Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Swnem]

Cataclysm was not a disaster. Who told you that? Highly exaggerated

"Highly exaggerated"


No one told me. I was there. It was terrible. The decline of WoW started with Cataclysm. Game lost 4m subs in a single expansion.
So, let's double down i say.

[Ferlion]

They are coded to Mail armor, so they are probably deadset on Wildhammer = Shaman.

My thought pattern was actually more "It seems really weird to get two different Wildhammer items unless we run into the Wildhammer sometime next expansion."
Though I guess its possible those are trading post items.

[Rezzyk]

"Highly exaggerated"


No one told me. I was there. It was terrible. The decline of WoW started with Cataclysm. Game lost 4m subs in a single expansion.

I mean. Arthas was probably too early in the game's life - that was a story a lot of people were waiting for, and once they got it they didn't see a reason to stick around.

And I know my guild raided like crazy in Wrath. 10 mans, 25's, 10s after 25s the same night. 4-5 raid nights a week. We just had to step back after Wrath was over.

Plus, if you were late teens when Vanilla launched, you had your mid-20's creeping up on you by Cata. Trying to figure out what to do with life.

Cata had issues but just the game itself isn't why subs started to drop.

[Luck4]

The greatest mistake of Cataclysm was revamping both Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms only for leveling, and trying to deliver another five new zones on top of it.

Also, Cataclysm had NO World Bosses, NO World Quests, NO Challenge Mode or Mythic +, NO Borrowed Power, and nearly no grinds whatsoever.

More importantly, was in Cata that dungeons and raids got increasingly more difficult.

[FossilFree]

"Highly exaggerated"


No one told me. I was there. It was terrible. The decline of WoW started with Cataclysm. Game lost 4m subs in a single expansion.
So, let's double down i say.

But notice how the subs are still higher in Cata than in MoP?

[Woggmer]

"Highly exaggerated"


No one told me. I was there. It was terrible. The decline of WoW started with Cataclysm. Game lost 4m subs in a single expansion.
So, let's double down i say.

And Wrath had the highest count because the game was mainstream and made easier to those outside of the MMO-market. This is the point where WoW was becoming its own entity rather than trying to copy off EverQuest... 7.5 Million active users isn't something to scoff at.

Plus that chart doesn't even say WHO's subscribed/unsubscribing, so it is hard to point to the root cause of what makes an expansion good or bad. All we have to go from is "Well the numbers say WoW's subscriptions are going down.. SO THE EXPANSION MUST BE BAD!"

And keep in mind that by around 2010, More and more MMOs were starting to show up and there was actual competition with most of them trying to emulate what WoW had.

[Cheezits]

Part of me thinks all the Trading Post stuff related to Tanaris/Silithus is just because dev nerds like Call of the Scarab.

Part of me thinks it's because those areas and the sword will be a big part of 11.0.

[Teriz]

You seem to be extremely convinced they will release an entire expansion around Underground/Gnomes/Goblins, there's no concrete evidence supporting this bar a Twitch streamer who would string anyone along for views alone and I very much doubt he has insider information.

Where did I say I was "extremely convinced"? I merely said there's a solid chance of such an expansion happening. We're far too early to see any concrete evidence of any expansion concept, but there is evidence, and Toweliee's comments are definite one piece of evidence, and Zaralek Caverns being supposedly used for future content is another.

We also got this interesting RAF set back in March;
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/worl...-fresh-rewards

We got mecha kobolds (and Dr. Boom Datamined) for Warcraft Rumble for some reason;


We got the Wastewater armor set that looks decidedly goblin;
https://x.com/Portergauge/status/170...956604138?s=20

And World of Warcraft twitter posted this today;
https://x.com/Warcraft/status/1707126314606428450?s=20

Despite all that we may not get an underground (undermine) expansion. It could very well be a Yrel expansion! We'll see soon enough.

[huth]

"Highly exaggerated"


No one told me. I was there. It was terrible. The decline of WoW started with Cataclysm. Game lost 4m subs in a single expansion.
So, let's double down i say.

Why are you showing a graph that shows it started declining in WotLK, then?

[Woggmer]

https://x.com/Portergauge/status/170...325780605?s=20 Hot stuff

Would this confirm that the Incarnates and Elemental Lords aren't allies? I can't imagine Smolderon being okay with lending his energy to Fyrakk.

Honestly, it could either point to an Elemental expansion where the other Elemental Lords are getting pulled into Azeroth's domain from their prisons...
OR
It could lead to an Underground expansion because Iridikron seeks a dark power that's deep within the earth and has to get through Therazane... So we have to travel down below as well and use the Undermine as a neutral hub city.

[Chickat]

Praise be to the Ele-metzens!

Wow thats gorgeous.

[Dragon ANX]

And Wrath had the highest count because the game was mainstream and made easier to those outside of the MMO-market. This is the point where WoW was becoming its own entity rather than trying to copy off EverQuest... 7.5 Million active users isn't something to scoff at.

Plus that chart doesn't even say WHO's subscribed/unsubscribing, so it is hard to point to the root cause of what makes an expansion good or bad. All we have to go from is "Well the numbers say WoW's subscriptions are going down.. SO THE EXPANSION MUST BE BAD!"

And keep in mind that by around 2010, More and more MMOs were starting to show up and there was actual competition with most of them trying to emulate what WoW had.

Not mention that this was arround the MOBA Frenzy ERA start, many of my mmo friends stoped playing mmo in favor of moba games.

[Ebonn]

Where did I say I was "extremely convinced"? I merely said there's a solid chance of such an expansion happening. We're far too early to see any concrete evidence of any expansion concept, but there is evidence, and Toweliee's comments are definite one piece of evidence, and Zaralek Caverns being supposedly used for future content is another.

We also got this interesting RAF set back in March;
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/worl...-fresh-rewards

We got mecha kobolds (and Dr. Boom Datamined) for Warcraft Rumble for some reason;


We got the Wastewater armor set that looks decidedly goblin;
https://x.com/Portergauge/status/170...956604138?s=20

And World of Warcraft twitter posted this today;
https://x.com/Warcraft/status/1707126314606428450?s=20

Despite all that we may not get an underground (undermine) expansion. It could very well be a Yrel expansion! We'll see soon enough.

I hate to use the actual word so I won’t… but that Warcraft video of the Gnome and Goblin man. I dunno… if anything has ever tried to hint at a special tech class, that is it right there. More than anything, this is convincing me Undermine is coming in some form lol.

[Dragon ANX]

I forgot to mention tha many other good/great games were released arround late 2009 and 2011.

2009
Bordelands, Left 4 Dead 2, Cod MW2, Dragon Age Origins, League of Legends, Fear 2

2010
God of War 3, Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, Bioshock 2, Darksides, Nier, Starcraft 2

2011
Dead Space 2, The elder Of Scroll V: Skyrim, Portal 2, Terraria, COD:MW3, Payday, Crysis 2, The Witcher 2, Battlefield 3, Dead Island, Gears of War 3, Dragon Age 2, Minecraft.

While many games listed here are not direct competitors they are all games that can easylly take a player from WoW, a graph that shows a player decline is not a godly fact , it is just a indicator that something went wrong and what caused that can have many variables.


-----------------------------
On the topic

A light vs Void EXP could be a good reason to partially revamp the old world and also that would give some reason why we have seen some HD model of war machines.

[Kiivar86]

I have to say, one thing I hate about WoW's version of things, I hate that kobolds are those rat people.

I want my little gremlin dragon-wannabes. No, dracthyr don't cut it.

[Teriz]

I hate to use the actual word so I won’t… but that Warcraft video of the Gnome and Goblin man. I dunno… if anything has ever tried to hint at a special tech class, that is it right there. More than anything, this is convincing me Undermine is coming in some form lol.

That, and the fact that Blizzard might push out a new class earlier than normal in order to broaden the support role in future raiding content and not have it completely rely on Augmentation. If that happens, that class would be a prime candidate for inclusion.

[flan1337]

https://x.com/Portergauge/status/170...325780605?s=20 Hot stuff

This is pretty big - I didn’t even know you should drain elemental lords powers like wtf.

Could he take away flame abilities from shamans if he became the temp fire lord? Haha

[Woggmer]

Not mention that this was arround the MOBA Frenzy ERA start, many of my mmo friends stoped playing mmo in favor of moba games.

I would say that's a little after around 2012issh maybe 2013, and then by 2016 it progressed to the hero shooter... and around 2018 to 2019 was the popularity around the Battle Royale.

- - - Updated - - -

I have to say, one thing I hate about WoW's version of things, I hate that kobolds are those rat people.

I want my little gremlin dragon-wannabes. No, dracthyr don't cut it.

...Wouldn't Dungeons and Dragons sue Blizzard at that point if that was the case?

Also kinda weird that there isn't any connection between the Niffen and Kobolds. I don't mean like they're related, I mean like if they're friendly or not with the Kobolds.

[flan1337]

With metzen back how much of the 5E RPG book he made is going to sneak into wows lore?

Anyone read this before? Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent: Worldbook - Lawbrand RPG https://a.co/d/1bR38WU

[Chickat]

11.0 just got a whole lot better with Metzen. But it might take longer to notice since expacs take years, so he may be too late for 11.0. But it went from a hell no to a maybe! Ty Blizz for listening to the customers who made you.

Well hes been back 9 months and the next expansion is still 12-14 months away. Nearly 2 years working on 11.0 is enough to change a lot. Maybe not the major theme, but all the tonal and zone storylines can 100% be changed my Metzen.