The next expansion can only be awesome. Agree?

[Deleted]

We've dealt with the major, recent plots from WarCraft 3. (BC, WotLK, Cata)

We've dealt with the inevitable refurbishment of Azeroth. (Cata)

We've dealt with the equally inevitable pandaren and the Asian theme - not everyone likes this, but it was being hinted at for years. (MoP)

Also, we'll soon be rid of the (now) rather tiresome formula of the evil Horde and Garrosh Hellscream, and the Alliance with Varian and his murky past.
We'll get a new start with the leadership of the factions.

From here, we can only get awesome, fresh content.

- Burning Legion and a new world
- Azshara and the oceans
- Unknown villain and the other side of Azeroth
- You name it

So I'm calling it - the next expansion will see WoW return to a 11-12 million strong subscription base.

What do you think?

[Saffa]

Disagree. I am sure I saw the same thread before Lich, Cata and MoP. For some it will be great, for most OK, and for some, terrible. Nothing will make millions happy for longer than a month.

[Vankrys]

So I'm calling it - the next expansion will see WoW return to a 11-12 million strong subscription base.

i guess anything's possible, i heard one guy open the red sea 3 thousands years ago...

[Hubbl3]

As long as we stay on Azeroth everything is fine. When we invade another legion stronghold planet I will break Metzen's face for raping Warcraft.

[Glorious Leader]

"The worse the better"
-VI Lenin

I'm optomistic about the future of this game to be honest. Maybe not that optomistic but I remain hopeful. 1.3 million sub loss and more to come should have some impact and hopefully HOPEFULLY light a fire under their asses.

[Kisho]

I love WoW, I really do. I think it's a brilliant game. But let's be realistic: the game is not going to go back to 11-12 million subs. I doubt it'll ever go above 10 million again. This isn't due to any quality concerns (considering MoP is quite possibly the best expansion this game has ever had, yet subs are low); the game is simply old. People feel as though they've 'seen it all', even if they haven't. In every other aspect of gaming culture they're used to a constant stream of fresh new games, where they buy a game, finish it in a couple weeks, then buy another. The concept of focusing on one game for several years is just bizarre.

That said, I do agree with what you say: the next expansion should be even better than MoP. I'm almost certain it'll be Burning Legion related, but who knows? Blizz could throw a curveball. They've done it before.

[Kisho]

As long as we stay on Azeroth everything is fine. When we invade another legion stronghold planet I will break Metzen's face for raping Warcraft.

Wow, that's some anger you got there. Rather misplaced too, considering the concept of space travel and other worlds has been solidly established since Warcraft 2. How would it be 'raping' (and let's try to avoid using that word, please) Warcraft if he used a concept that has been in the franchise for years? Decades, even.

[Immitis]

As long as we stay on Azeroth everything is fine. When we invade another legion stronghold planet I will break Metzen's face for raping Warcraft.

are you suggesting we lie on our bellies and let the burning legion do whatever they want with us O-O

[Deleted]

If it's about the Burning Legion or Azshara I think it might be good but I also thought MoP would be good and in the end I didn't like most of it so I don't really have high hopes.

[Immitis]

considering mists is the best expansion of all time to me, i can only see wow going up in terms of quality.

doubt they will be able to recapture the asian market though. maybe we will see a small rise in western subs but i only expect subs to go down for awhile, hover around 6 million or so for a while

[Hubbl3]

Wow, that's some anger you got there. Rather misplaced too, considering the concept of space travel and other worlds has been solidly established since Warcraft 2. How would it be 'raping' (and let's try to avoid using that word, please) Warcraft if he used a concept that has been in the franchise for years? Decades, even.

Because we can barely keep up with Azeroth's own problems. I just think that the idea that the horde and alliance are strong enough in the near future to invade a planet hold by an endless army of demons doesn't make any sense. Yeah. We could apply plot armor and the help from titans and I don't know what. Bla bla. And the legion acts like idiots. Same problem with WotLK where the scourge and Arthas seem so weak and out of character. And I don't have faith in the storytelling from blizz since what they done with every character in WoW I know from WC -> WC3 TFT. Everything involving known characters from back then basically sucks. No, I will not assault Metzen - but I think I will stop playing the game if that happens.

[Immitis]

It's going to be hard to get people enthousiastic about the next expansion... unless they manage to bring something very new to the table.

People aren't going to swallow the following things anymore:
- Days of quest-grinding again to get to max level
- End-game consisting out of only PvP (BGs / Arenas) or Raiddungeons

People are growing very bored with that limited scope of endgame progression...

the 2nd one i agree with, first one i dont, never seen anyone say we shouldnt have to quest to level up, for the few that hate questing there are dungeons and pvp and pet battles.

most people like to quest at the start of the expansion

[Deleted]

Can it only be awesome? No

Will it be awesome? Yes, I think so

[TJ]

Depends on 5.3 and what it does to PvP, and if new character models come out with the new expac. I bet a lot of PvPers have quit the game since the start of MoP, so if 5.3 is good for balance then they will hopefully keep it like that (since this is the first time they've actually tried to properly balance PvP power and burst). PvE and other parts of the game don't seem to be as bad as some people are saying.

The Legion on its own would bring people back, I think, but I wouldn't say 11-12 million. WoW is so behind in modern graphics that people don't want to try it, they need the new models to help boost the game again.

[Deleted]

Why is everyone so obsessed with going to the other planets? IMHO, they as much fit with the lore, as spacegoats do.

Outland was good, we've been there in WarCraft III, we've been there in WarCraft II.
WotLK has as much to do with WarCraft series as MoP has - the only thing warcraftish in WotLK is Arthas and names (not even looks) of some locations in Northrend.

World of Warcraft is less and less "warcraft" with every expansion, and more and more random MMO with some bizarre lore of non-fitting bits stitched together by duct tape.

[Immitis]

Because we can barely keep up with Azeroth's own problems. I just think that the idea that the horde and alliance are strong enough in the near future to invade a planet hold by an endless army of demons doesn't make any sense. Yeah. We could apply plot armor and the help from titans and I don't know what. Bla bla. And the legion acts like idiots. Same problem with WotLK where the scourge and Arthas seem so weak and out of character. And I don't have faith in the storytelling from blizz since what they done with every character in WoW I know from WC -> WC3 TFT. Everything involving known characters from back then basically sucks. No, I will not assault Metzen - but I think I will stop playing the game if that happens.

the only known thing currently on azeroth that poses a threat is the naga and the zandalari. the majority of old god forces were destoryed in cataclysm to the point where a small handful of warlocks can go in kick their butts and take their secrets so the naga are likely busy trying to build those forces back up, we havent seen enough of the zandalari to know what they plan on doing.

so that leaves two most likely options

a south seas expansion

a burning legion expansion.

a south seas expansion would likely involve island hoping and blizzard said they want to focus on big connected continents for now, which means burning legion is most likely. plus all the foreshadowing



you need to suspend your disbelief, yes we will be able to fight the legion on its own soil, the same way the doctor could go to skaro and not be killed by a bunch of daleks. it will happen for one reason or the other.


the only reason you should get mad is if we go straight to argus or if we somehow defeat sargeras in the first burning legion expansion, other then that learn to deal with it or quit

[Z3ROR]

Disagree. I am sure I saw the same thread before Lich, Cata and MoP. For some it will be great, for most OK, and for some, terrible. Nothing will make millions happy for longer than a month.

A 100% fully satisfied player-community is never possible. There are always some who complain about everything.

WoW became a lot more popular when the story of the Lich King continued in WotLK. That was because many played Warcaft 3 before and wanted to know what has become of the Lich King, because that was a villain they were familiar with. Burning Legion is an older villain and most younger player didn't know of them until TBC came out. It's necessary that Blizzard makes an expansion with already familiar-with villains. That is what brings players back. MoP has no familiar villains and most were not sure where the story would bring WoW. But now we know it opened new chapters of the Warcraft story. In short: Familiar villains brings players back. That's why Mario has to beat Bowser over and over again. That's why Call of Duty is still a FPS shooting game. Why? It's familiar.

Yes, probably the next expansion will bring new fresh content, but we will see villains we already know of, because players want that. So 'Unknown villain and the other side of Azeroth' probably not, it's too unsure. And 'Azshara and the oceans' might be possible, but only if Blizzard refined underwater gameplay as Vashj'ir wasn't accepted as a good playing underwater experience, but the story was pretty good there. A Azshara expansion needs a better underwater playing experience to make it a succes. To recreate that in a good way is probably too risky for Blizzard as there losing subscribers. One fault on this and they lose even more subscribers. Then we have 'Burning Legion and a new world'. It is continuation on the story of TBC which has many popular villains, names like Kil'Jeaden, Sargaras, Illidan Stormrage, etc.. comes up on this subject, and like i told before players like villains they are familiar with. They like to see them again, what has become of them. So i throw my highest changes on an expansion like this. And we might see Azshara in this expansion as well as she has a certain role in the Burning Legion as well.

[TJ]

Why is everyone so obsessed with going to the other planets? IMHO, they as much fit with the lore, as spacegoats do.

Outland was good, we've been there in WarCraft III, we've been there in WarCraft II.
WotLK has as much to do with WarCraft series as MoP has - the only thing warcraftish in WotLK is Arthas and names (not even looks) of some locations in Northrend.

World of Warcraft is less and less "warcraft" with every expansion, and more and more random MMO with some bizarre lore of non-fitting bits stitched together by duct tape.

Because Azeroth is beyond stale, we need somewhere new rather than "hey look, there's a new massive continent over there that we've never seen before!".

[Zooch]

From here, we can only get awesome, fresh content.


What do you think?

People has similar arguments at the end of WOTLK, saying that what came after would be fresh/new/exciting. That said, I don't believe WoW will ever return to 12 million subs, although it just MAY dip into the double digit millions if they do in fact implement a burning legion/Sargeras patch, seeing as how he is such a prominent villain in the lore. I could care less about sub numbers as I enjoy the game right now, but I do agree that a Burning Legion expac does seem like the safest pick for Blizzard.

[Bluesftw]

Unless next expansion will be like a battlechest and allow you to play thru vanilla+bc+wrath+cata+mop, i doubt it. Alot of new players are discouraged fast after they learn that in order to play this new shiny expansion they not only have to grind thru al previous stuff , but also drop more cash on old expansions.