A bit presumptuous to say that some problems will not be fixed in TWW, but I thought I’d take a shot at thinking about these as well as solutions that could be developed for Midnight to start improving upon them.
Just for brevity, I’m going to keep it to three topics, but I know there are many more in terms of pet collecting, the new player experience, advancing old zones, and other things that many players have talked about.
Also sorry for grammar/etc. I’m writing this, ironically, at midnight.
The problems that will still probably exist:
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PvP: It’s likely that PvP will still be very overcomplicated with myriad buffs, debuffs, and cooldowns across advanced talent trees, hero specs, and tiersets. This all makes it nearly impossible to understand anything that is going on in PvP. This affects the new player experience (NPE) as well as the intermediate player experience. The PvP meta of soft CC and PvE-esque DPS makes it very unfun, unwatchable, and unlearnable.
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Roleplay: The game is increasingly “arcadey” - primarily instanced content with time-based trials to earn some reward. Players focus on player power advancement and achievement. This is in stark contrast to other flavors of MMO. Role-playing, including guild and overworld social content, has really taken a back seat. I think following TWW players will want more innovation into the social aspect of the game to make it feel more interconnected alongside the progressive-based instanced content. We have plenty of warcraft but would like even more “world”.
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Class/Spec Identity: Similar to above, TWW is likely to not innovate on or beyond transmog. While Hero tracks will bring cool new spell effects for players to enjoy, it’s limited in scope in terms of class fantasy. Why can’t Druids, masters of nature and wildlife, transform into a household cat or a mighty Rhinoceros, why not a travelform RP-walking rat, or slower aquatic-formed hippo? Why do Hunters have so few quivers? Why are players locked into voices, animations, spell effects, categorical skin colors, body types, and hair? Why do all Deathknights seemingly rise the same-looking undead minions? TWW is not exactly presenting any large-sweeping solutions to these things.
Features that would help fix projected lasting problems:
- PvP Simplification: - Talent Trees and Battlegrounds.
- Prune abilities and buffs from PvP. Create some heuristic in the talent tree to show players which abilities have an effect in PvP. PvP talents then could be moved up into the main talent tree and this could create more flexible customizations to separate PvP from PvE balancing. For instance, Hunter’s beloved Double Tap or Wailing Arrow could exist as a PvE-only ability whereas Roar of Sacrifice could be a PvP-only ability alongside something like steel trap. Perhaps in many cases, the choice node in a tree could be for PvE or PvP equivalent ability decision. This simplification would help the NPE as well as help balance issues down the road for even PvE players (seriously bring back Double Tap for PvE). I wrote more about this here.
- Focus more on what makes for fun battleground content. Arenas have had the lion’s share of development and focus as WoW has been forced into being an Esport since Cataclysm. Developing more than one new battleground an expansion or improving upon old battlegrounds to make them more engaging or dynamic would help a ton in Midnight and you might be surprised by player numbers for that kind of gameplay versus Arenas.
- Role Play Spaces: Evergreen Order Halls, Expanded Events, Player-Generated Content.
- Order Halls are a long-standing tradition in WoW since the original officer-rank PvP order halls in vanilla. Later, class-order halls were introduced in Legion and provided a breath of fresh air in learning about your class and allowing some exclusive perks for being a member. These halls should be evergreen and improved upon over time. Beyond mission tables, halls could have a player’s trophies or rarest of weapons on display. These could serve as new Warband screens or be interconnected with scheduled community events. New halls too could be created! Imagine a guild order hall, where guild achievements are manifested in “real life” - large trophies or heads of dangerous raid bosses the guild has taken down. The guild’s colors and emblems - proudly on display! Dancing murlocks celebrate the guild’s mythic raid clear every year on the tables of the guild’s bar - and a lute player sings your praises (consider they are getting paid from your bank after all). Maybe this is over the top but you get the vibe I’m going for here; also, the world is everything for Warcraft, it’s the main character.
- There are many flavor events that are sprinkled throughout the calendar year, yet the celebration of them are oftentimes very limited in scope and very missable. A celebration of new hatchlings is locked to a segment of Feralas for example. Why not make larger more extravagant events? These would allow players to gather, take photos, and enjoy space with one another. For example, a large celebration of spring with countless cherry blossoms, areas for NPCs to take your photo, games, and prizes. Maybe a celebration of winter, with actual snowfall covering lands, with large snowball fights yielding a new event for players to partake in the open world? Beyond seasons too, Noblegarden and Brewfest too could be expanded to more cities. Silvermoon is a beautiful city with effectively no content and while Midnight is likely to add some, it would be a great opportunity to welcome in all of the typically “Outside Orgrimar” events and festivals - in a more grand and over-the-top-celebratey sort of way.
- Enable methods for players to create their own content. This could be entirely cosmetic, but allow players ways to sell physical goods to players in person, in a shop or pop-up stand. Allow a chef role-player the kitchen space to create food and host a restaurant of their own! Allow a skinner to display their hides on a rack and drop a sign explaining their business. Allow entertaining, non-auctionhouse, rewardable, and aesthetically pleasing ways to engage with actual players beyond a trading-post UI and AH. Enable your players to engage with the world, their server communities, and to even add to the world you create for us.
- More Customization: Spell Effects, Customization, Voice, and Class Identity.
- Allow us to earn, buy, or just choose between spell effects. Glyph items partially answer this, but there are far too few. Beyond this, there is no real interface to toggle or display different spell effects. If a new tab was created for unlocked “glyphs” or something, players might be able to swap and engage with different customizations more easily.
- Enable more sliding scales for player creation and customization. Different skin tones, hair colors, smiles, and eye shapes are all important for one’s identity to a character. Beyond this, allow us to display more body types and express our characters as we imagine them in the world.
- Let us select more options for voices on our characters. Even if it’s something as simple as being able to adjust the pitch of our voice slightly could make a massive difference in how we emote in the game. Also, maybe add more emotes, we haven’t had those in a long time. Maybe consider adding an emote menu as well in the game - allowing new players to learn and use this as a guide in their adventures!
- Last, please add more variant gear appearances. Many hunters would choose a quiver over a cloak, or a monk might want to lug a barrel of brew instead of a shoulder or back slot item. Don’t be afraid to break the cycle of “one-size-fits-all” gear items as it relates to transmog. Maybe enable transmogging neck items. Heck, maybe even consider adding trinket transmog items, maybe as an emote! What if /trinket had us solve a puzzle box, play with a dribbling inkpod (BFA throwback), or look suspiciously into an ancient powerful fragment we had equipped. Allow us to explore our gear more, appreciate it, and have it be a part of our class identity moreso merely some “number item” that gets transmogged over - and replaced without care.
That’s it, thanks for reading if you did.
