Let's talk realistic: THE NEXT EXPANSION (subs loss, predictions, what fans like)

[Punisher069]

A few things that make me believe the next expansion will not be about the legion; Dave Kosak said on twitter a while back, in different tweets that the horde would need to rebuild and try to fix everything garrosh messed up. And that the alliance would have a big win. Lastly at the end of the legendary questline Wrathion is bitching about how Varian wasted his chance to unite the world under an alliance flag and next time Wrathion would not leave his plans up to chance. I feel it would be tough for Wrathion to have another chance to unite the world against the legion if they are knocking on our door.

[Count Zero]

It will be Burning Legion-themed, 100%. If it's not I will refuse to post on here any longer. There's just too much hinting at it in MoP, first with Wrathion showing us Azeroth under attack from Infernals, Wrathion declaring a greater evil will force the Alliance and Horde to band together, then the Warlock green fire quest which introduces the Council of the Black Harvest, drops subtle hints regarding the Legion's whereabouts, and brings us back to Black Temple, the innocuous loading screen tip saying Alleria and Turalyon haven't been seen for years... Too much is hinting at it. And with subscriber figures dropping steadily I will be shocked if they don't return to the most familiar villains in Warcraft lore to entice players.

I highly doubt seeds planted in MoP bear their fruit in the very next xpac, when the seeds for our encounter with N'zoth, planted in Cata, have not yet sprouted.

Besides, Wrathion in his 5.4 voice files says he will do a better job of preparing us for the Legion invasion. I think it's pretty clear part of the next xpac will be him making those preparations, by testing us. I think part of testing us could be orchestrating, or at least facilitating, our encounters with whomever the villains of the next xpac are -- which I happen to think will be Azshara and N'zoth.

It's just too soon to draw from the Legion well again.

[levitate]

Blizzard will most like go "full r3tard" in the next expansion pack and introduce a class that nobody, including the share holders, would ever expect or want: The Clown! A fully masked class, complete with curly and fiery red hair and infinite powers. It would be a balloon melee class and you will have the opportunity to visit the Pony Land and raid the powe... ah, nevermind.

[Serenais]

Hm.
I might be a bit off, but "the prediction" of my own...
Pre-expansion event would be an attempt by the Legion to invade Azeroth, en masse, by using portals. In first phase of that, we stop the invasion, in second phase, we aid in researching and intercepting the portals and in the last phase, we secure beachhead on a Legion world. Not a core one, but one that was used as a staging ground by the Legion, close to Azeroth.
Over the course of the expansion, we attempt to wrestle the control of that world from the Legion, find out who were (and maybe still are) the original inhabitants of the world, and eventually provide an "extra setback" for the Legion. For a bit of surprise, the expansion's starting zones would be reminiscent(ish) of Shadowmoon Valley, dead, dark and all around demonic. However, the world would also feature a final "beautiful" zone (think Isle of Quel'Danas beautiful), estabilished for "themselves" by demons like the Shivarra, with the help of the Consortium (playing both sides is good for profit).
The "big bad" would be a mid-high ranking demon, who will make his presence known throughout the expansion (not as much as Lich King, but definitelly more than Deathwing), and would do his best to antagonise the players. As a final twist, it would be shown that "this invasion" was just a ruse for Azeroth to deplete its fighting force on a wild goose chase, while the real invasion - the one Wrathion warned us about - was yet to come.
Both sides would get a new "hero" race, in a similar way that death knights were a hero class - starting in their own zone made by partitioning an older zone, on a high level (likely 65). Alliance would get High Elves (starting in phased out Terokkar forest), led by Alleria, and the Horde would get the Mok'natal (starting in phased out Blade's edge), led by Rexxar. Of course, lore would have to be tied up (most likely in a pre-expansion book) why they appeared when they did and why they did take up a leader mantle (especially in Rexxar's case).
There would be no new class introduced.
Wrathion would continue to be, now reluctantly, instead of "happily", the "legendary quest" provider. In this expansion, there would be legendary offhands, (in case of classes carrying twohanders, this would fit into a "special slot", which would have diminished effect to put the character on par with another carrying a "normal" onehand and a legendary offhand; the "legendary effect" would be fully working in either case)

Okay, I might have gone too far from "realistic", especially with the legendary part...

[Punisher069]

I highly doubt seeds planted in MoP bear their fruit in the very next xpac, when the seeds for our encounter with N'zoth, planted in Cata, have not yet sprouted.

Besides, Wrathion in his 5.4 voice files says he will do a better job of preparing us for the Legion invasion. I think it's pretty clear part of the next xpac will be him making those preparations, by testing us. I think part of testing us could be orchestrating, or at least facilitating, our encounters with whomever the villains of the next xpac are -- which I happen to think will be Azshara and N'zoth.

It's just too soon to draw from the Legion well again.

Yeah it would be tough for Wrathion to try to have his plans to help against the legion if they are right in front of us.

[Deleted]

My idea which I want to happen:

Double-class feature.
You choose second class(at max-level) for your character and get for example 1 passive and 3 active skills from that class and maybe graphic update of others.
For example you play Paladin and become Paladin/Death knight=Fallen Crusader.
You get
-DPS/HPS cooldown: summon runic weapon(which copies part of heals/damage)
-Def cooldown: AMS
-utility cooldown: Asphyscate(ranged interrupt or silence)
-passive: unholy presence(increases haste by 10%)
Also you get recolor of holy abilities/their icons and they become more unholy/shadowy
I think, it would make good part of character customization.

Maybe it's bad example, but you get the idea.

Sorry for poor english.

really cool idea.. definately needs more complex character speccing and so on then we have now.

[Themerlin]

Legion or bust, that would be the last hope WoW has a chance of regaining its subs. After a twisted pandalooza expansion, it better be the Burning Legion...I mean WTF ...Pandas!??

...Pandas...why?

[Eazy]

My idea which I want to happen:

Double-class feature.
You choose second class(at max-level) for your character and get for example 1 passive and 3 active skills from that class and maybe graphic update of others.
For example you play Paladin and become Paladin/Death knight=Fallen Crusader.
You get
-DPS/HPS cooldown: summon runic weapon(which copies part of heals/damage)
-Def cooldown: AMS
-utility cooldown: Asphyscate(ranged interrupt or silence)
-passive: unholy presence(increases haste by 10%)
Also you get recolor of holy abilities/their icons and they become more unholy/shadowy
I think, it would make good part of character customization.

Maybe it's bad example, but you get the idea.

Sorry for poor english.

Your idea is cool, but that mean we'd have about +100 classes?

It'd be impossible to balance them I think.

[Byniri]

It will be Burning Legion-themed, 100%. If it's not I will refuse to post on here any longer. There's just too much hinting at it in MoP, first with Wrathion showing us Azeroth under attack from Infernals, Wrathion declaring a greater evil will force the Alliance and Horde to band together, then the Warlock green fire quest which introduces the Council of the Black Harvest, drops subtle hints regarding the Legion's whereabouts, and brings us back to Black Temple, the innocuous loading screen tip saying Alleria and Turalyon haven't been seen for years... Too much is hinting at it. And with subscriber figures dropping steadily I will be shocked if they don't return to the most familiar villains in Warcraft lore to entice players.

Careful, I said that with the Naga/N'zoth/Neptulon/Azshara content in Cata. Remember that Blizzard likes to do the 'hints' towards future expansions TWO expansions ahead of ime.

[tyrindor]

If they go through with the number squish, you will see some pretty heavy sub loss as it feels like backwards progression (even if it is relative).

Otherwise, I feel like subs will back up to what they were at the start of MoP and slowly fall back down again over the course of the expansion. Burning Legion will attract more previous subs than Pandas, so maybe subs would even go higher.