Would You Bring The Old World Back?

[Undeadprotoss]

With Cataclysm and WoD, I feel like Blizzard has gone too far in tampering with the older elements of WoW (general lore of the series, old zones, etc) that hold up thematically. More than anything else, I hate that the physical world of vanilla WoW is gone forever, Cataclysm was symbolic in that sense.

If you had the choice to undo the Cataclysm world change (minus perhaps, the old zones) would you do it? Why or why not?

[Misuteri]

I think they made a big mistake blowing up the world to the extent they did with Cataclysm.

I get that they wanted to show the size and scope of Deathwing's power but during the expansion I only leveled in dungeons and BG's, I didn't quest through the world anymore. As such I was frequently asking people "What zones got wrecked?" and flying down there to see the changes, never playing trough them.

I know it's a pain in the butt to redo quest zones, I know that timelines, characters, events would be out of place 1-60 and maybe 1-70. That's what happens with an evolving storyline.

I have to say though after all these years why is Ashenvale on fire?

[Eleccybubb]

No it's gone. Get over it. To quote Garrosh himself "times change".

I wouldn't undo it because the game has moved forward. It shouldn't be moving backwards in the current game. If they want to undo it then release official legacy servers.

[Undeadprotoss]

No it's gone. Get over it. To quote Garrosh himself "times change".

It would seriously mess with Blizzard's canonical timeline to literally do it, but it's a rhetorical question to gauge how much value the old world gave the game in terms of atmosphere, setting, etc

[Eleccybubb]

It would seriously mess with Blizzard's canonical timeline to literally do it, but it's a rhetorical question to gauge how much value the old world gave the game in terms of atmosphere, setting, etc

I liked the old world in Wrath. I really did. But if they want to do that just do Legacy servers like I said. The current game should keep moving forward imo.

[WowIsDead64]

Yeah, I miss old world, especially old Mulgore, Barrens and Stonetalon Mountains.

[Deleted]

I don't mind the Cata revamp - in my opinion the real issue is that the vast Azeroth serves basically no gameplay purpose nowadays. Leveling is broken in the way that dungeon spam is much more efficient than actual questing. Both Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms feel super dead, even though they're the main setting of the Warcraft franchise.

Something I'd like to see is revitalization of the old world:
1. A complete revamp of the leveling system. Do something about heirlooms and dungeon spam. They're the biggest killers of two staple MMO elements: gear progression and open world gameplay. A zone scaling system akin to the one we have in Legion would be very welcome as well.
2. Fill Azeroth with pockets of high-level content. Tons of small high-level subzones-within-zones (duh) scattered all around the world serving as world quests.

Good ole Azeroth deserves more than the desolate wreck it is nowadays.

[owbu]

Visiting the old zones again is nice for nostalgia reasons, but they dont really have a place in modern day WoW. Its good that the game evolves overtime.
I would really like to play the old versions of the game (vanilla, bc, wrath) every now and then, so if they could hire some people to create special kind of servers, that would be awesome - but the live version of the game should keep changing over time and be their main focus.

[orgonutil]

i would bring back the old The Barrens, that zone with the majority of the starters togueter after start zone was very fun and social

[Undeadprotoss]

Visiting the old zones again is nice for nostalgia reasons, but they dont really have a place in modern day WoW. Its good that the game evolves overtime.
I would really like to play the old versions of the game (vanilla, bc, wrath) every now and then, so if they could hire some people to create special kind of servers, that would be awesome - but the live version of the game should keep changing over time and be their main focus.

My beef is that they serve to essentially set the setting of Warcraft. Most of the zones in old Azeroth are the culmination of a decade or so of Warcraft lore by the time they were made. It did feel inconvenient, but it also felt dangerous, mysterious, and absorbing. There was something special about Tirisfal Glades and Orgrimmar, even if only for a roleplaying standpoint, I'd argue it made seemingly unrelated content like Northrend and Outland feel more engaging because one often viewed them as an extension of the same Warcraft universe.

Old Azeroth provided the World of Warcraft as a whole with an invaluable sense of home and setting that is very difficult to achieve in any large game, especially an MMO. For that reason, I think it was worth the inferior gameplay.

[thatmikeguy]

I would not, but would. WoD is dumb, simply because all alternate reality stuff is dumb. CoT is cool, in the way we can see the past, but it does not change anything.

"If they have the code", I would like a CoT version of vanilla, quests and all. Just having some of the parts would not work. They would have to code it all again anyway, because all the game got recoded in Cata.

[Undeadprotoss]

I wouod not, but would. WoD is dumb, simply because all alternate reality stuff is dumb. CoT is cool, in the way we can see the past, but it does not change anything.

"If they have the code", I would like a CoT version of vanilla, quests and all. Just having some of the parts would not work anyway. They would have to code it all again anyway, because all the game got recoded in Cata.

I thought of that too one time, I think it'd be the only feasible way to restore Azeroth.

[Justpassing]

No beacuse I was sick of it back then and I'm sick of it now. (Cataclysm was bad enough)

[Cæli]

Of course, why not ? it's lacking right now and make the game incomplete
as long as it replaces nothing, and it's added as an option like the "old" blasted land

it's like if mario 64 had the world 1, 4, 6 deleted from the cartridge once you complete them, video games are not meant to be dealt that way, they're meant to be replayable just like you can re-watch a movie if you want.

[Deleted]

Yes, for story purposes at the very least.

WoW now begins in Cataclysm, then goes back in time to TBC to another planet Draenor 1, then forward in time to WotLK (still technically in the past), then you go to Cataclysm which is in the present, but not in the current expansion, then you proceed to Pandaria which is finally in your "Cata" world the future, but still technically the past, then you go back in time but not really to Draenor 2, its a different dimension, maybe who knows and then you go forward in time to where we are now.

Its a shitshow.


For gameplay purposes, it dosent matter. Characters are insanely overpowered today at early levels. And nobody levels in the world, though that might be a good argument as to why Cata Azeroth dosent need to exist.

[Gimlix]

I think they made a big mistake blowing up the world to the extent they did with Cataclysm.

I get that they wanted to show the size and scope of Deathwing's power but during the expansion I only leveled in dungeons and BG's, I didn't quest through the world anymore. As such I was frequently asking people "What zones got wrecked?" and flying down there to see the changes, never playing trough them.

I know it's a pain in the butt to redo quest zones, I know that timelines, characters, events would be out of place 1-60 and maybe 1-70. That's what happens with an evolving storyline.

I have to say though after all these years why is Ashenvale on fire?

That's your problem then, Not going there because you judge it's book by it's cover, is just stupid.

[A Chozo]

Never undo - I would simply open some new portal on Caverns of Time. There, experience the old world at your own time!

[AcidicSyn]

Yes, for story purposes at the very least.

WoW now begins in Cataclysm, then goes back in time to TBC to another planet Draenor 1, then forward in time to WotLK (still technically in the past), then you go to Cataclysm which is in the present, but not in the current expansion, then you proceed to Pandaria which is finally in your "Cata" world the future, but still technically the past, then you go back in time but not really to Draenor 2, its a different dimension, maybe who knows and then you go forward in time to where we are now.

Its a shitshow.


For gameplay purposes, it dosent matter. Characters are insanely overpowered today at early levels. And nobody levels in the world, though that might be a good argument as to why Cata Azeroth dosent need to exist.

Basically this. Except I would argue that Outland and Northrend need a cata-style revamp treatment- make it cohesive and actually flow together. Alternatively I would accept a scenario where you would play 1-60 in the vanilla land; go through outland/northrend, and then on 80 ding show the deathwing cinematic and phase into the post-cata world and continue on the chronologically correct path.

(I'd definitely much prefer the former though, with outland and northrend receiving updates. The Scourge is still attacking Silvermoon for christs sake....)

[Undeadprotoss]

Never undo - I would simply open some new portal on Caverns of Time. There, experience the old world at your own time!

Maybe it's better to say "if you could make the revamp never happen" not necessarily that you would have to undo it.

[krille20]

Yes, I would. Every zone looks much worse than it did pre-cata IMO.