Hello there, fellow reader. This is going to be a long post, so grab a cup of tea and something to eat and take your time.

I would like to start a discussion regarding the progression in WoW. At the moment, we have two larger progression paths: PvE and PvP. Both of them have several "small" paths to take, like Rated BGs, Arena and normal BGs in PvP (as well as some open world PvP objectives) and Dungeons, Dailies, Scenarios and Raids in PvE. However, at least PvE wise, it basically comes down to raiding if you want good gear - then again, for the other things you don't need said gear because there is not really a next level.

A simple example. Once you reach max level you could try to do the heroic 5 mans. However, in MoP no new 5 mans came afterwards, so the small group content ended during the first tier of content. We got heroic scenarios later, but the gear needed to do them is higher then the gear you can obtain from the previous group content. There was no "progression" there, a gap appeared before the next "small group tier" basically.

I would like to know, could something be done to prevent this? Does WoW even need something like this? Depending on what type of player you are (PvPer, PvEer, Hardcore Raider, casual or something in between those) your answer may change.

Let's assume we live in a perfect world were Blizzard can deliver much content, even more then now. This will probably never happen (or at least not in the near future), but for now I just assume it would.
Since Rift went free to play I started playing this game again (I bought it a launch but only played till level ~30). Some sort of said progression I would like to see in WoW can be found in Rift. For example, a few patches after launch (well, I think together with the last raiding tier of Rift classic), a complete new zone was put into the game. This zone was tailored for highend players. Mobs were level 52 instead of 50 and had double the amount of HP of said level 50 mobs found throughout most other zones in the world. In WoW we also saw this with the Isle of thunder, but even back in Cata most "single player mobs" didn't increase in strenght compared to when you just reached the current max level. Molten Front level 85 mobs were not stronger then Twilight Highlands level 85 mobs, even though the Molten Front clearly rewarded better gear. We alos just started to see single players bosses with unique abilites and a much larger HP pool for longer fights (the Isle of Thunder does have quite a few of them, but even the Vale of Eternal Blossom had many).
So, if said content provides better rewards, why not make the enemies tougher? This would then also lead to an increased challenge and a progression path for single players. On the Isle of Thunder we also got some unique single player boss battles, as said before, like Itoka or Guardian Ta'ku. The various rare mobs are also quite challenging, but doable, single player encounters. But what should the itemlevel be which can be obtained by playing solo? I will talk about group content in the next segment, should it be as high as scenarios? As dungeons? Higher or lower as both?

As for group Content, Rift had two tiers of Expert/Heroic Dungeons at launch. I wouldn't like to copy this exactly, but with the newly added Scenarios in MoP, why not turn those together with the dungeons into a progression path? Of course, if this would be done, there would have to be some sort of loot table for each scenario, because you can't gear yourself with just completely random equip (hello there spirit plate for the tank paladin). What I would do, bascially, once you reach level 90, you get some scenarios who would award items with an itemlevel of 450. After we got this gear, we get to do heroic 5 mans who award 463 itemlevel gear. Afterwards, we geat Heroic Scenario who award 476 items. Difficulty should of course rise accordingly. Maybe even have scenarios instead of leveling dungeon, normal mode dungeons as max level group content, then heroic scenarios and heroic dungeons as the "max level" group content.
Now I said, let's assume we live in a perfect world. A new tier of content should of course only come with a new raid tier. So we basically need various new scenarios and dungeons within a few months - something Blizzard doesn't seem to be capable of at the moment, but we assume they are.
How much content would be required for a new tier of group content? 3 scenarios and 1 dungeon? 4 scenarios and 2 dungeons? Even more? How large should they be? As a single raid lasts several months for the average guild (depending on the size and the difficutly, 2-4 months until the last boss has fallen is probably pretty normal) group content would also have to last as much. Could group content be gated, like the first tier of MoP? Basically, release a bunch of scenarios when a new raiding tier comes, 2 months later release a few dungeons, 1 month later unlock the heroic scenarios and another months later the heroic mode dungeons? Would that be okay?

Now, regarding raiding. I am not sure if anything should be changed. Best PvE gear should still be available in raids. If we go with LFR, Flex, Normal and Heroic mode raids and go with the itemlevels I posted above, I would say LFR = 463, Flex = 470, Normal 483 = and Heroic = 496. Additionally, the upgrade system could still be there to upgrade the gear. Should this system only be in place for raiding gear or for everything? Another question which sould be answered.

The last thing which would have to be addressed are of course the justice/valor points (and the PvP equivalent). I would introduce a few more currencies, one for each progression path. For example, Valor points are earned from raids, justice points from group content and charms from singleplayer content (dailies for everyone and bonus charms from other sources for singleplayers). I would also change how the system works. Simple change: Don't put a limit on the amount of points earned, but instead of the amount spent. And said limit is for all points. If it would be 1000 points per week (which then of course would also mean 1000 points is the cost of the highest item purchasable - unless you can go into negatives) you could either buy a raiding item for 1000 valor points or a raiding item for 500 valor points and you then have 500 other points (valor/justice/charms) to spent for the week. If this change would take place, raiders wouldn't have to farm other content, because 1.) the buyable items are weaker and 2.) if you already bought a raiding item chances are you don't even have enought points for something else to buy for the week. The same goes for group and solo players.

If a new raid tier is released, all points would be changed into gold to prevent buying items with hoarded points. Some other solution: Reintroduce some sort of mark for each tier. These marks could be earned in each tier (Raid/Group/Solo), but you would still need the points you receive in said tier to be able to buy them. Itemlevels should of course rise accordlingly, but the difference should stay the same (so highest group content gear only 6 ilevel lower then normal raidgear and 19 lower then heroic raidgear, as posted in the above example).

Now, PvP wise, I am not playing PvP, so I am not sure if there should be alternative progression paths or if PvP players are happy as it is.

Now, long post is long and I am finished. What do you think?