Old zone revamp next expansion?

[Deleted]

All they need to do is the following three things.

1. World scaling everywhere, not just legion zones.
2. World Quests everywhere, things like towns being under attack, rare mobs etc.
3. Re-tune mob dmg/hp. There needs to be some level of threat and mobs need to last for at least 10 seconds or so. Also make heirlooms give XP bonuses, not turn you into a demigod, and remove the ability to enchant them.

I've been lvling a new character, without heirlooms.... But since I know the game, it's still stupidly easy bar a few select quests where I had to get abit more creative.
There needs to be abit more danger than there is.

[Hugnomo]

We've had the Cata version of Kalimdor/Eastern Kingdoms for longer now than we had the Vanilla version. I can see another revamp coming. What I think they'd possibly do is have our characters become stranded on Argus and get picked up by the Exodar and the world changes on our way back to Azeroth... perhaps because it takes us years or even decades to get back.

I agree. Particularly considering the Anduin comic. At the end, we see an old Anduin, with Velen, ready to fight for the Army of Light against the Void (something like that). When I saw that comic, I instantly though they were going to do a time jump somewhere along the line, justifying a revamp to old zones. I think something like being stranded on Argus and taking several years to get back could fit very well.

[Cæli]

revamps with no backup just hurt the game, we had enough example

if there is a backup, why not, but I don't really see them touch anything, since the time invested will always be more effective doing whole new content imo

adding new system on top of existing ones is different, for instance scaling/reward modes or something like that

[Sci Fi Samurai]

I'd say with things like world quests and zone scaling it'd be a good time for it. Seems decent way to keep the world active and alive.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

I've been pulling for a Mythic+ leveling system since Legion's launch.
Doesn't have to be a revamp, but I'd like to see modern tech like scaling difficulty and level scaling added to questing.

My idea is as follows:
Baseline, any content in the entire game scales up to you, just like in Legion. I'm on the fence on whether it should scale DOWN though, as it might be odd doing Pandaria storylines before TBC ones, but overall I would be fine with it because the continuity is a mess anyway. This solves this horrible pacing problems of leveling, where even entirely naked you still out level the zones you are in before you finish the main quest lines.
"Mythic+" leveling as an optional leveling challenge like in dungeons. When you enter this mode, every mob also gains affixes. You can have multiple sets like in dungeons, or base it on something more intelligent, not sure. I can see Raging or bolstering mobs being pretty interesting, or even could be happy with adding abilities to them that do a lot of damage but are fully dodgeable like the mobs on the Timeless Isle. Alongside this, you can increase the challenge as far as you'd like by increasing the level of the mobs as well.
So if you are 60, without M+ leveling, the mobs are also 60 (or 59 before you get half way through the level or whatever they do.)
With M+2, the mobs are 62 when you are 60.
M+15, the mobs are 75 when you are 60.
On top of those mechanics, this would be a real challenge.
Since there is no resists or hit rating in the game, I don't think it would ever be impossible to hit a mob 15 levels higher, but I haven't tried so not sure how it works. Might require some effort in tuning hit tables, but either way I think its the easiest and most straightforward way to add real challenge to leveling, which has NEVER existed in the game.

I'm sure Blizzard can find ways to make it even better, but that's what I would want to see in 8.0 I could get behind another revamp as well, but NOT if its just making changes without any substance.

Leveling right now feels like it has almost no place in the game, and the fact that people willingly pay money to skip it is a sad sad thing. You should WANT to play the game, but its done so poorly and has been so neglected since TBC that its become a mockery of what it could be.

[Zephre]

No, Blizzard's WoW team aren't very good at working on multiple things at once, Cataclysm, WoD and the broken shore should of taught people that. If they started to revamp the old world again it'll take significant amounts of work away from the level 110-120 zones and the end game will end up suffering. If anything needs to be revamped anyway it's got to be Outland, those zones need some serious quest revamps.

[Emos]

time passes more quickly in the nether. turalyon and alleria have been gone 20 years, and have been fighting the legion for 1000 years. so by that math if we spend 1 year on argus, about 50 years could have passed on azeroth.

this would make anduin as old as he was in that comic from earlier, and it would give a new evil time to rise up in our absence

Are we sure that Turalyon has really spent a thousand years fighting the Legion on Argus? From the cinematic I think he means that the Army of the Light have spent thousands of years fighting, not he and Alleria personally. We have yet to learn how they got there and why.

Back on topic - I really doubt they will revamp EK and Kalimdor zones again any time soon. If they decide to touch upon the old leveling experience, I'm thinking it will be better to make Outland and Northrend parallel or something in those lines. With the help of scaling technology most likely, as some of you have suggested already.

P.S. I'll not mind a remake of the BE and Draenei starting zones though.

[Chain Chungus]

Just because Cataclysm got a bad rap doesn't mean the team is incapable of doing better and should never try again.

Plus much of the work from that overhaul went into fixing the world for flying, which they won't have to do this time.

[Servasus]

Old world getting mass updated was one of the largest reasons Cataclysm was a huge failure.

[Sentynel]

Old world getting mass updated was one of the largest reasons Cataclysm was a huge failure.

True, but since the old world is no more, they could do a 2nd revamp. Cataclysm 1-60 zones are shit anyway.

[thunterman]

I don't agree with revamps, but I'm a massive graphics whore, and I cannot stand outland. I just want graphics overhauls, not an actual change to the zones e.t.c. Same quests, same zones, same NPC's just give them shinier models, bring in some high-res textures across Outlands. It sticks out like a swore thumb since the 1-60 revamp. Allot of the quests were boring AF in vanilla 1-60 though, that's why it needed a total revamp. All the tech they have now compared to then, just makes for more enjoyable quests. Outlands isn't so bad, the quests aren't "AS" repetitive and grindy as the 1-60 quests were in vanilla. The 1-60 experiance now isn't even that bad, if people want the "Hard, vanilla feel" take off your heirlooms. Simple. After around 20/30 without heirlooms, pulling 3+ mobs = death unless your a tank, much how it was back in the day, the refresh isn't the problem here, the heirlooms are.

[Servasus]

True, but since the old world is no more, they could do a 2nd revamp. Cataclysm 1-60 zones are shit anyway.

I don't think you understand what I just said. Old world revamps, and the resources it took, are the reason Cataclysm failed. Even with the size of their team now, if they devoted a large portion of that team to old world content revamps, we would not be delivered nearly the same amount of end game content as we have currently in Legion, and that just won't fly after this expansion. A surefire way for Blizzard's next expansion to fail is to do exactly what you are suggesting.

[Derpleton]

They need to make Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms scale to some degree (more or less groups so 40-50 zones only scale in that bracket and level 1's can't wander off to the EPL and live). They should add in events similar to Legion invasions where various zones become "under attack" by whatever the local threat is. Mob health and damage should be tuned to take about 8-12 seconds to kill a mob without heirlooms and a pull of 3+ mobs should be dangerous. Finally, and imho the most important thing, only Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms should be required before a player moves onto the new expansions content. This would be the most challenging thing to achieve numerically without some sort of crazy scaling or level skipping/cutting. Ultimately though, I think this would be a huge improvement as we would effectively only ever have 70 levels in the game that are required to be completed in order to do endgame which I think for a new casual player should take 1-3 months. This sounds a whole lot better than logging in some time in 2018 and realizing you have 120 levels to grind... or could just insert $50 to get level 110 now.

[DarthMonk79]

I could see it happening though if we get the Old God/Azshara expansion next. Lets say for some reason going to Argus time moved different there? We come back and it's been close to 5 years or so gone. The Naga attacked during that time and destroyed a lot of coastal cities, forcing both sides to rebuild many old fortresses, etc. Stromgarde is rebuilt and now a focal point for the alliance as massive chunks of the southern part of the continent are flooded or runover and ruled by the Naga and Old God minions. Factions though have gone their different ways as a lot of our leaders were on Argus, etc. Amongst them is Durnholde Keep being rebuilt as a big slap in the face to the Horde.... I'd like to maybe even see phasing brought back. Lets say some insanely long storyline quests that have multitude of missions in them that slowly have us take back certain zones from the Naga/Old Gods and see's fortresses either built or rebuilt, etc. Zone phasing like Broken Isles would allow the zones to continue to be worth going into along with phasing beyond the 2-3 levels they seem to be worth now. Just an idea....

[Marston]

I would like another revamp, for the same reasons you mentioned.

If they plan to add scaling to all zones anyway (even if only partial), that would bascially open up the whole of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms as potential max level content. They could even split up zones, so that the story progresses only at specific levels at certain areas (basically you return weeks/months/years later and it continues). An option to have a sort of Mythic+ system even at lower levels (which simply awards more exp the higher it goes, which is much more valuable during leveling) would also be pretty cool and would definitly help with the heirloom problem.

Also, as much as I prefer the current version compared to vanilla, this now feels just as old as vanilla did back in cata. We have so many new mechanics and things that could be utilized during leveling, as well as the fact that zone stories could be changed so they wouldn't be affected by later expansions as much as the current one, which is basically Alliance vs Horde in most zones.

[Mojo03]

I could see it happening with south sea expansion.

I don't think that is next expansion. It's too obvious and we just spent Legion on an island. Two island expansions in a row is kind of lame.

I think we're going to another planet or Northrend. Something completely new or a finished Northrend to cash in on the nostalgia people seem to have for wrath nowadays and a return to classic fantasy after aliens and spaceships.

Also it's been in development for a long time and scaling didn't exist til late in Legion development (it would of already been planned out). So it's unlikely they would go back to revamp because the wheels were already in motion for the next one.

[HordeFanboy]

New players= F2P/B2P
Subscription based games= dying

[Kazlofski]

I wish there was another revamp but I am quite sure there won't be...
Although I wish they could just make the whole world scale with WQs, adding satchels for beyond exalted like they did here with different interesting rewards, would love to see the world alive again... That would require a little revamp though because they need to throw some elite ogres or whatever fits in zones to make the variety interesting for people to team up.

[Fahrad Wagner]

Zones weren't revamped with the cataclysm, only a bit was destroyed. Textures and assets are still what they were in classic: ugly AF. Yes for a revamp if zones are remade from scratch, with a legion-like level of environments.

All they need to do is the following three things.

1. World scaling everywhere, not just legion zones.
2. World Quests everywhere, things like towns being under attack, rare mobs etc.
3. Re-tune mob dmg/hp. There needs to be some level of threat and mobs need to last for at least 10 seconds or so. Also make heirlooms give XP bonuses, not turn you into a demigod, and remove the ability to enchant them.

These two messages sum it up for me. I really want a revamp of Azeroth but this has to be done the right way, with Legion-level of quality zones which scale with your character's level. They don't have to do them all at once, they can do them one by one for all I care, but I would really enjoy a high quality Azeroth. Oh, and most of all, they need to fix the timeline, that thing is far beyond broken. Maybe involve the Bronze Dragons to keep the old content accessible and explain why we go from this : Cataclysm > Outland > Northrend > Cataclysm > Pandaria > WoD > Legion. There has to be a clever way to fix this without damaging the timeline even further than Cataclysm did!

[Thage]

I'd be okay with it, but only if they put Zidormi in the capitals and give you the choice to play in the new Azeroth or the Cata one. One of the worst things about these updates is the huge loss in story that leaves players without any context for plot arcs that come later in the leveling storyline which were established before.