Does anyone think Dragon Isles ISN'T next?

[GreenJesus]

No idea why we wouldn't have gone there during cataclysm or legion, but sure maybe there was a mist that prevented everyone from going there.

[Teriz]

Why are we supposedly so sure that it WILL be Dragon Isles next expansion exactly?

Wrathion is looking for them circa BFA.

[DeltrusDisc]

As far as I am aware, I have never, not once, seen an accurately predicted expansion. I don't think anyone saw Wrath coming, or Cata, definitely not MoP, also definitely not Wod, Legion kinda cause of WoD ending, not BfA (at least the direction it took), and definitely not Shadowlands.

I'll be more surprised if it is Dragon Isles than if it's not.

Well if this isn't the understatement of the century.

Lots of people assumed the Lich King was coming up.

Also, most expansions /DO/ get leaked.

Hell, there was a leaked image of the Shadowlands map and the name was leaked. People laughed it off, many said it was fake, but it looked incredibly real to me, and sure enough, soon it was actually announced. You've not been paying attention, most of these expansions have been leaked. I remember when someone posted something ahead of time about pandas, lots of people guffawed at it. Just because you don't remember X's leak, doesn't mean it didn't happen.

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I'm hoping that dragons and light vs void aren't next. The first half of the WoW storyline was heavily dragon centric and I didn't find them very interesting. The void lords are bleh, and the "akshually Light is not good!" thing that has been going on since 2016 is awful.

We might be better off sticking with FF 14.

While I enjoy dragons, they started getting written stupid at some point or another.

I read the books and hell, the dragons should NOT have lost their eternal lives/power when they defeated Deathwing - that wasn't the true hour of twilight. That was when N'Zoth was taking over and THAT is when the Dragon Aspects' great time should have been.

No, I'm still not over the ending of Cataclysm.

[SniperCT]

Honestly i saw one leak that struck me as strangely corresponding to later added strings and patch notes, but it might just be that its author saw them first and thought he'd have a go at it.

To me it fits the list of potential expansions as well, others would include:
- Undermine
- Tel'abim / other unexplored lands in the veiled seas
- Azeroth 3: The reCataclysming
- Other planes of existence a la "life lands", though that seems unlikely as the Titans considered the Emerald Dream the equivalent to the Shadow Lands, thus not a true cosmic realm but something between the material plane and it. Still that might mean we get an expansion centring on more such "half realms"
- Black Empire
- Timetravel expansion, i.e. "Go fix the initial orcish invasion" or something
- Sargeras breaks free
- Y'shaarj returns after respawning in the void as a meteor and reinfects Azeroth

So yeah, given how the Jailer is pounding Azeroth hard in his fight i think anything not focussed on Azeroth can be scrapped. If we add Wrathion's foreshadowing to that we might expect dragon shenanigans.

So yeah, dragon isles seems likely, otherwise a time travel mess might work too due to Murozond.

Plot twist: the Infinite Dragonflight was right all along and now we're helping them.

[TheFirstOnes]

Genuinely curious if anyone on this forum thinks Dragon Isles isn't next.

No, cause that would be dumb imo

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If it weren’t next I mean

[Itisamuh]

Probably just another boring Horde vs Alliance story with a bit of corrupt Army of the Light thrown in for spice.

[SniperCT]

Probably just another boring Horde vs Alliance story with a bit of corrupt Army of the Light thrown in for spice.

alliance for life but I fully expect turalyon to go all dictator and need to be killed. Not a fan of what they did to him but I'll be the first to stab him in the back lmao

[Th3Scourge]

What evidence is there that it will be Dragon Isles?

At the end of BfA there were plenty of loose threads

- Xal'atath is doing who knows what in some dimension
- Azshara fucks off to some random dimension
- Sword is still in the ground
- Void corruption seed in the Emerald Dream
- Red star in the sky aka Sargeras

I'm sure I'm missing some story threads but these are all the loose ones I can remember from the end of the last xpac. This isn't factoring in anything that might remain open at the end of Shadowlands.

To be honest, the biggest hint that has been dropped was when it was mentioned that time acts differently in the Shadowlands. This leads me to believe that, canonically, the NPCs/lore characters will return to Azeroth after their journey in the Shadowlands (We can assume no one has returned to Azeroth) and there will be a significant time skip.

A time skip allows them time to re-design zones and move forward. That's not to say the Dragon Isles can't be a part of that, I have no idea

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

I think the dragon bundle + the encrypted mount with emerald drake textures are the "best" hints for the new expansion.

It's not that in game there aren't hints for the next expansion (like the Kul Tiran and Zandalar captives in Aszuna for BfA) But that there are so many threads that might point to different places. Shadowlands has both pointed to the light and void as upcoming issues, which are compounded by AU Yrel and Xal'athat and Aszhara being out there.

But yeah, the story will always point out to potential narratives, but it's the marketing what really points to what they wanna hype lol; MoP introduced the Iron Skyreaver as a mount and we got WoD, And WoD introduced the Runesaber, which pointed out to legion, and then we goy the Silverian Dreamer and the Vulpine Familiar, two mounts that appear as creatures of the SL.

So this exp we got a phoenix, a big cat, and now we have hinted a dragon. Two of those are native to Azeroth, so it's likely the exp to be there. And was it since BfA that Wrathion is now actively looking for the Dragon Isles?

That's my thing, we have more things pointing out to something in Azeroth, so something more light or void based, which where the other big possibilities.

I don't know if it's going to be "The Dragon Isles" but I do think they will be relevant, as well as Dragons.

[SniperCT]

I've been wanting a time-skip since MoP, tbh. Hell, a 'the heroes all vanished one day, life moves on and then 500 years later...they return' kind of thing would be really cool.

Post WoD would have been PERFECT for this, even on a shorter time scale. Come back and find azshara messing things up or something?

Or coming back from argus has some weird relativity shit happening and it's 20 years later.

Of course now we expect it with the 'time moves differently' thing so of course they won't do it.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

I've been wanting a time-skip since MoP, tbh. Hell, a 'the heroes all vanished one day, life moves on and then 500 years later...they return' kind of thing would be really cool.

Post WoD would have been PERFECT for this, even on a shorter time scale. Come back and find azshara messing things up or something?

Or coming back from argus has some weird relativity shit happening and it's 20 years later.

Of course now we expect it with the 'time moves differently' thing so of course they won't do it.

The problem with it is that it would necessitate some sort of revamp, perhaps the shorter the time skip, the least expansive it could be.

[SniperCT]

The problem with it is that it would necessitate some sort of revamp, perhaps the shorter the time skip, the least expansive it could be.

the game probably needs a full scale revamp at this point. rock falls everyone dies start over, even.

But they wouldn't do that. Too expensive and too risky. But they could afford the first part and it would be worth the second imo

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

the game probably needs a full scale revamp at this point. rock falls everyone dies start over, even.

But they wouldn't do that. Too expensive and too risky. But they could afford the first part and it would be worth the second imo

I mean "too expensive" and full stop lmao. Profit is king.

TBH, a truncated revamp, where selected areas are revamped at launch, with other being made evergreen later, could be the most doable approach tbh.

Like, if they revamped all the starting areas to be a new leveling experience where you get to experience how the world has evolved through the PoV of the playable races.

So you'd have Exiles' Reach as the 1-10 basic leveling experience, and then, if you're alliance, Elwynn Forest, Dun Morogh, Darkshore/Hyjal, Azuremyst and Gilneas as the leveling experience for 20-60 with more or less self contained stories that feel more evergreen

[Ealyssa]

Just because you don't know the lore, doesn't mean Dragon Isles aren't part of it. They are definitely a sizeable piece of lore that is missing.

No it's not period. Chris Metzen himself buried the idea. But please, show us all those treasure of lore he missed you clown...

[SniperCT]

I mean "too expensive" and full stop lmao. Profit is king.

TBH, a truncated revamp, where selected areas are revamped at launch, with other being made evergreen later, could be the most doable approach tbh.

Like, if they revamped all the starting areas to be a new leveling experience where you get to experience how the world has evolved through the PoV of the playable races.

So you'd have Exiles' Reach as the 1-10 basic leveling experience, and then, if you're alliance, Elwynn Forest, Dun Morogh, Darkshore/Hyjal, Azuremyst and Gilneas as the leveling experience for 20-60 with more or less self contained stories that feel more evergreen

Yeah that's what I meant, they COULD afford it and if they were smart they'd realize it would pay for itself, but lol they wouldn't.

But that suggestion could work really well.

[epigramx]

most of these expansions have been leaked

That's a statement of little value without saying WHEN they were leaked in relation to the release date.

Almost everything in popular media leaks before promotion because the promotion venues leak.

The leaks that happen before the company starts sending promotional material out are rare.

[MCitra]

WHEN are they actually announcing the expansion? Feels like its dragged out this time?

[Dundebuns]

Me. Mainly because it's just a horrible fan fiction idea (or at least every iteration of 'leaks' I've seen) but also because of copyright;

So lots of people have written their ideal Dragon Isles expansion idea, with stories, zones, races and classes. Now if Blizz did do a Dragon Isle expansion they would have to be incredibly careful to not use anything that is in these prominent fan fictions because it would look like blatant theft of ideas and could cause legal issues. It would also mean that if they did release a Dragon Isle expansion, it would be radically different from whatever head canon people have and would ultimately disappoint.

[Sarange]

Me. Mainly because it's just a horrible fan fiction idea (or at least every iteration of 'leaks' I've seen) but also because of copyright;

So lots of people have written their ideal Dragon Isles expansion idea, with stories, zones, races and classes. Now if Blizz did do a Dragon Isle expansion they would have to be incredibly careful to not use anything that is in these prominent fan fictions because it would look like blatant theft of ideas and could cause legal issues. It would also mean that if they did release a Dragon Isle expansion, it would be radically different from whatever head canon people have and would ultimately disappoint.

I doubt any legal issues could come from that.

[Niwes]

Genuinely curious if anyone on this forum thinks Dragon Isles isn't next.

me. for some COMPLETELY unrational, or at least not very logical, reason:

whenever, in the last 16 years of wow, ppl were 100% convinced about a specific xpac, Blizz came up with something completely different. WoD, in example, comes into my mind. or the Alleria void/light xpac, Legion „transitioned“ into, that ended up as BfA. or the Nzoth transition, that ended up as SL.

the only exception iirc was Legion (very early xpacs like TBC or WotlK asside, can’t remember).

so, i believe, it goes like „everyone thinks ‚Wrath of Aszhara’ eeeerm i mean ‚The Dragon Isles‘ is the next xpac, and its some completely different BS theme“ and everyone goes „whaaat? omfg!“.

dont know why, but i trust my guts and that psycho Blizzard beast more than my brain and all the rational aspects in all the posts, blogs and vids. and mostly i was not that much disappointed, when my bet was on „stupid Blizzard“.