2018 and onwards: World of Warcraft: ....,

[vertigo12]

One of the hot topics here in MMO-C general forums and across the internet talks about what expansion could be brought to us by Blizz. It all started from a data-mined post regarding Kul'Tiras armor soon or later might finally be revealed to what purpose it is really intended for come near the final phase of PTR 7.3 and probably 7.3.5 or onwards.

Hype indeed is building up and lot of speculation and forecast are being thrown at the forums, all of which are waiting for their "claim of fame" and "this guy told you so" title.


As an avid game developer, concept artist myself I find the scope of focus for a grand scheme for a box hitting title for World of Warcraft and discussing the next expac to be "short sighted" and "narrow perspective". Game makers are visionaires themselves and have a gift of foresight.

There is an on-going discussion done inside the so called Official 8.0 Speculation thread which is really hot right now in Gen Forums and I do believe it is note worthy of it's own discussion and thread. With that in mind allow me o indulge you to what that topic is:

It stemmed up from one of the forum member's thought of how he thinks how expac progression might be as I injected my interpretation and expounded a bit. Actually many of the forumers are clueless or directionless as to what could be the future...

i'll try to edit yours and try to add something from mine
Expansion 7:
- Azshara + Naga
- Old Gods / N'zoth
- Jaina + KT
- Zul and Trolls prequel to Nightelven Heritage

Expansion 8:
- Emerald Dream/ Nightmare - It is still unresolved and still exist. Overgrowth in Barrens, The Great Trees of Azeroth, 4 Emerald Gates watched by the Nightmare Dragons as portal
- Shadowlands
- Troll Empire and Elven Race epilogue
- O'dyn and His eyes in the Shadow Realms
- Sylvanas' redemption for the undead

Expansion 9:
- Timetravel back in time: Muruzond Related
- Post Sundering Azeroth: BC is current Draenor and Draenor having it's own Expac Azeroth as 1 continent
- Black Empire Azeroth Post Titan intervention and post Sundering
- Aggramar and Draenor revisited, yes WoD planet.
-Arrakoas and affinity to shadow and light, Arrakoa civilization in contrast to the Gronns and Ogres.
- Nozdormu- Muruzond
- C'Thraxxi (N'zoth), Aqir (YS), Qiraji (C'Thun), Mantid

Expansion 10:
- Ethereals
- Demon Planets that have a zone only maps: Mardum much like Kezan right now but for sure in this expansion it will be a complete zone as whole
- Nathreza, Ethereal's home planet Karesh= destroyed can mean Dreanor >> Outland or Planet Argus: Destroyed but still habitable, Xorroth, Shivvari home planet, Centralis, Karkor,
- Void Lords

Finale:
- Argus as a whole planet
- Bolvar the Lich King and the Damned
- Illidan and the Burning Legion
- Old God+ united + Void lord wrap up story
- The Titan Pantheon as planets

- Corrupted Azeroth final revamp of the world, our base is somewhere in another planet or a space ship

Voila! Internet community, I present you originally thought and mentally composed projection if it could only be copyrighted I'd do so.

What can you guys say? I'd like to see more of you guys thought about it and how you would vision it yourselves and probably come up with a comparable better analogy and enumeration. Comment away!

[TheFirstOnes]

Nah, here's what i'm expecting:

Expansion 8: Azshara, Pirates, Trolls, Infinite Dragonflight, end of the Nightmare, N'zoth, Rise/Fall of the Black Empire, with a Corrupted Azeroth as the Final boss.

Expansion 9: Likely a filler Expac, with the Undead/Void.

And then, expansion 10: The Void Lords expac.

[zlygork]

Could happen, could not. Not that much to discuss here, you just threw popular expansion concepts in a specific order. I would be disappointed if every planet we go to from now on is a zone or two, I can tell you that.

[vertigo12]

Nah, here's what i'm expecting:

Expansion 8: Azshara, Pirates, Trolls, Infinite Dragonflight, end of the Nightmare, N'zoth, Rise/Fall of the Black Empire, with a Corrupted Azeroth as the Final boss.

Expansion 9: Likely a filler Expac, with the Undead/Void.

And then, expansion 10: The Void Lords expac.

So you're saying with your interpretation WoW would only last for just another 3 expac?

1)WoW Classic
2) WoW TBC
3) WoW WotLK
4) WoW Cata
5) WoW MoP
6) WoW WoD
7) WoW Legion
8-10) Next expac 2018-2020?

[TheFirstOnes]

So you're saying with your interpretation WoW would only last for just another 3 expac?

1)WoW Classic
2) WoW TBC
3) WoW WotLK
4) WoW Cata
5) WoW MoP
6) WoW WoD
7) WoW Legion
8-10) Next expac 2018-2020?

Story wise: Yes.

Everything else, nah.

[vertigo12]

Could happen, could not. Not that much to discuss here, you just threw popular expansion concepts in a specific order. I would be disappointed if every planet we go to from now on is a zone or two, I can tell you that.

That is basically the concept of the Rifts. Planets part of WoW-verse are slowly making appearance in-game. WoW has Saturn like planet never unheard of leaked in Antorus raid itself and can be seen in skybox of 2nd wing related to Eonar. To proceed there requires you to step into one of the Demon portals of BL.

Not all expac ideas. No ideas have been posted about Azeroth aka Draenor v2 right upto now. Not even a concept of YS+CT+NZ+YS in-one as a raid tier which I posted within the 8.0 thread itself now burried within the now 100+ pages of that discussion.

- - - Updated - - -

Story wise: Yes.

Everything else, nah.

I think with the last 3 years assuming it would go with that flow, wouldn't it be too cramped up and almost bloated with so much happening? You could miss a lot of untapped WoW mythos,wow verse and history figure/places as well by doing so in just 3 years and having that theme alone.

[TheFirstOnes]

That is basically the concept of the Rifts. Planets part of WoW-verse are slowly making appearance in-game. WoW has Saturn like planet never unheard of leaked in Antorus raid itself and can be seen in skybox of 2nd wing related to Eonar. To proceed there requires you to step into one of the Demon portals of BL.

Not all expac ideas. No ideas have been posted about Azeroth aka Draenor v2 right upto now. Not even a concept of YS+CT+NZ+YS in-one as a raid tier which I posted within the 8.0 thread itself now burried within the now 100+ pages of that discussion.

- - - Updated - - -



I think with the last 3 years assuming it would go with that flow, wouldn't it be too cramped up and almost bloated with so much happening? You could miss a lot of untapped WoW mythos,wow verse and history figure places as well by doing so in just 3 years and having that theme alone.

Well, let's face it, if we're defeating Titans, saving Titans, and sealing away Sargeras in 1 patch, as well as defeating the entire Legion threat in 1 expac, then...not really.

[vertigo12]

Well, let's face it, if we're defeating Titans, saving Titans, and sealing away Sargeras in 1 patch, as well as defeating the entire Legion threat in 1 expac, then...not really.

Specific Titan particularly corrupted Aggramar and now awakened or soon to be awakened Argus. Sargeras won't be making his debut or cameo I'll bet this expac. Just voice over because I firmly believe they cannot show themselves at their Pantheonesque physique as it is impossible to do so may it be in Argus in Azeroth or any wow planet existing. They have to appeare to us in their Avatar form much like AoS and nothing much. The best they can do with their collossal visage is ala KJ SWP/Krosus/Sinestra.

We have no idea as of now how Sargeras will be sealed but I have idea in mind. WoW Legion isn't the entire Legion. I believe it is only a fraction of their entire populace as not all Demon worlds and its sentient life forms have been introduced and summoned in Azeroth. You have to wipeout all the the Azerothian species just to fit 3 or more demon planet beings in Azeroth.

[TheFirstOnes]

Specific Titan particularly corrupted Aggramar and now awakened or soon to be awakened Argus. Sargeras won't be making his debut or cameo I'll bet this expac. Just voice over because I firmly believe they cannot show themselves at their Pantheonesque physique as it is impossible to do so may it be in Argus in Azeroth or any wow planet existing. They have to appeare to us in their Avatar form much like AoS and nothing much. The best they can do with their collossal visage is ala KJ SWP/Krosus/Sinestra.

We have no idea as of now how Sargeras will be sealed but I have idea in mind. WoW Legion isn't the entire Legion. I believe it is only a fraction of their entire populace as not all Demon worlds and its sentient life forms have been introduced and summoned in Azeroth. You have to wipeout all the the Azerothian species just to fit 3 or more demon planet beings in Azeroth.

Well, to be fair, we are assaulting Argus, which is the THRONE of the Legion, The Capital. So, we should be facing off against their full might there. If not, then the Legion must suck at their defense, then.

Also, we WILL see Sargeras. Not only does he have a Datamined model, but he's also in the Skybox around Azeroth, and will likely show up in the End cinematic, just before his "Defeated".

[Thetruth1400]

I think the next expansion is definitely going to start with South Seas and Queen Azshara. I think we'll start heading towards N'zoth (the weakest Old God left) for the end of the expansion.

That will lead into the next expansion being the Void Lords / Black Empire after we wipe out the last Old God and maybe a little bit of Titan lore, but really, there are only 3 Titans that aren't dead right now, we're going to deal with Sargeras and Argus this expansion, so that only leaves Azeroth, but that's dormant and only a "could become" titan.

After that, we're pretty much out of lore unless we start time traveling again or double dip into old expansions. By that I mean "Oh look, Bolvar couldn't handle the undead, so back off to Northrend we go, this time with fire zombies instead of ice ones!"

I'm fairly confident that Legion was their "Throw everything at it and see if we can keep this ship floating" expansion. Frankly, I don't think it really has done much to overcome the decline, especially from WoD, of sub losses and therefore WoW just isn't their cash cow and worth focusing on continued expansions for. I could be wrong, WoW could be back up to over 5 million subs, but I highly doubt it. I don't think it is going to be cost effective for them to keep going forward, especially as a game where their design philosophy is one where customers come and go in waves instead of being steady, paying customers.

[Elestia]

There's maybe one more xpac left in terms of story... which I think could just be its own 7.4 patch:
Kul'tiras and Zandalar are pretty small - max level zones/staging grounds for new raid for horde and ally.
Azshara and N'zoth would be in one raid together as the last thing threatening Azeroth's grand awakening.

Azeroth awakens - new Titan MMO is born with new stories, new lore, new characters, different time periods etc.
Old heroes from wow able to roll over into new game.

That's my prediction b/c this would make sense to me from a lore standpoint and from a business standpoint.

[Felaris Stormrage]

I think the next expansion is definitely going to start with South Seas and Queen Azshara. I think we'll start heading towards N'zoth (the weakest Old God left) for the end of the expansion.

That will lead into the next expansion being the Void Lords / Black Empire after we wipe out the last Old God and maybe a little bit of Titan lore, but really, there are only 3 Titans that aren't dead right now, we're going to deal with Sargeras and Argus this expansion, so that only leaves Azeroth, but that's dormant and only a "could become" titan.

After that, we're pretty much out of lore unless we start time traveling again or double dip into old expansions. By that I mean "Oh look, Bolvar couldn't handle the undead, so back off to Northrend we go, this time with fire zombies instead of ice ones!"

I'm fairly confident that Legion was their "Throw everything at it and see if we can keep this ship floating" expansion. Frankly, I don't think it really has done much to overcome the decline, especially from WoD, of sub losses and therefore WoW just isn't their cash cow and worth focusing on continued expansions for. I could be wrong, WoW could be back up to over 5 million subs, but I highly doubt it. I don't think it is going to be cost effective for them to keep going forward, especially as a game where their design philosophy is one where customers come and go in waves instead of being steady, paying customers.

Couldn't have said it better.

Plenty of people are in denial and that's okay. Legion is/was the attempt at reviving World of Warcraft, after the failure of WoD. Almost all of the large lore characters showed up during Legion and plenty more evidence supports this theory. Also, not only did we obtain the most powerful weapons, but now we're wielding not one, but TWO legendary items. It is absolutely ridiculous. And, we are potentially putting an end to Sargeras.

Slightly hard to "up" Legion in the sense of lore. How are we going to go from wielding the most powerful weapons and multiple legendary items, to regular epic weapons? It just doesn't really add up logically.

Either Blizzard is slowly moving away from the MMORPG genre, or they are working on a more massive project. I don't see this game respectfully continuing for much longer. People are already bored of the lore and it's poor construction. I can't imagine this game retaining a healthy population any longer. Especially, with the current state of the game.

Lastly, I'd say subscription numbers begin to plummet to the ~1M ballpark mid-next expansion if Blizzard doesn't resurrect the game.

Oh, and not to mention the lead designers/developers that have departed during Legion. This game is toast. Mark my words.

[Thrif]

Lol to people claiming it's a dead game and only have a few expansions left. They can literally pull whole expansions from nothing like they did with MoP or WoD, and as long as we're still counting subs in millions it's making plenty of money and is worth keeping around. They're a company after all, more now than ever, and they've been laying new ground and expanding on it recently with the whole Chronicle books.

[vertigo12]

Lol to people claiming it's a dead game and only have a few expansions left. They can literally pull whole expansions from nothing like they did with MoP or WoD, and as long as we're still counting subs in millions it's making plenty of money and is worth keeping around. They're a company after all, more now than ever, and they've been laying new ground and expanding on it recently with the whole Chronicle books.

It was actually not "from nothing" Pandaria and Pandaren has rich lore and for sure back in WC3 they have existing lore concept behind it already. WoD is just reliving WCI and II from the Orc/Horde perspective. Monk is definitely based from him.

Chen Stormstout is a major character role that is heavily tied with Horde actually as he helped out Voljin and Thrall and has a lot to do with Kul'Tiras and Jaina! For sure he will have a comeback and have some important role in it.

Chen and company went on a secret mission to Theramore Island to help the Horde find out why the humans were attacking them. They met with Jaina Proudmoore, who decided to help them out, after seeing what her father had done.[6] Chen helped Rexxar to defend Thrall and Durotar from Kul Tiras incursions. When the Horde was prepared they launched an attack that ended with the death of Grand Admiral Proudmoore.[7]

WoD have maritime concept tied to it specially with refiniry, just a building as part of a PVP Zone back in Cata. Horde has Juggernaut.

[Lochton]

I have to disagree after what we know from spoilers, Argus won't remain for long if we are to fight the core titan of Argus

[Thrif]

It was actually not "from nothing" Pandaria and Pandaren has rich lore and for sure back in WC3 they have existing lore concept behind it already. WoD is just reliving WCI and II from the Orc/Horde perspective. Monk is definitely based from him.

Chen Stormstout is a major character role that is heavily tied with Horde actually as he helped out Voljin and Thrall and has a lot to do with Kul'Tiras and Jaina! For sure he will have a comeback and have some important role in it.

Yeah sure, it's not literally from nothing, but it's close enough. There was no real existing lore behind it - Chen Stormstout was an obscure non-prominent hero from a decade old rts, and that's about all we had. But if that's all that's needed to create an expansion, which Blizzard proved it is, then they can create a near infinite number of expansions which was the main point.

[RoKPaNda]

Yeah sure, it's not literally from nothing, but it's close enough. There was no real existing lore behind it - Chen Stormstout was an obscure non-prominent hero from a decade old rts, and that's about all we had. But if that's all that's needed to create an expansion, which Blizzard proved it is, then they can create a near infinite number of expansions which was the main point.

Pretty much yeah. EverQuest reached the point that WoW is at now with exhausting most of it's interesting lore and then had another 10 years of expansions. Blizzard can create whatever story they want and the players will roll with it. Admittedly we're going to have to have some of our power stripped from us if we're going to go back to stomping uprisings of fel/void/etc empowered Orcs. =)

[vertigo12]

I believe WoW hasn't exhausted all it's historical figures, relived all the historical events, all its zones, touched the left stories tagged as "to be continued".

WotLK is the finale of WC3 of Arthras the Lich King but it is only the beginning of the Lich King of the present World of Warcraft. All the Orc clans have been introduced except for the the Stormreavers of Guldan which can never be introduced if GD doesn't appear in main time line and be involved in this current expac. The list goes on.

[Chickat]

Theres enough lore for 10 time travel expansions. Will it be as interesting as now? No, but ill still play it off and on forever. Resub each expansion/major patch. I might only play for 2 or 3 months a year in the future, but ill always play.

[vertigo12]

Aside from that WoD has a very interesting storyline and lore behind the planet. Aggramar has a link with Draenor and he is now ingame. He suppose to be revisting draenor. Anzu has some times with Xal quotes as Arrakoas are race havinf history with light and darkness. Ogres too and they haven't introduced Ruins of the Ogre Kin which is now Shattrath. No Farahlon as well which has a very strong niche related to emerald dreams and nightmares.

I'd like to reiterate. If Outland have its comeback expac or prequel expac known as Wod and TBC has a sequel of Legion,it's not surprising that Azeroth has it's own expac after the Maeltrom issue and Great Sundering tide with NZ and Azshara and backtrack to Black empire or basically a pangea Map of Azeroth as it's own expac prequel. S finally patch would result to the beckoning of the sentient races loyal to the oldgods as hinted by the Mantids. So to will the Qiraji, Nerubians, and C'Thraxxi

Voljin has a strong backstory with KT as well along with Rokhan, Chen Stormstout,Rexxar and Thrall.Kultiras has a backstory with Oggrimar and it's founding. No Mist means Chen has no chance of appearing in game. Blizz is very good at delaying which characters to introduce at a specific expac and have great sense of timing and analogy. Skills needed for being a game dev and designer.