The Expansion after Shadowlands may be a “Soft Reboot” of WoW.

[Beej]

TLDR: I think the entire world map of Eastern and Western Kingdoms is going to see a massive revamp. I think A LOT of the dead from Shadowlands will come back with us post Shadowlands, including many prominent heroes and villains to tell new stories that will last years; and I suspect that each class will get a new spec. Shadowlands will essentially be the "Avengers End Game" of WoW.

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I have a hunch that the biggest changes WoW will ever see are coming post Shadowlands. I think the entire game is going to get a sort of “soft reboot”. I suspect many past heroes, villains, and unnamed race characters for the sake of bolstering populations, will return from Shadowlands with us to usher in a new saga of lore and story telling that will last at least another 10 years.

Blizzard has implied a time skip will occur. I suspect that not only will prominent lore characters both good and bad be reintroduced to WoW, I suspect the world will be updated on a scale even bigger than Cataclysm. The Draenei and Blood Elves have evolved so much since BC, their areas are in dire need of updating; I fully expect those zones will be updated. Gilneas and the ruins of Lordaeron are definitely in need of a possible lore update at the least. EPL and WPL have changed a lot as well. On Kalimdor, there is room for drastic changes with places such as the Theramore crater, the Night Elves and their land, and so on.

The point I am making is, with the time skip, anything can happen. Perhaps Theramore will be reclaimed as a new Forsaken zone and city. Perhaps we will see a new city entirely built in the Dalaran crater that is either Horde or Alliance. Who knows? I suspect that updating the world on this scale will be a large undertaking, but not as time-consuming as the undertaking that occurred during Cata, since the zones this time around are already built for flight. A lot of the WoD assets can be used when building/updating locations, so an undertaking this large may be more feasible than many would think – Blizzard might already be working on that part of the next expansion already having planned this since perhaps BFA.

Lastly, I think the massive change won’t end there. I suspect the classes will see the biggest changes since, ever. I suspect every single class is going to get a new spec. Possible new specs would be a Gladiator spec for warriors, a DPS spec for paladins that utilizes shields similar to the D2/D3 Paladin, a Tidesage spec for mages that gives mages a healing spec, a caster spec for Death Knights that turns them into the highly requested necromancer caster class. Those are just a few, so many options.

I could be wrong, but I strongly suspect something along the lines of my thought process will occur post Shadowlands. At the very least, the “what ifs” of this possibility make for some interesting discussion. The Shadowlands conclusion has the potential to be the "Avengers End Game" of WoW.

[Awelon]

I sure hope so. Current retail is in dire need of some facelifting and revitalization. As of late it has become very stagnant power-fantasy which quite frankly doesn't feel like a Warcraft anymore. Too much scheit has happened and quite honestly I don't even care about anything anymore. We have Mary Sue characters coming left and right and whatnot and player characters are here slaying Titans so yeah. Gets kinda tiresome.

It just kinda depends on how big risk Blizz is going to take with all this. And if they do, will it be worth it?

[Dug]

Just do a WoW 2 and be done with it imo

[TheFirstOnes]

Just do a WoW 2 and be done with it imo

We literally have 1-2 threats after this. The Void and the Light. That's it. No need for a WoW 2 when the story's almost done.

[AcidicSyn]

I support any idea that includes a Silvermoon update/revamp.

[VinceVega]

Didn't they say in an interview they WONT do big revamps anymore?

[Beej]

Didn't they say in an interview they WONT do big revamps anymore?

They did, but as Garrosh once said:

[Dug]

We literally have 1-2 threats after this. The Void and the Light. That's it. No need for a WoW 2 when the story's almost done.

They'll always pull something out of their ass. During Legion it was heavily implied we were taking the fight to the void and then faction boogaloo started and now Shadowlands out of nowhere?

[TheFirstOnes]

They'll always pull something out of their ass. During Legion it was heavily implied we were taking the fight to the void and then faction boogaloo started and now Shadowlands out of nowhere?

Nothing implied that at all outside of maybe Alleria's story. Everything implied that we'd fight N'Zoth tho, which we did...

[sodiboi]

Didn't they say in an interview they WONT do big revamps anymore?

Like that will stop them lol.

[Mechazod]

My biggest problem with the story telling and lore in WoW, is the fact that all of these major events are essentially compacted into what, like a 10/20 year period? Probably even less? Especially when we are told how old the planet is, yet everything just happens spit-fire one after another at this point in history. Now obviously the consequences of one event will lead to another, but I think the lack of "breathing room" in a sense, is why people may have gotten tired of the "story" of the franchise and how we cleared through so many major threats on the to-do list.

In my personal opinion, if they are to do a "soft-reboot" expansion, I think they should set the game some decent ways off into the future, like anywhere from 30-100 years, maybe even longer. Let things mellow out, let new background lore build-up in that period we are not playing that can become the new quests like Vanilla had, introduce new characters or the future versions of them years later. For our own characters let them be the exact same as before, but consider them the descendants of your original character, complete with options like "family-heirlooms" you can obtain which were the hi-end gear and legendarys you already had, scale-down the content to the point it feels like fresh new character's quests, even though its a continued expansion, they could even make the accomplishments of your previous character as the new quests, like a previous raid-boss they destroyed has returned or recovering a piece of their mythic level armor. Hell, doesn't even have to be a descendant, they could just pull a Breath of the Wild and have our characters sealed away for a 100 years or so, or let the more long-lived races or undead not even need that bit.

[Yooginava182]

We literally have 1-2 threats after this. The Void and the Light. That's it. No need for a WoW 2 when the story's almost done.

did you miss the part of the how they added a new group above everything even void and light? The ancient ones i believe the jailer commented on in the intro quest for shadowlands. "A mortal able to use a device of the ancient ones.. impossible". Wow's story wont end till sub numbers are REALLLLY dead in the water. They will keep wow alive aslong as they have atleast 2-3 mill subs.

[toffmcsoft]

Diablo MMORPG. Wow has gotten too childish, too fantasy land and just all in all in a direction that moved too far away from it's grass roots.

[A Chozo]

You are in for quite the disappointment once Shadowlands ends and we get to battle Yrel and other Light-aligned masterminds in some Light-soaked realm.

[deenman]

TLDR: I think the entire world map of Eastern and Western Kingdoms is going to see a massive revamp. I think A LOT of the dead from Shadowlands will come back with us post Shadowlands, including many prominent heroes and villains to tell new stories that will last years; and I suspect that each class will get a new spec. Shadowlands will essentially be the "Avengers End Game" of WoW.

------------------------------

I have a hunch that the biggest changes WoW will ever see are coming post Shadowlands. I think the entire game is going to get a sort of “soft reboot”. I suspect many past heroes, villains, and unnamed race characters for the sake of bolstering populations, will return from Shadowlands with us to usher in a new saga of lore and story telling that will last at least another 10 years.

Blizzard has implied a time skip will occur. I suspect that not only will prominent lore characters both good and bad be reintroduced to WoW, I suspect the world will be updated on a scale even bigger than Cataclysm. The Draenei and Blood Elves have evolved so much since BC, their areas are in dire need of updating; I fully expect those zones will be updated. Gilneas and the ruins of Lordaeron are definitely in need of a possible lore update at the least. EPL and WPL have changed a lot as well. On Kalimdor, there is room for drastic changes with places such as the Theramore crater, the Night Elves and their land, and so on.

The point I am making is, with the time skip, anything can happen. Perhaps Theramore will be reclaimed as a new Forsaken zone and city. Perhaps we will see a new city entirely built in the Dalaran crater that is either Horde or Alliance. Who knows? I suspect that updating the world on this scale will be a large undertaking, but not as time-consuming as the undertaking that occurred during Cata, since the zones this time around are already built for flight. A lot of the WoD assets can be used when building/updating locations, so an undertaking this large may be more feasible than many would think – Blizzard might already be working on that part of the next expansion already having planned this since perhaps BFA.

Lastly, I think the massive change won’t end there. I suspect the classes will see the biggest changes since, ever. I suspect every single class is going to get a new spec. Possible new specs would be a Gladiator spec for warriors, a DPS spec for paladins that utilizes shields similar to the D2/D3 Paladin, a Tidesage spec for mages that gives mages a healing spec, a caster spec for Death Knights that turns them into the highly requested necromancer caster class. Those are just a few, so many options.

I could be wrong, but I strongly suspect something along the lines of my thought process will occur post Shadowlands. At the very least, the “what ifs” of this possibility make for some interesting discussion. The Shadowlands conclusion has the potential to be the "Avengers End Game" of WoW.

110% imposible,a 4th spec isnt coming thats just a dream,they cant balance 3 and we have seen druids having issues because of 4th spec with covenants,its just a nigthmare,demonhunter is so much better off with only 2 specs and its clearly seen,also a revamp isnt coming either,cataclysm was a hot mess because of the revamp and the wow team is 1/3 of what it was during cata

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You are in for quite the disappointment once Shadowlands ends and we get to battle Yrel and other Light-aligned masterminds in some Light-soaked realm.

this right here,this is the clear direction wow is heading atm,the expansion after SL is either this or some mop style slowdown before the big light/void expansion

[Beej]

110% imposible,a 4th spec isnt coming thats just a dream,they cant balance 3 and we have seen druids having issues because of 4th spec with covenants,its just a nigthmare,demonhunter is so much better off with only 2 specs and its clearly seen,also a revamp isnt coming either,cataclysm was a hot mess because of the revamp and the wow team is 1/3 of what it was during cata

I disagree. I disagree because I believe if they do go with a "soft reboot" in WoW, Blizzard will want to make it as big as possible and new specs for each class will be huge.

I also disagree that that the development team being smaller in scale than Cata will impact a possible "soft reboot". Blizzard has gotten better and better at design both in assets and efficiency over the years. Much like the player base has gotten better and more informed since the days of Classic WoW having turned Classic WoW's difficulty scale into a joke, I would argue so too has the development team grown and evolved and are far better at delivering content then ever before.

Blizzard has tons of reusable assets already at their disposal, and a world that is already designed for flying which can theoretically make the artistic part of the revamp much quicker and efficient. Blizzard learned a lot about the mistakes that came with Cata, and if Blizzard chooses to do a "soft reboot" of WoW on this scale, they will certainly be far more equipped to pull it off and not repeat the mistakes that came with Cata.

Balance will never be perfect, but a soft reboot is essentially like launching a new game in an existing game. Big changes such as new specs for all, are par for the course of something this large, and that shouldn't detract the developers from growing the game into something new if this is a direction Blizzard chooses to take the game.

[A Chozo]

this right here,this is the clear direction wow is heading atm,the expansion after SL is either this or some mop style slowdown before the big light/void expansion

It could also be a expansion where we face off against the pirate legion of Plunder Isle, raiding Bloodsail Hold and discovering that they are commanded by a living ship that hungers for everything precious.

Or maybe we discover that the legendary Dragon Isles lie at Azeroth's southern pole and it holds the gateway to a land dominated by Dragons that fled their dragonflights. We meet factions like the Dark Dragonflight who abolish the sunlight and the Crystal Dragonflight that ascended into crystalline forms.

Or even better, we discover what Mal'ganis has been up to and he asks for our help to adventure into the remains of Nathreza to free his race of a long-forgotten curse and their hidden, vicious goddess who enslaved the minds of the Nathrezim so long ago.

Blizzard could manifest a thousand storylines into new expansions before we see a revamp / wow 2 / classic+.

People gotta stop with that desire of somehow "replaying" WoW from scrap. There's no time machine to 2006.

[TheFirstOnes]

You are in for quite the disappointment once Shadowlands ends and we get to battle Yrel and other Light-aligned masterminds in some Light-soaked realm.

They're not going to do a Light threat on its own...

We'll get a Light/Shadow expansion with BOTH the Light and Void tryna beat tf out of us.

[Beej]

People gotta stop with that desire of somehow "replaying" WoW from scrap. There's no time machine to 2006.

I feel like you are kind of reaching there with this statement -- I certainly wasn't reaching for a 2006 remake or replaying of WoW, I'm just following the logic of a possible outcome. A time skip is device authors use to advanced a narrative and the world, and Blizzard has implied a time skip may occur. Follow the logic, and its not out of the realm of possibility that a soft reboot could occur. If done right, a time skip could revitalize WoW and launch the game back to the mainstream, so there is sound reasoning to go with this possibility in a business sense. And honestly, Blizzard needs a big hit right now. With time skips, anything is possible -- that is just a fact. What that could mean, is why I made this thread.

[A Chozo]

They're not going to do a Light threat on its own...

It could totally happen.

We only know "the Light" as this golden shining thing, but Blizzard is totally capable (and quite good, actually) of expanding the concept of the Light and the forces aligned with it.

Light-scarred things, ever blind, ever hungry.
Crystal-farmers who harvest it's power to their eccentric machinery.
Feel-good cultists and their pale monuments.
Fancy brokers who cut a land's connection to the Holy Light until they pay.
Dimensional Fortress housing the Naaru.
Something that spawns Naaru, and it isn't pretty.
Brave heroes who defy The Absolute, forever keeping the Dark in their hearts.

etc.

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I feel like you are kind of reaching there with this statement -- I certainly wasn't reaching for a 2006 remake or replaying of WoW, I'm just following the logic of a possible outcome.

One of the least possible outcomes and yet I'm the one reaching.