Features and changes that should be implemented

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Riddle/Puzzle System

Throughout Legion and Battle for Azeroth, Blizzard has added several secrets for the players to solve. This, in my eyes, should be a fully-fledged feature. As a lot of players like speculating and solving mysteries, this should be added in a future expansion as a feature - especially in an old gods expansion. It could be what archaeology should have been: full of lore, legendary rewards, mysteries and interactive events. The old gods and their minions could riddle us, the players, just like Il'gynoth does, convoluted stuff to solve. Let the Puzzle box of Yogg-Saron, for example, be solveable. They could use stuff like Bottles washed ashore, containing encrypted messages. Or they can use treasure maps which we'll have to decipher. Outdoor chests (buried or exposed) could require a key or a spell to open.

Speaking of Archaeology, why not try and make it interesting like in Adventure movies, where you adventure into forgotten tombs and crypts. Make it dark, so you'll have to use a torch. Add traps everywhere (spikes, flames, quick sand, moving walls, etc). When you interact with objects, spawn a scary and tough boss or swarm the place with mobs, forcing you to get out as fast as possible or get help from a friend. When you finally find the artifact within, collapse the whole place, so you'll have to race against time in order to not die or get stuck there.

these are some of the secrets introduced in the game:

Fathom Dweller & Hungering Claw - A reward from DANGER: Kosumoth the Hungering.

Vial of Green Goo - dropped by Engineer Omegaplugg in Gnomeregan. Omegaplugg is a secret boss found in the Tinkers' Court at the end of the dungeon.

Reins of the Long-Forgotten Hippogryph - Find and click on five Ephemeral Crystals in Azsuna within eight hours before anyone else, and this mount will be added to your bags.

Riddler's Mind-Worm - Mind-Seekers is a puzzle to obtain the mount. The puzzle consists of riddles where you'll have to hunt down pages across Azeroth in a certain order, and the clues to find each page are inspired by World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1.

Sun Darter Hatchling - The Caverns of Consumption is a secret area on the northernmost point of the coast of Winterspring. The pet can be found by those who can bypass the puzzles within.

Pebble - If presented to Dog in the garrison, he will now appear in the Magical Menagerie in Dalaran in the Broken Isles.

Lucid Nightmare - The Riddle of the Lucid Nightmare is a puzzle to obtain the mount. The puzzle consists of riddles where you'll have to hunt inconspicuous notes across Azeroth in a certain order.

Lost Mail - part of the postmaster questline.

Doomsayer's Robes - A semi-common drop from two NPCs, added in Patch 7.3.5, that can only be found in the opposite faction's capital city.

Uuna's Doll - part of a storyline connected to her.

Baal's Darksign - The Riddle of Baa'l is a puzzle to obtain the pet. The puzzle consists of riddles where you'll have to hunt and rub pebbles across Kul Tiras and Zandalar in a certain order.

Waist of Time - Completing the It's a Waist of Time puzzle awards the cosmetic item. The majority of the puzzle takes advantage of clues found in World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 2 in addition to the anagrams provided by the previous clue.

The Hivemind - The Riddle of the Hivemind is a puzzle to obtain the mount.

The Puzzle of Jenafur - a cat battle pet secret added in Patch 8.2.5.

Make Quest Tracker optional

Moreover, i think Blizzard should make the quest tracker feature, embedded in the game, optional, so that players who like to read the quest text and actually solve things on their own (like in Classic), instead of being told exactly what to do and where to go, can enjoy the leveling and questing experience once again. In order to do so, they should get rid of the arrow pointing to the location; exclamation/question marks on the map; blue marked areas on the map; and the new Shadowlands distance marker (the same applies to Archaeology, by the way, if you want to make it more interesting). And while at it, give an option to remove all markers and arrows from the map, like world quests, bosses locations, etc. Plus, i think they should let us disable in-game notifications, the exclamation/question marks above NPCs, and the twinkle effect of interactable objects.

Disclaimer: It can somewhat be disabled through the Minimap feature "Track Quest POIs".

Branching Storyline

One thing Blizzard can do to improve the questing experience in the game, so players don't have to experience the same storyline again and again when leveling Alts, is to implement a branching storyline within the game questing system. just like the storyline with Sylvanas, Nathanos, Saurfang and Zekhan, where you can choose where your loyalties lie, or, to a certain extent, the Gift of N'zoth, where you can choose if you want to keep his Gift and receive whispers, or abandon it altogether. This will give players a different and diverse experience than other players; make them feel like they impact the world and the storyline; and reduce the monotony of questing. Of course, there needs to be more than just two choices in order to enjoy the feature. I understand that Implementing this kind of a feature in an MMO is much harder than a single-player game, as it will cause different phasing to different players; or cause npcs to react differently to different players. Even so, i believe it will enrich the leveling experience and reduce the need for a revamp. If it is not possible, at least give players multiple dialogue options, so that they feel like they are making a choice that impacts their gameplay.

Reduce the amount of teleportation

The amount of teleportation within the game, whether it is portals or UI options, like Group Finder, makes the world feel smaller and reduces immersion. instead of actually going to a place, even though it might be time consuming, you just teleport to a zone, a dungeon/raid or a battleground/arena. This makes gameplay rather stale and convenient. It loses the immersion effect of traversing the world of Azeroth, and even renders Mages useless and non-unique. Their portals and teleport spells lose all advantage over other classes and renders them optional at best.

Bring back the option to attack friendly NPCs

This will increase immersion within the game for players who don't want to be considered friendly and nice. A Rogue, a Death Knight, a Warlock, a Demon Hunter and even a Shadow Priest should not always be considered heroic and good. For example, a rogue can be considered dangerous within city walls by NPCs, prompting an attack. Therefore, the rogue will require to use stealth. A death knight could be considered evil, and therefore, would have to fight his way into places. and so on and so forth. this will most likely benefit roleplayers, but i think other players can enjoy it too. As for the frustration it may cause (with dead NPCs) - once players attack a friendly NPC, they are eligible to be killed by players of their own faction (essentially marking them for PvP). This would create a "wanted" status for some players who wish to be villainous. Let us, for example, be able to join villainous factions like the Scourge, the Burning Legion, the Twilight's Hammer, the Syndicate or the Venture Company and do their bidding.

This holds true to races as well. Seeing a Goblin or a Forsaken fighting for Azeroth, like they are some kind of noble and caring creatures, totally ruins the immersion of playing them. Goblins are greedy creatures. They don't give a damn about Azeroth unless there's profit involved. Gallywix, for example, says the following: "If the world was gonna split in half tomorrow, I'd buy the Dark Portal, slap a toll booth on it, and charge refugees the last of their pocket change, the rings off their fingers, a bite of their sandwiches, and a contractual obligation to build me a rocket palace in the skies of Nagrand". Same goes for the Forsaken, most of them just want to see as much death as possible. They rarely care for the living, or for peace at all. Some Orcs could also be categorized as such, as they live for war and conquest.

Class Activities

This brings me to the subject of Class Identity. Class Identity is not just about the abilities you use or the armor you wear. It's also the activities you do. As a Shaman, you're a spiritual guide. As a Paladin, you're the judge of good and bad. And as a Warlock, you're a satanic cultist. Let us, for example, perform tribal rituals as Shamans, convict & pardon people as Paladins or sacrifice innocents to summon demons as Warlocks. My point is that activities should not just be about fighting for Azeroth or for your faction, but also activities that are relevant to your class. For example, Rogues could have contracts to assassinate targets, infiltrate places and steal objects, sail the seas and participate in naval warfare, plundering and looting islands and settlements along the way. Death Knights could attempt to turn populations into undead, or create a cold weather within a zone (like frozen Arathi Basin). Paladins could go on a Crusade to preach their beliefs or convert by force, or even judge criminals at a court house. Warriors could go on a conquest or battle in an arena for titles and rewards. Druids could be healing lands destroyed by others or even be considered a hostile animal for players to fight against. Shamans could strive to maintain balance between the different elements or disrupt this balance and create chaos, which will affect the weather and the environment. Warlocks could summon demons to destroy settlements, like legion invasions, for players to fight against (which will change the skybox accordingly- letting players know something is wrong). Priests could try and convert NPCs to the dark side. Hunters could benefit from some more challenging Nesingwary challenges. And Demon Hunters could literally fill their role of hunting down demons and scouring them from this world, like they're supposed to. My point is that players should have the option to not just be heroes but, also, villains. Blizzard could draw inspiration from Illidan's Memories questline in Legion (or Ysera's in shadowlands), where you fight "players" as him in the Black Temple. this will give players more things to do within the game, increase immersion, affect entire zones and even create dynamic events.

Dynamic Events

This leads me to the next topic - Dynamic Events. Blizzard could use AI (introduced in island expeditions) and phasing to make the world feel more alive. the reason many zones feel dead (aside from the lack of players) is that NPCs just stand there and do nothing (basically, waiting to be attacked or interacted with), and nothing happens around the old zones. this was partially implemented with world quests, but could be taken to a higher level. Just like the topic above, AI could be causing trouble as rogues, death knights, Warlocks and so on. The People of a city or a settlement could either fight the threat or escape and call for help. Raids of Marauding Centaurs could happen spontaneously, and affect a zone. If not dealt with, a zone will be destroyed, and NPCs will be dead. this should not be a single player thing, but rather a raid size group thing. Cities and outdoor areas should be more bustling and active - with NPCs doing stuff rather than standing still. This could, potentially, make old zones relevant again. Moreover, mobs should be given more abilities (and movement) while in combat, rather than just standing in one place and auto-attacking most of the fight. This will spice-up the combat within the game and make it less monotonous.

Interactive Terrains and Abilities

Blizzard should make objects and terrains within a zone interactable. For example, Destructible buildings could allow players to lay siege on a city with siege weapons, to increase the immersion of city raids. Flammable terrains could allow players to burn entire settlements or forests, and therefore, completely change the scenery, giving other players a reason to defend it and fight back. Moreover, terrains like water and air should have ability limitations. For example, charging or disengaging mid-air shouldn't be possible. fighting under water should give a debuff like: "reduces haste and damage done" because of things like fire spells and friction. Deserts could give "Scorching heat", and snowy zones could give " freezing cold" debuffs - reducing stats or something like that. Armor types could potentially affect your movement speed slightly because of weight. Moreover, Blizzard could draw inspiration from Guild Wars ability interactions, where one class ability can affect another class ability. for example, a shot that goes through a flame becomes a flaming shot. for that matter, a warlock's incinerate could turn a druid's cyclone into a fel cyclone - damaging the enemy inside. these could lead to some interesting and fun combinations, and potentially make the game a hell of a lot more engaging and interactive.

Restrict Flying and Mounting

not through an achievement or a level requirement. Just like teleportation, flying and mounting makes the world feel smaller. it is, however, an integral part of the game and should not be removed. my solution is to restrict it using things like making the skies a dangerous place - NPCs should try and shoot you down, hostile flying mobs should fill the sky and possibly attack you, lightning could hurt you while flying and tornadoes could throw you off. mounts could have an exhaustion bar, which would affect their speed or the height of the flight. This could give a chance for different classes to shine when traversing certain terrains. For example, a Druid in Cat Form could climb trees; Rogues could climb walls; Monks could parkour; Demon Hunters could utilize their wings (for a short duration); Mages could displace themselves with Arcane magic; and Hunters could utilize their knowledge of the terrain to traverse it. Not everyone should have some sort of a movement ability just for the sake of it. Put it where it feels right. Another example would be Guild Wars 2 mount system. It has, for example, a raptor mount that can leap forward, a rabbit mount that can jump high up, a mantaray mount that can hover and glide and a jackal mount that can blink forward. This can be added to the roster of Mount Equipment already in the game. just be careful who you can apply it to - i don't wanna see turtle mounts being able to jump high or blink.

Disclaimer: it seems like they are trying to make mounting more interesting with Dragonriding.

Increase Difficulty and Decrease Accessibility

The world content has become increasingly easier over time, and mobs don't feel like a threat anymore. one could gather a group of mobs and take them down with not much effort. Health and resource management should be a thing in outdoor content. Crowd control should be mandatory. Elite mobs should feel scary as hell and require a group to take down. People say Scaling removed any sense of progression and hindered the ability to grind. And still, the power relations between a player and a low level mob allows a naked gnome to punch a giant dragon to death or beat a character like the lich king in one swing. this completely breaks immersion, as you're not supposed to be a super saiyan god, and this is not an asian rpg. Thanks to Scaling and Timewalking, these power relations were balanced a bit, but should be taken a little bit further. Why not, for example, take out the marked areas on the ground that alerts you where a hostile ability is gonna land (both NPC and player). That way, an element of surprise & difficulty is added to the game.

Remember the days when your attacks would miss/be parried/get blocked/or resisted? it added a sense of thrill and suspension, especially in PvP or against an elite mob. Nowadays, all attacks hit their mark, and in doing so it made the combat gameplay feel a bit stale. Now, as for GCDs, i'm a bit torn. On one hand, im all for it because it slows down combat and, therefore, prevents players from being too overpowered. On the other hand, it doesn't fit the fantasies of classes like the Rogue, the Monk or the Feral Druid - which are all based on being swift and deadly. Upon checking Gamepedia, however, i discovered that the GCD of these energy-using classes/specs is usually 1 second (in contrast with the general 1.5 seconds). But, unlike the other classes, haste doesn't affect their GCD. I think it should definitely do. as for Threat, maybe make it more significant like it once was.

Moreover, not all content should be available for all the players to see and experience just because they pay for the game. some content should remain extremely hard to reach and, therefore, give players something to aspire for. giving players access to complete every content in the game makes the content run out very fast, instead of giving players something to look forward to. this should not be about time-gating or grind-gating, but rather difficulty-gating. this will maintain content longevity and let hardcore players stand out from other players.

Weather/Night time

Although, technically in the game, it is barely felt. it was nerfed so much over the years, that zones feel static. It contributes to the feel of immersion and dynamity in zones. Blizzard should make weather effects proc more often and affect more zones. these are: Clouds, Fog, Lightning, Snow, Rainfall, Sandstorms and Snowstorms. other than rainfall, i don't think snowstorms or sandstorms occur in game. they should definitely do. Now, as for Night Time, it should be just like Inky Black Potion, and sometimes even as dark as in vault of the wardens dungeon (inside a cave, for example). This will increase immersion and the feel of threat in the world. there should also be a dusk time, sunrise and sunset.

Money and Gear

Money is of no issue right now. most players can afford what they want and never struggle to attain it. Gold should be more scarce and the use of silver and bronze should be more common. if players actually work hard to buy something in game, they will value it much more, and feel a sense of gratification. Therefore, Money rewards will have more of an impact. Same goes for gear. White and green quality gear should be more common, blue and purple quality should be rare, and orange quality should be almost unheard of. Nothing is prestigious anymore. Items and Currencies are being thrown at players for doing as little as logging in.

Moreover, i don't think an item level should factor above stats when getting a new piece of gear. It sucks the fun out of it. instead of weighing the gains and losses of a new item's stats in contrast to an old one, you simply look at the item level. Plus, i don't think PvE gear should be bought from vendors with armor tokens. It sucks out the excitement of getting a raid/dungeon gear drop. Leave these kind of currencies to reputations.

Chat Channels

GMs within the game should fill world chat channels with topics to invoke discussions. it could be something like international news and current affairs in normal realms or lore and roleplaying topics in RP servers. Furthermore, AI could be going around, talking to players and grouping up with them, prompting social interactions.

Guilds and Countries

Guilds are a major part of WoW's social gameplay. Therefore, i believe players should start out in a guild, so that their leveling experience will be more enjoyable, rather than lonely and boring, for those new players unfamiliar with the feature.

secondly, Blizzard should add a country-based search tool, so that players who do not belong to any of the language-based servers could find players from their country to play with.

Ease the restrictions on spec-specific abilities

Blizzard should let players customize their characters more. more hybridity means more playstyles. Let players, for example, have a certain amount of abilities from which to choose from. Players will have, For example, X blank spots to fill in with abilities (Active & Passive). they could, however, limit the amount of certain types of abilities to choose from. Nonetheless, it will be something akin to building a deck in Hearthstone. This will increase the diversity of characters within the game. Back in the day, you could use all 3 specializations' abilities, except for the ones you didn't pick from the talent trees.

Disclaimer: with Dragonflight bringing back the old talent trees, there is hope for more hybridity.

Collaborative Quests

For the most part, questing in WoW has been a solo experience. you do not need help from other players in order to complete them. this makes the leveling experience feel very dull and boring. what i would suggest is to add collaborative quests, which can be completed only by collaborating with other players. for example, Runescape had the quest "Shield of Arav", which required a player to collaborate with another player in order to complete the quest. you had to get one piece of the shield by pledging allegiance to one clan, and another player had to get the other half of the shield by pledging their allegiance to a rival clan. this required communication and cooperation and, therefore, affected the enjoyment of the quest. For example, a player might need the help of a rogue to lockpick a chest or a door, pickpocket a high level target or use glyph of disguise to trick a hostile mob. A mage could help retrieve an item that is unreachable with blink. Priests could be used to Mind Vision of Mind Control targets. Healers could be required to heal or cleanse targets. And classes like the death knight/warlock/priest could be used to communicate with undead/demons/abberations for you, or in order to decipher their speech. quests like these would make the game a hell of a lot more fun and interactive than the solo experience of today's WoW.

Long & Complicated Quests

Quests in WoW should be more complicated than the average kill, fetch & complete quests of today. For example, Blizzard can take inspiration from Old-School Runescape's questing system. Although fewer in number, Runescape's quests are more elaborate and qualitative than other MMOs. the reason for that is that they put much more emphasis on quality than quantity. their quests, most often, require players to think and plan, to communicate with other players, and to journey great distances. they require players to solve things on their own, rather than being told exactly what to do and where to go (external websites are not taken into consideration). they involve interactive items, encrypted messages, and hard bosses to defeat. the quests of Runescape are composed of multiple steps that require completion, rather than one, short, objective. This makes every quest memorable and quite fun to complete, in contrast to the current quests in WoW.

Life Quests

Life quests were a type of epic race-specific questlines which were planned to be included in the original World of Warcraft. Each life quest told the story of its respective race and what their purpose in the world is, often continuing the story set up in the "smaller" regular quests. For example, the undead life quest revolved around their effort to develop a new plague and would have involved rescuing the undead player character's father from captivity, while the orc life quest would give players a taste of the demonic influence from their past and force them to combat it.

RPG Elements

Over time, WoW has lost many of its RPG elements. Things like training abilities for Money, having multiple Ranks for an ability, the old branching Talent system, Pet Talent Trees, Weapon skills, Range/Relic & Ammo slots, Class Accessories, Quest text being written down, Reagent requirement for certain abilities, Ammo & Minimum range for hunters, buffing other players, the old Glyph system (Prime, Major and Minor), long Quest chains for certain Abilities, Gear, or Mounts. being able to use ground Mounts only towards max level, relevancy of Flight Paths, old stats (Hit, Dodge, Resistance, Parry, Regeneration, Defense & Block), Reforging, Pet management, leveling Lockpicking & Poison skills for rogues, flavorful abilities like Eyes of the Beast, Divine Intervention, Alter Time, and Symbiosis. Armor dyes, for example, like Guild Wars has, could be added to the game. Blizzard can take inspiration from Guild Wars ability-weapon interaction, where the weapon you wield determines the abilities you have or alters their animation. Staves should finally have a role in-game, rather than being decorations, if blizzard would just add staff animations to spells and movement (like the blood elf using her staff when she casts Resurrection & Holy Nova in the Burning Crusade Cinematic, or the undead using his staff as a walking stick). those things were a pain in the ass most of the time, and could even be considered redundant. but they gave a feeling that is missing in today's WoW. the RPG feel. they gave an increased sense of immersion and were sometimes fun and challenging. those RPG elements are crucial to a game that is considered a roleplaying game.

Make Professions Great Again

Leveling a profession these days has little to no value and is considered a chore. Blizzard should make leveling a profession interesting with profession quest chains. Moreover, they should bring back profession bonuses. Professions should have more of an impact in combat. For example, as long as the tinker and alchemist classes aren't in the game, engineering and alchemy should have combat-oriented abilities. this will spice-up the gameplay and make leveling such professions a worthwhile effort. As a whole, professions should give a clear advantage over other players who haven't got said profession. That means that crafting professions should provide the player with crafted material that is unavailable to other players, which will give them a clear advantage or a unique aesthetic. for example, gear crafted should be on par with other desirable gear, obtained through other means, and should give the player a unique, exclusive looking items. The reagents, however, should be as hard to acquire as other gear, in order for them to be on the same level. Revert the pruning that has been done to professions. Engineering used to have so many nick-knacks, Jewelcrafting had a lot of different gems with many different stats, and enchanting had so many enchants available. over the years it became so homogenized and pruned. bring back the abundancy of choices and diversity.

Disclaimer: with Dragonflight's profession revamp, there's hope for the future. Alas, Archaeology has been forgotten once again.

Stop Integrating Addons

Blizzard should stop integrating addons into the baseline gameplay and UI. This is what got WoW into its current state in the first place. Addons are created mostly to give players a more convenient way of playing the game. If a player wants a more convenient gameplay style, they should download the desired addon for that. Blizzard should not give in to complaints and force other players to have the same convenient playstyle. therefore, addons should be optional, not baseline.

Get rid of Sharding

Sharding was introduced to control overpopulation in an area. but in today's WoW, areas actually require more population in order to feel more alive. Plus, sharding creates frustrating moments where players or NPCs suddenly vanish or appear out of nowhere. this creates less of a social gameplay and breaks immersion within the game.

Fix the Lore Inconsistencies

Ever since Cataclysm, the leveling experience has been quite a lore mess. you start out as a character in a world affected by the cataclysm, after the events of outland and northrend. Then, you go to outland/northren, where the cataclysm hasn't even happened yet. After that, you proceed to the cataclysm and pandaria. Death knight characters start in Wotlk era, but can go backwards into TBC era, where they haven't been introduced yet. Pandaren players start after the events of cataclysm, but then go back to cataclysm and even to wrath of the lich king and burning crusade, which never took them into consideration. Legion introduced class halls and artifacts, which would need to be updated every time a new class is introduced to the game.

Disclaimer: They sort of fixed it with the Shadowlands expansion's revamped leveling.

Bring the Class not the Player

Homogenization of the classes (being able to do what other classes are able to) is deteriorating the gameplay (the same applies to hunter pet abilities). every class in the game should feel unique and different from its counterparts. classes should have advantages over other classes, as well as weaknesses in comparison to other classes. For example, when in a raid group, every class should bring something to the table that the other classes can't, and play a specific role in advancing the raid group throughout the content. Having unique and exclusive class mechanics will give classes the opportunity to shine in certain situations and give players the feeling that they contribute to the whole raid. They should design the dungeons and raids around classes' abilities (not the encounters, but the environment), like how the artifact questlines in Legion required you to use some of your abilities.

For instance, a rogue could be required to Pick Lock a door or a chest, Pickpocket a key from a target, utilize Detect Traps to warn others of hidden traps or provide Shroud of Concealment to get past an unbeatable target. a mage could be required to use Blink in order to breach a blocked path and loot a key, or press a switch on the other side that will open a gate for the others. a warrior could be required to use Spell Reflect to break a boss' immunity or kill bosses that can only die from their own attacks. a shaman or a druid could be required to use Thunderstorm or Typhoon to knock a target off a platform, when it's low on health or something. a mage or a priest could be required to provide Levitate or Slow Fall for players to survive a long fall. a priest could be required to use Leap of Faith to help a certain player get somewhere. a priest, a warlock or a death knight could be required to use Mind Control, Subjugate Demon or Control Undead in order to manipulate a mob to open a path. a priest or a warrior could be required to use Mass Dispel or Shattering Throw in order to dispel an undispelable barrier. a shaman, a death knight or a priest could be required to provide Water Walking, Path of Frost or Levitate in order for the group to traverse certain terrains. a warlock could be required to provide Unending Breath for players to survive a long dive, use Demonic Gateway to get players over a chasm or use Ritual of Summoning to summon players where only the Warlock and a handful of players can get to. a druid could be required to provide Stampeding Roar for the group to outrun a massive boulder. a hunter could be required to use Flare to light up a dark room or expose hidden enemies. a warlock or a hunter could be required to use Eye of Kilrogg or Eyes of the Beast to get past certain guards and loot or press something. a rogue, a hunter, a warrior or a demon hunter could be required to use Grappling Hook, Heroic Leap, Disengage, Fel Rush, Double Jump, Glide or Vengeful Retreat to reach unreachable places and loot or press something. a monk or a warlock could be required to use Transcendence or Demonic Circle on a moving platform, that deals massive amounts of damage to those who step on it (even with shielding spells), in order to get to the platform's final destination without dying. then, they would press a switch that will form a bridge or a staircase for the other players.

This holds true for fantasy purposes as well. certain classes should have an advantage over certain mobs and classes. For example, Death Knights should have an advantage over Undead creatures and Druids (as the power of death can sometimes overwhelm life, as in the case of Lady Alistra and her disciples); Demon Hunters should have an advantage over Demons and Warlocks; Druids should have an advantage over Beasts and plant elementals, as well as Hunters (as they have some degree of power over animals); Hunter should have somewhat of an advantage over Druids (as they master the art of slaying beasts); Paladins should have an advantage over Undead, Demons and Aberration and over "villainous" classes like Warlock, Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Shadow Priests and even Rogues. Holy and Discipline Priests should also have an advantage over Undead, Demons and aberrations as well as over "villainous" classes. However, Shadow Priests should have somewhat of a disadvantage against Death Knights, as the Void fears Death (due to its resistance to Void influence); Shamans should have an advantage over Elementals and therefore over Frost Mages; Warlocks should have an advantage over Demons and over Mages (as Arcane is vulnerable to Fel). However, they should have somewhat of a disadvantage against Shadow Priests (as the Burning Legion fears the Void).

If Everyone is Special - No One is

The narrative in WoW should definitely stop addressing every player as a hero or a champion. only those who accomplished great deeds (achievement-wise, for example) should be addressed as one. the others (the majority of players) should be addressed as adventurers. Things like including players in every cutscene, revolving the storyline around them, and giving them unimaginable power just ruins the game's immersion. Therefore, things like using the dragon soul to take out Deathwing or blasting N'zoth with an azerite Kamehameha is absolutely redundant. Plus, Cataclysmic events like Sargeras stabbing the world, us going to Argus by a dimensional ship and demons using spaceships is eye-rollingly cheesy. it deviates way too much from the medieval fantasy that characterized WoW. Blizz should keep the storyline simple, yet interesting and engaging. There is no need for the game to take an asian-rpg direction, making us godly figures facing sci-fi level of threats.

Moreover, the dialogues in-game need to change. for example, the Magni dialogues throughout BFA have been the most annoying dialogues of any expansion. It feels like some kids' video game tutorials, or TV shows like dora the explorer, where you constantly being told what you need to do and then being praised for doing it. Magni's astounded tone, like he's seeing things for the first time, also feels like it caters to 6 year olds. Same applies to some of the Ardenweald dialogues, which sound way too theatrical and dramatic. Go back to Warcraft 3 roots, where the dialogues were a bit more mature and authentic and where characters didn't shy away from using foul language. here are some examples:

Uther: "Damn it, what are these curs up to?", "Damn that boy!", What, were you hoping to piss on them one last time before you left his kingdom to rot?", "I dearly hope that there's a special place in hell waiting for you, Arthas".
Necromancer: "You best draw back to your senile father and await the end of your reign".
Muradin: "Bloody hell!".
Captain: "To hell with the undead!".
Arthas: "Damn Uther for forcing me to do this!", "Damn the men!", What the hell is that?", "What the...", "You waste your time, woman", "Damn that woman!", "After all you've put me through, woman, the last thing I'll give you is the peace of death", "Shut up, you damned ghost".
Footman: "Damn beasts!", "You bastard!".
Knight: "You should burn in hell!".
Gavinrad the Dire: "I knew it was a mistake to accept a spoiled prince into our order!".
Sylvanas: "Damn you monsters!", "Give my regards to hell, you son of a bitch".
Thrall: "What the hell is going on here?", "To hell with your apologies!", "I don't want to keep the bastard waiting".
Archimonde: "The Legion has returned to consume this world, woman", "Fools!", "Find her, damn you!".
Satyr: "Wretched fools!", "I think not, woman".
Naga: "Wretched woman", "Quickly, you fools!".
Gul'dan: "Spineless cowards!", "Blasted, feeble-minded weaklings!".
Malfurion: "Just who is the betrayer now, woman?".
Kael'thas: "Insolent son of a… Let's get this over with!".
Garithos: "Those brainless dwarves are almost more trouble then they're worth!", "Can't you idiots follow simple orders? There's a war on, and you louts are off having a picnic!".
Varimathras: "Watch your tongue, human dog".
Rifleman: "They don't pay us enough to put up with that asshole", "Don't even try it, ye bastard!".
Nazgrel: "Come, human dogs!".

Even Garrosh saying "watch your clever mouth, bitch" to Sylvanas, during Cataclysm, felt good (apparently, they've removed the word bitch from the phrase in Shadowlands. What do they think we are, toddlers?) stop with the PG-13 nonsense, and make the conversations more mature and sophisticated (just add a filter option for children). but it's not just the protagonist characters that are ridiculous, it's the antagonists' dialogues as well. all these creatures, or bosses, who yell these corny and cliche lines, like: "you will burn!", "you dare to defy me?!" "i will be your doom" and so on, is kinda getting repetitive. give them some complicated and sinister dialogue lines, rather than recycling the same old, rehashed lines.

Speaking of bad, the in-game cutscenes are so cringy to look at (not the cinematic-styled ones). Even with all those new models and animations, they remain as bad as they were in the old days. The characters' motion looks like it is sequenced by putting together different character animations with a small gap between them: [animation 1]...1 sec delay [animation 2]. They are rigid and lack fluidity. Plus, some of their supposed animations, like swinging, is entirely motionless and lifeless. Talking is even worse. Their head bob around while their body is completely frozen. Isn't it about time they upgraded their in-game cutscenes quality like, come on, this is not 2010 anymore. plus, i think they should voice act older content, for the sake of spicing up gameplay, a little bit, in older zones.

Disclaimer: Shadowlands seems to have brought with it complex animated in-game cutcsenes.
Dragonflight's emphasis on simplicity might be an indication for the reverse of the Hero role, finally.

World PvP Skirmishes

Not instanced or scheduled, but rather spontaneous. Claiming territories for the Horde or the Alliance as a group. It's like PvP Warfronts, in a sense, but out there in the world. Though, only contested territories should be available to conquer, as they are neither Horde-exclusive nor Alliance-exclusive. What i mean is giving the world a sense of dynamity. For example, an alliance player questing through Ashenvale Forest would be like: "Oh shit, it's in the horde control now, i should be more careful" as the scenery around him changes to a more Orcish-centric look. Or vice-versa, for a horde player to be like: "Oh shit, it's under the alliance control, i should watch out", as the scenery changes to a more Night Elven-centric look. That way, you can return to a place you already know, only to see it completely changed (no need to announce the ownership changes, or mark it on the map. let players discover it on their own). In a sense, it's like capturing the feel of Southshore vs Tarren Mill, without turning it into a BG.

Pristine Servers

"In essence that would turn off all leveling acceleration including character transfers, heirloom gear, character boosts, Recruit-A-Friend bonuses, WoW Token, and access to cross realm zones, as well as group finder." - Blizzard Entertainment

Pristine servers should be added for those who want the Classic gameplay feel in current WoW. These servers should take away most quality-of-life features that essentially make the game easier and comfortable. There could be, for example, 3 levels of difficulty servers: 'Easy' mode servers, 'Normal' mode servers, and 'Hard' mode servers. This way, those who don't want this kind of gameplay can keep to their original servers.

Custom Maps

What if Blizzard were to implemented a feature within the game, where players can construct their own Battlegrounds/Arenas/Dungeons/Raids/Puzzles/Zones/Quests/Etc, using existing assets, for other players to try, much like Warcraft 3's Custom Maps or Overwatch's Workshop. I don't know if it's implementable, but it would give players something to do in their downtime, could be hella fun to experience by other players, and might even give Blizzard ideas and inspiration.

Borrowed Power

As of lately, Blizzard adopted the habit of introducing new features into the game that do not last beyond the expansion that they are introduced in. This habit creates a void every time a new expansion comes out. let me give you an example:

The Burning Crusade
Arenas - still relevant to this day
Flying Mounts - still relevant to this day
Socketed Items - still relevant to this day
Jewelcrafting - still relevant to this day
Heroic Dungeons - still relevant to this day

Wrath of the Lich King
Achievements - still relevant to this day
Inscription - still relevant to this day
Barbershop - still relevant to this day
Dual Talent Specialization - altered
Hero Class - still relevant to this day
Heirloom Items - still relevant to this day (unfortunately)

Cataclysm
Revamped Azeroth - still relevant to this day
Flying Mounts in Azeroth - still relevant to this day
Archaeology - still relevant to this day (but not in Shadowlands, for some reason)
Guild Perks - still relevant to this day (although, massively pruned)
New Race/Class Combinations - still relevant to this day
Reforging - gone
Transmogrification and Void Storage - still relevant to this day

Mists of Pandaria
Challenge Mode Dungeons - gone
Scenarios - gone
Pet Battle System - still relevant to this day
New Talent System - still relevant to this day
Farms - gone
Cross-Realm Zones - still relevant to this day
Black Market - still relevant to this day
Brawler's Guild - still relevant to this day
Flexible Raids - still relevant to this day
Proving Grounds - gone
Timeless Isle - gone
Connected Realms - still relevant to this day
[something]-Forged Items - gone

Warlords of Draenor
Garrisons - gone
Mission table - still relevant to this day (unfortunately)
Shipyard - gone
New Character Models - still relevant to this day
Character Boost - still relevant to this day (unfortunately)
Minor Stats - still relevant to this day
Mount Taming & Mounted Combat - gone
Squish - still relevant to this day
Group Finder - still relevant to this day
Draenor Ability Perks - gone
Mythic Mode - still relevant to this day
Timewalking - still relevant to this day

Legion
PvP Talents - still relevant to this day
New Combat Animations - still relevant to this day
Artifact Weapons - gone
Class Order Halls - gone
Mage Tower Challenges - gone
Netherlight Crucible - gone
Invasion Points - gone
Profession Quest Chains - gone
PvP Brawls - still relevant to this day
Mythic + - still relevant to this day
Legendaries - gone, and made a comback
Spec Identity - relevant until shadowlands

Battle for Azeroth
Revamped Areas - still relevant to this day
Island Expeditions - gone
Warfronts - gone
Allied races - still relevant to this day
Heritage Armor - hopefully still relevant
Azerite Traits, Armor and Necklace - gone
Essences - gone
Benthic Gear - gone
War Mode - still relevant to this day
Communities - still relevant to this day
Mount Equipment - still relevant to this day
Corrupted Zones - gone
Horrific Visions - gone
Corrupted Gear - gone

Shadowlands (speculation)
Covenants - probably won't last
Soulbinds - probably won't last
Torghast - will be used as something else
Legendaries - will probably last
Character Customization - will probably last
Class Identity - will probably last
Anima - probably won't last
Leveling Revamp - will probably last
New Starting Zone - will probably last
Profession changes - will probably last

Many of these features are just reiterations of previous features. The problem is that they are being advertised as new features. I don't have a problem with Blizzard experimenting with features to see what players like. But, don't make it a main feature if it's not gonna last long or is simply a rehashed version of an older feature. Keep 'em as secondary features. When players lose such kind of features, they feel that their whole investment was for nothing, and nothing about the new expansion announcement trailers sounds exciting anymore. As you can see, Blizzard has slowly declined in the amount of exciting new features they introduce, to the point that they market re-used features as new ones. I can't blame them for having less innovation over time, as there is so much they can come up with before they run out of ideas. But, at least don't sell the playerbase temporary features.

Disclaimer: thankfully, Dragonflight doesn't introduce any borrowed power systems. A decision in the right direction.

World of Chorecraft

Back in the day there would only be a few, optional, daily quests for players to do in order to grind reputations, currencies and so on. Grinding, these days, is composed of mandatory, un-interesting chores, players feel compelled to do. These daily or weekly activities are basically on a virtual mini-game level, and are draining to do. Yes, i'm looking at you Mission Table, World Quests/Emissaries & Artifact/Azerite/Anima Power grind. These things eventually lead to a burnout feeling that compel players to quit. I realize that Grinding is part of any MMORPG, whether i like it or not. But, you could at least try and make it interesting. Instead of giving players the feel that they have to do it, give them the feel that they can do it. Maybe, try and take some aspects of Torghast, Mythic + or PvP brawls and integrate it into daily quests. I know that, eventually, it will get boring as well but, at least, don't make it boring from the get go.

The Issue of Alpha/Beta/PTR Testing, Datamining & Chronicles

I have to admit, i'm someone who can't wait to get his hands on some juicy new content/lore information. But, thinking about it, it kinda ruins the surprise and mystery of it all. Knowing and experiencing the game before it even comes out leaves nothing to the imagination. The moment a player joins the new expansion, for example, he already knows and experienced everything about it, and therefore, will get tired of it pretty quickly. Same goes for new patches. If Blizzard wants to keep the content fresh for longer, they have to hide it from public eyes for as long as possible, or else they would have to add updates quite often. Before datamining and testing, things were somewhat exciting to discover and experience in-game, and were mostly based on rumors. Speaking of rumors and speculations, these are the things that i think are crucial to the game if they want to keep players interested. The moment Chronicles came out (although it was very interesting), everything was pretty much a done-deal. The playerbase didn't need to guess, or theorize, anymore. That, pretty much, kills the enthusiasm of speculating and debating over lore-related topics. We now know what the antagonists' motives are, who's stronger than who and what about the RPG is canon or not. My suggestion would be to encrypt data, for as long as possible, in order to prevent datamining, and to let only an elite group of players test the new expansions/patches, and forbid them from streaming it or revealing the details online.

[Nefarious Tea]

You have more negative things than positive so...

How about no.

[username993720]

Well, i'm glad they are sorting out the leveling mess and focusing on class identity in Shadowlands.

[KYZ123]

So much of this has clearly not been thought out, and some of it disregards the opinions of other players so much, I'd almost be tempted to call it a troll post. (Have you seen the reactions to the Pathfinder system, or the reactions when Blizzard removed the Dalaran portals? Yet you want to restrict flying and portals more?)

[Sangfoudre]

YES:
- use of Islands AI in the open world
- long and immersive quest,

Tough to implement:
- night/day
- interactive terrain
- dynamic buildings

NO:
everything else, this is a hard no like spec > player or group quests.

[username993720]

It seems like they are listening!

they implemented the idea of restricting flying and mounting by making the skies a dangerous place and reducing flying speed with the Great Worm From Beyond: https://www.wowhead.com/news=300953/...nzoth-assaults

In the Patch 8.3 N'zoth Assaults, you'll be able to use your Flying mount to help get to locations more quickly. However, N'zoth has released some annoying creatures in the air above the assaults, that will annoy you and slow down the speed of your flying mount.

and they are experimenting with the idea of letting the player be a villain for once by fighting other players as a mob, with the Void Wraith secret: https://www.wowhead.com/news=309582/...erful-rare-mob

A new secret has been discovered in Assault zones in Visions of N'Zoth, one that has ties with a previously unsolved item! As you complete this secret questline, you will become a powerful rare mob able to kill players. As this quest requires you to kill players, you can only do this with War Mode on.

Assaults, much like the faction incursions and Legion assaults, are kinda like the dynamic events i suggested:

Assaults are a feature added in patch 8.3.0, consisting of the invasion by various enemies of Uldum in Kalimdor and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms in Pandaria, triggering a zone-wide event.

[FlemmMinis]

I don't know how meeting many women would improve the game but thank you anyways

[username993720]

I don't know how meeting many women would improve the game but thank you anyways

what are you talking about?

[Vampyr78]

Riddle/Puzzle System

They are already putting them from time to time so this point is pointless.

Make Quest Tracker optional

Options are always good so option to turn it off wouldn't hurt.

Branching Storyline

Well it's problematic. Most games with Branching Storylines have only an illusion of branching. They give you choices but some of them lead to the same outcome. It's also resource heavy. Then there is an issue of how to make all players on the same page for next expansion when they all had different stories. Otherwise each new expansion would require more work than previous one.

Reduce the amount of Teleportation

Last time they did with portal rooms and people didn't like it.

Return the ability to attack friendly NPCs

But why?

Class Activities

I am always on board with class specific stuff. The problem is that it's 12x more work and some people won't appreciate it just.

Dynamic Events

It's hard to make truly dynamic events but there are some kind of dynamic events in game.

Interactive Terrains and Abilities

Maybe in next expac, it will be a pain to do it retroactively.

Restrict Flying and Mounting

Some people want flying, some don't. Making flying an inconvinance doesn't satisfy the first group. Current Pathfinder model makes both groups bit unhappy and that makes it a good compromise

Increase Difficulty and Decrease Accessibility

Decrease Accessibility = Decrese Income. WoW did become so big and popular because it was the most accessible mmorpg on the market.

Weather/Night time

Yes to that.

Money and Gear

There's too much money on the market. Can't do much about it now without simply removing money or value of money.

Chat Channels

That's kind of problematic. People can do it themselves. It just happens that there are also people that prefer to spend time in game playing instead of discussing.

Guilds and Countries

Yeah could be usefull to search guilds by country.

Ease the restrictions on spec-specific abilities

Free for all build your spell book isn't that great of a system. It creates huge barrier of entry for new players. In order to attract new players game has to be simple and easy at start and grow in difficulty as the player progresses.

Collaborative Quests

But what happens when there's new expansion and some players will play still in the old one becasue they don't spend money on new. It would make them impossible to do some quests becasue there's barely anyone there.

Long & Complicated Quests

It also can be difficult given how crude quest system is in wow. System only allows for kill quests. In order to get around it some quests implement scripts that kill special invisible npcs everytime you loot an item for fetch quest or complete some objective.

RPG Elements

Well I like RPG elements but they were removed because people wanted.

Make Professions Great Again

It's problematic. If you can get the same item from profession isntead of a random chance drop then it might be easier to just farm profession mats than bother raiding.

Stop Integrating Addons

No, popular addons should be integrated. It makes game better for new player that might not be sure if he wants to download third party addons.

Get rid of Sharding

I don't think it's easy doable now. It's pretty much integrated with server architecture.

Fix the Lore Inconsistencies

Damage has already been done.

Bring the Class not the Player

It shouldn't be neither of those 2 extremes.

An adventurer, not a hero

Too late for that also.

[Nnyco]

Dunno why some people got such a boner to be just a lowly peon-adventurer.

[Aphrel]

A skybox with clouds that moves and their shadows moving across the ground would be awesome.
Trees swaying in the wind.
Oceans having waves.
Introudce nightmode and make lightradius a teritary stat.
Introduce torches to the game

[LordVargK]

Riddle/Puzzle System

Puzzles are the single best thing implemented in BfA (and to some extend Legion). But making them a feature for everyone kinda invalidates the secrecy. You would have to have processual generated secrets to give each player their own personal experience. And most players are more interested in the reward than the secret itself.
Make Quest Tracker optional

Sure. And on that note: Let me disable ALL ingame notifications. I played the game long enough, I don't need the game to tell me that I can choose a PvP talent...

Branching Storyline

Would be nice, but is unrealistic. Also as long as the leveling phase does not progress your character, most players will only be interested in endgame content, so why bother to better something that is ignored by most?

Reduce the amount of Teleportation

Yeah, no, hard pass on that. All time traveled is wasted time nowadays. If however you can expect so find something new along the way every time (random events), then by all means, let me explore your world.

Return the ability to attack friendly NPCs

That will be fun once and then it's waaay too inconvenient.

Class Activities

Replace factions by Orders. Done that in Legion, was pretty nice.

Dynamic Events

The more content the better. And dynamic quests are more interesting than static ones.

Interactive Terrains and Abilities

That's not possible within WoW's engine. Wait for WoW 2.

Restrict Flying and Mounting

If zones are like classic, flat, safe paths, 1 mob per km², then yes, by all means, do it. But look at Nazjatar: extremely 3 dimensional, mobs everywhere with huge aggro leashes. No thank you, let me skip that shit.

Increase Difficulty and Decrease Accessibility

Why? to make the game even more a chore? I'll refer to Nazjatar again. That Zone is just that and it's terrible. I feel that everyone who asks for more difficulty plays a feral, rogue or tank. And no, classic was not difficult whatsoever. But I feel that there has to be content to work towards to. But not the open world. make Raids harder again, I would sign for that.

Weather/Night time

Should have been implemented 10 years ago.

Money and Gear

The color of the gear does no matter. And you would have to remove M+ to implement your ideas.

Chat Channels

Strong nope. Ingame chat is a pretty useless tool for discussions.

Guilds and Countries

In Europe you can filter your dungeon finder by language. Don't know if the same is true for Guilds, but I imagine so.

Ease the restrictions on spec-specific abilities

How to make the game broken. Good idea, but not balanceable.

Collaborative Quests

Sure. Punish the people who play at night when noone else is online.

Long & Complicated Quests

If you're talking green fire: yes. Everything else can't be complicated because of the internet. Long? Sure, go ahead.

RPG Elements

Great idea, but Blizz will be too lazy (busy) to implement that.

Make Professions Great Again

Signed.

Stop Integrating Addons

When an addon is strictly better than the base UI, then it should be implemented. Addons are the best thing about WoW, without them the game would be nothing special.

Get rid of Sharding

Just merge Servers already.

Fix the Lore Inconsistencies

too little too late.

Bring the Class not the Player

Strong no. This is how BfA's class design started. Looking back "bring the player not the class" was perfect for the overall fun.

An adventurer, not a hero

too little too late. Wait for WoW 2.

[username993720]

It's problematic. If you can get the same item from profession instead of a random chance drop then it might be easier to just farm profession mats than bother raiding.

True. fixed it. the crafting materials should drop from the raids themselves, for example, and therefore, be on the same level of difficulty to attain.

If zones are like classic, flat, safe paths, 1 mob per km², then yes, by all means, do it. But look at Nazjatar: extremely 3 dimensional, mobs everywhere with huge aggro leashes. No thank you, let me skip that shit.

I agree. The landscape design should change accordingly. If there are no safe paths, and if there are too many mobs clustered together, then traveling by foot is rather annoying.

Sure. And on that note: Let me disable ALL ingame notifications. I played the game long enough, I don't need the game to tell me that I can choose a PvP talent...

Hell yeah! stop spoon-feeding your players like they are 3 year olds. let them discover these things on their own.

A skybox with clouds that moves and their shadows moving across the ground would be awesome.
Trees swaying in the wind.
Oceans having waves.
Introudce nightmode and make lightradius a teritary stat.
Introduce torches to the game

Amen to that. Great ideas. I really wish they would be implemented.

Yeah, no, hard pass on that. All time traveled is wasted time nowadays. If however you can expect so find something new along the way every time (random events), then by all means, let me explore your world.

That is what Dynamic Events are.

[FlemmMinis]

what are you talking about?

There was a spam over my post. Sorry

OT:
Make Archeology interesting.

[Arknemesis]

Personally since we are in the land of tormented souls, anyone who types "filthy casual" or "git good" in any form of chat in game should be banished to the upper levels of Torghast as a tormented soul till they are freed by said "filthy casual" during the Covenant Weeklies!

[rrayy]

It seems like they are listening!

they implemented the idea of restricting flying and mounting by making the skies a dangerous place and reducing flying speed with the Great Worm From Beyond: https://www.wowhead.com/news=300953/...nzoth-assaults

Which was an abysmal failure is it is very easy to avoid.

[username993720]

They seem to be focusing on RPG elements with Dragonflight, so it seems they are going the right direction.

Not to mention their attempt at revitalizing professions.

Perhaps the new Talent System will allow us to share more abilities across specializations.

And finally, there seems to be no borrowed power.

[username993720]

An interesting video about how Quest Tracker killed the World... of Warcraft:


I completely agree.
I remember when i just started this game, i used to level by killing mobs. It was such a boring process. Then, one day, i discovered questing and a whole new world opened up to me. It was so enjoyable. Reading the quest text, finding out where to go, discovering new places, quest givers and where to use that item exactly. The need to group up to take out an elite quest mob. Just seeing it on the horizon, looking at its name and realizing it is the mob you need to take out was such an awe-inspiring experience. And then came Quest Tracker. Everything became so mundane and structured. Follow the arrow on the minimap. Get to the blue spot. Kill whatever is marked as the objective and done. Quests just became all similar. Nothing exciting or interesting about them. They became just something you have to do to level up. You might not value it very much, but it was a major blow to the game. The experience of immersion, exploration and lore was completely made obsolete. This is why i mostly object QoL features in the OP. They ruin more than they help.

[saixilein]

True, but we are on a no return point. Even in a new game people will complain about lack of WoL features like this. If you can do wuests in a game the quest themselfa need to be evolved and explored in new ways, so its fun again and you dont have the feeling you need a marker.

Questing/leveling is just an snnoying task you have to do, so u can get into the engame. And people wanna go fast. So even a step back into a more leveling/wuesting focused gamedesigne would result into a shitstorm.

[Mysterymask]

I completely agree.
I remember when i just started this game, i used to level by killing mobs. It was such a boring process. Then, one day, i discovered questing and a whole new world opened up to me. It was so enjoyable. Reading the quest text, finding out where to go, discovering new places, quest givers and where to use that item exactly. The need to group up to take out an elite quest mob. Just seeing it on the horizon, looking at its name and realizing it is the mob you need to take out was such an awe-inspiring experience. And then came Quest Tracker. Everything became so mundane and structured. Follow the arrow on the minimap. Get to the blue spot. Kill whatever is marked as the objective and done. Quests just became all similar. Nothing exciting or interesting about them. They became just something you have to do to level up. You might not value it very much, but it was a major blow to the game. The experience of immersion, exploration and lore was completely made obsolete. This is why i mostly object QoL features in the OP. They ruin more than they help.

how the fuck did you "Miss Questing" in wow? Wow literally shoves QUESTS in your face the second you get in. Did you miss the GIANT EXCLAMATION MARK ON THE GUY RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU WHEN YOU SPAWN IN . Like quests were pretty literally shoved in your face in the beginning of the game since vanilla. You are going to tell me you decided "Oh that guy with the OBVIOUS EXCLAMATION POINT" isn't important I should just grind these boars.