Considering how different Legion feels from previous expansions, it's hard not to feel like there's a new vision guiding World of Warcraft. And it's one that I suspect we won't be able to judge fully until Legion is behind us and the heroes of Azeroth are facing a new threat. While Hazzikostas confirmed that preliminary work had begun on a new expansion, he wasn't able to reveal any details of what that might be. But that doesn't mean there aren't some educated guesses and clues that players are beginning to piece together.
For starters, Patch 7.3—which is easily half a year away—will take players to the eredar homeworld of Argus to bring the fight to the Legion's doorstep. It's the first time players will have taken an interstellar journey in Warcraft—not counting the orc homeworld of Draenor since it's been such a central location since the first game.
"Story-wise, we try to think two expansions ahead at this point."
At this point, Azeroth feels like well-charted territory. The Broken Isles existed in the lore, but it didn't exist on the map until Legion—and that's not the first time an island has seemingly sprung out of nowhere in World of Warcraft. With the trip to Argus just on the horizon and Azeroth feeling a little too familiar, I ask Hazzikostas if leaving Azeroth for new planets is going to become a lot more common. "There's still large chunks of Azeroth that we have yet to visit," he contests.
"If you look in the chronicle books, there's all sorts of landmasses, all sorts of cultures and foes we have yet to deal with. There's no lack of ideas on that front."
But Azeroth's retinue of villains is also seeming a bit thin. Legion could very well be the end of some of the biggest threats in the Warcraft universe, which have been around since Warcraft 2.
If the world-rending titan Sargeras is defeated during the assault on Argus, who could possibly fill his shoes?
Hazzikostas isn't willing to say, but the community has some pretty damn good guesses. While the Burning Legion has been the big-bad for quite some time, there's bigger threats that players have already had a taste of. The world-corrupting Old Gods and their creators, the Void Lords, both present an infinitely greater threat to Azeroth. I mean, they're the reason the Burning Legion is trying to murder everyone in the first place.
For now, players will need to focus on the more immediate threat of repelling the Legion. Blizzard has committed to taking its time with this expansion, meaning it could be another year before they reveal plans for what comes after. But, as Hazzikostas assures me, they do have it all mapped out. "Story-wise, we try to think two expansions ahead at this point," he says. "We'll see what the end of Legion brings, but we're trying to make it a cohesive narrative that flows and segues from one expansion into the next."