In what ways could Shadowlands end up being GREAT?

[Voidism]

So, we have a negative thread already so let's bring up all the things that could potentially make SL great or even the best expansion yet.

- Covenants is much more interesting than reputations and gives you something to look forward to.
- Toghast having a lot of replayability and fun rewards in different tiers of drop chance.
- Potential "corruption mechanic" that's more balanced and gives us a risk-reward gameplay throughout the expansion.
- Old abilities feeling more than nostalgic, actually feeling class defining and useful.

What can you come up with?

[Fawkess]

I'm hoping Covenant cosmetics (Armor, Mount, Back Attachments) end up like the artifact weapon in that you need to complete different objectives to unlock and upgrade them

The Maw could end up being a great sandbox zone as well with a lot of fun stories and random events similar to timeless isle

[Nerovar]

I think the tower has a lot of potential if they get the difficulty and itemization right this time. PvP could also make a return if they fix classes and PvP gear. I remain skeptical about story and covenants though.

[Varodoc]

If it ties into Shadows' Rising (so Alleria and Turalyon continue hunting Sylvanas and don't mysteriously disappear), if Sylvanas dies as a villain, and if the Void elves get new customization options (Alleria-ish skin tones).

[Guildenstern]

1) They get class balance right
2) Cosmetic options are really plenty and include everything we've seen on NPCs so far, for example this gem of a face tatoo
3) They throw in more races ASAP.
4) Class fantasies are given focus

That is the bare minimum. But mark my words, I am 90% sure they will fall short of realizing most of these points. Class balance is going to suck. Cosmetic options would be far too scarce and serve as more an insult than anything else. Races will come too late to make a change. Class fantasies are scrapped along with tier sets.

[Voidism]

Shadowlands might be great if... [...]

• It sets the stage for a complete world revamp or a sequel to WoW.

Oooh, I'd love that.

Hopefully they have been busy in the shadows, making a world revamp without us knowing!

[Leakage]

All they have to do is make classes feel good again and that solves a lot of issues. BFA would be much more tolerable if it at least felt good playing all the content in the expansion but it doesn't.

[Razion]

- Pre-Expansion event gets tons of people playing and engaging in mass multiplayer events before the expac launches, generating lots of hype

- New Starting zone clean and beautiful, artistically inspiring and ends up really making the game visually appealing to new players

- People enjoying the level squish, people make more alts, encourages more people to play the game, game seems more approachable now to new players, speed of leveling gets more players at end-game to experience the cool new stuff

- Each level now feels meaningful, getting abilities or other bonuses regularly while leveling makes it really exciting and enjoyable

- People leveling through old scaled expansion content end up appreciating old content more, people understanding and getting involved more with the story, old great quests get re-recognized by the community as great experiences

- Scale to group feature gets more people leveling together, encourages more multiplayer groups out in the world, world feels more alive with more people running around together, more guilds and friendships get formed

- More character customization received well, people make more alts, encourages more people to play the game, people go nuts making transmog around new customization

- Covenant armor actually being pretty cute, cool, handsome, sexy, and all around awesome

- Dungeons fun to play for their own sake, people replay ad nausea for hi-jinks and fun times with game mechanics that make multiplayer a fun time

- Raids turn out to be dungeons on steroids filled to the brim with just so much wacky multiplayer mayhem

- Torghast, Tower of the Damned actually getting procedural-generated content down pat, bringing with it a new era of replay value to the game

- Forge of Domination actually makes crafting legendaries fun, affixes added by the forge turn out to change gameplay in a fun and meaningful way

- Old abilities coming back looking cool and feeling great

- People actually taking pride in their Covenants and really identify with them, Covenants become the coolest new club house ever

[McNeil]

Just killing off Sylvanas will do it for me

[stenbumling89]

Way less chores, weekly or daily, tied to your character power

[Mozu]

Classes being fun and engaging again is all it would take for me.

[kaminaris]

Not being a turd like legion would be enough.

That being said I really wish they would do 2-weekly balancing mini patches and add more systems like horrific visions possibly with bodyguard-with-upgrades addition.

And system that actually last more than one expansion.

[docterfreeze]

For the first time since MoP we're gaining useful abilities instead of losing them. Repeat that sentence to yourself until you're as hopeful for the next expansion as I am.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

Ya, the class stuff and all the leveling changes.
If it dramatically changes the basics of that part of the game it can go down as an unbelievable expansion regardless of what end game is like.

Best part is, it will be available for free.

Honestly though, they would have to mess something up majorly for it to not be good for me.
Like, removing Mythic+ or something crazy.

[Aresk]

Shadowlands could end up being GREAT if...
...the team takes the opportunity of exploring a brand new region to really spruce up the lore, similar to what they did in Pandaria
...the faction conflict goes on a long hiatus, focusing a bit more on the intrafaction dynamics.
...they explore some of the ancient lore characters that we've never gotten to meet, such as Thoradin, Nelgarm, and others.
...they begin to diversify mono-role classes like mages, hunters, and rogues.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

Torghast needs:
Hidden Appearance rewards
Mount rewards
Replayability
Alt friendly

Leveling:
FAST NOT SLOW NOR GRINDY
Diverse. You can quest, dungeon, PvP to 50-60.

Lore:
Needs to make sense
Unpredictable but makes sense
Not too many plots going on like BFA did
No political agendas/irl bs like radical feminism and non-toxic masculinity to make a character

Classes
All specs are viable, get rid of FOTM
Remove clunky abilities
Make all talents viable
Update all the spells and abilities to 2020 quality

PvE
Bring back class tier sets, should've NEVER been removed. one of the most retarded decisions blizzard made
keep titanforging and corruption the HELL out of the game


gameplay:
no more grindyfest for alts be alt friendly
make reputation grinds optional
keep artifact/azerite systems OUT of the game. noone likes them!!

- - - Updated - - -

Just killing off Sylvanas will do it for me

yes because we didn't learn anything about garrosh's, vol'jin's, and varian's death on how characters dying impact the story in a negative way. you can get rid of a character without killing them off. look at khadgar

[Onikaroshi]

All specs are viable, get rid of FOTM

all specs are viable NOW, but you can't get rid of "FOTM" because classes well never be balanced withing margin of error of each other, it's just impossible, and if something is even 1% people will flock to that

keep artifact/azerite systems OUT of the game. noone likes them!!

objectively false as there is people who DO like them, me being one of them, just cap them like they plan to in SL.

[Aggrophobic]

Flying right at max level and some more effort into making classes feel more like the MoP-design.
The rest Blizzard already does well.

[Onikaroshi]

Flying right at max level

Don't think we'll ever see that again. It's silly though, I really don't mind pathfinder, having to do a couple of reps and explore isn't that big of a deal (i'd honestly rather do that than pay as i'm usually broke af), it's the waiting a year that is stupid.

[UhmHi]

- Titanforging/Corruption/Shadowlands version is removed.
- Frost DK gets 2-handers back.
- Pathfinder is removed.
- Sylvanas disappears from the plot early in an airship engine accident, preferably first patch.

Those four would bring me back for Shadowlands. My opinion ofcourse.

EDIT: Adding a fifth, let people transmog Artifact appearances no matter the specc you're using.