Perhaps this thread is speculation. Perhaps it is fan fiction. Or perhaps I have information on the next expansion - information that I am dying to share with everyone else. All possible futures are laid bare to my sight. Today, I shall show you one of these possible futures - a time yet to come, a time long past, and a time that will never be...
Patch 5.5
- Patch 5.5 (which may, or may not, actually be numbered 5.5) is a patch like none other that has come before it. Simulatenously an epilogue to Mists of Pandaria and a prologue to Infinite.
- Alliance players will follow a quest chain that begins with helping the Alliance regroup and withdraw from Orgrimmar, and culminates in the homecoming of Varian Wrynn to Stormwind, where he is finally crowned High King of the Alliance.
- Horde players are tasked with picking up the pieces of their ruined capital, and their shattered Horde. This questline begins with a focus on bringing the orcs back into the fold - as the large majority of Orcs followed Hellscream - and this task is faciliatated primarily by Varok Saurfang. This questline culminates in the throning of the new warchief (who will be decided at the end of the SoO raid, so I won't spoil that here.)
- Both faction questlines rewards unique cosmetic gear that will be only available until the release of Infinite. "Wargear of the United Horde" and "Raiment of the High King's Guard" are two of the cooler looking armor sets in the game, and some of the only unique art assets found in this patch.
- Several weeks after the release of 5.5, emissaries of the Timewalkers will appear in capital cities across Azeroth, sending players on a short questline that tasks the player with tracking down a traitor from within the Timewalkers. This culminates in the corruption of Nozdormu, who disappears into the timeways shortly after (how is this possible? Explained in the quests is that our actions against Murozond, in the future, never happened - as that timeline was unraveled after Deathwing's defeat. However, unraveling that timeline did not stop those who have corrupted Murozond from doing so - it just means that this time it will play out differently than it did in End Time.)
- Players will be dispatched to various zones across Azeroth (including Northrend ) and Outland to fight off temporal invasions by the infinite dragonflight. Zones which will feature temporal incusrions include: Tirisfal Glades, Darkshore, Terokkar Forest, Storm Peaks, and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
- A Temporal Invasion event is part zone-wide quest, part scenario. Using Tirisfal as an example, the first part of the quest involves fighting off undead and legion forces who spawn from portals across the zone. Mobs from these inital waves have a chance to drop (for all players) infinite remnants, which can be combined in quanities of 10 to create an infinite essence.
- After enough portals have been closed, new portals will begin to open and spawn mini-boss MOBs. Again, using Tirisfal as an example, the mini-bosses include named Abominations, Nathrezim, and Infinite-corrupted Lordaeron Paladins. These MOBs drop Infinite Essences.
- The invasion of the zone now complete, players can now queue (for the next hour) for a scenario linked to that zone, where they will face off against a boss from the Infinite Dragonflight. In this case, players follow the timeways to Lordaeron, in the past, where they face a wave of infinite dragons disguised as knights of Lordaearon, followed by the boss, an infite dragon. The boss drops Infinite Essences as well as Time-Lost armor tokens.
- 10 Infinite Essences can be turned in to Timewalker emissaries for ilevel 535 rings, cloaks, amulets, bracers, or boots. 200 Infinite Essences will reward the player with an Infinite Drake, a dragon mount with an Infinite Dragonflight colorization. Time-Lost armor tokens can be turned in for a role-specific piece of armor with generic set bonuses (ala the UIndead Slayer sets for the Wrath pre-Event)
- Infinite Invasions cease to occur at the release of Infinite.