We can go on forever about the bad ones, but sometimes a retcon is necessary. This franchise is full of continuity changes, and I think some are good. Granted, the execution of them can be bad, but I appreciate the concept.
Are there any you can think of?
Recton bascially everything from BFA would be a good retcon.
There is no other way to clean this mess up without seriously damaging everything and tainting everything that is yet to come.
Admit it was mistake, retcon it, start at point zero again, done.
But yeah … will not happen.
I liked the Draenei retcon, personally. One of the only retcons I liked from Chronicle also had to do with them, where it basically stated the Battle of Shattrath was a small group of defenders against what practically amounted to an entire planet gone rabid. In the old lore, the Draenei seemed like way bigger pushovers.
Retconning the orcs from literal denizens of hell into an actual people with thoughts and feelings and flaws was imperative to the existence of WoW from Warcraft. It took a very black and white, relatively common plot and made it capable of nuance and perspective. It enriched the story Blizzard could tell.
Now, whether or not I feel Blizzard is currently living up to the idea is another thing altogether, but I think the purpose of this thread is to try to have some positivity. I’ll respect that.
I’ll shoot. Adding new continents to the already mapped out Azeroth would be an acceptable retcon. Having the continent known, rather than some discovery, but give a reason to way no one ventured there or it is not widely tranverse. Magical storms(Pandaria mist), illusions(Suramar) or maybe the land is so hostile, it wasn’t worth exploring and whatever civilizations there have gone unnoticed.
A little difficult since the established races of Azeroth are already space travels and fighting battles on the cosmic and extra-dimensional level, but I think I could swallow that.
A good retcon would be something that was directly changed in a way to enhance the story or at least keep the narrative consistent in a way that is not jarring.
A fun example for the anime nerds in the audience would be the relationship between the Shukaku and the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Prior to Part II of the series there was no proof of 9 tailed demons and Shukaku and the Nine-Tails weren’t even related. This was changed in Part 2 via a retcon; they are related they just hated each other.
Retcons get a bad wrap in wow because retcons are usually done in the most jarring direct say possible which confuses and angers people. Take Darrek Proudmoore. His retconning death was in your face and direct because they needed him for plot. This angered people, even tho functionally being burned to ash or not isn’t really that big a deal, people just didn’t like that he’d be forcibly raised and thus the anger.
I’d say a good retcon for WoW would be the entire Rise of the Horde narrative, because before that they were just a demonic invading army that became noble cin Warcraft 3.
A good retcon would be if our player characters woke up at the end of Burning Crusade from a bad dream.
Muh demon corruption isn’t nuanced nor is it original. FFS it’s from Tolkein too.
In fact it actually smells like Warhammer 40k in its current styling.
Go and read the Warcraft 2 Tides of Darkness manual, written from the perspective of Gul’dan when he first touched the consciousness of Medivh…that was actual, quality writing, in a game manual of all things.
To whit:
It was during my fevered flight that the Presence finally made contact with me. It radiated untold power, but it lacked the emotionless control displayed by Kil’jaeden. My senses seemed to take control over the dread that had engulfed me, and my mind began to cipher and reason. I knew that if I could divine the desires of this force, no matter how powerful, I could use it to further my own ends. The presence identified itself as [Medivh], a sorcerer from some far and distant [world]. We communicated not in words, but in a guarded joining of minds. His mind seemed boundless, but his thoughts moved so swiftly that it was difficult to learn anything from him. All the while, I knew that he was probing me - learning more and more about the [Orcs] and our magic. I could never learn as much from him as he would from me, and I soon broke contact with him.
Nothing that has come since has been interesting or nuanced. It is black and white, good gais versus bad gais.
I’d miss transmog … buuuuuuut else. Yes.
Hm. What is a good retcon? As in, one that is recognized as a retcon and currently… is?
(without delving too much into what is, is)
The Draenei. I like that there are Eredar all over the place. Broken on Argus, Outland, and probably other places.
In WC 3, they had little lore. The Expansion of their lore is a retcon I can say was good.
Disappearance of Me’dan.
I liked the retcon they did with Frostmourne, being stolen from the Maw and the Jailer possibly whispering to Arthas through the helm. Gives a sense he might not have been completly in control of his actions.
Well, aren’t you just an absolute ray of sunshine.
If you’re of the mindset that the absolute narrative mess of Burning Crusade was good, then I don’t think there’s anything more to say on the matter.
Now, I’m gonna dip out of this thread because…
Unsinking Zuldazar and turning Kul Tiras into an island rather than it being just a port city.
Changing Orcs from ‘we just worship Satan’ in Wacraft 1/2 to their tricked shamanistic race.
Having Illidan working against the Legion the entire time instead of randomly being crazy.
Changing Sargeras being corrupted by demons to out of fear from the Void Lords. And expanding what the Eredar were.
Aside from the big ones already mentioned, I like/appreciate the reimagining of Kael’thas’ downfall and corruption in Chronicles. Instead of just selling himself to the Legion for vague promises of power, it was the culmination of several despair-inducing failures both fanned and influenced by KJ.
Where do you think Blizzard got the idea for warcraft?
I’ll never forgive GW for End Times though.
Least Age of Sigmar is pretty decent. And Nagash is finally a Death God 
The original Warcraft game was supposed to be a Warhammer game, was it not? The two companies had some issues, some changes were made, and intellectual property laws were different back then. If it reeks of Warhammer… it’s probably because it’s Warhammer.
They killed off most of my favorite characters, like Malus and Vlad/Isabella.
I was upset too when they killed of Vlad and Isabella and Malus. They were great well written characters. At least Vlad is one of Nagashs Mortarchs in Age of Sigmar 