Originally Posted by DerpiusMaximus

Alright, so I'm going to do one for each expansion. Gonna start with Vanilla and TBC with this post then the next posts I'll do a little more if people like some of my ideas.

Vanilla Changes:
Only real change is that instead of Naxx being the last raid, Karazhan is released as the last raid. This allows for a better lead up into TBC. Most of the raid plays out the same until you start getting higher up into the tower, then you start fighting more Burning Legion demons until its revealed that Prince Malchezaar has stolen a powerful artifact and handed it over to Lord Kazzak to reopen the Dark Portal.

TBC Starter Zones Changes:

• Eversong Woods would be mostly serve as an introduction to blood elves. The quests would mostly be about beating down threats from the wretched, Scourge, and Burning Legion. The other Horde races would have more presence here, attempting to aid their new allies and build relationships with each other. The tauren, for example, might have a small camp to work with the elves in attempts to heal the Dead Scar.
• Ghostlands would be changed up slightly. All the night elves would be removed, as it seemed like needless faction conflict. The Amani would be a bigger threat, even beating back some of the Scourge presence. The Zandalari would return, seeking to either bring the Amani back into the fold or destroy them in the process.
• Azuremyst Isle's quests would be more focused on building a new home for the draenei instead of an assortment of random, generic quests. New towns are established for the draenei to starting moving into. Friendships are still made with the local furbolg. The draenei are still introduced to the Alliance through Admiral Odesyus, but it's because they're investigating the crash-landing and not because of the Venture Co. The Alliance are more helpful in building a new home for the strangers, further cementing the ties between them.
• Bloodmyst Isle becomes about fighting the Illidari and Burning Legion, instead of the blood elves. The Illidari have crash landed with the draenei and the Burning Legion have tracked both there due to the magic.

Outland Changes:

• Overall: Because the system between choosing the Aldor or Scryers never worked out, both would be the biggest neutral factions of the expansion instead that you'd see across Outland. Some factions, like the Lower City, Skyguard, or Shattered Sun would be cut.
• Hellfire Peninsula: The Horde plot would be more focused on the fel orcs, learning where they come from and how they're connected to the Illidari, and destroying them. The Alliance plot would be more focused on re-establishing the dominance of Honor Hold as the main bastion of the former Alliance that survived for so long in Outland and taking other bulk of Illidari forces, including apprentice demon hunters. The plotline shared by both factions would would be about defeating the lieutenants of Lord Kazzak and the Burning Legion while establishing a foothold for Alliance and Horde. Kazzak would be left as a world boss in Throne of Kil'jaeden.
• Zangarmarsh: The naga presence and threat would be more shown off. Have Vashj appear more. Maybe further corruption of the naga by the fel and arcane magic that Illidan is using to bolster his forces. I always felt the naga and Vashj presence was very weak in Outland. Instead of the Cenarion Expedition, we'd have a different neutral faction that'd be made up the of the Darkspear jungle trolls (who have experience fighting in this environment) and the Night Elves (who have a grudge to settle against the naga).
• Terrokkar Forest: The plot would mostly be about battling the Arrakoa, who would have a larger presence and bigger threat. There wouldn't be much questing based on faction. The Aldor would largely be around Auchindoun, trying to retake it from the Shadow Council/Burning Legion and Auchenai, and all the dungeons there would reward Aldor rep. The Scryers would have a small plot in which they suffer a big defeat due to the Firewing manabomb.
• Nagrand: Wouldn't really have a centralized plotline. As part of the Horde plot, the Mag'har help the orcs and the Horde reconnect with their roots. The Alliance plotline is led by the Kurenai and focused on saving what Broken tribes they can in the land and coming to better understand what remains of the elementals in Outland. Nesingwary quests remain. No Halaa. The only centralized questing would be both factions would working on quests near Oshu'gun that deal with the Illidari (instead of the Shadow Council) trying to tap into the magic there.
• Blade's Edge Mountains: Changed mostly to be battle between the Black Dragonflight and the gronn/ogres with the Horde and Alliance basically watching as the two titanic forces blow apart an already broken world in the struggle. The Mok'nathal would be another neutral faction that are heroically standing up against all three, fighting to survive in the wasteland. The idea of the zone is to have something a little removed from demons, Illidan, and blood elves so that doesn't become too overdone.
• Netherstorm: The main plot would deal with the Scryers trying to tackle Kael'thas's blood elves. Not everything looks great for Kael'thas's followers, there are both the felbloods, Wretched, and many defectors to the Scryers. The Tempest Keep dungeons all reward Scryer rep. The Sha'tar have a smaller plot line that deals with trying to small Burning Legion presence there, led by eredar, that have captured draenei who were scattered when the blood elves took Tempest Keep. The Alliance would be largely led by coalition of gnomes (interested in draenei dimensional ships and tech) and Kirin Tor magi (wondering what happened to their base and people out here and what Kael'thas is up). The Horde would be largely led by the blood elf Magisters (also interested in what happened to the Kirin Tor stuff out here, along with Kael'thas) and goblins from the Steamwheedle Cartel (also interested in the draenei dimensional ships and tech).
• Shadowmoon Valley: The Aldor would seek to reclaim the draenei land here with the aid of Akama, who has betrayed Illidan now that the timing is right. The Alliance would have the night elves (including a recently freed Maiev) and Kurdran's dwarves with hunting down Illidan by tracking his night elf demon hunter masters and trainers. The orcs and tauren would be out here for the Horde, the orcs seeking to make whatever amends they can for Gul'dan's and the first Horde's corruption of the land with the tauren trying to help them spiritually in the shamanistic journey. The Horde would fight Teron Gorefiend by the end of the zone, but even though he dies, he still appears in Black Temple because its Teron Gorefiend. The Netherwing would still be a thing to do at level cap. There would be a small plot about the Scryers taking on the Burning Legion in the area, too, who are also trying to attack Illidan's forces.

Raids:

• Gruul's Lair: Expansion launch raid. Aided by the Mok'nathal We seek to finally end the on-going conflict in Blade's Edge by taking out the biggest, baddest gronn in the area.
• Coilfang Reservoir: Expansion launch raid. Plays out largely the same. We take out the first lieutenants of Illidan, the naga. Once Vashj is killed, an image of Illidan appears, threatening the players and ordering all remaining naga to the Black Temple.
• Magtheridon's Lair: First raid patch. Plays out largely the same. We beat back the Illidari, and by killing Magtheridon, we cut off a huge source of demonic power for Illidan.
• Zul'Aman: First raid patch. As forces are built up to tackle the Black Temple, a new threat on Azeroth emerges as the Amani emerge to take all of Quel'thalas as troll land. The Horde and Alliance aid the Zandalari, who have come to either bring the Amani back into their empire or simply wipe out the Amani if they refuse to join them.
• Battle of Mount Hyjal: Second raid patch. Also on Azeroth, but in the past, the Infinite Dragonflight seeks to aid the Burning Legion directly in the past to destroy Azeroth.
• Tempest Keep: Second raid patch. Kael'thas and his blood elves and felbloods are becoming desperate. Illidan has not kept up his side of the bargain and magic reserves are running low. As such, they have turned to the Burning Legion for further power. We see a Kael'thas who comes off as extremely desperate and suffering majorly from arcane withdrawal and addiction. As such, we see the orcs team up with the blood elves to save him - who better understands the promise of glory and the addiction to fel magic than they? At the end of Tempest Keep, he's not killed but beaten but captured by the blood elves and the Horde.
• Black Temple: Last raid patch of TBC. With all the other threats pacified in Outland, Illidan can finally be challenged. Between the Alliance and Horde, the Aldor, the Ashtongue Deathsworn with Akama, and the Wardens led by Maive (maybe with a cameo by Tyrande), we have a true army to fight him with. Black Temple is largely the same, though with no Broken in his army anymore, I'd just replace those with apprentice demon hunters and/or demons. The blood elf Illidari Council fight is replaced by a night elf demon hunter Illidari Council fight. Illidan is not killed, but captured by Maiev and to be jailed away once again.

PvP:

• Fuck Eye of the Storm, it's the worst BG. No new BG would have been better than EotS.

So basically, my ideas is to make TBC more coherent. To me, the Illidari never felt like a threat. I always thought the night elves would lead the hunt against Illidan and was disappointed that they only really appeared as druids or off in Blade's Edge for no reason. I would include groups where they made sense (Kirin Tor and the Magisters in Netherstorm, for example). I wanted some sense of faction pride and faction-only quests without making it a completely HORDE VERSUS ALLIANCE thing. I also wanted more zones to have a 'central plot' that help tell the story of the expansion, as well. I changed up the raids a bit, some of their ordering as well, so that they would make more sense with how they progress. The idea is that the raid patches have 1 raid tied directly fighting the Illidari and 1 that has stuff going on in Azeroth itself. The last raid would be Black Temple, as it should have been. Sunwell would had made more sense as a part of Wrath.

Originally Posted by DerpiusMaximus

Characters:

• Tirion Fordring: By virtue of no Argent Tournament, he automatically comes out looking smarter and better. I wouldn't give him Ashbringer, which seems kinda corny, but instead have him use Uther's warhammer, which I think would serve as a more appropriate counter-symbol to Frostmourne and as a symbol of his right to lead the Silver Hand and Argent Crusade.
• Darion Morgraine: Less crazy backstory, he was just another guy killed and raised into undeath, but was slightly more useful to the Lich King due to his name. Freed by Tirion and the Argent Dawn at Light's Hope Chapel still. Basically does the dirty work that Tirion can do as a paladin, but ultimately has to be shown the hard way that without the Argents, he can't prevail. Comes to realize that while the Ebon Blade is inherently a force of darkness and death, they can still do some good with their dark powers. He would still have Corrupted Ashbringer since it was his father's weapon.
• Varian Wrynn: Shown to be war hungry and not the wimpy pushover. I'd remove almost all the Lo'Gosh stuff and like 90% of the comic book stuff. Pretty much just go with a backstory that he was captured by the Defias, lost by them, loses his memories, becomes Lo'Gosh in the arenas, rescued by Jaina somehow, and deposes of Onyxia and a black dragon posing as him (none of that dual personality/bodies magic bullshit), and given the blade Shalamayne by the night elves to kill Onyxia. The guy is just pissed off at the orcs and has good reasons with the whole First War thing and being enslaved and thrown into the arena pit things by Thralls 'good' Horde. I'd probably tone down the temper when he's interacting with fellow Alliance, but when it's with the Horde, he couldn't give a shit about their feelings and, generally, rightly so. At the Battle of the Undercity, he'd pretty much show to be completely in the right for being pissed at Thrall.
• Jaina Proudmoore: Shows up mostly trailing around Varian. I think somewhere in one zone, it would be nice to have at least one quest with her to see her confront everything the Lich King, and by extension Arthas, as wrought. She'd be a lot less 'crying' and more just coming to terms with things and wanting to do her part in ending the threat.
• Calia Menethil: I think it was fucked that Blizz forgot or didn't bother with Calia. In this Wrath, she mostly just tails Varian (as its hard to come up with something for her to do without being a warrior or general). However, she'd show how the Alliance has some legitimate claims to Lordaeron still, especially at the Wrathgate.
• Thrall: Doesn't show up much in my version of Wrath, but nonetheless shows up to worthwhile mention him. He shows up as decisive and forceful. He's shown to want the best for the Horde and will call out Garrosh on his bullshit attitude, but he's also shown that he's let shit slide and hasn't been the best leader of the Horde either.
• Sylvanas Windrunner: Establish her as less 'mustache twirling villain' and more of someone who is stuck and has no idea what to do. She leads a people who cannot reproduce and must face down the fact that she really doesn't have a plan on what to do by confronting Forsaken who try to leave to join the Lich King again and Putress and Varimathas's betrayal to the Burning Legion. This makes her decision to bring the val'kyr into the Frosaken make more sense, as she would now have a means to save her people from extinction. She'll also owe Thrall one for getting back her city, too.
• Garrosh Hellscream: Garrosh is, of course, meant to show the more bloodthirsty side of the orcs. His tactics are brutal and destructive – but are also shown to be very effective against the Scourge, as well. He bickers with Thrall over what the right course of action, but ultimately shows that he really does care about the Horde and the orcs. However, he hates the Alliance and sees no value with working with them. He think its undermines the Horde to work with the Alliance because then the Horde isn't strong enough to stand on its own.
• Dranosh Saurfang: While still savage and appropriately orc-like, he's more willing to work with the Alliance and understands the biggest threat isn't just the Scourge but giving into the orcish bloodlust. He would serve as a foil to Garrosh, but while we might see him as more honorable, his tactics prove less useful in fighting the Scourge. Unlike in actual WoW, Dranosh would not die, but instead would be so gravely wounded at the Wrathgate, he'd have to sit out the rest of the war, leaving Garrosh to look really good after the war is over.
• Lich King: While Blizz went with the Lich King basically just being Arthas wearing a hat, I think he would be far more interesting as a completely new being made up of the personalities of Ner'zhul and Arthas, but definitely distinct and separate from them. Using the spirits of Arthas and Ner'zhul still lets us explore that history and those characters but allows it to make the Lich King still distinct.

Originally Posted by DerpiusMaximus

Okay, so, Wrath of the Lich King. My 'soon' was pretty much a Blizzard 'soon.' I had the hardest time thinking of what to do with Icecrown until I had a few ideas I liked. Have fun, it's a long read because I like words.

DK Starter Zone:

• Honestly, wouldn't change much at all. It's one of my favorite things about Wrath. It shows the Lich King as both ruthless and intelligent with a bold plan.

Zone Changes:[LIST][*]Overall: First, a big one for the Alliance, I would establish that the Valiance Expedition was led and largely manned not by humans from Stormwind but from the last human remnants of Lordaeron. Calia Menethil would definitely appear as some sort of minor political leader on behalf of the former Alliance of Lordaeron, probably tailing Varian along with Jaina. For the Horde, I'd lessen the heavy orc presence in favor of a stronger Forsaken and non-Sunreaver blood elf one since they have the real vendetta against the Lich King. I would have had the Lich King refer to him as a collective unit (we, us) instead of a singular one. I think it would establish better that there is both an Arthas persona and Lich King persona to the character. Too often it felt like Arthas in DK plate rather than the 'Lich King.' The Sunreavers are formed as a faction within Dalaran and the Kirin Tor. The group is formed explicitly as a means for both the Kirin Tor to watch over the magic-addicted elves and for the blood elves to find some sort of safer means to control that addiction than what they were doing in TBC. The Silver Covenant is formed as militant high elf and pro-Alliance organization in response, who seek to watch over and call out the Sunreavers on their bullshit. Neither have members on the Council of Six, instead acting more like political parties within the theoretically neutral Kirin Tor.
[*]Borean Tundra: Plot wise, mostly unchanged. I would try to show more of Garrosh's practical but appropriately brutal tactics. Coldarra would be larger and there would be much more plot development for the Nexus War, with the Kirin Tor and Kalec looking for ways to help Malygos with his madness instead of trying to destroy the dragonflight. Eventually, they persuade Aspect of Magic's consort to join their cause to help Malygos which causes a rip in the unity of the flight, causing some to support Kalec and Malygos's consort to help the mortals protect the world from dangerous magic and some to support Malygos's plan to undo mortals and their magic use.
With Borean Tundra now sharing a border with Icecrown, the north of the zone is a hotbed for Scourge activity. The main Scourge threat is the Nerubians, whose tunneling has been disturbed by Horde and Alliance mining within the areas, and the Cult of the Damned, who are trying to raise the bones of the Blue Dragonflight into undeath.[*]Howling Fjord: I would better tie-in that the vrykul view the Lich King as their death god and worship. The Scourge are actively recruiting the vrykul via the Cult of the Damned and more undead vrykul and traditional Scourge forces and buildings appear as you go further north into the zone.Utgarde Keep, the centerpiece of the zone, reflects this - at the bottom it is a traditional vrykul structure that takes on more and more Scourge aesthetics as it goes further up to the top.
I would shuffle this a bit with the bases so that the Alliance coming in from the west and the Forsaken the east, both pushing inwards towards Utgarde. The Alliance forces would be shown largely be former residents of Lordaeron, and I'd love to have a quest where we escort a mysterious person to a location, only for it to be revealed to be Calia Menethil herself.
For the Forsaken, I would play up the idea the Lich King's offer to return to him and abandon the Banshee Queen by actually having some Forsaken taking up the offer, meaning a few quests dealing with rebels who are disillusioned with Sylvanas. Putress would show up at least once too, setting things up for the Wrathgate, by concerning himself with matters of the plague. Eventually, Horde and Alliance quests meet towards the middle to theoretically fight the vrykul, who we find out are being killed and raised into undeath by the Lich King's necromancers.
However, the animosity between the Forsaken and the ex-Lordaeronian humans comes to a head at first and there's some fighting between the two. Varian shows up and talks shit about Sylvanas and the Horde, who has also shown up and is talking shit about Varian and the Alliance. Things look poised to explode until Calia and Jaina show up to talk down Varian and get him to focus on the current threat of the Scourge. Variamathas and Putress show up to do the same for Sylvanas, mentioning that the plague is not yet complete to take on Alliance and Scourge alike. Quests would resume with fighting the vrykul. Things go pretty successfully, with Forsaken and Alliance both pushing hard enough to kill King Yimron in a surprise attack. However, the Lich King appears suddenly with his Cult of the Damned and death knights, who hold back the forces of Azeroth while he raises King Yimron and his elite into undeath and setting things up for an Utgarde raid.[*]Dragonblight: Largely plays out the same. In the west, the Horde fights back the Nerubians. While the Horde is able to save the taunka, their town is loss and the Horde is pushed back to Agmar's Hammer, which is nearly overrun until Garrosh arrives with demolishers and air-support. The Horde proceeds to firebomb the fuck out of the forest near the Horde base, eventually driving the Nerubians back into their hole. However, the consequences are devastating, as the forest and land, including the Taunka capital Icemist and the various night elf ruins near-by, are destroyed which leaves nothing behind but a wasteland. Dranosh and Garrosh appear afterwards. Dranosh is furious about the destruction of the land, saying that while Garrosh was effective, he has too much bloodlust and he needs to learn how to use more honorable tactics that will not lay waste to the land and its native peoples and wildlife. Garrosh is pissed that Dranosh won't acknowledge that his plan and tactics worked and that hard sacrifices must be made to win the war against the Scourge, maybe even the Alliance at some point. The two nearly come to blows before they stand down. Garrosh tells Dranosh to go work with the Alliance and see where that gets him. Dranosh scoffs at the recklessness of Garrosh, telling him that he needs to be more careful about the path he walks down. Horde players are left to decide whether such tactics are worth it against the Scourge's numbers and power. The night elves in the west at Stars' Rest have quests that basically watching the Horde event unfold while trying to preserve what they can from the ruins that are being destroyed by Horde and Scourge alike.
The Alliance's quests in the east largely remains the same – between the Frostmourne Cavern, that Lich who was an Argent Dawn member, and the Forgotten Shore, Alliance always had some really cool quests here. One change though would be that Archbishop Benedictus and Bishop Farthing would show up to lead some quests against the Scarlet Crusade, showing that the Alliance is taking a definitive stand against the organization. Venomspite would show there's a bit of unrest in the Forskan towards how the plague should be made and used, whether only on the Scourge or whether on all enemies of the Forsaken, Scourge and mortal alike. Putress shows up again at Venomspite and seems to be the loudest voice in support of plaguing everything everywhere. The Scarlet Crusade would still be shown to be controlled by the Burning Legion.
Towards the middle of the zone, the faction-related quests give way to the Wyrmrest quests, which are solely focused now on battling the Scourge and not the Blue Dragonflight. The Scourge presence in the middle and north of Dragonblight is the biggest outside of Icecrown itself, with much of the land being blighted and new Dead Scar reaching from Angrathar the Wrathgate to to Galakrond's Rest to the shore near Moa'kai Harbor. Players would be sent to Moa'kai Harbor, where Dranosh and Bolvar can both be found representing the Horde and Alliance. There would also be the Wyrmest dragons, Argent Crusade, and Ebon Blade. Everyone is there to basically begin the hard work of pushing up north through this new Dead Scar to the Wrathgate. Your first stop is as Galakrond's Rest where players must destroy a partly reanimated Galakrond and put him back to rest (pun intended). From there, the push to the Wrathgate, battling progressive stronger Scourge foes until everyone reaches the Horde and Alliance camps.[*]The Wrathgate: Not technically a zone, but deserves its own thing. Okay, so, this plays out very similarly and very differently. So, the forces of Azeroth reach the Wrathgate, where the Alliance and Horde have established bases. The battle begins and Bolvar and Dranosh lead the charge. The Lich King appears and shit goes down. Instead of dying, Dranosh is severely wounded and dragged off the field. Bolvar, however, is still killed and his corpse taken by the Lich King. Putress makes his grand escape and we discover he and Varimathas have taken the Undercity and Tirisfal Glades for the Burning Legion. Sylvanas is nearly killed in the process, saved only by the quick action of Nathanos Blightcaller. We arrive in Orgrimmar to find the leaders of the Horde gathered. Thrall wastes no time and orders Garrosh (who is also there now) to assemble his Warsong Offensive to Undercity immediately. Thrall, Garrosh, Saurfang, Sylvanas, and Nathanos Blightcaller.
In Stormwind, Varian is pissed that Bolvar has been killed and he, Calia, and Jaina all head out to Lordaeron to take the Undercity for the Alliance. In this version, there is no Jaina going to Orgrimmar. The battle plays out largely the same for the Alliance and Horde. However, Putress isn't in the Apothecarium and the Alliance realize they'll have to go to the throne room. Before they leave, however, Varian has the Alliance forces blow up and destroy the Apothecarium. Putress and Varimathas are both fought in the same location in Sylvanas's throne room by Horde and Alliance alike. Varimathas would be slain first, cutting off the demonic reinforcements. Putress would be beaten, admit he only made the deal because the Burning Legion promised to not let the Forsaken die out, unlike Sylvanas who had no way to keep the 'race' alive in the longterm and saw no hope with her. He kills himself afterward instead of allowing himself to be taken alive.
Now the Alliance and Horde face one another. Thrall and Jaina quickly try to prevent things from getting too crazy. Varian shuts then down, saying he's been gone for too long, that the Horde had thrown him in slavery and the arenas, had allowed for Sylvanas and her people to develop a plague under his nose, that Thrall was a weak ruler of an untamed, savage, and dangerous Horde. He claims that Lordaeron will be returned one day to its rightful ruler Calia Menethil and that the Horde will be ended. Garrosh counters that the Lordaeron belongs only to those who are strong enough to rule it – the Horde, who have retaken it not by sneaking through sewers but crushing their foes before them. He goads Varian by saying that all enemies of the Horde will fall to the axes of orcs, including Stormwind and that all of Azeroth will belong to the Horde. Varian's had enough and orders his soldiers to fight and a small battle erupts. The battle is quickly ended by Jaina's and Thrall's magic. Calia is injured in the fighting by Garrosh, prompting Varian to order an immediate retreat back to Stormwind. Thrall feels defeated, admitting as much to the rest of the Horde assembled. To Garrosh he mutters his infamous, “You disappoint me, Garrosh.” which pisses Garrosh off and causes him to leave. Sylvanas is actually shown to be highly appreciative (for her anyway) for the Warchief's aid, saying it will not be forgotten. Varok and Saurfang talk, and we learn Dranosh was gravely injured and will have to sit out the rest of the war.
The Undercity is reclaimed, but the rest of the expansion is shown to be in a state of ruin. No Kor'kron forces are dispatched to the Undercity (as Thrall has direct proof that Putress betrayed the Forsaken) and Nathanos Blightcaller replaces Varimathas instead. Apothecaries are posted outside the now ruined Apothecarium, having flavor text that the plagues production is halted... for now.[*]Grizzly Hills: It always felt all over the place to me and I'd centralize the plot a little better. Remove the worgen, iron dwarves (moved to Storm Peaks), and vrykul completely. Both factions would start from the south dealing with their respective threats - each other. Hellscream appears and orders Krenna to remind the Alliance to stay off Horde turf since their logging camp is annoyingly close to the Horde. Krenna takes the orders too far and essentially lays waste to the Alliance camp and tries to take it further by attacking other Alliance outposts. Gorgonna tries to rein her sister in, but ultimately there's the mak'gora duel. Garrosh would reappear with Dranosh. Garrosh is satisfied with the Alliance death, but Dranosh chastises him for pushing the Alliance with bigger threats to the north. Garrosh admits his orders were unclear and Gorgonna took it too far. They wish Gorgonna luck.
Meanwhile, the Alliance are having similar issues. The old anti-orc faction butt heads with the folks who are like, "Hey maybe we should focus on the Scourge" here. This leads to some of the Alliance attacking a Horde/taunka camp. Unlike the Horde, this does not lead to bloodshed but the anti-orc leader who took things too far is temporarily relieved of command for needlessly antagonizing the Horde. There is still the plot about the Old God corruption of the world tree here. However, the main plot becomes investigating what's causing a death and corruption of beasts. Slowly, you work your way waste where the land becomes more and more blighted by the Scourge's plague (similar to how the Plaguelands look) and we discover that the Scourge are building more necropoleis on and over a small island off the coast of Grizzly Hills (replacing the worgen quests in the zone). Towards the end of your time in the zone, players would do quests concerning the sudden influx of ice trolls moving into zone, heading south from Zun'Drak.[*]Zul'Drak: I would heavily redesign Zul'Drak. It never made sense that the Argent Crusade wanted you to go forth and kill the trolls – which only helps the Lich King. My idea is that Zul'Drak would be in the middle of a civil war. The Drakkari are divided between giving up their lives and serving the Lich King, while the others want to stand tall as trolls and are sacrificing their loa to do so. To quell the civil war, the Zandalari have come once again to stop a troll tribe from going to far. They have commanded the Drakkari to either bend the knee to them once more and stop killing their gods or be destroyed. Drakuru would still around, given a more expanded role in the story. The Knights of the Ebon Blade would also be around more, as many of the stronger troll warlords are being turned into Death Knights, and they seek to end their production.[*]The Storm Peaks: So we'd go into Storm Peaks wondering why the Scourge haven't bothered with the place and quickly learn it is because of Old Gods and Titans. The Reliquary and Explorers' League set up camps here, competing to find the ancient history and relics within the Storm Peaks. Both hear rumors of iron dwarves, ice vrykul, giants made of ice, Titanic watchers, and portals to a tropical basin free of Scourge taint. The Explorers' League would also investigate the rumor of a race of frost dwarves, subsequently also finding Marudin Bronzebeard, as well. The Reliquary, however, find demons in an area and thinking it odd, investigate what is going on. Soon they find out that the demons have been aggressively seeking out a jeweled scepter of some sort, which the Reliquary claim. They tell the player they just have 'no' idea what it is and 'promise' that it'll be handed over to the Sunreavers for 'safe' keeping.[*]Sholazar Basin: Made into a much, much smaller sub-zone of northern Borean Tundra that's separated from it and unable to be accessed save by flying or through teleporting during Storm Peak quests. I found the zone horribly boring, and it'd probably work better as something with Storm Peaks, which shows most of the interesting Titan lore anyway.[*]Crystalsong Forest: Here would be a few quests about the Sunreavers working with the Blue Dragonflight and trying to find a safe way to sate their magic addiction. The Silver Covenant high elves and night elves exploring the area, working together here that results a sort of understanding about one another and their shared past, healing some ancient wounds. Both factions would share a quest chain with the Green Dragonflight investigating the Great Tree and its portal to the Emerald Dream/Nightmare.[*]Icecrown: First, I'd get rid of almost all of the frost/undead vrykul bits because they're not particularly interesting to me and never seemed really relevant to what's going on with the Lich King. Also, throughout the zone, we would fight the Black Knight several times, and hilariously destroy his body until we finally kill his spirit at some point during questing. However, at the beginning of the zone, we have 3 bases – a Horde base, an Alliance base, and the Argent's base of the Argent Vanguard. The Ebon Blade have a small camp outside of the Argent Vanguard, where they warn that they are on the Lich King's dominion now. Players quickly have their faction bases overrun and watch as all the NPCs are killed and raised into undeath before escaping to the Argent Vanguard. Tirion has the player begin reinforcing the base, saving Argents who were captured by the Scourge, and defeating the advanced forces of the Scourge. Then a big battle breaks out. While the Argent Crusaders manage to win, it's a bitter victory at best and the Argent Vanguard is in ruin. Darion Mograine appears and tells Tirion that the Ebon Blade will buy them time to take a pinnacle on a mountain just further into Icecrown – giving them a location where the Scourge's numbers can be bottle-necked and giving them at least a minor advantage.
Players and the Ebon Blade set off to destroy Scourgeholme and take Mord'rethar: The Death Gate for the Ebon Blade's base of operations, which allows the Argents to build their new fortress, which the player returns to once the Ebon Blade secure Mord'rethar. Once back to the Argent's new mountain fortress, the player is tasked by Tirion to be head to the middle of the zone where Ymirheim used to be. I would instead replace it with a city built by the Lich King and the Scourge. It would be similar in layout to Lordaeron's Capital City, a twisted vision and mockery of the former Arthas's homeland that's meant to be the first 'city' for the Scourge. It would also have the Halls of Reflection-like throne room, as well. The city would largely be populated by spirits that reside in Frostmourne, death knights, and the Cult of the Damned. There the player would encounter such faces as Falric and Marwyn (who also show up at bosses later in a raid) and Death Marshal Othmar Garithos, whose body was claimed by the Scourge and raised into undeath as a Death Knight and master of this new, twisted version of Lordaeron City (in a sense, giving Garithos almost exactly what he wanted). Players would even have to fight the spirit of Uther the Lightbringer, who is bound to the Lich King's blade. The Argent Crusade launch this massive assault and siege the city. The fight is brutal but ultimately succeeds, and one of the Lich King's most powerful seat of operations falls to the Crusade.
Afterwards, the Alliance and Horde show up with their airships Skybreaker and Orgrim's Hammer, which has the players lay waste to the remaining pockets of Scourge forces outside the city and force the Scourge to abandon any chance of reclaiming it. Players also eventually encounter the spirit of Arthas if you're Alliance or Ner'zhul if you're Horde. They would explain to their respective backstory to the player, showing them what led them to eventually become the Lich King (leading the player to believe their spirit is the one true spirit inside the Lich King's body). Then they direct the player to where the Lich King has torn out his mortal form's heart, where the quest plays out the same roughly the same. At the end, however, both the spirits of Arthas and Ner'zhul appear, explaining that while both souls reside within the Lich King, they are as much slaves as any soul within Frostmourne and have no influence nor power over this wholly new, terrible being called the Lich King (instead of basically showing the Lich King as 'Arthas with a nice hat' that Blizz went with).
Eventually, the Ebon Blade come back to gather up the player and they go take the Shadow Vault from the Scourge. Their new target now isn't the Scourge for the moment, but the Scarlet Onslaught, who have constructed a considerably defensible new harbor. However, when the player gets there, almost all the Scarlets are undead (though they don't seem to realize it). Mal'Ganis has effectively abandoned all pretense and disguise, using powerful mind control upon the undead Scarlets. The player battles through this new Scarlet Scourge that Mal'Ganis has created for his masters and eventually fight the dreadlord himself. However, the battle is interrupted by the Lich King, who chastises Mal'Ganis for trying to control undead within his domain and so close to his citadel. The Lich King enacts his own control of these now undead Scarlets, adding them to his own Scourge, and uses them to turn on Mal'Ganis and kill him. Darion and his DKs help us escape, and afterward, he admits he's fucked up and that trying to go it alone without Tirion just won't work the closer they get to Icecrown Citadel. Players meet up with Darion and Tirion, where they talk, and the Ashen Verdict is established. For now, the player is sent off to the Plaguelands to fight the Scourge's assault there and the later ICC patch would see the new Ashen Verdict take the courtyard in front of the Icecrown Citadel, from which they will launch the assault against the Lich King.[*]The Plaguelands: I would start to set the trend that older zones will be revamped for higher level content when appropriate, while adjusting lower level zones to account for the change in the leveling flow. Both Plaguelands would be adjusted to serve as level-capped zones at the launch of the expansion. There would be dailies, some grinding for rep and fun toys, and story quests to introduce the various bosses that players would see in Naxxramas and even ICC, trying to either stop them or harass them, and ultimately driving them back to where ever we would eventually fight them. The Lich King has marshaled his forces within the Plaguelands and now the Horde, Alliance, Ebon Blade, and Argent Crusade must tackle their enemy here first. Naxxramas would float across both zones, slightly buffing Scourge forces in whichever zone it was in.[*]Western Plaguelands: After hitting cap, players would be ported to the Uther's Tomb, which has been fortified by the Argent Crusade as their main camp in the Western Plaguelands. Players would be directed to a number of locations to fight the Scourge – Lady Deathwhisper controls Andorhal and prepares to soon march on the Bulwark and into Tirisfal Glade. Professor Putricide has been sent to Scholomance to reanimate Darkmaster Gandling so that they can begin new experiments for the Scourge. Finally, the now dead Scarlet Crusaders in Hearthglen has been raised as a death knights by with the death knight Taelan Fordring as the commander of all Scourge forces in the Western Plaguelands. Players would do weekly story quests and daily quests in Andorhal, Caer Darrow, and Hearthglen to fight the Scourge forces. The story quests would end with players assisting Tirion in putting down his undead son with him mentioning that when all is said and done, he will return to Hearthglen to make it into a bastion of the Light in honor of his son's memory.[*]Eastern Plaguelands: Players are transported to Tyr's Hand, which has been taken by Argent Crusade as their main base of operations. To the west at Darrowshire, the Scourge has rebuilt it to rival even Deatholme. The Lich King has gone as far as to raise up the spirits of Darrowshire to serve the Scourge and with Redpath the Corrupted and Marduk Blackpool as its leaders. Players would be tasked to go to Carlin Repath at Crown Guard Tower, which has been reinforced by the Argent Crusade, and head to Darrowshire to kill Marduk and free Redpath's spirit. In Plaguewood, players would have their first encounters with Loatheb and Heigan the Unclean. Quel'Lithien Lodge would be overtaken by the Darkfallen and San'layn, their first and mysterious appearance to the players. The Scarlet Enclave would be overrun by the newest generation of death knights – this time trained by Instructor Razuvious and the Four Horsemen. Players would start from Acherus and get quests from the Ebon Blade to deal with them. Light's Hope Chapel would have a timed event every few hours where it be under attacked by waves of Scourge (rotating between 4 or 5 different themes, such as only death knights or only ghouls and skeletons, with each new event) and players would have to defend the Chapel for like 15 to 30 minutes. Successfully defending the chapel gives a zone-wide buff while losing the chapel would give a zone-wide debuff. Winning also would offer a unique quartermaster and certain rewards. Fungal Vale and Noxious Glade would both become seats of power for the undead Nerubians and players must kill them there. Corin's Crossing would rebuilt by the Scourge and from here, Gothik the Harvester, Noth the Plaguebringer, and the Cult of the Damned performs their own rituals to try and outdo the folks in Scholomance. In Terrordale and Terroweb Tunnel, players would try to (and fail) to stop Grand Widow Faerlina from corrupting and raising spiders and other crawly beasts to serve the Lich King's force in Naxxramas. Ultimately, the story quest would culminate to where it began – at Stratholme, where we would fight Kel'thuzad outside of it with the aid of the Kirin Tor's Khadgar, Rhonin, Kael'thas, and Jaina, who ultimately force the Archlich to retreat to Naxxramas.[*]Isle of Quel'danas: Would be introduced in the first raid patch with the Sunwell raid. The Shattered Sun Offensive would be seen here as an offshoot of the Argent Crusade specifically formed mostly by blood elves and high elves to retake the Sunwell from the Scourge. The Isle and Sunnwell is where we'd have our first major interactions with the San'layn/Darkfallen, including Blood-Queen Lana'thel, as we learn more about them and their role within the Scourge and how they came to be. The Quel'Delar story would play out here, as well.

Originally Posted by Kisaragi

@DerpiusMaximus, interesting. I would be happy if you continue.

Originally Posted by Ol'Yoggy

I had an idea for Mists of Pandaria; I always felt that this was better than Cataclysm in some ways. There was a clear storyline, and I felt the idea of a horde civil war could have worked.

You just needed to do a few things.

1.) Eliminate Theramoore. The Alliance already has reason to go to war, and having this negates the little bit of character development that Garrosh got in Cataclysm. Alternatively, you could TONE DOWN Theramoore. The Horde occupies the city but aside from strict curfews and marshal law, the citizens of Theramoore aren't particularly mistreated. No cartoonish acts of cruelty; just standard war time occupation. Jaina could be somewhat more hostile without being cartoonishly evil, and it allows us to have Khadgar as the head of

2.) Make Malkorok the main villain. Garrosh, i'd have him be struggling as the war progresses. He wants to lead the horde to a better tomorrow, but the war begins to go badly for him as the pandaria campaign progresses. Malkorok finds the legend of the sha, and plans to harness their power. Garrosh struggles with the idea, but ultimately refuses; he feels that drawing on the darkness of the sha is no better than drinking the blood of mannoroth. Malkorok and his followers amongst the Kor'Kron and city guard (which he has been infiltrating) launch a bloody coup; Garrosh is killed and the city of Orgrimmar is placed on lockdown. Realizing that inevitably the rest of the horde will come for him alongside the alliance, Malkorok sneaks into the vale of eternal blossoms and activates the heart of y'shaaj's power. In doing so he rallies the Klaaxi and Mantid to his banner, bolstering his forces. The Alliance, Horde forces and Panderan forces besiege Orgrimmar to dethrone Malkorok and end the coup. Malkorok is loosing control of the heart's power, and Y'Shaarj is reawakening.

Originally Posted by Whitrix

Did they just say the BL is worse than the Old Gods?

Originally Posted by Vaximillian

If BL stands for Blizzard, then yeah.