“Why did you appoint some clown with a science background and not a single creative bone in his body? What am I even doing here? I didn’t sign up for this, let me go.”
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1.) Lobby internally for the biggest consulting budget I could.
2.) Lay off pretty much anyone who had anything to do with BFA/SL story with sole exception to those responsible for the gems of those expansions - the guy/gal who did the lion’s share of Drustvar, the Jaina/Katherine Proudmoore questline, as well as came up with the Ben Howard questline from SL. Promote them.
3.) Use both budgets to find actual writers who know how to write.
4.) Do what they tell me.
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I would probobly make a bunch of changes which I think are a good idea, and move the story in a direction which I also think is a good idea. Then the forums would explode about how I am killing the game, and should be fired and never allowed to work in the gaming industry again…
So pretty much what happens to Ion and Danuser right now.
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Sure, someone’s been a critic of the story at all times… but I think the first time the story ever got almost unversally panned was WoD, and even then, only the end of it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more butchered, nonsensical ending than Grommash suddenly leading the “good guys” and exclaiming “Draenor is Free”.
Legion got us back on track, only for it to be literally set on fire at the start of BFA and it’s completely burned to ashes by now.
I think if something emerges from the Ashes that’s good, Danuser and team will be forgiven. I genuinly think WoW players aren’t huge story snobs overall… they just want it to not suck. That’s not too much to ask for.
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I’ll just outsource all the writing work to fanfiction writers and it’ll already be an improvement
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I would bring back the Jailer and treat him as the “what is to come” threat that the Jailer was referring to when we killed him in Sanctum. But this Jailer wouldn’t be a robot. I want to see how players would react to that kind of story telling trolling.
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I would immediately call upon friends who knew the old lore well and tell them to give me an overview and plan. 
Personally, I think seeing actual consequences to all the disasters would be a nice way to roll things forward. All these things that supposedly affected the planet – yet the planet it as it has been, no new quests/events in the old areas, etc.
I’d roll out changes across the world, little bits here and there that would grow: maybe a new ‘faction’ that is fed up with this whole horde/alliance nonsense and just want to live their lives and fight anything that threatens the planet.
Old grudges, old ways would still be there, so Horde/Alliance tensions would still exist and add an additional element and dynamic between people.
Grow the world forward, update things and worry about ‘save the world’ plotlines for the expansion after that.
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This but unironically. Exarch Hellscream, but he breaks his mental conditioning and becomes a Warlord of the Warsong again.
In fact, it would give AU Garrosh a reason to hate the Alliance. His mind was manipulated by the Light for years and these “Alliance dogs” worship it, and their King wields it as a weapon.
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I would dissolve the narrative department and re-allocate that budget to engineering and game design. Why people care about the marketing cinematics so much? MMO stories read like bad parodies because it’s barely possible to shove a story that makes sense into the motivations of 100k people all playing the game for their own reasons. MMO stories work best when they are vague and out of the way.
If I were narrative designer, I would bring Nathanos back from the Maw so he and Sylvanas could have a love triangle with Baine Bloodhoof.
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I would turn Anduin into an absolute GigaChad. Tauren say bye to the Horde and join the Alliance because let’s be real we all know Tauren are fed up with all the Horde’s BS (I’ll give horde half-Ogre’s as an appeasement, full bloods are just too big). Hasten the progress of the new world tree being grown. Remove Vulpera from the game, lore reason being they were hunted to extinction by gnomes.
If I was in charge of the story then the expansion after Dragonflight would have us travel to AU Azeroth and help defend it from an invasion by Yrel and her forces. Then the expansion after that would have us explore a newly discovered continent on the far side of Azeroth (east of EK / west of Kalimdor).
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I’m against the part where I am choosing items from Danuser… However, my first action would be to create expansions related to revisiting Outland, Eastern Kingdoms, and then Kalimdor in that order.
Outland would be a wonderful expansion to showcase Void Elves and Mag’har Orcs as the main characters.
The Eastern Kingdoms expansion could have the zones updated with new content and then more areas could be released as patches. Kalimdor would be similar.
The game needs an expansion or two of renewal and restoration.
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Metzen: “We received signs and read symbols which lead us to you. As a potential Chosen, you were presented with the 76 sacred objects. Out of them all, you selected the two that belonged to our last Principal Narrative Designer, proving definitively that you are his successor. You are free to go, but you will be our creative leader until a new Chosen is appointed. Geek is… you. All Hail Dan.”
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I’d erase Shadowlands and Battle for Azeroth from ever happening, there would be zero trace of either expansion. I’d also not have Vol’jin die to a single little stabby stab of a demon poison we’ve seen once and never again. I’d have the Alliance be the aggressors for once in their existence, but ultimately after that the Horde and Alliance would be at a truce and be focused on working together against genuine, pre-established threats to Azeroth. N’Zoth deserves an entire expansion of his own, for example, and I’d honestly play on the idea of the Light Inquisition led by Yrel because I think that’s something to explore.
I’d also relegate Sylvanas to her dark hole in the Undercity. I suppose after this narrative reset her story wouldn’t be what it ended up being now, but she’s far too stained for me to ever want to use her in a serious lore beat again.
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Shadowlands: Die Another Day
Shadowlands: Resurrection
Shadowlands: Only Mostly Dead 
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Shadowlands: Six Feet Under
Shadowlands: Weekend at Bernie’s
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Id give every race an expansion based off its lore and culture. Mog gear to match.
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Post Dragonflight, a nice chill expansion where we revisit/reuse old world/expansion zones to tell new smaller scale stories and expand the existing lore without adding more complexity, followed by a Legion sequel expansion where we face a fractured but resurgent threat from the remaining Legion forces, and have to use the Vindicaar to travel to and emancipate other Legion controlled worlds.
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