Why the Lich King Xpac isn't unlikely (speculation)

[Kryos]

Do they need to fight?
I mean... one's a king... the other's a queen...

Yeah, xpac in a few years: "Birth of the Lich Baby"

[Chemii]

I'm honestly starting to feel like wow needs a decent timeskip. I know its a game but how can one world be in so much peril all the time. It's like a soap opera now compared to how it's been historically.

[yetgdhfgh]

If blizz has learn the lesson about baddie fatigue then a undead xpac is almost guaranteed. I mean surely the next one cant be against orcs and Demons.

and Elementals and void monsters are not as popular as undead

[Sansnom]

This is of course all speculation, but it makes you think. There’s at least still two tiers left of this Legion cake, so we’re up for loads of surprises.

Also, where the heck is Wrathion? The guy with all the hints and such?

TL;DR: Saying that Lichy won't be back and it's unlikely isn't necessarily so. No one thought Illidan would be back, but look at all the copycats trying to be him.

Lore and story wise, sure. He could lose his sanity and direct the scourge.

Gameplay wise, it would be difficult to insert. He is at Northend. Which is 68-80 zone. We are at 110. To fit him in, either the zones needs to be redone. Blizzard tried that. Twice. With Cata and WoD, when they redid the old world and Outlands.

Now they will have to redo Northend for post 110 to fit him. Or they could move him. Which will be rather odd since Icecrown is the seat of his power. So now there is another land mass that happens to be around that no one noticed. Hm.

Not saying it would not happen, just highlighting some hurdles for the game designers to consider if they do try. But the lore is so convoluted now, heroes coming back, time travel, alternate dimensions etc. So anything could happen.

[Deleted]

LK expac would be thoroughly boring and disappointing.
I'm hoping they can spin this to some new direction - something fresh, like Pandaria was.

I'm tired of Legion and Old Gods. Tired of the scheming and dealing. Tired of the constant "ooh the world is in peril"-theme. I want something fun and whimsical - that still has nuanced, deep and meaningful story. Like Pandaria was. Something other than this constant, boring, one tracked, teenage angst we've had the past two expacs.

Even a whole fucking Troll expac would be preferable at this point.

....MoP was neither deep or meaningful, it was by far the most dull and poorly written lore experience, and only became worth mentioning when they launched the 5.1 Alliance vs horde campaign.

Warcraft is not about fun and whimsical, it is about a world in peril, and two sides fighting each other, while trying to stick together fighting a greater evil. Blizzard are smart at putting in funny bits via cleaver quests and pop refrerences.

[Sansnom]

....MoP was neither deep or meaningful, it was by far the most dull and poorly written lore experience, and only became worth mentioning when they launched the 5.1 Alliance vs horde campaign.

Warcraft is not about fun and whimsical, it is about a world in peril, and two sides fighting each other, while trying to stick together fighting a greater evil. Blizzard are smart at putting in funny bits via cleaver quests and pop refrerences.

MoP. A new race who philosophy is in harmony and maintaining balance.

An ongoing conflict between two factions splits onto a new land. A leader with a blood thirst and a willingness to end the conflict with whatever means. Changes his faction into one big giant war machine. A leader who ravages a new land in search for hidden artifacts to end the war.

Commits atrocities. Destroys the new land. His actions causes tension in his factions. Divides his people. Becomes an even greater menace to the world. Causes an uprising which resulted in his own faction removing him from power.

Sorry. I left out the fun, whimsical, funny bits.

[Joeydivision82]

Definitely a good read, thank you for posting this and your invite on the entire thing.

I would like to see something happen with the Lich King again, and done very much as you said where it's not 100% Lich King in the manner that Legion was not 100% Demons. I would like to see the Nerubians get the full patch/raid they deserve instead of just being tossed 2 decent dungeons and a short quest line. They aren't a big threat in terms of invading other continents, but definitely a big threat on their home cintinent.

I'm not sure what else I'd like to see tossed on there, but definitely not drakes/dragons again, we'd need something much more sldemanding of our one, maybe something new we've yet to face? Or even hear about?

[Faustas]

I'm honestly starting to feel like wow needs a decent timeskip. I know its a game but how can one world be in so much peril all the time. It's like a soap opera now compared to how it's been historically.

ye, like 40k years, and it would be called wowhammer 40k, I would play the sh.it out of it

[JasonWuzHear]

Have you seen the image of the Hearthstone's planned events coming ahead?

https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms...7235316241.jpg


The expansion set for Q3 looks a lot like a Lich King expansion. Not to burst anyone's bubble.

[Deleted]

....MoP was neither deep or meaningful, it was by far the most dull and poorly written lore experience, and only became worth mentioning when they launched the 5.1 Alliance vs horde campaign.

Warcraft is not about fun and whimsical, it is about a world in peril, and two sides fighting each other, while trying to stick together fighting a greater evil. Blizzard are smart at putting in funny bits via cleaver quests and pop refrerences.

Warcraft is teen-angsty ridden bullshit written by 18-old who ripped Warhammer shamelessly. It's so boring.
At least the Pandaria story was something new.

Tired of the world in peril stuff. It's dull after all these years. I wish they'd make something far more mature, nuanced and subtle. But don't think they have writers for that.

[Claymore]

As someone who loved WotLK, but think they colossally fucked-up the ending... I'm not sure how I feel about the idea.

I still hold Arthas' story as the highlight of Warcraft, and I think killing him was a major mistake. One that I suspect Blizzard regrets, just as they clearly regretted killing off Illidan (and I think they will come to regret having killed Garrosh).

But... do they regret it enough to revisit his, or the Scourge, story, as they have Illidan? I'm not sure.

Part of me wishes they'd have had Illidan drop a bomb-shell of "Oh by the way, I saw Arthas in the Twisting Nether, too. And he didn't seem too happy."

Regarding Bolver picking up the same role of being Lich King, though? I sincerely doubt it. I suspect he will simply be a background anti-hero character, who will eventually use the Scourge to bolster the Horde and Alliance's forces in the final battle against Sargeras or the Burning Legion.

Now, having said that... I'm definitely on-board with the possibility of revisiting some unexplored Scourge-related threats, perhaps giving a Cataclysm-like revamp of Azeroth, in which we discover even more new locations, or dive deeper into the hidden places of Azeroth. I mean, imagine if every graveyard, or small cave, suddenly opened up to an underground world, in which the Scourge has steadily been pooling their forces. Or even some kind of gateway to an "afterlife", which could be an interesting direction for a lot of reasons (and *REALLY* play into some cool class fantasies).

[zmp]

We had alternate Draenor, might as well have alternate Northrend.

[zlygork]

I would honestly be more excited for either a good-guy lich king story line or a fel-infused arthas menethil serving the legion cuz reasons than for a wotlk 2.0

I would be okay with the scourge becoming a threat again either by bolvar gone mad, void corruption, fel corruption or another corrupting shenanigan, but I don't see another lich king being in an expansion pack's box as the most hype inducing idea ever.

- - - Updated - - -

Have you seen the image of the Hearthstone's planned events coming ahead?

https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms...7235316241.jpg


The expansion set for Q3 looks a lot like a Lich King expansion. Not to burst anyone's bubble.

While not necessarily relevant to WoW's future in any way, you're right - those do look like the rune symbols from DKs, I thought it was some arcane magic circles when I looked at it uninterestedly before. I doubt blizzard would release a LK expansion without releasing the card, tho. What are the odds?