The next three expansions - predictions and wishful thinkingFollow

lore lol

I'm bored today. I'm currently waiting around for my copy of BC to be ready for pickup. Shouldn't be more than 98 hours. So I'm playing around with the idea - what could possibly be in WoW's future expansions? After all the research I've done, if I were solely responsible for deciding what new areas and races should be in future expansions...what would I do? The following read is purely imaginative speculation, but it should be fairly accurate IF Blizzard sticks to the so-far-applicable list of expansions glimpsed on a whiteboard in the WoW making-of DVD. It was a very general list ( 1. Outland 2. Maelstrom) and so forth, so the details are all made up by me. This is a massive read so feel free to skim past what doesn't interest you.

Expansion One: Outland

Includes 11 new regions and three new capitol cities. On Azeroth, we get four new regions and two new cities ( Eversong Woods, The Ghostlands, Azuremyst Isle, Bloodmyst Isle plus Silvermoon City and The Exodar) and in Outland, seven new regions and a new city ( Hellfire Peninsula, Zangarmarsh, Nagrand, Terokkar Forest, Blade's Edge Mountains, Netherstorm, Shadowmoon Valley plus Shattrath as the neutral capitol of Outland). Two new races, Blood Elves and Draenei. Of course, this expansion has already been revealed in its entirety to us and is already sitting in store backrooms, so I'm just glazing over this one and moving on.

Expansion Two: Maelstrom

Includes 11 new regions and three new capitol cities. All new regions and cities are located on Azeroth. The two new races introduced in the game are Worgen and Mok'nathal.

Worgen- Why I support them: The Scythe of Elune quest chain indicates Worgen were summoned to the world by a Night Elf wielding a scythe granted to her by Elune herself. Something went wrong and the Worgen went insane, but it is certain that at first they were shaping up to be as devoted a guardian to Elune as your average Night Elf. Similarly, in Lordaeron the Worgen are not extradimensional beings but basic werewolves. Silverpine's Pyrewood Village is populated by humans by day and Worgen werewolves by night. Several texts ingame and in Warcraft RPG books contain scripts and tomes written by characters who think Worgen can be a force of chaotic good.

Worgen - Why you don't support them: All Worgen ingame currently are mindless and frenzied werewolves. You've probably slain many of them yourself. They can be skinned for hides. Both the Scythe of Elune and Silverpine quest chains do acknowledge Worgen have the capacity for good, but they both conclude that in the end they have all become evil. One text that says Worgen can be trained for good also notes that a brief glimpse into their homeland revealed it to be a place of blood fury and chaos.

Mok'nathal - Why I support them: Mok'nathal are basically half-ogres. Hybrids, they are often the result of ogres breeding with orcs. Rexxar is one, and his popularity should lend weight to this suggestion. Everyone loves Rexxar! A village of Mok'nathal exists in Outland, so they are not forgotten! Mok'nathal appearance can vary greatly - in artwork, they appear as two-eyed ogres with hints of orc features. In the games, they appear as two-eyed orcs with only a few hints of ogre features. However, just as blood elves existed in WoW since its inception (sharing the models of their high-elf kin), I believe it would be no problem to one day convert existing Mok'nathal models to something more unique than just a brown or tan skinned Orc. They are also easily meshable with WoW's existing areas and mounts - unlike naga, the giant ogres, or the oddly contoured centaur or dryads, Mok'nathal are blessed with acceptable size and proportion and normal limbs.

Mok'nathal - Why you don't support them: You may not think Mok'thanal are different enough from Orcs to warrant their inclusion. It is also quite true that Mok'nathal customs and Orc customs do not vary wildly (as Night Elf customs and Blood Elf customs do). Both honor valor and are great warriors. Mok'nathal, however, do not take easily at all to become warlocks and some have trained in the ways of magic. They are also excellent beastmasters, a classic Warcraft class incorporated into WoW's hunter.

Now, to the regions.

Worgen would begin in Gilneas, using that as their 1-10 region. The capital city of Gilneas has never been revealed, but whatever it is, that's the capital. Now, I know some of you remember back when Worgen were a rumored Alliance race in TBC that someone posted a piece of lore supporting their introduction that sounded authentic enough to be embraced as "officially leaked" around the internet. I wrote that. Thus, what I say here will be somewhat rendundant. Summed up, these Worgen were once humans but due to a curse inflicted upon them by the combined efforts of Arugal and Deathwing himself. However, due to Arugal's incompetence, the curse turns the victims (citizens of Gilneas) into Worgen only physically (for the most part). The majority of the victims retain their humanity and are accepted by the Alliance. Their early quest-chains will lead them across the once-idyllic fields and woods of Gilneas solemnly putting to rest their old friends and eventually heading up to Shadowfang Keep to destroy their blundering creator. They will have to wait until the later levels to confront their other creator, Deathwing. Their 10-20 region would be the nearby islands of Kul Tiras, under siege by pirates and naga. The quests there would explain that the islands will serve as a proving grounds of sorts for the worgen. The Alliance will survey how well the good Worgen can work together and serve as infantry for the Alliance. Meanwhile, a lot of humor and some drama will come from the fact the the citizens of Kul Tiras don't know whether to be more scared of the pirates and naga or the worgen who are supposed to be helping to drive them off! The regions would be joined by boats, of course. From Kul Tiras's docks, a boat would depart to the Wetlands' Menethil Harbor, utilizing one of the two suspiciously empty boat docks.

Mok'nathal would have to train in two all-new newbie areas invented by Blizzard, similar to how the Azuremyst and Bloodmyst isles surfaced for the expansion. "Satellite" data shows a Westfall-sized plot of unused land sandwiched between southeast Feralas and southwest Thousand Needles (north of both Silithus and Ungoro Crater). This can only hold one region, however. Regardless, a second large chunk of unused land rests at sea level and surrounds the Stonetalon Mountains. Because this area is rarely seen, it can easily be expanded slightly to serve as a second zone. Thus, my plan for the Mok'thanal involve them experiencing level 1-10 in a new area near the Thousand Needles known as "Oshu'Nathal" - Orcish for "Mountains of Nath". Nath is a gronn, an Orcish wargod, and would be revealed to be the only one to somehow make his way to Azeroth and establish the rocky but not completely arid mountains between Thousand Needles and Feralas as his domain. Here the Mok'nathal, the "Sons of Nath" recieve training from the legendary gronn. Oshu'Nathal would be similar to Teldrassil in terms of its high elevation. However, where Teldrassil restricts players from getting a good view of the surrounding lands from their lofty perch, Oshu'Nathal would allow players to get an amazing view of the surrounding lands. The region would use up all the undeveloped land in the area, thus no ugly or glitchy unfinished sights would be seen from the vantage point. A capital city for the Mok'nathal, Nathalgar, would serve as a sort of sister city to Orgimmar. Also like Teldrassil, the only way to the outside world would be a Wyvern flight to the seaside base of the Stonetalon Mountains - "Coralspine Isthmus". This 10-20 zone is like a brighter and sunnier Darkshore, a tropical sort of place. Though the terrain is hewn of hard rock like the Stonetalon Mountains, it can't help but sprout tropical foliage due to its proximity to the water. Its distinguishing features include massive spines and spikes of coral reef jutting out of the sea, as well as gigantic shells big enough to explore. Makrura, the oft-forgotten crab race in WoW, would have a major role in the region's quest. Upon level 20, the Mok'nathal can exit stage right through a tunnel leading up to the safer reaches of the Stonetalon Mountains.

Now, the remaining seven regions will serve as level 70-80 content. The "core" of this new content, much like Terokkar and the neutral capitol of Shattrath are the core of Outland's content, is the isle of Kezan. Homeland of the goblins, Kezan is a 69-73 area replete with jungles and mines and other opportunities for the goblins to make money. The neutral city, equivalent to Shattrath, is the underground metropolis of Undermine. Other landmarks on the island are Mount Kajaro and Bilgewater Port. For levels 71-75, adventurers can travel to the Plunder Isles. A sort of evil counterpart to Kul Tiras, the place is chockful of Bloodsail and perhaps even Defias! Imagine, level 75 Defias beating on you. Or maybe not. Still, Bloodsail Hold should prove an amazing place to battle and the Den of the Cold Eye holds many treasures for the aspiring sailors we're sure to become. Levels 73-77 will prove an excellent time to sail to Zandalar! Scale Mount Mugamba and battle the wild cannibal trolls! Plunge into Zul'Dazar and battle the wild cannibal trolls! Explore the Cuspid Beaches and battle the wild cannibal trolls! Hey, I'm leaving it to Blizzard to populate these regions with unique sights.

Those around level 74-78 will find Tel Abim to their liking. Now, I believe Tel Abim has the potential to be something completely new in Warcraft. The name lends itself easily to a vaguely Arabian-Indianish area. Whereas we've seen jungles from a tribal and prehistoric perspective, how about a jungle filled with wild Elekks and towering white spires and minarets? Buildings made of the finest ivory! Floating Blood Elf carpets, colorful tapestries! Danger, excitement, hunting! From level 75-80, you can try exploring the legendary Broken Isles. Explore the shattered ruins of Stormreaver Bay or battle alongside Sentinels as you explore the Surumar Ruins. Dare you plunge into the flooded underwater Tomb of Sargeras? From levels 77 to 80, you may prove up to the task of exploring Tol Barad. Imagine a massive outdoor Stockades - a chain of islands linked by wrought-iron bridges, each island housing several prisons of varying sizes. Battle though jail cells, through execution chambers and rotting morgues, all under a greasy black sky. Thunder rends the air as both living and dead prisoners of all shapes and sizes set upon you.

Finally, and thankfully as my fingers are slowly dying (and I have two more expansions left to go), once you are level 79-80...the Maelstrom awaits. What lies beneath its swirling arcane waves? Swim down into The Rift. Dodge the arcane vortex known as The Eye. Explore the massive blue-lit Gishan Caverns or the airless Drowned Reaches. Or will you launch an attack upon the massive aquatic capitols of Muk'ura or Nazjatar? It's up to you. And me, if I get my way.

Again, none of this is meant to be taken seriously. I just made this all up. "You have too much time on your hands," you may say. That's true. But trust me, if the Burning Crusade were out already, I'd be playing that instead of writing this. ;) Hope at least one of you enjoys skimming through this out of boredom.

Edited, Jan 12th 2007 12:59pm by Reinjin

Edited, Jan 12th 2007 11:16pm by Reinjin

Hey, that's what all xpacs are, right? Were you out protesting in front of Sony's headquarters when their tenth Everquest expansion raised the level cap by five and added 9 new regions, eight of which are impossible to solo in? :p

Besides, the second xpac will be the last to introduce new races. If you're patient, I'll tell you about the third and fourth xpac which focus more on high-level content on the Elemental Planes and Northrend.

Well ... based on your characters:



I'd say that adding more starting areas and races would appeal to you ;)

However, personally I'd be more interested in depth. I.e. some revolutionary new way to develop your character rather than more of the same. I'd also like to see *gasp* a new class or two rather than more races (10 races seems like enough to me), more AV-like PvP content, a bit more of the same goodies (instances, zones, etc) and some guild housing.

The problem with adding new races and starting areas is that most people don't want to keep starting over - especially if you've tried every class already.

i did read some of what u wrote but its was just a to big hunk of text ( :O )
so i will check out the rest tomorrow.did u said anything about a new class?=D

The first and most important thing that I want ... Goblins as a playable race.

That would keep me laughing and having fun for at least 1.5 years.

Perv.



Call me!

Here are my predictions:

Xpac 2 - The Emerald Dream.

It fits the lore, and there's a ready-made portal to it in Duskwood, similar to the Dark Portal in The Blasted Lands. Maybe we can get some woodworkers at last. New races? I don't know whether we need more. Cap=L80 crafting=450

Xpac 3 - Northrend.

Another fit to the Lore. There are unused docks in Menethil Harbor and at Theramore for ships to go there, and adding a dirigible route is easy. Big addition to lure more players? Housing. Cap=L90 crafting=525

Xpac 4 - Southern Continent.

I don't know much about the Southern Continent, but I saw it in a picture of the WoW Board game. Cap=L100 crafting = 600

I would vote for the Northrend to come next. Pretty please...

It seems boring though...at least, for a whole expansion. You'd just be running through some shiny green Night Elf forest for eleven whole zones. I wouldn't expect more than two or three zones out of it.

Oh boy Reinjin, you sure like to write dontcha ?

Nice musings there.

The way I see it the "last" expansion should specially include travelling through the twisting Nether and defeating Eredar, Kil'jaeden and maybe even a reborn Sargeras to put an end to the demonic Burning Legion for eternity, huh ?

And the X-pac before it should probably include Northrend and defeating Arthas/Lich King.

I like the idea of fighting the elemental powers, big raid-bosses would be the prime elementals described in warcraft lore and Ragnaros could come back tuned up as Ragnaros W Mark-II :P

I also like the idea of entering the Emerald Dream, you'd have to rescue Malfurion or Ysera herself, or maybe kill her, dunno xD Shame that hakkar has already appeared twice and wouldn't make a good raid boss.

About the Malestrom I dunno, but maybe they could make something about it, with a little more insight on the Naga and their motives, maybe have an appearance of an evil, scheming, scaly and fishy queen Azshara hehe

I kind of pictured the emerald dream to be a mirror of the current zones, Kind of like how dynamis was a mirror of the cities themselves in FFXI. I like the concept of zones that are very familiar, but yet very different.

Now, what would be a good idea is choosing to ally yourself with either the goblins or the pirates. (Getting on a boat that occasionally sets sail and attacking Undermine, perhaps? Slaughtering NPCs and players alike? Having to keep the pirate captain alive to get to the treasure then getting an amazing buff?)

I disagree. Raising the level cap is one of the only ways they can manage to keep their customers subscribing. It may only be 5 levels next time, but I would seriously be surprised if they broke MMORPG tradition and made an xpac with no level cap increase.