Legion is coming and World of Warcraft fans are dissecting the expansion to determine if it is or isn't their next hearthrob. I've been under the weather lately, but thankfully it has given me some time to conclude one thing: I'm not sure Legion is the cure to the WoW doldrums we think it is without something major coming. It honestly feels like they're doubling down on their Mists of Panderia ways, limiting players in how they advance their character (you now will have only one weapon and I assume all further weapons are upgrades of that weapon) and requiring players to sacrifice PvP ability for cosmetic choices. I get that they want more grinding in the game, to give you more to do, but this isn't at all what I want to see in my WoW.

WoW needs some fundamental groundup changes to "rescue" it. It needs the revamp that Cataclysm never was. It needs to literally be rebuilt from the ground up with any fear of breaking legacy content. First, the entire world needs to be thrown into the trash can. They need to completely redesign Azeroth from the top down. They need to make some tough choices, like rebuilding the entire leveling process in the game from the ground up. Right now, if I start a new character, I'm going to go through a lot of pain and suffering leveling up throughout the world that's at this point, so far broken and disjointed expansion to expansion, that there isn't any real way to enjoy the storyline or the progression.

Each expansion has a differnt way of moving through content. In TBC it's absolute hell as you grind boring dungeons that you don't want to play through. In WotLK you go through a semi-interactive story that's different depending on which region you start in. In the Cataclysm areas, it's on rails completely as you move through content that involves way too much phasing that barely works together. In Mists of Panderia, it returns back to more of the Wrath style questing system, as you involve yourself in a storyline that's completely foreign than the others. Then you reach Warlords, where you return back to Outland somehow, but this time it's back to being completely on rails like it was in Cataclysm, with the phasing and everything.

It needs to be reduced into a coherent storyline. It's important for the new user experience or even in leveling alts for it to be a fun and engaging experience. They need to rebuild questing in each of the zones to use one constant method of leveling. This way, fresh blood can enter the game and not need a boost to reach max level and can enjoy the game for how it was designed, versus the current system where you need to use the boost for the game to even make sense and get to content that's easily consumed.

The game engine needs an update. It needs to remain as fluid as it is now, but with better graphics throughout. This plays into rebuilding the game, or well, making WoW 2 at this point because I doubt an expansion is going to accomplish enough to make the game fun and exciting again.

Finally, the endgame needs to be recreated from scratch. We need raid finder and raids to be two seperate things. I get that "casuals," whatever that term is, want to see content, but at the same time you need a carrot on a stick and everyone feels like grinding LFR gets them enough gear to just be alright with it. LFR should have its own raids, designed specifically for the concept of LFR. It can use the same assets or even zones as the current raids, but it needs something to make it where you don't feel satisfied just with the LFR. You need to make a guild, you need to work hard, otherwise PvE just won't work. Making it where you can PUG a raid isn't a bad option, but making it where you can just literally get your raid done inbetween missions at your garrison is just not a way to keep my subscription going.

Lots more needs to be done - but needless to say, I feel as if starting over is needed to clean up everything. I'm going to post additional thoughts about what Legion will do to encourage players to return.