At this point I really do feel a reboot is in order. The story has just been so poorly handled from BFA onward I really don’t see how you fix it. Probably best to just put the poor thing out of its misery. Tell me about the rabbits again, Zoval.
But personally I would learn toward a soft rather than hard reboot. Because there were and are actually quite a few nifty concepts that have floated to the top of septic stew that I feel ought not be disposed of.
To that end I think the easiest solution would be to move the setting a century or two into the future.
Roughly half of the playable races are either functionally immortal or live long enough that they might as well be. I seriously want to know who said Draenei live tens of thousands of years. A Draenei born while the fertile crescent was just starting to see human settlers would be barely middle aged today.
And for the humans and those with comparable lifespans there’s no shortage of things to extend their lifespans. Which means we can have as many returning characters as we want.
Additionally I’d like to see a time jump to see how WoW’s nations develop. Keep in mind every nation in WoW has either sprung up or had huge and irreversible changes made within the last decade. And the unrelenting cosmic threats haven’t really given anyone the opportunity to calm down and just breathe for awhile.
Like the Kaldorei were until very recently functionally immortal. They’re going to have to invent whole industries now to care for the elderly, bury the dead and tend to the grieving. Maybe they grow a new world tree, maybe they don’t. But either way after millenias of solitude it’s been made clear that their way of life has to change. They were about as isolated, homogenous and static as a people ever really could be and in the span of a decade all of that was flipped upside down several times. What do they look like when the smoke clears and they finally have time to think?
The Forsaken have the polar opposite problem. The vast majority of them were just commoners pre plague and have known only an undead society forged by and for war. What’s it look like when they have centuries to pursue non violent interests? Personally I’m picturing a Renaissance of art and technology. Perhaps they’re the first on Azeroth to put together the motion picture. And now something like Andorhal is this version of Hollywood. I mean hell be awfully easy to shoot stunts if somebody getting dismembered or impaled was pretty much a non issue. And as per population concerns- well I do think it’ll be more than Zelling to volunteer over time. Especially if the Forsaken are in the business of exporting fun pop culture.
The Draenei and Orcs would be given time to become real Azerothian natives. Eventually seeing more children born here than were on Draenor or Argus. A crashed space ship and a hastily thrown together fortress city eventually growing to become permanent and indelible marks on the world. Sprawling cities, once so intrinsically alien, now as well known to everyone as Lordaeron or the Undermine. Just another part of the world that feels like it’s always been there.
The Dwarves are united for the first time since the War of the Three Hammers. I’d like to see how that holds up or falls apart. It would be cool to see Shadowforge as an actual city. And maybe give the Wildhammer something to do other than hang out on mountain peak.
The Trolls aren’t quite as united but I do think between the Darkspear and Zandalari the writing is on the wall. Maybe the Trolls could stand alone as a mighty nation once upon a time. But they’ve seen the once powerful capitols teter and even fall before forces only massive coalitions could face. Be interesting to see Jintha’Alor under Revantusk banners become the new Forest Troll Capitol. With efforts being made to reclaim Zul’Drak for the Frost Trolls. And perhaps even the Sandfury could learn to swallow their pride and work with the Vulpera to build an oasis in Vol’Dun.
I’d be interested to see what a Stormwind no longer on the defense could manage. With them leading a new coalition of Stromgarde, Kul Tiras, and Gilneas I figure they could shore up Duskwood’s defenses and finally get a foothold in Stranglethorn after their previous efforts were ruined by a freak Apocalypse Now Reference accident.
The Sin’Dorei would of course have completely renewed Eversong by then. But I would be curious to see how the influence of the Shaldorei has influenced their culture and architecture. Seeing as their respective leaders are a power couple I’d imagine a lavender pigmented elf would become a common sight on the streets of Silvermoon. To say nothing of how they’d approach the Ghostlands. There’s no shortage of undead elves who might find comfort there as it’s a blending of their old and new lives. Not to mention completely renewing it might feel like dishonoring a battlefield. Should they simply move on? Or should elven children look upon the haunted woods to understand why they still call themselves Blood Elves?
The Gnomes have found their legendary city and are a united people with access to unprecedented technology. With Mechagnome ingenuity I imagine they could easily retake Gnomergon, and perhaps offer treatment and some reconciliation toward the leper Gnomes. Perhaps technology could be made to communicate with the troglodytes could be made. And now even their once sworn subterranean enemies live alongside the Gnomes in harmony.
The Tauren similarly find themselves with a real sense of home and family for the first time in recent memory. Surrogate family amongst the Horde, yes, but blood relatives with the Highmountain and Taunka now under their banner and looking to them to lead. With no enemy to flee or face, with nothing threatening their homes, with the certainty that they now have permanent settlements everything on Azeroth and beyond would hesitate to threaten - what do they do?
The Worgen are a bit of a loaded question. I figure by now Gilneas is reclaimed and some basically amicable if tense agreement with the Forsaken has been made to figure out who gets what parts of Silverpine. But I very much doubt the Worgen will go in a generation. In fact I think their appeal would only increase in peacetime. Many of us joke about throwing everything aside and just trying to survive in the woods. Well- what if there was a way to make sure you’d not only survive doing so, but be much more at home there? To experience all the sights, scents and sounds of the wild in a more intimate way? To be able run wild and free, unbothered by society’s concerns? Yeah, I don’t think the Wolf Cult’s going anywhere.
And then of course the Bilgewater Goblins. They actually have the most interesting cultural upheaval of all. Because they’re actually citizens of a nation for the first time in the history of their species. They’re not just employees anymore. How do a people who’s only form of government was a cutthroat corporatocracy react to being integrated into a society where many allied nations simply eschew capital? The Tauren live off the land, the Forsaken already realized the futility of the pursuit of wealth, the Orcs fundamentally do not care about glamor, and the Zandalari are so bored of gold they use it as wallpaper. Now do they change as a society upon realizing their entire motivation is irrelevant in the eyes of most other people?
All fascinating questions. I look forward for them being ignored as we march forward into some more cosmic BS.
