lot of these things is expanded glyphs, but muh rated pvp confusion in an rpg or something.

[Lady Atia]

People are just really obsessed with getting exactly what they want, when what they want is already something that can be played through something already available.
Like, anything that is just super exclusive to just one race isn't usually going to take up a class slot, with Demon Hunters obviously being the exception (and likely to be expanded on someday), and Evokers being just created in general because ... firebreathing magic dragon can't really be covered any other way.

But there's just so many things where the class (or race) fantasy is fulfilled already by something already there.
If I wanted to play a Warden, I could get that vibe from not even just a Rogue, but an Arms Warrior with a related weapon as well. And that saves on development time, and opens particular concepts to more players in general.

Warden isn't happening.
Just like how Dark Rangers as a whole class / race weren't happening. Hunters and rogues already existed and that fantasy can be fulfilled by reasonable people through appearances and transmog. Only thing really missing for a lot of these things is expanded glyphs, but muh rated pvp confusion in an rpg or something.

The "rated pvp" excuse is especially weak since 99% of any serious pvp'er are relying on addons anyways, and aren't looking at transmog or ability colours lol.

[Zulggun]

People actually praised WoD levelling as the best levelling they ever made (and they continue to do so in 2023, so it's not recency bias).

Lol, sure WoD leveling had some good bits, but every expac has them. But the only reason people were still leveling in Draenor after that is because treasures and bonus objectives. So it's not that WoD's leveling is such amazing experience but because you can skip it the fastest.

[RahEndymion]

With the datamined stuff from 10.0.07, it feels like Blizzard are going to introduce their own brand of 'Chaos Dwarves' to line up with TWWH3 and AoS releases in Warhammer universes.

Since WotlK it's rare for WoW to even slightly line up with Warhammer fantasy stuff but reading about the 'children of the first-flesh' and their deal / vow to the old gods alongside the addition of Order and Chaos as elements directly, feels far too orchestrated to be a coincidence.

Moreso, the concept of the Titans and their supernatural selves having a master plan that involves lying to the mortal species, meddling with their evolution, pushing everything towards Order in an attempt to shut out chaosOld Gods is the exact narrative of the Warhammer 40k prequel setting.

'The Aspects Protect' voice line just reinforces my opinion of this. Dracthyr are literally biologically made super soldiers and one of their voice lines is 'The Aspects Protect'? It gets hard not to read into it at that point ha.

It's a bit loose but I genuinely think that this entire new phase is heavily influenced by a combination of the two settings. Hopefully to the benefit of wow.

Can anyone else see this or is this just apophenia?

[Nathanyel]

It's the other way round - Wardens are dead, the most you will get is if Blizzard would allow Rogues (alongside other meeles) to wield glaives, which is a slim chance sadly.

Pasting a comment I wrote on Reddit yesterday, on the topic of weapon types restricted to a small number of specs:

============================

Feral/Guardian should be able to use Daggers and other one-handed weapons, the Legion Artifacts basically were a prototype of that.

All (non-Dagger) melee weapons should have both Agility and Strength for more cross-useability.

Open up Warglaives to Rogues, possibly Warriors as well (weapon mastery) and maybe Monks.

Implement Tinkers with two specs that use Ranged weapons. edit: for the sake of appealing to MMO-C, this could be any other class idea that uses Ranged weapons in at least one spec

And now to my pièce de résistance:

• When equipping a one-handed weapon, a copy (for melees) or Offhand/Shield (for casters or shield tanks) of the same itemLevel should materialize in the Offhand. Like it happened with the Artifacts (showing the base tech for this already exists, albeit for very specific items)
• This virtual offhand can be enchanted, oiled and mogged, persisting of course when another weapon is equipped.
• This makes it easier for specs using one-handed weapons (especially those that can also use two-handers: Windwalker, Brewmaster, Frost DK, Fury [plus hypothetically Feral, Guardian... maybe Unholy, too?] as well as all Caster specs with their Offhands) to manage upgrades.
• Offhand/Shield appearances are unlocked when unlocking the Mainhand appearance, Shields are unlocked regardless of class. Given the larger total of Mainhand items, any Offhand is used/unlocked by several Mainhands. For newer items, an effort can be made so that the Offhand has at least similar secondary stats to complement the Mainhand, for the minmaxers.
• Need priority is simplified since the offhand slot doesn't have to be taken into account anymore.
• Old Offhands/Shields are turned into Cosmetic items and/or are unlocked alongside related Mainhand appearances. Newer ones don't drop on their own, of course.
• With this in place, it's easier to implement one-handed ranged weapons (dual pistols/wrist-attached crossbows)

There are probably plenty of other aspects/issues for which I could offer 'easy' solutions, but let's not make this post too long (also I have to get back to work)

[Teriz]

People are just really obsessed with getting exactly what they want, when what they want is already something that can be played through something already available.
Like, anything that is just super exclusive to just one race isn't usually going to take up a class slot, with Demon Hunters obviously being the exception (and likely to be expanded on someday), and Evokers being just created in general because ... firebreathing magic dragon can't really be covered any other way.

But there's just so many things where the class (or race) fantasy is fulfilled already by something already there.
If I wanted to play a Warden, I could get that vibe from not even just a Rogue, but an Arms Warrior with a related weapon as well. And that saves on development time, and opens particular concepts to more players in general.

Warden isn't happening.
Just like how Dark Rangers as a whole class / race weren't happening. Hunters and rogues already existed and that fantasy can be fulfilled by reasonable people through appearances and transmog. Only thing really missing for a lot of these things is expanded glyphs, but muh rated pvp confusion in an rpg or something.

The game is still missing a technology-based class. I do agree that Wardens and Dark Rangers are largely covered though.

[micwini]

If they are ever going to do Tinker, I think they will remove engineering as a profession. It's been very useless for a long time and I just can't see them coëxisting. Just like they reworked Demo lock to have Demon hunters.