Hey guys, I have a friend who works in Blizzard and last night I got a bit of information about the next expansion from her. Basically the whole thing is based around the Naaru and their plans finally being revealed coming into fruition. Both Elune and the Tauren's sun god are revealed as Naaru who have been present on Azeroth for a long time.
The Naaru themselves aren't exactly what we've been led to believe, they are the lingering souls of a race that were deemed chaotic by the Titans and thus destroyed very early on (contrary to them being created at the dawn of time). They oppose both the Titans and the Burning Legion and have been constructing an army of light to essentially resist both. Azeroth has been on their radar for a long time and it is no coincidence that the Orcs and Draenai ended up on Azeroth. Velen is privy to much of this information.
Another important storyline tidbit she gave me is that apparently there is a civil war in the burning legion. Kil'Jaeden, who has become increasingly powerful over time, has rebelled against Sargeras in his weakened state since Medivh's death and now commands many of the legions species including the eredar demons and pitlords.
She would not reveal who the main bad guy is in the expansion, but we will be finding out the fate Alleria. Let's just say she's not so friendly any more *wink wink*. Turalyon apparently followed her through the portal and now leads some kind of resistance on the other side...
She told me some features of the expansion:
- Will be set mainly on the legion home world of Argus
- level cap is 95
- new demon hunter class available to all races.
- new soul shifting mechanic. She wouldn't reveal anything about it
- path of the titans re-introduced
- time travel will be involved, and we will get to see how Argus fell. Not sure if via instances, or zones set in the past
Some questions:
Q: what do you mean about Alleria?
A: Alleria will be one of the main bad guys if not THE bad guy in the expansion from what I gather. When she stepped through the portal she was captured and pumped full of fel energy by the Legion, turning her into a part flesh/part mechnical monstrosity. She quickly became a powerful lieutenant to Kil'Jaeden. I'm not sure if Alleria is still aligned to Kil'Jaeden or not. From what I gather she is somewhat an "Illidan"-like figure.
Q: Will we see Kil'Jaeden and Sargeras?
A: Not sure. My friend said their forces will be involved in the expansion and a lot of Argus is dominated by running battles between the two.
Q: ... and Turalyon?
A: Turalyon saw what happened to Alleria and was heartstruck as we unable to help her. He built some kind of resistance along with uncorrupted Eredar (who survived and hid on Argus apparently) and rebels from the Legion. They have been in constant war for many years with the Legion on the planet. This faction will be one of the main ones we will be assisting. I gather some of the motivation for the storyline is the tragedy of the love between Turalyon and Alleria. If I was to guess what will happen I'd assume they're both going to die together at the end, but that's just my speculation.
Q: What about raid instances?
A: No idea.
Q: could you get more info on the soul shifting mechanic?
A: If I was to guess what this was, I'd assume it was a way of temporarily "levelling down" your character so you can play with friends and raid old content. That's just my *guess* though.
Feel free to ask more questions. I probably won't be able to answer most of them though.