A disgruntled senior level designer at Blizzard who recently resigned, and is in my guild, mentioned this during one of our raid nights last week, to myself and 2 other officers. Their identity is known to us, so we know from their Linkedin that they until recently worked on World of Warcraft.
The expansion will be unveiled in the first half of March on a YouTube Livestream. Patch 9.2 is set to release at the end of February. 9.2 has multiple cinematics. The final one will be available in week 2 with The Jailer. The expansion is revealed 2 days later, the following Thursday.
Expansion name: Rise of the Aspects
New continent: The Dragon Isles
- 5 zones thematic to the different aspects. Main story in each zone are their return to power.
- One zone is fully dedicated to end-game content, ala Suramar. This is the zone thematic to the Black Dragonflight. Wrathion is a central character here. This is also the location of Deathwing’s Corruption which the story will dive into. The first raid is located in this zone, a massive Old God Temple, ala Stormsong Valley, but larger. N'Zoth did not die and is in "the background".
New PvE System: Lairs - procedurally generated cavern lairs that will feature a variety of different bosses to fight. There are powers similar to Torghast. It was explained as a “boss-rush mode”. There are very few packs of normal mobs. The core gameplay is heavily focused on boss fights. The system has a Challenge Mode style for cosmetics rewards - think Mage Tower, but several bosses and unique powers.
New Class: Tinkerer, Mail class, 2 specs, Ranged DPS with Turrets and other gimmicks. Mechasuit for Tanking.
Keypoints:
• Level cap increased to 70.
• All Timewalking zones becomes 1-60. Shadowlands is added to Chromie.
• Partial Old-World Revamp. Notable zones that are overhauled include Tanaris and Twillight Highlands. These will have content related to max level and players will visit them briefly during questing. The Infinite Dragonflight has a major presence in Tanaris. Gadgetzan is updated, it is larger quest hub, but not as portrayed in Hearthstone. The Cultists are once again a major player in Twillight Highlands.
• Other zones such as Elwynn Forest, Durotar, Westfall, Duskwood remains the same but with improved graphics. Many of the old buildings have been updated to modern graphics. This includes Stormwind and Orgrimmar.
• Cross-faction end-game gameplay. Raiding, Dungeons, PvP, and other end-game content can be done in groups of both factions. Cannot be cross-faction grouped in Warmode. Opposing faction cities are still hostile.
• Major professions overhaul - large focus, multiple new developers recruited specifically for this.
Conclusion of Shadowlands (9.2.5 and Pre-Patch):
- Using the Forge of the First Ones, the Jailer successfully drains Azeroth, severely injuring the planet. The wounds that were sealed have reemerged and Azeroth is on the brink of dying - again.
- After Zovaal the Jailer has been defeated, The First Ones (3) appear in the cinematic, resetting Zovaal to his original, deactivated form. He is not dead, and will return in the future.
- There will be an epilogue in the form of 9.2.5 featuring a short questline centered around Tyrande “forgiving” Sylvanas, and Sylvanas looking for Nathanos. The patch will also include minor quality of life additions and Timewalking for BFA dungeons (incl. M+), and the Battle for D’azalor raid.
- Anduin is “saved”, but will not be himself. As the heroes of Azeroth return, the Stormwind Nobles are skeptical of their King, instead giving their loyalty to Turalyon. Anduin will feel defeated and depressed about everything he did during his domination and will not fight it. Genn Greymane and Matthias Shaw is acting on Anduin’s behalf to restore him to the throne. Tension in the Alliance is growing.
- The Scarlet Crusade is significantly growing in power in the background, Turalyon plays a big part in this.
This is all I managed to get notes for - everything was happening quickly, and we were not warned that they were going to spill the beans. Believe it if you will, the reveal is just 2 months away.