If blizzard is planning on doing classic+, I would prefer if they expanded on the game horizontally, meaning they expand the world of Azeroth without raising the level cap and invalidating the current classic content.
If I was going to do classic+, that would be my focus. Add to the game WITHOUT subtracting from the game in the process.
One of my friends brought up the fact that it’s basically impossible to add to the game without making old content irrelevant, and I must say that while difficult, this is not necessarily true.
Classic already does a pretty good job of this. Naxx does not invalidate molten core even though the items inside of naxx are BETTER than the items inside mc. Some of the items also just hold up really well even when compared to naxx gear. Cauterizing band, quick strike ring, wild growth spaulders, onslaught girdle and accuria are all very powerful items that keep the instance relevant. On top of this, there are many recipes that remain useful, particularly enchanting recipes and the elemental sharpening stones, as well as thunderfury bindings.
So for one I would say new raids probably shouldn’t have gear that is any better than naxxramas level, because at that point some of the items start seriously getting invalidated, but the raids probably shouldn’t have enchants that are substantially stronger than say healing power or spell damage, etc. This isn’t a problem either, because even without adding gear much more powerful than naxxramas, there are still many holes in gearing for MANY specs currently in classic, and there are many side-grade or upgrade items that could be introduced without having to make items that are higher power level than naxx gear.
Another cool thing that could be done if you want to create new content without invalidating old content is to ADD items to old raids if they see a substantial drop-off in people going to them. This has been done many times throughout classic history as well. Originally majordomo didn’t even drop loot. Ouro didn’t originally have the gun on his loot table. This is something that could be done to remedy that problem, although if done right wouldn’t even be necessary.
The next thing would be expanding on professions. TBC did a good job of this because for the large part crafting professions were pretty underwhelming in classic. I would like to see much stronger epic crafted items and I would like to see the recipes drop from raid bosses in the new raids, grandiose quest chains that take people across azeroth, and random world drops too. Additonally, it would be really cool if the materials for some of these items came from the OLD raids. Wouldn’t it be cool if you need lava cores or wartorn scraps for an item that you make with a recipe from a NEW RAID? Or what about a crafted legendary that used 10 splinters of atiesh and an eye of sulfuras, you know something really cool? (part of the ashbringer quest maybe?)
Another important thing if you’re going to expand on azeroth, is to give players incentives to go out in the open world and leave the city for christ’s sake. Give us something to do. Not dailies, but make events like the scourge invasion. That was really cool and stirred up a lot of world pvp and gave people a reason to go in open world. Another thing that makes me go out in open world is stuff like demonic runes and night dragon’s breath. Felwood is a zone that I keep returning to because i have a reason to go there that isn’t just world buff related. Maybe make plants similar to felwood but in a new zone, and make those plants drop a consume worth using. New consumes, anyone?
What about new raid sizes. We had 20 mans and 40 mans, why not some 30 mans, or 15 mans, or 10 mans? What about an 80 man raid, this could push the social interaction further, and could make for some interesting gameplay.
Also what about starting from where aq20 left off with the tomes? Maybe a raid that has tomes with NEW abilities. (crusader strike for paladins, anyone?). New mounts, cool trinkets, and cool weapons with cool procs are also welcome.
As far as pvp. Add in arenas with reward for the high octane arena gamers. Also on pvp servers i would like to see a ‘open world pvp weekend’ where the rewards for killing players in azeroth are SUBSTANTIALLY increased, giving an incentive to go in the open world to farm honor. Also new battlegrounds would be cool, maybe finish the one that was planned for azshara.
What do you guys think, are these good ideas or horrible ideas? Have some of your own ideas, post them below im very curious to see what people come up with.