Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Santandame]

Not sure what you mean. It's leak season, this is practically where all of this shit goes. 4chan leaks and rumors have been discussed for decades now here. They're just not taken very seriously, but then again no leak (outside of datamines) is.

I was saying you asked a valid question regarding if 4chan had ever been correct with a leak.

[Lady Atia]

Okay well even if that's true 10.2 is most likely the final major patch, right?

No way they would reveal 10.3 only to be made irrelevant and overshadowed by 11.0 right after

Unless....

The story of 10.3 transitions DIRECTLY to 11.0

The ONLY story I can see that accomplishes this is a Murozond finally boss tier which causes Yrel and her lightbound to be pulled into our timeline to kick off 11.0

And since Nozzy is getting his powers back in 10.2 and we have yet to deal with the consequences of Chromie fucking up the timeline it could happen.

I could see blizz con revealing 10.3 and who the final boss is only to transition right to 11.0's reveal showing Yrel's arrival

10.3. will prolly just be a fated raid season + pvp season + m+ season with maybe a new zone, timeless isle style, aswell as new campaign chapters and open world content.

[Triceron]

Yeah, it wouldn't, just like Cataclysm was a world revamp that didn't please everyone when it was released. In fact, many viewed Cataclysm as a disappointment after WotLK, and to this day its considered on the lower end of WoW's expansions, despite containing a substantial revamp. I'm willing to bet that part of the reason Blizzard has been hesitant about another revamp is because of their experience from Cataclysm, where the team did a great deal of work revamping the zones, but most players blazed through them to the end game, not really caring about the new quests in the old zones..

I don't mind a revamp, but I do think Cata dropped the ball because it was a full world revamp that had no future potential for growth. It just timestamped itself and became irrelevant.

If they do a world revamp, I really want them to create evergreen content out of it. Have certain things in the open world that can actually have relevance for the next few expansions, like seeding major questlines or zone and dungeon content that will be expanded slowly over the next 3-4 expansions. Or just have scaling open world content that literally treats the world as a giant Timeless Isle. We just need a reason to go back into the world, and Dragonriding already helps with some of that.

[Lady Atia]

I mean... what if?

What if they've decided, fuck it. We ran out of lore. Like Ion said, we dug ourselves into a corner (paraphrasing).

What if the new expansion is this:

- We lose. The Void wins. Our timeline is effed. Finally, we met an enemy that was just too far ahead of us. The Old Gods really did do their homework, and there's nothing we can do. Except...

- Chromie or somebody does a thing. We see one of those time-rewind effects, moving back through history at a rapid pace.

- *THUNK* The effect stops. A cinematic plays. We hear the first few musical notes of an enhanced Elwynn Forest soundtrack. We open our eyes. We've been given a second chance to stop the Void.

- The expansion is literally Classic+, but in the modern engine. Perhaps a few features are altered, but in general it's still the same game.

Lore is reset. Ton of characters and locations return. We set out on a new journey, and it's all in glorious HD.

But why would you do that if you can just continue in EK/Kalimdor thanks to the timeskip? Literally just retconning 20 years of WoW would be a way to kill the game lol.

[Santandame]

Tbf here, they were done early in the games development.

Also, Shadowlands and DF are totally WoW. They're just new ideas and people hate new things.

But they weren’t though, where are you getting that from?

I’m not saying they aren’t WoW. But people have criticised elements of both for not feeling like WoW and those arguments have both valid and invalid reasonings. Saying people don’t like new things is just being totally disingenuous. There have been many new things added to the game that people have loved.

[NikolaiShade]

I mean... what if?

What if they've decided, fuck it. We ran out of lore. Like Ion said, we dug ourselves into a corner (paraphrasing).

What if the new expansion is this:

- We lose. The Void wins. Our timeline is effed. Finally, we met an enemy that was just too far ahead of us. The Old Gods really did do their homework, and there's nothing we can do. Except...

- Chromie or somebody does a thing. We see one of those time-rewind effects, moving back through history at a rapid pace.

- *THUNK* The effect stops. A cinematic plays. We hear the first few musical notes of an enhanced Elwynn Forest soundtrack. We open our eyes. We've been given a second chance to stop the Void.

- The expansion is literally Classic+, but in the modern engine. Perhaps a few features are altered, but in general it's still the same game.

Lore is reset. Ton of characters and locations return. We set out on a new journey, and it's all in glorious HD.

without resetting everything they could just get away with two timelines at the same time, and then we stabilize them into one timeline during the expac. we even got some allies from the Infinites to help, Nozdormu could even partially become Murozond to keep both timelines

[Well Done Steak]

10.3. will prolly just be a fated raid season + pvp season + m+ season with maybe a new zone, timeless isle style, aswell as new campaign chapters and open world content.

Perhaps with a one boss raid with Murozond? Similar to ruby sanctum.

Themeing a fated season with the bronze/infinite flight makes perfect sense too

[Hitei]

But why would you do that if you can just continue in EK/Kalimdor thanks to the timeskip? Literally just retconning 20 years of WoW would be a way to kill the game lol.

This.

You gain absolutely nothing by resetting the lore. Wowee, look, all those places you've already been and threats you've already beaten (some twice) are back and slightly different, what an exciting """"new"""" journey!

[Lady Atia]

Perhaps with a one boss raid with Murozond? Similar to ruby sanctum.

Themeing a fated season with the bronze/infinite flight makes perfect sense too

Tbf, I would rather have a propper raid tier with Murozond down the line, and they also said that his story is done for now. Buuuut we got a new Murozond model that was only seen for a few seconds during the DotI cinematic, so who knows.

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This.

You gain absolutely nothing by resetting the lore. Wowee, look, all those places you've already been and threats you've already beaten (some twice) are back and slightly different, what an exciting """"new"""" journey!

Yeah, it works for stuff like Mortal Kombat .... for a MMO, not so much imo, until you go the Age of Sigmar route of totally changing everything, which is the opposide of what people want with WoW.

[Teriz]

I don't mind a revamp, but I do think Cata dropped the ball because it was a full world revamp that had no future potential for growth. It just timestamped itself and became irrelevant.

If they do a world revamp, I really want them to create evergreen content out of it. Have certain things in the open world that can actually have relevance for the next few expansions, like seeding major questlines or zone and dungeon content that will be expanded slowly over the next 3-4 expansions. Or just have scaling open world content that literally treats the world as a giant Timeless Isle. We just need a reason to go back into the world, and Dragonriding already helps with some of that.

Yeah, in my view a revamp might even be less likely now because the game gives you so many options for leveling that you don't need to experience the old zones at all. Instead of going through Elwynn Forest or Durator, you can level through any of WoW's 8 expansions instead, so a revamp isn't really needed. I could see them simply updating the look of buildings and landscapes instead.

[pacotaco]

Wowhead is wrong btw, it's only 5 weeks of timewalking, not 6. So the new patch will prolly be on November the 1st, with the new raid 1-2 weeks after that (and after Blizzcon).

I seriously doubt 10.2 would be 3 days after Blizzcon. It's more likely the 7th. But who knows?

Edit: I meant "before Blizzcon".

[NikolaiShade]

If we think about it, has World of Warcraft really improved Warcraft's lore over the past decade?

Unpopular opinion but I's say yes. Mind you, it's my opinion, we all know the harm to the lore that's come from Shadowlands (and I'm one of the biggest fan of Shadowlands, I liked it so much I wouldn't have released it for fear of damaging it...). Jokes aside most of the WoW lore is in constant flux and can be salvaged one way or the other imho

[Well Done Steak]

Yeah, in my view a revamp might even be less likely now because the game gives you so many options for leveling that you don't need to experience the old zones at all. Instead of going through Elwynn Forest or Durator, you can level through any of WoW's 8 expansions instead, so a revamp isn't really needed. I could see them simply updating the look of buildings and landscapes instead.

This 100%.

The entire point of Cata's revamp was to update the leveling experience at the time AND to allow flying in the old world. This is why we still got our "new continent' in the form of spread out zones.

Tolborad, Uldum, hyjal, deepholm, vash, Twilight highlands were essentially that.

Now we have the option to level up with the expansion of our choice.

So there really is no real purpose to update the entirety of Kal and EK cata style.

That being said, updating all the outdated models and assets with fresh HD versions is something that can be done to keep the game fresh, but that's something that can be, and has been, done over time.

[Reive]

What about the Incarnates don't feel like WoW? What about Maldraxxus or Torghast doesn't feel like WoW? What about the fucking Zereths doesn't feel like WoW? Yes, I'm saying it, the First Ones stuff is very much Warcraft.

dragonflight doesn't have the og wow vibe sorry. incarnates aside, it's too wholesome and cutesy

[Santandame]

The Jailer, the Incarnates, the Realms of the Shadowlands, the areas of the Dragon Isles, etc were entirely new things, wot? Maybe they took from old concepts sure, but they themselves are new.

And sure, people have argued against those things, and I admit that the execution of SL in particular kinda sucked, but I don't think my arguments against some of the complaints are disingenuous at all. People legit state that the Shadowlands isn't "Warcraft" or that the Incarnates aren't "WoW", saying it's all too touchy feely or some shit like that, and I hate it.

What on earth are you going on about? I never said they weren’t new. Do you even read peoples posts before responding?

You can hate people feeling that way but if the what we get in the Shadowlands doesn’t feel like “Warcraft” to people then that’s their prerogative. The reason for them complaining about those things isn’t because they’re new, which is what you were saying - which js disingenuous.

[Nebron]

What about the Incarnates don't feel like WoW? What about Maldraxxus or Torghast doesn't feel like WoW? What about the fucking Zereths doesn't feel like WoW? Yes, I'm saying it, the First Ones stuff is very much Warcraft. Seriously, what about any of that doesn't feel like WoW?

Are we seriously saying that the narrative of unity being more common across WoWs timeline is against the idea of "Warcraft"? Cause unity has been the underlying narrative for ages now.

Incarnates do fell like WoW.
Maldraxxus and Torgahst are literally scourge 2.0 being Naxxramas/Plaguelands and Icecrown Citadel respectively.
Whether Zereths or First Ones feel like WoW is quite debatable.

[Santandame]

What about the Incarnates don't feel like WoW? What about Maldraxxus or Torghast doesn't feel like WoW? What about the fucking Zereths doesn't feel like WoW? Yes, I'm saying it, the First Ones stuff is very much Warcraft. Seriously, what about any of that doesn't feel like WoW?

Are we seriously saying that the narrative of unity being more common across WoWs timeline is against the idea of "Warcraft"? Cause unity has been the underlying narrative for ages now.

No one has ever said that the Incarnates don’t feel like WoW. People have been criticising the atmosphere of Dragonflight, not it’s villains. The Incarnates aside from Vyranoth switching sides so quickly have been nothing but praised - Fyrakk especially.

Just like no one has ever said Maldraxus doesn’t feel like WoW. It’s been said numerous times at how similar to EPL that it at times felt like a direct copy and nothing really original. In fact, it’s the one Shadowlands zone that felt the most like classic Warcraft. The exact same with Torghast.

[Hitei]

Why would we retrace our footsteps in Classic+? If anything, they'd write the story differently. We might spend a few years on KA and EK, before heading out west or something.

Because rolling back time doesn't change when Arthas, or Deathwing, or the Legion show up?

If you're just regurgitating Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms as they were before and then ignoring all the threats and places you brought back by resetting to sail west, why are you bothering to reset shit at all? Just sail west now, when you don't have to come up for some absurdly convoluted reason for why everyone's just going to ignore Scourge invasions to go sailing.

[Santandame]

"But they weren’t though, where are you getting that from?"

What did you mean by this then? That the Old Gods or so aren't early WoW? Cause that's wrong still.

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"You can hate people feeling that way but if the what we get in the Shadowlands doesn’t feel like “Warcraft” to people then that’s their prerogative"

They're wrong then.

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Believe it or not, the public opinion can be wrong.

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And in this case, it is.

No that was in response to you saying that early in Warcraft’s development, you know, the mid to late 90’s, people were criticising the Legion, Old Gods and Scourge for not feeling like Warcraft; which was just plain wrong. Again, read posts through before responding.

No an OPINION cannot be wrong. By it’s very definition it cannot be wrong. You’re being extremely petulant.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

Shadowlands talk... zzzzzzz.