The War Within 11.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Makabreska]

The plus side is that if it's mid/crap, the community reaction will be so devastating that they will never do this ever again.

Never experiment with new stuff? Or never try to hype it?

[Cheezits]

Never experiment with new stuff? Or never try to hype it?

Full secret patch 100%.

[Marlamin]

I think the relatively new experimental gameplay team might be largely behind 10.2.6's new stuff as some of the stuff that I believe is related is tagged as "wowlabs" (even some parts in the current client), so it should be interesting to see either way. Whether or not it'll actually be good/replayable and all that remains to be seen.

Full secret patch 100%.

I feel like this is significantly more effort for them to keep doing as there has to be far more scrutiny as to nothing leaking out as well as far more internal testing being needed, so hopefully they'll just keep it for special occasions.

[Cheezits]

I think the relatively new experimental gameplay team might be largely behind 10.2.6's new stuff as some of the stuff that I believe is related is tagged as "wowlabs" (even some parts in the current client), so it should be interesting to see either way. Whether or not it'll actually be good/replayable and all that remains to be seen.

If it's called Wowlabs, maybe they are adding "custom games" or some kind of "make your own quest" feature to WoW? That's what the Labs stuff seems to imply in my head.

Your theory of an experimental team throwing out new gamemodes and seeing what sticks also works.

[Merryck]

I'm just running with it being a Vampire Survivors mode but pirate themed ...

[Marlamin]

If it's called Wowlabs, maybe they are adding "custom games" or some kind of "make your own quest" feature to WoW? That's what the Labs stuff seems to imply in my head.

Your theory of an experimental team throwing out new gamemodes and seeing what sticks also works.

I'm not sure they're going to externally use that term, but that's what some of the new tech seems to be tagged under. Custom games and all that would be neat, but I feel like experimental gameplay is more akin to hardcore mode, season of discovery (which Holly mentioned as an example) and maybe even the fated Shadowlands season, although I guess this might be the first time we see something of its scale in retail?

[Dracullus]

Day 1: Don't hype it, it will be dead patch, who's hyped, you're hyped? I'm not hyped.
Day 2: OMG IT WILL BE HOUSING IN SHIPS AND LIKE 5 NEW GAME MODES
Day 3: Repeat

Truly a borderline moment.

[Merryck]

I'm not sure they're going to externally use that term, but that's what some of the new tech seems to be tagged under. Custom games and all that would be neat, but I feel like experimental gameplay is more akin to hardcore mode, season of discovery (which Holly mentioned as an example) and maybe even the fated Shadowlands season, although I guess this might be the first time we see something of its scale in retail?

I don't really want a hard core mode in retail, but a mode that makes leveling harder by introducing survival elements like hunger and cold would be cool. Could even experiment with housing by being able to place tents and camp fires, which you can kind of already do but with a better interface maybe ..

[Nibelheimy]

Strange how if they'd have never mentioned the secret patch at all, no pirate icon. Whatevers coming would of dropped as a completely unexpected secret surprise and probably have been praised very well.

Now it will definately be met with criticism even if irs a resounding success.

[Marlamin]

I don't really want a hard core mode in retail, but a mode that makes leveling harder by introducing survival elements like hunger and cold would be cool. Could even experiment with housing by being able to place tents and camp fires, which you can kind of already do but with a better interface maybe ..

I mean, "akin" doesn't mean that we're going to get hardcore mode or anything like that, just things that are developed with the same experimental methodology.

Strange how if they'd have never mentioned the secret patch at all, no pirate icon. Whatevers coming would of dropped as a completely unexpected secret surprise and probably have been praised very well.

Now it will definately be met with criticism even if irs a resounding success.

You must be kidding, they would have been getting shat on much more for having radio silence as well as a 'missing slot' in their regularly planned release timeline. They had to make it clear there was -something- in the pipe.

[Makabreska]

Strange how if they'd have never mentioned the secret patch at all, no pirate icon. Whatevers coming would of dropped as a completely unexpected secret surprise and probably have been praised very well.

Now it will definately be met with criticism even if irs a resounding success.

Which does not speak well of the community.

[Cheezits]

Strange how if they'd have never mentioned the secret patch at all, no pirate icon. Whatevers coming would of dropped as a completely unexpected secret surprise and probably have been praised very well.

Now it will definately be met with criticism even if irs a resounding success.

Suits probably demanded it for the road map. Nothing between January and mid-Spring (which is just S4) would be seen as weak/slow.

[micwini]

What is "Vampire survivors"? Like what type of gameplay would that be?

[rainhard]

What is "Vampire survivors"? Like what type of gameplay would that be?

You go in circles while passively killing 1 shotting melee monsters with boomerangs or slashes or an auto gun.

[Raetary]

What is "Vampire survivors"? Like what type of gameplay would that be?

I'm assuming people mean this game, which is a mow-them-down style roguelike game.

[micwini]

I'm assuming people mean this game, which is a mow-them-down style roguelike game.

Isnt this already in the game? People call it "transmog farming" :P

[Ersula]

I'm assuming people mean this game, which is a mow-them-down style roguelike game.

Honestly surprised wow doesn't have a dedicated wave-based combat minigame. Could it be because everyone complained about Violet Hold? Violet hold's style of dungeon would have been extremely fun if it had mechanics to appropriately respond to downtime.

When I saw the string I assumed it would be renamed something else, but then I saw Vampire Survivors got an official Among Us tie-in dlc. So clearly they're down to do some product placement.

[Lady Atia]

Imagine if the dev update tomorrow is like: "Greetings all Worgen and Goblin players of Azeroth! Today we've got thrilling updates about the Classic: Cataclysm Beta, and all the features you can expect. You'll have to wait just a little while longer until we're ready to lift the lid on patch 10.2.6 for retail, however..."

Ehm, sorry but, any updates from that classic beta aren't any news anyways haha, game released 14 years ago and there aren't any new features unlike with SoD.

[doledippers]

well, we'll (probably) know what it is in 18 hours 16 minutes

but who's counting

[Viridiel]

It would be very funny if it just ended up being the Vampire Survivors game mode that we've known about for months. I have a feeling it isn't based on the comment about "past musings from the community", but I could certainly be convinced that they're just referring to discussions about things like the Plants vs Zombies minigame and WoW Peggle.

- - - Updated - - -

What is "Vampire survivors"? Like what type of gameplay would that be?

I've been wondering this too. I know enough about it to know how they might make it work but I'm not sure what can be taken away before it no longer resembles Vampire Survivors. Like, does it need to be top-down? Or does it just need to be a bullet heaven?