Next Expansion Productive Speculation ...

[Starfire]

So for the record not predicting nor saying any of this is gonna happen or that any of this is fact; just simply evaluating WOW's lore, blizzards pattern with expansions, and hopes for 91 to 95. So feel free to put any input or dopes or ideas or correct any fact errors i post =)

#1 SO Blizzards pattern so far if we look at it is BC 2 new races and outlands, WotLK gave us a new continent Northrend and a new Class Dk's, Cata gave us a remake to Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor and gave us 2 new races, and MoP gave us a new Continent and a new class Monk's similar to WotLK but we were also given a neutral race Panda's. So if we look at this we can see that BC and Cata share some similar points as they both introduced new playable races to each faction and they also broadened the race class combo (ex: Dranaei Shaman, Blood elf Pally, Dwarf Shammy and Tauren Pally). And if we look WotLK and MoP share more similar qualities they both gave us a new continent and a new class slight difference was MoP also gave us a race 0_0?.

#2 And if we look at lore, and i just wanna state this is from my knowledge of Lore, 99% chance i may miss some things or may not know small pieces and overlooked them. That said currently Deathwing has been dealt with the aspects have become mortal, Thrall as stepped down and given a red Orc the title of Warchief who is slowly but surely become more drunk with power and rage. We have stumbled on Pandaria and are mainly focusing on the actual war. Some things i know we might see or may be used in the future is Wrathion and the Black Dragon flight story is continueing possibly in this expac, Ashzara is still out there, yet to Deal with the Burning legion, possibly some more lore with the Aspects and the Emerald Dream, maybe a 2nd go on the new LK and a return to Northrend and more DK lore, a trip back to OUtlands to deal with the Burning Legion, or maybe even an invasion on Azeroth from the burning Legion and of course Sargeras.

#3 SO basically my thoughts and they are just ideas are the following:

Looking at the pattern and Lore i think next expac 91 to 95 we will have dethroned Garrosh, and maybe even have a sorta truce between the horde and alliance even if only temp. They may not give us 2 new and last races to each faction and maybe a revamp on Outlands where we go back becuase we find that the burning legion is stirring up again. So we truck back to fing the BL much stronger and with a bigger plan to bring back Sargeras, we deal with Asharza and KJ. Then finally 96 - 100 possibly the last expac we get a new place possibly in space or the WOW version of hell??? and a new class Demon hunters for sure i know they are coming and its a slow build up to the final battle or end or re imprisionment or helping the titans with Sargeras.

Plz tell me what u guys think or hope i would love to hear some insight = )

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

It takes around 3 years to make a class and balance it (DK took 3 years, Monk had 4 years).

So that right there should be a giveaway that we will be facing the legion in 7.0, because Blizz will add the Demon Hunter (it's by far the most desired class).


6.0 will be either an opening act for the Legion, or dealing with the last major threat on Azeroth, Azshara.

[Wazooty]

It takes around 3 years to make a class and balance it (DK took 3 years, Monk had 4 years).

So that right there should be a giveaway that we will be facing the legion in 7.0, because Blizz will add the Demon Hunter (it's by far the most desired class).


6.0 will be either an opening act for the Legion, or dealing with the last major threat on Azeroth, Azshara.

By now they're a million times better at making new classes and balancing them than they were. I highly highly doubt 3 years is at all accurate.

[Pandaemic]

By now they're a million times better at making new classes and balancing them than they were. I highly highly doubt 3 years is at all accurate.

This is true, but Blizzard wouldn't put a class out right after they put a class out.

[Stir]

It's really just a matter of how many levels will be in the next x-pac.

Wrathion tells us that the Burning Legion will be back, and he wants to rally the strongest team of people. Depending on your faction, he'll tell you that his money is on your faction as the strongest, so there might be some faction-bashing over that. Perhaps he's planning on playing the factions against one another in some kind of 'survival of the fittest'-contest so that the strongest faction will end up fighting Sargeras.
As you might agree, that is a horrible scenario that will cost you roughly 50% of your fighting force, and the strongest people will still be the strongest people anyway; nothing will change that, other than stray gunfire (which will happen on any battlefield; no matter how good you are, chances are you'll die, and some idiot who doesn't know what end of a spear to hold survives)...
A terrible idea, indeed, until you consider the fact that...
Blizzard basically did that with the Argent Tournament, too.

So Sargeras might actually be in the next one. Or the one after that. Whichever comes with the lvl 100, I'm guessing.
They might include the Demon Hunter as a class. They might, however... Not do so. My reasoning for that is: Adding a class (or new race) for your last expansion is not a good choice. You'll have people rolling a new character, dedicating themselves to it, and then reaching the limit... For a single expac. And then... Nothing.

I say that, because once Sargeras is killed, I can't see anything left to do, PvE-wise. What could they possibly throw against us after that? After the greatest evil of the universe is vanquished, everything else is peanuts. Also, you can't just go on and on increasing the character's levels. Number inflation already infected the system in Vanilla (past lvl 50, really), though not to a noticeable degree... So far, Blizzard has kept adjusting things so that the number inflation wouldn't outright kill the game (weapon/armour skill enchants, resilience/defence, flat non-crit in tanking stance, spell hit/spell penetration, hit/expertise, diminishing returns on green stats... And so on, and so on) but eventually, all these fixes simply aren't enough. Most of those fixes have already been replaced because they got outscaled.

This sort of thing is inevitable with such a system, though. You can't just keep increasing stuff and hoping for the best. You can stall it pretty long by making gear level increases much smaller, but you'd have a community that would complain that they're not feeling the progress in their numbers.

So yeah. The next expansion will probably be 95-100. We might see some more Emerald Dream, we might see some Azshara. Dokhimdamo mentioned an opening act for the Legion, and I wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard would use the Emerald Dream or Azshara (or both) for that; they make a pretty good story hook. Then, at 100, we'll fight hordes of the Burning Legion, working towards besieging and eventually killing Sargeras.
And I'm afraid that, after that, it's all over. No more expansions. Perhaps additional content to play in the form of instances and raids, but I'm not sure what the added value would be. I already dealt with the whole ilvl thing; you can't just keep raising item levels after Sargeras is down, unless you want a lvl 100 End Game character that is worth well over 15 other lvl 100 characters... Combined.

And this is why I'm not entirely against a sequel. Perhaps a future for a Starcraft MMO, even. Basically: A chance to start all over, to have low-level play again, and to slowly get to high levels through more and more expansions. Different stories, different factions, different bosses. Maybe a somewhat different system, even.
At some point, you'll have to either call it a day, or start anew. That is the truth of the matter when you have a system that pretty much has a self-destruct mechanism built in.

[Starfire]

Stir you really summed it all up for me =), what i was basically trying to speculate that wow has 2 expansions left 91 to 95 the opening attack on OUtlands, where maybe they revamp outlands they way they did azeroth for Cata and we go back to fight off the burning legion maybe taking out Asharza and some lore with the Aspects and Ysera and the Emerald dream then end game 6.? at 95 the Burning legion fights thru to azeroth and maybe then 96 - 100 Horde and alliance work together possibly like Rift with cross faction raids to fight the final fight against sargeras maybe along side the titans or whoever and i think they will give us demon hunters to say when who knows but it just makes sense but i agree after that point WOW should end it cant go forever. 2 options just shut it down or make it free to play combine all the expansions into one or w.e but i am sure after that Titan sha'll come out or some new game for them to continue off on.

[Bisso]

I like to think we will see Kil'Jaeden very soon. There's just so much to be talked about Velen vs Kil'Jaeden, especialy with Anduin Wrynn being his "champion", in his visions. I really hope that Kil'Jaeden gets his fair share of content, just for him, he is, after all, the one who corrupted the orcs, into killing the draenei across outlands, the one who made the orcs chase Velen back on Azeroth. After all, for all the mortal races, he is indeed the supervillain, or at least, the most direct one. He needs to be slain, not just thrown back into the abyss.

[Nearmyth]

6.0 will be either an opening act for the Legion, or dealing with the last major threat on Azeroth, Azshara.

Uhh... What?

[mvaliz]

Not sure why you needed a separate thread from the already 2-other existing ones....

[Elegiac]

Because this totally needs yet another thread.

[MoanaLisa]

There's nothing productive about it because nobody posting here knows and guessing is guessing. Simple guessing is rarely productive. Blizzard will do what Blizzard will do. There are lots of hints but nobody knows anything.

[Eldryth]

First off, there's nothing to suggest there will be only 2 more expansions. 100 may be a nice, even number, but Blizzard has said repeatedly they had no plans to stop, and even if they don't want to pass 100, there are plenty of other options- a revival of the Path of the Titans in place of standard levels, for example. In fact, I think I'd like to see that!

Second, the amount of foreshadowing they're giving the Burning Legion even this early on makes any other possibility a rediculous bait and switch. Whether we're going to Argus or not, I don't know, but it will be someplace new since Blizzard has said they wanted to avoid another revamp after Cata. And remember, we don't have to fight Sargeras yet- Kil'Jaeden is signifigant enough that I could see him getting his own expansion first. The two-part expansion idea seems very likely (next expansion is Kil'Jaeden in either Argus or a new part of Draenor, one after that is Sargeras in either someplace new (Nathrezim homeworld) or Argus if it wasn't used- or both in Argus). Or, I wouldn't put it past them to go back to 10 levels for the big showdown with the Legion at level 100.

Finally, Sargeras is far from the last threat out there, and possibly not even the strongest. N'Zoth is still at large, and a full powered Old God is likely far more powerful than a single Titan. We're still not sure if the Titans are entirely on our side, so they may become a new enemy (not too convinced on this one, but I've seen it suggested). And Mists proves that there may very well be many more threats out there we still haven't seen- I'm pretty sure the Old Gods were unexpected when they were first introduced, and now they're one of the main villains of the franchise!

[MoanaLisa]

First off, there's nothing to suggest there will be only 2 more expansions. 100 may be a nice, even number, but Blizzard has said repeatedly they had no plans to stop, and even if they don't want to pass 100, there are plenty of other options- a revival of the Path of the Titans in place of standard levels, for example. In fact, I think I'd like to see that!

People that think that Level 100 is the end of WoW, even as Blizzard makes more money from WoW than anything else, make me sad for the future of the planet.

SCENE: Blizzard Board Room

MORHAIME: Well, we've got our last expansion planned out and at the end of it people will be level 100 so we'll be shutting the game down.

BOARD MEMBER: We just made more money in the last few months from World of Warcraft than any three game design studios combined. And it's supporting development for everything else we currently do. We're not turning that off.

MORHAIME: OK. No problem. We'll get right on it.


This is how long it would take to decide the idea that WoW will end in two more expansions.

EDIT: The little drama portrayed above is not supposed to be realistic in any way. There probably isn't a Blizzard Board room in that sense since it would more likely be ACTV. In any case, it's to demonstrate a point.

[Elegiac]

People that think that Level 100 is the end of WoW, even as Blizzard makes more money from WoW than anything else, make me sad for the future of the planet.

Yup. What will happen is either a level squish, or they introduce an alternative progression system.

[Precursor]

I feel like the next expansion could give us the new character models with potential new animations and more alternative faces, bone structure in face and hair.

[Eats Compost]

People that think that Level 100 is the end of WoW, even as Blizzard makes more money from WoW than anything else, make me sad for the future of the planet.

It seems possible, if only because of the shift to 5 levels per expansion from 10. It's a cosmetic change with absolutely no practical benefit (the amount of time taken to gain those levels is based on the experience between level X and level Y, with the actual amount of levels between them being irrelevant) that would make a lot of sense if they wanted to slow down to end on a particular number, like 100. Otherwise, it would be a pointless and jarring change. You've got to ask yourself why the fellows in the boardroom sat down and decided that they wanted to break from tradition (and stop using nice round numbers, to boot) for the sake of having 5 levels per expansion. Planning to end on level 100 is one possibility.

Ending WoW at level 100 doesn't mean the end of the financial entity that currently exists as WoW. They may make WoW 2 or shift development resources to another MMO entirely. WoW has upkeep costs, you know - it's not a golden goose that just sits there churning out money with no input. If they were confident that they could shift their entire player base plus more to a new MMO or WoW 2, then there isn't much of a reason not to cease development on WoW and work on the new one instead.

Getting people to buy a new box copy for a hypothetical WoW 2 wouldn't be an issue. Not if they already get people to buy a new box for every expansion.

I feel like the next expansion could give us the new character models with potential new animations and more alternative faces, bone structure in face and hair.

I'd hope that they could get things like a hide enchant option sorted out before they tried something so ambitious.

[Deleted]

interesting... but why make a new thread of this? lets try n keep all speculation for the next expansion in this already started thread :

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...FO-amp-RUMOURS

[Sandrox]

If they were to add another class, I would think it would be mail based, and have at least 2 int using specs to balance out the gear usage.

[Elegiac]

If they were to add another class, I would think it would be mail based, and have at least 2 int using specs to balance out the gear usage.

There are a couple of ways to balance out the gear usage, actually:

- Make Unholy DKs use spell plate, with Intellect to Attack Power converters or some other mechanism. If this was the case, the new class would probably use spell mail.
- Make Holy Paladins use spell mail, meaning the next class could use a number of different armor types.
- Make Elemental and Restoration shamans use spell leather, meaning the next class would pretty much have to use spell plate.

[Deleted]

And I'm afraid that, after that, it's all over. No more expansions. Perhaps additional content to play in the form of instances and raids, but I'm not sure what the added value would be. I already dealt with the whole ilvl thing; you can't just keep raising item levels after Sargeras is down, unless you want a lvl 100 End Game character that is worth well over 15 other lvl 100 characters...

Are you kidding me? Of course they won't stop making expansions. Blizzard is a business, WoW is profitable. As long as WoW is profitable, they will make new expansions to make more money. And WoW will be making money for a long long time.