Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

YoY growth is still happening with World of Warcraft through the MTX Model. So yeah, hyperdoomerism has not really any legs to stand on unless the vision shown at Blizzcon differs.

[Marlamin]

Holly's 8 week cadence comment remains to be seen. The Game Files state otherwise and indicate we are cutting this expansion off and moving into the next one without the Game Director outlining what our expansions consist of.

Keep in mind the "game files" only going to 10.2.5 is based on info from November/December 2022. Not saying it's wrong or anything, just to take that with a grain of salt as plans can change both ways (less patches, more patches).

[Jastall]

As I posted elsewhere, Blizz may view retail as a dead end. Classic plus is a way to correct mistakes made that resulted in massive subscription losses.

A dead end that sells millions of copies per expansion, before sub fees, tokens, services and all? Most devs would love to launch dead ends such as this.

As well, if people hate what the current dev teams does with the lore, I question the logic of then being excited with what the exact same dev team would do with the lore, just from a different starting point. What's the definition of insanity again?

Classic+ feels like pure cope to me. The entire point of Classic for Blizzard is that it's a relatively low-cost way to please a section of players that will never be pleased by modern design. Classic+ would cost a lot more money to tape modern design to old-school sensibilities/graphics/etc and likely satisfy no one, because Classic players don't want to touch anything made by modern Blizzard and retail players are far more interested in the game they play continuing on than going for a hard reset to please people that hate the game that they themselves enjoy right now.

[Murlocos]

Asking if 4chan leaks have been accurate in the past is like asking if MMO-Champion leaks have been accurate because Boubouille leaked Cataclysm back in the day. If you want a general rule of thumb, the more one person claims to know every facet of a company and the thought processes behind the decisions being made, the more you should wonder what person would possibly know all this. Especially on a forum like /v/ which is 90% ragebait threads.

Anyone remember the last big Blizzard /v/ "leak" where the company was supposed to be broken up and restructured into Insight by now?

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Keep in mind the "game files" only going to 10.2.5 is based on info from November/December 2022. Not saying it's wrong or anything, just to take that with a grain of salt as plans can change both ways (less patches, more patches).

Well, I am speaking more specifically to the eerie coincidence of a Second Season mount being added in a x.2 patch that happened with 9.2 and now is happening again with 10.2.

[Marlamin]

Well, I am speaking more specifically to the eerie coincidence of a Second Season mount being added in a x.2 patch that happened with 9.2 and now is happening again with 10.2.

That's fair, just commenting on that specifically because some people are treating it as scripture.

[Nymrohd]

That's fair, just commenting on that specifically because some people are treating it as scripture.

I'd say at least as far as raids are concerned, my biggest indication is the Soridormi daily where you get to be a quest giver. In one of the quests you give, you send Aeonormu to effectively play an expansion which is described as having about three raids.

[Ersula]

However, it then goes on to state "right now he's supporting World of Warcraft leadership in crafting the next generation of adventures". That implies, at the very least, that he isn't hands on for retail development. He's supporting others who lead that.

So either he's heading up some unannounced project, OR, he's hands on working on Classic+.

Is there any good reason "The next generation of adventures" doesn't mean "retail's upcoming expansion" because it seems like that's the most obvious thing that statement would elude to.

Again I point to the fact about a year ago Retail WoW was actively looking for a Lead Narrative Director, despite Danuser fulfilling that role during Dragonflight. Danuser is handling a lot of the writing, but with Metzen being his boss. That points to the nature of Metzen's new title focusing on congruity between the warcraft properties and despite the wild claims people keep making about classic here, retail is the franchise's tentpole. Otherwise Metzen's title would have been "Creative Director with no reference to exactly what he was working on" People claiming Classic takes some sort of precedence over Retail have lost track of reality.

However, even Classic ties into the bigger picture. For one, you need somebody in charge to tell people what's OK or not with regards to respecting Classic and its lore. But I can't imagine his day to day job involves a lot of creative meetings around the lore of Classic (unless + is coming, of course).

If they really intend classic to progress at the same 2 year per rate per expansion, they'll probably have a big restart every 3 expansions. Season of Mastery+ with themeing like Diablo seasons: I hope they get really outlandish with it, say one time they reset, they let you play classic with the class race combinations they added in cataclysm, or legion style invasions etc.

Seasons of Mastery still don't require a dedicated executive creative director though.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I'd say at least as far as raids are concerned, my biggest indication is the Soridormi daily where you get to be a quest giver. In one of the quests you give, you send Aeonormu to effectively play an expansion which is described as having about three raids.

I have no words and I am confused, what the fuck Blizzard.

[Sondrelk]

I have no words and I am confused, what the fuck Blizzard.

I wouldnt think too hard about it. Last expansion had three raids, and I doubt the writers got orders from above to manage expectations for the future by specifying three raids only. If anything I would think it just as likely that they sat down to write and thought Three major patches with a raid = Three raids, obviously.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I wouldnt think too hard about it. Last expansion had three raids, and I doubt the writers got orders from above to manage expectations for the future by specifying three raids only. If anything I would think it just as likely that they sat down to write and thought Three major patches with a raid = Three raids, obviously.

I still doubt they will use Blizzcon stage to announce a negative Roadmap and bad business decisions. In Gamespot interview, we trust.

[Ersula]

I wouldnt think too hard about it. Last expansion had three raids, and I doubt the writers got orders from above to manage expectations for the future by specifying three raids only. If anything I would think it just as likely that they sat down to write and thought Three major patches with a raid = Three raids, obviously.

Shadowlands had three raids all with at least 10 bosses. I think that's a healthy amount. With 10.2, we haven't gotten quite as many bosses & based on how much left we have left in the standard 2 year cycle is why I think there will be a fourth. But I thought Shadowlands raids were the best part of that expansion. Am I alone in that feeling? It seems like the raids were the last thing people were complaining about Shadowlands.

Who wants to bet they alternate from this point on? Four Raids one expansion, then 3 raids & a fated season the next. That would be consistent with what happened in BFA.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

I think wow could use some 1 boss raid again to just kill some big bad, but blizzard is probably just thinking about these "world first" marathons..

[Cheezits]

I will say the recent stuff we have (Cata Classic, revampy assets, interview statements) goes against Classic+, just confused why the guy who usually knows things is banking so hard on it unless it's to bait engagement from the people who actually want it/the people on here.

[Nebron]

Danuser has completely reshaped Warcraft's cosmology to his own liking, and his new direction is appealing to a lot of people who aren't afraid of change. I bet even Metzen likes it because on twitter he never said anything negative about Danuser's new vision. Metzen even praised DF story several times.

I'm not afraid of change and yet, I'm still disappoinment with the story direction since Steven Danuser took the steering wheel.
And - since when the lack of criticism is equivalent to appreciation?

[milkmustache]

I will say the recent stuff we have (Cata Classic, revampy assets, interview statements) goes against Classic+, just confused why the guy who usually knows things is banking so hard on it unless it's to bait engagement from the people who actually want it/the people on here.

If you're referring to Towellie, it feels like a really strange hill to die on. A majority of the evidence opposes what he says, but he's very insistent. Regardless, as cool as Classic+ would be, I can't imagine splitting the playerbase more is something Blizzard would like to do right now. Hope for 11.0 revamp, expect new places whether it be islands, underground, Avaloren, or a combination of all 3. Hope for a version of Classic+, expect Cata Classic.

[Shadowferal]

A dead end that sells millions of copies per expansion, before sub fees, tokens, services and all?

Citation please.

[Ersula]

Citation please.

The Quarterly Investors' call. They haven't given DF's exact numbers but every recent expansion has sold between 3 and 4 million copies. Dragonflight definitely isn't so lower that expansions become irrelevant. Maybe if they announce the next expansion will be free it would.

If you're referring to Towellie, it feels like a really strange hill to die on. A majority of the evidence opposes what he says, but he's very insistent. Regardless, as cool as Classic+ would be, I can't imagine splitting the playerbase more is something Blizzard would like to do right now. Hope for 11.0 revamp, expect new places whether it be islands, underground, Avaloren, or a combination of all 3. Hope for a version of Classic+, expect Cata Classic.

People seem to be exaggerating what Towellie said: All he said is "This is very exciting for Classic Players" and people are acting like the metzen news means "Classic HD PLUS EXPANSION CONFIRMED"

[Shadowferal]

The Quarterly Investors' call. They haven't given DF's exact numbers...

Stop right there.
What you're saying is they had one good month or two that you know of out of the whole year. And maybe that could be expanded upon with a patch or two to maybe 5 months..6 months even. Should that paint a rosy picture here?

[Cheezits]

All he said is "This is very exciting for Classic Players" and people are acting like the metzen news means "Classic HD PLUS EXPANSION CONFIRMED"

How can this be framed in any way beyond "new content for Classic" when Classic currently is simply rereleases? Why would Classic players be excited about someone working on Retail?

You could argue he was saying "Classic players should be excited about Retail now" but that's not what he seems to be saying.