---
title: 'If Retail WoW Started Over Tomorrow…'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=yWXx3W0ivYE'
video_id: 'yWXx3W0ivYE'
date: 2026-08-03
duration_sec: 726
---

# If Retail WoW Started Over Tomorrow…

> Source: [If Retail WoW Started Over Tomorrow…](https://youtube.com/watch?v=yWXx3W0ivYE)

## Summary

The video discusses the possibility of World of Warcraft (WoW) undergoing a 'reset' after the World Soul Saga, contrasting it with the unlikely prospect of a full 'WoW 2.0'. It explores story loose ends, world revamps, and the community's attachment to the game, concluding that a reset is plausible while a sequel is not.

### Key Points

- **Context: Guild Wars 3 and WoW's Future** [00:05] — The announcement of Guild Wars 3 shows MMOs can be kept alive with new versions, but WoW's system isn't designed for a full sequel. The video questions what a 'reset' for WoW could entail.
- **World Within Team's Role** [00:32] — The World Within expansion is over, and the team is working on various tasks, similar to the Wild team. The video speculates on what they are developing next.
- **Story Loose Ends** [01:12] — After resolving major storylines (Titans, Sylvanas, Shadowlands), the question arises: what happens to Azeroth? The world may change drastically, with Elwynn Forest not being the same.
- **New Player Experience in a Reset** [02:08] — A reset could mean a fresh start with new races (like ogres) and classes, while keeping familiar elements. Players would start as 'nobodies' without the champion title, exploring new zones and adventures.
- **Signs of Reset Already Present** [04:34] — The devs are aware the 20-year formula needs change. Recent expansions show shifts: one big raid plus mini raids, reworked zones like Eversong Woods and Zul'Aman, and hints of Northrend revamp.
- **The Biggest Conflict Yet** [05:47] — The upcoming conflict with the Titans is expected to be the largest, possibly the last major WoW conflict. Loose ends like Sargeras and Illidan on the Pantheon will likely conclude.
- **Sylvanas and Shadowlands Reset** [06:31] — Sylvanas is repenting and saving souls, and she hints that Shadowlands is too ordered, implying the death realm is altered and needs fixing, leading to a reset of the afterlife.
- **14.0 as a Reset, Not 2.0** [07:16] — The video argues that 14.0 will be as close to a WoW 2.0 as possible, but it won't be the full sequel players might want.
- **Why WoW 2.0 is Unlikely** [07:28] — WoW is more than a game; players have emotional and social attachments built over 20 years. Account data (mounts, achievements) carries heavy weight, and migrating it to a new client is impractical.
- **Housing and Longevity** [09:46] — The introduction of housing is a large investment in nostalgia and safe haven, signaling the game is planned to last at least 10 more years, further reducing the chance of a sequel.
- **Expansion-Based Model vs. Sequel** [10:01] — WoW's expansion model drastically changes the game over time (like Shadowlands' talent and reputation revamps), making a sequel unnecessary; a reset is more plausible.
- **Community Opinions** [11:09] — Many players want a fresh coat of paint for WoW, whether through a reset or other changes. The video encourages open discussion.

### Conclusion

While a full WoW 2.0 is highly unlikely due to technical and emotional barriers, a reset after the World Soul Saga is very plausible, offering a fresh start while preserving the core experience.

## Transcript

get a reset. In the last few weeks, the winds have changed around the topic of a wild 2.0 with the announcement of Guild Wars 3, which is proving you can keep your MMO alive with new fresh versions of it. But wild is not Guild Wars and
its system isn't made to have a new version of it designed and released. version of it designed and released. What can wild reset to though?
done and we know that it started with three separate design teams, each working on their own expansion. Well, the world within is over. So, what is the world within team up to? Similar to the wild team working on different
tasks, so is our team at the Marceline and Flame household. >> And your support for our content goes a long way just with a subscribe and a like to the video. Good times are coming for wild and we
are ready to make cooler stuff in the future. So, thank you so much for the Is the world within team working on what happens to Azaroth after we finish literally every loose end? The Titans, Eredicron, Sylvanas is right now saying
Shadowlands is wrong and to order then likely not the real death realm. Sargeras and Illidan are waiting for us on the Pantheon of the Titans since Legion ended. What is there to do once all of this is resolved except to just
go back home? Or maybe when we go back home, home is no longer there. Home changed. The last sudden war clearly means things will not be the same anymore. There's almost a 0% chance Azaroth does not wake up into whatever
she's supposed to be, a titan or world soul, something else. Does it even matter? Once everything is said and done, Elwynn Forest will not be the same again. Will the timeline be reset? Will the world advance decades or
centuries in the future? All of the known NPCs would have either died in the last Saturn or eventually of old age or remained as a class trainer quest NPCs, especially those pesky elves that live so very long. Maybe they will remain a
connection to the memories of the past and make room for new stories to be told. Your story. Picture this. You are just creating a character in a new world of Azeroth. You
recognize some of these races, humans, elves, orcs, and trolls, and a whole bunch of others. There are some new faces as well. Old faces, but new. You can make an ogre character that's a mage, has two heads, and speaks out of
both. Or an Amani troll shadow hunter reminiscing of what Vol'jin used to do [music] and be, but with the backing of the Amani loa and their spells. You log in with your fresh new warrior, something familiar, but you are in a new
zone. The world soul saga ended and now the game is reset. It still looks the same. The spells are mostly similar. You tap target a mob to select it and swing your weapon at it. Right clicking an NPC opens up a dialogue box and you accept
adventure. But what is this new adventure? You don't know what is up. How are you going to get to max level or even what is the actual end goal? Nobody's calling you the champion anymore, commander, or
hero. You are just a nobody, just some fool with steel in his hands ready to make a name for yourself. You are excited to start farming some experience points to make your weapon swing hit a bit harder.
What happens once you reach level 10? Do you get some cool new spells or armor? How about dungeons? If you get a group of adventurers and you go into an instance zone that none of you know anything about, will you be lucky enough
to loot a sick piece of armor that will make questing way easier and push you to the next level faster? What if you reach max level and you realize the adventure has already begun? The gearing process has changed now. Your shoulders and
helmets no longer just give you a pair of secondary stats that a website told you are good for you, but instead they tell you your character will do a cool thing whenever you attack an enemy. And that might be why your raid will want
you in to slay that boss. This is but a taste of what a new version of WoW can bring. And the current design of the game 100% can make that happen because game 100% can make that happen because of what we have right now in the game.
receive a reset of some kind has already been laid down and has been in the works for quite some time. The devs themselves are aware that for 20 years the formula has become old and needs to change. These changes have been happening little
by little. We are now in an expansion with one big raid and three mini raids. Tell this to you playing Shadowlands 6 years ago and see how you would react. No, bro. Nope, impossible. They cannot remove covenants. They made some gem
shards be the equivalent of tier sets in the Sanctum raid and nipple man is already orchestrating the entire story. No way. The first signs that anyone can accept are already here. Eversong Woods and Zul'Aman have been completely
reworked. New vibe, refurbished zones that have evolved since the invasion of the Scourge to keep up with time passing in the game. In last Saturn, we already know that Northrend will be revamped as well. How? We will find out at BlizzCon,
I guess, but it's likely that Ulduar will become a player hub and a staging zone for the conflict with the Titans that will 100% happen. From the stakes of everything, this conflict or war that's about to happen will be the
biggest we ever had and likely the last actual wow conflict because well, what else is there? We already beat a void lord in mana forge. Demensius is basically a battery for Xal'atath now. We are likely beating
Xal'atath in midnight 110% and she is an extra spicy void lord level threat. In back who is clearly not a fan of the And guess who else is waiting for us on the Pantheon. Remember these two guys?
Basically been here for about nine years now, close to half of wow's lifespan. Their story will likely conclude. So, who else is left? Sylvanas has been undergoing red cons for a while now to the point where she and the Shadowlands
are not what they used to be. First of all, she's actually repenting and saving souls. And second, she clearly said stuff like Shadowlands feels too ordered. You cannot be more on the nose with that one. Basically pointing a
finger at the order leaders, the Titans, having a hand in altering the death realm with the implication that the actual death realm is messed with and needs to be fixed. Meaning that what we have encountered as far as the afterlife
is concerned will be reset. So, with all the loose ends in terms of story being reset, the world receiving constant reworks, the pillars of the universe, Titans, voids, Shadowlands, all changed or reset if you will. 14.0 will be as
close to a wow 2.0 as we can get, but not the 2.0 that people will want. not the 2.0 that people will want. >> [music]
wow 2.0 is not the same as a wow reset and why the former has close to no chance of ever happening. The most obvious answer to this is that wow is more than just a game. And I know every good and larger than
the industry type game is more than just a game. Wow isn't more than just a game anymore than League of Legends is more than just a game, but it is still more than just a game. People are emotionally and socially attached to
World of Warcraft [music] and have been building this connection for over 20 years with the continuous advancement of the digital landscape. Wow is also becoming more and more of a social gathering that replaces outdoor
gatherings. People don't go out for beers as much on a Friday night, but rather raid with their guild or push keys with their friends instead. Another aspect of the unlikelihood of Wow 2 is that people are
also attached to their account data. Mounts, achievements, 20-year-old characters and guilds have so much lingering emotional weight that moving away from it is likely going to kill the game. Not everyone feels this way of
course, but the majority of the Wow community is silent. The players logging in to do another daily quest to slay another boar, to finish another dungeon are not spending a lot of time online telling you what they think. This silent
majority are a core part of the player base keeping the game alive and they cannot be pushed to the side since they are subscribed all the time. And I don't believe the account data can be moved to the new game client. First of all, that
means that the new game client has to have the exact same graphical assets and texture for your armors and mounts to be able to look the same. 2.0? Second, the raw amount of data is
Herculean and will have [music] to be a small part of the total game files since we cannot just have Wow 2.0 without new armors and new mounts making the game be stupidly large. Third, do you really think we can have
this amount of data migrated efficiently when we cannot have a small patch release without bugs, lags, disconnects, and multiple other issues? A further indication of this is how housing has been a large investment into
the game's sense of nostalgia and safe haven for long-time players that is clearly setting up the game to be alive for at least 10 more years. Lastly, the like Guild Wars where Guild Wars has a different progression system and content
release, it facilitates their model to have new games. Wow is an expansion-based MMO with each new expansion drastically changing at least one aspect of the game to the point where after three expansions, the game
is almost unrecognizable. Think about Shadowlands. The talent >> the reputation style that we had, the profession system we had. Not to mention, we had no tier sets. The
in Shadowlands that led us into the current Wow landscape and reputations have fully turned into renown. Profession revamps, talent revamps, class revamps, all of which are making Shadowlands players have a need to
adjust to Midnight as opposed to just firing it up and automatically knowing what the hero talents are and what profession knowledge is good for. No, Wow 2.0 cannot happen, at least not without burning a lot of bridges.
However, a Wow reset is so plausible, I am sure it will take at least some form after the World Soul Saga. Maybe a more cohesive world building with a consistent vibe, something that doesn't get a whole bunch of people to say,
"This isn't Warcraft anymore." Maybe the end game being revamped to not be so predictable, which we already seem to be going towards with all these mini raids, nebulous core gearing, and so on. But that's our opinion. What about the
people out there still grinding right now for more atom level? What do they think? Well, we asked as many as we could and so far the opinions look some like this. I mean, for all those classic versus
retail landies and diehards, it does seem a lot of people want a fresh coat of paint for wow, whatever form that takes. This is not definitive, of course, but it should be food for thought or at least an open discussion.
In the meantime, when you do do dungeons, can you see your enemies' How about their cast bars? How about both? No? Well, looks like you need to see this
Well, looks like you need to see this video right here.