Legion expansion and how to bring new content back to old content.

[The3rdCatalyst]

I am fairly certain the next WoW expansion will deal with the legion as the main antagonist if not a major role, possibly going to a planet like Argus. Speculation aside, this is how I believe would be the best way to make new content and keep all levels of players in the old content.

Much like WoD, I would imagine the legion comes across some artifacts and then finds a way to invade us again and is able to make some portals to allow legion agents in. The idea is each neutral territory (Ashenvale, Wetlands, Westfall, etc) would have a random legion agent invade the territory. This would act a lot like world bosses except they are not there waiting for us to attack them, they actually invade with a small force and will continue to spawn more troops until the main boss is killed. Also if left unchecked the boss will take over multiple towns.

Despite being able to take over towns, a player would be able to solo the boss through special mechanics. Mechanics like getting on a town’s turret gun or going off to NPC patrol groups and telling them the town is being invaded so they can support you in killing the boss. However I feel using mechanics should take longer and harder, but doable by yourself. When the bosses are fought as a group of players they are killed easier and quicker than using other mechanics.

To compare this, think of the quest “The Last Line of Defense” quest type of Legion invasion while the bosses are comparable in strength to Stitches, relative to the zone.

The reward for killing these bosses would be similar to finishing a dungeon (a generic blue item) and a repeatable quest item which you turn in for exp. At higher levels there would be max level demons ( 4 total; one in lower Kalimdor, one in upper Kalimdor, one in upper East Kingdom, one in lower East Kingdom) who allow the smaller agents that invade the leveling zones to enter Azeroth by opening portals for them. These max level demons would not be invading as they are there to sustain power for other agents to invade. In this sense we would need to invade on them. They would be comparable in strength to the Timeless Isle bosses and of course would give rewards or possible weekly quest. These bosses would eventually be summoned back into the world from the main source of power which allows the legion to be in the world and it would be the dominant cause of the expansion to stop the flow of this power, much like we did with the Sunwell.

Of course when a larger boss is killed no invasions can made in the leveling zones. To compensate a regional buff should be granted for all players which gives +exp(10%?) and damage until the boss spawns again. Major boss spawns could be every 2 hours while invading bosses could be every 30min.

[Darsithis]

The idea is each neutral territory (Ashenvale, Wetlands, Westfall, etc) would have a random legion agent invade the territory.

And the first thing that would happen is everyone would say Blizzard is a lazy, greedy, cow-milking company who is rehashing Ashenvale.

Your idea would work better in a new location - that we invade them, not the other way around - than them coming to us.

[The3rdCatalyst]

And the first thing that would happen is everyone would say Blizzard is a lazy, greedy, cow-milking company who is rehashing Ashenvale.

Your idea would work better in a new location - that we invade them, not the other way around - than them coming to us.

I'm not 100% sure that it would only work better in new zones, though it could be a concept also in new content.
The AQ invasion was a huge success and it did similar to what I am suggesting. Yes, there was some complaining, but at the time it was overall fun for all levels.
There will always be someone somewhere complaining about what Blizz does. People are complaining about how Timewalker dungeons are just rehashing dungeons while there are a lot of people who think it is a good thing.

The point to the Legion is not to be some big bad guy who sits in his castle and waits for the bad guys to come and fight them (despite what Illidan would have us believe), they go out and invade and have done so twice already in Azeroth so it would just be consistent. It is also similar to what Blizzard has been doing with the summer festival where fire and water elements fight each other. Lower level players have their content of the festival and max players have theirs all while being celebrated in old content.

Only in our dreams. I don't think Blizzard has such great ideas.

I think previously this would be harder to do but Blizz has shown in WoD that they have both the technology and motivation to make content which spontaneously happens. Before I think Blizz was just being safe and didn't want to make content which was a drastic change which would also be irreversible. Now I think it is clear this would be more up people's alley.

[lllBlackSunlll]

I don't think blizz would do this. They've doubled in size, but looking at their ability to bring in new content has been slow. WoD was even lack luster when it came out. I wouldn't expect this to be at launch or patched. Not a bad idea though.
The only chance of it happening is since the WoW team has doubled we could see a similar amount of content that we had in Cata, but that is wishful thinking. Blizz does have 6 games being made/updated. Who knows.

[The3rdCatalyst]

I don't think blizz would do this. They've doubled in size, but looking at their ability to bring in new content has been slow. WoD was even lack luster when it came out. I wouldn't expect this to be at launch or patched. Not a bad idea though.
The only chance of it happening is since the WoW team has doubled we could see a similar amount of content that we had in Cata, but that is wishful thinking. Blizz does have 6 games being made/updated. Who knows.

I'm not saying will Blizzard do it. I am just suggesting what they should do. I feel Blizzard makes a lot of good decisions that people do not think of that we take for granite. But you are right, I think this would be somewhat controversial, but so are garrisons.

If both questions are asked, should we or could we do this, I think both are yes.
Could Blizzard, yeah, the technology exists. Plus they completely redid the old world, so I do not see why they would not go back and add some spontaneous active quests.
Should Blizzard, I think they should because how has BC, WotLK, or MoP been active in the old content outside of 1-2 week long event? Cata is the exception because there was a complete overhaul, yet still each expansion does not interact with each other. I agree we should not see legion invaders in Outland or Northrend, though I wouldn't hate it, it would been inconsistent with the story. With that said, would having Legion invaders be in the Cata content be inconsistent? Well no because the entire world (1-60) is not revolved around Deathwing. Deathwing is now dead but the world still progresses. It would be adding many quests, but it is some weight Blizzard could handle to make the experience that much more enjoyable while leveling and and something to do at max level.

[Deleted]

Only in our dreams. I don't think Blizzard has such great ideas.

They don't have any ideas at all.

[Splub]

I think it'd be cool!

[Thimagryn]

I guess it makes sense that the next expansion could be legion-based.

I mean at the end of Pandas, we fought the Iron Horde in the final raid, and it led directly into an Iron Horde expansion. Hellfire could easily be a lead up into Legion expansion, whether they invade Azeroth or we take the fight to other planets.

If they do go with the Legion in the next expo, all I want is a DH hero class

[The3rdCatalyst]

I guess it makes sense that the next expansion could be legion-based.

I mean at the end of Pandas, we fought the Iron Horde in the final raid, and it led directly into an Iron Horde expansion. Hellfire could easily be a lead up into Legion expansion, whether they invade Azeroth or we take the fight to other planets.

If they do go with the Legion in the next expo, all I want is a DH hero class

I would love to see a Demon Hunter. I remember on the Vanilla WoW box it had a NE with the DH blades and I was excited to play because of it (I was so lied to).
But they have stated that it takes a lot more time to make a new Hero than it takes to make 2 new races. But they have doubled the WoW development team so it is not impossible.

I kinda feel the next expansion would deal with Azshara as the main antagonist in Azeroth but we still need to travel to Argus to stop the legion invading. All the while Azshara is communicating with the Legion to protect her/distract the Alliance/Horde but is also working with the OGs to make her more powerful. Just my speculation.
Cannot get to Azshara until we take care of the Legion invasion. Cannot weaken Azshara enough until we lower her power by "killing" an Old God. Win imo, and predictable, just like Blizzard's lore.

[Netherspark]

There is a big problem when dealing with the Burning Legion - the whole premise of the legion is that they invade things, conquer worlds. Players "going to Argus and attacking them" kills the entire premise. Any expansion with the legion being the invaded isn't going to really feel like a legion expansion at all... not to mention that fact that, from a story perspective, this would be like trying to put out a forest fire by running into the middle of the blaze and pissing on it.

No. The legion must invade us, that's how it works. But the problem with that is unless they're directly attacking Kalimdor & Eastern Kingdoms (where everbody lives), which would require a Cataclysm-style revamp, it's not going to feel like an invasion at all. It's no good just inventing a new undiscovered island and having the legion conveniently only attack that one place... if we are not directly under attack then the whole thing is meaningless.

[The3rdCatalyst]

There is a big problem when dealing with the Burning Legion - the whole premise of the legion is that they invade things, conquer worlds. Players "going to Argus and attacking them" kills the entire premise. Any expansion with the legion being the invaded isn't going to really feel like a legion expansion at all... not to mention that fact that, from a story perspective, this would be like trying to put out a forest fire by running into the middle of the blaze and pissing on it.

But the Legion owns Outland and we invaded them. Even since Illidan is dead, they are still Legion demons and Legion bound. Even when illidan was in power he was technically part of the Legion, just sort of a civil war, but Illidan did invade us by having Lord Kazzak to invade Azeroth.

No. The legion must invade us, that's how it works. But the problem with that is unless they're directly attacking Kalimdor & Eastern Kingdoms (where everbody lives), which would require a Cataclysm-style revamp, it's not going to feel like an invasion at all. It's no good just inventing a new undiscovered island and having the legion conveniently only attack that one place... if we are not directly under attack then the whole thing is meaningless.

But you are right in that the Legion needs to invade us and that is what I mean. I want an constant circumstance that the Legion is attacking us everywhere. I want a player in the Lower Barrens at one moment fighting Thunder Lizards or killing Alliance. In the next moment you have several infernals in your face. I want people in Northern STV fighting trolls and murlocs and then we have succubi and felhounds taking down your quest camp. The point is to give the constant feel that the world you are in is being invaded and you have to constantly fight them wherever you go.

I'm not completely sold that the world would need a Cataclysmic revamp, but I wouldn't hate it if they did.

[Kallisto]

But the Legion owns Outland and we invaded them. Even since Illidan is dead, they are still Legion demons and Legion bound. Even when illidan was in power he was technically part of the Legion, just sort of a civil war, but Illidan did invade us by having Lord Kazzak to invade Azeroth.

The legion doesn't own Outland. They may have had some pockets here and there but most areas were owned by Illidans forces or free people. The biggest legion base was by the dark portal, Kael's forces in netherstorm and a couple of legion strongholds in Nagrand and Shadowmoon (and sorted out in quests). Outland is mostly free.

But you are right in that the Legion needs to invade us and that is what I mean. I want an constant circumstance that the Legion is attacking us everywhere. I want a player in the Lower Barrens at one moment fighting Thunder Lizards or killing Alliance. In the next moment you have several infernals in your face. I want people in Northern STV fighting trolls and murlocs and then we have succubi and felhounds taking down your quest camp. The point is to give the constant feel that the world you are in is being invaded and you have to constantly fight them wherever you go.

Indeed this needs to happen. There are things like this in Rift that could be implimented. It would give people high and low trying to get out of capitals and such it would be a nice change to warcraft.

[Golden Yak]

I think WoD is going to be our Legion 'fix' for a while - Blizzard hasn't been moving forwards with the Legion storyline in the MU at all, and so the AU Legion has been put forth to satisfy our demonic cravings. We can kill loads of important Legion figures without impacting the story in the MU - once we've gotten it out of our systems in WoD, Blizzard can go a few more expansions without revisiting the MU Legion and its important figures like Kil'Jaeden and Mal'Ganis.

As for the content idea - it reminds me of the old Scourge invasion events, going off into zones to fight high level undead and bring down Necropoli. Wouldn't mind a few more events like that - the Scourge Invasion remains one of my favorites.

[The3rdCatalyst]

I think WoD is going to be our Legion 'fix' for a while - Blizzard hasn't been moving forwards with the Legion storyline in the MU at all, and so the AU Legion has been put forth to satisfy our demonic cravings. We can kill loads of important Legion figures without impacting the story in the MU - once we've gotten it out of our systems in WoD, Blizzard can go a few more expansions without revisiting the MU Legion and its important figures like Kil'Jaeden and Mal'Ganis.

As for the content idea - it reminds me of the old Scourge invasion events, going off into zones to fight high level undead and bring down Necropoli. Wouldn't mind a few more events like that - the Scourge Invasion remains one of my favorites.

I'm not sure that this will be our last Legion hit for a while. Just as much as you believe that Azshara may been seen in a future expansion (which you idea for the Azshara expansion is well done), I feel that when we interact with her, there would be a clash between OG and Legion. Much like in BC, even though we fought Illidan's demons, we still got a nice hit of the main Legion with KG. Really in every expansion there is some existence of Legion. But I do believe they would still play a major role in the next expansion. If they don't, I feel the Naga invading our shores would still be interesting and the concept of constant invasion with the lower levels will still be a good idea.

[foxHeart]

Maybe for a pre-expansion event, but not as content for the expansion itself. Sick of Blizzard rehashing shit, tbh. And that's what it is.

[The3rdCatalyst]

Maybe for a pre-expansion event, but not as content for the expansion itself. Sick of Blizzard rehashing shit, tbh. And that's what it is.

I'm not sure how it is rehashing anything. It isn't taking something old and making it new again. It is taking something old and putting an addon on it. It is still the same world but letting you know the new content still exists while not being trapped in the old content. Are these synonymous and it is going over my head? What would actually be wrong with this?