Possible next expansion theme [Speculation]

[Trassk]

Right, this is just speculation, but I've been adding up a lot of recent reveals blizzard has shown, and also taken a theme from one of the previous novels they they explored, and thought maybe I figured out what it will.

The timeless isle has to it many visions that shows us things that seem to question outcomes and doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but maybe infact, it does.

Vision of stormwind destoryed and all faction leaders dead
Newest vision Anduin seeing an orc in a cage in temple of the white tiger, said to be garrosh from data files.
A traitor bronze dragon.

I think what we might be seeing are visions of alternate realities, or maybe one alternate reality, which is basicly a timeline that exists because of a certain event not happening at a period of time, and so creating another timeline from it.

given how the theme of the timeless isle, and the involvement of the bronze dragonflight are involved, we might be seeing what the next expansion theme is, an alternate reality of azeroth, where all the leaders are dead, and maybe in that one garrosh somehow survives.

Now before you say 'alternate timeline stories don't work in wow!', yes, they do and have already been used as example. In Thrall: Twilight of the aspects, Thrall is attacked by an alternate reality version of Blackmoore, sending Thrall into a timeway that brings him to a timeline where he had died as a baby, and the result lead to blackmoore becoming a powerful figure, killing doomhammer, and eventually being given time hopping powers by Murazond, in order to try and kill Thrall. He follows Thrall to our timeline, where Thrall kills him in dragonblight.

So, knowing that blizzard are prepared to do alternate reality timelines, and that the bronze dragonflight having a traitor in it, and the visions of time we've seen, to me, it suggests we're be exploring an alternate timeline in the next expansion.

This is interesting, since one of the comic book series I liked was Exiles, in which an alternate reality version of sabertooth (who as a good guy) blink, and several others from the age of apocalypse universe travel though different timeways to fix problems created in those alternate realities. Given blizzards track record of being very comic bookish in there design, this wouldn't surprise me as a theme.

[Gamevizier]

I don't know, alternate reality stories require a very, very good team of story designers otherwise it ends up so half-assed and hectic that it will do alot more harm than good.

if Blizz wants to pull something like that off they need to be very careful about it and work on it hard.

[miffy23]

You're comparing a book to the game. The books hold way more, sometimes non-canon, possibilities than the game so far, don'T deduct from book storylines. Anyway I can certainly see them giving us more time travel content, it's been through all of WoW EXCEPT MoP so far, knew it would be back sooner or later.

However it won't be the theme of the next expansion, that i'm pretty sure of. There will be some major content patches involving it for sure, but there will be a major antagonist in the present and the majority of it will take place in the present. Think along the lines of Caverns of Time instances/raids, they had their place and so will this upcoming storyline.

[Z3ROR]

What if that alternate reality is the Emerald Dream??? That brings us back to the Legion and N'Zoth in some way.

[ZenX]

It would require an overhaul of the whole-world on a great scale and the requirement of tailoring it to be unique requires the upmost precision for it to be not labeled as being 'rehashed'. We know how they had tried it within a different context in Cataclysm and how did not bode well with the uproar of the vocal minority that ticked domino's that led to this rate of lowering subscription rates.

So no. The idea could be introduced as quests that tie in with Scenarios but nothing more.

The xenophobic uproars regarding the inroduction of sci-fi terms into the fantasy still linger on and basing a huge portion of fresh content based on the alternate timeline concept is rather an extravagant hand to gamble with.

[Deleted]

That's not enough for an entire ex-pack, new content would be zero. Alternate timeline - great yeah super. New content - ermmm Azeroth? we've been there pal. Maybe enough for a patch, not a whole x-pack.

[Wildberry]

Personally, Trassk, and no offense intended here (Unlike other posts to different users) but I honestly don't think this is a very good idea. I mean don't get me wrong it IS interesting, but as has already been said, alternate stories are painstakingly difficult to do.

Not to mention, I don't think the average WoW player would feel very comfortable with that sort of theme (Especially taking into account the fact that when it comes to lore, the average WoW player doesn't know much at all). I, personally, think that there is also a chance that it might suffer from, again, in my opinion, the one thing that has held Pandaria's lore back, which is leaving the player feeling disconnected with the rest of the world, or in this case, "correct" timeline.

It would be a risky move no doubt, but (Not saying I'm 100% qualified in business here) the risk vs. reward doesn't seem favorable enough to bother, in WoW's current state (MoP has gotten a lot of good reviews, but there are potential new players/returning players that are put off, understandably, by the "lolpanda" theme.) So if you think about it, as far as Gameplay goes MoP HAS launched World of Warcraft back into the spotlight, but staying in that spotlight is dependant upon this next expansion, and from everything I've heard, theme plays a lot into that. I'm personally thinking for the next Expansion that Blizzard will go with a "Guarunteed Success" Theme, that many players will be able to recognize and identify as Warcraft. The current two contenders (That I see as being reasonably anyway) are: The Burning Legion, and (As much as it pains me to admit) Queen Azshara and N'zoth.

[Trassk]

Yeah I agree such a theme would be hard to pull off, given the xenophobic nature of the average wow player.

But, since they went for a theme of having pandaren as the main theme of an expansion, which was a massive risk in itself, it seems blizzard are prepared to try such risks. still, who knows. Maybe it will just be a minor theme they explore like a scenario or caverns of time dungeon or something.

[Deleted]

Yeah I agree such a theme would be hard to pull off, given the xenophobic nature of the average wow player.

But, since they went for a theme of having pandaren as the main theme of an expansion, which was a massive risk in itself, it seems blizzard are prepared to try such risks. still, who knows. Maybe it will just be a minor theme they explore like a scenario or caverns of time dungeon or something.

Thing is, Blizzard didn't realise the Pandaren were going to such a controversial inclusion-they thought they were a no-brainer. Any alternate Azeroth themes are just going to be minor content rather than the focus of an expansion; though an alternate Azeroth may provide the impetus of the story of an expansion

[Cooper]

Yeah I agree such a theme would be hard to pull off, given the xenophobic nature of the average wow player.

But, since they went for a theme of having pandaren as the main theme of an expansion, which was a massive risk in itself, it seems blizzard are prepared to try such risks. still, who knows. Maybe it will just be a minor theme they explore like a scenario or caverns of time dungeon or something.

I don't think Blizzard thought Pandaren would be a risk at all. I think they thought everybody wanted Pandaren and were sleeping with Pandaren body pillows and dreaming of playing Monks.

[miffy23]

Yeah I agree such a theme would be hard to pull off, given the xenophobic nature of the average wow player.

But, since they went for a theme of having pandaren as the main theme of an expansion, which was a massive risk in itself, it seems blizzard are prepared to try such risks. still, who knows. Maybe it will just be a minor theme they explore like a scenario or caverns of time dungeon or something.

Uuuh what? Do you know what "xenophobic" even means? It literally has nothing to do with your post at all.
And yeah, it's a nice theme and they frequently revisit it in instances and raids, which is cool and fine. Not enough content there for a whole expansion, as others have elaborated on.

So we're probably gonna get another few dozen "Time Travel Expansion" threads due to this quest in 5.4, great.

[Azalar]

One of the cons I see is when travelling to different timelines, players don't always know what is the history behind. I mean, say we go back to the War of the Ancients and players don't know what did actually happen in there or why it occurred, they'd feel confused or that they don't see why are they there or why did they have to go there.

I think it would be tricky and risky to play with things like that. Otherwise, I like it.

[Krixooks]

Caverns of Time really feels more like a sideshow and/or tribute to Warcraft, Blizz seem to pop something in there when they need some more content to keep players busy. I imagine it will stay that way.

Same with Timeless Isle, its really just a sideshow to keep players happy doing dailys in between patches, I don't think the story for it is really that solid.

[Wildberry]

sleeping with Pandaren body pillows

God damn it, why can I see this actually existing?

[Trassk]

Uuuh what? Do you know what "xenophobic" even means? It literally has nothing to do with your post at all.
And yeah, it's a nice theme and they frequently revisit it in instances and raids, which is cool and fine. Not enough content there for a whole expansion, as others have elaborated on.

So we're probably gonna get another few dozen "Time Travel Expansion" threads due to this quest in 5.4, great.

An irrational fear of something that is different or strange to the person, it can be against a certain type of people, or against an idea or theme. As alternate timelines as a theme is something eccentric from a storytelling point of view, there bound to be many people who react to it out of irrational lack of understanding such a story.

[Deleted]

Highly unlikely imo, considering how most WoW players consider the lore/story to be subsidiary. Most ppl haven't seen the Dominace Offensive/Operation: Shieldwall quest-line through, for example. In order for such a story to be told, it would require a HUGE amount of consistency, and consequently, also require every player to be constantly up-to-date with the plot, otherwise Blizz run the very real risk of alienating a player to the point where they can't even comprehend the basic motivations behind why they should perform such-and-such task. They would probably lose the desire to play, because a huge part of the population would not bother to catch up.
Also, another key element how this sort of storyline would effect gameplay, is by requiring a HUGE amount of phasing/instancing. This is already a very controversial topic with the playerbase (and not just in WoW, but most other mmos).

[miffy23]

How are alternate timelines something foreign and strange, they've been in the game forever. Just doesn't ring true for me at all, that's why the word seems out of place to me.
People would more likely react out of lack of new textures and environments than actual dislike of a story concept.

[Deleted]

Uuuh what? Do you know what "xenophobic" even means? It literally has nothing to do with your post at all.
And yeah, it's a nice theme and they frequently revisit it in instances and raids, which is cool and fine. Not enough content there for a whole expansion, as others have elaborated on.

So we're probably gonna get another few dozen "Time Travel Expansion" threads due to this quest in 5.4, great.

It's almost always used to denote a dislike of foreign people but is just as relevant to the overall concept of being 'foreign'.

Because of the cultural connotation towards the latter, it's an unusual choice. But it is correct usage. Anything someone is not used to or is different to the accepted standards can be considered foreign.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Time travel runs a very strong risk of becoming like Cataclysm. "Oh it's this zone I've been to 50 times, BUT IN THE PAST. Boring." or "Oh, cool! The War of the Ancients! Oh wait, now I'm back in Hillsbrad. Looks like it's off to WC2 Stormwind now..."

[Shandodo]

Right, this is just speculation, but I've been adding up a lot of recent reveals blizzard has shown, and also taken a theme from one of the previous novels they they explored, and thought maybe I figured out what it will.

The timeless isle has to it many visions that shows us things that seem to question outcomes and doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but maybe infact, it does.

Vision of stormwind destoryed and all faction leaders dead
Newest vision Anduin seeing an orc in a cage in temple of the white tiger, said to be garrosh from data files.
A traitor bronze dragon.

I think what we might be seeing are visions of alternate realities, or maybe one alternate reality, which is basicly a timeline that exists because of a certain event not happening at a period of time, and so creating another timeline from it.

given how the theme of the timeless isle, and the involvement of the bronze dragonflight are involved, we might be seeing what the next expansion theme is, an alternate reality of azeroth, where all the leaders are dead, and maybe in that one garrosh somehow survives.

Now before you say 'alternate timeline stories don't work in wow!', yes, they do and have already been used as example. In Thrall: Twilight of the aspects, Thrall is attacked by an alternate reality version of Blackmoore, sending Thrall into a timeway that brings him to a timeline where he had died as a baby, and the result lead to blackmoore becoming a powerful figure, killing doomhammer, and eventually being given time hopping powers by Murazond, in order to try and kill Thrall. He follows Thrall to our timeline, where Thrall kills him in dragonblight.

So, knowing that blizzard are prepared to do alternate reality timelines, and that the bronze dragonflight having a traitor in it, and the visions of time we've seen, to me, it suggests we're be exploring an alternate timeline in the next expansion.

This is interesting, since one of the comic book series I liked was Exiles, in which an alternate reality version of sabertooth (who as a good guy) blink, and several others from the age of apocalypse universe travel though different timeways to fix problems created in those alternate realities. Given blizzards track record of being very comic bookish in there design, this wouldn't surprise me as a theme.

There was just a thread I read on this last night. I have to say it's a pretty interesting topic. Basically Back in End Time we saw what would happen if Deathwing won, and we killed Murozond in that Timeline, HOWEVER, because Deathwing never won we stopped that Timeline from ever happening.

Still that doesn't mean Norzdormu DOESN'T get corrupted at some point. It just means we dont kill him, at least in a way that we know of... after all...

"At last it has come to pass. The moment of my demise. The loop is closed. My future self will cause no more harm.
Still, in the future, I will... fall to madness. And you, heroes... will vanquish me. The cycle will repeat. So it goes.
What matters is that Azeroth did not fall; that humanity survived to live another day.
All that matters... is this moment."