When a game has been out for a decade, how do you still make it feel new, fresh, and rewarding for more recent players as well as the veterans who have been in it for the long haul? How do you change components of a game that has been the most successful in its' genre? Changes to UI, graphics, or the way the game functions overall? What do you do? Do you begin to accept the slow decline and focus on a new game or continue? What should Blizzard do?
With Warlords of Draenor, players will see a lot of game components fixed that need to be fixed as Blizzard resorts to character remodeling and stat crunching. But is this, on top of the incorporation of player owned garrisons, enough to keep players captivated in the world of Azeroth? It seems that Blizzard hasn't taken much risk to severely change the World of Warcraft. Sure things have been introduced over the years, such as machine controlled quests/raids/BG's, a new talent system, BG system, LFR, etc, but is it enough to make a game feel completely new to the point where it totally grabs you in? I would say no and here's what I think needs to be done.
PvP. New players without heirlooms don't stand any chance. Sure this can be fun for veteran players who get to 1-2 shot the newbies, but for those newbies, they get harassed and told not to even join the battles. This isn't a fun way for a first timer to try out a game component. Why not bring back that now useless (unless used for transmog) PvP gear, that once reigned supreme at the level cap of expansions? Make it change stats for a bracket like heirlooms do, meaning a set of PvP gear would improve stat wise from a bracket, for example 60-69. Buff it and slightly increase the honor needed to buy it. Give players a chance. Don't let those pieces sit at the vendor to collect dust anymore. Do something with it. Bring back the Quartermasters of the Battle Grounds so you can get amazing looking gear that makes you look like a champion of AV,WSG,AB. This is something old veteran players would appreciate, and new players could utilize.
Scale Zones & Bring Back World PvP! Questing is just not a viable option when being ganked 209320923 times by a level 90 who has nothing better to do with his time than disrupt the lives of people trying to level without dungeon grinding. Bump their gear stats down to the mid-high level of the zone and their level as well. This could make for some pretty fun battles actually. I know a lot of you will say, "Well just roll on a normal server," but PvP ones can be fun when you're matched with someone who is "your own size". Bring back zones that veteran players loved for World PvP. Give more honor for kills that happen in the world. Maybe add certain buffs for components like flag control in a mid point between South Shore & Tarren Mill or something like that, but add an AV style component where players can gather resources to summon a "protector" so that they stand a chance even if their numbers are small. If a player (primarily of higher level) has been doing some ganking, maybe there can be a posting in major cities as a bounty, and whoever kills this character gets a pretty decent reward and a reputation gain. Just some open thinking...
Bump the amount of XP that Quests Give & The Gear
As a veteran player who has introduced many people recently into WoW, it's very sad to see how much quest content is skipped because of dungeons & ganking problems. I would love to see quest XP bumped so that players can enjoy their experience questing, and feel like it is an equal option to dungeoning. In this case, blues should be given more frequently for quests of heightened difficulty, or for small quest chains within a zone that are completed.
Quests
Quests need to be able to immerse players, even those who don't know the lore. Seeing a switch up in quests would be nice, and it would be great to see an addition where players can do small things for xp, such as helping out citizens folk with small tasks, or doing little weekly pvp quests that grant xp. For instance, there could be an NPC in town whose brother was just killed under the hands of the horde, so he wants you to go out there and kill 50 horde (online) players for vengeance, or something like that. It'd be nice to see some switch ups, and something different for a change. I haven't felt very immersed in a quest line in this game to be quite frank. I'd love to see a general overhaul of how quests are currently presented in the game to be honest, but this is asking for a lotttt.
Make professions give XP. I actually had a ton of fun in GW leveling my professions, and I actually gained a shit ton of experience doing it. I would love to see this added to World of Warcraft. I think the professions need an overhaul in general to make them more entertaining and feel more unique. I can't specifically say how yet, but maybe through the use of UI changes and just the way they are leveled completely. I want to feel immersed in my professions, and that just isn't happening.
Make Old Raids Scale-able It would be cool to run Kara at 90 for fun, for a chance at some newly added rare raid gear, or maybe even possibly within a level bracket as a way to gain massive chunks of XP while leveling. It's sad to see most raids collecting dust unless a player is grinding for a rare mount or a piece of gear for transmog. I'd love to see older raids brought back somehow.
No Player Housing? How about Guild Halls?
I know we are getting lucky with even having garrisons, but how about Guild Halls if Blizz won't do player housing? As a guild, players like to celebrate group accomplishments, so it would be nice to have an area dedicated to it. Each major raid boss could maybe present a guild with a momento, such as a claw, fang, possibly even their head, etc. There could be a readable plaque within the hall stating what achievements have been accomplished as a guild. Simply a nice thought to really honor your guild, which seems rare nowadays.
Bring Back the WoW Population with Reduced Payments per Month. A majority of people do not play World of Warcraft due to the fact that gamers must pay monthly. Blizz could bring back a lot of people while still making money by reducing the fare to let's say, between 8-10 dollars per month. The game went from close to 12 million subscribers down to a measly 6 million in recent times, so it might be a really great strategy to bring back players.
Many more things on my mind as I write this, but this was just a brief overview :)
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