The Next Xpack's Lore, 7 Theories!

[Immitis]

Facts
1 Wrathion says Something bad and not of Azeroth is coming.

Theories

• 1 The Burning Legion (Tinfoil Hat Level 0/10)
• This is the most common theory and it makes a lot of sense as it really the only well known off world threat but I personally think its just a little TOO obvious.
• 2 The Void/The void walkers (Tinfoil Hat Level 1.5/10)
• I have never seen this one before it actually didn't hit me till i was writing this. Yes void walkers are demons, but they might not belong to the burning legion. Allow me to quote Wowpedia
  "Most voidwalkers who are not in the service of warlocks belong to a faction known as the Void, lead by Dimensius. Dimensius' forces destroyed the ethereal homeworld of K'aresh" and... "Whether or not the Void invasion was planned by the Burning Legion, or if the Void are even officially a part of the Legion is unknown. It can be speculated however that the Void is a force acting on its own, since the Ethereals seem to hold no vengeance for the Legion; as well as the fact that Voids are not present in Legion encampments."
• 3 A New Threat (Tinfoil Hat Level 3/10)
• This is a rarely heard one but its in this list on the grounds of if its not Burning Legion or the Void it must be some new group.
• 4 The Titans (Tinfoil Hat Level 5/10)
• I personally like this one. We don't know much about them, what we do know is they seem to value order more then anything even good or evil, and we aren't exactly conforming.
• 5 Wrathion is Lying (Tinfoil Hat Level 8/10)
• He is evil and will kill us all enough said.
• 6 Evil Naaru (10/10
• Not much to say on this one cause we really don't know much about them, in fact id say we know more about the titans then them so i call this the "Yo the Naaru have turned evil!" theory
• 7 The Zerg (Tinfoil Hat Level 9000/10)
• Why? Why not! I mean it could happen! What?! Stop looking at me like I'm crazy!

out of those ive proposed 1, 2, 4, and 6.

i think they would all be awesome,

i dont think we will see any crossovers in the franchise that is cannon, and wrathion is an antihero so i doubt hes evil and it would really suck if the guy weve become friends with an entire expansion would be turned into a bad guy.

right now though i think we only have two real options for the moment

burning legion

or

south seas.

while something like the void who eat planets, or the titans, or old gods in space would be awesome and are pretty much inevitable i think before we go off to another world we need more content hinting at the fact a good portion of azeroth CAN go off world (yes i know draenei have the exodar working and tempest keep, and yes i know the ethereal but you dont really see humans and dwarves and orcs flying spaceships do you?)

i think a burning legion expansion where we are exposed to these things more and the races of azeroth become more accustomed to them would help set off one of those expansions without a "lolwut i can has spaceship?" moment happening.

---------- Post added 2013-05-17 at 03:42 PM ----------

IMO the next expansion will also be heavily anime/manga based as well, and will have nothing to do with original Warcraft Lore.

After having introduced Kung-Fu Pandas and Pokemon to the game, I think that they will try a manga/anime dragon based playable race:




That will be a fitting sequel to Pandas and Pokemon IMO.

except pandaren were in the original warcraft lore.

chen stormstout along with rexxar helped build orgrimmar and if it wasnt for them fighting on the frontlines against daelin its likely the human forces wouldve overtaken the orcs.

not to mention the reason night elves have a heavily asian inspired culture instead of the mayan culture of their ancestors is due to the former alliance and trade between the pandaren empire before the pandaren shunned them and closed their borders.

also pandaren were integral in the creation of brewfest.

all of that happened in lore pre mists information by the way either in rpg books or in warcraft 3. and before you say "RPG NAT CANNAN BRAH" those three things i listed are now cannon so it doesnt matter that they originally came from the rpg books they are ingame now.

not to mention bubble bobble isnt even an anime or manga, its an old school video game

[Yehivak]

I thought Naaru died....like in the Cinema for BC. Then Velen is the (king) of Exodar, please correct if im wrong.

[Falrinn]

I thought Naaru died....like in the Cinema for BC. Then Velen is the (king) of Exodar, please correct if im wrong.

A Naaru died, they are a species not an individual. There are 11 known Naaru in the Warcraft universe, most of which are still very much alive and well, and there is no reason to believe there aren't many more out in the cosmos (Velen's short story on the official site implies as much). And Velen was always the leader of the Exodar, the exact relationship between the Naaru and the Draenei gets a little muddled sometimes, but where Velen is involved he treats them as allies rather then superiors.

[femur68]

Here's my fun guess on the next expansion:

1. Expansion opens up with a release event where naga begin to pop up on shorelines in Azeroth. Azshara finally reveals herself as the next big baddie and she will stop at nothing to tear down the Alliance and Horde.

2. We enter into a South Seas Expansion: Tel'Abim, the Ruined Isle of Zandalar, the Undermine, etc. First raiding tier consists of King Rastakan (being desperate after the fall of the mogu and Lei Shen) swearing allegiance to Azshara and him being the end boss of the raid tier. We fight Rastakan (and the rest of the bosses within the raid) in a dilapidated palace on the half-sunken Isle of Zandalar. You can also finally do another raid that could wrap up the storyline of Nep'tulon and Ozumat. Maybe throw some random pirate raid in there or something. Opening raid tiers tend to be everywhere. We would also receive a world boss, Zul. Zul would be a world boss on a giant golden galleon sailing the South Seas, and you would have to besiege his ship and board it pirate-style (World bosses tend to be giant free for alls, and an all out ship siege is just that.). After killing Zul aboard his ship, you can proceed to the treasure room on board the ship and reap the rewards.

3. After losing an ally in Rastakan in the first raid tier, Azshara becomes ever more determined to obtain more power over Azeroth. So she seeks out N'Zoth, the old god that makes C'thun and Yogg'saron look like toys. The second raid tier would be an emerald dream content patch, with the gateway to it near the Maelstrom, and the raid being the Rift of Aln itself. The sleeping city of Nya'lotha would be in the Rift of Aln and act as a sort of main platform for the raid. This patch would play out very much like the Firelands patch did in Cataclysm (except more than 7 bosses in the raid, that's just too few). After we defeat N'Zoth in the Rift of Aln, Azshara becomes more desperate than she has become in 10,000 years.

4. In the final raid tier, she repeats history by turning to the Burning Legion for power. She raises the Broken Isles and the Tomb of Sargeras and attempts to open up a portal there for the Burning Legion to invade Azeroth. The final raid would indeed be the Tomb of Sargeras itself, with us fighting pitlords, demons, Nath'rezim, etc. to make it to Azshara before she can once again bring Sargeras back to this world. We catch up to her and end the raid in an epic fight where we have her on the ground, shrieking in madness of all the agony, suffering, and failure she's had to endure over the millenia, before we put the poor creature out of her misery.

5. With the Burning Legion defeated, but a new portal to Ar'gus still on Azeroth, the Alliance and Horde decide to use the portal and stage an all out offensive on the Burning Legion's homeworld itself in the following expansion. Going into the breach, once again!

[DrMcNinja]

<SNIP>

I like option 2, and have never thought about it at all.

4 could be something, as Yogg-Saron, God of Death has stated in the first post, the horde is going to rebuild. Maybe the Titans will seek contact because the Burning Legion is even threatening their existence? (Tinfoil hat indeed).

Im not going to say anything about 5, as we still have to see his 'Judgement' in 5.4

I can't see 6 happening. And if 7 happens, better pack your bags

I personally think it's going to be something we know, and expected, but with a twist that nobody would've guessed. (inb4 Blizzard claiming a name within a week)

[Teriz]

Azshara/Naga/Undermine expansion with Tinkers as the new class. That would be my guess.

[Madruga]

I really don't think Wrathion is lying. I am pretty sure his methods will get unbearable questionable at some point, maybe even his reasons to help us, and we may have to deal with him.

It is pretty obvious the Burning Legion will return. Wrathion predicts this, Velen talks about the Army of the Light that will bring the war to the Burning Legion doorsteps, Kill'jaeden is somewhere recovering from the loss at Sunwell and Sargeras didn't even appear yet. Bu I don't think it will be now. The Burning Legion is one of the big bads of the franchise, after we put them down it is gonna be hard finding a suitable replacement. And also, the Horde will not be in a good position to face them. Blizzard already stated the Horde will be in shambles next xpack.

It could be the Naga, but after Vashjr, I don't think they would dare make a xpack focused only on water content. Maybe Aszhara will come along some Olg God theme, maybe along the Emerald Dream and the South Isles.

But my best bet is... next x-pack is gonna be something totally unexpected. Like Pandaria. Everyone was sure next villain after Cata would be Azshara, and then Mists came from out of nowhere. And while everyone was like "Pandas booooohh", Blizzard did an amazing job of story telling this x-pack. They even managed to get the overused (thanks to Cataclysm) Old God theme and present in in a fresh and pleasant way with Y'shaarj and the Sha.