Ahh that's true..those fey/hippogryph mounts/pets lately..!!! That's definitely a portent of Emerald Dream. Blizz basically waited till everyone dropped Dream expansion rumors, while they were also busy w/ the South Seas/Great Sea/Maelstrom/Queen Azshara & Outland 2.0 rumors, to surprise players w/ Cata instead of ED, then surprise 'em w/ MoP again..
Now that a lot of people had dropped ED at last for the most part, and were starting to get all up on the Islands/Queen Azshara/New Outland/Legion themes, this would be the perfect time, after MoP, for them to have developed the Emerald Dream finally, that would be one of the most fitting, 'surprising' (at the time of announcement, vs. current faded ED hype/rumors) expansion while yet not being so far out of left field that it doesn't seem 'epic/classic' the way that MoP/Undermine & Subterranean Azeroth/Other Continents far west or far east unexplored Azeroth would be/have been perceived as.. Makes sense~!
Your username. It's my RL 1. ;9
There are alot of hints to say we are going to visit the South Seas and due to that the rise of Azshara/N'Zoth would be the main threat..
The story as it has drawn to a conclusion with Siege leaves alot of plots that need to be dealt with and a expansion into Argus or against the legion would only take away from the INTERNAL conflicts that need addressing. There is a reason Garrosh is still alive, they want to expand his story and to set to the side so quickly with the Legion doesn't make sense.
Wrathion needs time to formulate his plans and put them into action. Considering that the expansion doesn't just jump us like 2 years down the road which honestly with how things are do not make sense b/c Garrosh trial would have happened already.
Vol'jin, Thrall need time to rebuild the horde and deal with all the Orcs that were loyal to Garrosh.. Varion was quoted after Garroshed defeat that they needed to deal with Gilneas which would make zero sense if we were being invaded by the Legion. I am pretty sure all internal problems will get pushed to the side. They will keep us on Azeroth and bring back unfinish/hinted lore that include Azshara and the Old God N'Zoth.
Y'Shaarj during the Garrosh fight:
"You will rest in Ny'alotha.
When you'll walk among the black forest, you will see"
The black forest is speculated to be in the Emerald Nightmare/Rift of Aln which N'Zoth is said to have his roots due to Malfurion seeing that there is a power controling the nightmare from deep below the oceans of Azeroth.
It just makes sense to me that this is the threat we will be dealing with in Expansion 5. It gives us a great story that fans want to deal with as well as keeps us on Azeroth to deal with internal conflicts we are dealing with after the Siege of Orgrimmar.
The south seas is already in game, notice how it says "The South Seas" when you fly from Kun-Lai to Oondasta Isle or from Jade Forest to Timeless Isle.
I think people are missing the point.
The OP isn't trying to argue whether or not the next expansion will be about the South Seas or Naga or whatever. He is just saying that IF it turns out that it is South Seas-based (and he personally believes it will be, but that's besides the point) that people who think 'The Dark Below' should not say that they were right. The Dark Below trademark is fake, but if the next expansion is Naga related, the people who did believe in it will likely say "haha we were right, they just changed the name!" or something. He just doesn't want that to happen.
Do most people want to stay on Azeroth for the 4th straight expansion though? I'm sick of it and I just want to go to another planet to get away from it all. A planet that would be out of the ordinary, dark and bad ass, as well as a return in general of the Burning Legion which we haven't seen since the very first expansion. If anything, it's long overdue. Gimme.
If this is a problem, it is completely insignificant.
Maybe on a personal basis, or with your "forum rivals" this could be an issue, but other than that I see no significance to the 'problem' of people saying "I told you so" with regards to predicting the next expansion.
Yes, this does seem so darn silly to me =)
I honestly do not blame you and the main thing to remember is, whatever we may think.. Blizzard does things how they see fit. They know we want to face the Legion, hinse ALL the hints that his is the case with Wrathion and other clues. There is also othe hints to N'zoth that could end up being an future threat coming before the Legion OR nothing but clues and information about the fact there is an Old God underwater and do not forget about him.
Only problem for me is that Argus feel like its the final showdown, which that isnt the case bc there are plans for future expansion. How would it feel to go to Argus and kill a big baddy over their like Kil'Jaden and take the fight to the Legion and cripple them, To just come back to Azeroth the next expansion and deal with Azshara/N'zoth/Emerald Nightmare? Idk it doesnt seem to flow very well. I think we can be given a completely new experience in the game IF it was done right by Blizzard. We will see though but regardless all I want is something we haven't seen before.
I have a feeling the Next Expansion will be a lot like Cat with Leveling zones all over the place, the Emerald Dream could easily be a zone in such an expansion. I doubt it can be a full expansion anymore, and with all the clues out there the legion expansion involves an invasion of Azeroth. So the ED would be one of the fronts being invaded. It could have a dungeon and a raid, Just like Broken Islands, Undercity, Gilneas, and a bunch of areas that are unused or in the Lore and unseen, none of which warrant an expansion but could easily be included in one.
I expect Queen Azshara and N'Zoth being early expansion raid bosses. This could include the new Nightmare as an early raid boss.
Your notice of the mounts work since they all relate to classic Warcraft and Azeroth.
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The thing is they could do a big Legion invasion expansion that includes all the important lore areas that have not been touched, to include the Emerald Dream/Nightmare which would lead to raids against Azshara and N'Zoth, of course in my hypothesis someone like Kil'Jaden would be the final boss, this would set the stage to taking the fight to the Legion which includes several lore worlds like Argus, the final raid fight being the corrupted Titan Sargeras that would set the stage for a Titan themed Expansion. So there are three good exspansions I can think of. Granted they possibly could fit side quest Expansions between each making it 5 more.
I'm still going to say "I told you so" to the people that are claiming it's Time Travel, the Legion, or the Emerald Dream.
I only "tell you so" on theme, not name.
If you're out there advancing one of those three causes, I will "tell you so" even if you suddenly switch and claim "I always secretly supported Azshara, I just didn't believe in TDB."
FFXIV - Maduin (Dynamis DC)
" . . . But there is a yawning chasm of darkness beneath you mortals, vast, endless, and all consuming . . . " - Ra-den
If that wasn't a hint, I don't know what is.
I disagree. After you start doing Raids in the next xpac, those heirloom weapons are not going to be viable. So why not store them until the next xpac? Also, even if the next xpac is to lvl 100, they wont drop new weapons, they'll just offer a way to upgrade them similar to how we can upgrade the heirlooms from Wrath.
Are we sure each xpac is 1 year long? I'm not saying your wrong, I just can't seem to find any definitive info or data to back that up. I think blizz is consciously being vague so they have some flexibility to tell their story.