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

[Raetary]

I wonder what their reaction would be to the Arathi group in Hallowfall being half-elf.

The whole empire is half-elven.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

The whole empire is half-elven.

OHHHHHHHH shit

[Nymrohd]

OHHHHHHHH shit

Or rather it is a mix of high elf, human and half-elf but clearly has plenty of mix race people.

[Makorus]

My guy, corporations can absolutely be inoculated from the actual desires of their consumer base and defer to corporate trends on account of a localized feedback loop sending false signals about what their customers want. Second, how do you think market research works? I've actually studied marketing and I understand how it works—market research is not infallible, nor is it always conducted correctly. They could've run this by a skewed focus group or, again, just bypassed focus groups or surveys in favor of taking widespread acceptance of this artstyle from other companies as indicative that consumers like it instead of recognizing it as the feedback loop I'm fairly certain it is.

And every single company on this planet is seemingly running it by a skewed focus group? It's not just WoW that is transitioning to more simplistic designs compared to an overdesigned, tacky aesthetic.

But you are trying to tell me it's a fluke, a mistake that every company does?

[allegrian]

Blizzard seems to be idealogically opposed to player housing, sadly. In a recent interview for TWS, it was brought up and the dev said "next question". You could tinfoil that it's a feature they intend to announce for Midnight, but given that it has been 20 years and they never did it, I think it is more than likely that Blizzard plans to never do it.

I think blizzard has been distancing the game from fantasy immersion and cosmetics and focused on competitive endgame play instead. All they cared about was systems inside systems, borrowed power and so on.

With DF they seem to start focusing on immersion again as well as cosmetics with tons of cosmetics on remix, plunderstorm and the trading post, as well as more optional text on many npcs and lore books for immersion.

If the follow DF's path, I see them adding housing in the near future, as it gives players the immersion of living in the fantasy world as well as cosmetics with furniture and decoration.

[Ersula]

I think blizzard has been distancing the game from fantasy immersion and cosmetics and focused on competitive endgame play instead. All they cared about was systems inside systems, borrowed power and so on.

I don't think the game has ever been about fantasy immersion. Vanilla is full of Star Trek, James Bond & Star Wars references.

[Shadowferal]

With DF they seem to start focusing on immersion again as well as cosmetics with tons of cosmetics on remix, plunderstorm and the trading post, as well as more optional text on many npcs and lore books for immersion.

Maybe to you...but I didn't see anything immersive in df at all.
"Shadowlands" is the expansion we don't want to remember. But "Dragonflight" is the expansion we won't remember. And I'm sure it was made to be forgettable so no one can say "lore" or "story" was ever an issue since either will be expansion-specific. Blizz already fed that idea by stating that the Chronicles are a matter of "perspective" and easily dismissed when past events don't align with current events.

[Cheezits]

Blizzard seems to be idealogically opposed to player housing, sadly. In a recent interview for TWS, it was brought up and the dev said "next question". You could tinfoil that it's a feature they intend to announce for Midnight, but given that it has been 20 years and they never did it, I think it is more than likely that Blizzard plans to never do it.

Blizzard prescreens interview questions. Their allowing a question about housing, but being coy with their answer, doesn't mean they are opposed to it. Otherwise we would've had a "there are no future plans" answer which they often give.

It was quite clearly a tease. They had a "we really want to do this" type answer in DF for Housing, I think one during BFA/SL, and now they are being jokey about it so they clearly want people to think about housing once every interview cycle.

[Ersula]

Blizzard prescreens interview questions. Their allowing a question about housing, but being coy with their answer, doesn't mean they are opposed to it. Otherwise we would've had a "there are no future plans" answer which they often give.

It was quite clearly a tease.

Because Player Housing is an extremely enormous endeavor, based on FFXIV, only a minority of players actually participate in. Which is why I believe they should encorporate it in a way that expands its appeal: A dungeon maker feature. Players who want to hang out in an instance with their friends can just make dungeons with furnishings & no enemies.

Also it wasn't a tease. "There are no plans" is essentially what they said. The survey that has a full list of actual upcoming features didn't even mention player housing.

[Makorus]

Because Player Housing is an extremely enormous endeavor, based on FFXIV, only a minority of players actually participate in. Which is why I believe they should encorporate it in a way that expands its appeal: A dungeon maker feature. Players who want to hang out in an instance with their friends can just make dungeons with furnishings & no enemies.

Also it wasn't a tease. "There are no plans" is essentially what they said. The survey that has a full list of actual upcoming features didn't even mention player housing.

People keep clamoring on about player housing, but player housing is such a broad concept that they will never manage to please everyone.

Whether people like it or not, Garrisons were player housing. Order Halls were a type of player housing. Will it have gameplay benefits or will it be purely cosmetic? If it is purely cosmetic, realistically, how many people will actually engage with that (The answer: not a lot).

It's not just random system that'll take a week to implement, it'll require a complete overhaul of the engine I would imagine, and they probably don't see the pay-off in it.

Granted, I would like to be proven wrong, but people are being incredibly unrealistic.

[Khaza-R]

I don't see them doing player housing.

But Order Halls with customization, collectible acessories, and a private quarter for your character to fully furnish and decorate. Yes, I can definitely see that happening

[Ersula]

I don't see them doing player housing.

But Order Halls with customization, collectible acessories, and a private quarter for your character to fully furnish and decorate. Yes, I can definitely see that happening

Actually that makes sense. Besides the development time, the problem is they largely want players to share the same space, not sequester themselves in personal housing: But Order Halls were better at that. I can see them bringing Order Halls back to give everyone a major hub & then a personal apartment they can customize.

Personally I don't think they should be class centric. Mainly because I main Priest & priest is consistently characterized as lamer version of Paladin, while also ignoring the versatility of the concept. Classes have been too homogenous lately. What if instead it was race based? Say, lumping the anthro, human, troll, elf & short races together.

That's part of why I loved covenants. Angel, Lich, Vampire & Fae were much better clubs.

[Santandame]

If they bring back class halls, Evokers should get something in Thaldrazus on the dragon isles.

Tinkers should get a class hall in Undermine, since in lore the Tinker’s Union is located there.

It’ll be Articifers and they’ll get a wing of Ulduar as their class hall.

[milkmustache]

Actually that makes sense. Besides the development time, the problem is they largely want players to share the same space, not sequester themselves in personal housing: But Order Halls were better at that. I can see them bringing Order Halls back to give everyone a major hub & then a personal apartment they can customize.

Personally I don't think they should be class centric. Mainly because I main Priest & priest is consistently characterized as lamer version of Paladin, while also ignoring the versatility of the concept. Classes have been too homogenous lately. What if instead it was race based? Say, lumping the anthro, human, troll, elf & short races together.

That's part of why I loved covenants. Angel, Lich, Vampire & Fae were much better clubs.

I mean, this really is the question right? If not Order Halls, what iteration of it can they do? I think Class Order Halls worked particularly well with Legion because it truly did feel like an all out effort across the classes to end this once and for all, and a lot of the classes in particular have personal gripe with the Legion (Paladins, Death Knights, Mages, Priests, Demon Hunters). The individual storylines really felt strong and the worldbuilding from it was incredible. This can translate fine into Midnight, and if it does, I'd be excited.

But I would love to see a version of Order Halls that fleshes out into the world outside of the particular Order (although I know, lol, that's the literal point). Somehow meshing aspects of Guilds and Orders together maybe? I also feel it's incredibly important that new Order Halls make it a point to not establish your character as the leader, the only one in charge, while cool, that felt isolating for Legion's storyline. WoW loses the MMO feel more and more in it's natural pace of development, so little things like acknowledgement of the entire X class playerbase being a part of the Order Hall within the in-game lore would be a really nice touch.

They'd also have to find a reason to avoid making these hubs if they really are going to bring back Silvermoon. It'd be a tragedy to get a fully revitalized Silvermoon City in the most modern of graphics for WoW just to have the player base fractured across a number of smaller hubs.

[Lady Atia]

Because Player Housing is an extremely enormous endeavor, based on FFXIV, only a minority of players actually participate in. Which is why I believe they should encorporate it in a way that expands its appeal: A dungeon maker feature. Players who want to hang out in an instance with their friends can just make dungeons with furnishings & no enemies.

Also it wasn't a tease. "There are no plans" is essentially what they said. The survey that has a full list of actual upcoming features didn't even mention player housing.

Or you know, player housing may already be a locked in feature and the survey is for stuff they aren't 100% sure which ones to push yet?

[huth]

Or you know, player housing may already be a locked in feature and the survey is for stuff they aren't 100% sure which ones to push yet?

The survey includes stuff like Delves and Skyriding.

[Lady Atia]

I don't see them doing player housing.

But Order Halls with customization, collectible acessories, and a private quarter for your character to fully furnish and decorate. Yes, I can definitely see that happening

Yeah, I can see them doing player housing first as apartments within the order halls tbh.

[huth]

Yeah, I can see them doing player housing first as apartments within the order halls tbh.

I think the Druid hall actually technically includes one, just without the customisation. Been a while though.

[AOL Instant Messenger]

And every single company on this planet is seemingly running it by a skewed focus group? It's not just WoW that is transitioning to more simplistic designs compared to an overdesigned, tacky aesthetic.

But you are trying to tell me it's a fluke, a mistake that every company does?

Again, feedback loop. They can be mistaking the trend existing in the first place as indicative of consumer preference. A single prominent company could've done this, a few others might've followed suit, and then gradually set off a chain reaction where continued streamlining is enforced.

The other point is that it's cheaper and takes less effort, and some unsavory companies (e.g. Blizzard) might be more than willing to push their luck to see how far they can get away with saving money at the expense of the consumer, taking the consumer's drawn-out, misplaced tolerance as a functional substitute for actual preference.

[Phunkle]

Can you provide said market research?
Just check all comments everywhere. There is so many that it is without a doubt quite representative for the mass population. I have seen ZERO positive comments on it. Mostly negative, some neutral. That's it.

Yes, this will always be the case. "Just check comments" will never be a good metric to determine if something is liked or disliked, because it assumes that people who like something are just as likely to comment about it than people that don't like something. Which is not the case. That's why "vocal minority" is such a popular term, because people that are content with something are less likely to leave remarks or comments about the things they are fine with.