Return of the Lich King?

[Trekkie]

Now with the Pandaren and Allied Race Death Knight skins and the encrypted Darion Mograine and Lich King files, there is a lot of speculation going around about the Lich King. Since the only reason we don't have those races being able to be Death Knights is because of lore reasons, it seems like this points towards the Lich King making new Death Knights. But that would also come with a new Death Knight starting zone, as the old one with Arthas wouldn't make any sense. There is a map of Icecrown Citadel in the files, which would make sense as the new DK starting zone. But would they really put in all of that work just for those race class combinations if it wasn't important for the next expansion?

So does that mean the next expansion will be centered around the Lich King again, with a Return of the Lich King?

Looking for that term gave me some new videos that had been uploaded recently, but also this

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...aked-on-reddit

Now a lot of things in that leak are clearly false now, but this caught my attention.

- Necromancer Hero Class (Every race)
- Death Knight and Demon Hunter starter level raised to 108
- New starting zone for Necromancers, Death Knights share it
- Starting zone is a phased Icecrown Citadel

Maybe this was originally the plan at some point?

edit:

And something to think about. All Allied races have Death Knight skins. Including Lightforged Draenei. Why would they willingly become Death Knights? They probably wouldn't. So somebody will probably force them. That probably leaves the Lich King again as a villain with the new starting zone having the Death Knights break free of him. Unless the talk between Darion and the Lich King is about stealing the corpses of heroes that have recently died without telling the Alliance and Horde about it. That would leave the four Horsemen and the Lich King as a sort of renegade, but not outright evil, undead faction.

Maybe we'll even see the introduction of the Scourge as a 3rd player faction?


Also these things caught my eye

- Azshara planned to be the boss of the second raid tier
- Azshara threw in her lot with the old gods

and this

- The Underblight, Scourge dungeon in Frostmaw

Underrot?

[Leonmagic]

I'm going to go with unlikely on the Necro Hero Class (in b4 they pull a Demon Hunter and just remove all the "necro" abilities other classes have).
With Allied Races DK files, it seems very likely that, at the very least, Death Knight lore and Bolvar for that matter would be getting a substantial update.

Especially since the theory that Sylvanas is serving death, and what not.. well naturally the king of undeath would have to have some spot in the story.

But there are also a lot of ways for death knights to get a lore refresh without the entire expansion being Return of the Lich King, so we will see in 3 weeks.

[Triceron]

Gonna nitpick but here's some BS stuff from that leak

- First raid is The Black Forest, endboss N'zoth
- Azshara planned to be the boss of the second raid tier
- Azshara wanted N'zoth to be her mate, so she will be avenging his death
- Third raid tier planned to be a Scourge raid in Frostmaw, endboss not the Lich King, but Kel'thuzad
- Illidan, Calia Menethil, Sylvanas and Anduin will be the main characters in RotLK

The 'leak' was posted 4 months before BFA was announced too, so it probably didn't even know that Illidan was going to be self-exiled off of Azeroth.

[Buliwyf the Omen]

Pet as a Tank is a failed concept with the pet AI we have. Hunter main since Wotlk, theres no way they pull this off properly.

Theres a big reason the Monk statue is just that and not that Yak of one of those four Animals, that Yak/Bull thingy with Xen and that Jade Serpent and the red Birb, despite Windwalkers having Xuen and Mistweavers having the birb as talent choices. <--- Celestials they were called I think.

I dont trust or believe any leaks right now.

[Sinndra]

- Death Knight and Demon Hunter starter level raised to 108

wont happen if there is a level squish, and signs point to level squish incoming.

aside from that, there definitely seems to be some DK foreshadowing here.

[Trekkie]

Also these things caught my eye

- Azshara planned to be the boss of the second raid tier
- Azshara threw in her lot with the old gods

and this

- The Underblight, Scourge dungeon in Frostmaw

Underrot?

[THEORACLE64]

Now with the Pandaren and Allied Race Death Knight skins and the encrypted Darion Mograine and Lich King files, there is a lot of speculation going around about the Lich King. Since the only reason we don't have those races being able to be Death Knights is because of lore reasons, it seems like this points towards the Lich King making new Death Knights. But that would also come with a new Death Knight starting zone, as the old one with Arthas wouldn't make any sense. There is a map of Icecrown Citadel in the files, which would make sense as the new DK starting zone. But would they really put in all of that work just for those race class combinations if it wasn't important for the next expansion?

So does that mean the next expansion will be centered around the Lich King again, with a Return of the Lich King?

Looking for that term gave me some new videos that had been uploaded recently, but also this

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...aked-on-reddit

Now a lot of things in that leak are clearly false now, but this caught my attention.



Maybe this was originally the plan at some point?

edit:

also these things caught my eye



and this



Underrot?

ew, jesus. gross.

[Trekkie]

Gonna nitpick but here's some BS stuff from that leak



The 'leak' was posted 4 months before BFA was announced too, so it probably didn't even know that Illidan was going to be self-exiled off of Azeroth.

Obviously a lot of things there aren't true. But it's entirely possible it was planned at some point. They revealed that they already had WoD and Legion lined up and were still thinking about which one to release first and which one after, and decided on WoD first and Legion second, but it was at some point considered to be the other way around, which is why Wrathion hinted at an imminent Legion invasion in MoP.

So maybe they at some point considered a Lich King expansion to be next and then changed the order of expansions?

[Goldfingaz]

Not that I agree with this or anything, but it's almost like people think that your original link was made recently and not before BFA.

[Triceron]

Obviously a lot of things there aren't true. But it's entirely possible it was planned at some point. They revealed that they already had WoD and Legion lined up and were still thinking about which one to release first and which one after, and decided on WoD first and Legion second, but it was at some point considered to be the other way around, which is why Wrathion hinted at an imminent Legion invasion in MoP.

So maybe they at some point considered a Lich King expansion to be next and then changed the order of expansions?

Considering all the possibilities, it's more likely that this was all bullshit from the beginning.

This leak came out May. Antorus raid released at end of August.

There's no reason to mention Illidan in a leak if he's gonna disappear with the Pantheon at the end of Legion.
Keep in mind there's artists who have to make the ingame cinematics, voice actors who have to do the dialogue and all that stuff is done months ahead. So if this were a leak, there'd be absolutely no reason Illidan would be mentioned alongside the rest of the characters considering the decision to ship him off into space as Sargeras' jailer had to be made a long time before the leak was even mentioned.

[Kyphael]

The level of edge in Void Elf Death Knights will be off the chain.

Very much looking forward to Bolvar, The Lich King creating new Death Knights, have been since he put the helm on in the cinematic of ICC, but I knew it would take some time before they re-visited him fully. The fire mage legendary quest line was cool, but I'm looking forward to seeing him fully developed in this new role.

[Aucald]

I think it more likely that they're using Bolvar as a quest-chain/scenario to allow for the creation of Death Knights on the newer races in WoW. The Pandaren need to be grandfathered in (hence the datamined alterations), but the other newer races (including the Allied Races) probably have all the rigging needed already. I'm better we'll find the pool of eligible races allowed to become Death Knights will widen as a result.

[Trekkie]

And something to think about. All Allied races have Death Knight skins. Including Lightforged Draenei. Why would they willingly become Death Knights? They wouldn't. So somebody will probably force them. That leaves the Lich King again as a villain with the new starting zone having the Death Knights break free of him. Unless the talk between Darion and the Lich King is about stealing the corpses of heroes that have recently died without telling the Alliance and Horde about it. That would leave the four Horsemen and the Lich King as a sort of renegade, but not outright evil, undead faction.

Maybe we'll even see the introduction of the Scourge as a 3rd player faction?

[PelinalWhitestrake]

If you still think that this garbage of a game WILL continue with the lvl130 bullshit
you theory dies right there.

Expect DK's starting from lvl 20 in 9.0 along with Demon Hunters.

[Trekkie]

If you still think that this garbage of a game WILL continue with the lvl130 bullshit
you theory dies right there.

Expect DK's starting from lvl 20 in 9.0 along with Demon Hunters.

Maybe, but that doesn't mean it was always the plan.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

No way Blizz had all of this planned out in 2017.

[Sneaksies]

No way Blizz had all of this planned out in 2017.

are you serious? they have had a general idea of whats going to happen since mop... give them some more credit. they probably have known whats going to happen (general idea and plot) since 2015-2016

[Khaza-R]

The fact DKs are getting unlocked for ARs means one of two things

- DKs starting level is getting squished to the same level as Allied Races
- Allied Races are getting bumped up to start at the same level as DKs

But my honest guess is on the former.

[Doffen]

WoW: RotLK. I'll buy that.

I am in Dalaran now actually, in Northrend. Even though it wasn't the best expansion, it was definitely something my nostalgia feels goes off the hook for. I am down for another Lich King adventure. Dalaran can move, so see yall in Northrend 2.0.


Or it's just that DKs can now "recruit" other races and got little to do with the next expansion theme besides that.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

are you serious? they have had a general idea of whats going to happen since mop... give them some more credit. they probably have known whats going to happen (general idea and plot) since 2015-2016

And they only make expansions one at a time.

There's no way they knew in 2017 that they were going to add Pandaren DKs after BFA. Heck you can argue in 2017 they didn't even know how BFA would end given how absolutely toxic this expansion has become.