I understand many of these changes will be regarded as "Extreme" and I don't expect any of these changes to be actually implemented and I'm fine with the game as it is now and will play it all the way through into t3.5 without any issue as it is. This is just what I would change if I were in charge of OctoWoW.
Diseases: Durations increased to 4.3 days (duration index 2) (Why? Because 20 second diseases trivialize diseases entirely. You literally just wait a few minutes or seconds and it goes away. Terrible game design. If you catch some mind melting foot gobbling disease you should seek out holy magic to remedy it, or a competent alchemist with potent healing salves. The concept of "oh i can just go afk for 30 seconds" its ridiculous and is only overlooked because it makes the game easier)
Curses: Durations increased to Permanent (duration index 21) (Why? Again, why should curses just magically go away after 20 seconds or so? If you stumble into the Egyptian Pharoah's tomb and knock over an urn and it shatters your entire bloodline is cursed for all mellenia. Everyone knows this. Why should WoW be any different? If you stumble into the crypts of Darkshire, become afflicted by a curse from a skeletal warlock, you should have to seek out a priest or druid or mage or competent alchemist or something similar to remove it. Changes like this encourage players to interact with each other and master the game. Simply allowing players to stand around and wait 30 seconds or so for curses to wear off is just offensive to the word "curse". You might as well just call them "temporary effects")
Hearthstones: Removed from game entirely. (Why? because it trivializes being stuck in a place you dont want to be in. Thats gameplay. Get stuck in wetlands? Why should you feel entitled to a 1 hour teleportation rune item? Thats a mage ability, and warlock ability to some extent. Having every player get a 1 hour cooldown teleportation rune item trivializes mages and warlocks and adds a level of convenience that is not expected by a new player. A new player would go "oh, this item just lets me go right back to my inn, never asked for that, but thats convenient, oh wait everybody has that... oh....)
Lay on Hands: Range reduced to Melee, Cooldown reduced to 5 minutes (Why? because its Lay on HANDS. How are you laying on your hands from 40 yards away? Original developer oversight that never got fixed even all the way into 2026)
Death Wish: Renamed to "Berserk", Damage taken increased to 100%, Damage dealt increased to +100%, duration increased to 30 seconds, Rage cost increased to 100, cooldown removed, category changed to an "Enrage" effect. (Why? Going full berserk mode should be a signature Warrior ability. Simple as. Not sure how else to explain it. Warriors should excel at being raging barbarians if they choose that route)
Druids: Make Shapeshift formes last 1 minute base, and add an option under each specialization tree to talent in to making the corresponding forme (bear for tank feral, cat for dps feral, moonkin for balance, tree for resto) last up to 5 minutes, make them have a 5 minute cooldown. Increase the effects of these formes to account for the inability to stay in the formes indefinitely (Why? Because druids will stay in these animal formes indefinitely because there is no reason to shapeshift out of them. Druids should be humanoids that can shapeshift, not just a bear, or just a moonkin, just a tree, or just a cat. the act of shapeshifting should be a cooldown, not a permanent cosmetic appearance that you have to stay in in order to retain your buff that makes you at all viable for that role)
Humans: Remove [Perception], Remove [Sword Specialization], Remove [Mace Specialization], Increase [Diplomacy]'s effect to +100% reputation gain increase, Increase [The Human Spirit]'s effect to be +20% Spirit and +20% mana regen while casting. (Why? because humans are overpowered. Why are humans more skilled with swords and maces? ... ? Cant think of any fantasy trope that inspired this.)
Dwarves: Remove [Find Treasure], Remove [Gun Specialization], Remove [Stoneform], Add [Axe Specialization], Add [Dwarven Toughness] (+20% Stamina) (Why? Why are dwarves just "good" with guns? What fantasy trope is this from? ....? Cant think of any. Anyways the +20% stamina is obvious, if you ever played D&D dwarves have always had a constitution boost. Dwarves should have something going for them and to make them tankier and more of a Gimli type of character they should get a big stamina boost. Axe specialization is obvious, Dwarves and axes go hand and hand)
Gnomes: [Escape Artist] cooldown 30 seconds, Add [Gun Specialization] (Why? Gnomes would be good with guns. That just makes sense. Advanced complex mechanical devices? Definitely Gnome territory. Escape artist feels like it should be a signature Gnome ability since they are so short)
Night Elves: Add [Cultivation], Add [Perception], Make [Quickness] just a flat 10% unmounted movement speed increase, Add [Bow Specialization] (Why? Night Elves are tall and have long legs and should run faster. Night Elves are also elves and should be good with bows, and Elves have characteristically had good eyesight and hearing)
High Elves: Replace [Swiftness of the Rangers] with [Expansive Mind] like Gnomes. Add [Sword Specialization], add [Perception]. (Why? High Elves are almost locked in. Swiftness of the Rangers feels weird. I feel like players would want a pretty elf spellcaster option, and adding Expansive Mind to them over an agility buff would be more fitting and allow for more character variety, rather than funneling most high elf players into playing a hunter. Sword Specialization seems fitting for how their society looks, being all sword focused and flowy and stuff, and it allows melee High Elves to still be a viable option)
Orcs: Make [Blood Fury] an "Enrage" effect, remove the healing reduction, increase the bonus damage by 50%. Replace [Command] with [Orc Strength] (+20% strength) (Why? Because Orcs should have high strength, And should be able to go into rage mode and deal a lot of damage.)
Forsaken ("Undead"): First of all, make it so [Exorcism] and other spells that can target undead be able to target Forsaken players, otherwise why are you calling them "Undead" on the tooltip? On the same note, in making Forsaken the Undead race category, this would make them entirely immune to fear, charm, and sleep. Which would be an even trade off in my opinion. Also make holy healing spells have no effect on Forsaken since they are undead. Reduce [Cannibalize]'s cooldown to 10 seconds. (Why? Many of the horde races should be feral, barely sentient "heroes" with distinguishing traits. A literal mindless zombie should have fitting characteristics, such as eating corpses and being immune to mind affecting magic)
Tauren: Replace [War Stomp] with [War Charge] (30 second cooldown warrior-like charge ability that can be used in combat, generates no rage, deals no damage, and knocks back non boss enemies), [Endurance] Replaced with [Tauren Vitality] and [Tauren Strength] (+30% stamina and +30% strength) (Why? Because Tauren are the big boys and should be big walking meat balls accordingly)
Troll: [Regeneration] increased to +300% health regeneration, and 100% of health regeneration continues during combat. Remove [Bow Specialization], [Throwing Specialization], and [Beast Slaying] (Why? Trolls are primarily known in D&D for being big brute ogreish monsters that regenerate hit points. In wow they are humans sized, so their main racial ability should just be high natural health regeneration, so high that it visibly regenerates during combat at a steady rate without even needing heals if the damage taken is low enough)
Goblin: Replace [Exit Strategy] with [Bomb Throw], a damage dealing engineering dynamite-like ability that scales in damage as you level, but always additionally stuns all targets within a 5 yard radius of where it lands for 3 seconds with a 2 minute cooldown, Replace [Prospecting] with [Find Treasure], add [Goblin Ingenuity] (+15 to Engineering) (Why? Not much to modify with Goblins, as they are typically weak cannon fodder and not "hero" material, though it is definite that they should NOT get a movement speed increasing ability, as they are 3 or 4 feet tall and should never be able to out run a tauren or a night elf)
Ability Training: Add a 20 second cast time to learn an ability from a trainer, representing them teaching you the ability. (Why? This one is not as important of a change, just a little quip I thought of on a whimsy)
Battlegrounds: Queing for a battleground should only be possible if you are physically near the entrance of the battleground. (Why? Because I see no explanation as to why players should just magically teleport to arathi basin, warsong gulch, or alterac valley when in desolace, ashenvale ect. If you want to wage war in the Arathi Basin, you should have to physically travel there and await the battle, and interact with other players doing the same, around Arathi Basin. Tune the reputation amounts for each battle accordingly to make getting the reputation rewards still possible and viable.)