Do you think next Expac/10.0 will usher in a world revamp?

[Kiivar86]

Glad you asked:


You have to pay attention to these small details in the Cinematic Trailers and, most often, last raids of an expansion.

Ehh...that feels like a real stretch in most places.

The only thing that does stand out to me amongst those is Sylvanas' powers. You would think they'd take on the same greenish hue the death magic does but it doesn't. That is curious.

The rest though...I don't really take those as hints. Bolvar's coloration has been like that since he got bathed in flames, it would have been odd for him to not still be red/orange. The hammer thing doesn't strike me as anything more either. And the sky coloration is really just two common contrasting colors (orange/teal, but more muted), that color combo shows up in so many places.

Don't forget that Blizzard sometimes puts in things that end up going nowhere. There's a worgen NPC stealthed in the Alliance's shrine that talks about how dangerous the Ethereals are, yet nothing has come of it (yet, anyway). And at the tail end of MoP, on the Timeless isle, Blizzard introduced three Timewalker NPCs who are clearly each a spec of a Timewalker class (they talk about their duties and one is obviously a tank, one a healer, and one DPS) and again, no Timewalker class ever manifested.

They do put plot hooks out there from time to time but this feels a stretch to me.

[Unholyground]

Would I like to see a world revamp? Sure, the textures in the Arathi warfront were superb, and I'd love to see all of EK/Kalimdor reworked in a similar fashion. Furthermore, while Chromie time is cool if you want to experience old xpacs (even if it has a few issues of its own), it is quite weird to go outside the capital cities and see that the world has changed almost nothing in 10+ years of constant warfare.

Now, am I expecting to see another world revamp? Not by a long shot. It's pretty clear to me that the team doesn't have the wish/budget/manpower for such a big undertaking - as a matter of fact, the first thing Ion did after his "time flows differently in SL" was to immediately walk it back in order to make clear that we shouldn't be expecting nothing close to a Cata-like revamp.

My guess is select zones will be revamped including major citiy zones.

[Swnem]

No, and if it does it's a hint it will suck. We've been through this with Cataclysm.

[NineSpine]

People are way too focused on the idea that world revamp means cataclysm again. A world revamp can just be "This expansion takes place in the eastern kingdoms and we are making max level versions of the zones."

[Unbelievable]

I don't understand this post. Your evidence is simply color pallets?

No. Hints.
Just like Sindragosa in Wrath of the Lich King hinted at Dragons next expansion.
The Orc and Human in the Mists of Pandaria hinted at Warcraft 1: orcs and humans, which was the theme of the Garrison system in Warlords of Draenor.
Guldan's demon blood cup and Mannoroth in the Warlords of Draenor cinematic trailer hinting at the demonic theme of the next expansion.
The Alliance and Horde in the Legion cinematic hinting at the Faction war next expansion.
The Light and Void theme in the Battle for Azeroth hinting at a possible future Light vs Void expansion.

Holy tinfoil hat batman , I don't know what's more silly , comparing Bolvar to Deathwing just because he's crispy now and has a fiery chest or the fact you think Sylvanas uses void magic .

I don't think she uses Void magic. I think it is indicative of Void because of the similarity of the animation.

And yes, Bolvar's scorched body is in line with Deathwing and Wrathion.
Remember how he appeared on the loading screen, as a lich king, just before the addition of cataclysm?

Ehh...that feels like a real stretch in most places.

The only thing that does stand out to me amongst those is Sylvanas' powers. You would think they'd take on the same greenish hue the death magic does but it doesn't. That is curious.

The rest though...I don't really take those as hints. Bolvar's coloration has been like that since he got bathed in flames, it would have been odd for him to not still be red/orange. The hammer thing doesn't strike me as anything more either. And the sky coloration is really just two common contrasting colors (orange/teal, but more muted), that color combo shows up in so many places.

Don't forget that Blizzard sometimes puts in things that end up going nowhere. There's a worgen NPC stealthed in the Alliance's shrine that talks about how dangerous the Ethereals are, yet nothing has come of it (yet, anyway). And at the tail end of MoP, on the Timeless isle, Blizzard introduced three Timewalker NPCs who are clearly each a spec of a Timewalker class (they talk about their duties and one is obviously a tank, one a healer, and one DPS) and again, no Timewalker class ever manifested.

They do put plot hooks out there from time to time but this feels a stretch to me.

You can see this in the Battle for Azeroth cinematic trailer, as well, where her abilities and Anduin's light abilities are, clearly, hinting at a Void vs Light theme:

[HateTrain]

I completely believe that the only reason time moving differently was even mentioned to begin with was so we wouldn't roll our eyes (hard) at why there has been no movement with Nelf/Teldrassil and Forsaken/Undercity story. If "Time moves slower back home" next expac can start with "Well now that we spent a few Azerothian weeks in Shadowlands, we can address these pressing issues" without it seeming too fucking weird.

[Ielenia]

There will not be a time skip.
https://www.wowhead.com/news=316889/...t-swapping-tim

On top of that, I noticed that the night/day cycle in Maldraxxus seems to be faster than normal, so perhaps the "time flows different" could mean that we might spend months in Shadowlands, but only a few days passed in the mortal realm?

[Lane]

A World Revamp suits one purpose- bring in new fans who have never played the game. Getting existing players to go through the 1-60+ slog is not intuitive design, since there are better ways to keep them in the game by focusing on new content and allowing people to progress the characters they've already built strong attachments to, and not by diverting their attention away to making new alts just to see 'more of the same' world.

I wouldn't make it leveling content. I'd develop it more with the idea of, okay, time to bring everyone home and work on domestic affairs that have desperately needed work on for years. This especially so after Teldrassil, Lordaeron, and the mess that is Silithus. I miss EK and Kalimdor and still consider them the heart of WoW. I'd like a reason to go back.

In an ideal situation a revamp would be great if it didn't take the team's time and resources away to accomplish. Say, making the whole thing modular and outsourcing quest design to a smaller team (inside or outside the company) to just churn out leveling content for people to experience. Otherwise, we're going to run into the Cataclysm problem of all that revamp taking time away from End-game features, and leaving the whole thing incomplete as a result.

They were way too ambitious (and unnecessarily so) with the Cata revamp. Every zone should have basically gotten the Elwynn Forest treatment, same quests, same relatively timeless story, but more streamlined. Instead, they decided to do complete overhauls like Thousand Needles and lock EK & Kalimdor into the Cata timeline indefinitely. Unfortunately, because of that, a new revamp would have to be equally ambitious because all the previous changes of making everything about Deathwing, Twilight Cultists, and arguably faction wars needs to be undone. I'm all for it happening gradually, but I think it should be done eventually unless WoW is going to always be about us going abroad and not dealing with anything at home anymore, which I think is weird.

If they just focus on revamping the world, then they would have to make it end-level viable content, and frankly I'm not sure that's a strong sell considering we've pretty much explored the world multiple times over and I don't know if we want to go back to fighting the new Centaur Khans or taking on the new Trogg King. The focus of expansions should continue to be on progressing the story and focusing on the end-game.

I don't see how Centaur Khans or Trogg Kings are any different than essentially starting over from zero in every new expansion. We're always back to doing trivial "save our village" type quests despite being champions of the world (part of why I hate the hero/champion thing).

I'm not sure what they'd do for raids, but there would be endless possibilities for all other types of end game content.

Having said that, I doubt they'll do any of it. They were clearly burned by Cata and are adverse to doing anything similar, which is unfortunate.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

On top of that, I noticed that the night/day cycle in Maldraxxus seems to be faster than normal, so perhaps the "time flows different" could mean that we might spend months in Shadowlands, but only a few days passed in the mortal realm?

I believe that's what Ion was trying to insinuate by mentioning "dreams" since we dream so much longer than we actually sleep. .

[Unbelievable]

I believe that's what Ion was trying to insinuate by mentioning "dreams" since we dream so much longer than we actually sleep. .

I think it's the other way around.
We sleep more than we think we dream.
Like a dream is about 7 seconds long.

[Stricks]

They are prepping to merge Classic and Retail and add in each xpack as complete time travel options. I know this based on no information whatsoever and my brain alone.

- - - Updated - - -

I think it's the other way around.
We sleep more than we think we dream.
Like a dream is about 7 seconds long.

A dream can be a few seconds or half an hour... Saying it's 7 seconds is not accurate. It varies.

[Triceron]

I think one important thing to keep in mind with this is that there was a lot of extra work involved with Cataclysm since it wasn't just slapping a new coat of paint on things. For those who don't recall, one of the main selling points of Cata was that it was updating the old world for flying, which meant that Blizzard had to 'finish' a lot of previously unfinished places on the map and make sure they were stable and didn't look like complete shit. Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that on top of the revamp they also delivered two new races with starting zones AND six new questing zones along with a seventh zone for pvp and dailies.

What you're suggesting wouldn't be slapping a new coat of paint on things either. Quests need to be designed and implemented on top of all the end-game focus material that we'd need. The entire leveling experience has to be considered on top of any end-game. They're not just going to spend an expansion updating old assets and let it be, we're talking about a world revamp which means all new everything.

The old world fixing for flying isn't any different than the level of changes they'd be implementing now with a massive world update. If they're going to bring everything into higher fidelity then complete redesigns of assets would have to be considered, and that's more than just an asset swap it's a complete zone replanning as Cataclysm did. Otherwise what's the point of a revamp.

[Unbelievable]

A dream can be a few seconds or half an hour... Saying it's 7 seconds is not accurate. It varies.

I heard it's a lot quicker than we, actually, feel it is.

[Triceron]

I wouldn't make it leveling content. I'd develop it more with the idea of, okay, time to bring everyone home and work on domestic affairs that have desperately needed work on for years. This especially so after Teldrassil, Lordaeron, and the mess that is Silithus. I miss EK and Kalimdor and still consider them the heart of WoW. I'd like a reason to go back.

Think of it this way.

Unless they make all these changes to the world phased completely for post-Shadowlands, there's no way that they would be able to revamp the world without affecting both the leveling experience from 1-60 and make it relevant for the end game players doing their daily quests and whatnot. These were the problems we all saw and faced when end game people were flooding newbie zones and it made the experience terrible for both types of players. And frankly I don't think that's a good solution, since a world revamp somewhat implies that the leveling should be updated across the board; it's part of the expectations people have.

[Kumorii]

No I do not. Afaik they have said time moves slower on Azeroth compared to Shadowlands. Ergo, when we get back, less time have passed than we spent in SL. Some things will ofcourse advance which will probably lead to the upcoming expansion, but a time skip + revamp? Nah.

[Fayenoor]

I don't think she uses Void magic. I think it is indicative of Void because of the similarity of the animation.

Yes, she cant use Void Magic. She is an Undead/Forsaken. She can use Death Magic (from Jailer). The Void Lords hate the Undead/Forsaken because they cant be corrupted using Void Magic.

If they do take more Void route, then Alleria will have to come into play more into the story as against Sylvanas. Alleria uses Void magic.

The playerbase is also suffering a bit of Sylvanas fatigue. So they wont do another Sylvanas expansion right after this one. She will either die/get defeated at the end of this expac or get banished/exiled for a few expansion and they will take the storyline elsewhere.

I like the Dragon Isle concept someone linked.

[Unbelievable]

Yes, she cant use Void Magic. She is an Undead/Forsaken. She can use Death Magic (from Jailer). The Void Lords hate the Undead/Forsaken because they cant be corrupted using Void Magic.

If they do take more Void route, then Alleria will have to come into play more into the story as against Sylvanas. Alleria uses Void magic.

The playerbase is also suffering a bit of Sylvanas fatigue. So they wont do another Sylvanas expansion right after this one. She will either die/get defeated at the end of this expac or get banished/exiled for a few expansion and they will take the storyline elsewhere.

I like the Dragon Isle concept someone linked.

I know she can't, and doesn't, use Void magic. I'm saying the Void looks of her abilities are what's hinting at the Void theme of a future expansion.

I didn't say she will get another expansion. She, probably, won't die. She, might, be presumed dead, like Illidan was in The Burning Crusade, and later on be brought back, like he did in Legion. Or, she would end up like Mekkatorque, in a state of uncertainty, until being revived, like he did in the Battle for Dazar'alor. And that is because she would probably usher the next generation of Dark Rangers.

If you mean the Dragon Isles (Cataclysm 2.0.), then that would be me.

[Queen of Hamsters]

I sure as hell hope so.

The sooner we yeet all the remaining 2004 textures/skins from the game, the better. We didn't start seeing the real HD stuff until WoD and I am DYING to see them rework zones like Silverpine and Dustwallow Marsh using modern fog, shadow and light effects.

[Fayenoor]

If it's a Cataclysm 2.0 (Dragonflights, Elementals, Void) like the Shadowlands cinematic hints at, then yes. I could see a revamp coming.

Yes. but why do you expect a world revamp? Rather do a new zone completely. Revamping old world has the bad PR of people not liking going back to same place (even if it is revamped). Which is partly why Cata got such bad rep.

Dragon isles can be like a whole new continent of dragons somewhere in the great seas.

[deviantcultist]

When people constantly ask for "world revamp", are they not aware they are actually asking for Cataclysm 2.0? This is a bad thing to ask for on so many levels and what all of us learned from Cata is that this "world revamp" is a really bad idea.

Even if the original problems didn't exist, why go back to Azeroth again? Do we need more fillers like Cata/MoP when we are about to engage cosmic matters like First Ones, Elune, Light etc?