Would anybody else be happy with a more relaxed expansion?

[Deleted]

I am tired of the gogogo nature of WoW lately.

I would love to see an expansion down the line that:

1.) Has slow levelling, maybe 20 levels or so that takes 3 months at least to reach max
2.) Large open zones so that travel on ground mounts does not feel like gauntlet runs. Open like Tanaris, Westfall, Barrens and Winterspring
3.) Guild or class halls like the order halls we have now, but no mission table
4.) Dungeons and raids as we have now with some villains, but not necessarily the great evil that wants to destroy the world. More like Van Cleef, etc.
5.) Flying when you reach max level without having to grind reputation. The rep grind it just there to keep us subscribed, but the same effect can be achieved with the slower levelling
6.) World quests as we have today
7.) World bosses as we have today
8.) Content that don't force people into activities they don't enjoy like raids and pvp
9.) Professions where quality gear can be crafted, but will take effort to do, like having to gather tons of mats (like it was in Vanilla and TBC with the enchanted bars and leather, etc.)
10.) Grinding levels as an alternative to quests, for those that enjoy it

On the other hand, maybe the game is just fine as it is and I am tired and need to take a wee break

[Shadochi]

For the answers, I'm gonna look mostly at the last expansion (WoD) and a bit of MoP/Legion:

1) Impossible, since people would complain about alts. Also raid opening 3-4 moths after launch would be stupid. I think it was OK in Legion, people could do it on day 1, but for a lot of my guild it took 7-10 days.
2) We had open zones with ground mounts in WoD (Talador, Shadowmoon, Frostfire, Nagrand) and some liked it some complained, MoP had opened zones too but with flying. Broken Isles is smaller since its supposed to be smaller lore-wise.
3) We would have no reason to go there then.
4) MoP raid/dungeon villains didn't want to destroy, neither did WoD (they wanted to overtake it up until HFC)
5) This would mean that Blizzard no longer needs to focus on details on the ground if people will just speed level and then fly. I much prefer the current method of unlocking it by doing content, tho a better release for it might've been 7.1.5 but the 8 month delay wasn't that bad either.
6) Agreed
7) Agreed
8) Again, we already have it and people like it. So I agree with you there.
9) Armor Crafting professions are a bit hard to keep relevant in the whole expansion, but Obliterum and buffs each patch helped keep it that way.

All in all, I would agree with you that we need a bit more chilled expac like MoP was with the zones like in WoD (size, openness and diversity) but with flying being delayed (doesn't matter if achieve or just buy it in a future patch). The "End of the World" thingy has just been going on since the Legion prepatch, since even in 6.2 we didn't know that Azeroth would be in danger and we were just stopping an orcish invasion. I would say you might need to take a break, helped me 3-4 months back to step away from WoW for 3 weeks.

[Nnyco]

1: would be the most annoyin thing for raiders and alts
2: we have those
3: and nobody would use em
4: we had a bunch of villians lately that didnt want to destroy the world
5: todays method is good probably one of the best ways to unlock flying
6+7: first things i agree with you
8: theres more than raid and pvp already
9: we already got good crafted gear, see crafted legendaries

[Mirishka]

I'm in absolute agreement about the 'ULTIMATE EEEEEEEEVIL' stuff. I'm sick of that. We're about to finish off the Legion, then what? The Void Lords? Then what? The remaining Old Gods? Etc etc. I'd be content with something a bit smaller in scale for a change.

Or better yet give us a 'cosmetic expansion' that adds tons more options to character creation and updates old art, such as the N64 trees in zones like Ungoro.

[Marrilaife]

1. Wouldn't stop speed runners and will only increase the gap between "play a little" and "play a lot" players because let's say levelling takes 30 hours of playtime 1 guy is gonna squeeze them in 2 days and another will spend a month or more to get there, the speed runners will already be geared and going and the casual player will be screwed over again because he's too late to the party and too behind for anything.

4. Blizzard tried that in MOP and the QQ was immense. I personally wouldn't mind, but apparently the playerbase whines if next big bad doesn't double up the previous one.

8. Blizzard is doing it to artificially rise participation rate in the content otherwise people wouldn't bother with. I'd rather them not do so, like forcing raiders into lfr, pvpers into wq grinding or crafters into rated bgs, but I'm not so naive to believe Blizzard will ever stop this intertwining of content to force people to do everything and up the participation rates in the unpopular pieces.

10. You mean grinding paragon levels after cap or just levelling by grinding? Levelling by grinding always existed but should be inefficient otherwise it promotes botting. Endless paragon level are not a good idea either because again the gap between nolifes and casuals widens exponentially and screws the casuals over.

Rest of the OP's points I don't mind.

For me though, a "relaxed" expansion would mean something else than what OP said. For example
- raid tiers lasting ~9 months each instead of 5, each having more bosses (12-15) and not 7-10
- way less power creep from ilvl, remove titanforge and such so we don't overpower content like heroic dungeons so fast
- more story focus in casual content (at level cap too), less grinding / daily laundry list of chores type of content
- remove legendaries in the concept they exist in legion, "farming legendary blp" is one of the prime reasons low-end content is infested with overgeared, gogogo zerg players instead of players that content is intended for
- remove augment runes, another prime example of luring high geared raiders to lfr instead of letting casuals experience "story mode" content at their pace
- improve crafting in a way the questlines for each step / pattern are way longer but guarantee you the best version of recipe at the end, no rng grinding, but more questing and story
- give crafters power over what kind of item they make (different mats for different secondaries on armor / jewellery), and rework AH to add buy orders so crafters know "this is in demand I should work on these items"
- alternate currency like badges implemented again allowing you to buy gear if you have bad luck with drops, I liked the wotlk system where each difficulty had a separate type of badge
- improve reps in a way each of them has some story to it and worthwhile reward when you reach exalted (like a mount), WOD reps "grind mobs" or Legion reps "grind WQs" are awful, Suramar was about the only one that had story progression to it

So generally
1. more story
2. less rng grinding
3. less incentives for high geared players to do low-end content creating "gogogo zerg" atmosphere
4. more player control over what they craft or wear (badge gear)
5. more meaningful high end moments - I finished a profession questline, it should mean something (instead of giving gimped version of the recipe), I reached exalted with a faction, it should mean something, I got a piece of gear, it should mean something (instead of "oh it's not socketed titanforged blah blah so it's rubbish")

But sadly since modern wow is made for ADHD kids that constantly whine about "nothing to do" and can spam QQ threads about "content drought" barely 2 months after a major patch, WOW will keep being developed for gambling addicts with rng on top of rng and constant flow of meaningless fluff instead of proper content, because people demand quantity not quality these days. Old Blizzard motto "it's done when it's done" went out of the window years ago.

[GodEmperor]

You know the more I think about it the more I think it's a good idea. I'm tired of world ending stuff too. Maybe skip an expansion and then go to the world ending stuff after it.

But I think a lot of newbies and similar would be less interested. Similar to the feeling I had when I played wow for the first time in the end of 4.3 and wow suddenly went from Deadly World Destroyer dragon to Panda Island.

I would also love spacious vanilla and wotlk style leveling zones where you can chill in peace and not get attacked by mobs.

[MoanaLisa]

I'm pretty relaxed. You simply need to let go of the idea that you either 1) need to keep up or 2) do everything.

[Kindahuge]

We had Warlords, that was relaxed. People absolutely hated it.

There's your answer, for a question you didn't need to ask.

/thread

[wombinator04]

Idk about the ideas the OP posted, but I would love another MoP expansion, lore/setting wise. Something new, something whimsical. Not another space planet filled with demons. MoP's setting was very relaxing to me, very much enjoyed it.

[Kynario]

I am tired of the gogogo nature of WoW lately.

I would love to see an expansion down the line that:

1.) Has slow levelling, maybe 20 levels or so that takes 3 months at least to reach max
2.) Large open zones so that travel on ground mounts does not feel like gauntlet runs. Open like Tanaris, Westfall, Barrens and Winterspring
3.) Guild or class halls like the order halls we have now, but no mission table
4.) Dungeons and raids as we have now with some villains, but not necessarily the great evil that wants to destroy the world. More like Van Cleef, etc.
5.) Flying when you reach max level without having to grind reputation. The rep grind it just there to keep us subscribed, but the same effect can be achieved with the slower levelling
6.) World quests as we have today
7.) World bosses as we have today
8.) Content that don't force people into activities they don't enjoy like raids and pvp
9.) Professions where quality gear can be crafted, but will take effort to do, like having to gather tons of mats (like it was in Vanilla and TBC with the enchanted bars and leather, etc.)
10.) Grinding levels as an alternative to quests, for those that enjoy it

On the other hand, maybe the game is just fine as it is and I am tired and need to take a wee break

Great list! I'd love if this happened.

[Deleted]

I am tired of the gogogo nature of WoW lately.

I would love to see an expansion down the line that:

1.) Has slow levelling, maybe 20 levels or so that takes 3 months at least to reach max
2.) Large open zones so that travel on ground mounts does not feel like gauntlet runs. Open like Tanaris, Westfall, Barrens and Winterspring
3.) Guild or class halls like the order halls we have now, but no mission table
4.) Dungeons and raids as we have now with some villains, but not necessarily the great evil that wants to destroy the world. More like Van Cleef, etc.
5.) Flying when you reach max level without having to grind reputation. The rep grind it just there to keep us subscribed, but the same effect can be achieved with the slower levelling
6.) World quests as we have today
7.) World bosses as we have today
8.) Content that don't force people into activities they don't enjoy like raids and pvp
9.) Professions where quality gear can be crafted, but will take effort to do, like having to gather tons of mats (like it was in Vanilla and TBC with the enchanted bars and leather, etc.)
10.) Grinding levels as an alternative to quests, for those that enjoy it

On the other hand, maybe the game is just fine as it is and I am tired and need to take a wee break

1) No.
2) Yes.
3) Housing, yes. Whats wrong with the mission table? Theres nothing there that you absolutely must do. It's an extra mini-game and i like it, just as i do pet battles.
4) Ok.
5) Yes.
6) No. I think them just coming up organicly like the invasions makes them cool things and could have even better rewards. Beeing always there makes them less interesting.
7) No. They really aren't that interesting. Just zergs like LFR. Would rather see them make an extra 10 man raid or something with them. Or something like wintergrasp and tol barad.
8) If you don't like raiding and pvp, i'm not sure WoW is for you.
9) No. I'd like to see a deep system with its own mini-game and skills like FFXIV has. Just making it grindier doesn't make it better.
10) What's the point?

Seems like all you're interested in is leveling. I'm not sure that is the point of the game. I actually think leveling is pointless because the game is at end-game. The leveling is just this theme park to take you there that is only really fun the first time around.
I personally think they should remove leveling and make all those quests max level content.

But to adress the title, i would like a more relaxed expansion that isn't always about this huge threat to the world but just your character going on its own little adventure, not tailing and beeing the errand boy of some big lore character.

[Polarthief]

5, 6, 8, 9, fuck yes.

1, 2, 3, fuck no.

Everything else is whatever.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

Three months to get 20 levels what the fuck are you talking about.

[Better]

I am tired of the gogogo nature of WoW lately.

I would love to see an expansion down the line that:

1.) Has slow levelling, maybe 20 levels or so that takes 3 months at least to reach max
2.) Large open zones so that travel on ground mounts does not feel like gauntlet runs. Open like Tanaris, Westfall, Barrens and Winterspring
3.) Guild or class halls like the order halls we have now, but no mission table
4.) Dungeons and raids as we have now with some villains, but not necessarily the great evil that wants to destroy the world. More like Van Cleef, etc.
5.) Flying when you reach max level without having to grind reputation. The rep grind it just there to keep us subscribed, but the same effect can be achieved with the slower levelling
6.) World quests as we have today
7.) World bosses as we have today
8.) Content that don't force people into activities they don't enjoy like raids and pvp
9.) Professions where quality gear can be crafted, but will take effort to do, like having to gather tons of mats (like it was in Vanilla and TBC with the enchanted bars and leather, etc.)
10.) Grinding levels as an alternative to quests, for those that enjoy it

On the other hand, maybe the game is just fine as it is and I am tired and need to take a wee break

1. How would this be balanced. Would it take 3 months for me, who rushes through questing normally on day one to get it all done with? or 3 months for the "I play 3 hours at night on weekends" player? Because if it took me 3 months, that guy is looking at 2+ years before he's capped.

2. Large open zones always felt really lazy to me. They're mostly just flat ground textures with mob packs laid around seemingly randomly.

3. What would the draw of an order hall with no mission table be? Outside of the class quests, and grabbing my weekly M+ chest I have no reason to go there honestly if not for the mission table.

4. This is basically MoP. Personally I liked that in MoP, but others hated it.

5. This is just MoP again, but with my caveats mentioned in #1 IDK if it'd lengthen sub time or not.

7. Personally I'm not a huge fan of the rotating world bosses. It'd be one thing if they had abilities that were even minorly threatening, but it just feels like "Wait for J'im to come up before you care"

8. I'm not sure what is currently forcing people into that content at the moment? Sure tier sets are in raids, but unless you're pushing super high in M+ there's not much you need those for. And I can't think of anything that requires PvP that isn't a PvP reward, or purely cosmetic.

9. Again I'm skeptical by what you mean by effort. I could grind through profs very easily, and where would the reward rank in terms of ilvl, raid level? (current crafted gear in Legion is ilvl 900, which is equal to normal gear from Tomb.) It's not hard to get access to all the profs, and grinding mats is something I can just kinda mindlessly do while watching netflix or something.

10. You can do this... it's just really slow, and inefficient.

[Armourboy]

We had Warlords, that was relaxed. People absolutely hated it.

There's your answer, for a question you didn't need to ask.

/thread

No that was underdeveloped, not relaxed

[Littleraven]

Playing Final Fantasy a lot lately has shown me how I am a little burnt out on the modern WoW. I still love the game and I will play it until it shuts down but I would actually welcome some of these listed.

1) I would be very okay with. Maybe not that long to reach max but I would love if you couldn't blitz through the leveling. I think it speaks to the problem with WoW leveling and the experience overall that people hate leveling so much. It is boring and dull and only serves as a means to an end. Put things along the way that are fun.

2) I would also welcome this. I don't know when it happened but they got away from this. There hasn't been a wide open zone in way too long. Too many mountains and cliffs and what not now. That is fine to have some of but when every zone is dominated by them it gets a bit old.

3) I don't really have faith that Blizzard can nail common areas like this without feeling like they HAVE to put some functionality to it. Garrisons should have been exactly this but they for whatever reason they made it the main focus of everything. If they COULD nail it though I still say they should find a way to make it like the Wildstar housing. completely optional but insane customization . Build a new profession around it and give people something to just do if they don't want to do the typical questing, pvp or raiding.

4) 100% This. Loved MoP for this reason. It ended up being about world ending stuff (sort of) but the start was simple and very isolated. Local problems instead of global.

5) Seems fair. Flying is something that is ingrained now. The genie is out of that bottle so there is no way they are ever going to be able to not have it. Making it "easier" to gain would be fine if getting there took more time. Maybe just make it cost a set amount of gold like in BC just to have some small barrier but gold has lost all meaning anyway.

6) This is fine but i would expand on it a bit and make it more like the events we see around expansions. No idea how they could do that without everything being a massive zergfest though.

7) Also fine.

8) No real opinion. I kinda like how Final Fantasy does the main story where it guides you through the dungeons as you level. That is fine to me but raiding should not be the only form of real end game. I know Blizzard says that they have a ton of content that for a wide range of people but raiding is still the premiere content. Everything ties back to it on some level. That is fine but it would be nice to see other avenues. Mythic dungeons are a decent step in the right direction here.

9) Yes.

10) Not sure about this one. It sort of already exists in game now in the form of just doing dungeons or now the invasions.

[Kyux]

Agree with OP.

It'd be nice to have a break from world-ending stories. I don't think we need 20 more levels but I think levelling should be much, much slower. Also, I think we need to move away from zones being completely separate entities. I see how it's more convenient for design when you have scaling, but it's kinda lame too. I want the zones to differ in environment and mobs, but otherwise quests can span zones and stories take you all over. For example, why does there have to be one Pillar of Creation in each zone? Couldn't the Nightfallen questline have taken us to Azsuna and Val'sharah? Wouldn't it have been cool if for the Stormheim questline we had to collect stuff from the other zones? All of these things spread out levelling, you see the world, and the process is slowed down (which I think wow really needs).

[Wingspan]

World-ending villains just flat-out sell better.

Killing a Lich-King, or a Dragon, or a major Demon just sounds cool.

You just don't get the same thrill from reading "Face off against pirates! Stop them before they unionize and wreak financial havoc on a small, isolated section of Azeroth!"

[HitRefresh]

World-ending villains just flat-out sell better.

Killing a Lich-King, or a Dragon, or a major Demon just sounds cool. You just don't get the same thrill from reading "Face off against pirates! Stop them before they unionize and wreak financial havoc on a small, isolated section of Azeroth!"

No, but how about the Horde and Alliance actually have conflict again? They're not straight up villains, but they haven't actually fought in a long time, and it isn't a tiny threat like pirates or whatever.

[Wingspan]

No, but how about the Horde and Alliance actually have conflict again? They're not straight up villains, but they haven't actually fought in a long time, and it isn't a tiny threat like pirates or whatever.

I can take or leave a Horde vs Alliance story.

To be honest, it would probably be a nightmare for developers to make, because they would literally (not a word I use often) need to tally character casualties on both sides and make sure that the losses are exactly the same or else one side of the fan base will scream favoritism. It is something that people get freaky-passionate about.

There is plenty of War in WoW, it just does not happen to be with the original combatants anymore. Meanwhile there is still ample opportunity to kill the other faction if you so desire.