N'Zoth&Naga Expansion | Potential Zones/Locations?

[Yelmurc]

We're already going to be defenseless in a way when we're on Argus hence the N'zoth speculation.

I understand that. But the problem with Warcraft lore is its moving at lightning speed. It was 10,000 years between the first legion invasion and the 2nd. Then the 3rd happens 15 years later? It just seems like they are focusing to much on boss battles and to little building a world and characters.

[Traveler Voltin]

Everyone is so hung up on the N'Zoth Naga thing. I think blizzard should take a step back and give us some good ole Alliance vs Horde expansion. Have the alliance take back Gilneas and Lordaeron and maybe even the plague lands. Push the horde back to Silvermoon. Let Silvanaus go crazy and retaliate with the sacking of Stormwind and push their way toward Ironforge or something. Really shake everyone up to their core. Then the next expansion N'Zoth can rise and take advantage that both sides are worm down because of the war.

Dungeons could be small battles around the globe. Raids could be the sacking of cities.

Hell no.
Just buzz off with that shit idea

[Gadzooks]

Everyone is so hung up on the N'Zoth Naga thing. I think blizzard should take a step back and give us some good ole Alliance vs Horde expansion. Have the alliance take back Gilneas and Lordaeron and maybe even the plague lands. Push the horde back to Silvermoon. Let Silvanaus go crazy and retaliate with the sacking of Stormwind and push their way toward Ironforge or something. Really shake everyone up to their core. Then the next expansion N'Zoth can rise and take advantage that both sides are worm down because of the war.

Dungeons could be small battles around the globe. Raids could be the sacking of cities.

I agree - they have to have story past N'zoth/Azshara, or story between now and them. They're running out of loose ends and story arcs.

[Raetary]

Nzoth nor Azshara are powerful enough to hold an expansion even together. So, no, it isn't certain that they are going to be the prime adversaries and if they are it is Blizzard not knowing their own lore.

Yes, hitlers orc version and a piece of an old god can do that but the former queen of the night elven empire now queen of the naga, and an actual alive old god cant.


Mhmmm

[Aucald]

I agree - they have to have story past N'zoth/Azshara, or story between now and them. They're running out of loose ends and story arcs.

Fortunately they can create new landmasses, new villains, and new story-arcs out of thin air when and where it suits them. There are plenty of story elements in the proverbial "cooler" for them to re-purpose as well - if Legion has a conclusive end I can think of about five possible expansion ideas that could be used following it.

[WolfRider]

SEAS OF NIGHTMARE (total speculation)

Context:
The Keepers are all dead, Odyn has been told by Jaina to use the Pillars of Creation to seal the Legion's portal at the Tomb Of Sargeras in case of failure on our campaign on Argus. The Portal's explosion opened the titanic prison beneath the TOS and freed a massive amount of corrupted Souls and N'Zoth. Odyn went crazy and traveled to Ulduar, where he tried to corrupt or kill his former mates, the Titanic Keepers, and use their power to resurect Yog'Sarron.
Heroes went back victorious from Argus, but found a bigger threat in Northrend, so they've been sent to stop the Prime Keeper.
In order to stop the resurection, they had to sacrifice their legendary weapons to seal Ulduar. Sylvanas succesfully enslaved Odyn's valkyrs after the Prime Keeper's death, Nobundo took the Draeneis' leadership since Velen doesn't need to protect his people from Kil'Jaeden's threat anymore.

N'Zoth has escaped from its prison and Queen Azshara finished the construction of Nazjatar.
The Old God has settled in the center of the Nagas' island, in a building made for him: the Tower Of Sacrifices. The Nagas made an offer to the Bloodsail Buccaneers who live on the Plunder Isle: if they join the Old God's side, they'll have their revenge on KulTiras and Booty Bay. N'zoth asks Nagas and Bloodsail Buccaneers to raid over the nearby islands and capture the local populations and bring them to Nazjatar, in order to sacrifice them.

New Map: Lost Islands

Legend:
Red Arrows: Raid Assaults
Blue Arrows: Escape fleets
Note: could contain one or two more islands related to Yaungols and other alternative races.

New feature: Alternative Races

Hord:
Goblins -> Gilblins : Before the Cataclysm happened, Hobart Grapplehammer created the GilGoblins, a mutated race of Goblins able to live under the water, but the experiment went wrong. This race was primitive and aggressive, so when Deathwing attacked Kezan it was a relief for the Goblin mad engineer to leave the place. Nagas came to enslave the GilGoblins and use them in Vash'jr and Azsuna, but some of the mutated Goblins stayed near Kezan's shores. When the Volcano in the center of the island stop to spit its lava, the GilGoblins went back on the ground and found the Kajite's mines. The minerals changed them and made them more calm and intelligent. They named themselves the Gilbins, and reinvested the former Goblin's capital, until the Zandalar Trolls came to offer them to travel to Orgrimmar because of Nagas' threat.
Taurens -> Yaungols: When the great Sunderring happened, some Yaungol tribes been trapped on islands.
Orcs -> Mok'nathal: During the first War, the Hord used the Mok'natar clan as cannon fodder against the human forces. When the Hord has been defeated, the half ogre / half orc clan decided to flee with some ogres accross the sea. They found an island full of vegetation and settled there to live a peaceful and restful life.
Blood Elves -> Wretched After the freedom of Suramar and the Legion's defeat, the Nightwell was slowly dying, leaving most of the surrounding city empty. Most Nightbornes tried to join Shal'Aran to use the Arcandor, but it created some tensions between Suramar refugees. Tyrande asked First Arcanist Thalyssra to join her in Darnassus, but only if she kept the healed Nightbornes. When Thalyssra left, the refugees stayed at Shal'Aran, but the Arcandor wasn't enough to heal them completly. Seeing this, Lady Liadrin asked Lorthemar Theron if the Blood Elves could accept the Wretched and cure them with the Sunwell.
Forsaken -> Reincarnated: Since Sylvanas got Odyn's valkyrs back, she experimented the same process she used on Nathanos Blightcaller, using human prisonners as vessels for her forsaken. This is the only way to keep her people alive and sit her power for eternity... event if it takes many battles to win.
Darkspear Trolls -> Zandalar : Zandalar Trolls used to sail over seas after the Great Sundering, for the sake of their former glory, some of them tried to resurect the Thunder God, Lei Shen, but got defeated. Meanwhile, other Zandalar Trolls chose to stay far from these old dreams and continued their live on Zandalar Island. With years, the Nagas' threat became bigger, and they are now powerless since their island hold a secret power convoited by the Old God's minions. A new but familiar Loa spoke to them, convincing them to sail to Orgrimmar and ask the Hord for some help. Vol'Jin foresaw that Zandalari could join the Hord for their own survival.

Alliance:
Humans -> Azothas: These humans were siblings of Vrykuls that went south of Eastern Kingdoms, surviving in Trolls' territories. They call themselves Azothas, and they differs in many points from the Eastern Kingdoms' humans: they're tall and strongs, adopted druidic and shamanic cultures from Trolls and kept the Vrykuls' knowledge about sailing.
Gnomes -> Mecagnomes When Odyn killed Mimiron, it left many mechagnomes alone. Gelbin Mekkatorque found them during the Assault on Ulduar and decided to bring them back to Gnomeregan to study Mimiron's work on the Curse of Blood.
Dwarves -> Earthen: ?
Worgens -> Ulfarks: When Azothas settled in Tel'Abim, they spread in many tribes. Some of them where more Shamanic, and other more Druidic. One of these Druidic tribe explored the Emerald Dream, until they met the exiled Worgens and been cursed by their diseases. It took many years and sacrifices for Azothas to contain the curse, and more years to ease the contaminated Azothas, who called themselves "Ulfarks" after Vrykul's language.
Night Elves -> Nightbornes After the freedom of Suramar and the Legion's defeat, the Nightwell was slowly dying, leaving most of the surrounding city empty. Most Nightbornes tried to join Shal'Aran to use the Arcandor, but it created some tensions between Suramar refugees. Tyrande asked First Arcanist Thalyssra to join her in Darnassus, but only if she kept the healed Nightbornes. Seeing this as an opportunity to start things over, she accepted the offer and moved to the Night Elft capital, leaving the wretched at Shal'Aran.
Draeneis -> Brokens: Since Velen gave the Draenei's leadership to Nobundo, the foreseer reintroduced the Brokens into the Exodar.

Both:
Pandarens -> Tuskarrs: ?


New Feature: AltRace Class Combinations
Hord:
Gilblins : Warrior / Hunter / Rogue / Shaman / Druid
Yaungols: Warrior / Hunter / Shaman / Mage / Deathknight
Mok'nathal: Warrior / Hunter / Rogue / Priest / Shaman
Wretched: Warrior / Hunter / Rogue / Demon Hunter
Reincarnated: Warrior / Paladin / Hunter / Rogue / Priest
Zandalar : Warrior / Hunter / Rogue / Priest / Mage

Alliance:
Azothas: Warrior / Hunter / Priest / Shaman / Druid
Mecagnomes: Warrior / Hunter / Shaman / Druid (using mecamorph)
Earthen: ?
Ulfarks : Warrior / Hunter / Shaman / Monk / Druid
Nightbornes: Warrior / Rogue / Hunter / Mage / Warlock
Brokens: Warrior / Hunter / Rogues / Priest / Warlock

Both:
Truskarrs: Warrior / Hunter / Shaman / Druid / Death Knight


Starting Experience:
From Hord perspective: Zandalari start their journey by sailing to the West and find Kezan, where strange and mutated Goblins were living. These folks are assaulted by Nagas' raids, so they team up to join Orgrimmar.

From Alliance perspective: Tel'Abim is a long forgotten island, few are the sailors that walked on its shores, but the place has been discovered millenia ago by a young race : Azothas.T hey lived and prospered on Tel'Abim for many centuries, different clans were formed, but peace was maintained (even after the incident that touched many druids, changing them into savage beasts called "Ulfarks"). But a new threat appeared, and the peacefull island is assaulted by Nagas. Many Azothas took the sea and sailed to the nearby Islands to ask for help, and some of them found a human Nation called Kul'Tiras, that was assaulted by mutated Pirates and Nagas. Kul'Tiras' military fleet accepted to journey to Stormwind and ask the Alliance to help the Lost Islands' population.

[Zayv]

Everyone is so hung up on the N'Zoth Naga thing. I think blizzard should take a step back and give us some good ole Alliance vs Horde expansion. Have the alliance take back Gilneas and Lordaeron and maybe even the plague lands. Push the horde back to Silvermoon. Let Silvanaus go crazy and retaliate with the sacking of Stormwind and push their way toward Ironforge or something. Really shake everyone up to their core. Then the next expansion N'Zoth can rise and take advantage that both sides are worm down because of the war.

Dungeons could be small battles around the globe. Raids could be the sacking of cities.

I like this idea, though it reminds me of how somewhat dated the world is becoming. There would be limitless possibilities in a future iteration of wow where the world would be larger, but when you figure most the current zones can only fit 1 or 2 dungeons and raids...Azeroth seems kinda tapped out unless we start moving towards Alliance vs. Horde warfare.

Plus, the post-cata world has now been around longer than the pre-cata world was, so zone changes are probably in order.

[Deleted]

As Horde i am looking forward to see:

Zandalar.
return to Kezan with the Undermine.
Darkspear Ise.
Ogrezonia.

Lot of places in the South Sea that can have important impact on the Horde faction.

[RoutinelyWorgen]

Something like that, though the art for the Dragon Isles definitely makes me think Old God over Dragonflight - although at that point in WoW's development the Old Gods weren't even a known concept. It'd be interesting to find out regardless of what they turn out to be.

They were actually called the Dragon Isles due to their shape, which was reminiscent of a dragon's head. Though it is true that in the concept art an old god's carcass had been embedded into the land though it's pretty much fossilized so there's no risk of corruption there.

[Aucald]

They were actually called the Dragon Isles due to their shape, which was reminiscent of a dragon's head. Though it is true that in the concept art an old god's carcass had been embedded into the land though it's pretty much fossilized so there's no risk of corruption there.

Not so sure on that last score - Soggoth the Slitherer remained a corrupting and extant influence in Darkshore well before the War of the Ancients (during the war between the Titanforged and the Old God forces) and up to the Cataclysm more than 10,000 years later. Even fossilized the corpses of greater N'raqi appear to retain their baleful influences over land and life.

[Yelmurc]

I like this idea, though it reminds me of how somewhat dated the world is becoming. There would be limitless possibilities in a future iteration of wow where the world would be larger, but when you figure most the current zones can only fit 1 or 2 dungeons and raids...Azeroth seems kinda tapped out unless we start moving towards Alliance vs. Horde warfare.

Plus, the post-cata world has now been around longer than the pre-cata world was, so zone changes are probably in order.

I have this lets call it a wish. That blizzard does a new zone and its a entire island. But they scale up the size of everything. So on the global map its the size of the timeless isle. But its in game size its the size of lets say Pandaria. I want to see what they could do with one super large zone. Give us wide open spaces. When they tell you to hunt for a boar in the forrest make it take 15 minutes of searching through the forrest to find a boar. Make the world seam huge. And if its a success with the players. then slowly scale the rest of the world up to that size. With a much larger world build from the ground up I think they'd extend the life of the game.

[kabshiel]

I hope we go to Tel'Abim and discover that those bananas are harvested from Banana Ancients enslaved by the Venture Company.

[Deleted]

I have this lets call it a wish. That blizzard does a new zone and its a entire island. But they scale up the size of everything. So on the global map its the size of the timeless isle. But its in game size its the size of lets say Pandaria. I want to see what they could do with one super large zone. Give us wide open spaces. When they tell you to hunt for a boar in the forrest make it take 15 minutes of searching through the forrest to find a boar. Make the world seam huge. And if its a success with the players. then slowly scale the rest of the world up to that size. With a much larger world build from the ground up I think they'd extend the life of the game.

They'd need to get over the annoying habit of putting countless details on zones first.
There's no open spaces in the broken isles, everything has to be so detailed, it gets on my nerves.
When they showed azsuna at gamescon I was extremely hyped for example, but the zone feels claustrophobic, like every other in legion.

[Zayv]

I have this lets call it a wish. That blizzard does a new zone and its a entire island. But they scale up the size of everything. So on the global map its the size of the timeless isle. But its in game size its the size of lets say Pandaria. I want to see what they could do with one super large zone. Give us wide open spaces. When they tell you to hunt for a boar in the forrest make it take 15 minutes of searching through the forrest to find a boar. Make the world seam huge. And if its a success with the players. then slowly scale the rest of the world up to that size. With a much larger world build from the ground up I think they'd extend the life of the game.

I see where you're going with it. Unfortunately I have little confidence in Blizzard breaking this bland paradigm they've established since post-vanilla. It always includes the following:

1) Multi-zone expansion
2) Endless trivial kill & fetch quest hubs (my biggest gripe with the leveling experience)
3) One or more forms of currency that must be farmed to obtain loot/gear
4) daily/weekly/monthly dungeon & pvp incentives
5) and the worst bit....the garrison/class hall minigame

probably leaving out some stuff. There's my little rant though.

[Stened91]

SEAS OF NIGHTMARE (total speculation)

Context:
The Keepers are all dead, Odyn has been told by Jaina to use the Pillars of Creation to seal the Legion's portal at the Tomb Of Sargeras in case of failure on our campaign on Argus. The Portal's explosion opened the titanic prison beneath the TOS and freed a massive amount of corrupted Souls and N'Zoth. Odyn went crazy and traveled to Ulduar, where he tried to corrupt or kill his former mates, the Titanic Keepers, and use their power to resurect Yog'Sarron.
Heroes went back victorious from Argus, but found a bigger threat in Northrend, so they've been sent to stop the Prime Keeper.
In order to stop the resurection, they had to sacrifice their legendary weapons to seal Ulduar. Sylvanas succesfully enslaved Odyn's valkyrs after the Prime Keeper's death, Nobundo took the Draeneis' leadership since Velen doesn't need to protect his people from Kil'Jaeden's threat anymore.

N'Zoth has escaped from its prison and Queen Azshara finished the construction of Nazjatar.
The Old God has settled in the center of the Nagas' island, in a building made for him: the Tower Of Sacrifices. The Nagas made an offer to the Bloodsail Buccaneers who live on the Plunder Isle: if they join the Old God's side, they'll have their revenge on KulTiras and Booty Bay. N'zoth asks Nagas and Bloodsail Buccaneers to raid over the nearby islands and capture the local populations and bring them to Nazjatar, in order to sacrifice them.

New Map: Lost Islands

Legend:
Red Arrows: Raid Assaults
Blue Arrows: Escape fleets
Note: could contain one or two more islands related to Yaungols and other alternative races.

New feature: Alternative Races

Hord:
Goblins -> Gilblins : Before the Cataclysm happened, Hobart Grapplehammer created the GilGoblins, a mutated race of Goblins able to live under the water, but the experiment went wrong. This race was primitive and aggressive, so when Deathwing attacked Kezan it was a relief for the Goblin mad engineer to leave the place. Nagas came to enslave the GilGoblins and use them in Vash'jr and Azsuna, but some of the mutated Goblins stayed near Kezan's shores. When the Volcano in the center of the island stop to spit its lava, the GilGoblins went back on the ground and found the Kajite's mines. The minerals changed them and made them more calm and intelligent. They named themselves the Gilbins, and reinvested the former Goblin's capital, until the Zandalar Trolls came to offer them to travel to Orgrimmar because of Nagas' threat.
Taurens -> Yaungols: When the great Sunderring happened, some Yaungol tribes been trapped on islands.
Orcs -> Mok'nathal: During the first War, the Hord used the Mok'natar clan as cannon fodder against the human forces. When the Hord has been defeated, the half ogre / half orc clan decided to flee with some ogres accross the sea. They found an island full of vegetation and settled there to live a peaceful and restful life.
Blood Elves -> Wretched After the freedom of Suramar and the Legion's defeat, the Nightwell was slowly dying, leaving most of the surrounding city empty. Most Nightbornes tried to join Shal'Aran to use the Arcandor, but it created some tensions between Suramar refugees. Tyrande asked First Arcanist Thalyssra to join her in Darnassus, but only if she kept the healed Nightbornes. When Thalyssra left, the refugees stayed at Shal'Aran, but the Arcandor wasn't enough to heal them completly. Seeing this, Lady Liadrin asked Lorthemar Theron if the Blood Elves could accept the Wretched and cure them with the Sunwell.
Forsaken -> Reincarnated: Since Sylvanas got Odyn's valkyrs back, she experimented the same process she used on Nathanos Blightcaller, using human prisonners as vessels for her forsaken. This is the only way to keep her people alive and sit her power for eternity... event if it takes many battles to win.
Darkspear Trolls -> Zandalar : Zandalar Trolls used to sail over seas after the Great Sundering, for the sake of their former glory, some of them tried to resurect the Thunder God, Lei Shen, but got defeated. Meanwhile, other Zandalar Trolls chose to stay far from these old dreams and continued their live on Zandalar Island. With years, the Nagas' threat became bigger, and they are now powerless since their island hold a secret power convoited by the Old God's minions. A new but familiar Loa spoke to them, convincing them to sail to Orgrimmar and ask the Hord for some help. Vol'Jin foresaw that Zandalari could join the Hord for their own survival.

Alliance:
Humans -> Azothas: These humans were siblings of Vrykuls that went south of Eastern Kingdoms, surviving in Trolls' territories. They call themselves Azothas, and they differs in many points from the Eastern Kingdoms' humans: they're tall and strongs, adopted druidic and shamanic cultures from Trolls and kept the Vrykuls' knowledge about sailing.
Gnomes -> Mecagnomes When Odyn killed Mimiron, it left many mechagnomes alone. Gelbin Mekkatorque found them during the Assault on Ulduar and decided to bring them back to Gnomeregan to study Mimiron's work on the Curse of Blood.
Dwarves -> Earthen: ?
Worgens -> Ulfarks: When Azothas settled in Tel'Abim, they spread in many tribes. Some of them where more Shamanic, and other more Druidic. One of these Druidic tribe explored the Emerald Dream, until they met the exiled Worgens and been cursed by their diseases. It took many years and sacrifices for Azothas to contain the curse, and more years to ease the contaminated Azothas, who called themselves "Ulfarks" after Vrykul's language.
Night Elves -> Nightbornes After the freedom of Suramar and the Legion's defeat, the Nightwell was slowly dying, leaving most of the surrounding city empty. Most Nightbornes tried to join Shal'Aran to use the Arcandor, but it created some tensions between Suramar refugees. Tyrande asked First Arcanist Thalyssra to join her in Darnassus, but only if she kept the healed Nightbornes. Seeing this as an opportunity to start things over, she accepted the offer and moved to the Night Elft capital, leaving the wretched at Shal'Aran.
Draeneis -> Brokens: Since Velen gave the Draenei's leadership to Nobundo, the foreseer reintroduced the Brokens into the Exodar.

Both:
Pandarens -> Tuskarrs: ?


New Feature: AltRace Class Combinations
Hord:
Gilblins : Warrior / Hunter / Rogue / Shaman / Druid
Yaungols: Warrior / Hunter / Shaman / Mage / Deathknight
Mok'nathal: Warrior / Hunter / Rogue / Priest / Shaman
Wretched: Warrior / Hunter / Rogue / Demon Hunter
Reincarnated: Warrior / Paladin / Hunter / Rogue / Priest
Zandalar : Warrior / Hunter / Rogue / Priest / Mage

Alliance:
Azothas: Warrior / Hunter / Priest / Shaman / Druid
Mecagnomes: Warrior / Hunter / Shaman / Druid (using mecamorph)
Earthen: ?
Ulfarks : Warrior / Hunter / Shaman / Monk / Druid
Nightbornes: Warrior / Rogue / Hunter / Mage / Warlock
Brokens: Warrior / Hunter / Rogues / Priest / Warlock

Both:
Truskarrs: Warrior / Hunter / Shaman / Druid / Death Knight


Starting Experience:
From Hord perspective: Zandalari start their journey by sailing to the West and find Kezan, where strange and mutated Goblins were living. These folks are assaulted by Nagas' raids, so they team up to join Orgrimmar.

From Alliance perspective: Tel'Abim is a long forgotten island, few are the sailors that walked on its shores, but the place has been discovered millenia ago by a young race : Azothas.T hey lived and prospered on Tel'Abim for many centuries, different clans were formed, but peace was maintained (even after the incident that touched many druids, changing them into savage beasts called "Ulfarks"). But a new threat appeared, and the peacefull island is assaulted by Nagas. Many Azothas took the sea and sailed to the nearby Islands to ask for help, and some of them found a human Nation called Kul'Tiras, that was assaulted by mutated Pirates and Nagas. Kul'Tiras' military fleet accepted to journey to Stormwind and ask the Alliance to help the Lost Islands' population.

I whould play that!

[Chemical Ellis]

Everyone is so hung up on the N'Zoth Naga thing. I think blizzard should take a step back and give us some good ole Alliance vs Horde expansion. Have the alliance take back Gilneas and Lordaeron and maybe even the plague lands. Push the horde back to Silvermoon. Let Silvanaus go crazy and retaliate with the sacking of Stormwind and push their way toward Ironforge or something. Really shake everyone up to their core. Then the next expansion N'Zoth can rise and take advantage that both sides are worm down because of the war.

Dungeons could be small battles around the globe. Raids could be the sacking of cities.

I do agree with this. Lorewise, I'd love to see some big, all-out conflict that finally ends the Horde/Alliance conflict with a bang. Maybe Jaina and uber-racist Kul Tiras vs. Sylvanas and her almost-Scourge. Something a bit more sober, without heroes or valor, that really hammers in the war of warcraft. Use all those missing EK locations - Crestfall, Balor, Tor'Watha, etc. Not too likely, but probably the story I'd most like to see.

Though, I'd absolutely be psyched for an Azshara expac.

[Gaidax]

Garrosh did not. Garrosh was barely on the radar and wasn't even thought to be the antagonist of the expansion. Hell the corpse of Yshaarj infecting the land is more powerful than Nzoth. Being an end boss of a culminating event is not "being the primary antagonist" of an expansion.

You clearly don't know your lore about the two of them as well as using magic excessively to the degree Azshara did and the font of power Azshara had when she was supposedly "so powerful".

First of all you are incorrect, other than that - Nzoth and Azshara do not have to carry everything by themselves. Like every expansion - they can be the designated big threat, but the content of the expansion not necessarily has to be just all about them. For example in Legion you have a shitton of content either unrelated to Legion or not being directly related to it.

They can produce as many minor or intermediate antagonists as they like without Azshara/Nzoth being everywhere, for example Jaina and Kul'Tiras come to mind as some sort of midterm antagonists the same way Suramar is, really and there is plenty other storylines they have which can too produce their own offshot villains and locations, trolls for example. We don't even know how exactly Legion will end, either - it could by itself produce loose end adversaries to hunt down like WoD Garrosh.

[Soulwind]

I don't know about the islands. Blizzard didn't like how disjointed Cataclysm zones were, and haven't made an expansion like that since.

If they could provide interesting ship/underwater content, they could make a "continent" out of an archipielago with 2-3 land zones and 2-3 sea zones, but the islands that we know aren't that close to each other.

The only way to connect Kezan, Kul Tiras and the others in the same expansion would be portals or ships with loading sceens.

[Magnagarde]

Kul Tiras and Zandalar, along with all the adjacent isles, are two areas I've always wanted to be implemented. The Zandalari being brought in as villains in MoP kind of ruined that I guess. Doubt they'll be able to come up with something to make them appear friendly and offer their territory to the Horde as a hub. This in turn means the Alliance won't get Kul Tiras either. Therefor once again I think it might all boil down to the usual destruction and corruption of potential hubs.

[Jokubas]

The islands of the South Seas still feel like a reasonable guess. Zandalar has been relevant on and off and it's close enough to the naga stuff to make sense being visited around the same time. Jaina's disappearance could easily be setting up Kul Tiras.

On the other hand, turning the Broken Isles into a "continent" really makes me wonder. I certainly think it's possible to do an island expansion without running into the problems that they felt Cataclysm had, but it looks like they might want to never have to think about it. In that case, they might just focus on one area, like the Rift, and just expand it into an entire "continent" as well.