Cataclysm Story Arch, Where do we go from here?

[-Ethos-]

Background: Vashj'ir- We deafeat key lieutenants on the assault by the naga. We defend Neptulon, the water lord.
Observation: Possible Old God conflict, involving at least Water Elementals on our side, even Earthen ring.

Um, doesnt Neptulon get swallowed up by that massive Squid just before it swims away in Throne of the Tides?

[shockerxl]

Where do we go from here ?

Downhill

WoW is slowly, but certainly, dying.

lol @ you to! that is the most opinionated statement i think ive ever heard. this xpack has the most brilliant story telling of any to date (im not the only one to think so either) your entitled to your opinion but just because you may be bored for any reason does not mean wow is dying...in fact i believe it to be as strong as ever

also...guess what happens right after your born? the only thing thats a garuntee to you? you are dying everything will die..hell! even stone dies so thanx for all that captain obvious!

[tennesseej]

I am not as versed in the lore as I want to be, but let's take a look at past raid progression.

Naxx - Pivotal to WotLK story, I would say very similar to current Cata raids. Killing lots of Death Knight/Lich King lieutenants, final boss is one of the main consorts to the Lich King.

Ulduar - Definitely related to the story, but I think most people wouldn't have guessed this one coming before release. Awesome kinda self-contained lore raid.

Crusader - Somewhat fabricated out of thin air, Anub'arak was part of the story, but other encounters were kinda made up to fill it in.

ICC - Obviously the lore to close out the expansion.

Based on that, I would imagine that we won't see much more lore involving the main Cata events until the last raid. It wouldn't surprise me if there is another Old God raid (since they are still wishy-washy on the number of Old Gods), a Caverns of Time type raid, and possibly even Therazane/Neptulon based raid. It just seems lame that you have Ragnaros and Al'akir raids, but not the other 2 (not that Therazane/Neptulon will be bad, just a raid based on them somehow).

[Aervalis]

As far as the world around wow there is still quite a bit of content, both related to Deathwing and the world itself. The next tier we know is Firelands and Ragnaros, and then I would speculate beyond that we will see a N'Zoth and/or CoT Tier, then Deathwing himself. Things I don't think we'll see this Xpac that will be for the future include a Nazjatar area with Azshara raid (which Vash'jir could be a great learning experience for the devs on doing an underwater zone), the Emerald Dream (which had been largely addressed in books to date), more Old Gods of course, Zandalar (which is one of the oldest and most powerful civilizations in Azeroth, so it would make sense to save it till later), the possible secret chambers of Karazhan (Azeroth's ley lines all converge under Kara), perhaps if the maelstrom were sealed by the Earthen Ring we could see another appearance of Sargeras's Tomb, and then of course, Sargeras himself, who's spirit is floating around somewhere.

Personally, I greatly dislike Garrosh Hellscream and Varian Wrynn, and I would love to see them both no longer leaders and raid bosses that are killable, or something to that effect.

[klimon]

Nobody has mentioned Magatha Grimtotem yet. She has a questline in Thousand Needles where you help her acquire a powerful artifact (The Doomstone). I wouldn't be surprised to see her pop up again, either in a 5 man or in a raid.

[Zarasthura]

There's been rumors that we'll be going to the Emerald Dream at some point.

There's even music for one of the zones in the old hidden emerald dream files from BC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs2o2EOxyLg

As for the story of what to do, I'm not sure. They might do something with the satyr we free in hyjal, and Staghelm who we give to the green dragon. Might even open up the four world portals for entry into ED

[Deleted]

Well, 4.1 is confirmed to be Ragnaros in Firelands, probably with several Molten Core bosses that were also merely a setback (Garr and Baron Geddon have already appeared in Mount Hyjal, is it just a coincidence that those are the two bosses that dropped a part of the same legendary, were they easier to ress than all those Naga, or is it truly just random? WotLK's first legendary showed up in the second raid tier, and Thunderfury is linked to both Al'akir and Ragnaros).

Then there's the War of the Ancients, an announced raid for Cata - I think that this'll be patch 4.2, but it might ofcourse be introduced in 4.1 along with the Firelands.

Other possibilities are Azshara and N'zath (one of the Old Gods that corrupted Deathwing, and he also caused the Emerald Nightmare, the bastard!) - in my opinion, Azshara is too important for a patch and should have her own expansion, but we all know how easily they got rid of Malygos, so I'm not ruling anything out just yet.
If we'll see N'zath at all, I think it'd be in 4.2 too, so Alexstrasza&co. can be like "Neltharion is no longer corrupted, let's save him!" - probably in Ny'alotha, which is under water (Vashj'ir?), if the whispers from the Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron mean what we think they mean.

Obviously, 4.3 is Deathwing himself, probably with a raid to go along with him (maybe one that I mentioned above), because Blizzard have mentioned how they like that more than one huge raid now.

As for Sargeras who is mentioned a few posts above this one, that isn't just unlikely, it would simply be pathetic. He is literally the strongest guy in the universe, if we kill him there's no point in making another expansion because lorewise we'd be able to roflstomp anything.

[Black_One]

lol @ you to! that is the most opinionated statement i think ive ever heard. this xpack has the most brilliant story telling of any to date (im not the only one to think so either) your entitled to your opinion but just because you may be bored for any reason does not mean wow is dying...in fact i believe it to be as strong as ever

also...guess what happens right after your born? the only thing thats a garuntee to you? you are dying everything will die..hell! even stone dies so thanx for all that captain obvious!

Actually , I wasn't talking a bout the story mate, lore can't make up for the lack of content / shitty game balance / omfg same dailies. Take LotR for example. Epic lore, bad fucking games. Harry Potter is the same (not my cup of tea tho), D&D. You gotta realize 70% of the wow fanbase are crazed gamers ( who don't give one F*ck about lore).

WoW is gonna take 3 big hits this year. Rift, SW Online and GW2. Now, none of this games is a WoW killer, but all of em together will steal a shitload of ppl, reducing wow fanbase. As i said before, everything started going downhill after TBC. Wrath = omgwtfbbq, Cata = ppl are logging in once a week to check mail/raid.

How long does wow have left ? No idea, maybe 1 year, hell, maybe even 10. I was just sayin, It's going downhill, hard truth, but truth nonetheless.

P.S.
This is indeed just my opinion, so please keep the bashing down to a minimum plox.

[Imtaurne]

well we have old gods,ragnaros,and deathwing himself. also i think we should face Azhara herself this X pack, since i guess we will be going to a new world next time, perhaps a outland V2?

The next world we will go in will prolly be the draenie's home planet where Sargeras corrupted archimonde and Kil'jaeden

[Hotaro]

Im interested in the final raid for cata. So far i can only name one boss and thats DW, but will it be a single encounter or multiple like ICC, if so who will be in it. Theres no Black dragon matriacs left, and the flight is low on numbers. Both his son and daughter are dead again, his consort dead( the 3 most likely to be by his side ) Whos left?? Blizz will have to make new bosses to fit in, something there is no lore on currently.

Most likely there will be a old god, but we know little on whoever it is ( wrath had alot of things that pointed to Yogg before the release of Ulduar )
Tbh cata's story line hasnt taken the story far enough, nothing compaired to Wrath where almost everything you did was related to the LK in some way. Dw has been in a few quests but doesnt have the same or more presence as LK.

Firelands is confirmed, with rag as the end boss, Abyssal Maw is the new instance, with most likely the 3rd Giant whatever it is as the end boss.
WotA will be the next major content patch after firlands. We know who the major figures are but we dont know who we'll fight. Raid will most likely be located in CoT.
Azshara will most likely be the end boss to a south seas expansion as blizz said they had no intentions to having her as a boss in cata, But that doesnt mean they wont add her sooner.
Another problem i found is that theres not much room for expansion of the cata zones. Most quests end story progression in the zones. Blizz might have to introduce new sub-zones into the game in certain areas but where and how will it effect the cata story is the question.

[BloodGutter]

Cataclysm's story and plot has been kinda weak so far. The cutscenes and stuff are cool but I feel like they have thrown in alot of cool and fun quests and features for the sake of lore and good storytelling. I seem to remember quests, plots and lore more vividly in Vanilla, BC and even WOTLK.

[Durandro]

I imagine there will be a fair bit of the old mind controlled old allies business in Deathwing's raid. Seems to be a favourite! Not that its a terrible thing, so long as its done correctly.

I can imagine the next raid is either Sulfuron Keep, CoT: Battle of the Ancients (God, please don't make it Hyjal 2.0...) or Abysal Maw where we go and clean up the Naga and Faceless Ones that allied to reconquer Vashj'ir.

Or maybe Trolls - been missin' me some voodoo, mon.

One raid I'd LOVE to see is one set in a Capital City. Maybe even a seperate one for Horde and Alliance (though this might be tricky to balance/design). How about you're taking part in the defense of the city from an attack from the opposing faction, and right at the end both sides are ambushed by the remanants of the Twilight Cult and are forced to co-operate.

Or heck, how about a raid set in Gilneas city to replace those hollow promises of a city based Battleground? The Worgen want to retake the city with the aid of their new allies, and the Forsaken want to finally claim it as their own. There can be powerful wild Worgen to combat, maybe Ettin and Ogres that have taken up residence, vengeful ghosts of the fallen... Plenty to work with there.

[shogunman]

Obviously, 4.3 is Deathwing himself, probably with a raid to go along with him (maybe one that I mentioned above), because Blizzard have mentioned how they like that more than one huge raid now.
anything.

Correct me if im wrong but i remember hearing a Dev say that deathwing is a 95 raid boss or 90 i dont remember and if thats true then expect a level cap increase (highly unlikely) or we wont be facing Deathwing this xpac

[Godsmack241]

I'm surprized no one's mentioned it yet, or at least that I could see. What about upside down Kara? Medihv is suppose to be one of the few, if not the only person Deathwing is afraid of, and is someone Deathwing would never go toe-to-toe with. This, imo, opens up the possibility for a return to Kara. At least I really hope so!

Edit: Just for clarification, the reason Deathwing is afraid of him is supposedly due to the fact Medihv has a part of sargeras in him... forgive me if I'm wrong here though, my lore is a tad rusty.

[Sauredfangs]

From what I can see:

-The "Uldum's Day device" mentioned in blizzcon, doesn't seem to be ingame yet, perhaps a raid or a future dungeon?

-"Goblin Missile Crisis" The Trade prince is nowhere to be found in game and there is a huge rocket pointed at Stormwind. Does this mean that he will be more involved with the story in a Violet Citadel like conflict? Perhaps a wrath gate kinda event based on Azshara?

-"Lordaeron Conlficts, part 2" After the War for gilneas, Destruction of South shore, and Battle for Andorhal, could there be a second more massive conflict between the united combatants of the region? With Thassarian, Stormpike, and Bloodfang leading the Alliance agaisnt Sylvanas and Hellscreams agents in Black operations in secret dungeons each faction operate?

-"Cataclysm, Outlands" There are Fel Orc horde Npc's outside the Dark Portal, hinting that things are changing beyond the dark portal.


Even far more deeper into the story:

-"Fall of Garrosh Helscream" during blizzcon Chris Metzen had mentioned the Garrosh will be dealt and it might include player involvement. Perhaps with the return of Rexxar, Sarfaung having enough of Garrosh can Culminate to a defeat of Garrosh's Regime?

[rhorle]

The only differences from your observations I have are:

Uldum- I could see another titan raid or 5-man. Something more direct involvement with deathwings forces rather then titan-defenses and the tol'vir enemies.

I expect that we will see a gilinaes raid, or something to do with that zone in the future. It just seems like a waste to have it there and the worgen story is kind of lacking, even if you do play a undead to see the second half. I could see them doing a pve raid where instead of the instance being the same for horde and alliance it drops the same loot but is a pve "battleground".

They could add in stuff like the sithilus dust where once you collect X amount of stuff from the raid your faction gets a certain buff. Changing dailies and what not outside the raid in the gilnaes zone, or even change up the encounters in the actual raid (like the dragon rotation for halfus, the buff/quests/kills could rotate the encounters depending on what faction has cleared it recently)

I think we will see more elemental plane raids/dungeons and possibly grim batol. There really isn't to many more places they can go with out advancing the story in directions they haven't hinted at yet. Since as you say they seem to have exploited most of the story so far in the zones and nothing clearly speaks as future content. Except of course firelands which we know is coming in 4.1

[Sauredfangs]

I'm not so sure if we'll be seeing more of Deathwings minions in Uldum cause right now, I think the story is 100% about Deathwings minions. So I think this time It should be something we havent seen yet, something epic you expect from a "Land of the Titans", like a place of great secret Uldum was dubbed to be before it was released.

Yeah and they should really use Gilneas City again, it was originally meant to be a 40 vs. 40 but it didn't work out well. Perhaps it'll be a great 100 vs 100 world bg every once in a week >.>

And we know that we'll see more of Neptulon, and their hinting that theres an old god minion to be found in Vash'jir

[Gorllin]

Nobody has mentioned Magatha Grimtotem yet. She has a questline in Thousand Needles where you help her acquire a powerful artifact (The Doomstone). I wouldn't be surprised to see her pop up again, either in a 5 man or in a raid.

Oh really? Hmmm haven't done those quests yet, I'll have to check them out.
But you're telling me we help Magatha?!

[Arlor]

How long does wow have left ? No idea, maybe 1 year, hell, maybe even 10. I was just sayin, It's going downhill, hard truth, but truth nonetheless.

WoW has a loooong way to fall before it's done.

All of the MMORPGs that were the stars of their day are still running: Ultima Online, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Asheron's Call, etc. In fact, remarkably few MMORPGs have shut down entirely. WoW will be with us for a long, long time.

The question is when another MMORPG will outsell it. I don't see that happening with anything that's been announced so far. Bioware might have a chance with the Star Wars license if there hadn't been so many bad, bad games released under the SW label.

[Nyteyes]

next expac will be the emerald dream/nightmare

That would not surprise me honestly if it was.