Opinion: Do a Disney

[Caerule]

If you've been playing since vanilla then you know it's not the same game today. It's changed, in some ways drastically, from when the game was fun to play, and when much of the lore was less of a punchline to a sad joke.
The only way you can feel any "immersion" today is if you're a "Sylvanas fanboy" in which case, oh well then, never mind.

That's odd. I assumed Sylvanas Fanboys were largely in the camp of "They ruined the character", and would be in your camp.

Honestly, and I've said this before, but it feels like most human brains just aren't build for the MMORPG formula. Where the world, story and characters keep updating.
It's probably nostalgia-based to some degree. But it's probably also because we're used to other genre's where past content remains equally valid. Like, the Harry Potter books are not equally liked. But later worse parts does not disrupt enjoyment of the earlier parts. She same goes for Marvel movies. You can pick up any of your old favorites again, and find them static and unchanging. That's not the case with an MMO. 95% of an MMO is the latest chapter. It be like only the last book or movie now being relevant. So rather than add to the whole, the new thing is now mostly the whole, with the past content being the addition. So we're confronted constantly with a changed setting, changed characters, expanded world.

In the end, I don't think a reboot that tosses all that out will be the solution either. For soon people will feel the same way about the new stuff coming out for the reboot, and nostalgia will set in for what they've abandoned.

[Niwes]

There is no way this happens under microsoft. Look no further than 343 industries who've made blizzard look compotent for the last decade.

yeah. in reality this simply will never ever happen anywhere. wether at MS nor Blizz. not. in. the. slightest.

[Ielenia]

Players will get the better lore they wanted,

Big "nope" because players don't agree on what direction the lore should go. For example: some say Garrosh is better off dead, some think he shouldn't have been killed, some think he should still be warchief of the Horde.

Not to mention, even if Blizzard does what you want them to do, none of that guarantees better storytelling, or even a story that the players like.

Blizzard gets a whole new income stream.

I would say the opposite: a full-on bottomless pit of a money drain. Because players would just get pissed off that their game was shut down (as I assume Blizzard wouldn't keep "WoW1" and "WoW2" going concurrently and evolving in different directions) and leave, or would not like the direction the new game is.

Keep this in mind: the MMO genre is nowhere near the "big thing" that it was around a decade ago. WoW (alongside other MMOs such as Guild Wars and Final Fantasy) sustain themselves practically on brand alone nowadays. Meaning that making such radical changes the likes you want could really jeopardize WoW's current stability and threatens to kill the game by pissing off players enough to make them leave in droves.

[Shadowferal]

My rewrite has Garrosh still alive and kicking. A bit resentful towards Thrall, but respectful towards the spiritual center he represents.

[Clone]

WoW is too far gone, just let it continue on its own continuity while Blizzard makes a separate definite source.

[voidox]

you know, bit of a side note, but it's sad funny that it seems that Blizzard is doing a disney on the art for DF, cause oh boy some of the art direction we're seeing and the Dracthyr themselves :/

[Iain]

WoW has the Bronze Dragonflight and it's established that time-walking doesn't require any logic or consistency whatsoever. That means Blizzard has bought themselves an infinite amount of clean slates to restart the story on without having to go for a full reset.

Want Westfall 30 years in the past? You got it. 30 years in the future? Got it as well. How about visiting Durator before the orcs arrived? Sure, you got it. Durator when the orcs are gone (wait what...) you got it!

Every zone can have multiple periods of time stacked on top of each other. The sand dragons will sort out the rest.

[Shadowferal]

WoW has the Bronze Dragonflight and it's established that time-walking doesn't require any logic or consistency whatsoever. That means Blizzard has bought themselves an infinite amount of clean slates to restart the story on without having to go for a full reset. Want Westfall 30 years in the past? You got it. 30 years in the future? Got it as well. How about visiting Durator before the orcs arrived? Sure, you got it. Durator when the orcs are gone (wait what...) you got it! Every zone can have multiple periods of time stacked on top of each other. The sand dragons will sort out the rest.

Nice idea...in theory.

[Le Conceptuel]

Players will get the better lore they wanted, Blizzard gets a whole new income stream.

That alone will not draw a new playerbase, and it possibly would only alienate players. I like the thought of a reboot, but your system is mostly full of glittering generalities at best and plain terrible ideas at worst.