World of Warcraft: Renewal [10.0 speculation]

[renatompassos]

Yes, it’s another “world revamp” thread (kind of), but with with a couple twists. Stay with me.

What made Legion so fun that kept many people subbed till the end and wanting to play at least 1 alt of each class? Not the theme, I’d say. The quality of the content. More specifically: class-unique content, artifact weapons and nice gameplay (introduction of interesting systems as M+ etc). What if in 10.0 they bring race-specific content for each and every race? It’d be the perfect backbone for introducing the much needed world revamp. I prefer to call “renewal” to be in league with everything happening ingame – see Tyrande’s and Elune’s arc - and around Blizzard. Thus, Renewal or something like that. Still not 100% on the best title. Renewal’s Dawn? Renewal of Hope? Hatred’s End?

Every race in the game would be given the deserved respect and care for their lore, their unresolved matters, their issues. It’d be a way to deliver respect to the players’ beloved characters and the world of Azeroth, which seems to be what most people long for. Meanwhile, resolving pending matters and introducing new ones. And I don’t mean necessarily love and peace for all, but conflicts too! After all, World of WARcraft. The rewards for these questlines, besides good stories and gameplay? Cosmetics, mounts, race customizations etc.


ALLIANCE RACES
Humans.
Lots of potential. Depending on what they’ll do to Anduin and the surrounding themes they wanna touch on. If they’re bringing Light to the forefront as the breadcumbs are to be trusted, Turalyon could be the center figure working to strengthen the Alliance and the Light, reclaiming territories, helping other Ally races while keeping his focus in rebuilding Lordaeron. Conflicts or treaties with Calia and the forsaken. Really unlimited potential for good stories and gameplay.

Night elves.
Same as above. Rebuilding home is the most obvious one (Hyjal probably). Do Malfurion’s character some justice and make him badass at something. Time for Tyrande to step back a little. Maiev can be a point of conflict wanting revenge for Teldrassil, Sira etc (she wasn’t in SL after all and didn’t listen to Elune’s peace and love speech).

Gnomes and Mechagnomes.
The mechas help their cousins rebuild/reclaim Gnomeregan in exchange for expanding their commerce/influence in the EK. Blizz could set up another internal threat in Mechagon to justify the gnomes helping back. Potential goblins vs gnomes content. Develop Mekkatorque vs Gallywix rivalry (too good to pass!). Potential hook for TINKERS introduction!!!!

Dwarves and Iron Dwarves.
Some internal coup in Ironforge to set the conflict. Ragnaros’s ressurection by a cult of Iron Dwarves which was already set up in BfA. Magni goes missing, dwarves go after him after MOTHER informs them he went after Azeroth’s soul through a secret passage in the chamber of Azeroth. Potential hook for Sargeras’ sword/soul of Azeroth/Azeroth’s underworld plotlines!!

Draenei and Lightforged Draenei.
Oh god… I hate what they’ve done to Yrel (who doesn’t hate it really…) and I hope they don’t bring up this one, even though it’s looking more and more likely (hook for Light-centered plot). It would also tie in with Mag’har story, dealing with Light-infused Grom and Garrosh etc (god forbid Blizzard for this sacrilege...). I’d rather they focused on the rebuilding of the Exodar, the Vindicaar, the Army of the Light and gave them another noble purposes, such as a newfound Void or Legion threat (very unlikely…). Draenei artificer: tinker stuff.

Worgen and Kul Tirans.
What everyone and their mother expects: reclaiming and rebuilding of Gilneas, for god’s sake! And why would Kul Tirans help them? They’re cousins after all… And there are no conflicts left in Kul Tiras. Drust, Lord Stormsong, Void, Ashvane, nagas, all dealt with. Blizz could always invent another local threat to justify the payback help, as I mentioned with gnomes/mechas, but just being loyal to their cousins and expanding their commercial/naval influence in the EK could be enough for the KTs.

Void Elves.
Very interesting and underutilized race. Obvious hooks with a Light vs Void plot. Lots of conflicts with their brethren Blood Elves. Alleria could be better developed together with the Turalyon plot. Really.. The possibilities are endless, I won’t even start. I summon you, V!


HORDE RACES
Orcs.
The Horde is facing very interesting issues, and the possibilities are endless! The end of the “warchief” title and the rise of the Council model present their leaders and peoples with many new issues to solve. Regarding orcs, it’s about finding their racial identity again. After the loss of Saurfang and depending on the outcomes of SL, Thrall emerges as their natural leader. He’s still young and has learned a lot from SL and his meeting with mom. Let’s hope he regains his decency, honor, manhood and... shaman powers! Doomhammer! Why not? He should be confronted by Turalyon to give back their conquered territories under Sylvanas and Garrosh or face the consequences. Many hard choices, many paths to follow. They could look somewhere else for natural resources and please, no other orc warmonger…

Blood elves.
Rebuilding Quel’Thalas, planting trees in the deadscar, cleansing the undead from Ghostlands etc. But this sounds boring as hell! Introduce some conflict then. The Sunwell is still a power magnet, attracting evil entities from the Void and others. BfA planted this plot, they’d better elaborate on it. Maybe some infiltrated Void elves working from inside to bring Xal’atath or something else to Azeroth through it. Some political tension between Lor’themar, Liadrin, Aethas Sunreaver etc regarding the formal invitation from Turalyon to the sin’dorei to rejoin the Alliance while suspecting his offers to help in the Quel’thalas rebuild. Is he being sincere? Do the sin’dorei really need their resources? We’ll discover as the expansion unfolds. Will they remain loyal to the Horde? Where do their allegiances lie? What does the council have to offer them instead?

Forsaken.
One of the most interesting and promising ones. Also about racial identity post-Sylvanas. What do they want as a people. Are they even unified? Should Calia/Faol/Lilian/Desolate Council step up and try to lead? Lordaeron is theirs by right. Should there be a negotiation with Alliance leadership regarding the region? We know they cannot coexist peacefully, as many forsaken still have a lot of rage inside them and would love to cannibalize all humans they see in front of them. I don’t think they will touch Teldrassil and Undercity/Lordaeron ruins so soon but these guys need a new home.

Trolls and Zandalari.
Trolls can keep chilling in their isles, there doesn’t seem to be much conflict left except for maybe Talanji’s lust for revenge for dad. But I don’t think she’s powerful enough to go for Alliance heads without allies. Bwonsamdi and Vol’jin were dealt with in Ardenweald. The first is acting as Muehzala’s jailor. The last has officially become a loa blessed by Winter Queen. Will he return to Azeroth and try to do something for his people? Maybe crowning their next king Rokhan? Might be interesting: Vol’jin, loa of kings.

Tauren and Highmountain Tauren.
Good luck trying to create some interesting lore for them, having probably the weakest Horde character ever in Baine. Mayla is not much interesting either. What I found really cool in Highmountain lore and could be worked on is the revelation of the hidden black dragon in Spiritwalker Ebonhorn, Wrathion’s brother. Obvious implications if they go for Dragon expansion.

Goblins.
I love these guys. And Gallywix is a great character, he deserves more screen time. The dispute between the cartels for money and influence. Gadgetzan expanded. Not even starting on the implications for tinker and underground lore, in case they finally go for it. Undermine? I summon you, T!

Nightborne.
Not much conflict going in Suramar. However, the romance between Thalyssra and Lor’themar should be expanded upon. They finally declare their marriage and with it, in the absence of a legitimate elven king (no, Kael’thas stays in Revendreth), Lor’themar wears the crown and the realms of Quel’Thalas and Suramar are unified. Their race stories then could be shared, resolving conflicts in both regions.

Vulpera.
This is a hard one… Since they were freed from slavery in Vol’dun, they decide to settle in Kalimdor with the help from Orgrimmar and the Horde races. They could be given some logistic roles in the rebuilding of Orgrimmar’s surroundings and their new resource gathering facilities, since they were “forced” to give back the elven lands. They would love to take care of the terrestrial transportation routes, since goblins prefer their zeppelins.

Mag'har orcs.
Their story would depend a lot on whether Blizz intends to revisit alternate Draenor or not. Let's hope they learned from WoD's failure and forget about it. Yrel's buildup and all the Light breadcumbs suggest otherwise, though. Anyway, their role in Azeroth should touch on the subject of them feeling home (or not) and Geya'rah's plans for them as a race. I think they should integrate completely in orcish culture and society, though, since returning to alternate Draenor should not be an option!


PANDAREN
They should be finally unified and be given free transit between Alliance and Horde territories, strengthening their roles as ambassadors and pacifists outside Pandaria (could even be used as an ingame test for a future removal of faction barriers). Aysa and Ji finally settle their differences and realize they love each other. They go back to Pandaria in a quest to hear the 4 Celestials’ advices on their future endeavors in helping to heal the post-war Azeroth.

This is it guys. So, my 10.0 would be a mixture of Legion’s diversity of plotlines and diversified content, with Cataclysm’s world revamp idea, with Pandaria’s narrative structure of an initial launch with no clear anatagonist, but loosely connected stories described above slowly building to a unified threat in future patches. Voidlord, Lightlord, Turalyon/Yrel twins fight, resurrected Galakrond, Murozond, a rogue Eternal One, corrupted Azeroth titan, whatever… As long as they give us cohesive and more grounded stories, I’ll be along for the ride!

Thanks for reading.

[Archmage Xaxxas]

The World Revamp would be for 11.0, the 10th Expansion, around (hopefully timewise) the 20th Anniversary of WoW in 2024.

and I think that if they don't do it then, it may never happen.

I'm onboard with your pitch to just focus on the races as quest/dungeon/raid content and have that fresh-slate feel to send off the game.


10.0 might be another Azeroth landmass to pass time and develop more assets for the Revamp though.. Like.. Hmm Dragon Isles? Broken Isles-Sized expansion at least, hopefully.

[Skirdus]

Humans.
Lots of potential.

I chuckled

[dwarven]

I read a leak thread on /v/ a few months ago that explained how Blizzard is working on a new MMO in the Warcraft universe and that it's just going to be called "Warcraft". They've done painstaking work in porting many of the gear/mounts into the new engine. However not everything can be ported. Most of modern WoW stuff is being ported, and the old gear and mounts will stay in Classic, which is where the future of WoW lies. Classic will implement transmog and will have new content added periodically. After Wotlk, a brand new expansion will be released using Classic systems. Conflicts and lore will stay basic, focusing on Horde v. Alliance. Think Lotr after Sam and Frodo return to the Shire (in the books, not the movies). Meanwhile, Warcraft will exist in the primary timeline where all of the weighty conflicts will take place. Of course the engine will be completely new, with new combat, graphics, and abilities. It's been described as similar to New World combat, only with Blizzard polish and smoothness. Environments will be far more interactive (sword swings can cut down bushes, mages can light bushes on fire etc). Character progression will use a brand new system that will not use levels or gear score. Essentially, it relies on a metric that only the server can see and is based entirely on your character's actions and not gear. Gear will provide actual physical or magical protection, depending on which type you use. This is a very rudimentary explanation of how the system will work, but it promises to revolutionize the way MMOs and games in general deal with stats. Basically, instead of min/maxing gear pieces, the stat progression process will be far more gamified, and tied to the actions you complete. For example, if you fight a lot of fire breathing dragons it will make your fire resist go up and things like that. Your powerlevel will still be clearly represented, just in a more visceral fashion beyond opening your character sheet and looking at a number.

They have also developed brand new server tech that will allow for hundreds or even thousands of players to be on screen at a time with minimal overhead for your system. Some of the content will run on your machine and some of it will run in the cloud. For example, if the client detects there are too many characters on screen for your system to handle, those entities will be seamlessly transferred to the cloud and streamed to your client. You can also choose to have the entire game streamed if you want, allowing for any simple system to run the game, including laptops from many years ago, albeit this option will reduce the fidelity of the game and some of the new physics will not be present.

The post had a small webm clip of what looked like a human warrior doing a thunderclap on some kobolds and they got knocked to the ground for a moment with physics rather than the static system WoW has. I wouldn't say it was ragdoll, it looked much more believable than that, but I imagine stronger spells could cause objects to go flying if they wanted to go that route. Necklaces and rings are also physically visible on your character. Necklaces jingle around when you walk. Capes have full physics and blow in the wind, and can even become tattered when their durability gets lower. Your armor can get scuffs and dents until you repair it.

The game world was described as nothing short of incredible. Trees sway in the wind, there are waves and sailing mechanics (think sea of thieves only not quite as good), full weather physics (snow, rain, thunder, lightning, etc), zones transition more smoothly and believably. The game has been a massive undertaking at Blizzard. I wouldn't expect it for another couple years, but apparently there will be a small teaser at Blizzcon 2022, whenever it happens. The team wanted to take the success of Vanilla WoW and do one better. The general consensus has been that the devs wanted to work on a project like this for a long time and that their talents have been wasted putting bandaid fixes on WoW, but were limited by the bean counters at Activision. A lot of the bad game design in WoW recently has also been due to that fact rather than by specific decisions by the devs. Apparently some of the senior devs were able to convince the brass, through a heated series of meetings, that it's time for the Warcraft universe to experience a new evolution.

[reemi]

IMO the world is too big, we need a Revamp yes, but revamp mean remove everything and only keep Azeroth.

[Cæli]

We don't need another world revamp. Needs to be avoided at all costs and I think blizzard employees are very careful about respecting that since the cata fiasco. wow 2 way more likely and also preferable.

[Nathanyel]

People complained about stories split between the 12 classes in Legion, between the 2 factions in BfA, and between the 4 Covenants in Shadowlands.

I doubt they'd do another 12+ way split (depending on how ARs are factored in) for expansion-spanning stories.

I think the Heritage questlines are a good example of how to expand upon racial stories and identity, and I know you haven't even played all of those, because Gallywix is deposed in the Goblin one, and in the Horde-specific quest unlocked after completing the quest to kill N'Zoth, Gazlowe is confirmed as the new Goblin leader.

[Hellspawn]

People complained about stories split between the 12 classes in Legion, between the 2 factions in BfA, and between the 4 Covenants in Shadowlands.

I doubt they'd do another 12+ way split (depending on how ARs are factored in) for expansion-spanning stories.

I think the Heritage questlines are a good example of how to expand upon racial stories and identity, and I know you haven't even played all of those, because Gallywix is deposed in the Goblin one, and in the Horde-specific quest unlocked after completing the quest to kill N'Zoth, Gazlowe is confirmed as the new Goblin leader.

I actually talked with a lot of people that enjoyed the class-specific quests. Getting a quest chain specific to your class is pretty cool (sadly it in some cases did not fit the race fantasy of some of the classes)

In vanilla we already had race-specific quests... they were called starting zones which give you a good idea about your race.
But I agree that heritage questlines are the way to go for hyper-focused race-specific stuff.

[kiramon]

We don't need another world revamp. Needs to be avoided at all costs and I think blizzard employees are very careful about respecting that since the cata fiasco. wow 2 way more likely and also preferable.

Sometimes I wonder if the people constantly craving a world revamp/azeroth restructure actually played during Cata... because apparently nobody liked it then, why would they like it now?

[Hellspawn]

Sometimes I wonder if the people constantly craving a world revamp/azeroth restructure actually played during Cata... because apparently nobody liked it then, why would they like it now?

People disliked that Zones were mostly just destructed and were instantly outdated after Cata since all the Zones were connected to Deathwing destroying stuff.
Some new Zone plots were abysmal, visually a lot of Zones were not improved much. But I think most people disliked Cata for things not related to the revamp.

[Nathanyel]

I actually talked with a lot of people that enjoyed the class-specific quests.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I didn't specifically state this, I enjoyed each of these stories, and I'd love for more race-focused questlines, what players complained about was the split, "having" to play these parallel stories on different characters.

I do expect 10.0 to focus on either racial stories or class customization, or even a mix, race-specific class customization (if not Class Skins, then toggleable doodads, e.g. librams for Light-based Paladins, totems for Sunwalkers & Prelates)

[Azxza]

This reminds me of bfa when people were coming up with all sorts of crazy ideas for what 9.0 would be. Then we got Shadowlands. It honestly feels like the fans care way more about WoW than the devs do. There are so many crazy fun ideas floating around out there.

[Nathanyel]

This reminds me of bfa when people were coming up with all sorts of crazy ideas for what 9.0 would be. Then we got Shadowlands. It honestly feels like the fans care way more about WoW than the devs do. There are so many crazy fun ideas floating around out there.

More like, when countless players come up with their own speculations, there will be some among the millions of players (including former that keep up with the game, if you challenge the number) that like those ideas over what actually gets implemented.
And of course, you liking it doesn't mean it's better or even more favored by players on average.

[Azxza]

Can't be worse than the last two expansions. I say listen to the crazy ideas and give it a try for an expansion or two

[Toybox]

More like, when countless players come up with their own speculations, there will be some among the millions of players (including former that keep up with the game, if you challenge the number) that like those ideas over what actually gets implemented.
And of course, you liking it doesn't mean it's better or even more favored by players on average.

Also worth mentioning is that while head-designing a new expansion it's very easy to go far beyond what's reasonably possible. I could sit here right now & come up with an idea that involved a total engine overhaul, more quests/dungeons/raid/PvP content that had ever been seen before in an expansion, VR support, dozens of new minigames, thousands of new battle pets, etc. If Blizzard offered a rather standard expansion then mine would look much better in comparison, but it's also entirely impossible to do.

OT, If 10.0 were to follow 4.0 a little bit, I'd only want them to do it IF they could pretty much guarantee we'd not see a content drought like 4.3 - I do think some big change coming to WoW is inevitable, though whether or not that'll be 10.0 or not I've no idea.

[username993720]

I read a leak thread on /v/ a few months ago that explained how Blizzard is working on a new MMO in the Warcraft universe and that it's just going to be called "Warcraft". They've done painstaking work in porting many of the gear/mounts into the new engine. However not everything can be ported. Most of modern WoW stuff is being ported, and the old gear and mounts will stay in Classic, which is where the future of WoW lies. Classic will implement transmog and will have new content added periodically. After Wotlk, a brand new expansion will be released using Classic systems. Conflicts and lore will stay basic, focusing on Horde v. Alliance. Think Lotr after Sam and Frodo return to the Shire (in the books, not the movies). Meanwhile, Warcraft will exist in the primary timeline where all of the weighty conflicts will take place. Of course the engine will be completely new, with new combat, graphics, and abilities. It's been described as similar to New World combat, only with Blizzard polish and smoothness. Environments will be far more interactive (sword swings can cut down bushes, mages can light bushes on fire etc). Character progression will use a brand new system that will not use levels or gear score. Essentially, it relies on a metric that only the server can see and is based entirely on your character's actions and not gear. Gear will provide actual physical or magical protection, depending on which type you use. This is a very rudimentary explanation of how the system will work, but it promises to revolutionize the way MMOs and games in general deal with stats. Basically, instead of min/maxing gear pieces, the stat progression process will be far more gamified, and tied to the actions you complete. For example, if you fight a lot of fire breathing dragons it will make your fire resist go up and things like that. Your powerlevel will still be clearly represented, just in a more visceral fashion beyond opening your character sheet and looking at a number.

They have also developed brand new server tech that will allow for hundreds or even thousands of players to be on screen at a time with minimal overhead for your system. Some of the content will run on your machine and some of it will run in the cloud. For example, if the client detects there are too many characters on screen for your system to handle, those entities will be seamlessly transferred to the cloud and streamed to your client. You can also choose to have the entire game streamed if you want, allowing for any simple system to run the game, including laptops from many years ago, albeit this option will reduce the fidelity of the game and some of the new physics will not be present.

The post had a small webm clip of what looked like a human warrior doing a thunderclap on some kobolds and they got knocked to the ground for a moment with physics rather than the static system WoW has. I wouldn't say it was ragdoll, it looked much more believable than that, but I imagine stronger spells could cause objects to go flying if they wanted to go that route. Necklaces and rings are also physically visible on your character. Necklaces jingle around when you walk. Capes have full physics and blow in the wind, and can even become tattered when their durability gets lower. Your armor can get scuffs and dents until you repair it.

The game world was described as nothing short of incredible. Trees sway in the wind, there are waves and sailing mechanics (think sea of thieves only not quite as good), full weather physics (snow, rain, thunder, lightning, etc), zones transition more smoothly and believably. The game has been a massive undertaking at Blizzard. I wouldn't expect it for another couple years, but apparently there will be a small teaser at Blizzcon 2022, whenever it happens. The team wanted to take the success of Vanilla WoW and do one better. The general consensus has been that the devs wanted to work on a project like this for a long time and that their talents have been wasted putting bandaid fixes on WoW, but were limited by the bean counters at Activision. A lot of the bad game design in WoW recently has also been due to that fact rather than by specific decisions by the devs. Apparently some of the senior devs were able to convince the brass, through a heated series of meetings, that it's time for the Warcraft universe to experience a new evolution.

Sounds like they've been implementing my suggestions :
https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...be-implemented

[ohwell]

The World Revamp would be for 11.0, the 10th Expansion, around (hopefully timewise) the 20th Anniversary of WoW in 2024.

and I think that if they don't do it then, it may never happen.

I'm onboard with your pitch to just focus on the races as quest/dungeon/raid content and have that fresh-slate feel to send off the game.


10.0 might be another Azeroth landmass to pass time and develop more assets for the Revamp though.. Like.. Hmm Dragon Isles? Broken Isles-Sized expansion at least, hopefully.

Even though you're correct it seems a bit odd to people to express it that way, so 10.0 would seem more appropriate since most people wouldn't expend the brain power(minimal I know) on that.

Also there were things datamined in the patch that suggest something is coming, but it was minimal and could just be visual updates of buildings and things(it was only buildings datamined).

[LordKharon]

Please no more splitting of content depending on race/faction/whatever. We need all the content we can get. Make it 1 big main story and lots of smaller storylines accessible to all players. Do 1 large new continent for all players (ideally with crossfaction play, but at least like shadowlands, no faction specific zones). Make it a traditional landmass with organically connected zones, not this 1 zone floating all alone somewhere (i hate that!).