Speculation Thread: The Dark Below

[JasonWuzHear]

I'm speculating:

Naga for Alliance
Kvaldir/Vrykul for Horde

Need moar shaman races for alliance and paladin races for horde. Naga can be shammies, and Kvaldir can be paladins with a stretch...........okay no, probably not but I can wish, right?

[Larynx]

I think everything above "One Massive World" is completely spot on, honestly.

My theory for how it'll go down:

Patch 6.0: Azshara raid (with Neptulon too!), Zul raid, Old God raid (with a general as the boss)
Patch 6.1: 6.2 lead in
Patch 6.2: Emerald Nightmare goes down, have a questchain dealing with it, culminates in a daily subzone and raid like Firelands was
Patch 6.3: Figuring out how to deal with N'zoth (6.4 lead in)
Patch 6.4: N'zoth raid
Patch 6.5: In the course of leveling, we encounter the Tomb of Sargeras. This triggers the events that'll happen in 6.5, which will lead into Patch 7.0 for the Burning Legion expansion.

For races, either they will do none, or they'll add Ogres/High Elves I think. No classes.

[Flaks]

I'm just afraid Blizzard will try to jump on the "pirate" and "sea warfare" bandwagon.

I would personally hate HATE for the next expansion to be 5 levels again personally. It just bothers me (and has been bothering me since Cataclysm).

That said, I feel like most of your "feature" suggestions are very likely to come true; hell, I bet most of them are already in the pipeline from mobile pet battles to classic flex raids.

And if South Seas is the next expansion I would love for it to go down like the poster above me (Larynx) mentioned. I'd also prefer that the next expansion have neither a new class nor new races.

If I had it my way though, I would have the next expansion span both the Burning Legion AND the South Seas and have 6.5 segue into the return of the Legion and finally settle one and for all the debate of who's stronger, Sargeras or N'zoth? A 3-4 year long expansion with 8-10 huge patches.

[Bretzel]

If we're getting the South Seas finally, it makes more sense to me to prohibit flying altogether and add in some sort of personalized sailing gameplay with individually player-owned ships using at least part of the tech that was made for the Halfhill farms (your guild ships idea is an interesting idea, though). Blizzard's gone on record stating they might not have done flying at all if they were to redo everything; adding other interesting and quick methods of travel is one way to downplay the importance of flight.

Yes, please. I can't be the only one who could stan for this. I'm still a huge supporter of player housing, and with the Halfhill progress, I think some kind of sailing / water transit would be an excellent step forward for player customization and individuality if done correctly.

I think it would make for more of an adventure/exploration theme over flying mounts as well, which would be just the thing a South Seas expansion would need. I keep thinking back to TLoZ:Wind Waker and thinking how much less of a world it would feel if you flew instead of sailed around the open ocean. Even when maxed out level-wise, there shouldn't be an unlockable "Wind-Resistant Flying" or anything, just to keep that feel of adventure up there. They could do a lot of dynamic storyline stuff over the patches (match what GW2 is doing with all their content releases) with more and more land being discovered each patch so there's always new areas and the feel of "exploration" stays alive the entire expansion. They could also opt for 10 levels for this expansion, as there is a lot of land mass to cover in the South Seas, 90-100 would be viable.

I would love to see the BC areas added in to the open world ++Exodar and SMC revamps, and the entire world connected in to one, and then just not being able to fly over the seas for whatever reasons they can make in lore (wind, storms, currents, etc).

And by way of the other additions, no new races please. I think new races are a waste at the moment, personally. It's purely cosmetic and rather dull to level the same classes in a different skin. I would love for them to consider 4th talent specs or a support class, as was discussed recently. (BARD PLS)

One can only dream. :P

[Yunru]

This sound like lost contient as it should be in cata......

[Kuja]

Oh not more revamping. New content instead would be appreciated. And no more trolls. x.x

[Teriz]

Features:

Vanilla Race remodels
Technician class (Artificer, Mekgineer, Medic)
4th spec for Warlocks and Shaman

[Northem]

Love it! I approve the motion!

Only one detail: the Naga as a new neutral race!

[Bretzel]

Features:

Vanilla Race remodels
Technician class (Artificer, Mekgineer, Medic)
4th spec for Warlocks and Shaman

Well, seeing as the models are only 25% done at this point... :P

Also, why are you choosing only two classes for 4th specs?

[Deleted]

Quite an excellent post OP, enjoyed that, some very good ideas.

[webzagar]

I think everything above "One Massive World" is completely spot on, honestly.

My theory for how it'll go down:

Patch 6.0: Azshara raid (with Neptulon too!), Zul raid, Old God raid (with a general as the boss)
Patch 6.1: 6.2 lead in
Patch 6.2: Emerald Nightmare goes down, have a questchain dealing with it, culminates in a daily subzone and raid like Firelands was
Patch 6.3: Figuring out how to deal with N'zoth (6.4 lead in)
Patch 6.4: N'zoth raid
Patch 6.5: In the course of leveling, we encounter the Tomb of Sargeras. This triggers the events that'll happen in 6.5, which will lead into Patch 7.0 for the Burning Legion expansion.

For races, either they will do none, or they'll add Ogres/High Elves I think. No classes.

Let's assume that this patch cycle is the basic layout for the expansion. This is all setting the stage for the return of the Legion. The forces of Azeroth will use the Titan artifact to open a doorway to Argus from Outland. This is why an outland revamp is a good idea. Outland becomes the beachhead for an assault on Legion strongholds. And Outland revamp tied in with an Emerald Nightmare raid sets up nicely for the introduction of a demon hunter class. They would have to be elves or orcs. I'd start them similar to deathknights. They would start at level 68 and have a starting zone in the Black Temple being trained by Illiden. The starting area concludes with the player witnessing their trainer being killed by 25 adventurers. The makeup of the raid will either be Horde or Alliance depending on the player's race. The player intervenes after the raid group leaves and is able to save Illiden, setting up for his eventual return in patch 6.5.

[Micromadsen]

I like this it sounds like something that could actually end up happening. If the dark below is indeed an Azshara/N'soth expansion.

I would like to see the naga though as a neutral race available for both factions. (Even if blizz have mentioned they don't really like neutral races)

We already know that there are nagas that are against azshara who believes in neptulon the tidehunter. We have only seen one instance of this though Skar'this the Heretic in slave pens/coilfang.
He can't be the only one out there. So I was thinking while reading some of the lore behind Neptulon:
What if there have lived small groups of Naga throughout Azeroth all being protected by Neptulons magic, sort of how the mists worked around pandaria.

But now their god has been taken away and is in danger the Tidehunter nagas decides it is time to reveal themselves to the world and openly oppose Azshara. But they can't fight Azshara alone thus seeking help from the Alliance and the Horde.
Immediatly shunned and threatened by Varian and the new Warchief.

But as luck would have it Malfurion(maybe Tyrande) is with the King at this time and senses something different about these Naga almost as if they were still elves. The male naga's look smarter than their Azsharan counter part and the females seem less dominant.
On the horde side the same is happening just with Sylvanas instead. (considering she was a high elf once)

How it would work for the player:
As a Tidehunter Naga you are called to arms to defend your tribe against the Azsharan invasion. You end up victorious but at heavy loss. It is decided that you should go with the diplomats either to Orgrimmar or to Stormwind in order to seek out new alliances.

Okay now that I look at it my imagination might have gotten the better of me but who knows I can still hope. I just want to play a naga. /sadface
(Also sorry for my lack of english. It's my second language and I might be a bit rusty)

[Deleted]

My thoughts:

>Level cap raised to 100.
> Central story is the Burning Legion vs. Old Gods with us in the middle.
> Azshara will be the final boss and will play both sides of the Legion/Old God's conflict.
> The Tomb of Sargeras will be the final raid and the different groups attempting to find and use the power within will be a driving force throughout the expansion.
> Outland and Northrend (including Belf, Draenei and DK zones) revamped. Outland and Northrend provide alternate leveling paths for 90-95
> Level ranges of zones changed to accommodate this: Azeroth (1-70), Cata zones (70-80), Pandaria (80-90).
> Levels 95 to 100 covered by the Great Sea with a mix of island zones (Zandalar, Kul'Tiras, Broken Isles.) and underwater zones (Suramar, Nazjatar and Rift of Aln.).
> The dynamic content stuff from the Timeless Isle will be expanded upon in Tel'abim, a designated exploration zone.
> Neutral Naga race?
> Demon Hunter Hero Class. Starts at level 88 in Shadowmoon Valley and leaves at level 90.