11.0 - Reshaping of the World

[Worldshaper]

11.0 - Reshaping of the World

A world revamp could revitalize a fundamental aspect of the game, Azeroth itself. It is a chance for Blizzard to increase the size of the playable game for endgame characters manifold, and to future proof it for many years to come. However, a world revamp also has its drawbacks. It is a costly endeavour, and hard to get right. Opinions differ on whether the story should move forward to new places, or embrace the old.

This thread is an attempt to, as objectively as possible, look at the clues and speculate about the future potential of a world revamp.

Part 1 - Interesting facts and potential clues that might suggest a World Revamp

• The Updated Battlegrounds of WSG and AB - During Battle for Azeroth, two original battlegrounds were remade with completely updated art assets: Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin. These assets weren't used anywhere else to my knowledge. It seems strange to go through all of that effort for such a small part of the game. That said, the expansion did feature warfronts. It is possible that a planned warfront taking place right on the border between The Barrens and Ashenvale forest got scrapped. Using the assets in Warsong Gulch would make sense in that scenario. The Arathi Highlands did recieve a warfront in the expansion, and the same assets were used in an updated Arathi Basin battleground.
• WoW Classic: The Ongoing Preservation of Old Expansions - Vanilla, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and by the sound of things also Cataclysm will soon all be preserved in the form of WoW Classic. Who knows, Blizzard might continue with Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor, and so on. What's more, the old expansion questing experiences are now also accessible in the form of Chromie Time. Whenever a player feels like it, he or she can go back and play the game as it was at a particular time. This might be a case of preserving the game in its different states, catering to players' wishes, or even laying the bedrock for a fundamental change to the retail game. Whatever the reason, much of the game has been preserved one way or another, so Blizzard could do a world revamp without anybody really complaining about lost content.
• The Upcoming Shortage of Game Real Estate - After nearly two decades, WoW has finally reached a point where almost all of the old lore has been explored once or twice, and the landmasses known to us are placed on the in-game map. There are a few exceptions, and Blizzard could obviously create more landmasses. But there is less emotional investment with brand new lore, which might impact sales. It might be more economical at this point to look at what they already have and consider how they can re-use it. Both in terms of development costs and sale figures. Edit July 7, 2023: we now know of a place called Avaloren, though it remains to be seen if this is a continent, and it is unknown at this point when it will be added to the game.
• The Slow Overhaul of Old Assets - Over the last few expansions, Blizzard has taken a look at and redone a vast amount of old assets. From critter models and monsters to buildings, flora and fauna. While it could just be a case of needing to populate their new expansions with fresh models that feel like they belong on Azeroth, it's certainly interesting. Some of the updated assets are distinctly "Vanilla", as in belonging primarily to The Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Edit July 7, 2023: since this post was originally made, we've seen even more updated assets, including Ironforge guard armour.
• The World is Waking Up - As the Dragonflight announcement news made clear, the world is "waking up" with the next expansion. This is seen on the Dragon Isles as well. The elements are raging, and the dragons return home. In the cinematic, we see the isles return to their former glory as the sun breaks through the clouds, water start flowing in the aqueducts and nature seemingly springs to life again.
• The Sword in the Stone - Ion has been very coy about the Sword of Sargeras, sticking out of the Wound in Silithus. In fact, it seems to be a bit of a running joke among developers at this point. When asked about it, Steve Danuser has twice let us know that the sword will have a role to play in the future. While it's certainly fully possible that the sword could simply remain in the planet forever as a testament of what once transpired there, it is hard to escape the feeling that having a giant sword the size of a mountain stuck in Azeroth kind of ruins the horizon just a smidge. If it were to be removed, it would logically fit to do so when the world is healing, being restored, and getting rid of all its ugly scars.
• The Capital Cities are Getting Updates - With patch 9.2.5, we're seeing lots of development on the story for the Night Elves and Forsaken. Both are missing a home since Battle for Azeroth, and both are seemingly getting one back soon. For the Night Elves, this could happen through the seed gifted to Tyrande by the Winter Queen, which might grow into a world tree similar to Teldrassil or perhaps more like one of the trees found in Ardenweald. For the Forsaken, it seems likely that The Undercity will be restored. Other capital cities have seen some changes as well. Increased weather effects in Stormwind and Orgrimmar, for example. In patch 9.2.5, it is suggested that the Forsaken might pull out of Gilneas for good, which leaves another candidate for an update. Edit July 7, 2023: since making this post, the story surrounding the Night Elves and Undead have moved forward (albeit at a snail's pace) and a World Tree is indeed coming, probably in patch 10.1.7 or 10.2.
• The 20th Anniversary of WoW - In 2024, WoW turns 20. What's more, the next expansion after Dragonflight will be the game's 10th expansion. It could be a smart business move to not only celebrate the game in a major way, but also refresh it for the next 20 years and 10 expansions. A good way to do this might be to revamp the original landmasses, the core of Azeroth. Assuming Dragonflight comes out in Q4 2022 or Q1 2023, it will probably be time to announce 11.0 in Q4 of 2023 or Q1 2024. Timeline-wise, this seems like a good match.
• The Trilogy of Trilogies - If you look at the history of the game and its expansion packs, you are able to notice a bunch of possible patterns in the way new content is designed. One such theory says that TBC, WotLK and Cata were the original three expansions. Then newer ones simply continued their stories. So for TBC, it started the Burning Legion arc, which continued with WoD and concluded in Legion. WotLK on the other hand started the "Death" arc, which arguably continued with Sylvanas' harvest of souls during BfA, and concluded in Shadowlands. That leaves us Cata and MoP. Dragonflight certainly seems to encapsulate a lot of what made these two expansions special to many players. A continent veiled in mist, lots of dragons, raging elementals, and so on. What it misses is a world revamp. So the question now remains, will 11.0 continue to build on the legacy of Cata and conclude its "trilogy"? Edit July 7, 2023: I speak more in-depth about this topic in a post I made recently.
• The Full Portal Room - In the Stormwind/Orgrimmar Portal Rooms, there is currently one free slot (as of July 2022). It is likely that a portal to Valdrakken will occupy this slot during Dragonflight. So that leaves us with zero additional empty slots for the expansion after that. Now, of course Blizzard would rebuild the Portal Rooms or reshuffle a few old portals. But these locations were built fairly recently, so you'd imagine they knew going into it how many portals they would need in the years ahead. So why isn't there a need for a new portal in 11.0? Could it be because Azeroth will be revamped, and our traditional capital cities will serve as player hubs again?
• Dragonflight's Case for World Content - One striking thing about Dragonflight is the focus on world content. It remains to be seen if it's evergreen or if it'll run its course once we've finished our Renowns and so on, but as of about a week into the expansion it seems clear a lot of players love the chance to simply explore and have fun - and they're making their voices heard on social media. Blizzard likes to use content as a testbed for further content down the line, so it's not hard to imagine this expansion as a test for what could be a more permanent living world in 11.0.
• Eastern Kingdoms Receiving Updates - Shortly after Dragonflight's launch, a Senior Game Designer working on WoW made a couple of cryptic tweets, in which she suggested work was being done on the old Eastern Kingdoms map in their tools. She clarified she makes quests, not zones. But it's still interesting. Could this just be for a couple of quests set in EK during Dragonflight, or is there more to it?

Part 2 - The case against a World Revamp

Let's not beat around the bush. There are lots of reasons to dismiss all of the above. A world revamp is an expensive, risky move. While it doesn't have to play out like it did in Cata, I'm sure a lot of people (including some working for Blizzard) blame the prior revamp for WoW's declining subscriber numbers in 2010.

Developers have even said that changes to the world are likely to be made in small chunks, when the time is right. Perfect examples of this are to be found in Arathi Highlands, Darkshore, and Silithus. While at this pace it would take many decades to revamp the entire world, it's still plausible that this is the route Blizzard is taking.

Blizzard's philosophy when making new expansions for the past 15 years or so seems to have been that new is better. Old continents have been left behind in favour of more modern experiences, that are probably more easy to work with for new game systems (and more fun to work on for new developers).

So it's absolutely possible that while Blizzard might hear and acknowledge the wishes of players wanting a revamp, it's simply not something that's on their radar.

Edit July 7, 2023: one small note to also consider is the fact that patch 10.1.5 adds new lighting and view distance effects to Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. This could be a quick and easy change made for the new Dragonriding feature called Kalimdor Cup, coming in the patch. But it might also be indicative of a revamp not happening, and that Blizzard has instead opted to make small updates to the old world in order to make it feel a little refreshed. Time will tell!

Part 3 - What would a revamp look like?

But let's assume for a moment that a World Revamp is coming. What, then, would it look like? I'd like to just convey one possible scenario for how this could work, just to show that it's possible. Edit July 7, 2023: in this post I made recently, I speak a bit more in-depth about what could be the theme of the expansion, and what sets the story in motion.

• They decide to revamp only Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, because those are the most important continents.
  
• Zones are combined into mega zones to cut down on workload and to create a more cohesive experience. For example, Ashenvale, Darkshore, Felwood, Hyjal, Moonglade, Winterspring and Azshara turn into Hyjal with Nordrassil as the Night Elven capital city. Across the sea, Quel'danas, Eversong Woods, and Ghostlands turn into Quel'thalas with Silvermoon as the Blood Elven capital city. The old zones will still be represented as subzones akin to Krasarang Wilds in the Valley of the Four Winds. So all flavour is preserved, but borders between zones can look more natural.
  
• There are no longer thousands of quests and individual storylines. Instead, once you leave Exile's Reach or your race's starter area, you start a faction-specific story campaign that takes you across Azeroth. If you're Horde you primarily explore Kalimdor with occasional forays into the Eastern Kingdoms, and vice versa if you're Alliance. A bit similar to how it worked in Battle for Azeroth. What this does is it lets Blizzard replace the immense amount of old story and quest content with two new campaigns. In addition to this, there is definitely room for race- and class-specific campaigns. These could be lesser campaigns that play out alongside the main thing. There could also be a more meta-campaign for Azeroth available to both factions, but this campaign would probably be slower-paced and lurk a bit in the background until it's time to shine. Heck, it might not be available until you reach max level.
  
• While the old instances are preserved with Timewalking and Classic, they don't really have to be included in the revamp. Dungeons and raids of the past could inspire new creations, but Azeroth has moved on and the revamp would just bring new instances.
  
• The main source of content of each mega zones would be dynamic and evergreen activities such as world quests, events, temporary story quests, bounties, skirmishes, world bosses, and more. Once you complete the main campaign, you unlock dynamic world content across both continents.

It remains to be seen what Blizzard ends up doing, but it's fun to speculate so let's keep the discussion going for 11.0!

Edits

30 July, 2022 - added a bit about the Portal Rooms in Stormwind and Orgrimmar.

7 July, 2023 - updated the post to mark what's a bit outdated and added some new stuff.

[Zardas]

The first question to ask in that kind of subject is : would the old zones still be available ? Because if not, it means removing content, and removing content is never a good idea (cata proved that).

The 20th year, 10th expansion and trilogy or trilogy all makes sens tho

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Given how low effort Shadowlands was and Dragonflight will be, there is no way we are going to get any old world revamp expansion.

[Nask]

Given how low effort Shadowlands was and Dragonflight will be, there is no way we are going to get any old world revamp expansion.

Wow! You got to play Dragonflight already? Is it as low effort as your post?

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Wow! You got to play Dragonflight already? Is it as low effort as your post?

Don't bother. That poster is so far in their own head when they post they don't consider what they post.

[Shadowferal]

I'll wait until Blizzard contacts me for a rewrite of the lore and my stuff on 3-4 factions.

[Luck4]

Developers have even said that changes to the world are likely to be made in small chunks, when the time is right. Perfect examples of this are to be found in Arathi Highlands, Darkshore, and Silithus. While at this pace it would take many decades to revamp the entire world, it's still plausible that this is the route Blizzard is taking.

I would agree with this if they were continuously revamping old zones in every expansion, but that is not the case. BFA gave us four "ish" revamps (Arathi Highlands, Darkshore, Silithus, Vale of Eternal Blossoms), but how many did we get in Legion and Shadowlands? Yeah, that's right, zero!

At this pace, not even in 100 years, they'll be able to revamp the old zones, even if it's just the Vanilla ones partially revamped in Cataclysm.

Blizzard's philosophy when making new expansions for the past 15 years or so seems to have been that new is better. Old continents have been left behind in favour of more modern experiences

This is my biggest concern about this franchise in the future because I disliked every single zone of Shadowlands, and I'm worried that places like this will be the focus from now on, and for me, Shadowlands isn't Warcraft.

[jeezusisacasual]

I would really love for them to do the Arathi Basin and Darkshore were handled during BFA with the obvious solution to go talk to someone to see the pre changed version. I am sure they could have revamped Icecrown for Shadowlands or for Dragonflight if one of the races are somehow tied to the new zones. Hell i would go as far as to say they should revamp a dungeon or battleground should they pick a zone with either option.

[Amnaught]

The first question to ask in that kind of subject is : would the old zones still be available ? Because if not, it means removing content, and removing content is never a good idea (cata proved that).

The 20th year, 10th expansion and trilogy or trilogy all makes sens tho

But that has an easy answer now. Obviously you would still be able to talk to Chromie and timewalk to Cataclysm. Even now you can travel to Old Darkshore, Teldrassil, Arathi, etc, by talking to Bronze Dragonflight NPCs.

[Zardas]

But that has an easy answer now. Obviously you would still be able to talk to Chromie and timewalk to Cataclysm. Even now you can travel to Old Darkshore, Teldrassil, Arathi, etc, by talking to Bronze Dragonflight NPCs.

Indeed, but the guy also mentionned that zones would be combined, so that would mean multiple bronze drakes in a single zone, and most at some unusual points.

[Chromell]

The first question to ask in that kind of subject is : would the old zones still be available ? Because if not, it means removing content, and removing content is never a good idea (cata proved that).

^This 100%. IF they decide to change the world like that, let Zidormi swap us back to the older zones on a whim like it is in the Vale of the Eternal Blossoms at least.

[Worldshaper]

^This 100%. IF they decide to change the world like that, let Zidormi swap us back to the older zones on a whim like it is in the Vale of the Eternal Blossoms at least.

I believe they would handle old content in three ways:

- WoW: Classic.
- Chromie Time.
- Ziridormi.

The question is, would they drastically alter the landscape? If so, Ziridormi might no longer be an ideal solution.

[Sluvs]

The first question to ask in that kind of subject is : would the old zones still be available ? Because if not, it means removing content, and removing content is never a good idea (cata proved that).

The 20th year, 10th expansion and trilogy or trilogy all makes sens tho

True, but Cata removed zoned that people had emotional attachment to. I don't think people have the same attachment to cata zones.

That being said, at the time, the zone was gone for good. With the classic servers they can bring them back so it is a little a bit different.

[Mestalis]

I absolutely love this, amazing post. I love the idea of the mega-zones. I couldn't ask for more in 11.0, I was hoping for exactly what this post describes as 10.0, and believe there have been many clues. Ion said that they want to do player housing, but the biggest hurdle is the asset requirement. Knowing that they weren't happy with how Garrisons turned out, it seems clear to me that housing can never be truly realized without race specific customization. The best way to justify an asset investment is finding many purposes for new assets. A world revamp with the founding of multiple new racial capitals is the perfect opportunity for player housing. The anniversaries make it too good, please let it be so!

[october breeze]

True, but Cata removed zoned that people had emotional attachment to. I don't think people have the same attachment to cata zones.

That being said, at the time, the zone was gone for good. With the classic servers they can bring them back so it is a little a bit different.

Cata removed no zones; just updated the questing, story and overall leveing experience to a more linear one.

[Woggmer]

I believe they would handle old content in three ways:

- WoW: Classic.
- Chromie Time.
- Ziridormi.

The question is, would they drastically alter the landscape? If so, Ziridormi might no longer be an ideal solution.

This might be true, as I recall during the start of BFA when they changed Arathi, I noticed there was this river in Hillsbrad that lost the water texture and was just invisible, but you can still swim in it and there was the underwater effect when you go under. This wasn't fixed until a patch later.

Though, Ziridormi may still be an option if she's a transporter to another server. Copying over the updated versions of Arathi and Darkshore and put them in a new server where they can have free range on updating it as much as they want. Though (in my opinion) it would be easier if they focused an expansion on updating places like Eastern Kingdoms first then focus on updating Kalimdor in another expansion.

I do agree that them pulling another Cata style overhaul of the old world and deleting quests is something very few people want... but with Classic WoW, they could copy over a Classic Cata where they have three different. Pure Classic (Vanilla), Cata Classic, and Retail that updates over the original code. (Though I could be wrong, but I'm giving out ideas on which could work)

[Luck4]

I absolutely love this, amazing post. I love the idea of the mega-zones. I couldn't ask for more in 11.0, I was hoping for exactly what this post describes as 10.0, and believe there have been many clues. Ion said that they want to do player housing, but the biggest hurdle is the asset requirement. Knowing that they weren't happy with how Garrisons turned out, it seems clear to me that housing can never be truly realized without race specific customization. The best way to justify an asset investment is finding many purposes for new assets. A world revamp with the founding of multiple new racial capitals is the perfect opportunity for player housing. The anniversaries make it too good, please let it be so!

This would be awesome for sure, housing based on races and a world revamp, both focused on Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, that would be a dream.

I wanna fight Amani Trolls in Quel'thalas, kick the Scourge for good on Plaguelands, visit the small island of the Bloodsail Buccaneers near Stranglethorn Vale, Gilneas as a full-fledged city, Lordaeron as the Forsaken capital, Dalaran back in Hillsbrad Foothills, Southshore restored for world PVP, a new World Tree, Azshara battleground, Gadgetzan as a proper FFA PVP city, Un'goro with bigger and threatening elite dinosaurs (think Fel Reaver), Feralas and Dustwallow Marsh with more Ogres, Felwood cleansed, scattered Legion demons retaking Desolace and Blasted Lands, Deadwind Pass as a playable zone with Medivh back "somehow", Blackrock Orcs and Dark Iron Dwarves fighting to control Burning Stepps and Searing Gorge, Wildhammer Dwarves in Loch Modan, Dragonmaw Orcs in Badlands. Man, I miss those places so much.

I can't recall how many times I went to Arathi Highlands in BFA just to be there, and wondering how good would be if more zones could follow that path.

[Mestalis]

This would be awesome for sure, housing based on races and a world revamp, both focused on Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, that would be a dream.

I wanna fight Amani Trolls in Quel'thalas, kick the Scourge for good on Plaguelands, visit the small island of the Bloodsail Buccaneers near Stranglethorn Vale, Gilneas as a full-fledged city, Lordaeron as the Forsaken capital, Dalaran back in Hillsbrad Foothills, Southshore restored for world PVP, a new World Tree, Azshara battleground, Gadgetzan as a proper FFA PVP city, Un'goro with bigger and threatening elite dinosaurs (think Fel Reaver), Feralas and Dustwallow Marsh with more Ogres, Felwood cleansed, scattered Legion demons retaking Desolace and Blasted Lands, Deadwind Pass as a playable zone with Medivh back "somehow", Blackrock Orcs and Dark Iron Dwarves fighting to control Burning Stepps and Searing Gorge, Wildhammer Dwarves in Loch Modan, Dragonmaw Orcs in Badlands. Man, I miss those places so much.

I can't recall how many times I went to Arathi Highlands in BFA just to be there, and wondering how good would be if more zones could follow that path.

Sign me up.

[Kilpi]

Cata removed no zones; just updated the questing, story and overall leveing experience to a more linear one.

That pretty much mean removing it, if only the name remains. Sure, they didn't LITERALLY remove the zones, but basically they did remove most of the zones, since the content changed. Especially the ones that got biggest overhauls where even the terrain was heavily modified.

[Lochton]

Given how low effort Shadowlands was and Dragonflight will be, there is no way we are going to get any old world revamp expansion.

Didn't know you were part of the Blizzard staff?