Ion just hinted at a 10.0 revamp.

[Soon-TM]

Were gonna come back out of shadowlands and we'll have gone back to when the black empire ruled azeroth gonna sent us back in time lul

No more time travel plx, it was bad enough in Cata and especially WoD. A time skip would be ok though, since it isn't really "time travel" imo.

[Fahrad Wagner]

A time skip would help the game feel like a brand new experience. Time will tell I suppose!

[plz delete account]

I really want the revamp to have a war between Telogrus Rift/Silver Covenant/Hyjal, and Silvermoon/Suramar. That'd be funnnnn

[taishar68]

Apologies if this is a bit bloggish, but here is how I'm seeing the logic play out; I am quite sure I am missing something.

So Ion mentions that time works differently in SL, which lets us make some assumptions on what it means. He says it doesn't mean a 3X or 10X time warp per se, but we'll have to see how it plays out. As I see it, there are really only two possibilities to infer from that statement:

We will see a marginal time jump, of say a few months time; this works to the concept that we (player characters) would not notice any major time dilation when we go back to Orgrimmar or Stormwind during the course of the expansion, so that whatever is happening to Azeroth while we're away just happens to be something we wouldn't be looking at, and that is why we weren't alerted to it sooner. Heck, even if an extra year passed on Azeroth, we'd likely not notice much; in some real life small towns, nothing changes for decades.

The other possibility is that we see a major time skip of hundreds of years or more, but then we need to figure out how we don't notice the huge time swing on our visits back to Azeroth; I only mean for things like holidays and auctions, really, because a max level character going back to do old dungeons or raids is really outside the game continuity anyway. I suppose if you farmed mats for old profession items, it might be wonky too. One way around this is that at some point between the death of N'Zoth and our entry to the Shadowlands, a pocket Azeroth was created (oh boy), and it is the one we keep going back to like nothing is changing, but in reality (this would be the 10.0 prepatch story, I guess) our Azeroth has changed dramatically in the hundreds (thousands?) of years we've been away. I could see something akin to "as N'Zoth died, the final part of his plan came into effect, trapping us all in his final illusion (Sylvanas' prison allusion?), and we break free to the stark reality of an Azeroth overrun by the Black Empire".

I think the shorter time skip is a cleaner story, but doesn't really have a lot of value, I mean, who cares if an extra year has passed? I also don't think going back to Azeroth in the future and it's all desolate and purple is the best idea, but of course they can come up with whatever future they like, I guess.

[plz delete account]

Apologies if this is a bit bloggish, but here is how I'm seeing the logic play out; I am quite sure I am missing something.

So Ion mentions that time works differently in SL, which lets us make some assumptions on what it means. He says it doesn't mean a 3X or 10X time warp per se, but we'll have to see how it plays out. As I see it, there are really only two possibilities to infer from that statement:

We will see a marginal time jump, of say a few months time; this works to the concept that we (player characters) would not notice any major time dilation when we go back to Orgrimmar or Stormwind during the course of the expansion, so that whatever is happening to Azeroth while we're away just happens to be something we wouldn't be looking at, and that is why we weren't alerted to it sooner. Heck, even if an extra year passed on Azeroth, we'd likely not notice much; in some real life small towns, nothing changes for decades.

The other possibility is that we see a major time skip of hundreds of years or more, but then we need to figure out how we don't notice the huge time swing on our visits back to Azeroth; I only mean for things like holidays and auctions, really, because a max level character going back to do old dungeons or raids is really outside the game continuity anyway. I suppose if you farmed mats for old profession items, it might be wonky too. One way around this is that at some point between the death of N'Zoth and our entry to the Shadowlands, a pocket Azeroth was created (oh boy), and it is the one we keep going back to like nothing is changing, but in reality (this would be the 10.0 prepatch story, I guess) our Azeroth has changed dramatically in the hundreds (thousands?) of years we've been away. I could see something akin to "as N'Zoth died, the final part of his plan came into effect, trapping us all in his final illusion (Sylvanas' prison allusion?), and we break free to the stark reality of an Azeroth overrun by the Black Empire".

I think the shorter time skip is a cleaner story, but doesn't really have a lot of value, I mean, who cares if an extra year has passed? I also don't think going back to Azeroth in the future and it's all desolate and purple is the best idea, but of course they can come up with whatever future they like, I guess.

Going back to Azeroth during SL probably isn't canon because we're "stuck" there

[Unholyground]

One of the things I'd expect a 10.0 revamp to show is events such as the Botani and Gronn escaping into Durotar, among giving nelves, forsaken, and various allied races proper capitals.

Also the Saberon escaped into our Azeroth too!

I think it is pretty obvious the 2nd revamp is coming based on how jarring the leveling experience is and the obvious time jump that was super obviously going to happen before it was super obvious lol.

[Nagawithlegs]

I think the shorter time skip is a cleaner story, but doesn't really have a lot of value, I mean, who cares if an extra year has passed? I also don't think going back to Azeroth in the future and it's all desolate and purple is the best idea, but of course they can come up with whatever future they like, I guess.

Except they can have all kinds of things happen in an extra year or two, like new cities and settlements being built. They don't HAVE to: Cata had Deathwing pop up, and suddenly there were just new places everywhere and no player cared (because it's a videogame and a patch adds new places).

But they CAN use a small to moderate time jump as a LORE reason why the old world looks different when we arrive. It's absolutely not necessary but it's an opportunity to tie the revamp into the core plot of the expansion.

[azkhane]

A timeskip of 50 or 60 years would be a nice oportunity to release a warcraft 4 to fil the timegap, creating more stories, new heroes and advancing the game history and see how new heroes rise to defend azeroth from a terrible enemy(void and light) while we are absent

[Cæli]

revamp of what? zones? there is no revamps, revamp is a marketing buzzword, the game is expanded every patch/expansion, sometimes zones are rearranged and zidormi added to keep the content and make the game bigger. other than this is just social mind worms (that makes you believe that something is an actual thing after reading the same string of characters over and over on social media, which makes the average person repeating the term and contributing in making it a social mind worm)

[Vynx]

Let me understand this...those who embrace the idea of a revamp, do you expect all the leveling zones to be redone, like in Cata?

[Nagawithlegs]

Let me understand this...those who embrace the idea of a revamp, do you expect all the leveling zones to be redone, like in Cata?

Definitely not all of them. The only thing that could happen in EVERY zone would be some texture updates.

[plz delete account]

Let me understand this...those who embrace the idea of a revamp, do you expect all the leveling zones to be redone, like in Cata?

With Chromie time, it actually isn't that bad

[taishar68]

Going back to Azeroth during SL probably isn't canon because we're "stuck" there

Fair enough, but it's a little coy for the writers to just be like "you saw nothing here!"

[plz delete account]

Fair enough, but it's a little coy for the writers to just be like "you saw nothing here!"

Actually, it's literally what happens any time we go to old content. We're either timetraveling into the past, or canonically weren't there.

[Protean]

In the latest Ion interview concerning Shadowlands (Which is still going at time of writing)
Ion stated "Time moves differently in the shadowlands. Not exactly a X3 or a X10 timewarp persay, but we'll have to see the full extent of this when our characters come out of Shadowlands [into the next expac].

10.0 revamp bois.

And yes, it's too goddamn early for 10.0 discussion, but here you go.

Could explain them adding different expansions to Chromie. It'll be easier after an expansion of getting used to this, to shift old azeroth onto Chromie too and fix up the world.

- - - Updated - - -

Given that they've finally fixed levelling in Shadowlands by creating multiple parallel paths, I don't think they'd want to overhaul the zones again for the sake of it. There's no need for it. Instead I figure they will do targeted updates, phasing zones where there is substantial storyline progression.

For example, he hinted at new homes for the Night Elves and the Forsaken. The zones those homes are built in will simply need to be phased to reflect their new status.

For the record, I think Mount Hyjal is likely to be the new Night Elf home zone, as this is where Tyrande seems to be dwelling. That, and the whole 'build a city in a tree' has proven to be a very bad idea.

Give us undead teldrassil.

[taishar68]

Actually, it's literally what happens any time we go to old content. We're either timetraveling into the past, or canonically weren't there.

Agreed, but going to the auction house, and holiday events, are current.

[plz delete account]

Agreed, but going to the auction house, and holiday events, are current.

Incorrect.

[taishar68]

Incorrect.

Can you expound on that? A player running current content only, using the AH or playing during Winter's Veil, those interactions are considered outside the story?

[plz delete account]

Can you expound on that? A player running current content only, using the AH or playing during Winter's Veil, those interactions are considered outside the story?

Using the AH or doing holiday events are noncanon.

While the AH existing is canon, and the holidays are canon, players interacting with them isn't "current"

[taishar68]

Using the AH or doing holiday events are noncanon.

While the AH existing is canon, and the holidays are canon, players interacting with them isn't "current"

That's interesting. I never really looked at it that way, but it's still a little weird-we've seen things change subtly, like whoever is Warchief today may not be tomorrow, and we get the various cutscenes that change in game dialogue moving forward, so I'll call it out if, for example, the Horde nominates a single person as Warchief in 9.2, for example, and then the NPC dialogue changes in Orgrimmar, then we have to accept going back and forth as part of the ongoing story.