Heroes need a break after Legion

[Kagthul]

MoP was incredibly well received by people who could look beyond 'lolpandaz'.

I was at the very forefront of the "get over the Pandas" movement, as CHen was a thing in WC3 so we knew they were there.

MoP's story was awful. Bad fan-fic levels of awful.

[DarkTZeratul]

Also MoP had amazing villains, Lei Shen, voiced by Christopher Lee? c'mon.

Speaking of revisionist history, I have no idea where this originated but it's entirely false.

[Kuja]

MOP was one of the only expansions, besides WOTLK that made me stay subbed the longest. So expansions can be great without a huge end times theme. But it would still be awesome to get a void expansion where something is about to eat the whole planet and everything else in it's way. If that could be stopped that is

Very interesting to think what would come after Legion. They did say expansions will be better connected than before, so we go somewhere from Argus directly most likely.

[MiseryIndex]

...MoP's story was awful. Bad fan-fic levels of awful.

QFT. I wasn't fazed by Pandas, but the story was terrible. I'm sure a lot of people liked it, hell, going by MMOC forums, a lot of people seemed to love it. For me though, it was the first time I let my sub lapse, along with 8 or 9 members of my raid.

[Shaqthefat]

Ever since Wrath of the Lich King (because Illidan wasn't much of a real threat let's face it), every expansion we've faced some existential threat to Azeroth. I think people are exhausted of 'The next big bad', and we appreciated the mood of Pandaria (Until it shifted into "The world is in danger from Garrosh!"). You can have meaningful raids like Throne of Thunder or Heart of Fear without every villain we face the end of the world.

Which leads me into my point. I think Azeroth needs a Cataclysm type update. Nothing major like revamping quest chains, but introducing scaling levels to the old world, introducing world quests. The tech is already there as we say it with Legion invasions. The design space put towards making new zones could be put towards reinvigorating old zones. How cool would it be if we saw Gadgetzan updated in the expansion after Legion to be like Hearthstone's reinterpretation of it? The entire zone of Tanaris as a giant city to quest in as a updated leveling zone.

Overall I think the world needs a reimagining to introduce scaling content and boosting the exp gains overall to make it so players can just enjoy the storylines they want to follow, and level in zones that they like. Because we're quickly reaching the point where buying level boosts aren't just an option, but mandatory for new players.

Illidan wasn't the final boss of TBC

[Not A Cat]

I would like another MoP-esque expansion that revolves around the petty as fuck Horde-Alliance conflict. Mostly because I can't see them making an entire expansion revolving around Azshara and/or N'zoth. But like how MoP combined aspects of the war with the Sha and Y'Shaarj, they could do that again with Azshara and N'zoth.

We all know Anduin's all about peace between races, but other Alliance leaders like Tyrande, Jaina, and Genn are pretty narrow minded. Also we have no real idea what Sylvanas' intentions are.

That would give Blizz an excuse to do another old world revamp, but less about visuals and more about quests/leveling. I want the old world to go back to how it was in vanilla. There wasn't some big event or enemy to center quests on like the cataclysm, every zone had its own problems. Zones like Southern Barrens and Stonetalon could still be about the Horde vs. Alliance, but no longer about the Cataclysm.

[Myta]

Illidan wasn't the final boss of TBC

Sunwell wasn't planned from the beginning, it was added after the expansion culminated in a rather unsatisfactory (from a lore POV) ending. Sunwell itself wasn't difficult outside of the ludicrous class stacking required for each boss which artificially inflated clear times.

[LazarusLong]

I was at the very forefront of the "get over the Pandas" movement, as CHen was a thing in WC3 so we knew they were there.

MoP's story was awful. Bad fan-fic levels of awful.

Still better than TBC. Or Cata. or WoD.

[Deleted]

I came back to WoW in MoP after taking a "break" after Wotlk. I was surprised how great Pandaria felt. I'd love a new expansion without interdimensional travel or threat for a change now. Legion has been a major enemy for 2 and a half (6.2) expansions. I hope with N'zoth and Azshara around we might finally get that South Sea expansion.

[Irian]

I strongly agree. I think it's time for Blizzard to tackle that again, and this time do it right. I would love an expansion that revolves around exploration and adventure in a world rather than facing some grand world-ending threat.

Others have mentioned the Old Gods, but I honestly think they'd be the perfect enemies for a theme like this. When done right in Warcraft, the Old Gods have never been directly confrontational; while not weak they are not physically the strongest enemies, they are not directly confrontational and don't seek out direct combat. Even when confronted they seem to have had the theme (as of the two old gods we've faced in a raid) of being physically surprisingly frail but having extremely hard-to-exploit weaknesses.

Instead, Old Gods infest and debilitate the minds of their enemies from afar and create conflicts using the minds of those they've broken. This is practically the perfect premise for a more free-roaming adventure expansion...and dare I say, a South Seas expansion...?

[Sigxy]

Well since people has gone that route... I didn't like Pandaria a whole lot because, well, I just didn't feel the Asian theme fit into Warcraft (Personal opinion) and would've preferred something else. And I didn't really enjoy the story either (And some people mentions how awesome that Thunder King was - I can't agree at all since he left such a little impact I never remember him nor his name). At the end of the expansion: it led to the point where there seriously was no reason for the Horde and Alliance to fight one another but afterwards they still found a way which made little sense.

On topic: I totally agree. -IF- Blizzard could pull it off, it would be nice to spend some expansion not dealing with a massive threat, but actually dealing with everything we haven't had a chance to put attention to or just never noticed.

And hey, how about this: Blizzard making a REALLY. GOOD. REASON. For the two factions to fight and it can be based on that. Maybe make a few dungeons/raids based on what faction you are. Maybe on a path, instead of going right, one faction has to go left (Even if it's identical otherwise) and the enemies are either Horde or Alliance.

[MORGATH99]

pls not a another break / mop expansion pls

[Deleted]

And hey, how about this: Blizzard making a REALLY. GOOD. REASON. For the two factions to fight and it can be based on that. Maybe make a few dungeons/raids based on what faction you are. Maybe on a path, instead of going right, one faction has to go left (Even if it's identical otherwise) and the enemies are either Horde or Alliance.

I like idea of making WoW feel more Warcraft (Alliance vs Horde) again outside BGs. I remember alot of people sadly going "WoW doesn't need factions anymore" prior to Legion announcement.

[Magnagarde]

I like idea of making WoW feel more Warcraft (Alliance vs Horde) again outside BGs. I remember alot of people sadly going "WoW doesn't need factions anymore" prior to Legion announcement.

I feel the same way.

[Detheavn]

I will admit, I personally would not have leaned as heavily on the word Panda as Blizzard did. Really, I would just have renamed the continent to 'Mogu'Shan' and had 'Pandaria' be the name of the territory held by the Pandaren. It always struck me as a little weird that the mogu would have named the region they ruled after their slave-race. My head-canon says it was originally named for the mogu and that the mogu only adopted the name Pandaria out of shame to recognize their defeat, always planning to restore its original mogu name once they had re-enslaved the pandaria and re-established themselves as masters of the land.

But the overall story was great, and the Sha and mogu were awesome enemies.

I always understood it that the pandaren were originally the inhabitants and the mogu only later enslaved the pandaren because the Thunder King didn't like the potential pandaren had.

In all fairness, the way Blizzard set up the lore for us players to understand it (in WoW alone, so disregarding any novels) could have been a lot more clear, and I believe that's where a a great part of the discussion if MoP was good or bad comes from.

[Qualia]

I always understood it that the pandaren were originally the inhabitants and the mogu only later enslaved the pandaren because the Thunder King didn't like the potential pandaren had.

Nah, in both MoP lore and Chronicle, the Pandaren came after the Mogu. In particular, as of Chronicle, the Pandaren (and other races - Hozen, Jinyu, etc.) arose while the Mogu was battling the mantid, drawn to the powers emanating from the Vale of Eternal Blossom.

Really, I would just have renamed the continent to 'Mogu'Shan' and had 'Pandaria' be the name of the territory held by the Pandaren. It always struck me as a little weird that the mogu would have named the region they ruled after their slave-race. My head-canon says it was originally named for the mogu and that the mogu only adopted the name Pandaria out of shame to recognize their defeat, always planning to restore its original mogu name once they had re-enslaved the pandaria and re-established themselves as masters of the land.

It isn't that weird for the continent to be named Pandaria. When the mogu was ruling it, it wasn't a continent yet, but just part of the large Kalimdor continent (it was never referred as Pandaren in Chronicle until The Sundering, just something in the line of the southern edge of Kalimdor). It only became a separate continent after the Sundering - at which point the Pandaren already took over.

[Kagthul]

So WoD had a better story did it?

Awfully good thing I didnt say anything like that, then.

- - - Updated - - -

Sunwell wasn't planned from the beginning, it was added after the expansion culminated in a rather unsatisfactory (from a lore POV) ending. Sunwell itself wasn't difficult outside of the ludicrous class stacking required for each boss which artificially inflated clear times.

.... Which is why there were in development shots of it during interviews before TBC even launched.

[KrazyK923]

yeah... and how many people are that >_> i liked mop, but alot of people say it was horrible, and i mean, people kept unsubbing so it must have been a popular opinion

most people.

lol.

[Funky Kong]

The whole exponentially increasing threat thing is getting stale. At least with Legion we are relying on artifacts and pillars of creation, so once those are expended we'll be powered down to sub-dragon ball z levels.

[Shaqthefat]

Sunwell wasn't planned from the beginning, it was added after the expansion culminated in a rather unsatisfactory (from a lore POV) ending. Sunwell itself wasn't difficult outside of the ludicrous class stacking required for each boss which artificially inflated clear times.

You never played in TBC did you?