BfA Patch Speculation thread (8.3 and later).

[Sondrelk]

I feel like we need a graphical overhaul of the old zones - at least on Kalimdor and EK. They are very outdated graphic-wise.

Suppose it comes down to what amount of work we can expect. Many of the trees for instance are just models pasted onto the base zone, so updating those could instantly given the illusion of the zones being updated. Same with changing the skybox or going over the grass texture used in all the zones and swapping them for a higher resolution one.

There are definitely ways to update the zones in a way that does not require going into each zone to change it, but we will see. Cataclysm had to make all zones useable for flying, so the question really is what is the large amount of work, remaking assets into higher resolution, or changing zone layout drastically.

[Sorgesh]

Suppose it comes down to what amount of work we can expect. Many of the trees for instance are just models pasted onto the base zone, so updating those could instantly given the illusion of the zones being updated. Same with changing the skybox or going over the grass texture used in all the zones and swapping them for a higher resolution one.

There are definitely ways to update the zones in a way that does not require going into each zone to change it, but we will see. Cataclysm had to make all zones useable for flying, so the question really is what is the large amount of work, remaking assets into higher resolution, or changing zone layout drastically.

I think you are right. Also let's not forget that they have updated the Warsong Gulch BG which contains new graphisc which could be copied to the Barrens and Ashenvale.

They also updated Arathi Basin didn't they (I'm not playing PvP this expansion so I have no idea)? And there is the new Arathi Warfront. They can also copy those graphics to Arathi Highlands (the old one).

[Sondrelk]

Just to give another example. Dalaran in Legion compared to WotLK.
The new one looks quite new compared to the old one despite very little having been actually changed. Mostly it is just adding grass around the outer rim and changing the texture used for the paths. Most of the actual new stuff is inside where you can't see it. There is the portal room building of course, but it just goes to show that with even just a few chagnes to textures and NPCs, you can give the illusion of having done more work than usual.

And that is for a city youspend the entire expansion in, a revamped zone would not really have to live up to the same standards, as shown by Darkshore.

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Just to give another example. Dalaran in Legion compared to WotLK.
The new one looks quite new compared to the old one despite very little having been actually changed. Mostly it is just adding grass around the outer rim and changing the texture used for the paths. Most of the actual new stuff is inside where you can't see it. There is the portal room building of course, but it just goes to show that with even just a few chagnes to textures and NPCs, you can give the illusion of having done more work than usual.

And that is for a city youspend the entire expansion in, a revamped zone would not really have to live up to the same standards, as shown by Darkshore.

[Sondrelk]

Duskwood has a massive ring of hills in the middle of the zone with a world tree and everyone around them ignoring it. It also had its major population center completely destroyed during Legion. I'd actually expect Duskwood to be changed significantly in a revamp and maybe merged with Deadwind Pass (I actually think that they should be merging quite a few zones.

Some stuff i think we just have to live with regardless. The ring of mountains in the middle of Duskwood is something that cannot really be removed without removing that feeling of it being "secret".

Still though, Darkshore was technically revamped for 8.1, and the area used specifically for the warfront is noticeably different, but even the south area feels like a proper revamp despite not much having changed.

[Shadochi]

Duskwood has a massive ring of hills in the middle of the zone with a world tree and everyone around them ignoring it. It also had its major population center completely destroyed during Legion. I'd actually expect Duskwood to be changed significantly in a revamp and maybe merged with Deadwind Pass (I actually think that they should be merging quite a few zones.

Merging of Zones would be really nice, re-merge zones that were split during cata and merge new ones maybe even get rid of some of the mountains between two zones that are thematically similar to make them into one zone. Tho with a world revamp on this scale they would need to have separate instances for Old and New, and not just give an option to phase in a per-zone basis.

Also, the addition of pandaren villages (and other new races) to random zones would be nice.

Honestly, I would much prefer a "rebuilding" world revamp with how the zones changed since Cata and what new issues have come up (storylines) than another destruction one where most zone stories and visuals are tied to Cata.

[Tiradon]

Suppose it comes down to what amount of work we can expect. Many of the trees for instance are just models pasted onto the base zone, so updating those could instantly given the illusion of the zones being updated. Same with changing the skybox or going over the grass texture used in all the zones and swapping them for a higher resolution one.

There are definitely ways to update the zones in a way that does not require going into each zone to change it, but we will see. Cataclysm had to make all zones useable for flying, so the question really is what is the large amount of work, remaking assets into higher resolution, or changing zone layout drastically.

I do have some big questions about if they ever gonna implement RTX or 4k textures

[Valysar]

A zone that really needs updates : Felwood. I guess world revamp is a HUGE work, maybe too huge ...

[Darkarath]

I think that if they do another revamp they should create the zones from zero, like they did with Draenor. Just keep adding zones in patches and expansions and the sense of exploration and discovery will always be there.

[Shadochi]

I think that if they do another revamp they should create the zones from zero, like they did with Draenor. Just keep adding zones in patches and expansions and the sense of exploration and discovery will always be there.

While I agree that the best course of action would be to rebuild the continents, I can also see a lot of people QQing how Blizzard is lazy and timegating zones. Unless you mean release a couple zones each patch into the existing world and have them be like Arathi and darkshore where you can pick the version.

They would also need to put in a lot of invisible walls before the whole continent is rebuilt if they went from scratch but it could mean we finally get proper TBC race starting zones connected to the original maps.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

While I agree that the best course of action would be to rebuild the continents, I can also see a lot of people QQing how Blizzard is lazy and timegating zones. Unless you mean release a couple zones each patch into the existing world and have them be like Arathi and darkshore where you can pick the version.

They would also need to put in a lot of invisible walls before the whole continent is rebuilt if they went from scratch but it could mean we finally get proper TBC race starting zones connected to the original maps.

It would be very unBlizzard like and I don't really see them putting up invisible walls.

[Shadochi]

It would be very unBlizzard like and I don't really see them putting up invisible walls.

There are already some in the game, most notably flying north of the plaguelands into ghostlands. And that wall has been up for almost a decade.

In my example they would be temporary walls until the zone behind it releases, but I would still much prefer everything out at once.

[Sondrelk]

It would be very unBlizzard like and I don't really see them putting up invisible walls.

Wouldnt necessarily mean putting up invisible walls, perhaps more likely having each zone be its own instance, so you would simply be going from revamped Eastern Plaguelands to Cata era Western Plaguelands, which might on truth be even worse.

Personallyi would just make each new zone quickly put together, fill it with the new NPCs and possibly quests, then over time add new stuff to them. Maybe the first patch is just Durotar, Barrens, Ashenvale and Feralas for Kalimdor, and Elwynn, Westfall, Tirisfal and Western Plaguelands for EK, then revamp more zones as the expansion goes and more content is added, maybe 9.1 has more death themed content, so we revamp Ghostlands and Felwood, just to throw some stuff out there.

[huth]

There are already some in the game, most notably flying north of the plaguelands into ghostlands. And that wall has been up for almost a decade.

In my example they would be temporary walls until the zone behind it releases, but I would still much prefer everything out at once.

There's invisible walls around all continents. They're just generally so far away that you'd die of fatigue. But they generally only signify the end of the playable area, Blizzard tends to avoid putting them anywhere else.

Wouldnt necessarily mean putting up invisible walls, perhaps more likely having each zone be its own instance, so you would simply be going from revamped Eastern Plaguelands to Cata era Western Plaguelands, which might on truth be even worse.

They can make instance borders seamless with invisible loading screens since at least WoD. That's how the Garrison works.

[Sondrelk]

They can make instance borders seamless with invisible loading screens since at least WoD. That's how the Garrison works.

I mean more in how immersion breaking it might be to have a world revamp expansion where only half teh world is actually revamped, and the rest is still stuck in Cata. And yes, this is the same problem we have now with the revamped zones, but at least for those we are not incentivized to go out there and see for ourselves the zones not yet revamped.

[huth]

I mean more in how immersion breaking it might be to have a world revamp expansion where only half teh world is actually revamped, and the rest is still stuck in Cata. And yes, this is the same problem we have now with the revamped zones, but at least for those we are not incentivized to go out there and see for ourselves the zones not yet revamped.

That's pretty much impossible to avoid, so it's not really worth worrying about.

[Sondrelk]

That's pretty much impossible to avoid, so it's not really worth worrying about.

I mean, it really just comes down to the question of whether you want the world to be revamped like Arathi, Darkshore or Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
That is, a complete revamp including large changes to the terrain, canging parts of the zone and adding newer assets, or whether you just want the bare minimum for a world revamp, in the case of Vale of Eternal Blossoms just resetting the terrain to the initial state and adding a thing or two.

In the first case expecintg every zone is pretty insane considering the workload, even with the few zones that might not be revamped anyways, like Uldum, Silithus or Vashj'ir.
The last one is probably the most likely, but what i would love to see is a Darkshore level revamp of EK and Kalimdor.

[Tiradon]

IF a word remap does gonna happen its not gonna belike cata, i.A that was just redesign some oldzones.
Blizzard regretted this heavily because it looked Jank AF 2 expansion later and was huge wasted effort that was stated multiple times.
They gonna either revamp literarly everything and softreboot the game or dont bother at all

Would really love a soft reboot at this point...

[Renley]

I don't think a world revamp is as unlikely as people seem to think. Remember, Cataclysm was pumped out extremely fast(only 5 years after Vanilla). One of the biggest time sinks of Cataclysm was re-configuring the zones and whatnot to allow flying in the old world. That work is all done now. We also have three solid expansions of reusable art assets for zones(trees, grass, bushes, monsters, NPCs, buildings, fences, effects) to use. They've also revamped a few zones already, and it's possible they were already revamped with the whole full revamp in mind, but fit the story narrative and were brought in early. Add in the revamped Arathi BG, and WSG BG, which could be further signs to the original zones they were based on also receiving updates. 8.3 also has us back in the old world with N'zoth attacking it.

Maybe I'm just optimistic, but I think it's a lot more approachable today than Cata was back then.

[Sondrelk]

I don't think a world revamp is as unlikely as people seem to think. Remember, Cataclysm was pumped out extremely fast(only 5 years after Vanilla). One of the biggest time sinks of Cataclysm was re-configuring the zones and whatnot to allow flying in the old world. That work is all done now. We also have three solid expansions of reusable art assets for zones(trees, grass, bushes, monsters, NPCs, buildings, fences, effects) to use. They've also revamped a few zones already, and it's possible they were already revamped with the whole full revamp in mind, but fit the story narrative and were brought in early. Add in the revamped Arathi BG, and WSG BG, which could be further signs to the original zones they were based on also receiving updates. 8.3 also has us back in the old world with N'zoth attacking it.

Maybe I'm just optimistic, but I think it's a lot more approachable today than Cata was back then.

I would argue that the biggest argument for a world revamp is the lack of belivable new zones on Azeroth. We got Dragon isles, and there is the Backside of Azeroth. But beyond that what is there really left? Mostly just a bunch of random islands the expeditions did not already lay claim to like Tel'abim and Plunder isle.

Even WoD was in many ways a revamp of Outland, so Blizzard are no strangers to revamping zones for content. The question really is just whether we will get an actual World revamp, or whether we will see the world revamped slowly and piecemeal.

[Renley]

Would really love a soft reboot at this point...

World revamp+level squish+4th specs, let's go.

On the note of 4th specs, the two most common arguments against it are:
-"can't balance current specs/classes"
-"they struggle to create new classes/specs as it is(see DH)"

For the first point, that's never been an issue, and is a point people have raised since DK. Yet, they continue to add new classes(DK, Monk, DH), create new specs(druid), and revamp classes over and over(essentially creating new balance problems). It's clear it isn't an issue to them, or it's one they are fine working on.

Second point, I'd argue it is FAR easier to create a new spec for existing classes than it is to create a new class with multiple specs, mechanics, resources, etc. With fourth specs, you have base building blocks from the class(class resource, base CC/utility spells, etc). Classes that people argue can't be a new class(Dark Ranger, Necro, etc) are now much more feasible as a new spec. Dark Ranger, for instance, is easily tacked on to hunter. You have base spells, like Disengage, Aspects, Traps. You have focus as a resource. You have some previously existing spells to utilize(such as Black Arrow, and old SV mechanics). Suddenly, you already have most of the work done for the spec. It would require the art team to do a lot of work on spell animations, but they just did for ~36 specs in Legion. Doing it for 1/3 of that in 9.0 seems like a breeze.