Next expansion will be Burning Legion themed with players taking the fight to Argus.
Scourge will be a playable race and, much like Pandaren, they can choose to fight as Alliance or Horde. Bolvar is of course the faction leader (as The Lich King).
I don't see why people are so fast to say that Ner'Zhul is complete gone. Haven't anyone else noticed that laughter that comes afterwards when Tirion places the Crown of Domination on Bolvar? Arthas told Ner'Zhul that he didn't need him anymore yes, but that doesn't indicate that he is complete gone. I'm going to quote something intressting I read on wowwiki couple of days back;
"A recent twitter chat suggests Ner'zhul's story is far from over:"
Q. Will Ner'zhul appear at any point in 3.3 or the near future?
A. Well, he is a chunk of the Lich King now. But if you mean will he appear as an orc, we're not ready to tell his story just yet. We have a lot of stories left to tell, but his is a good one.
And a quote from wowwiki; (since I can't link pages yet look for Ner'Zhul on wowwiki, Birth of the lich king)
"Ner'zhul's fate, with the death of Arthas and Bolvar Fordragon's rise as the Lich King, is currently unknown."
So I don't think the whole entity of the "Orginal Lich King" is gone. Even if Ner'Zhul is still in there I don't see him as a threat, since Frostmourne was destroyed. And we all know that Frostmourne was one of the main reasons Arthas became corrupt in the first place.
But I personally think Bolvar, as the new lich king will play a major part in the war against the Burning Legion.
I think he'll return as a possible Class Quest for Death Knights, maybe teaching us new ways of summoning undead? There's many things to teach that Death Knights have yet to obtain.
"In a dream state where Arthas sees past, present, and future, presented by Ner'zhul, Arthas murders the child manifestation of his humanity (e.g. love, compassion, and so forth). Delighted at this decision Ner'zhul states "We are one, Arthas. Together we are the Lich King. No more Ner'zhul, no more Arthas -- only this one glorious being." With that Arthas murders Ner'zhul and tells him "No we. No one tells me what to do. I've got everything I need from you -- now the power is mine and mine alone. Now there is only I. I am the Lich King. And I am ready." Ner'zhul is stunned by the betrayal, then disappears.[4] It is uncertain what effect the events in this dream state actually mean for Ner'zhul's essence, but it would seem to indicate that Arthas's soul lorded over Ner'zhul's."
Convincing Tirion to not tell anyone of his existance? His voice growing darker and more evil as he puts on the helm?
Do you realize that the previous Lich King, Arthas, suddenly sounded human again once he lost his helmet?
I think the evil (regardless of wether it's Ner'zhul or just some kind of unnamed pure evil by now) lives on in the helmet, and thus it is now consuming Bolvar.
---------- Post added 2013-03-21 at 01:31 AM ----------
Well, the Lich King apparently killed both Ner'zhul and Arthas, leaving only a pure evil form.
But we know that's not accurate since Arthas sounded quite like his old self just before he died.
Either Ner'zhul still lives, or the helmet holds some kind of pure evil form that corrupts and takes over anyone that wears it. So that includes Bolvar.
the circumstances around arthas becoming LK and Bolvar becoming the LK are quite different. Arthas betrayed massacred his people, those loyal to him and his entire nation many times over before he finally wore the helm and entered the chrysalis phase.
Bolvar sacrificed everything and fought back against arthas all the way and took the helm upon himself to jail away the scourge. He has the life fire of the red flight burning through him. Which doenst mean he may not turn evil but it may also mean he might not turn evil.
Also whats all this talk about the LK coming back? that blizz doenst want to kill off its major villain? the LK is not coming back, someone else entirely is returning after inheriting the title. who'll be different from LK Arthas. the terminology and the reasoning based off the flawed terminology is all wrong.
we also have no proof that Bolvar will be evil or good, conflicted and suffering is a given, but his alignment or possible lack of (like wrathion) holds nothing in terms of proof. Saying his voice changing and "sounding evil" is baseless, it was just his taking on the power of the LK and it jsut sounds so shallow to make a judgement like that.
I still don't believe that Ner'zhul is completely dead. Did Arthas conquer him? Yes. Does that mean that he isn't just pushed back into the far back recesses of the helm? Who knows.
As far as will we see the LK again? I really wouldn't doubt it. The real question is to what capacity. And that all depends on who blizzard says is the dominant personality. Or maybe he will start out good, let his guard down, and Ner'zhul will come forward, take control, and wreck havoc on everything.
Pertaining to the Lich King's return, I'd like to see it handled in a sorta morally gray way.
Say that the Alliance and Horde are taking the fight to the Burning Legion. The Lich King is offering assistance. This is already a point of contention, is it not hypocritical to use those powers to their end?
A point I would very much like to see explored is, say, the Lich King insists on resurrecting fallen Alliance and Horde soldiers to continue fighting (why waste a valuable resource against a innumerable and potentially infinitely powerful foe?) How would they react? Are his disgusting methods forgivable for his pure intention?
Shit, but knowing Blizzard he'd just be the last boss of a 5-man.
Steve Irwin died the same way he lived. With animals in his heart.
I'm expecting Bolvar to show up to give an ultimatum to the Forsaken/Sylvanas: do what is right and just and abandon their current path, or be jailed in the icecrown glacier.
True... But a soulness Arthas, because his soul was imprisioned inside Froustmourne...
There is a mission in WC3 where just after Froustmourne consumed his soul, Arthas states... ''I feel no mercy, no pity, nor remorse...''
If something consumed your own soul do you even consider wath was left behind as still being you?? Lets take an example, people with multiple personalities, even this is one of the rarest psychiatric condictions you can ever see, people afected by them oftem developed conflicting personalities...
The point here is that Arthas doesn't even have a personality after frostmourne consumed his soul... He exists only to serve Ner'Zull (the true LK)...
I think you have missed some lessons on this history. Your wrong thoughts may cloud your view.
Anyways .. i am quite sure that we will have the scourge as third faction.. sooner or later.The currently leaderless forsaken ( or at least a part of it ) will leave the horde for it. Plus they will get nerubians , vrykuls , skeletons ( which are not the same as forsaken which are more like zombies with flesh on ) and maybe thats it for the beginning. Classes basically whatever can work under those circumstances. Shamans , unholy paladins , dks , unholy priests etc...
And of course with Arthas back in charge and leader of the faction after dueling and winning against bolvar or something.
WC4 is most likely never going to happen. There is no reason to revamp Outland or Northrend, Blizz has flat out said this already. Bolvar will most likely be back soon, its inevitable, it only takes a couple year for the Lich King's powers to acclimate fully. Seeing how powerful Bolvar already is, it wouldn't surprise me if we see him fighting against the Legion, when Sarg comes.
ON WEDNESDAYS WE WEAR PINK
A crack..... Do you realize Bolvar could simply remove the ice anytime he wished? He just encased himself in ice in order to sleep. I think that way he can control the scourge better. It's like his mind is hovering around doing stuff. Kinda like what Arthas did. His mind was active but in order to do that he had to sleep and put his body in a coma.
In 2 xpacs he will be back.