If you could choose a point to rewrite WoW's story, what expansion would you choose?

[druchii5]

Cataclysm had its issues, but I don't think a rewrite is warranted or required after its events. I would give that mantle starting at WoD.

[NED funded]

BC had ..."issues" but I liked much of the downstream effect it's had (draenei, naaru, blood elves into the Horde, etc)

The Draenei and Naaru are pretty tame issues compared to the rest of BC lore. Its not until Legion came that we learn why Kaelthas betrays Illidan or what Illidan is doing in the Black Temple

[Villager720]

The Draenei and Naaru are pretty tame issues compared to the rest of BC lore. Its not until Legion came that we learn why Kaelthas betrays Illidan or what Illidan is doing in the Black Temple

Right - I'm saying I liked those parts enough to "offset" the not great other elements.

[Vonazak]

Burning Crusade was the best Xpac but was the one when they started doing retarded stuff like adding BE to the horde and killing all the major characters just because.

[Devylknyght]

Remove Wod. Mop's wrathion storyline actually leads into legion quite nicely. Then start rewriting BEFORE the invasion of Argus. remove that whole patch and all of BFA. adding the Zandalari and kul Tirans and stuff could be in the story, but all of the war stuff the way it went down was way too nonsensical.

[Lord Pebbleton]

Anyone who doesn't choose WoD wasn't paying attention to what could have been.

Agree 100%.

Usually, plot holes and lore mistakes Blizzard makes feel genuine to me. They want this big old dragon to be the end of the world, but it doesn't add up and, in the long run, Deathwing is forgettable and ineffective. They want this great conflict between Alliance and Horde, but in the end it is just more of the same and it falls flat.

WoD however...
I feel like its failure was not a negative unexpected result, like Deathwing's botched personality, or a good idea turned "meh" due to circumstances, like BfA. The whole premise sucked major ass and Blizzard was being told throughout. People were bringing up plot holes resulting from two different Draenors existing. The expansion itself went through different stages, major cuts, they even had to lock one zone out from the start to pretend it was endgame content.

It felt like they wanted to make a shit expansion at any cost. They did huge compromises, put major lore points in jeopardy and cut corners in order to stay true to that hellhole of a plot for no apparent reason at all, save maybe that "time travel is cool".

TBC had an "evil guy is evil because he's evil" vibe to it, but it was a genuine attempt at a first expansion, and they didn't set out to destroy their own thing like they did in WoD.

[TheFirstOnes]

WoD, without a doubt. WoD was quite possibly the most WASTED Expansion lore-wise. I don't think there should be a "rewrite". However, there should be added additions to it. Like a Farahlon patch, a Legion Shattrath raid, and maybe a PVP BG where you go across ships on the Zangar Sea.

- - - Updated - - -

TBC doesn't need a rewrite. Chronicle and Legion did enough...

[InfiniteCharger]

It all went downhill with Vanilla honestly. The idea that all races were now mashed into this concept of Horde and Alliance is the first problem.
Nations switch sides constantly based on interests. There is no such thing as permanent alliances only permanent interests.
Each races story should be the primary story, not this dedication to something that didn't exist prior to Wow as in the Horde and Alliance.
That contrived permanent faction structure is what has destroyed much of the lore in the game.

Then on top of that the other big issue was changing demons from just being plain old demons into Draenai and Eredar.
Infinite legions of demons working in the shadows should always be a recurring theme and not something that can be "stopped".
That makes no sense. Unfortunately that would mean treating the world of an MMO like an actual evolving entity where stories and people grow and change over time.

And that leads to my third biggest change which would be to make zone content dynamic and changing from expansion to expansion.
Instead of having zones stay fixed in time, they should naturally evolve every expansion. Gnomergan should be rebuilt and have leper faction colonies spread around. The Night Elves should have been able to reclaim parts of Kalimdor by now and have rebuilt some new strong holds. The Humans should have reclaimed hinterlands by now and rebuilt stromgarde and/or some of the other human cities.
And so forth and so on. And of course the whole issue of the Foresaken should have been resolved once and for all with the end of Wrath. Sure there would still be conflicts in these zones, but the idea that everything stays static over 15 years is ridiculous. Which also means when something like an invasion by the legion happens, zones should be wrecked just like we saw in WOW from previous invasions.


Lastly, the game should have had better support for open world strategic gameplay integrated into PVP.
Mining areas, farming areas and other areas which generate resources should have been things you could fight over.
Right up to and including cities themselves. No more just having infinite swarms of guards at the flight master for instant winning.
And the game should have had an architecture to support hundreds of players in one place at one time.
This is an MMO after all and that is what being an MMO means, being able to have hundreds of people in one place at one time.

[Cerus]

This is what I've been saying for years. The Horde is never EVER going to recover from attempted genocide. It will hang over the Horde until the day the servers are shut down. Why the writers decided to make a playable faction of their game commit such a heinous crime is beyond me.

Again with the “blame the horde” for the actions of an individual crap.

One tree doesn’t compare to the destruction caused by the scourge and the burning legion thanks to Arthas. The same Arthas who also caused Sylvanas to go nuts in the first place.

And let’s not forget that it was the draenei who led the legion to the orc homeworld and got them enslaved. Or the night elves obsession with magic that allowed the legion to find Azeroth.

One whacko banshee queen burned a tree due to her physiological damage. Get over it. Doesn’t compare to two of the greatest threats to Azeroth.

[VinceVega]

I voted BC... because i was sad about Kael thas Illidan and vashj.... i completly forgot about WoD....

Heavens yeah. WoD. Definetly. No timetravel. No alternative dimensions/timelines.
Before SL it was... see and forget. It had no real effect on the game, the story or anything other than that demons are everywhere the same.

Now with SL it is just completly fucked up... our SL is everyones SL... you in SL is every alternative version of you.... wtf...

I enjoyed the WoD story. The simple chaneg would be for me: Every Dimension/timeline has their own cosmic powers and no interest whatsoever in every other dimension. Done. Finsihed. Problems gone.

[therealbowser]

Warlords of Draenor. I wouldn't even change the theme, I would just make it focused on time travel and lead up to a confrontation with an empowered Infinite Dragonflight at their prime. We could even have it lead to Gul'dan somehow reaching Azeroth and bringing Legion back. Anything would be better than having the final boss of the expansion show up for the first time about 10 minutes before it ended, and it being a raid boss we literally already defeated years ago.

I could write for a straight hour and not cover everything I hated about WoD, and despite that I feel like the expansion still had very good ideas that could have been made into great concepts. But they were just obsessed with the orcs and their awful story, and the fel garbage they'd been going on about since TBC. I am so glad we will never hear about 'fel' or demons again in a World of Warcraft plot...

[baskev]

To clarify, the expansion in question gets overwritten with a plot of your choosing to follow up the previous one.

Me personally? I would take Cataclysm and merge it with Battle for Azeroth to create a fully-fledged Great Sea / PvP expansion, complete with some sort of naval travel / combat system that would allow you to explore the entirety of the ocean. Following the events of the Wrathgate, it would feature a renewed conflict between the Alliance and Horde that takes place on the open seas.

The main antagonist of the expansion would be Varian Wrynn for the Horde, and Garrosh Hellscream for the Alliance. Both characters would be developed as protagonists for their respective factions - complete with moments highlighting their positive qualities - while they would be developed as antagonists for the opposing factions - complete with moments highlighting their more negative qualities. Their foils would be Anduin Wrynn and Thrall (who is still Warchief) respectively, who would both be urging the other down from the faction conflict. The "war campaign" of the expansion would essentially consist of two options: a pro-war approach - led by Varian / Garrosh - and an anti-war approach - led by Anduin / Thrall.

The final raid of the expansion would culminate in a naval assault on Stormwind City that mirrors the events of the First War, with a defending Varian as the final boss for Horde players and an invading Garrosh as the final boss for Alliance players.

Like some have said. Get rid of WoD. It was a horde centric stupid expansion.

What i would change. to much.

It starts with Cataclysms end. We kill deathwing. After that we need more resources.


We start with a cold war/ resource hunt that leads into pandaria. Except Garrosh going mad does not happen ( yet!)
Its ends with throne of thunder. And a slightly broken peace.

Then legion happens. We work as 1, varian dies because of sylvannas ( its more clear something is fishy with her) , then the whole trying to be the boss of all valkyr happens . Garrosh does not act decent enough on this all. So alliance gets a big F you in our eyes. Legion ends like it normally does. But the stable factor that is thrall and voljin died during it. Sylvannas grows closer to garrosh and starts manipulating him. making him go more unstable.

Garrosh in action makes horde go pre civil war. Garrosh gets more unstable/horde first in his behavior. Alliance gets afraid and starts massing forces in theramore. It gets bombed . Then troll ( under zekhan and saurfang) revolution happens and Siege of ogrimmar happens. Garrosh escapse prison and joins aszhara.

Garrosh and his new ally start manipulating events around the gaint sword. Giving sylvannas the excuse to attack the alllaince.
Teldrassil happens. BFA happens.
We Kill garrosh as mythic boss in stormwind ( like in siege of ogrimmar) after the palace raid.
Rest of BFA goes normally.

[therealbowser]

I voted BC... because i was sad about Kael thas Illidan and vashj.... i completly forgot about WoD....

Heavens yeah. WoD. Definetly. No timetravel. No alternative dimensions/timelines.
Before SL it was... see and forget. It had no real effect on the game, the story or anything other than that demons are everywhere the same.

Now with SL it is just completly fucked up... our SL is everyones SL... you in SL is every alternative version of you.... wtf...

I enjoyed the WoD story. The simple chaneg would be for me: Every Dimension/timeline has their own cosmic powers and no interest whatsoever in every other dimension. Done. Finsihed. Problems gone.

Yeah, TBC had so much arbitrary raid fodder from 'raid bosses' that never should have been that in the first place. Illidan was never evil, but Kael'thas definitely wasn't. Vashj was the closest thing the naga ever had to a 'friendly' naga. Such a waste it was to throw those characters away... especially Kael'thas. Hell, even Zul'jin got used up way too early as raid fodder, and as literally the only one armed troll in the ingame universe, a universe where trolls regrow their limbs regularly and effortlessly.

Maybe TBC is actually the better choice despite there being so many worse expansions, just because they wasted so much excellent lore to serve up raid fodder.

[NED funded]

I mean for warlords you can just pretend it doesnt exist and thats kinda what Blizzard did until the whole maghar business (gosh such a stupid story). Lady Vashj and Kaelthas are such wasted characters and its a shame that we lost them (until now)

[Aresk]

Definitely BC. Reverse those retcons, do a more cohesive story. Build the Illidari into more of a credible threat. Strike the Naaru from existence. Better define how time-traveling works in Warcraft. Keep draenei and eredar as separate races. Have Vashj persist past the expansion to become a credible threat later in the story. Have BEs rejoin the Alliance, with Kael becoming an antagonistic Alliance character. Give the Horde ogres and do a bit more development of the ogre lore.

- - - Updated - - -

Maybe TBC is actually the better choice despite there being so many worse expansions, just because they wasted so much excellent lore to serve up raid fodder.

This exactly. Fixing things earlier on would do worlds for later expansions' potential.

[Soon-TM]

Like some have said. Get rid of WoD. It was a horde centric stupid expansion.

WoD was all about merrily slaughtering all of the WC2 Horde cast, who were depicted to be the same morons than the MU pre-Thrall Horde, even if the AU Horde didn't know anything about demon blood. The "tranquil, shamanistic society" of lore

Originally a shamanistic people cultivating a primitive clan-based society, the orcs were corrupted by Kil'jaeden—a demon lord of the Burning Legion—and manipulated into forming a bloodthirsty Horde that waged war on the peaceful draenei race. Rampant demonic corruption caused the orcs to be filled with bloodlust and turned their normally brown skin into shades of green.

was all but thrown to the (literal) wolves. so everyone could have more raid and even dungeon bosses. And you have the gall to call it Horde centric LMAO.

Imagine if the plot was about travelling to the WC2 Azeroth to murder guilt-free everyone in the Alliance of those days, from Genn to Anasterian, just because they were written as blathering warmongering idiots, disregarding 90% of the previous lore. Yes, we would get to kill Magni, Khadgar, Antonidas and perhaps even Llane, and you'd call it an Alliance centric expansion, wouldn't you?

And no, your rewriting is almost as bad as what Danuser routinely pulls out of his rear.

[Mendzia]

Not rewrite... but totally delete WoD.
It was a such horribly stupid idea.

[Ryzeth]

I'd rewrite pre-WoW times, and change the plural of 'Elf' to 'Elfs' just to fuck with people.

When they call you out on being wrong with pluralising, you can just say that it's your game so you get to decide what's right and wrong. Sort of like Tolkien saying Dwarves is the plural of Dwarf.

[Obvious10]

For each expansion I read good alternate stories here above, well done guys and girls!

My worst feeling is about bfa, I really, really.. still ..can't stand it ..She burned the Tree.
Worst and most onethical story ever.
And the reactions from inside the Horde, about the burning action, where by far not strong enough. Really Big mistake from blizz.

We the Horde are not cowardly filthy beasts, we are warriors who fight, live and die for and with Honor.

If you really think the burning Tree made sense, then a far more, far stronger reaction from inside the Horde was needed.

For example, atleast a big guerilla and/or a (temporary) split of the Horde would be needed, like the Forsaken and She would be kicked out.
Then you could also think of her new gigantic powers (the bridge to SL), she could perhaps raise a new massive army with her new powers, or enhance her current Forsaken army.
But she also could have gotten the Helmet earlier, and use it to raise it's army (would take some time, in meanwhile Alliance accuses Horde for sh*t and starts the bfa-war we have been), and after she used the Helmet for her army against H, or H+A, and then she destroys it, when she finds out she's not satified about it, or whatever, in the meanwhile we end bfa,....and start SL.
Something like this.

[baskev]

WoD was all about merrily slaughtering all of the WC2 Horde cast, who were depicted to be the same morons than the MU pre-Thrall Horde, even if the AU Horde didn't know anything about demon blood. The "tranquil, shamanistic society" of lore



was all but thrown to the (literal) wolves. so everyone could have more raid and even dungeon bosses. And you have the gall to call it Horde centric LMAO.

Imagine if the plot was about travelling to the WC2 Azeroth to murder guilt-free everyone in the Alliance of those days, from Genn to Anasterian, just because they were written as blathering warmongering idiots, disregarding 90% of the previous lore. Yes, we would get to kill Magni, Khadgar, Antonidas and perhaps even Llane, and you'd call it an Alliance centric expansion, wouldn't you?

And no, your rewriting is almost as bad as what Danuser routinely pulls out of his rear.

Nah, it was also about the redemption of the horde ( grommash) and making a bad guy out of the dreanei. And nothing alliance at all, they did not do the alliance raid. Was horde raid after horde raid.

And did you even play WoD??? they did not know about it, but where about to drink it. You did see that whole opining cinematic right? As for peacefull did you see the pre comic "movie things" peacefull was not in their blood. Even before the fell.

And where was the alliance story then? we did shadowmoon vally, and then a bit around shattarth. 2 dungeons i think where around alliance.
The rest was horde raid, with orc bosses, or dungeons etc.

Or did i miss the major alliance raid, alliance story?


And your comparision is wrong. In your version of the story you as horde go back as horde to kill all alliance before they become bad.
Horde in WoD where bad and attacking present day alliance/horde in the main timeline. And Most of the story was told from the horde perspective. About how the horde was almost corrupted this time again. How orcs became good in this timeline etc.

I would call it alliance centric if the story is also told from the attacking force in part of the alliance. So if the alliance goes back with the horde to stop it all from happening. But WoD was us going to orc central, all dreanei content was pretty much cut. All raids where about horde and orcs story. So yeah it was horde centric.