Old Zone Revamps

[username993720]

I agree the old world is obsolete in terms of quest design and being tied to Cataclysm. But there will always be a part of WoW that is "old". Do we revamp TBC and Icecrown? Where's the line between revamping these old zones but not those? Would there be any value in revamping TBC. If the issue is just moving Azeroth past the events of Cataclysm and allowing TBC and Icecrown to exist in their own little bubbles detached from the "main" timeline, then there is an argument to be made there.

Let's break it down by Expansion

Vanilla - Needs revamp due to events of Cataclysm and general zone and quest upgrades
TBC - Could use an upgrade on a few quest lines but overall the experience is not as broken to warrant a full overhaul
WotLK - Same as TBC except quests were a lot better organized here than in TBC.
Cata - Would get revamped with Vanilla Zones (except for Cata only zones like Vashir (sp)
MoP through Shadowlands - Do not need to be touched.

TBC could use art assets from WoD.

[Mecheon]

Do we revamp TBC

god I wish

Seriously, TBC upgrade as a 'stopping Outland from falling apart' type expansion. Or 'army of the Light half revilatised it but its wrong now'

Outland needs a revamp way more than Cata era does. Northrend's still a bit more timeless, but maaaan Outland is kind of very outdated

(plus Silvermoon and Exodar can finally be hooked up to the rest of the world and updated with flying)

[Nebron]

I agree the old world is obsolete in terms of quest design and being tied to Cataclysm. But there will always be a part of WoW that is "old". Do we revamp TBC and Icecrown? Where's the line between revamping these old zones but not those? Would there be any value in revamping TBC. If the issue is just moving Azeroth past the events of Cataclysm and allowing TBC and Icecrown to exist in their own little bubbles detached from the "main" timeline, then there is an argument to be made there.

Let's break it down by Expansion

Vanilla - Needs revamp due to events of Cataclysm and general zone and quest upgrades
TBC - Could use an upgrade on a few quest lines but overall the experience is not as broken to warrant a full overhaul
WotLK - Same as TBC except quests were a lot better organized here than in TBC.
Cata - Would get revamped with Vanilla Zones (except for Cata only zones like Vashir (sp)
MoP through Shadowlands - Do not need to be touched.

Yeah, other expansions and their respective zones and storylines is another problem to solve. But at the same time, even now they kinda exists in different timelines - in Cataclysm we are past the TBC and WotLK events, and yet in Northrend the entire plotline is all about the Lich King. So when it comes to my personal take - I'd leave them as they are.

But that's the issue you will encounter no matter what. Yet, isolating the story threads in revamped world from references of the expansion theme in which the update happens should help a little. Instead of going for a revamp with a new threat in mind, like Cataclysm did, replaying the updated questlines in years to come should create that weird feeling that something about the timelines is off.

But I need to stress that I'd like to see the world revamp only if it's paired up with quest re-design / update on story. Otherwise, with just pure visual update, indeed, it might be a bit a waste of resources. If that's the case, then I'd prefer them to gradually update the world, a zone or a few zones every patch, since then the revamp won't be the marketing selling-point of an expansion, but rather feature that can take place in a continuum. If Blizzard went for the first option, which is complete revamp + quests, I can't imagine them pushing updates in chunks - that would be off and make the new zones a bit out of place.

Nevertheless, I believe that after BfA updates of Darkshore and Arathi, they had time to figure out the plan for the best approach and prepared themselves. Now we know from Ion's interview that it's only a matter of time, when the updates will hit the game, so time will tell

[NineSpine]

I think that what they need to do would amount to a soft reset, taking the following steps:

1. Create updated versions of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms.
2. These zones should make up an evergreen, time-neutral leveling experience that can be maintained going forward as the default new player leveling experience.
3. All other content in the game should be placed behind Chromie and considered "The Old World". This includes all existing continents.

I don't see any other way to do this in a coherent way. The game is already a bloated mess.

[Soon-TM]

I don't think Blizzard will never, ever update the old world (aka EK/Kalimdor) except for one-off things like BfA warfronts. They'll just keep adding more and more islands, and that's it... I cannot wait to see what kind of asspull islands they have in store for 11.0

[Gimlix]

World Revamp/update is the only thing WoW needs, no new expansion, revamp is prio new zones.

[TeamWorldRevamp]

World Revamp or Bust.

[Jujudrood]

RE: flying.
You know, you can just, like, not fly, too.
That's an option, for real real.

The whole "flying ruined adventuring" has been played to death.
Removing it would turn off a ton of people, so just hop on a ground mount and roam around if you want that feel.

As far as a revamp, the best way, IMO, is iterative, much like how BFA brought some up.
Revamping the entire 2 core continents at once is a big undertaking, but also, there isn't enough story to bring them in all at once, so do it over time.
If some revamp happens in 11.0, let it be maybe 2-3 zones relevant to the story, then with 11.1, add some more, so it's over time and not just a complete overhaul at once because, even though those who just adore leveling want the whole world at once, it just doesn't make sense when considering level of effort vs payoff.

[Zuben]

If dragonriding was available everywhere I wouldn't touch regular flying at all.

[Hansworst]

If dragonriding was available everywhere I wouldn't touch regular flying at all.

Yeah, the most annoying part of the Kalimdor Cup was regularly flying from one race to another.

[cozzri]

Flying is here to stay. This is such a huge feature that once the cat is out of the bag you cannot put it back in.

You can throttle it with pathfinder. But even that gets peoples blood pressure through the roof.

I agree with you that flying basically destroyed the world. Dragonisles made it... better with integrating flying into the world with much vertical stuff. The old world does not have that and won't get it with a revamp.

Not using flying when it is available is not an option for me because i would get so far behind the pack, that progression would be impossible and the world will still be void of players.

Flying is here to stay. Hope, that future NEW zones keep that in mind and integrate into the world and we will never get flat zones anymore. But don't hope for that.
There are people who think freaking MALDRAXXUS is to complicated to navigate.

Flying could be more dangerous like in BC with guards that would damage / dismount you.

Honestly, regular flying is fine, I think they need to implement some huge risks to make it more interesting, and a risky choice.

Cold weather flying didn't need to be a simple unlock, it could have extended the duration you can fly before your mounts wings freeze over.

Weather effects could be added to the game that affect your flight, thunderstorms have a chance to damage you and stub your mount into a free fall

Hail slows your down considerably until you are grounded

Aerial threats and make you think twice.

The ideas are there.... Blizzard unfortunately chooses the laziest path because stockholders.

[Pinksocking]

Should be a leveling revamp as Cataclysm was. No one wants to turn the old zones into endgame content. That is why we get new continents for.

fax

give us a new 1-60 in kalimdor + ek and then keep it updated and relevant every expansion

[Z3ROR]

If all old zones are getting dragonriding instead of regular flying then that will solve your flying problem. You cannot fly a long distance with dragonriding, but eventually you have to get to the ground, because your mount is exhausted. So continue with your ground mount.

[Mecheon]

If all old zones are getting dragonriding instead of regular flying then that will solve your flying problem. You cannot fly a ong distance with dragonriding, but eventually you have to get to the ground, because your mount is exhausted. So continue with your ground mount.

Nah, you can fly infinitely with dragonriding. Just use two upward flaps and you're good forever. You'll regain stam faster than it'll drain

[Z3ROR]

Nah, you can fly infinitely with dragonriding. Just use two upward flaps and you're good forever. You'll regain stam faster than it'll drain

But you have to work for it and balance your flying skills otherwise it's hello ground.

[kranur]

Flying is fine ... instead of juggling over and over with adding it, removing it, gating it, fucking it up all the time, they should just focus on how to best integrate it, like they've done in DF but expand a bit with some aerial dangers. That's all it needs.
The old world however needs a total redesign ... starting with the graphics and ending with the plot, and especially for new players, it's complete dogshit and makes absolutely 0 sense .. you start off training on a boat then 20 minutes later the greatest hero of your faction, lmao.

[Holdodlig]

Unfortunately once the flying genie is out of the bottle it is tough to put it back with upsetting a lot of people. They could do a mini pathfinder for each zone. Complete X% of quests, explore 100% of the zone, etc. ----> Get flying.

It wouldn't make flying immediate but it also wouldn't gate it behind something terrible. You would still experience a portion of the zone without flying and be able to work towards flying in a short amount of time if that is what you wanted.

If they adapt dragonriding to ground mount, then we might see a good part of the expansion happens without flying. Or at least it would be pointless in some areas of the game.

Outside of that I agree. It's hard to make a no flying expansion again.

[KurtMash]

If they adapt the old world to dragonflying, i hope they won't destroy the feel of the world. Dragonflying feels best in vast open spaces, like the ones in Dragonflight. Even the forests we got this expansion (including the Emerald Dream) are not this thick forest where can barely see the sky through the canopy, but rather a smaller number of big trees, so you can easily fly between them. But this is not how the zones in the original game were! Just think about zones like Elwynn Forest - they are not a great fit for flying though them high speed, unless you fly above the trees... and I think they shouldn't be. It's ok if not every place can be traversed the same way, that's what adds the variety to the world. I wouldn't like it, if with the Old World revamp all trees are suddenly big and sparse and zones are more "open". If everything is big and epic, then nothing is.