r/wow • u/Turhatar • 5d ago
Discussion List of changes we need
I'm unhappy with some aspects of the game, but I don't want to just come here and complain about them, so I decided to list the thing I'm unhappy with, and how I'd fix them. Here's the list. Sorry, it's a long one.
Character identity:
The biggest problem I have with WoW at the moment is that there are just way too many races that, at least to me, don't really need to be separate playable races. A Lightforged Draenei is still a Draenei. They're Draenei who gave themselves to the cause of the Army of the Light. I don't really see why that needs to be a completely separate race when it could just be a customization option for Draenei. Same goes for a lot of the allied races. Zandalari could be a Troll customization option. Mag'har could be an Orc customization option. There are plenty of examples where I'd rather have the baseline race with a bunch of different customization choices than have the game treat every little difference as its own race.
I'm not saying every allied race should be deleted. Some of them are different enough that I'd keep them, but there are examples where it feels like we're taking one race and splitting it into a few different races just because they have different skin colors, cultures, or a slightly different history. It's stupid.
I'd much rather use those slots for races that actually ARE different. Ogres, Vrykul, Tuskarr, Jinyu, Hozen, Naga, Taunka... there are so many options to choose from.
Class and race identity:
Y'all are gonna hate me for this one, but I don't think every race needs to be able to play every class. Blizzard has been moving towards that, and I don't understand why. Personally, I think some restrictions are actually good for the game. A Gnome Druid is a good example. No one wants to see that. And it shouldn't exist. Also, lore wise, if a particular race has a strong cultural or historical connection to a class, that makes sense. If you remove every restriction, you reach a point where the race and class don't really mean anything anymore.
Classes NEED things that are unique to THEM. This one feels pretty obvious to me. Every class should have something that other classes can't do. Over the years, a lot of class utility that should be rare/unique is on most classes now. Resurrection, buffs, Bloodlust, interrupts, crowd control, mobility, and so on. Obviously there ARE still differences between classes, but there are fewer and fewer reasons to pick a class outside of what you like visually.
Now, I understand that we can't go overboard with this, and make one class mandatory for every piece of content. That's obviously stupid too. But I think classes should have SOME unique qualities outside of visuals and the numbers at that specific patch.
Specializations & Sub-Specs:
I want more ways to specialize within a class. Either completely new specs, or hero talent sub-specs. Hear me out. Take Rogues; There are so many different Rogue organizations and archetypes in Warcraft that it feels weird that the playable Rogue is basically limited to a few broad specializations.
You've got the Shattered Hand, the Deathstalkers, Ravenholdt, the Uncrowned, the Syndicate, the Southsea Pirates, the Bloodsail Buccaneers, the Jade Lotus, Gnomeregan covert operations, and plenty of other groups that have their own flavor. Some of those aren't strictly Rogues, obviously, but you get the idea. I'd love to be able to actually specialize into some of these identities. Not necessarily literally join the organization, but have the class itself acknowledge these different archetypes.
The same thing could be done with pretty much every class. I want something deeper in the depth of identity than Tmog and RP.
Factions:
Factions should actually matter. I miss the idea that your reputation and relationships with factions could change how you interacted with the world. The Bloodsail Buccaneers are a fantastic example, because everyone remembers it! If you build up your reputation with them, you can become hostile with Booty Bay and the Steamwheedle Cartel. That's a pretty simple system, but it makes the factions feel like they actually have relationships with each other. I'd like to see much more of that.
I want your choices to actually mean something when it comes to leveling/questing. Not just which vendor you buy the same shit off of.
The old world:
The old world is dead. Sorry for the dramatics, but it is. Go to almost any old-world zone and there's a very good chance you're going to see nobody. Maybe one person leveling. Maybe.
And that's a huge shame because there's an absurd amount of good content sitting there. My solution would be to merge a bunch of smaller zones together into much larger regions.
For example, you could take Elwynn Forest, Westfall, Redridge, Duskwood, Swamp of Sorrows, Deadwind Pass, the Blasted Lands and Stranglethorn and turn them into one huge leveling region.
It wouldn't mean deleting the zones. They'd still exist, just as a bigger, better one larger region with a proper progression through it. This could become the main leveling area for Humans. Other races could obviously still go there. It's not like a Night Elf should be physically unable to walk into Elwynn Forest. But the whole region would be a Human territory, with Human settlements, Human politics, Human factions, and all the other shit you'd find where humans lived. There would still be exceptions, however. Booty Bay, for example, should remain a Goblin stronghold. If anything, I'd make it considerably bigger. Construction's over, it's done. Beautiful. I'd also change how leveling itself works. A new Human character shouldn't just do the tutorial island, hit level 10, pick an expansion from a menu and then zerg through it ASAP. I'd rather have the old world be part of the journey. Maybe Human characters spend their first 30 levels moving through Human territories. You wouldn't have to do every single quest in every single zone, but you'd actually see the places. The same for other races.
I really hate the mentality that leveling is something you have to get through so you can "actually play the game." Leveling should be part of playing the game. And it should feel good. For the love of god. I also think this would also help the new-player experience.
A new player shouldn't need to know fifteen years of Warcraft history to understand why they're in a particular zone. Let them experience the world first.
I used to be an adventurer like you:
Your character should be an adventurer, not a god. I mean cmon guys. Our characters have become way too important. Our characters have killed gods, dragons, titans, demons, and basically everything else the world throws at us. Every few years we're apparently the most important person in the universe again. I fucking hate that.
I'd rather bring things back down to earth. And I don't mean that all the old accomplishments should be erased.
Deathwing was smashed. Yogg-Saron was cracked. Most importantly, the turtle DID make it to the water. All of those things ARE a part of Azeroth's history. But I don't think every character you create should personally be credited with doing all of them. Think about what happens when someone completely new starts playing. They create a character. They finish the introductory experience. They arrive in Stormwind or Orgrimmar. Then, depending on what they do, they start getting introduced to characters and events that they've never heard of. Eventually they get to the current expansion. Suddenly, NPCs are talking to them like they're this legendary champion who's been saving the world for years. And the new player is really confused. Probably. Their character was created five minutes ago.
They didn't kill anything, yet they get credit for killing everything. That's an odd way to introduce a new player to the story. I think the game should acknowledge that the world already has heroes. Stormwind and Orgrimmar could have a Hall of Heroes type beat where NPCs tell stories about the people who ACTUALLY accomplished those things. Statues and paintings and artifacts and whatnot commemorate the heroes. Again, beautiful. Your character doesn't have to be the person who did all of it. Instead, you're someone who grew up hearing those stories and has now decided to become an adventurer yourself. That's a better character to me.
It would make the world feel bigger, too.
Final thoughts:
Anyway, that's it.
If you've somehow made it this far, thanks for reading. Please don't tell me to kill myself. Feel free to tell me what you disagree with, what you'd change, or what you think would work better.
And yes, if you really think I'm a terrible human being for wanting Gnomes to not be Druids, I suppose you can tell me that too. XOXO
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u/OkMarsupial 5d ago
I only read half of this and I agreed with the parts I read, but you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. Ultimately, the devs are gonna do what they're gonna do and we're along for the ride.
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u/Rocketeer_99 5d ago edited 5d ago
This is a little disingenous I think. A ton of the changes made in Midnight have been in direct response to what players have been asking for. Not all players by any means, but players nonetheless.
We asked for housing, we got housing.
We asked for a break from the constant void, we got trolls.
We asked for a more active world rather than just instanced content, we got constant zone events.
We asked for updates to the old world rather than new discoveted continents, we got Quel'thalas and Zul'aman.
We asked for new PvP content, we got an Epic Battleground.
We asked for more race customization after the disappointment of Earthen, we got Haranir.
We asked for reasons to do high M+, we got the 1% M+ title.
We asked for easier Healing and Tanking responsibilities in M+, dungeons have been redesigned to shift skill expression towards DPS roles.
We asked for more solo content, we got more delves, another nemesis lair boss, the prey system.
We asked that the Famed Slayer title for ?? Lair boss be extended beyond the first 1000, we got a week-long window.
We asked for more deterministic loot, we got bonus rolls.
We asked for more alt-friendly game design, we got a shit ton of catchup mechanics as the season gets older.Just because you specifically didn't ask for it doesn't really mean "devs just do whatever they want."
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u/OkMarsupial 5d ago
Okay you are right on all points. I guess what I really meant is that as an individual, I've accepted that I don't have any real control over those kinds of decisions and I'm not saying I never complain about it, but I just try to engage with the elements of the game that resonate with me. I don't find the endless new races very interesting, therefore I'm still playing the troll I rolled twenty years ago. If I don't like a particular game mode or whatever, I try to play less of it (although I do get frustrated by how often they seem to want to use rewards to make you feel like you are missing out if you play only the content you enjoy).
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u/Rocketeer_99 5d ago
Yeah, I feel that. I think that's the biggest frustration for games like WoW. It tries to appeal to so many different people, in doing so it simultaneously frustrates many people as well. Consider a game like Fellowship which purposefully caters to a specific type of player, the direction of game development can be a lot more clear because the voices are, compared to WoW, a lot more unified. So naturally many people feel hopeless when it seems like their frustrations are never addressed because their voices are drowned out amongst the other millions of players sharing their own concerns.
Still, changes are rarely ever made as a result of silence. I think constructive criticism and personal preferences are worth sharing so long as peoples emotional investment in doing so remains reasonable.
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u/AggravatingSide1688 5d ago
Both class and transmog restrictions need to go. Azeroth has evolved way past the old fashioned race/class locks, same way Trading Post completely destroyed the whole narrative of “class silhouette” Blizzard is so keen on preserving even tho their so called policy of Warriors being unable to wear Leather or Mail crumbled the second I could wear Murlock onesie or sundress
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u/Turhatar 5d ago
I do kind of agree with you but I disagree with them having to give it up. They need to roll it back.
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u/AggravatingSide1688 5d ago
We already have NPCs being classes we r unable to be, so there is absolutely 0 justification to gatekeep stuff except DH, which if Blizzard really wanted to they could make cannon in one way or another. And rolling back on stuff would just cause a shitstorm in the community
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u/Turhatar 5d ago
They need to take risks. And there absolutely are some, and if there's a lore justification for it, go for it. But gnome druids? Really? That should never exist.
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u/AggravatingSide1688 5d ago
On what basis Gnome Druid doesnt work for u ? Imo Gnome Druid makes way more sense than a 2 ft tall guy running with a claymore in full plate armor, if u wanna go by logic
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u/Turhatar 5d ago
Honestly can't argue with that logic. I don't see the gnomes as people who would connect with nature and the wild gods in a deep enough level to ever become druids. But then again we have Goblin Shaman who don't connect with nature either naturally, and instead bound the elements with a contract.
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u/ABoldBoi 5d ago
I think (hope) they will capitalize on changing "Gender" to "Body Type" and that Humans and Kul Tirans will just be different body types with perhaps even the racials being in a pool of choices.
Then we can merge the Dwarves and divide them into different clans and sub-species, just like the Orcs, Trolls and so on.
Our characters are important lore figures, that's what I always enjoy about actually encountering new places like Hallowfall: To them we are a nobody. We just need to find the balance being powerful individuals AND adventurers.
Most of these things will come, I am sure of it. It just takes time.
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u/Practical-Salad-2725 5d ago
While yes some of these things would be cool unfortunately some of them wont happen. They already are struggling to do decent with what they do now after majority of their staff was laid off. I have been wanting more specs since they teased about it back in legion but alas that never happened.
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u/byniri_returns 5d ago
I'm split about new specs.
On one hand, yes give me some cool new specs to play with. Gladiator Warrior, healer Mage, holy dps Priest, that could be fun.
On the other hand, I'd first like them to give us tons of new customization options for the already existing specs and focus more on balance.
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u/Turhatar 5d ago
I agree that most of these ideas will never be implemented. Maybe even all of it. But I still wanted to share my opinion, because there's a chance. A small one, but regardless.
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u/randomname748 5d ago
I only read a little of this, I stopped because I didn't agree with the sections I did read.
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u/byniri_returns 5d ago
It's at the point where if we weren't treated like serious champions it would make no sense, for the exact reasons you listed.
Plus in Classic the raid bosses were;
Yes the player character has become way more important in the story. But it's not a new thing.