Another world revamp thread

[Holdodlig]

Hi everyone, let's make this quick. Here's another theory about something original : The potential World Revamp.

The old world revamp has been a subject in quite a lot of the player discussions. The idea of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdom being revamped comes back all the time. It even became a meme when the false leak season come, with a lot of fake including the idea of a revamp.

And there's reason behind that. It's been 10 years since Cataclysm has been released and even if some parts of the world have changed like Arathi Highlands or Stormwind's Park during BFA, a lot of places has been the same since Cataclysm. Worse, some of those areas didn't even changed since the beginning of WoW like Duskwood.

Of course, recreating the complete original experience and its 20 dungeons seems to be an impossible task for many reasons. First, Kalimdor by itself is as big as WotLK and Warlord of Draenor's map combined together. And the Eastern Kingdom is as big as MoP and Legion map fused.

Remaking the trees, the bushes, the building and all the props that make those areas feel alive would take a humongous amount of time. They would also need to update every creature model, every mount and every armor to make sure they match with the new world graphics.

Also, it might be impossible to terraform some mountain and adapt them to the modern style mountain like we can see in Kul Tiras because of the space they take.

Blizzard would also have to make sur each zone is relevant and has good quests, storyline and some of the modern WoW system to work, which seems like a lot to do.


But somehow, there's a lot of clues showing that Blizzard might be working on a revamp. Maybe it won't be the whole world at the same time since it's still a big amount of quest to design / code, but I strongly believe that we'll get at least 1 of the two continents revamped. And here's why :

-Arathi and Warsong Revamp :

I think those revamps speak for themself, especially the Arathi Bassin revamp. Each objective of Arathi has a building tied to this. Those buildings can be found everywhere in any human town of the game. Here's a list of the vanilla zones where you can find those building, and sometimes more than once :



Elwynn - Westfall - Duskwood - Redridge - Stranglethorn - Swamp of Sorrow - Blasted land (they've been destroyed tho) - The Wetlands - Tirisfal - Eastern and Western Plaguelands - Silverpine Forest - Arathi Highlands (older version) and finally Hillsbrad. Out of the 27 zones in the Eastern Kingdom, you can find at least one village with those buildings in 14 zones which is already a lot.

You could say that's not a good enough clue to hint to a world revamp, since the BG are instanced content and it's fair enough for Blizzard to revamp two classic content of WoW. And you would be right. But Blizzard keeps adding some of the vanilla human building in game. Back in Shadowlands or 8.3 (I can't recall when they did it), they added a revamped inn model. And in 9.1, they added the two story house you can find in a few places like Goldshire.







There's too much buildings that were remade, and the fact they keep adding more building each patch is just a proof they're working on something. At this point, this might just be a zone update. A lot of people have been talking about a Lordaeron Revamp, and a potential Jailer attack on Azeroth. This would fit with the datamined Exile's reach Lordaeron skin and the Scarlet Crusade's one.

Also, why the hell have they remade the portal room ? I mean, did we really needed that ? A deathgate in Stormwind/Orgrimmar could have been enough to travel to the Shadowlands, just like we had a Dalaran portal in the Stormwind Dungeon, a Dark Portal TP, a Pandaria Portal or simply ships.

-Most of the creatures models were already reworked :

But I don't think that's it. A lot of creatures' models have been updated recently for no reason. The ram model was updated with Shadowlands and the vanilla boar model was updated with 9.1. We all can agree that they've updated both creatures skins for hunter since it seems to be Blizzard's favorite class. (No really, how many special tames hunter have ?)

There's not that much creatures left with an old skin now. And most of those creatures can simply be replaced by a Draenor / Legion / BFA / Shadowlands lookalike, except for gnolls and centaurs of course.

BFA and Legion were responsible for a LOT of model updates, so that would ask for way less work for Blizzard.

-Exile's Reach new items :

As I said before, there's a lot of Exile's reach tint that were unused. We're used to unused armor colors and weapon model in WoW. But they have too much signification to be here just for the fun. 9.1 also added new armor skin named "leveling experience" like the new weapon skin from Exile's reach. But they're not used yet. That might be something for 9.1.5 ? New armor for allied races ? Or maybe new armors for new quests during the revamp.





-New books :

Finally, I'm going to talk about those two new books, Exploring the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Why would Blizzard make those books with new lore about each regions ? This might just be to surf on Classic's hype but still, that something new to add to this theory.



Again, let's ask ourself that question : Would it be that hard to remake the old world ?

Working on this thread, I checked most of the "doodad" (world decoration) of each vanilla zones. There's like 3 or 4 trees models per zones, and most of them are simply recolors of other zone's trees. Even the ground textures are recolor with different level of blur.



Most of the WoD assets can be reused for humans and orcs, like the Island Exploration or Exile's reach has proven. This would make way less work for Blizzard. Same for Val'sharah / Aszuna assets in the night elves woods like Ashenvale, Darkshore (who already had a revamp), Feralas, Winterspring or Felwood.

Almost all the Vanilla zones don't have as much variations in term of colors / landscape as modern zones like Suramar or Tornheim.

A lot of weapons are still unused, such as the nightborne weapons, the new Silvermoon guards' shield and weapon, half the Kul Tiras NPC gear so they don't need to have thousands of new quest rewards like in vanilla.

It would be a big it for a symbolic patch number : 10.0, and would actually have a decent symbolic. We're going in the afterlife, so what's better for a next expansion than a renaissance ?

I think we will all agree that a revamp start to be really necessary for a lot of reasons. It would allow Blizzard to update the storyline in most zones (and remove those ugly looking storm in Darkshore and Westfall), and would also allow them to bring new systems to the game such as treasure or explorations. It would also make the game more appealing for returning player, and would simply allow Blizzard to tell more stories in those zones.

This would also be a great opportunity for Blizzard to reduce the faction restructions so players can play with their friends of the opposite faction without having to wonder if they'll be able to travel in this area, or do this quest. But since Blizzard stated it would'nt be a thing despite everything in the lore pointing to a less oppresive faction system, let's not talk much about this.

TL,DR : Why those assets, why those books if they're not setting up a world revamp ?

[Kohtra]

Also wanted to add that Blizzard seems to like doing 180s on expansion themes so it would make sense for 10.0 to be back on Azeroth and more grounded after interdimensional Shadowlands. And if we're back on Azeroth we're running out of places to go that don't involve a revamp. We've got the Dragon Isles (which may just be 1 zone) and, if it even is a thing, the other side of Azeroth. That's about it without brand new stuff never mentioned before. Oh and Tel'Abim.

[Kokolums]

Also wanted to add that Blizzard seems to like doing 180s on expansion themes so it would make sense for 10.0 to be back on Azeroth and more grounded after interdimensional Shadowlands. And if we're back on Azeroth we're running out of places to go that don't involve a revamp. We've got the Dragon Isles (which may just be 1 zone) and, if it even is a thing, the other side of Azeroth. That's about it without brand new stuff never mentioned before. Oh and Tel'Abim.

Murloc lore is untouched. Druids of the Fang lore is barely touched. Ivar Bloodfang and the Bloodfang cult as considered allies of the Alliance, but Shaw (in his notes) warns they are so close to feral that they should be watched. We don't know which way Talia Fordragon will go (good or evil). We don't know if Wrathion can be trusted. We don't know if Tess Greymane will go good or evil. We don't know what Vanessa VanCleef is up to. Alleria could fall to the void. Alleria and Turalyon could have a falling out between light and void. They could bring in Med'an to the canon and make him a super villain.

[Lynnaroo]

A Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor revamp is most likely coming in the future with all the new assets. The biggest tip was the random revamped og night elf buildings and assets with the Darkshore warfront.

[Holdodlig]

A Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor revamp is most likely coming in the future with all the new assets. The biggest tip was the random revamped og night elf buildings and assets with the Darkshore warfront.

I think most of those assets came from Legion ? But as I said with just Val'sharah and Aszuna's night elf structure you have half of Kalimdor's props.

There's also another more elemets I'd like to add in my theory.

First is the 8.2 or 8.2.5 I can't remember cinematic where we release Baine with Jaina, Thrall and Saurfang. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioFZsWvDE7U

While the blur make it difficult to see, I think they just swapped the mountain texture of Thunder Bluff to make it look more HD. And it actually works.

Also, One last think I'd like to point is the new set of expansion for Hearthstone. Again, this might just be to surf on Vanilla's hype, but I doubt it as some of the Hearthstone expansion such as Un'goro or Witchwood were directly inspired by future content for WoW (and sometime unreleased content).

Currently, we have some sort of "What if" vanilla had Demon Hunter, every race the game currently have and it will extend this "What if" lore for 2 other expansions.





Ion can say what he wants, but those two Hearthstone image are more about the "WoW roots" than any faction content made since WoD.

Edit : I just want to add the datamining of BFA's first build to say again, it's not impossible for Blizzard to build all those assets (at least for creatures)

https://www.mmo-champion.com/content...d-25902-Models

Ignore the Kultiran and the Zandalari models. There's already a lot of creature, half of them were HD models. There's like 60-70 vanilla creatures outside of dungeon boss with unique skins like Theradras who don't have unique skin (and again, most of them can be replaced).

[Lynnaroo]

I think most of those assets came from Legion ?

Go to Auberdine when horde controls Darkshore or look it up in WoW.tools, completely new assets. The legion buildings have a slightly different look.

[AngerFork]

First, kudos on the research shown here. I think you bring up a lot of good points on the updated assets, the symbolic nature of 10.0, as well as the potential benefits we could see from an Azeroth revamp. I think we even saw Blizz take a small taste of what it would be to remake a zone with the Warfronts, which I suspect became part of the internal motivation of how the updates were set up.

I'm not 100% convinced though that there aren't other reasons for the books & assets aside from a revamp. The asset updates are something Blizz has done throughout WoW's lifetime, continuously updating the world of Azeroth to match the assets. When they don't, it becomes really noticeable for things like the old rabbit model. The books I largely feel are to leech off of Classic's fame, regardless of whether a revamp is planned. After all, if Azeroth is revamped we'll likely be learning about new lore rather than digging fully into the past.

I'd love to see a revamp though. There's so many things I'd want to see story-wise. How is Dustwallow Marsh & Theramore now so long after the mana bomb? Are Gilneas, Gnomeregan, or Undercity fully inhabitable at this point? After the Warfront in Arathi, who now lives in Stromgarde? How have the Mag'har gotten accustomed to life on an entirely new planet in a different timeline? What effect have the Saberon & Botani that escaped with the Mag'har had upon the environment of Azeroth? With Gazlowe becoming the Trade Prince of the Bilgewater, is Ratchet now a Bilgewater town or is it still owned by the Steamwheedle?

[thesmall001]

They've been gradually undertaking "efficient" ways to rebuild the entire old world rapidly with HD assets since WoD.

They started in WoD with Garrisons and Shadowmoon especially providing tons of general Alliance/Human, Horde/Orc, Draenei and Ogre assets. Gorgrond also provided many Botani and "Life" assets. If you look back and compare that to Frostfire, Talador and Spires, the latter all are quite sparse and lacking diversity strictly in terms of buildings, props and foliage which are the bulk of level decorations, which is the bulk of level design efforts if they were, for example, going to build Azeroth 2.0.

Tanaan and Legion obviously delivered on many Fel assets, but also brought us HD elf (and Naga) assets galore in Suramar, Azsuna and Val'sharah, and HD Tauren assets in Highmountain. Argus then provided tons of Army of the Light assets and lots of Ethereal assets, as well as a smattering of Titan stuff. The class halls and artifact quests also gave them a chance to work on all sorts of misc. assets, as well as directly update some parts of the old world like Light's Hope, Tyr's Fall and Karazhan. Oh, and Furbolgs got a whole new asset kit, and I think I recall they even updated the assets around Vordrassil in Grizzy Hills? And, of course, Helya and Odyn provided us our Shadowlands setup.

BfA was a Troll Paradise, obviously, but also gave us tons of Pirate and Naval assets in Kul Tiras which are highly reusable. Nazmir and Vol'dun also provided for "generically desert and swampy" assets, while Zuldazar provided lots of Jungle assets. Drustvar provided new gothic architecture pieces (easily reskinned) and all the Drust assets which, judging by Zovaal's magical girl transformation in 9.1, is probably the "true" Decay aesthetic. Mechagon and Motherload will provide Goblin and Gnome assets for years to come. One of the most "polished" areas of Stormsong was that entire random Quilboar area with next to no story attached to it. Lots more Titan architecture. Naz'jatar gave us the rest of the HD Naga stuff we could ever need and a top-up on all the nautical races via the Unshackled (Sea Giants, Makrura, Gilgoblins).

BfA also got them to update Arathi and Darkshore quite directly, plus the HD updates to WSG and AB. We had all the Forsaken kit updates (new plague launchers and props etc.) and the Blood Elves and Dwarves got some updates due to the heritage armour sets and their questlines. We got the Portal Rooms, Uther's Tomb got randomly updated, we got a bunch of generic assets out of Island Expeditions and Visions of N'zoth granted an entire new set of Void and Twilight assets.

Shadowlands most obviously added an entire set of almost everything Scourge related in Maldraxxus, but it less obviously added an absolute score of new animal skeletons. Ardenweald and Revendreth provided props upon props that wouldn't feel out of place in any Elf or Worgen zones. But it's the Broker and Attendant assets that really intrigue me because Arcane/Order forces are the least represented Cosmological Force in this list in terms of "palettes", and I have a strong suspicion that the "Sepulchre of Knowledge" will end up being the sealed Arcane realm of the First Ones who represent the "larger" scope of the forces of Order.

So, you take all of these, and all of the stray model and creature upgrades since WoD and you see the efforts manifest. There's not a zone I can think of in Eastern Kingdoms or Kalimdor which couldn't be rapidly re-skinned with now-existing models with only as much new asset development as would be needed in a standard expansion set. We also have sets for the 6 "warring" cosmological forces which seem to imminently need access to a battleground.

Therefore, it seems pretty evident to me, they're planning on not only doing another Cataclysm-level revamp of Azeroth but they're actually planning on setting an entire expansion in the old world without necessarily adding any new zones or continents. Instead the cosmic forces will lay claim to some zones whilst we will be granted the single-largest open world sandbox any MMO could possibly provide by scaling up the entirety of Azeroth into a free-for-all adventure to bring balance to the cosmic forces who vie to claim the "alignment" of Azeroth's nascent world soul.

I'm just going to put this here since it's more relevant to this thread than the one that originally prompted it. They have been quietly revamping the world since WoD. My best bet is that we are about to have a patch full of Arcane/Titan/First Ones/Order assets and that'll be the full bounty needed to revamp most of Azeroth within a stone's throw of the usual amount of art development for any other expansion.

[Ivarr]

Yes you're right. The revamp is happening right underneath our very eyes. It's quite clever how they're slowly adding assets in focused areas. Eventually they'll have enough to deck out the entire planet.

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Yes you're right. The revamp is happening right underneath our very eyes. It's quite clever how they're slowly adding assets in focused areas. Eventually they'll have enough to deck out the entire planet.


And don't forget the Arathi Warfront. It provided the Horde and Alliance forces with two diverse set of interchangeable armour that can be continuously recycled everywhere.

While the blur make it difficult to see, I think they just swapped the mountain texture of Thunder Bluff to make it look more HD. And it actually works.

I think that's a matte painting. You're looking at a screenshot that a 2D artist spruced up and added a few windmills to sell it.

But it does work. A lot of rounded hills would look vastly better if they got cliff surfaces instead.

[username993720]

They didn't update Arathi Highlands, Darkshore and Lordaeron for nothing.




Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin:





Blade's Edge and Nagrand Arenas:



Blackfathom Deeps, Razorfen Kraul & Downs:

[Holdodlig]

I'm just going to put this here since it's more relevant to this thread than the one that originally prompted it. They have been quietly revamping the world since WoD. My best bet is that we are about to have a patch full of Arcane/Titan/First Ones/Order assets and that'll be the full bounty needed to revamp most of Azeroth within a stone's throw of the usual amount of art development for any other expansion.

This is actually right, to a point where I believed the revamp would come in a fragmented way. While making this thread, I've zoned out in a lot of zones to take a lot of screenshots. While going in circle, I was wondering if assets of a certain type would match in some zones, such as Val'sharah trees in Ashenvale or Feralas.

Also, I was sent this video a long time ago and I'd like to share what fans created for their roleplay server :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS92b5C71C8

Those are mostly assets from Kul Tiras outside of the buildings who come from both Arathi Bassin (with the warfront roof texture) and Warfront, with a few custom assets. I mean, there are flaws because it's a fan project. But the quality of their work is still good and it's mostly based on the addition of existing assets.

Having a big revamp would also be the main reason of them gating the character customization they've originally planned for updates. The SL customization looked more like a way to see how people would react to new customization, and if they could sell it as a feature in the future and I think it worked well (for them).

However, I am genuinely afraid that this is one of those moments where something seems obvious to players, while Blizzard just stands there scratching its head going "oh right, that might have been a cool plan... we made a Cosmic expansion instead".

This is my biggest fear to be honest. To have to wait another expansion in a forgetable expansion with lore that truely came out of nowhere. I like Shadowlands, but I understand why people don't like it and don't like its story. I mean, the Jailer pretty much came out of nowhere and they'll probably retcon a lot of things, such as the Cloaked Figure on the Dark Portal to make us think it was meant to be the Jailer all this time. Denathrius was cool tho, but he had a full zone about him. Jailer only had a shitty mechanic in a disliked area.

But I don't think Blizzard's been totally out of touch with the community recently, and the success of Classic may have changed their mind about going back to more humansized stories like it did for niche spells they added back in SL.

[Rhlor]

I wish with all my heart that they update quel'thalas
I would like to see the towns retaken and the two Spire too

and thalassian pass

I would like to see farstriders in the place

[Voidwielder]

They don't have the resource for it or they are not allowed to make huge investments in to the game anymore.

[Newname1234567890]

My dream is a Peacecraft Expansion with a time skip focussing on rebuilding etc etc.

Also just bring the Blood Elf and Azuremyst islands into the main world.

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They don't have the resource for it or they are not allowed to make huge investments in to the game anymore.

Source on this?

[Voidwielder]

Source on this?

BfA and Shadowlands.

[Luck4]

Since WOD I was hyped about every new asset that could be used for a Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms revamp, and I was blasted away when I saw all the new creature models used to replace the old ones in Azeroth once the BFA Alpha datamining started, and later on when they announced the revamped BG's, but sadly in Shadowlands, we got nothing related to that.

I think they dropped the world revamp expansion, and that's why we didn't have any new props for old stuff in Shadowlands, and then they released that new map for every new player character.

I hope I'm wrong but if 10.0 doesn't bring an Azeroth revamp, I don't think 11.0 will do either.

[Kohtra]

So after todays... revelations from the lawsuit I think Blizzard needs to clean house, and relaunch itself as the "new blizz" if it wants to survive. Blizzard is finished without a massive revamp of the company and its products will need to reflect that.

If WoW survives what's coming out I think the chances of a world revamp have gone way up, but it could take time. Wouldn't surprise me if the next expansion takes a lot longer than usual to come out. Cleaning house and revamping will take time.

[Triceron]

They need to do more of this style of revamping for the lesser visited zones, like Tanaris, Feralas or Searing Gorge.

Gadgetzan could also use some of the Mean Streets treatment, and expand into a bigger city. Tanaris revamp would be perfect alongside an Infinite Dragonflight centric expansion, implementing new Sand particle FX in the environment too.

[Ryzeth]

Why not just post in one of the other 50 threads?

[username993720]

implementing new Sand particle FX in the environment too.

They barely have sand storms.

They need to take care of the weather in game before implementing any FX particles.