You are now in charge of WoD, how do you fix it before release?

[Zantera]

In terms of content I think WoD had some good stuff. The dungeons imo were mostly good, the raids were actually pretty great. But the lack of content outside of that, combined with Tanaan just not being very fun imo, and all the scrapped ideas. That expansion only had 3 raids. I think they could have done more fun things with the story as well but it was disappointing how they scrapped the planned Netherstorm stuff and the Shattrah raid and so on. Also I remember how cool it was when it was planned for the garrison to potentially be built in any of the new zones but ultimately it was a fixed position and it just felt a bit lame.

[Kokolums]

Its all in my signature. Subs go wild. We climb to 20mm subs in ensuing years. Surpass it. Head for 30mm. The sky is the limit...all it requires is telling antisocial players to pound sand.

[Skirdus]

Actually finish it

[TidalConflux]

Its all in my signature. Subs go wild. We climb to 20mm subs in ensuing years. Surpass it. Head for 30mm. The sky is the limit...all it requires is telling antisocial players to pound sand.

Except nothing in there does anything that would make population grow. I think you are putting too much faith that more elite players would go out of their way to help newer players that are not guild alts or guildies.

[Razion]

If I only had one retroactive change to make, the Shipyard would never have happened and customization focus of the Garrison would have gone in instead.

But if I could retroactively do more:
- Garrison focus goes to visual customization and collection rather than side-games altogether.
- Camera patch doesn't happen, focus goes instead to normal content updates and features.
- Any decision to focus on underperforming content later instead goes to focus on content that otherwise would have been cut to make room.
- Instead of cutting expansion early to make following expac great, just try to make both as good as they each can be, respectively.

[Queen of Hamsters]

1. Add actual content with 6.1. New zone, new stories, new raid
2. Not gut LFR, have its rewards follow the MoP ways
3. Flying from max level
4. Flying from max level = designing the zones to be larger and less compact, less "fishbowly".
5. Use the warlords in story rather than just make them loot pinatas.
6. Full patch cycle. 6.1. 6.2. 6.3, maybe a 6.4. That'd fit all the shit they cut out and then some.

I enjoyed WoD as a raider and alt-machine, but the most glaring issue was how they'd done a full 180 from MoP and went full raid-or-die.

[Athorha]

I tell players all the endpoints from the breadcrumbs im creating with an expansion whos story revolves around time travel. Since apparently they'll dislike the vagueness / unknowingness of future implications on multi universe wow, resorting to only story developments that are integral to what players are currently aware of since anything less apparent doesn't create a mental circle jerk large enough for the typical wow story critic

[doodle90]

Make Garrisons customizable and moveable. Add furnishing to boss drops and to all professions. Remove AH building from Garrison, Remove Garrison Invasions, Remove timed crafted resources from garrisons, Make each warlord have a dungeon for a prefight before each of them being a raid boss. Keep the zone that got axed. Make Highmaul the raid of that zone, show signs of Yrel fanaticism. Include spaces for Garrison to be relocated to Azeroth and the end of the expansion, remove gear drops form garrison missons, remove gold form garrison missons move gold to dailies, Make Garrison missons more similar to current missons where the gold is minor and you get minor stuff. Limit the mine and garden in garrison to one node of each type: I.E 1 tin 1 copper 1 --- 1 --- etc etc. Make buildings need crafted items to create and give them only QoL bonuses, IE mage tower gives portals to major cities, inn doubles rested exp bonus duration and bonus exp for all characters, make garrisons account wide. (basically make garrisons actual housing)

[Low Hanging Fruit]

WoD probably would have worked out to be an average expansion if you factor in all the cut content. I mean more or less the whole expansion as 90% of what the game was suppose to be at release. They just took that first patch and broke it up to make it feel like it was a full experience. Don't get me wrong if all you did was raid log for example.. you were pretty golden because the raids were pretty great and the game handed you everything you needed to just raid log in the garrison. But besides that.. yeah.

But here is a list of the well known things cut from WoD that probably would have been worked into release or more likely patches that never came to be:

1. The City of Karabor (was kind of suppose to be the main hub alliance) and the Horde was was the tower but the name escapes me.

2. A Zangermash Zone (under water likely) that would have brought a world boss named Fungal. This was likely a patch type zone with reps etc as well. Also had some 5 mans in it that were early versions of the Zanger 5 mans in BC to tie into them. This is basically suppose to be the patch that was replaced with "twitter works in WoW now guys!". (and this patch probably makes WoD at least average because it brings in the raid below as well..)

3. A Shattrath Raid that actually would have been the 3rd full tier because Highmaul and Blackrock were suppose to be released as one as the first tier.

4. They went unnamed but a new BG and Arena were in the works.

5. Also the final raid was probably suppose to be different than what we got as well. With Grom being the final boss with a plot by Orgrim Doomhammer being brought into the mix that eventually tied into Guldan doing what he did moving into Legion. But with the timeline being "settled" from all sides instead of just an endless thread hanging out there for all time. Gorehowl would have been a legendary weapon here too. Now this one I can write off as they just rewrote the story differently or whatever. But it probably would have been insanely better than bring back all the demon bosses again ending.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

I wouldn't fix anything, just remove WoD entirely. Go from MoP --> Legion.

[Dhrizzle]

1. Have the Apexis dailies follow the Tanaan model so optimal play has you complete 3 zones each day. Loot rewards similar (or the same?) as LFR. Garrison invasion every day.

2. Switch around the way professions are gated. Someone only casually interested in leveling profs should be able to do so from the garrison but it will take time. A player willing to go gathering out in the world should be able to level profs as quickly as they want.

3. Keep the warforged/titanforged system where items can randomly be more powerful but have a currency to allow players to upgrade. Currency is earned through all PvE activities but most efficiently through a daily dungeon quest.

4. Garrison activity centres such as the Inn, Stables, Armoury etc. should have an equivalent out in the world so the buildings you choose are a matter of convenience and don't restrict gameplay choices (I felt in WoD that the "interesting choices" felt bad for what I missed out on rather than good for what I gained.)

I always felt with WoD the content was there but they overreacted to complaints about MoP forcing players to do too much and restricted how much content should be done daily and gave crappy rewards.

[Kaleredar]

Add flying much earlier on, preferably obtainable at max level right out the gate. Give flying mounts as rewards for various activities to match.

Add back in structured daily content, instead of making rep farms an endless slog of farming trivial nonsense.

Majorly scale back Ashran and put that design effort into making Karabor and Bladespire the Alliance and Horde cities, respectively.

Decouple professions from the Garrisons almost completely, allowing you only to augment your existing professions, rather than supersede the need for all professions almost entirely.

And, as others have said... add Shattrath back in as a raid.

[McNeil]

Just add everything that was cut, mainly the Farahlon zone, Shattrah raid and moveable garrisons. Maybe add new races (ogre for Horde and the tall sethrak for Alliance). Go with the original idea that we have to teleport to the Chronical Spire and stop the Iron Horde from completing the portal. We fail in doing so at the latest patch and they will invade an AU version of Azeroth.

[Amnaught]

add a caverns of time patch where we get a few mini dungeons and a raid based on "alternate timeline" concepts, that happens after the hellfire citidal patch. reuse a lot of old assets but its still new and fun content.

reuse ICC but instead have it be filled with death knight versions of our legendary heroes, just need to make a model for each boss then rest can easily be just reused assets.

I think I would have been a lot more receptive of alternate timelines in WoW if the expansion was actually about Alternate Timelines instead of just another Draenor where we're supposed to pretend it's a world just as important as the real one. Each zone could have been a separate timeline entirely, with Kairoz and the Infinite Flight as major villains. Lordaeron before its fall wouldve been awesome.

Like, rescuing Thrall from Durnholde feels like so much more of an important goal, because failure means that timeline becomes the real one, and ours is erased from reality. But like.... When Velen dies in WoD, it feels pointless, because who cares? Ours is still chilling in the *real* Exodar. Why do we stop the Legion from invading alternate Draenor at all? Just let them fight it out, we have no stakes there. We destroyed the Alternate Dark Portal and that should have been the end of it.

[saixilein]

The only good thing about wod were pvp itemlevel push and general fast equipping in pvp. Everything elsr was bad.

[Video Games]

Make bc hd basically.
Multiple tiers on launch with hm/brf, shatt raid/arrakoa raid, then hfc and some cot raid for 6.1 with attunements

Scrap garrisons and make tk horde city, bt alliance city

Netherstorm at launch as a max level zone like suramar

A tweeked orgrilla/skettis/netherwing rep grind with daillies

An iqd like zone with a dungeon and a raid in 6.3

Good crafted gear that lasts awhile

Bring back stats like armor pen

I honestly don't hate wod cause i liked hfc. I just wish they actually took the time to appeal to nostalgia because that's what the whole point of us going to dreanor was

[Beefhammer]

Can it even be saved?

I would have delayed it and kept in all the zones. Provided your scenario doesn't allow for delaying it, I would have removed flying completely, limited what could be done and farmed inside the Garrison requiring players to go outside for certain things more often.

I would have made scouting missions more like originally discussed. You send a scouting party out. They come back with intel. You go to an area that has new quests or rares to deal with.

[Icelin]

it was disappointing how they scrapped the planned Netherstorm stuff and the Shattrah raid and so on. Also I remember how cool it was when it was planned for the garrison to potentially be built in any of the new zones but ultimately it was a fixed position and it just felt a bit lame.

I don't recall a Netherstorm zone being advertised but that would've most definitely been neat.

I do remember them advertising we could position or garrison where we wanted it. Forgot about it until you mentioned it. I remember contemplating where I was going to put mine. That got completely scrapped.

Anyways Netherstorm zone would've been neat. A much bigger tribute to Zangarmarsh a long with the sporeggar people. (some type of NPC looking similar them anyways..)


Maybe have them tackle that big zangarmarsh whale WB? Give them little harpoons. Have mechanic they come in and help us tackle the big guy down. Jabby jab.

Make spires of Arak, actually be full on of magnificent spires. Not just a small taste in the dungeon. Instead make the whole zone pathways climbing multiple spires. Instead of mostly ground level.

I would've not made saberon. I would've also encouraged more restraint on the orcs. Doesn't mean they can't be the central race.. just the overexposure bothered a lot of people. Blizzard likes to do this a lot eh? Not kill Garrosh, have Thrall show some sort of restraint and reasoning. (Which you figured with all this shamanism wisdom that could've actually happened anyways?)

Probably make a Shadowmoon council raid instead of small area and a dungeon. Imagine a raid on grand scale with those aesthetics. It would've been sleek ~ Get that Ner'zhul cinematic bam let's open up to a Shadowmoon council raid. To be fair Ner'zhul was pretty important... more so to the Orcs. Which was kinda the central theme for that expansion?

I feel like there could be a lot more, but I am half asleep still.. I'm thinking this topic is more about quick fixes than stuff that would've been pretty enjoyable there.

Oh and this always bothered me. What was this place? Why is it completely empty? Who knows?

[Zantera]

I don't recall a Netherstorm zone being advertised but that would've most definitely been neat.

I forget exactly what their plans were but I think either for the .1 or .2 patch originally Netherstorm would be included either as a daily hub or a pvp zone or something. Would have been cool imo!

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

I forget exactly what their plans were but I think either for the .1 or .2 patch originally Netherstorm would be included either as a daily hub or a pvp zone or something. Would have been cool imo!

You're thinking of Farahlon, what Netherstorm used to be called.