World of Warcraft 2 - a new beginning

[Bornevogg]

yea cool idea but do not think it will happen

[Clone]

WoW 2, player character wakes up and it was all a dream.

[Inoculate]

WoW 2 is Palia

If only. Palia is a hollow turd burger of a game with no innovation or real clear goal in mind. Game was so disappointing that I think WoW was better off without those devs.

Really wish it lived up to 1/10th of it's vision.

[Holdodlig]

Where is Wrath of the Bolvar ?

[rrayy]

It would be a very nice thing to do if we could start from zero, after this or the next expansion. Let's face it, the story of the game has become such a joke that it's simply not more believable.

How to do it: the legion and/or the void win. Everyone of us dies.

Here is a quick idea how this can be set up:
- there will be a final war between horde and alliance together and the freshly arisen titan Azeroth VS the legion and the void
- this epic battle will see Azeroth being able to destroy Sargeras, and the war seems to be won
- but... the void will bring to the battlefield an unknown entity of unseen power
- Azeroth gets killed and we all start to die under this new foe and our entire world ends
- basically 99% of all life on the planet dies
- end of WoW

World of Warcraft 2 - a new beginning
- improved graphic with a less cartoonish and more realistic style
- Kalimdor, the Eastern Kingdom, and the other continents are still here, the world didn't suffer much changes from the war.
- so basically the world map remains the same (no nostalgy issues) but the zones are much bigger and more fascinating thanks to the new graphic.

You play as one of the few survivors and throughout your journey, you will help to rebuild destroyed cities, form new alliances and improve everything the war has ruined.

Our great enemies will slowly come back to visit us again, as they realize our fragile civilization is not over.

Terrible idea. It's graphics is part of what makes WoW WoW. ANd nobody is going to give up the toons they spent years on to start all over again. You want to start all over again? Classic is ->.

- - - Updated - - -

Also covid killed 99% of people yet the world is still the same

NO it didn't. Not even close.

[thunderdragon2]

you got ur wow 2 its called classic

[thomasstevens]

our idea for a reset and refresh of the World of Warcraft storyline is intriguing and could potentially breathe new life into the game. It addresses some of the concerns players have had with the continuity and the evolving narrative over the years.

[Beefhammer]

Why? Warcraft always had cratoonish/comic book look to it. They have tried with early builds of WoW with realistic style and that idea was quickly scrapped becasue it didnt' feel like Warcraft.

That's just not true. Early builds of WoW used WC3 graphics, pre WoW engine. Early WoW engine WoW looked the same as vanilla. Both of which, had a stylized cartooish look.

[rowaasr13]

So tired of this "I want gray and brown style instead of cartoonish".

[Phasma]

How about Azeroth dies, and the Draenei help everyone escape on a ship to another unknown titan planet with all new lore, creatures, etc?

[Triceron]

It's a neat idea, but it'll hurt their current business model.

A big part of WoW retention is due to sunken cost fallacy. Or you have people chasing nostalgia and wanting things that are familiar and old, not something new.

I mean I'd probably rather want them to take a group of people off of their team and just make a proper singleplayer Warcraft style (A)RPG with a robust story mode, like Diablo 4 but with more paced combat.

[arandomuser]

If only. Palia is a hollow turd burger of a game with no innovation or real clear goal in mind. Game was so disappointing that I think WoW was better off without those devs.

Really wish it lived up to 1/10th of it's vision.

thaat guy clearly didnt play palia ist soooooooooooooo boring, obviously im sure it might be fun for someone who likes farming sims like harvest moon but def not an mmo

[exochaft]

So tired of this "I want gray and brown style instead of cartoonish".

That's sort of a false choice you mention there, as it doesn't have to be between just those two (even if I understand your sentiment).

A huge part of what can draw or immerse people into a game is its art style, not necessarily how realistic it looks or not. I know personally some of my favorite games in which I can lose myself don't have the best graphics at all, some are even pixel art styles. I think the better argument is that there may be dissonance between the cartoon style Blizz currently promotes a story or impression combined with a cartoon-like mentality of story writing. Now, it doesn't HAVE to be this way, a change in writing and story direction could alter how players perceive this, as we've had some pretty epic and badass moments with the newer art style in WoW.

Ironically enough, I think I could make a case that the writing of the game has had more of an impact on people's perception of the art style than the art style in isolation when it comes to WoW. Be that as it may, we'd have to see a narrative tone/content shift to be certain. I will admit that the pre-rendered CGI cinematics tend to give off a vastly improved tone that people probably like compared to what the actual game gives us, so that disconnect will always be there... it's just a matter of how big the gap is between the two forms of storytelling. Again, I think improvements to the story and how it's told (especially tonally) would make the art style less of an issue for those who have issues with it... you can't please everyone, but I think their actual complaints are sourced elsewhere.

In short, I think many people who prefer the old art style actually prefer the old art style combined with the tone of the story/game itself, and they associate the more cartoon-style art direction as either the cause/symptom of (or just exacerbating) the change in the tone of the story/game.

[Terremer]

That's sort of a false choice you mention there, as it doesn't have to be between just those two (even if I understand your sentiment).

A huge part of what can draw or immerse people into a game is its art style, not necessarily how realistic it looks or not. I know personally some of my favorite games in which I can lose myself don't have the best graphics at all, some are even pixel art styles. I think the better argument is that there may be dissonance between the cartoon style Blizz currently promotes a story or impression combined with a cartoon-like mentality of story writing. Now, it doesn't HAVE to be this way, a change in writing and story direction could alter how players perceive this, as we've had some pretty epic and badass moments with the newer art style in WoW.

Ironically enough, I think I could make a case that the writing of the game has had more of an impact on people's perception of the art style than the art style in isolation when it comes to WoW. Be that as it may, we'd have to see a narrative tone/content shift to be certain. I will admit that the pre-rendered CGI cinematics tend to give off a vastly improved tone that people probably like compared to what the actual game gives us, so that disconnect will always be there... it's just a matter of how big the gap is between the two forms of storytelling. Again, I think improvements to the story and how it's told (especially tonally) would make the art style less of an issue for those who have issues with it... you can't please everyone, but I think their actual complaints are sourced elsewhere.

In short, I think many people who prefer the old art style actually prefer the old art style combined with the tone of the story/game itself, and they associate the more cartoon-style art direction as either the cause/symptom of (or just exacerbating) the change in the tone of the story/game.

It's not the art style that defines the universe. If tomorrow a realistic Warcraft game or simply in a different cartoon style comes out, it will still be Warcraft. People are just looking for reasons to defend their nostalgia

[Gravity2015]

I think the name of that expansion should be : WoW - The Wars Over [WOW TWO] fresh game, cosmetics mounts and titles carry over, new engine, new game.

[Phasma]

I think the name of that expansion should be : WoW - The Wars Over [WOW TWO] fresh game, cosmetics mounts and titles carry over, new engine, new game.

I think it would be better if it were only a single feat of strength for playing the original game, but nothing beyond that. The whole point of a WoW 2 would be a fresh new beginning for new players and old players alike. If they transfer achievements from the old game, they may as well just upgrade current WoW to WoW 2.

[Palapop]

World of Warcraft 2 - a new beginning
- improved graphic with a less cartoonish and more realistic style

- so basically the world map remains the same (no nostalgy issues) but the zones are much bigger and more fascinating thanks to the new graphic.

No thank you. Big no thank you.

Elwynn Forest is already fascinating as it is to me.

You can go and play any other generic AAA release if you wish "fascinating realistic style graphics".

[czarek]

Realistic graph style is never good idea for a long term game. Its gettin older faseter. And tbh warcraft never been realistic and was always cartoonish. You dont want this to change.

Except this. Cold reboot would be nice. Start from the bottom.

[Daronokk]

Why? Warcraft always had cratoonish/comic book look to it.

Not really, did you see the early artwork by Metzen? Didn't look that cartoony to me. The reason it has looked cartoony is mostly due to graphical limitations.

Warcraft 1 and 2 still had few pixels to work with so obviously they look cartoony as features need be extra colourful or enlarged to make them stand out. Warcraft 3 was early 3D so low polygon count, same story there.

WoW seems to be the turning point. It also had to work with relatively low polygon count compared to today but had more room to decide an actual art style. You can still see some remnants from a less cartoony style in certain areas of the game. Gnolls don't look particularly cartoony. Then there are the human skin patches on the Gnoll tents. Or the whole Upside Down Sinners room beneath Karazhan. That's just of the top of my head, there is more.
But overall WoW seems to be where they made the final decision to go the cartoony route. Which was cemented with Mists of Pandaria going full cartoony even in the cinematic area, before that point at least the cinematics portrayed a more mature realistic style.

So no, Warcraft wasn't cartoony from the start. You'd like to think so but it clearly wasn't.

Same thing happened with Diablo. Diablo 1 and 2 weren't meant to be cartoony, they were dark gothic horror games but again had to work with the low graphic settings of that time. Diablo 3 simply copied the success of WoW and went full cartoony thinking it would bring in a broader audience but it backfired enormously, which is why they reverted that decision for Diablo 4.

But since the cartoony style has worked wonders for WoW there doesn't seem to be any reason to change the art style.

Still, if a WoW 2 were ever to be made (or Warcraft 4 for that matter) it would make sense to go back to the drawing board and take another critical look at the art style. I wouldn't say drop the cartoony look altogether since it has proven its worth but they could decide to move their graphical style to a more modern look. Current WoW is still based on the 2004 original game with updated polygon count. It really shows its age even if Blizzard tries to create new beautiful models, they still need to fit in with the older stuff so they always look dated compared to completely new games. An eventual WoW 2 would need to push the graphics to modern standards so Blizzard would need to find a new balance of high definition graphics but somehow maintaince the cartoony feel, while not overdoing it. So it's pretty obvious that such a game would look different.

[Shadowferal]

It's not the art style that defines the universe. If tomorrow a realistic Warcraft game or simply in a different cartoon style comes out, it will still be Warcraft. People are just looking for reasons to defend their nostalgia

And then there are those that defend the amateur writing because they can now have eyeglow!

Having an actual game that's written well seems to have become a novelty.