~The Complete Chronicle on WarCraft Expansion Speculation~ [WoD][TBD][AoM]

[Planetarism]

To be remade.. ..in full professional-grade html presentation edition..

[Neotokyo]

Interesting stuff.. but can I ask what is with the editing? it actually made my eyes hurt

[Alanar]

Interesting stuff.. but can I ask what is with the editing? it actually made my eyes hurt

Exactly this! Is it to make it look real or something? if so bad job.

[Arbs]

Ok so read it all & it hurt my head. But i get idea on where you are going with it.

The part that confuses me is why are South Sea Islands in the Draenor concept for 6.0 ??, Unless *Puts on Tin Foil Hat.

Draenor is the real Azeroth & the Azeroth we know is just an illusion created by the Titans, like how they hide Uldum from us.

[Planetarism]

Interesting stuff.. but can I ask what is with the editing? it actually made my eyes hurt

Exactly this! Is it to make it look real or something? if so bad job.

No it's not to make it look more 'believable/official', just to make it look tidy/professionally edited, but yea it was bugging me a little myself, so I cleaned it up & removed the big fonts etc, should be considerably cleaner looking now.

[beanman12345]

Roaming world raid bosses would be cool addition.

[Duridi]

This is a mess, but I think I know what you are talking about. Something similar has been posted before, but I don't think it was that long then.

Not sure it's necessarily a leak though. Someone with a lot of interest in this can maybe guess what zones could be coming from knowing the lore? Thinking that especially because of how the list seems to have grown.

[Deleted]

HYPOTHESIS ~ *K'ARESH/DRAENOR* (Otherworldly) Expansion Set ~ [™Beyond The Great Darkꜝ™] (100+) [08.2017 ~ 03.2019] ::

Where are all these "rumors" coming from, I've never heard of them. 2017-2019? wat?

[Deleted]

›› [Very] Limited WoW RMAH

Ummm. No.

[Planetarism]

Where are all these "rumors" coming from, I've never heard of them. 2017-2019? wat?

Read the whole intro text again, it explains the differences in between the different text tags. The list 'wasn't as long before' and 'seems to have grown', precisely because, this is MY list. I researched lore & made this up. That's why the *K'ARESH/DRAENOR* set has the tag HYPOTHESIS as opposed to RUMORED ;p

This list stacks the Official Retail [tagged as RETAIL] (because it's already been released) and Infamous Internet Leak [tagged as RUMORED] (interesting post-release to see how it stacks up against what really did end up being Blizz-made) content features lineup's for the first 4 WoW expansions..

..and then, starting at v6.0.0 coming up (early) next year, begins to contrast the 'rumored leak' timeline that floated on the internet, which I inspired myself from, and of course did not create, against my own much expanded version, which is tagged as HYPOTHESIS, based on Blizz's early 2013(?) statement by Chris Metzen that they would definitely "expect/have room for [at least] 3 more wow expansions" and "..you really think we can't just raise more continents out from the seafloor [like Pandaria]..??"

You'll notice the 'Rumored Leak' entries stop after v6.0 (WoD?). That's because the [intern who just checked a classified internal creative team memo & quickly copied it from memory once back at home, then released it on forums] made this in 2005-2006 from lore, data and general (very optimistic back then) wow expectations that the game would profitably last roughly 5 expansions (thus v6.0) and up to its 10-year anniversary. Therefore the 'leaked' timeline never even dreamed of including stuff past v6.0, hence why its prediction of the theme of the expansion about to be officially unveiled in 1-2 days is the penultimate-in-warcraft-lore confrontation with the fallen Titan Sargeras, at the 'Burning Citadel' etc.

We, on the other hand, knowing expansions'll go far beyond v6.0, then slot the final legion/dark titan stuff at the very end, around v9 or v10 even, leaving room in the meantime for themes such as K'aresh, Draenor, Great/South Seas, Maelstrom/Nazjatar, Undermine/Subterranean Azeroth, or even other continents from unexplored ocean regions. This is why the [RUMORED] tag starts listing simply 'No Entry' past Expansion V - the leak person's list never went beyond it.

"›› [Very] Limited WoW RMAH"

Ummm. No.

[Mteq]

so erm..you gonna repost this yet?

kinda curious to see how accurate it was now that blizzcon has actually happend.

[Planetarism]

so erm..you gonna repost this yet?

kinda curious to see how accurate it was now that blizzcon has actually happend.

I'm actually gonna make it, and my All-Blizzard speculative development timeline, into video presentations (aside from just .html) to see if I can get 50-100k views or something ridiculous on YouTube since so much more people there. (Now, I know, quality of audience > quantity, but ain't got no website/netculture to accurately measure quality of users yet, so..)

Of course that's gonna take months, talking extra hundreds of hours here. It'll be fun/worth doing though.

So in the meantime.. as for accuracy of predictions? This thread had 2 predicted timelines - 1 from the internet leak guy from years ago, which is obviously gonna be very inaccurate by now since it's so old/based on pre-LK Blizz plans - and the other 1, was mine. I didn't really keep a history of changes to mine - it kept changing many times a month whenever I'd realize something or hear another Blue statement. So.. I can say that a few years ago, I thought the game'd go up to v7.0-v8.0 at most.

That was revised once Metzen announced they had enough material/were foreseeing doing at least 3 more past MoP, around early this year, I made a final prediction draft - MoP was gonna 'end' (6.0 expansion release) around Spring '14, to be followed by a concept I titled 'ToTB' - Tides of the Betrayer - Instead of WoD, it would feature Kul Tiras / Zul'Dare / Balor / Undermine / Maelstrom & Great Sea surface / South Seas (Broken Isles - Zandalar - Tomb of Sargeras), w/ Illidan / Maiev / Alleria / Turalyon making a return. My 7.0 prediction was Nazjatar/Queen Azshara/N'Zoth/Subterranean areas/The Abyssal Maw plane/Sunken Kalimdor ruins. My 8.0 was K'aresh/Unexplored Draenor/Unexplored Azeroth/Netherspace. My 9.0 was fully Legion-themed, a final showdown w/ 'Avatar of Sargeras' or w/e it ends up being, featuring Argus/Xoroth/Xerrath/other planets.

Then came the WoD trademark news around a week before BlizzCon & I immediately assessed that this would most likely indeed be the expansion's title and thus was a reveal, at long last, of its themes. While retrofitting my 6.0 'Tides of the Betrayer' to WoD, I ended up changing my entire timeline. Thus my new call for 6.0 turned into a Draenor (old or new) concept, and something to do w/ 'Time/Parallel Realities' aka Infinite/Bronze Dragonflights/CoT since it was called 'Warlords', and ain't no Warlords on modern Outland important enough to base an expansion's theme AND title on.. so it would have to include some Time/CoT-related stuff, perhaps even a whole slew First War/Second War scenarios experienced through WoW for the first time. I still thought Alleria/Turalyon would be present in this 6.0, just not Illidan/Maiev anymore. That part turned out wrong.

Then my revised 7.0 combined the old Great Sea/South Seas stuff from 'ToTB' into the new AoM, (Abyss of Madness, WoW 7.0) which makes more sense when you think about it, why base a whole expansion on just N'Zoth/Azshara/Nazjatar..?? Seems way too narrow-focused, better to mix it w/ the very closely-themed Great/South Seas content for an entire water-themed expansion, perhaps w/ some minor Third War CoT instance as well. My new 8.0 changed completely, from spacefaring & K'aresh etc, to the Emerald Dream, Skywall, and a Time-based journey into Ancient Kalimdor just like the Warlords of Draenor one for Outland, to which I gave a pending fan-title of 'TDP' - The Dying Paradise. New draft's v9.0 simply took all the old 8.0 K'aresh/space themes & stuffed it along w/ Argus/other Legion worlds, tentatively titled as 'EoC' or 'BtGD' - Eons of Chaos / Beyond the Great Dark. Which, once again, makes more sense after all, just 1 expansion to cover Twisting Nether themes.

As soon as early last week came by & even more trademarks got filed for WoD I knew it was set in stone then, and over the BlizzCon weekend I spent like 5min adding the zones from their new Draenor map to the 6.0 section of my list, the minute everyone got the name 'Warlords' & 'Draenor' it was too easy to figure out the broad strokes. The features/changes (aka game-related as opposed to lore-related) section however took me a lot of time to edit out as I had just a few major ones I'd been right about, the rest, I spent hours Fri/Sat sifting through BlizzCon coverage reports, getting every obscure detail the devs talked about referenced. If anyone's interested :


:: WoD ::

[( ~Non-Instanced Expansion Zone Layout~ )]

›› +'CoT' WC1-2/Invasion Prelude Timeline-Phased Regions (?)

›› Shadowmoon Valley [90-93]
›› Frostfire Ridge [90-93]
›› Gorgrond [92-95]
›› Talador [92-96]
›› Tanaan Jungle [94-98]
›› Spires of Arak [97-100]
›› Nagrand [96-100]
›› Ashran [100]

›› [?Unknown Zone east of Gorgrond?] [100+?]
›› [?Unknown Zone southwest of Talador?] [100++?]

[( ~Expansion Features & Game Systems~ )]

›› FEATURES (New) : Up-Scaled Difficulty Options/Rewards System for Low-Level Dungeons/Raids [v1.0][v1.1] (?)
›› FEATURES (New) : Custom Player Buildings ~ Phased 'Garrison' Base/NPC 'Followers' System [v1.0][v1.1]
›› FEATURES : Realm-Wide Faction Progression Events [v1.1]
›› FEATURES (New) : World PvP | Ashran [v1.0][v1.1]
›› FEATURES (New) : Adventurer's Guide [v1.0][v1.1]
›› FEATURES (New) : Arena Difficulty Option | TotG
›› FEATURES : Legendary Quest Saga [Hardcore]
›› FEATURES : Legendary Quest Saga [Casual]
›› FEATURES : Wandering World Bosses [v1.1]
›› FEATURES : Class Quest Saga [Shaman] (?)
›› FEATURES : [M][20] Mode | Raids [v1.0]

›› UPDATES : Expanded Account-Wide Achievements/Statistics Profile System [v3.2]
›› UPDATES : Dynamic Questing/Quest Rewards & Randomized Zone Events [v2.0]
›› UPDATES : Dynamic Hidden Lore Treasures [+XP/+Loot/+Achievements] [v1.1]
›› UPDATES : Pre-Matchmade PvE Group 'StD' Bonus Rewards [+VP] [v1.0][v1.1]
›› UPDATES : Cross-Realm Party [All Non-Mythic Raid Difficulty Options]
›› UPDATES : Expanded Flexible-Size Raiding System [v2.0][v2.1]
›› UPDATES : BG PvP Random Bonus Rewards [v1.0][v1.1]
›› UPDATES : Dynamic Combat Output Scaling System
›› UPDATES : Arena PvP [v2.1]
›› UPDATES : PokeWoW [v1.3]

›› ATTRIBUTES (New) : Randomized Statistical Variation Emphasis [Speed Rating/Cleave Rating/Avoidance Rating/Lifesteal Rating/Sturdiness Rating]
›› ATTRIBUTES (Removed) : Expertise Rating/Hit Rating

›› CLASSES : Additional Passive Effects/Bonuses on Higher-Level Specialization Abilities [v2.0]
›› CLASSES : Expanded Set-Specialization Class Systems/Abilities [v3.3][v3.4]
›› CLASSES : Expanded Talent System [v3.1]
›› CLASSES : Expanded Glyph System [v3.2]

›› PROFESSIONS : Alternate Skill-Up Crafting Path [v1.2][v1.3]
›› PROFESSIONS : Auto-Upgrade Unique Perks System [v3.1]
›› PROFESSIONS : Non-Inventory Crafting Option

›› ITEMS (Conversion) : Various +Statistics [>+Specialization-Appropriate Throughput Statistic When Equipped]
›› ITEMS (New) : Account-Wide Collections Tab [Heirlooms][Vanity][Tabards]
›› ITEMS (Conversion) : Quest-Related Loot [>QL GUI Tracker Only]
›› ITEMS : Permanent Item Enchantments Redesign [v3.0]
›› ITEMS (Removed) : +Dodge Rating/+Parry Rating
›› ITEMS : Stack Size [20>100] for Various Trade Goods
›› ITEMS : Weekly Quest-Based Gear Upgrade System
›› ITEMS : Voidbinder Gear Upgrade System [v1.2] (?)
›› ITEMS : Gem Socketing System Redesign [v3.0]
›› ITEMS (Removed) : Reforging System
›› ITEMS : 'BoA' Heirlooms [v1.9] (?)

›› COSMETIC : Core Player Race Model & Animation Updates

›› GUI : Retro-Engineered Client Integration of Various Inventory/Crafting/Class/Mail Add-Ons [v1.0][v1.1]
›› GUI : Retro-Engineered Client Integration of OQueue & OpenRaid Add-Ons [v1.0][v1.1]
›› GUI : Inventory Item Sort/Highlight Function

›› ACCOUNT : Premium Instant Level Boosts Service (?)
›› ACCOUNT : Single Instant Boost to Player Level 90


..Now as for seeing whether the notorious internet 'leak' rundown was accurate..?? That's been wrong since past WotLK. It was spot-on regarding v2.0/v3.0 because that 'leak' was drafted & released online in Vanilla, back when Blizz creative team had realistic plans to just do BC, LK, Great/South Seas, Emerald Dream, and Legion expansions then call it a wrap.

Past LK, Blizz was originally supposed to do a sea-themed expansion, including ironically, Pandaria as a lvl 1-10 zone w/ Pandaren added to Alliance.. Seems the whole MoP thing had its roots since all the way in Vanilla-era Blizz offices ;p That's what that 'leak' document had for v4.0. Instead, Metzen & Co came up w/ Cataclysm.

Then for v5.0, Mr. Leak had a Emerald Dream/Deepholm/Firelands/Skywall/Abyssal Maw lineup. Instead we got MoP, Deepholm/Firelands having already been covered in Cata, & Emerald Dream/Skywall/Abyssal Maw content potentially being relegated to v7 or v8.

Finally, the document's entry for v6.0 was K'aresh & Legion Worlds/'Burning Citadel'. Instead we get WoD, Sargeras not to be confronted for a possible 2-3 expansions down the line. Again the old plan was based on the old myth that WoW class-based (as opposed to item-based) player progression would end at Player Lvl 100 (D3 proved that wrong for Blizz specifically - Paragon Levels is a great example..can expect it in WoW very soon), and that 5 expansions would be enough. As if millions of subs are readily thrown to garbage like that ;p That's why those 'Rise of the Legion' jokesters in the last few months were particularly preposterous - whether the Legion invaded Azeroth and/or we came at them in their fortresses, a 6.0 based on that would, in thematic logic, imply it to be the last of this game's major developments, which goes against not only what Metzen confirmed recently (several expansions coming) but also against the company's obvious interests (end development only once subs reach ~1-2M unprofitable level).

[MoanaLisa]

I'm closing this as about as broken a thread as I've seen in a while.

To the OP: It's fine to post your thoughts. Pay attention to simple formatting and things will be fine. Simply posting a link to another web site instead of posting here is more or less against the spirit of how these forums work. Just keep it simple and clear. I don't know that we need to review the history of fake leaks and most of the actual news from Blizzcon is available on site here in any case. You can PM me if you want to talk about it.

Thanks.