Huge class changes which in a way undo all the work done in DF and TWW.
Changes to addons/UI which many players have been using for two decades.
Player housing which is highly coveted but with a lot of legit concerns regarding reward structure and game play loop.
Definitely feels like a massive reset bigger than Cata or even WoD/Legion but on a shortened timeline due to the truncated alpha/beta cycle. This is easily a bigger gamble for them than Cata, WoD, or Legion.
Either Midnight will be a huge win to drive new and returning players to the game or it will cause a lot of veteran players to lose a lot of trust and hope.
Midnight is a boom or bust type of an expansion where they are going for all the marbles for better or worse. There is no waffling for sure as this point as we near the release of prepatch within 2 1/2 months and potential release of the expansion of Midnight in Q1 of 2026.
But this is where I think they have to nail some things and my word of advice:
Classes can have lesser buttons as long as they are fast, fun and fluid. Right on beta some classes are fun and fluid but many have their resources throttled which leads to slowed down game play. That design paradigm might be intentional to draw in classic era players to retail but the downside is that there will be comparisons made. Those comparisons to classic class design will be made more frequently now to retail so that is the downside with making classes like the classic era.
Options and choices are kind of important in a MMORPG which is where the UI options need to be expanded dramatically to be as inclusive as possible as WoW is a big tent of players of different backgrounds. As a result of this any narrow design pathway to funnel players through will fail and that is why they need to design with more flexibility in mind.
And finally on the issue of player housing is that players need to feel the quality of what items they find and buy and also have that sense of ownership. Those are important two components and any disturbance to that harmonious balance will cause players to feel like housing is just garrisons 2.0.
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Big claim. I am not optimistic.
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I would agree that the gamble is bigger because of how much smaller the current player base is. WoD losing a million subs would hurt but they aren’t panicking about it. Midnight loses a million subs and MS is going to start asking why they keep the servers on.
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Last report was WoW (all modes) held 9 million subs.
But for the topic at hand: I don’t really see this as much of a “gamble” per se. 75% of the people throwing a fit are too addicted to quit. They’ll do what they do every expansion: cry about “change”, claim they’re quitting, but stay and play and adapt. And by the end of Titan they’ll be praising these changes as the greatest thing that’s ever happened.
We see this with every expansion.
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Because the subs are spare change compared to the cash shop. The subs are like a retired guy who won the lottery collecting his monthly Social Security Check; pocket money.
Players. If you’re referencing the French Orchestra advertisement, it was nine million players, not subscriptions.
You need players for the cash shop to work. 
Cash shops are only profitable because a small % of any player base will end up being whales and outspend all the rest of the player base combined. There comes a point where losing too many people will make the game unsustainable even with whales.
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Fortunately, whales don’t leave. Sunk cost fallacy. You’re thinking of minnows. Minnows are the players who’ll spend a little here, a little there, and will leave the game if they’re unhappy. Whales? Psychologically speaking, they’re sticking around. They’re hooked. They’ve put in too much time, effort, and money to stop.
So long as the cash shop continues making money, MS isn’t going to shut down WoW.
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We were telling people that on the forums and these geniuses said “WoW 2 was TBC” because people would rather be clever than informed.
All the background chatter was that this was basically a reboot, and god know what happens after TLT.
Stay cute, Forums. Informed people, unfortunately, need to stick to WoW Twitter.
[quote=“Solarion-wyrmrest-accord, post:5, topic:2200470”]
Players. If you’re referencing the French Orchestra advertisement, it was nine million players, not subscriptions.
[/quote]
I think this is a reference to the Bellular projections.
1.0 → 2.0 implies progression
Midnight is not progression. its regression
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Does Blizz release those numbers?
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Maybe to the investors, but they’ve gone on record bragging about the cash shop income.
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WoD 2.0 except for the fact that the pruning is closer to legion and then Cata which introduced massive changes to the game structure like Midnight is doing.
That is true which is why I think that is what motivates them to do what they do for Midnight expansion.
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WoW will always keep its addicts and especially its whales and those are the ones who bring Blizzard the most money.
Since their demands are basically zero, Blizzard can do whatever they want and WoW will continue to exist.
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Been loving the beta, honestly cant wait for release. Enhanc shaman has been a blast and felt great
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General Discussion seems to follow the trend of many product forums… people that have a complaint about the product come here, while those enjoy the product don’t bother to participate on the forums (too busy having fun in-game).
So I would 100% agree that the vast majority in GD that are complaining about Midnight changes now are going to continue to complain bitterly, but will not exhibit the self-control to actually unsubscribe and leave the game behind. There’s other games out there, but there’s some reason these people won’t quit this one (I don’t get that; if you don’t think it’s worth your time & money why would you keep paying & playing, but humans are an irrational lot).
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We might see more players using controllers once Midnight is out.
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It is wild that ppl wont quit. I stopped back in WoD, tried Legion, stopped again. Tried BFA and quit again, skipped the next 3 and finally excited about the game again with Midnight coming
It sure does and I’m more excited than ever to try out a new expansion.
Going in completely blind. 
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You do have a point in that this new type of fewer-addon gameplay will be a big shift. I feel cautiously optimistic that I’ll atleast find some classes I love in Midnight based on beta play so far.
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