Potentially HUGE spoilers about N'Zoth

[Aucald]

Well they do think ahead in the story. There is a fact that during Vanilla/TBC era they were preparing to make the Cataclysm and the return of Deathwing.

Broad strokes in all likelihood but not specifics or details. Like Demon Hunters and Pandaren back in TBC, the reality of things sometimes take their own forms. I wouldn't be surprised if they're 2 expansions worth of details ahead with the third or fourth roughly outlined in a kind of "pie in the sky" fashion.

[Velshin]

Broad strokes in all likelihood but not specifics or details. Like Demon Hunters and Pandaren back in TBC, the reality of things sometimes take their own forms. I wouldn't be surprised if they're 2 expansions worth of details ahead with the third or fourth roughly outlined in a kind of "pie in the sky" fashion.

Well if you did the netherwing rep questline back then in TBC you will see Sinestra talking to one of the orcs npcs there telling him that Deathwing is alive and recovering from his wounds and will be back very soon.

[Aucald]

Well if you did the netherwing rep questline back then in TBC you will see Sinestra talking to one of the orcs npcs there telling him that Deathwing is alive and recovering from his wounds and will be back very soon.

I do remember that - I'd actually thought that plotline would come to fruition in WotLK (Sartharion seemed to point the way), and was kind of confused when it seemed to go nowhere. The Cata rolls around and you find Sintharia slumming in the Bastion of Twilight.

[micwini]

Well they do think ahead in the story. There is a fact that during Vanilla/TBC era they were preparing to make the Cataclysm and the return of Deathwing.

source plis

[Velshin]

source plis

Lady Sinestra, in dragon form, lands and then transforms into her elf form. Two Dragonmaw Enforcers step forward to block her.
Dragonmaw Enforcer says: Who... Who is you?? What you want?
Lady Sinestra says: Step aside lest I add you as another adornment to my armor. Your leader and I have matters to attend...
Dragonmaw Enforcer says: Yes... Yes we move now... Please no hurt us...
Lady Sinestra smiles.
Lady Sinestra says: I thought you would see it my way...
Lady Sinestra says: Overlord Mor'ghor, I presume... A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. I am Lady Sinestra.
Overlord Mor'ghor says: I will not drag this out any further than it needs, Lady Sinestra. You have bent my ear, now tell me what it is that you want from the Dragonmaw.
Lady Sinestra says: You have no doubt heard about Nefarian's failures on Azeroth... While he has fallen, the experiment continues. My master... He continues the work that his progeny began.
Overlord Mor'ghor says: The... The master? He lives?
Lady Sinestra nods.
Lady Sinestra says: You were once a chief lieutenant, Mor'ghor. Your work in Grim Batol is not easily forgotten. Now... We need the eggs that you recovered. The Netherwing eggs. They are, after all, a product of the master. We will pay whatever price that you ask.
Overlord Mor'ghor stammers.
Overlord Mor'ghor says: Ye... Yes, yes... Of course. We need only the crystals and ore from this place. There is... We will need mounts.
Lady Sinestra says: The master will be most pleased with this news. The Black Dragonflight will provide you all that you ask. You will be allowed to ride upon the backs of our drakes as needed. I thank you for your graciousness, Mor'ghor. I must now take my leave.


This is still ingame dialog when you do the Netherwing rep questline.

you can check it out in wowhead or wowpedia if you want.

[micwini]

Lady Sinestra, in dragon form, lands and then transforms into her elf form. Two Dragonmaw Enforcers step forward to block her.
Dragonmaw Enforcer says: Who... Who is you?? What you want?
Lady Sinestra says: Step aside lest I add you as another adornment to my armor. Your leader and I have matters to attend...
Dragonmaw Enforcer says: Yes... Yes we move now... Please no hurt us...
Lady Sinestra smiles.
Lady Sinestra says: I thought you would see it my way...
Lady Sinestra says: Overlord Mor'ghor, I presume... A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. I am Lady Sinestra.
Overlord Mor'ghor says: I will not drag this out any further than it needs, Lady Sinestra. You have bent my ear, now tell me what it is that you want from the Dragonmaw.
Lady Sinestra says: You have no doubt heard about Nefarian's failures on Azeroth... While he has fallen, the experiment continues. My master... He continues the work that his progeny began.
Overlord Mor'ghor says: The... The master? He lives?
Lady Sinestra nods.
Lady Sinestra says: You were once a chief lieutenant, Mor'ghor. Your work in Grim Batol is not easily forgotten. Now... We need the eggs that you recovered. The Netherwing eggs. They are, after all, a product of the master. We will pay whatever price that you ask.
Overlord Mor'ghor stammers.
Overlord Mor'ghor says: Ye... Yes, yes... Of course. We need only the crystals and ore from this place. There is... We will need mounts.
Lady Sinestra says: The master will be most pleased with this news. The Black Dragonflight will provide you all that you ask. You will be allowed to ride upon the backs of our drakes as needed. I thank you for your graciousness, Mor'ghor. I must now take my leave.


This is still ingame dialog when you do the Netherwing rep questline.

you can check it out in wowhead or wowpedia if you want.

Doesn't prove they were planning for cataclysm back then.

[WhiteEagle888]

If N'zoth ever pulls up the naga city it will be right around my shammy order hall. Nice, would save tons of travel time.
But on a serious note how could they resist the endless churning of the Maelstrom? What would keep Nazjatar from imploding back into the sea?

[Deleted]

if it is going to get me playable Naga, then I don't mind whatever plot mechanism there is. So let's rise that sunken bitch! And fuck Blizzard, just because.

Would be sweet to get first proper Void oriented race to counterbalance all the cucks. Also N'Zoth is a cute waifu, my cup of sea. I would lick the hell out of that salt block. Houyhnhnm

[Gurluas]

I think it's not gonna be the Naga land but rather it'll be Ny'alotha.
http://wow.gamepedia.com/Ny%27alotha

[mrsohta]

I think it's not gonna be the Naga land but rather it'll be Ny'alotha.
http://wow.gamepedia.com/Ny%27alotha

I don't know man if N'zoth attacks us we will first defend ourselves and deal with nagas around, maybe we can go to Ny'alotha in a later patch tho after we discover N'zoths location or something but there needs to be a build up first, tho they could do that part in 7.4 so we'll see...

[Melzan]

Because I thought it was an interesting opinion and agreed with it save the nuance at the beginning, and felt like responding accordingly?

I'd like to apologize to you on the other guy's behalf for:

1) Resorting to an insult in his first response to the OP.
2) Acting with hostility towards you, despite your comment quite obviously being a validation of his.

I've no doubt you don't need some random internet person sticking up for you, but yeah, this is more just me venting at what I've interpreted twice now as two comments from quite a rude individual.

[Zenfoldor]

It helps me, too, in making up my mind regarding a certain terrible step which lies ahead of me.

exert; The Shadow over Innsmouth
By H. P. Lovecraft

[Evangeliste]

Why did you respond? That's exactly what I said. What the fuck.

To be honest, They were talking about Illidan's revival in the Blizzcon 2011 - Metzen said would people like it and cheered. That was 6 years before Legion - they probably entertain things and talk about it, they have to in order to actually write material on it not only for the game but things like book, merchandising and more.

If you think about it they had an idea of Azeroth being special for decades just never really found a reasonable cause till recently. Heck, they might have planned that charade all along but kept it quiet for years. Before Cataclysm, you got Discs of Norgannon from the dungeon in Badlands and took them to a Titanic Watcher to 'Uldum' which was this crushed gate and a plate at the time. You couldn't even glitch around it. With Catalcysm, Uldum transformed into this place heavy in Titanic relations. Pre-Cataclysm Uldum was placed into the game by Vanilla's release therefore is easily 13 years old.

- - - Updated - - -

Doesn't prove they were planning for cataclysm back then.

Actually, they always plan ahead.
Chen's Empty Keg was in Vanilla Ratchet given by an Orc. This was before they were going to add Pandaren as the Alliance race for Burning Crusade.
There was a potential Worgen as Human Form in Moonglade commenting on your smell and the Denmother liking you. Moonglade is a Druidic haven which Worgens can be and he was the only Human there. Humans can't be Druids...
There are numerous additions that pave the way for things. One keeper was missing from Ulduar for years - people knew it was Tyr and speculated it was the General but in fact, he was dead and explained well in Tirsifal. A place named from Vanilla and actually after Tyr fell in battle there... Tirisfal. Where his hammer remained and guarded and revealed only in Legion.
Shards of Frostmourne taken when Arthas died only to reappear in Legion for the artifacts.
There's lots if you start to look.

It does overlap in a way, she was the reason the Twilight Dragonflight came to be... The pawns used a lot by Deathwing and which he built upon too by using Alexstraza's clutch thereafter I believe considering their exchange in Wyrmrest Temple of Dragon Soul raid. Her eggs were used in experiments to make the Twilight Dragonflight and actually was Deathwing's prime consort. Though they don't wholly overlap... They do use it as an interlink.

That in Legion, she reappears as Sintharia's whispers from beyond the grave send Zeryxia to lead the Twilight's Hammer and reborn twilight dragonflight to attack Deepholm. This is part of the Shaman Campaign if I recall.

And this isn't an uncommon theme for all the Class Halls. They relate back to older lore set by years ahead, some not even "just for the sake of it" when you have Arathor in the mix, he firstly was stationed in Hellfire Pennisula back in Burning Crusade then slotted into the Paladin Class Hall with reason when 7.3 comes. Something like Shaman Class Hall and the Death Knight class mount campaign along with Ion's recent interview with "Dragons will become very important" clearly shows they have to plan for future events and to be honest they always have.

[Martyn 470]

Blizzard do plan far ahead, even in the form of breadcrumbs.

As well as the above mentioned Sinestra, there was also a random twilight drakonid in the Arcatraz who mentions something about the black dragonflight rising again.

There's also the final boss of the same dungeon talking about the old God's being innumeral.

[Deleted]

True! Underwater in WoW just wouldn't fit thanks to their tech. Biomes or rising islands would work best, while keeping their underwater doodads.

Rising islands works best, the same way Gul'dan did it with the tomb. Azshara would do the same and bring her empire up the surface again.

[huth]

Rising islands works best, the same way Gul'dan did it with the tomb. Azshara would do the same and bring her empire up the surface again.

Why would she ever do that? She'd just be disadvantaging herself for no good reason.

[cparle87]

World building doesn't need to directly or immediately impact the main plot. They can set something up without any intention to use it for years to come, especially when it's as simple as a single sentence in a book.

The first time BC timewalking came out after the Chronicles book did I actually did a spit take. Harbinger Skyriss has a couple of lines.

"It is a small matter to control the mind of the weak... for I bear allegiance to powers untouched by time, unmoved by fate. No force on this world or beyond harbors the strength to bend our knee... not even the mighty Legion!" is said when he spawns.

"We span the universe, as countless as the stars!" when he copies himself.

And "I am merely one of... infinite multitudes." when you slay him.

I heard these lines and thought to myself, "Omg! Did Blizzard have the idea for the Void Lords all the way back then!?"

The powers he bears allegiance to are beyond time and fate because they don't exist in the physical reality. They're so powerful no one can stop them, not even the Legion, and we now know the Legion was formed TO try to defeat them. The Void Lords created countless Old Gods and seeded them across the universe to find Titan World-Souls, Skyriss simply being a servant of one of them.

[Shadowyb]

There is a demon hunter npc under the wortex thing in darkshore speaks about coming of the void and that we are not ready for it. And it's there since the launch of catacylsm. I accidentally find him when ı fall to the wortex

[Aucald]

There is a demon hunter npc under the wortex thing in darkshore speaks about coming of the void and that we are not ready for it. And it's there since the launch of catacylsm. I accidentally find him when ı fall to the wortex

That would be Telarius Voidstrider, the Herald of the Dark Embrace. The text he bore, according to the item's flavor text, was "Writings of the Dark Herald: These etched writings reveal certain secrets on the path to becoming a Demon Hunter." I don't know if Telarius is really related to the Void despite his name - but he was definitely an interesting story element back in Cata.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

I don't think that everything being discussed was planned in advance. They left opportunities to do something, but they weren't planning precisely the events of Cata when we saw Sinestra on Outland, nor MoP when they threw in a reference to Chen Stormstout, who of course predates WoW.
There's a difference between leaving ambiguous plot threads from which you can create a story and putting them there because of a specific plan.