If you could retcon WoW

[Amarys]

I would retcon BElves joining the Horde. It was the beginning of "red alliance".

Yea horde should have got ogres, goblins or mag'har in TBC. Alliance should have got BEs and Outland Draenei should have all been "broken" neutral NPCs, the playable ones should have been introduced in WoD instead as it would have made more sense.

[sam86]

Starting with vanilla and revamping factions.

1- Forsaken/Bloodelves/Nagas/Draeney (war3 draeneys, not russian space goat octopus)
focusing against the scourge/legion

2- Orcs/Night elves/Trolls/Tauren/Theramore
focusing against C'thun

3- Gilneas/Stormwind/Dwarves/KulTiras
focusing against Ragnaros

Classes stuck to specific logical races and faction. dk/dh to 1
druids-shaman to 2
paladins to 3

Groups and guilds open to different factions, but still open pvp between factions. Real guild of adventurers.

And completely erase anything related to space shit.

I actually like that idea and it makes more sense, except Gilneas since they clearly cut themselves from world (it was in warcraft rpg books, they were preparing lore for wow itself btw before blizz decided to make them non-canon for reason of Jaina brother who ended being canon -.-)
I always wanted Theramore to be far more horde friendly than they ended in wow, making a real fraction between alliance itself (who btw is insanely powerful, we talk about SW citizens raking up to 200k, more than all horde capitals combined), and it would been amazing political drama with the already logical couple of Thrall x Jaina together

[Cosmic Janitor]

Yea horde should have got ogres, goblins or mag'har in TBC. Alliance should have got BEs and Outland Draenei should have all been "broken" neutral NPCs, the playable ones should have been introduced in WoD instead as it would have made more sense.

Sure would have been fun to see how history played out with the horde going extinct.

[dewd]

if only people cared about gameplay as much as the story

[McNeil]

Some retcons I would've liked:

- Ner'zhul doesn't get killed off by Arthas, instead when their souls fused together they created a new entity that harnassed both of their powers and memories, making the Lich King a far more powerful being than what we faced in WotLK. When we reach him in ICC it turns out that we can't actually defeat the Lich King unless we allow ourselves to get sucked into Frostmourne and free Arthas' soul while also having to deal with Ner'zhul who has been setting this entire plan up. At the end of the fight you have Arthas coming back to his body but in a coma, the Argent Crusade takes him to safety and they discuss what to do with him once he gains conscious. Setting up for future storylines.

- Kel'thuzad and Anub'arak should have gotten bigger roles. Kel'thuzad gets ordered by Ner'zhul that he foresees that no place on Azeroth will allow the Burning Legion to enter, since Kil'jaeden is still coming after him. This is why Kel'thuzad will sometimes send his necropolisses floating above the zones, with the Alliance and Horde thinking that he intends to invade. Anub'arak is unhappy with his life of having to serve the ones he hates while the rest of his former kingdom is falling to the Scourge. He secretly betrays the Scourge and plans to uncover the remains of Yogg-Saron deep beneath Azjol-Nerub in an attempt to send an army of Faceless Ones to deal with the Scourge.

- Illidan never gets redeemed in Legion and will not come back after his death in Black Temple. He simply attempts to claim all of Outland and build an entire army against Arthas, knowing that Kil'jaeden still wants his ''eternal wrath''. Kael'thas keeps his original story where his people where starving of magic and needed to betray Illidan to join the Burning Legion, only this time he attempts to have the rest of Silvermoon leave the Horde and join his side. You will have quests where you expose Kael's true intentions. Lady Vashj escapes in Serpentshrine Cavern and returns to Nazjatar to serve Azshara once more.

- WoD doesn't happen. Instead it would be an expansion that expands on Outland with new zones, which are also heavily tied to the void. Garrosh would use these new powers to ressurect many of the orcs who have fallen when the Alliance invaded Draenor and a return of some of the chieftains. Little does he know that he's being manipulated by the void, like he was by Y'shaarj during MoP. The old Outland zones will also receive updates to progress the story.

- BFA would be a full South Sea themed expansion with no Alliance vs Horde and Old God theming. Have Kul'Tiras fight against Plunder Isle, Zandalar against Undermine, featuring a massive boating feature and introducing naval warfare. Basically the Pirates of the Carribean expansion of WoW.

- Shadowlands does not exist period. There is nothing of value to be found in this expansion.

- The Alliance will succeed in retaking Lordaeron after Sylvanas dies in WotLK, having the Forsaken hold out in Ghostlands and having to help the blood elves defend Quel'Thalas. As an act of vengeance the Horde orders the Warsong to cut all of Ashenvale despite their deal that they would only remain near the entrance, causing a massive fight with the night elves where the Horde wins and ends up taking the assault to Teldrassil. Tyrande also dies as Teldrassil burns.

- Sargeras is the final villain of WoW. He ends up entering Azeroth and destroys all capitals, this is where all of Azeroth bond together which is the only way to truely defeat Sargeras. The Legion expansion would take place in the Twisting Nether, Argus and maybe some other demon places like Nathreza.

[Dazmalak]

Well, I'd retcon all of WoW tbh. I'd pick up with the 4 factions being at one another's throats after realizing their cultures and ways of life (and unlife) just did not mesh together in the slightest.

All hopes of peace, gone; a reality that contradicting cultures and ways of life do not just evolve overnight or even over a few years, but rather over generations. Changing the minds of entire groups of people just doesn't happen like it does in WoW, despite all the injected sentimentalism and hand-holding they keep trying to force.

The good news? That is the status quo for governments, leaders, and populations at large. But as our characters are adventurers, we don't have to play by those rules. I'd allow raids and other PvE content to be cross-faction.

That being said, our characters would not be trusted confidants of our faction leaders, either. Nor would they be world-saving heroes wielding artifacts of power and whatever other high power fantasy bullshit they've kept escalating. They'd be simple mercenaries, adventurers, etc.

Power scaling would be far lower, for sure. Things like demons would be absolutely terrifying entities just by themselves, nevermind a Legion of them. We'd never face the true evils behind it all, only stop their minions and thwart their plans. Local threats and adventures, as well as an evolving world that continues to change as time goes on rather than remain in strange phases (each expansion) like we currently have. Hell, I'd like to see an in-game representation of growing empires with carefully balanced factions and allow open world PvP determine how the various factions grow and shape themselves over time. Territory can be taken and retaken, battle lines can be redrawn, and factions can shrink or grow in size.

I'd make race/class combos a lot more iconic to Warcraft's lore. Night elven sentinels, blood elven spell breakers, troll berserkers, dwarven gunners, etc. You can take a base class and give it subtle differences to separate them. It's more immersive, imo.

Of course, it's all a pipe dream. For now I will just stick to tabletops where I can shape stories to fit my own vision and that of my players.

[Wraethion]

I personally like the idea of breaking up the horde and alliance factions into actual distinct factions. Helps give the world a bigger feel instead of just two big factions. It also would mean that if Blizzard wanted to introduce new playable races, they are part of their own faction (instead of being absorbed into horde and/or alliance).

[garicasha]

Heh the way the OP is worded it sounds like there is a magical formula that every single one of the 30 million potential WoW players would love, and Blizzard incompetence is the reason for it.

It Does Not Work Like That.

That being said, here's what I would change:
--I hate time travel as a plot device in any fiction, so all time travel (WoD) is gone.
--I'm so over dead people coming back. We cut off Nefarian and Onyxia's head and hung it from the rafters of Stormwind. They were dead Dead DEAD DEAD DEAD. jk lol they're alive
----So the rule I'd have for any fiction is that if the body was recovered, they're dead. Since there's necromancy they could come back as an undead maybe, but again, if the undead version is defeated and the body recovered, they're not coming back.
----If I did want to re-use a villain, like Kael'Thas, the end-of-fight RP would be him escaping or being taken prisoner, not falling over dead.

--Lore in this game jumped the shark in ICC after the Lich King was defeated. Although it was super cool to have Bolvar become the Lich King, the encounter at The Wrath Gate IMO made it clear he died. Plus here's how the conversation would have gone after ICC:
King Wrynn: Tirion and the alliance expedition have returned from Northrend! Great!
Tirion: The Lich King has been defeated.
King Wrynn: Great, so Icecrown Citadel belongs to the Alliance?
Tirion: Umm...well...not really
King Wrynn: Don't tell me Sylvanas now controls Icecrown Citadel!!!
Tirion: Well, no, the Horde doesn't have it either...
King Wrynn: So a massive fortress with enormous tactical value is just sitting empty in Northrend?
Tirion: Not really. Look I don't really want to talk about this, dude just trust me it's fine.

It's just absurd, it'd be like General Patton not telling FDR what happened in Berlin in 1945. There's no way a secret of that magnitude could be kept for even a day.

So yah in summary:
--No time travel
--If the enemy dies they don't come back

[Dazmalak]

Heh the way the OP is worded it sounds like there is a magical formula that every single one of the 30 million potential WoW players would love, and Blizzard incompetence is the reason for it.

It Does Not Work Like That.

That being said, here's what I would change:
--I hate time travel as a plot device in any fiction, so all time travel (WoD) is gone.
--I'm so over dead people coming back. We cut off Nefarian and Onyxia's head and hung it from the rafters of Stormwind. They were dead Dead DEAD DEAD DEAD. jk lol they're alive
----So the rule I'd have for any fiction is that if the body was recovered, they're dead. Since there's necromancy they could come back as an undead maybe, but again, if the undead version is defeated and the body recovered, they're not coming back.
----If I did want to re-use a villain, like Kael'Thas, the end-of-fight RP would be him escaping or being taken prisoner, not falling over dead.

--Lore in this game jumped the shark in ICC after the Lich King was defeated. Although it was super cool to have Bolvar become the Lich King, the encounter at The Wrath Gate IMO made it clear he died. Plus here's how the conversation would have gone after ICC:
King Wrynn: Tirion and the alliance expedition have returned from Northrend! Great!
Tirion: The Lich King has been defeated.
King Wrynn: Great, so Icecrown Citadel belongs to the Alliance?
Tirion: Umm...well...not really
King Wrynn: Don't tell me Sylvanas now controls Icecrown Citadel!!!
Tirion: Well, no, the Horde doesn't have it either...
King Wrynn: So a massive fortress with enormous tactical value is just sitting empty in Northrend?
Tirion: Not really. Look I don't really want to talk about this, dude just trust me it's fine.

It's just absurd, it'd be like General Patton not telling FDR what happened in Berlin in 1945. There's no way a secret of that magnitude could be kept for even a day.

So yah in summary:
--No time travel
--If the enemy dies they don't come back

I actually think there being no magical formula is the point. You can't cater to everyone...so stop fucking trying and make a game with some passion, stability, and cohesion. WoW trying to cater to every single person is the reason it's a complete and utter pile of shit (imo).

[Triceron]

"You" will fuck it up. No way anyone here will "rewrite the story in a way that will appeal to the masses and bring back all the fans" (unless that faerie also brainwashes 100 million people into believing your game design diarrhoea is actually awesome)

I mean, Shadowlands brought back millions of fans and it's written by Sylvanas fanboys/girls. Whether people stay or leave is up to the game mechanics, not the story itself. I don't think it needs to brainwash 100 million people unless you think that's what Shadowlands has already been doing, or somehow that the Shadowlands story pitch was good enough to warrant hitting a 10-year milestone at launch.

[Palapop]

Everything past SOO (WOD and onwards) was just a bad nightmare.

Legion invasion would happen in different way. Instead of "AU" Gul'Dan, I would introduce new character that would summon the Legion to Azeroth.

BFA wouldn't happen as it was.

Zandalari would NEVER EVER become an ally.

Remove concept of "allied races". Instead add tatts, horns, skins... etc, etc... to existing races and voila! (Orcs = mag'har = new skin colors... just an example)

There would be "proper" South Seas expansion.

Shadowlands would never ever happen (some of the MOST RETARDED STORIES EVER!!!).

Artifacts would remain unobtainable. Legendary items would remain LEGENDARY items. (once... or maybe not even once for some classes/specs per expansion cycle)

[Vampyrr]

ID retcon to much to really count, but mostly, would be Most of shadowlands and BFA from 9.2 onwards since 9.1 was great

None of BFA was great

[exochaft]

I mean, Shadowlands brought back millions of fans and it's written by Sylvanas fanboys/girls. Whether people stay or leave is up to the game mechanics, not the story itself. I don't think it needs to brainwash 100 million people unless you think that's what Shadowlands has already been doing, or somehow that the Shadowlands story pitch was good enough to warrant hitting a 10-year milestone at launch.

For the average person thinking about buying Shadowlands, the story was probably not a major factor at all, or at least the main reason (but it could've been a factor). A big thing that helped Shadowlands was that many people were still stuck in their homes due to Covid-19 lockdowns, so game purchasing and participation was likely up across all games. Now that people are freeing themselves up again, it wouldn't be surprising to see participation tank independent of the quality of the story/game, especially as the northern hemisphere enters the summer months.

Furthermore, the promotional face of Shadowlands was more Bolvar than Sylvannas, and I wouldn't be surprised if people are were invested in what's going on with Bolvar since the end of WotLK. However, Bolvar is basically a narrator at best, a plot device at worst, especially in comparison to Sylvannas... so if your reason for coming back was related to Bolvar, you probably aren't happy. I don't doubt there's people who want to get their Sylvannas fix in, the question is how they will react after 9.1 gets played. Overall, I'd surmise that while the story wouldn't get you to join the game, it would help to keep you immersed in it. Investment in the story would allow for certain passes when it comes to flaws in the game systems/mechanics specifically, and a lack of investment (on multiple fronts) will make the game less enjoyable.

In terms of ret-cons, I would start changing things around MoP in terms of Garrosh. If you've played as Horde through the classic zones after the revamp, the Garrosh from those zones and the Garrosh you fight in the SoO raid are very different. The Garosh from the questing areas was ruthless, but he demonstrated morality that left you thinking he really cared for those he lead and despised the dishonorable (he was especially distrustful of Sylvannas and her shenanigans). Fast forward to SoO, and the story somehow forced him into xenophobic madman territory with zero character dimensions, which was really a shame. This was the point where I was noticing how forced some aspects of the stories were made to fit a narrative that didn't mesh with previously established character arcs and history.

WoD in isolation wasn't really that bad, or rather it could've been fleshed out better as a stand-alone "what if?" story. As it relates to the current story, you just have to forget it exists almost... but you can't because AU Gul'dan is the cause of the Legion expansion. With respect to Legion, I think it should've been longer in terms of story, or split up across two xpacs or more: perhaps the first half countering the Legion assault on Azeroth, the second half invading the Legion itself. All together, the Legion story itself should've just been the last expansion of WoW, making way for WoW 2... one can dream, right?

While I enjoy the music and the aesthetics of artwork/zones of BfA, the story felt really contrived to set up the current expansions. Given that, in a world where WoW ends with Legion, BfA could've been set many years into the future for WoW 2. Have the current known lore characters dead or moved on due to the large passage of time, making room for fresh characters and stories. You could even do something with the huge sword in Silithus that is kind of forgotten right now, and actually have it begin and end as the main focus of a new BfA... instead of us killing an old god and completely forgetting about the sword in-game.

And Shadowlands? Well... let me just make a comparison to clarify my feelings about this. Currently, I feel the story narrative is very akin to the current state of the comic books of Marvel and DC: bereft of originality, disconnected from their fan base, pandering to people who aren't your customers, etc. As with DC and Marvel, the only thing keeping them alive is name recognition and their other non-comic investments, similar to WoW, as well as lingering attachments to the "good ol' days" that we once experienced. However, everyone has a breaking point, and currently manga sales are destroying DC/Marvel comic sales even in the Western world. WoW is likely headed towards a similar breaking point, and if there isn't a course correction in the near future, the question isn't whether WoW force players to reach a breaking point... it'll be a question of when.

[Arewn]

Would have to go back to at least Cata and start re-writing from there. Deescalated the scale of conflict after the Lich King, shrinking the scale of the events surrounding Deathwing. The next big world ending threat shouldn't come until Legion, which was generally handled pretty well.

Keep Old Gods as more subtle, mysterious threats.

As many have mentioned, delete WoD/alt dimension stuff. Limited time travel stuff is okay, but only insofar as they need justifications for game mechanics like Cavern of Times dungeons and Chromie time.

Remove void elves (why are these a race? it's just shadow priest; the race) and lightforged draenai (replaced with Eredar/demonic draenei. The lightforge identity is redundant).

There's damage that needs repairing as far back as TBC too though, in particular the way they wantonly used so many big lore characters loot piñatas.
I'd even go so far as to say Blood Elves should be alliance, and Worgen (no human form) should be Horde. This would of course take the worgen in a completely different direction then what they have now. This is assuming we're still stuck with the current faction dynamic for gameplay reasons.

[Zafire]

From a gameplay perspective: Try to add more RPG elements. Probably start with factions. Bloodsail Buccaneers and Booty Bay were perhaps the most immersive thing in the game for me from an RPG perspective. With everything else you just kinda choose which faction to pick, but with Bloodsails, you had to make the game harder to earn their trust all while starting out with a massive disadvantage. There was never anything in the game like that ever again.

From a lore perspective: Do something about Gilneas, I guess. Still seems weird.

[Dartz1979]

That's an easy one.. i would have the game set so none of the women ever die why? because us guys need fan service too.

[HitRefresh]

Honestly, delete every expansion and continue the world with small scale stories and exploring the core of Azeroth that we knew. Stop making everything about new continents, islands, worlds, realities, and stick to Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, and introduce Northrend in a way that isn't about saving the planet. Find ways to reutilize the world that exists instead of instantly making every zone obsolete with every new piece of content. Make stories more personal, like doing quests to save a farmer's family or whatever. Players aren't the saviors of the universe, they are all adventurers. Stop focusing so much on us interacting with big characters all the time as if we are one of them. Keep interactions with people like Thrall very distant the way I don't hang out with Biden but I see him on TV, and maybe I get a rare chance of meeting him somewhere. Go back to grounded fantasy, no space ships, no afterlife, no alternate timelines. Other realms exist, but in the way they were depicted in WC3 and previously. Portals to other worlds instead of literal space travel. Keep more mystery in the world. This is the sort of stuff that made me lose interest in WoW over the years and Shadowlands made it really apparent.

[Irian]

I guess this is a pretty drastic change, and likely doesn't count as a singular change, but...I'd like it if WoW stopped trying to have a linear story of any sort. I guess it mostly started in with the disaster that was Illidan and Kael's writing for the sake of adding some raid bosses to the game, but it's gotten worse from there.

It would have been so much better for WoW to be about the ambient world in which Warcraft resides. Think classic as the best example; new enemies related to old known enemies, threats unresolved, and sometimes enemies that don't like staying dead (sometimes literally). The only notable lore figure we fight in vanilla WoW is Kel'thuzad and he's a lich, he can and has literally just come back from the dead so his death in Naxx truthfully doesn't matter on a story level.

Does it sound boring? I dunno, maybe to some people. To me the idea of a perspective shift to be more like how the game started would be amazing. I don't really care what Thrall. Jaina or Anduin are doing, I just want to have my own adventure in the Warcraft universe, kill shit, get loot etc. These characters still showed up in classic quests, but they were doing their own thing and simply served as background figures for your own adventure.

[Maljinwo]

I'd start by rebooting the franchise, taking what elements work (azeroth and its denizens) and what doesnt (All this cosmology and universal pantheon shit)

[Super Kami Dende]

Sylvanas stays dead after impaling herself in Icecrown post Lich King. The Valkyr Res fuckery never exists.