If you could change or retcon anything In WOW's story what would it be?

[Saphyron]

snip.

I actually like this. you should apply as a storyteller for blizzard. While I did the like the lore in legion there is way too many plot holes and stupid stuff going on.

[Budong]

The pussification of Thrall. I want my Warchief back.

[Powerogue]

People have mentioned the "Burning Legion transcending realities" thing but honestly with the burning legion probably out as a villain for the forseeable future I don't see that being an issue going forward.

So...

1) I wish there was some way WoD could've not retconned things while also having some of the cooler backstories like Gul'dan's. There was some good storytelling in those motion comics that gave the clans identity which was squandered on them all acting identically "blargh evil" in-game and contradicting existing lore so we didn't actually get to experience the past. But the only way that would've been possible is if they just rewrote all the lore Warcraft 1-onwards. So I can see why they didn't.

2) Similarly tying into motion comics, making the Sha boss encounters actually as visually distinct and interesting as they were in the motion comics. Each one unique, each one interesting and symbolic. Another "this was really cool in the motion comics and really squandered in-game" moment. Just imagine the entire boss room twisting and contorting and you see it...The Sha of FEAR!

[Daniri]

Thrall would never have stepped down as Warchief.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

All the surviving High Elves would have become Blood Elves...completely avoiding the hundreds of "give the Alliance High Elves as a playable race" threads.

[Niwes]

dont just totally waste voljin

[Daniri]

Since other people are giving spreadsheets as answers, I'm going to say one more:

A lot more factionalization. Subfactions within subfactions. Multiple human kingdoms with competing interests, multiple orc clans with differing visions for the future; more development of things like Blood Knights vs Farstriders, more Shadow Council intrigue, and in general just more work put into making subfactions identifiable. A Royal Apothecary Society operation should feel markedly different from one run by the Deathstalkers.

WoW originally had the seeds planted for much of this but they were never nurtured. Now even whole races struggle to maintain an identity.

[Powerogue]

4. No trial for Garrosh. Varian and Thrall still have that scuffle, but Varian agrees to let Thrall defeat him in Mok'Gora. This ties in with Varian's plot of learning peace and diplomacy from Anduin. He agrees to let Thrall handle his own mistake, which Jaina protests. Thrall and Garrosh fight, but it becomes clear soon that Thrall is on the losing side. Unlike Nagrand though, Thrall doesn't cheat. He keeps it an honourable fight. Taran Zhu orders the fight to be called off, but no one interferes. Varian begins to ready his weapon. When Thrall is disarmed and on the ground, Garrosh goes to take the final swing when he's hit from behind. Jaina uses her frost magic to intervene and then kills Garrosh herself.

I will admit that would make one hell of a cutscene. I can just imagine the gory discretion shot as you hear Garrosh shatter as he hits the ground and the camera pans to Jaina.

Since other people are giving spreadsheets as answers, I'm going to say one more:

A lot more factionalization. Subfactions within subfactions. Multiple human kingdoms with competing interests, multiple orc clans with differing visions for the future; more development of things like Blood Knights vs Farstriders, more Shadow Council intrigue, and in general just more work put into making subfactions identifiable. A Royal Apothecary Society operation should feel markedly different from one run by the Deathstalkers.

WoW originally had the seeds planted for much of this but they were never nurtured. Now even whole races struggle to maintain an identity.

Race love expansion after the faction love expansion, since we just had the class love expansion, we can hope.

[Orby]

WoW never happened.

Warcraft 4 will take off where Warcraft 3 TFT ended. Maybe Thrall dreamed it all or something :P

I honestly don't think Night Elves would have joined the alliance, and there's no way the Blood Elves would have joined the Horde if WoW never happened.

Also WoW has done Night Elves no favours.. as a huge Night Elf fan in Warcraft 3, WoW really disappointed me when ti comes to their culture and characters.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Trolls would be a de-generation of the superior night elf master race as their hunched over, tusked, fugly, short-lived, primitive forms would indicate. Kind of like troggs from Dwarves.

- - - Updated - - -

Indeed, because blood elves would be exclusive to the Alliance then and Pandaren would be exclusive to the Horde.

Nope. The Alliance lost the Blood Elves in W3: TFT. They still join the horde...there's just no more "but High Elves are still around" to bolster the arguments of the whiners.

Alliance can have Pandas though.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

no they didn't. Where are you getting that from? They left the Alliance in the belf starting zone quests because the Alliance were spying on them due to having a naaru ship crash on its doorstep and learned who brought it down. They were keen to Kael'thas' scheming well before the Horde or the belf player learns about it. Horde players find out about the betrayal when they get to Outland. The belf player is lead to believe the reason they are leaving the Alliance was because they were being spied on as the final slight following the events of WC3. The real reason is because Kael needed a ticket to Outland for the bulk of the Blood Elves and there was no way the Alliance would provide one with the Draenei explaining the game his forces were up to *in Outland*. Thrall however, was heading there to reconnect with his roots so they manipulated the Horde.

Leaving the Alliance and Joining the Horde are two separate events. They left the Alliance when they joined up with Illidan in WC3. They were already negotiating with the Horde about joining when they discover the Night Elf spies.

nah, worthless manimals fit better with the Horde

Nah, you guys already had furries on lockdown with the Worgen.

[Honik]

-Arthas going big bad
-Id keep Taretha alive, just for lulz and Orc/Human mutants
-I wouldnt ress Illidan
-Jaina wont go insane a hateful


As I am looking at it, my Azeroth would be freakin fairytale

[Mirishka]

I would probably defeat/imprison Arthas instead of kill him, because of the whole 'there must always be a Lich King' thing. We passed the helmet onto Bolvar, who is very clearly turning into another full-bore Lich King (do the DK stuff in Legion... you'll see)... so it doesn't feel like much was actually accomplished by killing the former.

[Charge me Doctor]

Vol'Jins death and Sylvanas being a warchief.

Illidans "revival"

Gnomeregan will be leading the Alliance instead of Stormwind, for obvious reasons

[Zuben]

Dalaran's Purge fading away from collective acknowledgment.

[Deleted]

Probably keep Thrall as he was before cata. No world shaman or Aggra stuff.

[Kanegasi]

Why do people keep talking about Bolvar’s death? He’s not dead, every death knight can hear his voice.

[Mirishka]

Why do people keep talking about Bolvar’s death? He’s not dead, every death knight can hear his voice.

I think we both know that it isn't 'Bolvar' the DKs are hearing in Legion.

Bolvar wanted to keep the scourge at bay and be forgotten. Where as the individual DKs interact with in Legion clearly has far grander, and more worrying, plans.

"Go murder all the paladins and res Tirion Fordring as a Death Knight" is not a very Bolvar thing to do.

[Aucald]

I would retcon the events of "War Crimes" and WoD. Instead of the trial of Garrosh in Pandaria and his subsequent escape to AU Draenor with Kairoz I would have it so that Garrosh would be detained after the events of the Siege, awaiting his trial as proposed by Taran Zhu. The Legion would then reach out to him, upbraiding him for his failure and reminding him of his father's story-arc - claiming that Grom lacked the fortitude to control the "gift" of the Fel but that Garrosh's command over the remaining power of an Old God was a sign that he could serve as a master of the Fel (as opposed to it mastering him). Smarting from his defeat and willing to throw both caution and honor to the winds, Garrosh becomes a willing instrument of the Legion on Azeroth.

Imbued with new strength and abilities, he breaks out of his confinement and vanishes into the wilds - with Thrall and co. in pursuit. After communing with Kil'jaeden and other Legion generals, including Kil'jaeden's master Sargeras, Garrosh basically enacts the same set of actions as AU Gul'dan did. He ventures to Vault of the Wardens alongside a coerced senior Warden (perhaps even a non-corrupted Cordana Felsong) and opens it, retrieving the corpse of Illidan for the Legion. He also enacts their will in Suramar, cowing Elisande and earning the temporary allegiance of the Nightborne. He is ultimately defeated at the Nightwell, now warped into a demon completely by his own hatred and rage, and defeated much the same way as Gul'dan was.

Thrall's despair and the loss of the Doomhammer could be explained away by his own sadness and failure in allowing the threat of Garrosh to happen in the first place and having allowed it to persist (thus bringing the full might of the Legion to Azeroth once more). Cordana's place in the Vault of the Warden would be replaced by a random powerful demon. This would basically thematically bridge MoP and Legion without having any of the events of WoD occur (as most of WoD is by necessity self-contained ).

[Magistrate]

I'd bring Kael back, cancel the "redemption" of Liadrin and the Blood Knights, and keep the Blood Elves as a magic addicted race that eats Naaru.

Yes! I was just posting something similar. This whole redemption and obsession with the Light just kills the reasons I made Blood Elves. It's why I'm excited for Nightborne since they'll be closer to that concept than the Blood Elves are now, although perhaps less crazed, I think.

Or introduce or revamp a current sin'dorei leader as a high-screentime counter to Liadrin, and have refreshed tension between her vision for her people and this other character's. And then have Lorthemar stuck continually having to pick between decisions that favor one or the other.