One of the strongest directions the story could take is to move away from a heavily person focused approach and return to world building.
I do not mean that major characters should disappear. Characters like Anduin, Alleria, Thrall and others still have a place. But they work best when they represent larger cultures and political conflicts, rather than when the entire story is built around their persona.
I would like Azeroth being treated as a living world.
The story rebuilding Azeroth politically, not cosmically. After so many wars and world ending threats, what is actually happening to the nations of our world? How are borders changing? How are cities recovering? What are the consequences for trade, military strength, religion, resources, and diplomacy?
If Quel’Thalas is central to the story, I would like it to feel like an actual kingdom under pressure. Show us how the Horde responds to one of its key allies being threatened. Show us the scars left by the Scourge, the importance of the Sunwell, and the tension with the Amani. That kind of development makes the world feel immersive.
Also, I would like zones to feel like societies again. Older WoW zones often had a clear regional logic. The Barrens felt like a frontier. Westfall showed poverty and rebellion. Tirisfal showed Forsaken survival, Scarlet aggression, plague research.
A zone should feel like a place where people live and struggle. Organise and trade.
I would like the player character to feel more like an adventurer within a large world again, rather than the silent assistant of Arator. The “chosen champion” concept has been overused. Sometimes it is more immersive to be a scout, soldier, mercenary, investigator, courier, bodyguard, diplomat and all of these things we’ve been doing previously, but with the intent of developing the local and political side of the story.
In older WoW, you often felt like you were moving through a world that existed before you and would continue after you left. I would like more of that feeling again.
Lastly, I would like racial identity and internal politics to matter more. Races should not feel like cosmetic skins attached to the same general personality. They should feel like civilizations with different institutions, values, factions, and conflicts.
Blood elves should not all feel the same. There should be differences between magisters and Blood Knights. Orcs should have clans, military traditions, and shamans. Forsaken should have apothecaries and deathguards, and conflicting views on morality. Night elves should have priestesses, druids and wardens.
I do not think WoW should go backwards or copy Vanilla. I also do not think it needs another forced war. But I do think the story would benefit from remembering that Warcraft was at its strongest when factions, territories, and local conflicts mattered.
The ideal direction for me would be Azeroth after repeated apocalypse like nations rebuilding, local societies changing.
In other words, less focus on one person’s emotional journey, and more focus on the world itself.
All subjective.
(Chat was used for grammatical mistakes and to improve vocabulary, I’m not a good writer yet).