I’d like to see Shadowlands end with notable heroes and villains alike returning

[Claymore]

The Jailer is talking about unmaking reality or whatever, and part of me wants Blizzard to just go totally “WTF territory”, and actually have reality shattered in such a way that several big bads — and good guys — return to fight.

Garrosh is one such character, who was an asshole, but whose sense of honor could lead to him defending Azeroth against the void lords. Meanwhile, perhaps Ner’zhul seeks to aid us, but perhaps having grown some small amount of respect or guilt about Arthas, hopes to see him freed of the Jailer’s influence. Maybe Uther returns to life, but struggles to understand the need to work together with the Forsaken. Maybe the former dead possess Ethereal bodies, allowing them to fight alongside us, but only for a short time?

I dunno. Shadowlands feels like it has been slow going and really pulling its punches.

[Gaidax]

No, thank you.

It's really about time we move on and I hope Shadowlands will put an end to dragging out killed and rekilled notables out of their graves yet again.

It should be the final farewell to these, not yet another "merely a setback" plot device to somehow drag dead heroes and villains out for "whelp 'ere we go again!" kind of nonsense.

We have enough alive and well characters and unfinished storylines for next 5 expansions, there is no need to see Kael'thas or Uther ever again after Shadowlands.

[Ivarr]

I kind of hoped Blizzard would go on a corny nostalgia trip all expansion long. At least then there would be enough characters to actually care about. But turns out the classics were only ever meant to be cameos. Maybe for the better.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

Two of your examples cannot return. Garrosh turned into ashes of anima and Ner’zhul's soul is way too broken and twisted at this point to have any clear thought. He's been broken by both Kil'jaeden and the Jailer so I doubt there's much left of him.

[Soon-TM]

<snip>

No. It's about time for Danuser & co. to leave the remains of old characters to rest. Especially when they Constrain™ them so much that they have to practically rewrite them in order to carry the story where they want them to be. Let's see what kind of worldbuilding they are capable of without continuously resorting to Metzen's work.

[Claymore]

Honestly, I’m sick of every expansion being some self-contained bullshit for the most part. WoD in particular was grueling to experience, not just because it was a poorly handled time-travel story, but because it can ESSENTIALLY be removed from the canon, with one notable exception; Gul’dan.

To me, this is where FFXIV puts WoW to shame, is that the former is constantly building upon its story, whereas the latter is just far too episodic, where the game was the MOST interesting, before it actually started. Note how much love there is for Warcraft III, and not so much for any expansion save maybe Legion.

By having Shadowlands end with an ACTUAL rift in reality, where we maybe encounter realities in which certain characters were never corrupted, or realities in which other characters WERE (or villains that were never defeated), I feel like that would just add a splash of excitement to the mix.

Otherwise, we’re just going to end with Anduin and quite likely Sylvanas leading us into a Light vs. Void expansion, which sounds like a poor man’s Shadowbringers.

[Austilias]

I'd like to see Shadowlands end.

Full stop.

[deviantcultist]

What I want is for Blizz to push the cosmic lore and do it right this time. Most likely they will do it wrong or give in to the sheep who want simplistic storylines akin to Classic and make another expansion like MoP or Cata because certain streamers advocate that going back to "bare bones" is good.

[Razion]

Too much retread focus can scream not enough creativity and innovation. When cases like these are done it has to be sparingly, and carefully, so that there is actually enough new content for people who are looking for something new. Regurgitating old content is fine once in a while, but too much of the same thing can exhaust good will and faith when done poorly.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

I'd like to see Shadowlands end.

Full stop.

Okay? It will eventually so what's the point of this comment?

[Yuugumo]

On the contrary, I'd like to see some heroes die in the Shadowlands. The expansion of death and nobody is dying like smh.

[Lochton]

I'd like to see well... the world and its own villains instead of pulling out the big names right away. Shadowlands is of death, and we're going to leave behind so many in there, and hopefully come to a world that is partially safe but with new troubles due to us, the "heroes", having been away in the majority of the time to do other things. It would be a good way to reintroduce threats in Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Pandaria, even Northrend if we ignore the main fact that around Icecrown lorewise is a hellhole. We could as well easily implement the past lore of islands we have yet to see, like Tel'abim. Or the fact that the Scarlet Crusade is active still. Hostile cartels are around. Tribes of humanoid creatures roaming. Not to mention that Queen Azshara is still alive, and we still have a rising problem of races being without land.