Ion Hazzikostas on Old World Updates - "Likely to Happen", Lessons Learned from Cataclysm

Posted 2023/09/07 at 2:52 PM by Anshlun

interview with GameSpot

Ion Hazzikostas

We are definitely open to it at some point. It is a shortcoming, if you take a step back and think about World of Warcraft as an ongoing living world, if we've kind of painted ourselves into a corner where we have all these iconic locations but we can't really use them because they've already been used.

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Comment by AerisotOne zone at a time, isn't that hard, stop trying to do too much all at once...Comment by RokmanHmmmmComment by KarthusTeemoKalimdor and EK Desperately need another revamp. They feel so out of place and outdated in a game that was quite literally built by, for, and around them.Comment by Spilledstarsand take away the "can't work in x" effects on all the professions traits. So what if +2 on a neck, or +7 on a gem is a drop in the bucket. Let 'em do it anyway, and let people indulge the content that gets them these things.

Engineers having stuff actually work (except when it doesn't (boom)) would be a breath of fresh air.Comment by TerribleAtGamesCome on, it should be a known exercise to retain the old zones and inject a Zidormi whenever they release a 'current' version of the zone.Comment by SilverDragon234I do hope the effects left by the Cataclsym remain unchanged.Comment by mallustNew Content not reused old stuff that is happening over and over again.Comment by SouledkOne zone at a time, isn't that hard, stop trying to do too much all at once...Comment by IgnitheusSilvermoon should be visually rebuilt by now and not just stated in text. It has been 10+ years. I hate seeing it broken and abandoned by time.Comment by dembonezI see this more as just a graphical update, same way arathi basin and warsong gulch got its assets updated.Comment by RahfalzChange up a zone, give it a graphical uplift and make it so there's something worth doing even after an expansion ends. Don't tie it to a patch/expansion. Leveling in there is fine, give a story, but make it worth revisiting whenever. Or add events like the fishing event that happens once in a while.Comment by 0AlorethThis is addressing exactly what I've been saying has been wrong with WoW for years. The more new zones/continents they add for exclusively max-level content, the more old zones are left dead in their wake. This is a World of Warcraft, not Five Zones of Warcraft, so it should feel like such.Comment by AstraneaI don't get why they cannot just keep reworking them bit and bit at every patch. They just need to plan things out so for example, in the emerald dream there are ALSO high quality trees shaped like some other that were in Ashenvale. Then each time they put something new in the game, small updates in the older zones also happen. Eventually, they will look nice even though the terrain maps may be simpler, and at that point they may consider little improvements to that too, while not changing the map overall.

They did it with character models, beasts and buildings already. It is a long-time endeavor, but imho it still makes more sense than remaking a whole zone from scratch.Comment by TailleventThis is addressing exactly what I've been saying has been wrong with WoW for years. The more new zones/continents they add for exclusively max-level content, the more old zones are left dead in their wake. This is a World of Warcraft, not Five Zones of Warcraft, so it should feel like such.Comment by zauriakI think the best approach is just to roll out revamps whenever it's possible like a big surprise on the side. Old content definitely needs huge love.Comment by AtoslThink about it. The barrens have been burning since the day Wotlk was over.
Imagine the next expansion is just a world overhaul. You do the "old world" quests as part of the leveling process and the raids are scattered over the world adding more flavor. And these quests become the leveling quests for new characters from level 1.
Zidormi would have to get paid overtime thoComment by GiantMachineThey should bring back original zones revamped as the default starter zone for new players. Then you can choose cata or later to play the cata revamped zones.Comment by sixfifteenThere's no denying that old world needs an update. But, I would very much like to see other places on Azeroth before that happens. Show us what's on the other side.Comment by gmd8One zone at a time, isn't that hard, stop trying to do too much all at once...Comment by Doktoren1The problem is that all the land masses we have are supposed to represent only 20% of the original continent. If we add too much new continent and such, we end up with the original Kalimdor being the whole planet without any ocean

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