The worst thing that can happen to Zelda has already happened. The series has become utterly stale. The quality is still there, but the world has become terribly shallow compared to other games. The worst thing that can happen is if the format is still honored.
Zelda needs to start incorporating aspects of other games to gain some serious depth. There needs to be an actual story rather then a convenient excuse. There needs to be some role playing mechanics added. The world needs to become more interactive. Combat needs a drastic overhaul.
Basically Zelda has become so formulaic it is not even a laughing matter. Enter the hero no back story just that he is chosen. His first order of business seems to be to visit a dungeon the goal to find a treasure that gives him a new power. Then he uses the new power to kill the boss to get a redundant item he needs to collect. Then he repeats the process twenty more times till he fights Gannon. Along the way you will find tired puzzles you were solving ten years ago, and will scour the landscape for heart pieces, and other such stupidity.
What Zelda needs is to borrow some of the better aspects from Mass Effect, Oblivion, Fable, and even Assassins Creed. Incorporate an overall story with events, and some moral dilemma. Let Link have some customization, and just open up Hyrule in general. Let link effect the world he inhabits give him some other real goals. Finally flesh out a decent combat system let players change up how they are killing the monster. Let them try spells, and let link navigate the environment more freely. In other words let link jump, run, and climb.
Anyway I already have four Zelda games that follow the exact same formula. There just is no reason to go through the same thing all over again. For once take the game off the rails, and make the game more dynamic.
