It has now been 15 years since Cataclysm revamped the old world and we have yet to see a full revamp. I’m not talking about a 1 zone per expansion sort of deal (à la arathi highlands in BFA), I’m talking about a FULL revamp. I understand the player backlash was pretty big when Cataclysm came around and changed everything, but I think we can all agree that a majority of the zone/story redesigns done in Cata were simply worse than their Vanilla originals.
I can’t speak for everyone, but I for one do not care in the slightest if the Cataclysm stories are overwritten and thrown out in favor of a new narrative, ESPECIALLY now that we have Cataclysm classic available for players to replay those zones (if they even want to).
But I’m not just talking about complete zone revamps here. By fixing these old zones you can:
- Open up the possibility for new stories to be told in the old world. Let the narrative team focus on building up stories in racial capitals and homelands to foster and develop narratives in the future that will evidently take place on new islands/continents, instead of just rushing us over to the next random mystery island that just appeared.
- Allow old beloved dungeons to be remade to more closely resemble their old counterparts (or made anew if done right).
- Fix racial starting zones so that they are more relevant to the current story OR just make them generic like they used to be.
Lastly, I just want to point out a quote made by Maria Hamilton in one of the many interviews done before TWW. She said “I think the world is the most important character”. I was excited when she initially said that, but after playing TWW so far, it feels like Khaz Algar is the most important character… not the world.
And YES I know Midnight is coming with the hope of at least a partial old world revamp, but I really believe this needs to be less of a hope and more of a reality.