Up-to-Date: Bringing Pre-MoP content current in the next expansion

[-Superman-]

I've yet to read anything regarding the timeline and the juggling of most events in Pre-Mop areas. With the coming siege in Orgrimmar, and the unknown fate of Garrosh, plus the movement of Dalaran to its new/former resting place, there are a lot of inconsistencies in the time line which need to be ironed out and made part of the lore in the old zones.

I'm hoping with expansion 5, we will get to see:

* The new changes in Orgrimmar.
* Stormwind pieced back together (yet retain some showing of dmg - i.e. the old bride in RedRidge. Destroyed and repaired).
* Dalaran seated in a new locale or returned to its former home to help fight a war in Hillsbrad and breath on Lordaeron.
* Remove NPC in TBC / Northrend / Cata zones and replace them based on the character's new location.
* Add in NPC explanatories for certain fights telling adventurers they are going back in time to assist with (insert raid here) much the way caverns of time works, yet not adding to the CoT.

...and make any world repairs needed based on Thrall ending Deathwing (i.e. - removing the stood in the fire achieve, and slowly putting out the fires in zones like Ashenvale and Badlands).

Might just be me, but I would love to see more continuity and up to the minute world views based on what has happened/is happening. Your thoughts? Is brining Azeroth to current time a good idea or a bad idea? Does it help the world and the lore, or does it wreck the feeling of going through it for the first time?

[Deleted]

As far as I know, Blizzard doesn't see that as a problem. While you're levelling, you're also levelling through time, and as you pass the areas, certains will happen and you're practically back in that time.

I could imagine that Stormwind and Orgrimmar will get upgrades in 6.0 though, after all, a siege on a city for several months must have an impact and after these few years, something could've changed in Stormwind after Deathwing's mess.

[Lethey Alexandros]

As far as I know, Blizzard doesn't see that as a problem. While you're levelling, you're also levelling through time, and as you pass the areas, certains will happen and you're practically back in that time.

I could imagine that Stormwind and Orgrimmar will get upgrades in 6.0 though, after all, a siege on a city for several months must have an impact and after these few years, something could've changed in Stormwind after Deathwing's mess.

even if it is assumed you are playing through time, level 90 should reflect deathwings death. The fires scattered across the zones should be gone, the out of balance issues with the elements should have been fixed by now. SW under some kind of repair, Menthil harbor being unflooded, the ironwall damn under repair.

As it stands all I see is that a world shakeing catastrophy happened, we saved our world, then skipped of to explore a new island saying F it all to the repairs that needed to happen.

[Deleted]

Well, we could ask blizzard to repair all that stuff in the old world, OR, and this is the option I prefer, we just let them spend the time they would need to accomplish that (which is major!) on new content instead of the "level 90" experience.

The effort this would take doesn't justify the result we'd get.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

We did this once. It was called Cataclysm. It helped ruin the game.

[Galaddriel]

What, you mean finish Cataclysm??

They poured so many resources into revamping the lower zones for Cata which had very little payoff for them and actually hurt the end game of Cata for nearly a year. There would be little value in going back and doing it all over again for the alt leveling experience of veteran players and face it, there are very few new players at this stage in the game's life. New players are at a distinct disadvantage compared to established players because of gold inflation and heirlooms, most new players don't get past level 10 before they figure it out.

[Deleted]

We did this once. It was called Cataclysm. It helped ruin the game.

No it didn't. The idea behind Cataclysm, to move the story forward and show that time has passed, was one of the most exciting ideas they had. The only problem was that it took a lot of developer time and too few people actually care about story and all that.

[darqhur]

Honestly, I'm really tired of new daily hubs every couple of months and how all pve content is gated through them in some way. If revamping old zones a bit at a time could keep the quest team busy for a while I would be grateful. I think I'm really starting to hate questing in this expansion.

[Deleted]

What, you mean finish Cataclysm??

They poured so many resources into revamping the lower zones for Cata which had very little payoff for them and actually hurt the end game of Cata for nearly a year. There would be little value in going back and doing it all over again for the alt leveling experience of veteran players and face it, there are very few new players at this stage in the game's life. New players are at a distinct disadvantage compared to established players because of gold inflation and heirlooms, most new players don't get past level 10 before they figure it out.

That's true but a lot of the zones were not significantly updated. Especially Arathi comes to mind. And then there's Outland, which feels so outdated now and doesn't make sense in the Cataclysm timeline, just like Northrend doesn't.

---------- Post added 2013-04-05 at 03:52 PM ----------

Honestly, I'm really tired of new daily hubs every couple of months and how all pve content is gated through them in some way. If revamping old zones a bit at a time could keep the quest team busy for a while I would be grateful. I think I'm really starting to hate questing in this expansion.

Then don't do it. What's the difference to not having those daily zones put into the game in the first place. It's fine if you don't like it, but why ruin it for those of us, who do?

[Aberration]

As far as I know, Blizzard doesn't see that as a problem. While you're levelling, you're also levelling through time, and as you pass the areas, certains will happen and you're practically back in that time.

I could imagine that Stormwind and Orgrimmar will get upgrades in 6.0 though, after all, a siege on a city for several months must have an impact and after these few years, something could've changed in Stormwind after Deathwing's mess.

This was true at one point, but now it makes no sense. Okay, I make a Pandaren in the present, I go back to the past for Cata zones, go back farther for TBC zones, go forward a bit for WotLK zones, go forward again for Cata zones, now I am in present in Pandaria.

[Crym]

This was true at one point, but now it makes no sense. Okay, I make a Pandaren in the present, I go back to the past for Cata zones, go back farther for TBC zones, go forward a bit for WotLK zones, go forward again for Cata zones, now I am in present in Pandaria.

Yeah, they were pretty good about only adding on to the end until Cataclysm. I'm glad they redid the leveling zones, because what we put up with while leveling would turn a lot of modern gamers away, but it completely broke the way players experience the timeline.

The best way would probably be to do major things through phasing. While leveling Garrosh is still in charge and it explains what the Horde is doing in most zones, but when you participate in the fight to take out Garrosh they phase stuff out and a new leader is there.

[Otimus]

As far as I know, Blizzard doesn't see that as a problem. While you're levelling, you're also levelling through time, and as you pass the areas, certains will happen and you're practically back in that time.

I could imagine that Stormwind and Orgrimmar will get upgrades in 6.0 though, after all, a siege on a city for several months must have an impact and after these few years, something could've changed in Stormwind after Deathwing's mess.

The whole old world revamp kind of ruined that whole "leveling through time" thing. Because you go forward, backward, forward, backward

[DeadmanWalking]

The game is never going to chronologically be correct without wiping out a large portion of the game and require so much time creating the new content that the next expansion becomes a fail. As a player we are just going to have to put up with the chronological problems if we expect wow to put its efforts into the parts that matter, future end game content.

[-Superman-]

Well, we could ask blizzard to repair all that stuff in the old world, OR, and this is the option I prefer, we just let them spend the time they would need to accomplish that (which is major!) on new content instead of the "level 90" experience.

The effort this would take doesn't justify the result we'd get.

So they should spend months making lvl 90 raids, but not bother with lvl 90 current time lore? Got it. It's only "justified" time spent if it benefits the raiders and not the rest of the RPG population.

[Algearond]

I just want to see some more continuity between xpacs, that's all.

[-Superman-]

I just want to see some more continuity between xpacs, that's all.

I agree. I think the changes to Outland and Northrend are probably the most problematic for the time frame. I just want WoW to "catch up" to our current end game. I think questing in the old zones could use a punch in the face again. The same old storylines in Elwynn forest or Durotar. The same quests and NPCs in Outlands and Northrend given the state of the world through the Cataclysm and into the discovery of Pandaria. It's time to fix SW or remove the natural disasters occurring in zones like Darkshore and Westfall. Bridges should be built in the south barrens and water in Thousand needles should recede a bit, or at least show traffic to more boats.

I just wish they would put some of their efforts back into the bulk of the game and let the raiders be bored for a month or two. Not like it would be the first time they would sit around, and polish armor, and complain about the same old raids.

[Pejo]

I just wish they would put some of their efforts back into the bulk of the game and let the raiders be bored for a month or two. Not like it would be the first time they would sit around, and polish armor, and complain about the same old raids.

I think this is incredibly unfair to say especially since they are doing this - they are creating content for each type of player. I understand they may not be exactly what YOU want but that content should not be discounted. With 5.0, there was a huge amount released that was not raiding content. With 5.1 and 5.3, they do not even include a raid and offer a huge amount for those interested in lore. Even with 5.2 which is a raid patch, they released a huge zone, ton of quests, new rares and continuation to storyline. Out of everything they are adding, definitely do not complain about their lack of additional content for non-raiders.

[Ragashii]

Pretty sure Cataclysm taught us that if they go back and update old things, new content suffers.

[Noah37]

Blizzard already tried to make all of the zones keep up with the current story and the result was Cata. I'd much prefer them crafting another excellent expansion. Not to mention that I would actually just prefer reverting everything back. I remember leveling my first character, a NElf hunter through Ashenvale and running BFD my very first instance. I remember countless hours spent in the Barrens and when they first put out the AQ event and getting to take part. I have so much nostalgia based on Vanilla and then of course running alts through during BC and WotLK. So it is hard for me to run alts now, I just miss how it was.

[-Superman-]

I think this is incredibly unfair to say especially since they are doing this - they are creating content for each type of player. I understand they may not be exactly what YOU want but that content should not be discounted. With 5.0, there was a huge amount released that was not raiding content. With 5.1 and 5.3, they do not even include a raid and offer a huge amount for those interested in lore. Even with 5.2 which is a raid patch, they released a huge zone, ton of quests, new rares and continuation to storyline. Out of everything they are adding, definitely do not complain about their lack of additional content for non-raiders.

That's why I said I would like 6.0 to fix/update the stuff 4.0 screwed up. Every patch has something new. I'm looking to make something old into something new. Even though MoP is not a horrible expac, we're still just screwing around with pandas and dinosaurs instead of fixing the park, or the front towers/statues in SW. Maybe light a fire under the goblins fixing Org. KunFu Panda and Barney are cute for the people bored with their Pokemon strictly for the purpose of XP or charms, but there is an entire world that has been destroyed and saved. Deathwing is gone, Thrall is done being a hero, and the world lay in waste. Yet we're more concerned with spinning bears.

Just saying... I would rather fix/update the lore we have and make it great again before spending another expac taking a completely different direction.