11.0 - Reshaping of the World

[Makabreska]

lol... You can easily check if alpha is out or not... I suggest you go do that and come back and say you're sorry for acting this way lol...

Yes, yes. Your imaginary streamers, people form the outside, had for weeks access to an in-house internal alpha that appeared on Blizz catalogue like 2 days ago.

[Shadowferal]

Curious gamble.

[Iain]

A time-based cataclysm would allow for Blizzard to update the old zones gradually. No need for one single rehaul. An expansion would start with the most important zones getting some polish and a restoration to normalcy. But because it's all compartmentalized within their own appropriate sliver of time, the rest of the world can remain 'old' until it's their time for an update as well.

This means you don't even need to update entire continents wholesale. Blizzard can pick various zones from all their old content. Including Pandaria, Northrend and Draenor, give them an uplift and classify these as 'the new era'.

Story-wise the updates themselves can be mundane, but due to the invasion mechanic as used in Legion, the zones can be also turned into epic cosmic catastrophes temporarily. Extra juicy would be if these invasions had a great degree of variety in their durations. Some lasting a couple of minutes, some lasting hours, some lasting several days or some lasting the entire week. It all works because just like in Legion these invasions are an optional phase on top of a relatively ordinary place.

I do love the idea of merging zones. The most interesting places in the game are always the transitions between certain zones. Creating more of these 'hybrid' biotopes would be tasty indeed.

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).

Cata didn't remove that much content, a lot of it, but not nearly enough, was accessible through that time-travelling NPC for each zone.

[Zardas]

Point is, what purpose do they serve in their current state other than being an optional leveling route? Which you're not going to see for the most part actually since getting to 50 is super fast. New players literally jump to BfA immediately as Blizzard thinks is a more cohesive leveling experience.

What purpose do they serve ? Fun, tmog farm, rep farm, etc...

If I were a new player, I would definitely start in the Cata zones (since we don't have access to Vanilla zones).

Yeah for real, who gives a shit about the cata versions of the old world zones?

There are some cool zones relevant to the Cata lore, but most of the zones are just slightly modernized, but heavily watered down versions of the original vanilla zones. Thus changing most of them, while NOT keeping the old versions is going to work just fine.

And yeah as you said, there's Classic where people will be able to play through Cata sooner or later.

I "give a shit". I give a shit about almost everything in the game and I'm firmly opposed to the removal of anything. And many of the zones are far more than "watered down versions" of the original vanilla zones, take off your tainted glasses.

As for the classic part it's simply not the same : I want to be able to still do the old zones on my same character, I want to still go back there to farm tmog. I'm all for adding new zones, or new versions of existing zones, but there is simply zero advantage to remove already existing stuff.

- - - Updated - - -

Cata didn't remove that much content, a lot of it, but not nearly enough, was accessible through that time-travelling NPC for each zone.

I'm not sure we are playing the same game : there is no way to get back to the pre-cata zones of Kalimdor and EK in retail. As far as I know, the first time bronze drakes were used for the phasing of zones were during the pre-patch of WoD in the blasted lands.

[Sluvs]

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

I mean, that was clearly what I meant.

I miss most of the old zones. The new thousand needles is so sad.

[Coldkil]

What purpose do they serve ? Fun, tmog farm, rep farm, etc...

If I were a new player, I would definitely start in the Cata zones (since we don't have access to Vanilla zones).

New players just zoom to the endgame because that's where the people and groups are. Going back to old stuff is something people leave as "will do when i have free time", and most people only really play what's "relevant now" and then bail until new content arrives. There's a reason why everyone levels in WoD - it's the fastest way to reach endgame.

Fun is an extremely personal thing. Iìm not saying old zones are useless, but as for now they serve very little purpose. A revamp of the old world with new stories and such would be good because in the end Azeroth is the centerpiece of out story - would be fun to get back to Northrend and see things changed and new stories.

Again, we have phasing so revamping old stuff doesn't mean losing it forever. They did it in Cata for a reason, that doesn't really apply anymore to the game.

[Shadowferal]

New players just zoom to the endgame because that's where the people and groups are. .

And I think that's a shame.

[Sluvs]

Yeah for real, who gives a shit about the cata versions of the old world zones?

There are some cool zones relevant to the Cata lore, but most of the zones are just slightly modernized, but heavily watered down versions of the original vanilla zones. Thus changing most of them, while NOT keeping the old versions is going to work just fine.

And yeah as you said, there's Classic where people will be able to play through Cata sooner or later.

To be fair there are a couple of zones that are VERY good.

Stonetalon is one of them. It is just incredible, more zones should be like that.

But most of the other zones are, as you said, watered down.

[Coldkil]

And I think that's a shame.

That's how the game is designed tho. We can discuss about if this is good or not and what we like the most, but right now the game works like this.

Because numbers show that most people play only of there's player power involved/rewarded, and stop as soon they're no more. Hell, most stop way before reaching the end of the road.

Either we're going to see a radical change in how wand where player power comes from or the basic gameplay loop will stay like this. Only up to players to agree and play or stop playing.

[Resheph]

lol... You can easily check if alpha is out or not... I suggest you go do that and come back and say you're sorry for acting this way lol...

Ok I did.

https://us.millenium.gg/news/27293.html

It's not.

"Let's make it clear from the outset: it is the deployment of the Alpha internally that was "secretly" unveiled this Tuesday, June 8, 2022 in what is called the "Blizzard catalog", the famous "CDN" ( Content Delivery Network). This concretely means that at best the internal test phase has begun (or is about to begin) and that only Blizzard employees and their relatives have access to the beginnings of the ninth extension of WoW. Neither the press, nor the influencers and even less the common players can therefore to date get their hands on it. What's more, the few people in the mode who can "play" it undoubtedly only have access to micro-features of the expansion, the first draft of the new talent trees for example. No raids, probably no dungeons, and probably not even more than a level or two beyond 60!"

So this internal Alpha would not involve keys to well known streamers.

You owe an aplogy to Makabreska for lying. And being an ass about it.

[AngerFork]

I've long been of the opinion that we may well be getting a revamp expansion in 11.0, largely because of how well things line up. 20th Anniversary of WoW, Microsoft acquisition & desire to push more subs, not to mention how many of the old guard have left. Stonetalon is an amazing storyline, but knowing it was Afrasiabi who did it & who he became absolutely scars the beautiful storyline in that zone. With Blizz talking about moving forward, a revamp is one of the best ways for them to do so, though it absolutely is a ton of work.

From there, I tend to agree with the OP on the idea of limiting it to Kalimdor & the Eastern Kingdoms. Too many land masses & this already massive project is going to undergo immense scope creep. Some zones can probably be linked up, but I'd be very wary about doing that too much...each time you do, you lose a large part of the identity of what the world is. Look at the Alterac Mountains: a zone rich in history, but relegated to little more than an afterthought in WoW these days. From there, go zone by zone & make each zone into it's own self contained story. Don't worry so much about tying it into the main storyline...doing so will eventually make the content feel dated much like the Cata zones do today. Keep them light & entertaining, but something that can tie into other quests later so you can make the world feel a bit more alive.

While it also would perhaps take some extra time, I would ensure that each race has their own home city. We saw with the Allied Races that these don't need to be grandiose...most of those have just a small area where players need to do things, even if the city itself is huge. But this era of Stormwind housing tons of other races that never got their home needs to end, it kills a lot of the racial identity that the game once had while making the game feel like there are only ever a small handful of races that matter.

At this point, the next thing to do is ensure that you can level to max in any zone configuration you want. Definitely force the new players into the starting setup you prefer, gives them more of a taste of what the best of WoW should be. But leveling alts shouldn't be a chore of going through the same stuff we have or being forced into a super slow world quest grind.

[Shadowferal]

That's how the game is designed tho. We can discuss about if this is good or not and what we like the most, but right now the game works like this.

Way back after tbc has been out for several months, I remember when I topped out my druid and I started doing bgs. I hadn't done any homework but I figured to focus on AV. And It was always the same; rush in, burn towers kill both leaders hearth out. 5-6mins I think. Until the one...somebody had a plan. Bombing runs, and the only time I saw the "Tree." My job was to help bear-tank the Orc (?) in the one tower. It took over 30mins but damn. It was fun. No rushy rush..

[SovietBabeyyy]

Allways those fan fiction.

World revamp is living rent free in your head?

[Iain]

That's how the game is designed tho. We can discuss about if this is good or not and what we like the most, but right now the game works like this.

Because numbers show that most people play only of there's player power involved/rewarded, and stop as soon they're no more. Hell, most stop way before reaching the end of the road.

It's more vulgar than that. Having all the players within a narrow bandwidth of content, the end-game, is easier to accomodate. Blizzard doesn't want everyone frolickign around across the whole world at various stages of the game.

[Luck4]

Allways those fan fiction.

World revamp is living rent free in your head?

Wanting to see your favorite game back to its roots is fanfiction?

If a world revamp is fanfiction, then Shadowlands is a filler arc of a bad spin-off of this franchise. I can't wait to visit another automaton zone and met the Conclave of the Before the First Ones to uncover the hidden mystery of the Dross'poss mechanical race... so... exciting...

[Yooginava182]

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.

They did say that they are moving away from the smaller condensed zones we're used to. Dragon Isles is supposedly 2/3 x the size of northrend.

[Al Gorefiend]

Classic getting Cataclysm I highly doubt. Many consider that WoWs first dud expansion. I don't, but I've seen plenty of hate for it over the last decade.

I don't know where classic goes after WotLK but I don't think it will be into Cataclysm

[Metacrias]

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

Since Shadowlands Microsoft has made the biggest ever offer to buy a gaming company when they announced they'd be acquiring Activision Blizzard. The company has been cleaning house, prepping for a merger and making sure it retains proper internal value. My guess is that this deal has driven extra resources into WoW and other IP. Not a ton, but a definite increase. Once the acquisition is complete I expect much greater investment in Warcraft at Microsoft's direction - they didn't offer up that much money for nothing.

I think Dragonflight will see some general 'cleanup' of older content rather than a truly major revamp a la Cataclysm. This would help pave the way for a much larger revamp in the expansion following it (perhaps eventually stepping 'into' a WoW 2.0 at some point in the next few years)

[afishman]

I kind of doubt that we will see any revamp

[Skyel]

Much of the current global health status among players and gameplay
of the game will remain the same as long as only the PvE section of the game continues to evolve.
They have implemented a huge amount of mechanics, stories, missions and things to do and achieve at the end of the game that is incredible! and yet with every expansion we play we feel like it's more of the same; and it is.
Maybe things will change if they dedicate a little more to the other half of the game, the PvP section! It is just as important and I do not see that with each expansion that they have implemented they have managed to advance or evolve on this topic, it is a shame, personally I feel that with each expansion the approach to be dealt with is:
________________________

90% PvE content
10% PvP content.
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Maybe some more robust changes could help, something more hardcore, or more balanced between PvP and PvE gameplay.