Future Expansions for WoW
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Alright, lets lay some cards on the table. What’s going to happen with WoW? Not WoW2 as we tend to discuss, but WoW.
Will we run out of characters? How many expansions will there be? How long will it go for?
The answers are, No, Five, and 2013.
Here’s the time-line with a history thrown in as well.
11/2004 - World of Warcraft released. End boss, Kel’Thuzad.
01/2007 - Burning Crusade Released. End boss, Illidan/Shade of Kil’Jaeden.
Okay, here’s where we start to speculate…
11/2008 - Wrath of the Lich King. End boss, Arthas. We also know from Metzen that there’s an Old God in the spider kingdom. You’re probably wondering how I came up with that release date. Here’s how.
Beta testing hasn’t even started yet. Heck it isn’t really even being buzzed about yet. No one is talking about Alpha. With that in mind, it’s at least 6 months out. Probably a bit more. Once you hit October, you have to figure that Blizzard as a company is going to want to milk Christmas. As a fellow fanboy though, I’d rather err on the side of optimism. So I’ll say November of this year instead of December.
Alright, lets continue to be optimists and say that after WOTLK we begin getting expansions every 18 months. There are two more expansions that are obvious.
5/2010 - The Emerald Dream. End boss, The Nightmare. I think it’s safe to say that “The Nightmare” is another Old God.
11/2011 - The Maelstrom. End boss, Queen Azshara. This expansion will feature all of the island kingdoms that we know exist like Kul Tiras and Kazan (the Undermine), not to mention the Tomb of Sageras and Tol Barad. Queen Azshara would of course be in or near Nazjatar. I would be surprised if there wasn’t an Old God down there too, along with the original portal (now dormant) to Sargeras’s home-world from the War of the Ancients.
At this point we’re now all level 100 and all five Old Gods are dead: Darkshore Skeleton, C’Thun, Spider Kingdom, The Nightmare, and Maelstrom.
So what is left? One more expansion.
05/2013 - Sargeras’s homeworld. End boss, Sargeras. In a patch similar to 2.0.3 I bet we’ll see the original War of the Ancients portal reopen, allowing us to finally take the fight to the Burning Legion’s own home-world (following in Brox’s footsteps). This is where Kil’Jaeden would really die along with all the other remaining major demons. I would not be surprised if Jarod Shadowsong returned from his long absence to lead the Horde/Alliance invasion as he’s more than capable of leading a cross-faction army against the demons. We kill Sargeras, perhaps with some help from the Titans. End of game.
The year is now 2013. We are level 110. WoW is nine years old and finally in need of a rebuild from the ground up. Everything that could serve as a major threat to the Horde and Alliance has been defeated. The perfect time for peace… and of couse, also the perfect time for the Forsaken to leave the Horde, the Night Elves and Dwarves to break out in civil war, and all sorts of other fun stuff to happen making for a rip-roaring WC4 or WoW2.
Popularity: 86% [?]
April 14th, 2008 at 6:21 am
No Sargeras?
No Old Gods?
Where does that leave WoW? I mean, epic battles is what the game is all about, and with no demons, no old gods, no legion, what will there be left to fight?
Each other? Make WoW some DAoC pvp oriented game?
God I hope not.
Up until now, we’ve mostly been fighting a losing stalemate. I’d be afraid to see that change. If we go from fighting the corrupted to fighting the corruptor, that will completely change the dynamic of the game. I mean, 25 Kil’jaedan’s couldn’t take down Sargeras. Why should we be able to?
Though… it would be pretty awesome to defeat Sargeras and find out that the Naaru aren’t all they say they are. Those twinklers have struck me as off since day 1
April 14th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Like you said. What would be left to fight? Each other.
Perfect for the beginning of WC4. Don’t forget that most of the stuff we fight now was introduced in WC3, and that game began with nothing to fight but each other. All that’s required is introducing something like “The Scourge” in the first couple missions and suddenly the whole Dynamic changes again.
But don’t underestimate fighting each other, there’s a ton of great intrigue, story and possibilities that comes just from that. And it wouldn’t be that tough to come up with some epic bosses for end game.
April 21st, 2008 at 8:51 am
Introducing a new Scourge is one thing.
Killing Sargeras and all of the Old Gods is another.
Keep in mind, Mannoroth and Magtheridon are dead. Pit Lords are dropping like flies. When they are all gone, the old Warcraft staple of Fel Orcs goes with them. No Pit Lord blood means no Fel Orcs.
Like I said, it’s the difference between killing the corrupted and killing the corruptor. Warcraft has hundreds of possibilities for the corrupted, but only one or two real corruptors. I’m talking of the Old Gods and Sargeras.
If you remove them from the equation, Warcraft will suddenly be lacking in major villains to drive all of the sub-villains in the storyline.
I could see Kil’jaedan being the final boss in a Sargeras’ homeworld expansion, but not the big man himself.
Keep in mind that WC3 started with things at a relative peace. That only changed when Ner’zhul introduced the Scourge and everything went downhill. If WotLK has us killing Arthas AND Ner’zhul, that’s one major corrupting force gone from Azeroth proper. It could also herald the killing of all of the rest, which would effectively end the story.
Ask yourself why there is no Lord of the Rings post-Sauron. It’s easy. Sauron was THE corrputing influence of Middle Earth. All other evil came directly or indirectly from him. When the ring was destroyed, all major evil in Middle Earth went with him.
So, we kill Sargeras, WC4/WoW2 starts and where are we? Suddenly, the world implodes on itself and we all start fighting each other. Fine, but for the big bosses, the epic fights, that WoW has come to be known for, you need something bigger than yourself. With no corrupting influence, there’s nothing to facilitate a new generation of Kel’thuzads, Arthases, and Illidans
Unless the Naaru are really out to corrupt and destroy us all… which is a possibility I haven’t discounted yet.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:31 am
Well, like you said… all you need is one Pit Lord and you have Fel Orcs. It’s not unreasonable to say we wiped out the Burning Legion and a few Pit Lords survived. Wiping out the Burning Legion is going to be like wiping out any group of races. You’re going to have a few who always manage to get away.
As far as corruptors go, sure, the old gods and the Sargeras are the big ones, but don’t forget Ner’Zhul (more on him in a sec) and plenty of other bosses, right down to Hakkar. Remember that most of the stuff we’re seeing now was added in WC3. It wouldn’t be hard for them to add more stuff once again in WC4.
I definitely think Sargeras and all of the Old Gods are goners. You’re right though that they should leave Sargeras capable of being reborn, and you make a good point with Sauron. Sargerus is too good a villain to completely let die. Sure you could bring in something else, but to have it be in the same league as Sargeras (and unknown up until this time) would feel a bit contrived. You already know what I think about Ki’Jaeden; Illidan needs to wipe the floor with him.
I’m trying to remember what it was, but Metzen said something at Blizzcon that made me all but certain that Ner’zhul will survive WOTLK.
At the end of the day I really do think that Azeroth will implode after the events of WoW. I understand your point with epic fights and I agree, but I think that applies more to MMO’s than a strategy game. What I think the Warcraft franchise needs is WoW, then WC4 which will deal with the implosion and the immediate aftermath, and then WoW2 taking place a few years after WC4. One facet of WC4 would be setting up these massive, epic bosses for WoW2.
And yeah… Naaru exist in cycles. Look at M’uru. What do you think A’dal is going to be like when he goes bad?