Now, starting from the fact that we have never been so much excited about an expansion after wotlk (2008), here's the reasons behind my prediction:
Since Cataclysm WoW suffered from dislikes and various delusions, mainly related to lore and the "non-legendary" bosses. The Lich King was indeed our last famous boss. He had a long RTS story, like Illidan, and the lore behind it was really historic. He was, indeed, famous.
Every classic (vanilla, tbc, wotlk) bad guys were popular covered by an epic, old and deep lore, that made them unforgettable and forever signed into the story.
Then next came Deathwing, like what, who knows it? Who cares of it? The game is no more the same, I don't feel the same feelings. That's it, no RTS behind it, he's not a legend. After that, Pandas, that took WoW so far from Warcraft that you just couldn't feel to play into that universe. Garrosh was the big dude, but he was just a raging gorilla, that only trying to compare him with Arthas or Illidan would sound like an heresy. And after this mad orc came more mad orcs, turning the game into World of Orcs, also known as Warlords of Draenor. This expansion, the actual one, is possibly the one that have led players too far into delusion.
Here's why, after WoD, World of Warcraft will finally raise to the top once again:
Legion
- the returning of Illidan = many old players returning, new hyped kids too
- DH playable class = I shouldn't even say this is the Legion's core feature, generating lot of subs
- basically tbc 2.0 = wow's golden time is back
- classes revamp = this might turn out to be a disaster, but previews show excited players
- the legion is back = after almost 10 years, we are going to seriously challenge the Burning Legion once again (truly loved warcraft main theme)
What's after Legion? The main options are two: Azshara or LK 2.0
I dare to say that it would be repetitive having wotlk 2.0 following tbc 2.0. So I'm pretty confident that Azshara will be next, and Bolvar will have to wait. Also because you have to consider that Legion will show lot of naga stuff with new models and a proper raid about it. Finally, there is no better time to make Azshara right after our adventures into the broken isles.
Azshara (2018)
- long awaited, if truly next, subs will certainly remain
- there we are, if you were missing to feel a legendary final boss, here we damn are
- first female final boss. Not gonna lie: this is something to consider
- logically new playable races. Panda was mainly hated and before that we had Goblin and Worgen in 2010 (8 years before).
- unpredictable content
LK 2.0 (2020?)
- wotlk voted for the best expansion in WoW
- maximum peak of wow's golden time
- predicting maximum level of hype
- incalculable amount of exciteness
TL;DR: Legion - Azshara - LK2.0 = increasing subs till at least 2020