Emerald Dream will NOT be an Expansion

[AbalDarkwind]

As I said, I don't wanna spoil what's revealed in 5.2 Lore wise because I've spoiled it for myself, but the Voice Files for both Wrathion, at the end of the new Questline, and Ra'den, the Heroic Only boss, state there is something beneath Pandaria.

5.3 is going to be a Lore Patch, which will probably be more Horde vs Alliance relations.

5.4, in my opinion, would be Garrosh officially trying to contain the Sha within himself and succeeding to an extent, while we go beneath Pandaria to take care of the Darkness there.

5.5 will probably be another Lore patch, and Siege would be in 5.6.

If the timeline I've laid out is correct, we're back to a 4 Tier expansion.

I'm not quite as sure as you that 5.4 will be something other than the Siege of Orgrimmar. If Blizzard has nailed down a faster patch cycle, it is possible that they are trying to meet their goal of 18 month expansions. If that is the case, I simply don't see enough time for them to squeeze in a 5.5 and 5.6, as 5.2 would be March, 5.3 would be May, and 5.4 would be September, meaning 6.0 would be in March or April 2014.. However, if they want to keep the 22-24 month cycle for expansions, then it's possible that 5.4 could house a raid about the "Darkness" under Pandaria.

The main problem I see with dealing with that "darkness" in a raid is that we already know which Old God it would be: Y'Shaarj. And, according to Blizzard, Y'Shaarj is "very, very, very dead".

[Granyala]

To further add to this, and I won't spoil what, 5.4's raid is hinting to be an Old God themed Raid.

Will there be tentacles? I demand Tentacles in an Old God themed raid!

[Mawnix]

I'm not quite as sure as you that 5.4 will be something other than the Siege of Orgrimmar. If Blizzard has nailed down a faster patch cycle, it is possible that they are trying to meet their goal of 18 month expansions. If that is the case, I simply don't see enough time for them to squeeze in a 5.5 and 5.6, as 5.2 would be March, 5.3 would be May, and 5.4 would be September, meaning 6.0 would be in March or April 2014.. However, if they want to keep the 22-24 month cycle for expansions, then it's possible that 5.4 could house a raid about the "Darkness" under Pandaria.

The main problem I see with dealing with that "darkness" in a raid is that we already know which Old God it would be: Y'Shaarj. And, according to Blizzard, Y'Shaarj is "very, very, very dead".

Yes, Yshaarj is dead.

But where is his body?

Even a Dead Old God is a Dangerous Old God.

It's hinted explicitely in this patch for a reason, and the Sha are still a growing threat.

It's like how Blizzard hyped up 5.1, ALONG with 5.2.

They hyped up the Thunder King in 5.0 and low and behold 2 Patches later, he is the very dangerous enemy we're killing.

Also, the timeline for Siege being the final patch just..doesn't make much sense.

Let's see..if 5.2 comes out in February/March, that'll be maybe 4-5 months for that tier, no?

The next Lore patch would be out maybe 2-3 months later.

The next tier would be out in July, which means Siege would apparently be out then, much before Blizzcon.

That means they wouldn't be able to hype the final Tier of the Expansion like they usually do, along with their own new expansion.

I'm thinking of this based on a business perspective AND a Lore perspective.

That's just my 2 cents, anyways.

[MoanaLisa]

Will there be tentacles? I demand Tentacles in an Old God themed raid!

My shadow priest is practically seething with tentacles this expansion

[Mawnix]

My shadow priest is practically seething with tentacles this expansion

Yeah what's with Priests suddenly becoming all Old God like? o_O;'

[xChurch]

I don't know if they would go back to the Sha/Old God. They made a pretty specific point of stating that Yar'shaaj is dead and that the Sha are his dying breaths essentially. 5.0 pretty much deals with their threat and even though they continue to appear, the main threat of them has passed from what I can tell. I could see them maybe making a reappearance in 5.3 but I doubt they'd make us go back into a story that has already passed off. That doesn't mean they won't of course, but how long can the War be postponed before Garrosh has to be dealt with. Since the Horde revolution has already started 5.3 will probably be mostly about how it leads to SoO which would follow. And to be completely honest...going back to make sure a dead god is even more dead just seems...silly...

[RollTide]

I've always assumed it will be a patch added to an Nzoth/Azshara expansion. They all link together.

[Absintheminded]

Emerald Dream would fit perfectly as a major patch or plot developer in an Old Gods/Burning Legion expansion.

[Granyala]

Yeah what's with Priests suddenly becoming all Old God like? o_O;'

Well Shadowpriests works with psychic and emotianal stuff to torment their enemies. Fits perfectly with Sha theme.
Besides.. Sha fiend is uber-cute! <3

[StationaryHawk]

I don't see the Emerald Dream being an expansion on its own. Considering its size (Azeroth prior to the Sundering not only contained whatever land masses that are currently available, but a large amount of land which was submerged afterwards), the Emerald Dream itself would have to either require a whole lot of work, or be extremely gated.

I could definitely see the Rift of Aln being the focus of a patch somewhere down the line, however, seeing as that's where whatever remains of the Emerald Nightmare, and the supposed Old God behind it, remain.

[AbalDarkwind]

Yes, Yshaarj is dead.

But where is his body?

Even a Dead Old God is a Dangerous Old God.

It's hinted explicitely in this patch for a reason, and the Sha are still a growing threat.

It's like how Blizzard hyped up 5.1, ALONG with 5.2.

They hyped up the Thunder King in 5.0 and low and behold 2 Patches later, he is the very dangerous enemy we're killing.

Also, the timeline for Siege being the final patch just..doesn't make much sense.

Let's see..if 5.2 comes out in February/March, that'll be maybe 4-5 months for that tier, no?

The next Lore patch would be out maybe 2-3 months later.

The next tier would be out in July, which means Siege would apparently be out then, much before Blizzcon.

That means they wouldn't be able to hype the final Tier of the Expansion like they usually do, along with their own new expansion.

I'm thinking of this based on a business perspective AND a Lore perspective.

That's just my 2 cents, anyways.

I'm fairly certain the Sha are what remains of Y'Shaarj. If anything, an interim raid patch would include the theoretical seventh Sha rather than the body of Y'Shaarj. As for the patch cycle, I'm assuming 6 months for a raid tier. If 5.2 is in March, that's six months for Tier 14. Another six months of Tier 15 would land us in September, and then 5.4's raid being six months would bring us to March 2014. I think 4-5 months for a raid tier is simply too short. Ulduar was only about 4 months, and Blizzard has repeatedly stated that they felt Tier 8/Ulduar didn't last long enough. I also have serious reservations about Blizzard's capability to churn out the art assets for another raid in addition to doing the Siege of Orgrimmar and working on the demanding work load for the next expansion.

The other major problem I'm seeing is that the Legendary questline will end in 5.3, and we'll have a Legendary for whatever raid is in patch 5.4. Considering that the purpose of the Legendary questline is to equip the player well enough to end the war quickly, that seems to be point towards us using our new Legendary to kill Garrosh.

Another possibility is that 5.3 is about Garrosh discovering this "darkness" and absorbing into himself in order to win the war. Meanwhile, the Horde rebellion forms, the Alliance strikes a deal with them, and we also get resolution on what the Mists are and why they fell. Patch 5.4 is about Garrosh + the Darkness of Pandaria, making him a truly formidable raid boss.

[xChurch]

Calling it now, the darkness underneath Pandaria is the Sha of Happiness. Finally will shall all be happy...

[Deleted]

I mean, if anything the Rift of Aln could be a raid at the end of maybe a Naga/Azshara/Nzoth expansion.

We go there to slay N'zoth once and for all and purge his darkness form Azeroth.

That's all I could see really with the Emerald Dream, but I've been wrong before.

Although, we can't kill an oldgod for shiets because that would probably destroy azeroth.

[Rankin]

If N'zoth goes back to the Dream in full force, and breaks away from the Rift of Aln and decides to corrupt its entirety himself.

But why does it matter anymore? The Emerald Dream is irrelevant now that Algalon is content to let us handle the Old Gods and the reorigination device is kaput anyway.

Corrupting the backup copy no longer matters if the backup copy can't even be used anymore.

[Boarwood]

See, people tend to forget that World of Warcraft is not a real place, and that Blizzard comes up with everything that happens in it. Consider Pandaria– sure, there are all kinds of races with history and fun stuff going on, but had anyone ever heard of a Hozen, or a Jinyu, or in some cases even a Pandaren until 2011? No, they hadn't. The Emerald Dream seems one dimensional because we've only seen one of its possible dimensions. Certainly there are parallels with Pandaria that would make them similar, but I think it's too early to completely write it out as a possibility, and it will always bee too early to write it out as a possibility until either WoW officially ends, or it is announced as a future expansion. Trying to predict the possibility of something that people decide and come up with is a fruitless endeavor.

[AbalDarkwind]

But why does it matter anymore? The Emerald Dream is irrelevant now that Algalon is content to let us handle the Old Gods and the reorigination device is kaput anyway.

Corrupting the backup copy no longer matters if the backup copy can't even be used anymore.

Not true. The corruption of the Dream by the Nightmare greatly affected the denizens of Azeroth in the form of literal nightmares that kept them from waking. This is shown in the Warcraft Legends manga in which Magni Bronzebeard and Jaina Proudmoore suffer terrible nightmares. In Stormrage, this is taken a step further when we see Varian Wrynn leading a Dream Army in order to push the Nightmare back.

[Golden Yak]

I don't see the Emerald Dream being an expansion on its own. Considering its size (Azeroth prior to the Sundering not only contained whatever land masses that are currently available, but a large amount of land which was submerged afterwards), the Emerald Dream itself would have to either require a whole lot of work, or be extremely gated.

Like I said in another speculation thread about a Dream expac, you could just make a cluster of brand new zones that represent regions lost in the Sundering, and block them off from the rest of the Dream with, like, 'Nightmare Clouds' or something that you can't pass through without dying, fatigue, etc, because the Nightmare has infected the area.

That leaves you free to create a contained set of zones with brand new geography, without having to represent the entire planet in a new way.

[Rankin]

Not true. The corruption of the Dream by the Nightmare greatly affected the denizens of Azeroth in the form of literal nightmares that kept them from waking. This is shown in the Warcraft Legends manga in which Magni Bronzebeard and Jaina Proudmoore suffer terrible nightmares. In Stormrage, this is taken a step further when we see Varian Wrynn leading a Dream Army in order to push the Nightmare back.

Which would be nice if this stuff were in the game at all, even as a small reference in an in-game book.

But that brings up my earlier point, why not just erase the Dream if it doesn't serve a purpose now other than to be infected?

[Arbs]

I mean, if anything the Rift of Aln could be a raid at the end of maybe a Naga/Azshara/Nzoth expansion.

We go there to slay N'zoth once and for all and purge his darkness form Azeroth.

That's all I could see really with the Emerald Dream, but I've been wrong before.

This a hundred times, We could have a small Daily zone like the Molten Front & the Raid, Maybe a dungeon or 2 if possible.

[AbalDarkwind]

Which would be nice if this stuff were in the game at all, even as a small reference in an in-game book.

But that brings up my earlier point, why not just erase the Dream if it doesn't serve a purpose now other than to be infected?

Some of it is in the game. Go do quests in the Barrens that deal with the Overgrowth. Also, do the updated Wailing Caverns. Both of them deal with the resurgent Nightmare.