In what ways could Shadowlands end up being GREAT?

[Aggrophobic]

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.

I don't think so either but the very fact that they added this, not to make the game better or more fun but for it to take more time just makes it worse.
Outdoor content is horrible without flying and with Blizzard focusing more on outdoor now just ruins the expansion for me befor it's even out.

[Doffen]

What I want for Shadowlands is that we get quality content like we got in Legion. And rewards that you can show too for doing said quality content. Which is non-existant in BfA.

Like Mage Tower in Legion. Like the Artifact skins you got from doing different content. When you are one of the first ones to do a mage tower on your server and the skin looks so awesome that people whisper you and ask where you got it and they want it too because the reward is actually something that shows, "I did that".

Focus on player power instead of character power. In Legion the first 6-8 months it was focus on powering that weapon, be done with the Legendary farm. After that you were practically done. And even while you did that you got cosmetic rewards, gear-sets and so on, unlike BfA while we still chase that power. Then they added the mage tower, class mount, more weapon skin stuff and for your alts with all the catch up you could get different mounts, class sets, weapon skins and all that. It was great and it seems they will focus more on that like in Legion and I love it already!

And it seems they will focus even more on player power instead or character power in SL. Which is a good thing seeing seeing people are getting tired of all the power up chasing in BfA. To focus on customizations, how your characters looks and the idea that you get cosmetic rewards if you grind over the cap is a very good idea like they mentioned the possibility of at Blizzcon.

TLDR: Quality instead of quantity is what I would like. Make the Covenant and Torghast system very good. Focus on customization. Take away player limitations and make us get rewards that are meaningful.

[MrLachyG]

-a substantial alpha/beta period where all the bugs are discovered and removed.
-making it friendly for alts (think back to MoP where if you were exalted with a faction you could buy an item which would double rep gains
for every single alt on your account).
-making it less of a chore - having a system similar to MoP with Valor points which was capped weekly/daily - similar to how Coalescing
Essence and the Nazjatar bodyguards work currently but with more options. you want to get Anima Power from mythic plus or raids or
emissaries or arenas & bg's? cool, you can get upto (insert number here) anima power a week doing that. making you choose how you get
Anima Power and making it a finite weekly grind instead of the infinite grinds we have had the last 2 expansions

things I am looking forward to:

crafting own legendaries
the Covenants
the 'unpruning'

[Shuya1]

I am so easy to please and even I started feeling bogged down during Bfa

I really want them to make the classes feel better to play. I couldn't decide what to play at the beginning of Bfa because everything felt bland and boring. It has gotten ...better, but I am cautiously optimistic for Shadowlands to make them great.

Character customization. I hope this is HUGE. I would, of course, love to see more than just Wildhammer skins. I need some Frostborn in my WoW life. Taunka skins. Hairstyles out the wazoo. So many more different colors of hair, skin tones, jewelry. I really hope they actually go all out on this.

Being alt friendly. I have so many 120s with all the classes. I love to level and I can't wait to see the new starting zone and leveling experience.

Like someone said earlier.. I'm not expecting pathfinder to be removed, but it would be nice not to have to wait a year to be able to complete it.

I know we are all intrigued, worried etc.. about Torghast. I just hope it doesn't turn out like island expeditions heh.

Covenants need to be stellar if this xpac is going to be great.

[deenman]

- 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.

pathfinder is never going away,its time to make peace with this fact

[LordVargK]

- It woudl be great if every gained covenant ability enhances the existing spec's kit. Like in Legion, where the artifacts gave one extra ability, that fit to your spec and then enchanced other abilites of the spec. In contrast, BfA did nothing to support specs. Over 60% of all Azerite abilites were generic and shared amongst most classes. And most of the class specific stuff just added random procs or stat boosts to a single ability, without offering new interactions at all. Also essences were all generic. A mage had the same essence ability as a warlock or a druid. Why even have a class system when you add the same abilites to every class? So, for SL to be fun for me, there must be class/spec specific stuff predominantly.

- alt-friendlyness. Legion and BfA focussed way too much on having one main character, because gear was not the only endgame progression system. Let alts benefit from the progress of your main or make gear the sole endgame progression again.

- professions. BfA changed the way you leveled professions for the better. But they did not make them meaningful. Let every gearslot be enhancable again and distribute those enhancements among the professions. GIVE ITEMS FIXED SOCKETS! There are way too much jewls and way too few items who use them right now. On that note: Why is archeology even in the game anymore? Sure, in Legion you got a mount, but BfA? like, 2 toys and a pet. How about digging up BoE gear again?

- Don't make this a Sylvanas story. She is such a poor villian, badly written and relies way too much on deus ex machina effects for her "plans". Treat her like Garrosh in WoD, main character in the trailer, killed off in a sidequest.

- Listen to player feedback and don't rush the release. Nothing is worse than an unfinished, frustrating game system to me. All of BfA had incredible potential. Expeditions where you actually explore, PvP Warfronts, truely customizable gear in the form of Azerite. But no, we got half assed stuff many people were sick off even 1 month into the game. Let SL deliver quality over quantity.

- obligatory unpruning of non useless abilites

- Let the UI team be more than 1 person. Seriously, the handholding of BfA was abyssmal. Like holy shit: Accept a quest and the UI google navigates you to your destination. Have an open PvP talent? Better remind me every time I get out of a loading screen. Even worse with Neck slots. The amount of unsolicited advise the UI gives you is just super annoying. At least let me turn that off! Just a simple interface option to turn off all help. I can't even find a reason why such an option is not in the game as of now...

[dproject]

bring back tier set items!

[Aeula]

We need gear vendors for PvP and PvE (Maybe have the vendor share the same currency that can be earned from both activities?)

Less RNG (Nothing like corruption ever again please)

A story that doesn’t erode the setting and make playing in it even more depressing (Already failed looking at what we’ve seen from Bastion)
Alternatively WoW needs to accept that it’s a parody game now and embrace it entirely.

Flight at 60, same as back in MoP. Once earned you can fly at 50 on your alts.

Good world/zone design

A reduced reliance on daily/weekly content and instead simply allowing people to progress at their own pace

Some really good non-lorebreaking customisation.

Narrative choices in questing with actual consequences or simply there so my character can make a statement about events (AKA: Actual roleplaying elements). I’d like the ability to remain loyal to Sylvanas if possible.
Unless they go the parody route, in which case it doesn’t matter.

Mounts and other items that aren’t gold sinks. Keep that for the BMAH.

[UhmHi]

pathfinder is never going away,its time to make peace with this fact

Could make peace with it, or leave the game until they wise up.

I choose the latter, Nazjatar pathfinder killed off flying entirely for me.

[deenman]

Could make peace with it, or leave the game until they wise up.

I choose the latter, Nazjatar pathfinder killed off flying entirely for me.

They make cool looking zones,they want you to experience it before you fly over it all,and I agree with it,frankly flying should never ever have been implemented in the first place,personaly I felt you got flying far to quick when nazjatar came out,flying should have come with 8.3

[UhmHi]

They make cool looking zones,they want you to experience it before you fly over it all,and I agree with it,frankly flying should never ever have been implemented in the first place,personaly I felt you got flying far to quick when nazjatar came out,flying should have come with 8.3

I am aware of why they have added Pathfinder, partly that and to extend content that would otherwise be done with swiftly. However, Nazjatar felt like a convoluted, multi-layered mess where you either ran non-stop into packs of mobs or straight off cliffs. Map layout didn't help it. Leave it to the players, if they want to fly over it all then perhaps the zones don't strike them as too cool? Honestly I was more impressed by the water-wall around Naz than anything else in there. You don't want to fly, stay grounded by your own volition.

[deenman]

I am aware of why they have added Pathfinder, partly that and to extend content that would otherwise be done with swiftly. However, Nazjatar felt like a convoluted, multi-layered mess where you either ran non-stop into packs of mobs or straight off cliffs. Map layout didn't help it. Leave it to the players, if they want to fly over it all then perhaps the zones don't strike them as too cool? Honestly I was more impressed by the water-wall around Naz than anything else in there. You don't want to fly, stay grounded by your own volition.

ye...agree,naz looks good,but doesnt feel great,mechagon was much better,the mop zones felt like the best design wise,also,the argument,you dont wanna fly so dont do it,doesnt really work,the box is open,cant put it back in,thats why i said,shouldnt have existed to begin with,ghostcrawler i think even said it was a mistake

[UhmHi]

ye...agree,naz looks good,but doesnt feel great,mechagon was much better,the mop zones felt like the best design wise,also,the argument,you dont wanna fly so dont do it,doesnt really work,the box is open,cant put it back in,thats why i said,shouldnt have existed to begin with,ghostcrawler i think even said it was a mistake

"Everybody else flies so I have to aswell" is not a good counter. I have a sub running out in 16 days or so, and I have not completed the Nazjatar pathfinder achievement. "You don't want to fly, so don't do it" is entirely viable, unless you are in a Mythic whatever guild and need to be speedy with how you progress and go from A to B. It is not an argument so much as a suggestion. People just give you the odd eye every now and then when you're riding a bat-mount on the ground in Boralus. Flightpaths is a substitute but alot of them take the strangest curves and detours around where you really want to go, or are entirely misplaced.

I certainly would like to fly as I love the ease of movement and sense of scale you get from it but having it rep and time-gated behind a terrible zone like Naz just killed it off for me. Friend of mine who sells gold and boosts told me he never saw such traffic as he did when Nazjatar released, so evidently it stopped some people in their tracks.

Ghostcrawlers opinion is his own. This is mine.

[MrLachyG]

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.

yeah they should only have 1 part and make available from launch. bump reps up to exalted even but have it available from launch

[deenman]

"Everybody else flies so I have to aswell" is not a good counter. I have a sub running out in 16 days or so, and I have not completed the Nazjatar pathfinder achievement. "You don't want to fly, so don't do it" is entirely viable, unless you are in a Mythic whatever guild and need to be speedy with how you progress and go from A to B. It is not an argument so much as a suggestion. People just give you the odd eye every now and then when you're riding a bat-mount on the ground in Boralus. Flightpaths is a substitute but alot of them take the strangest curves and detours around where you really want to go, or are entirely misplaced.

I certainly would like to fly as I love the ease of movement and sense of scale you get from it but having it rep and time-gated behind a terrible zone like Naz just killed it off for me. Friend of mine who sells gold and boosts told me he never saw such traffic as he did when Nazjatar released, so evidently it stopped some people in their tracks.

Ghostcrawlers opinion is his own. This is mine.

sure,but if flying never existed,you wouldnt even be put in this situation to be bothered by it,you would just see it as the norm,atleast today you have a bunch of flypaths,whistle,basicaly no hearthstone cd,and the zones are more vertical and not just huge open spaces like old zones

[UhmHi]

sure,but if flying never existed,you wouldnt even be put in this situation to be bothered by it,you would just see it as the norm,atleast today you have a bunch of flypaths,whistle,basicaly no hearthstone cd,and the zones are more vertical and not just huge open spaces like old zones

I see where you're coming from, but I figure that if you were given (or allowed to buy it) at max level, much would be sorted then. Any regular player will likely find his or her way through all the zones before reaching max at the final zone (As per Blizzards intent) and by then, have seen most if not all of it. Atleast what's important I'm sure. If you want to grind it out in one zone and then gain flying for the rest, that's your prerogative. Flying is a good thing, it's just that the recent execution hasn't been. Doesn't need a removal, but a fix imo.

[LordVargK]

yeah they should only have 1 part and make available from launch. bump reps up to exalted even but have it available from launch

SL seems like the perfect candidate to introduce zone specific flying. Completed one zone (all quests, rep exalted)? Get flying for this zone alone. No problem, because the zones are not interconnected. Also that way it will be very easy to add new zones and let players experience the content on the ground at first but in the air later. There is little reason for them to delay flying in a model outlined by me.

[La]

Maybe it's just being cynical but I feel like their philosophy that made sense early on about flying eventually completely changed when they introduced world quests. The excuse that they wanted you to see and experience the zones is irrelevant after the first patch, so it became about keeping people from speeding from one WQ to the next. I guess what I'm trying to say is it was a way to waste your average casual players time to keep them playing by not having flying. Or anyone's time. That's further emphasized by making content be timegated as opposed to making fun, engaging or even repetitive/grindy content that is fun and keeps you playing.

I don't care about flying as much as I used to - maybe that was part of their goal. But I don't understand why they really take such a hard stance on it. You can make plenty of arguments for and against it, but at WoW's current lifespan I just can't see how it matters if it's always there much earlier. "It makes the world smaller" Every new expansion already makes it feel smaller.

[Mirishka]

My personal hopes are these:

1. A smaller, more cohesive story: BFA was all over the place and many threads feel forgotten/unresolved
2. Lots of Bolvar/DK stuff (I'm a sucker for LK-type lore)
3. More Allied races, and small bits of lore that continue to integrate the existing ARs
4. Each patch continues to add customization options, including some for Allied races
5. We deal with Sylvanas, once and for all
6. They don't make the most predictable heel turn ever and make Tyrande evil
7. NPC companions
8. For the love of Christ, no Horde vs Alliance faction war bullshit
9. Updated models for more old creatures or updated versions of classic armors/weapons (I want Battlegear of Valor, 2020 edition)
10. Questlines to unlock new race/class combos

[ercarp]

• Making M+ great again, i.e. Legion.
• Bringing back class tier sets.
• A ton of content for both solo and group progression.
• Bolvar's character actually being good.
• Less focus on Sylvanas. The earlier she dies, the better.
• A good, satisfying story for the expansion.
• No more tentacles.
• No pointless grinds.
• GCD changes reverted.
• Classes feel satisfying to play.
• Tons of new customization options.