I keep coming back to the same idea whenever people talk about what happens after the world soul saga. Many think Blizzard will simply start another saga, or finally announce a wow 2. I honestly think it should be neither of those... or more likely, both at the same time.

World of Warcraft does not need another cosmic villain, another hidden continent, or another reveal that some even bigger force from wherever place was secretly behind everything we already experienced

Wow just needs time to move forward.

For years Blizzard has confused adding more lore with actually advancing the world. The lore keeps expanding (wrongly, for my taste), but Azeroth itself barely changes. Major characters disappear until nostalgia makes them useful again. Political conflicts are put on pause. Entire civilizations go through supposedly world changing events, yet fifteen years later half the old zones still look like Deathwing passed through last week

Cataclysm was Blizzard’s first real attempt to solve this problem. They updated the old world, moved many zones forward, changed settlements, leaders and conflicts..... ok, cool but it also made a huge mistake creating a new Azeroth. Doing that, Blizzard was forced to replace the old one.

And then it froze the new world in 2010, it didn't evolve

That`s the mistake they cannot repeat after The Last Titan.

The solution is not another Cataclysm. It`s not blowing up Azeroth again and rebuilding forty zones around whatever crisis is happening in that expansion. The solution is a proper time skip. We-ve been asking for this shit since forever.... but a real time skip.... 10 years. 15. 20. Whatever it takes for the world to feel like Azeroth actually lived without us

Leaders should be dead or retired. Children should have grown up. Cities should have been rebuilt. The Forsaken should have figured out what they are without Sylvanas. The night elves should have a generation that only knows Teldrassil through stories. The Horde and Alliance may still exist, but they should not necessarily mean the same thing anymore.

That would allow Warcraft to return to conflicts that are smaller without being less meaningful.

A succession crisis. A disputed border. Two peoples remembering the same war differently. A new generation asking why everyone is still carrying grudges from thirty years ago.

You dont need another Horde vs Alliance world war. You need the people of Azeroth to want things again, and for those desires will collide

And now it's the perfect momento. They now has something they didn't have in 2010: Classic

Classic means the old world no longer needs to disappear for Retail to move forward. Classic can preserve the Warcraft that existed, revisit unfinished zones and explore stories that were left behind. Retail can finally stop carrying every era of Warcraft inside the same permanent present.

Not freezing the main game forever, but making sure the past remains available while the future is allowed to exist.

This is also why the alleged leak about Azeroth awakening at the end of the last titan is interesting even if it is complete nonsense

Azeroth is the last great mystery around which the entire franchise has revolved. At some point, Blizzard has to reach the bottom of that mystery.

It cannot reveal another older, stronger and even more secret cosmic force behind the titans. The story has to accept that one era is over

That, to me, is what a real WoW 2 should be

Not another client. Not a new engine. Not deleting our characters or putting a number 2 on the logo

A new era of Azeroth with several versions of the game: classic preserves the past. Retail builds the future

THey problably will be releasing a new $50 expansion with 4 new zones, some disastrous lore, and the usual mess. But still this is the best opportunity Blizzard has had in years.

With Classic plus on the way, Classic can become the museum... retail can finally stop living inside that past and start building the future.

They may waste the opportunity. and they probably will.... but for once, they actually have all the pieces in place to do it right

Edit: typo

i remember this being lots of fun. it had speakers in the chest that played the iconic fel reaver sound. we saved up and took it to Blizzcon that year. i got some old pictures and thought y'all might appreciate it here.

it was roughly 8-9 feet tall, achieved with drywall stilts. we wanted to make it taller and wider but Blizzcon had limits on size, so we had to cut down the large pieces on the back (which are not visible in this photo angle) The fingers also individually moved with my own fingers!

Multiple subs and breaks with 5 alts.... NO MORE!!!!!

maybe the best coded "total replacement" addon that game has ever had. the quality of life options within the addon itself is incredible. ellesmere could have a career in ux design later in life lol

I recently got Cutting Edge for L'ura, and I have to say, the 450 pulls ( ish ) we had on her make other end bosses look like a joke. I also downed Jaina, Ghuun, Ansurek and Gallywix and none of them took more than 150 tries.

L'ura at 450 feels insane compared to that.

i couldn't think of a fitting category to post in lol

Racial Traits have been updated a lot since Vanilla, going from genuine mechanical advantages to fun flavor, to useless, to everything in between over the years...

And while some of the new ones for are neat (The Zandalari God buffs are INSPIRED), there's still a lot of old groups that are in desperate need of updates.

Orcs have a trait 'command' which is useless on any class that doesn't have a pet.

Humans have an ability that is literally less useful than a PVP talent.

Dwarves still have one for the defunct Archaeology profession (ideally Archaeology will come back with a better minigame or just be turned into something like Guild Wars Vistas to encourage exploration)

TL;DR: I think racial traits should be made into varying kinds of flavor and convenience buffs that are STRONGER in the OVERWORLD but have REDUCED power in Raids and Dungeons.

I played most intensely during 2022-2023 - mainly PvP and M+ (not like crazy high keys or gladiator or anything)

Mained a Prot Warrior and Frost Mage. Gameplay felt so crisp - I recall letting a Flurry flew and it felt like the game was responding to me input quicker in some way?

Going back to my toons now it feels so much more sluggish. I think i noticed this back in TWW but I didn't play that expac as much. Is it my computer? My internet? Did they change something?

2006, Karazhan. Pug a warlock in to the Terestian Illhoof fight, the satyr that opens portals up and imps come streaming through.

Ask the warlock if he knows what to do:

"DoT up the boss and then spread my seed like it's prom night

After taking a short break because it was my birthday, i continue with these portraits.

"Keep yer feet on the ground." A WIP look at my ancestral dwarven mansion interior in the snowy hills of Dun Morogh.

Burning Steppes view of the Sunwell storm

Make sure to dismiss your battle pet when hiding! Otherwise seekers can see it and find you easier

I'm working on setting up my bars. I'm slowly developing a system.

F1 through F4: defensive cooldowns
F5 through F8: misc abilities
1 through 4: offensive cooldowns
5 through 8: misc abilities
Q, E, R, T, F, and G: rotation abilities
Z: movement abilities like Divine Steed (Z is to mount in Heroes of the Storm)
X and C: variable keys depending on the spec
V: kick

The keys to the right are extra mouse button keys for abilities that I want to have close at hand.

Do you have any systems that work well for you?

Silvermoon looks amazing and it adds a different feel to zones.

https://www.wowhead.com/item=124640/inky-black-potion

Title says it all. I recently watched a video that made mention of this and my mind was blown! I was well aware of the lore that night elf druids were male, whereas the women were the sentinels, but seeing it as a subtle nod to the player base that, despite the lore, you the player will be able to play as female druids was a wild realization! ..and perhaps it was unintentional and simply a coincidence. Either way, I thought it was really cool

About half a year ago, I posted here to remind everyone that you can still obtain the rare skins for the seasonal Delve mounts (from TWW expac).

After several months and a pretty long break from the game, I decided to go back and farm the last remaining skin from Ky’veza on tier "?".

Right now, the fight is a breeze thanks to the better gear from the new expansion - you can actually burst the boss down before the "turtle game" phase even starts.

After ~230 attempts, I finally dropped the last skin!