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

[Aphrel]

wotlk. Id start by actually fucking make aziol nerub the huge underground complex it was portrayed at in wc3.

[Soon-TM]

wotlk. Id start by actually fucking make aziol nerub the huge underground complex it was portrayed at in wc3.

Ghostcrawler said once iirc that they were very much looking forward to a full fledged, underground AN, but they ran out of time, so the only thing they could do were the AK and AN dungeons (which imho are fairly underwhelming). But there is some footing of early drafts of the zone (unaccessible for ordinary players ofc) in this vid. Really interesting stuff.

[Orby]

WoW expansion>? fuck that, just delete WoW in general. I'll start post The Frozen Throne... I like to think anything in WoW was just a giant fever dream of Thrall or something lol

[Aphrel]

Ghostcrawler said once iirc that they were very much looking forward to a full fledged, underground AN, but they ran out of time, so the only thing they could do were the AK and AN dungeons (which imho are fairly underwhelming). But there is some footing of early drafts of the zone (unaccessible for ordinary players ofc) in this vid. Really interesting stuff.

nice find! Coudlve been so cool :<

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight]

Starting after Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor is when the story really started to go downhill.

[wargone]

WOD, timetravel, and then alternative timeline is just a mess...
OR BFA, The whole of it. The whole Thing just seemd like bad clickbait made into an expation

[Selastan]

Starting after Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor is when the story really started to go downhill.

Agreed. I would actually LET them tell the story they wanted to tell there, instead of cutting it in half. Give us the Shattrath raid, explain the time-travel mechanics better in a real Bronze Dragonflight focused storyline, and let Grommash stay as the final boss instead of pulling (the somehow one and only and not separate timeline version of) Archimonde from nowhere. He could easily have taken Alt-Guldan's place in Legion, and Illidan could have stayed dead.

[Nnyco]

You cant really rewrite tbc, since lore was nonexistant. It was basically just the "REMEMBER ALL THESE NAMES FROM WC3?!" - the expansion.

[ro9ue]

BC - ogre for horde, high elf for alliance

Every single error in the history of the game stems from this simple, yet cataclysmic fuck up.

[Beloren]

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.

Damn.. I wish I had read your post before answreing the question. I picked TBC thinking you meant at what point would you change the story that developed in WoW.. rather than over writing which expansion plot needed it the most.


I would pick WoD, the story itself was really good, the problem with it was the whole AU move was badly executed. AU stuff just doesn't fit wow.. it had to be invented for DC because of all their fucking up of their own lore..

but then, they've fucked up wow lore so much, you might as well have different AUs.

[Soon-TM]

Damn.. I wish I had read your post before answreing the question. I picked TBC thinking you meant at what point would you change the story that developed in WoW.. rather than over writing which expansion plot needed it the most.


I would pick WoD, the story itself was really good, the problem with it was the whole AU move was badly executed. AU stuff just doesn't fit wow.. it had to be invented for DC because of all their fucking up of their own lore..

but then, they've fucked up wow lore so much, you might as well have different AUs.

The funniest part about WoD is that it originally wasn't going to be an AU, but instead just Outland before it was torn by Guldie's portals. I still cannot fathom the reasons that brought them to write that convoluted "time travel, but not really, and also from another dimension(s) but not that much" mess that was WoD overall. A simple time travel story would have been challenging enough for the writing team... and they had the gall to write about alternate dimensions as well. That Afrasiabi dude shouldn't be allowed to grab a pen or a keyboard ever again

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight]

I would have also changed some things already back in Cataclysm such as writing off the idea of dragons losing their powers and fertility after the defeat of Deathwing, which was stupid, and have Danath Trollbane and the people of Stromgarde starting to come back and rebuild their kingdom here rather than keep them in the fridge until Battle for Azeroth, as well as seeing the Gnomes and Blood Elves doing significant progresses to restore their homelands.

[samuro]

Draenor, because "DRAENOR IS FREE" from Grom who has been a literal dictator was really laughable

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight]

Personally I wouldn't keep WOD but if I was forced to go through it I would have at least made some significant changes to the story :

1) Adding the orcish clans that were forgotten such as the Dragonmaw; Lightning Blade, Bonechewer, Whiteclaw clans and using more the clans that were neglected or mistreated by the story such as the Bleeding Hollow, Thunderlords and Shadowmoon clans, at least to show more of their culture and history.

2) I would have changed and used more the orcish chieftains and explored more the tensions and infighting inside the Iron Horde. Orgrim wouldn't have been killed off and would have had a far bigger role in the story than just being killed in Talador storyline, Blackhand would have been as ambitious as his MU counterpart and would ressent Grommash being the warchief and Garrosh's influence on him and the rest of the Iron Horde given that it's his clan that provide the Iron Horde with most of their technology and weapons and is the strongest and incorporated the most goblin technology, this would have led him to be eventually seduced and manipulated by Gul'dan who'd have spotted his ambition and ressentment and offered to help him take control and become the warchief of the Iron Horde.
Ner'zhul would have had eventually a face turn and turned against the Iron Horde after his defeat and Rulkan convincing him to help the Alliance and the Horde, with the two making up in the end. Fenris Wolfbrother would have more issues about fighting his own family and former clan, and would be struggling with his guilt over helping kill his own father and imprisonning Ga'nar. Killrogg would be shown as one of the most reasonnable chieftains of the Iron Horde and rather criticical of Grommash's rule and very cautious and distrustful toward Garrosh, Kargath would have survived his first fight with the adventurers, being saved by Cho'gall and been part of the Void storyline.

Zagrel the chieftain of the Whiteclaws would have refused to join the Iron Horde just like his MU counterpart refused to join the Horde and would have been an ally to the Frostwolves and the Horde.

3) Bladespire Citadel and Karabor would have been the capitals of the Horde and the Alliance respectively like it was originally planned.

4) I would write the ridiculous and overcomplicated "One Twisting Neither and Burning Legion for all universes and timelines" off with it being really an AU version of the Burning Legion, with it really being AU Archimonde and AU Kil'aeden watching the situation from afar. The Burning Legion agents would be more present in the story, and would recover the Bronze Dragonflight hourglass' fragment that Garrosh and Kairoz brought to AU Draenor, and that Garrosh used to make Grommash see a part of the future to convince him to form the Iron Horde, allowing the demons to learn about the other timeline and about their MU counterpart's failures with the Old Horde and their second invasion in MU Azeroth. At the end of WOD AU Archimonde or AU Kil'jaeden use the hourglass fragment to send Gul'dan as a "gift" to their MU counterparts with a potential plan on how to invade Azeroth.

5) Gul'dan and his Shadow Council save Blackhand's life and use his ambitious and power-hungry nature to make him turn against Grommash, with them allowing him to overthrow Grommash and become the new warchief of the Iron Horde. Blackhand drinks the blood of Mannoroth and thus he not only become a Fel orc with increased strength and aggressivity but also gets the ability to produce fel fire.

6) Cho'gall stick with Gul'dan and the rest of the Shadow Council for a longer time and his storyline with the Void goes further, with him saving Kargath and him getting very interested by the curse of Sethe and how the cursed Arrakoas can use void magic.

7) We see the continuation of "Code of Rule" short story with us seeing orcs training to become Magic Breakers and a few orcs that managed to become ones, through the majority have failed due to their training being too short or to them being weaker and not as a tough as ogres.

8) Arrakoas are convinced to join the Alliance against the Iron Horde and demons, while the Ogres join the Horde after Horde adventurers save Imperator Mar'gok and convince him to help the Horde in exchange of his people being freed of the Iron Horde's oppression and threat.