Death of WoW
At this point arguing whether WoW is dying is a hot topic in the World of Warcraft community. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and the truth will come out soon enough. If the subscriptions continue to fall drastically with no resurge during Firelands then all naysayers will be proven right.
If they do indeed resurge then the 'fanboys' if you may, will be proven correct. This hypothetical thread is to discuss what you would want/expect from a World of Warcraft sequel and which features you would anticipate most. Feel free to explain why you think WoW is/isnt dying and what Blizzard will do about this.
I would advocate a more grindy and hardcore WoW 2. If certain players fail at raids or are terrible at PvP then that is okay. They will envy/emulate those that put in the effort to improve and therefore the standard of the entire community will go up. Just because I'm not in Ensidia doesn't mean I hate the game. There are other things to do. Blizzard has the resources/expertise to develop a WoW 2(inb4 Titan) and if they make sure it has a high level of difficulty then it will gain a high level of success and also a loyal playerbase.
Are you ready for WoW 2?
Main Features
1. A much wider array of class choices.
In a sense Wow feels pigeonholed. You have very limited class choices and it can get annoying seeing the umpteenth Paladin or Death Knight in your raid. If people had a huge array of classes to choose from the game would be less monotonous and more exciting. It's nice not knowing exactly what the other player is going to throw at you.
A smaller focus on class balance!
I personally don't know why Blizzard thinks class balance is a good thing (not saying that classes are currently balanced; hello Mages). But this whole move towards homogenization so we can all fill the same roles is tiring. If one class is better than another at something then what is the big deal? In vanilla some classes were better than others but people still played all the classes. As long as there is no class that serves no purpose at all then I see no problem. Also if there was a wider array of class choices, we would feel less like mirror classes.
2. Next generation graphics engine.
To be honest Wow currently looks like somehing a 5 year old drew in paint. Contrary to Blizzards belief that the levelling system is the biggest hurdle to new subscribers, I believe that the graphics are putting off new players. No one wants to start playing a game, especially one as time consuming as WoW, if it hurts your eyes just to look at. Upgrade the graphics in a huge way, the people who can't keep up will eventually buy new computers and everyone will be happy. Mmmkay?
Many, many, new character animations!
The WoW animations are far too few and too similiar. When somebody is casting a particular spell it should be reflected in the game. For example a Shaman summoning a Fire Elemental Totem should be seen summoning it. A Warlock should lift their staff to the sky and rain fire on the ground. It would be a huge undertaking but it would definitely pay off in the long term.
Greater character costumization!
Sometimes I look at my character, look at how awful his gear looks and sigh. The whole massive shoulder and glowy weapon thing is getting old. We need real costumization. Earrings, visible trinkets, gear dye and gear redesign, tabards that look decent and more weapons. Also hundreds upon hundreds of character body types and faces. The aesthetics of a game go a long way in keeping things fresh.
3. Much larger world than the current Azeroth.
Azeroth is tiny. This is further intensified by flying mounts. The game would be miles and miles and miles better if we had less realms and more people playing on an individual realm. The bigger world would cater to all these people and the new graphics engine would be able to hold lots of people in a zone without crashing the servers. Imagine a world possibly 3x to 5x the size of current Azeroth and maybe 20 realms max per region.
Many, many more raids/dungeons and battlegrounds/arenas!
People should have an extremely wide amount of choices. This could mean catering to everyone from the people who want solo instances to those that want 40 man instances. Variety is good. Blizzard has the expertise to do it, even if this means not every dungeon is 100% perfect and bug free. The world should be so vast that fansites will not be able to list all the information bring out guides in just a week.
Lots of new combat mechanics!
Don't stand in the fire, click the orbs, avoid flame breath, void zones. All these mechanics are becoming horrendously outdated. Obviously they do work and alot of it should be kept the same, but Blizzard needs to think of alot of new combat mechanics. There are lots of games out there for them to take ideas from, it's not like those games didn't take their fair share from WoW. We will call it creative inspiration and not plagiarism.