The Next WoW Expansion

Let the rampant speculation and fan forgeries commence!

First and foremost candidate at this moment is The Dark Below after Blizzard recently pattented that name for one of their new videogames and the possibility that it was a Diablo III expansion was eliminated by the announcement that the next D3 expansion is called 'Reaper of Souls'.

Here's some art (almost surely fake) inspired on the rampanpt speculation:



Here's the Wowpedia article to The Dark Below, with references from the game and the RPG sourcebooks.

Don your tinfoil hats - it's time to get speculating!

Last old god revealed, everything is comming together, would not be suprised if the burning legion wants a piece of the cake as well. Naga everywhere, everyone wants something, total chaos! "Only within lies the answer" DUN DUN DUN!

If the next expansion truly is The Dark Below, I'd like to see a heavy Azshara presence - hopefully as the final boss. She's already been given some hype in Catacalysm, with her appearance in Darkshore and the Wel of Eternity 5-man instance. The people know who she is, and she's due for a come-uppance.

Ilidan will be back. "Black temple was merely a setback!"

This makes me think of water water water and that 'under the sea' quest zone in Cata , I don't wanna quest or stay under water like that for a long time.
But the small hints in Cata and Pandaria that could or may be related makes sense, and looks to be a probably more creepy-than-you expanssion .

All I know is the xpac will end with whatever it was Wrathion was preparing for with the legendary quest line.

Playable murlocs, yay!

And the title sounds like it could be involving so much really... fishes, lil'deathwings, sha of.. uh.. the dark below *nods* and of course demons visiting their old pals... All of it would motivate some heavy Light lore being developed too, at least that is my hope

I think demons involves more than light lore as many races than has been for long around had to face the sundering age.

Iriel Silversong wrote:This makes me think of water water water and that 'under the sea' quest zone in Cata , I don't wanna quest or stay under water like that for a long time.

Chin up.



Ahem.

Kind of hoping they'll return to Azjol'Nerub and do it properly this time, not as some half-assed instance.

Would make sense to use that sea horse mount again I suppose

....I'm still rooting for a playable Satyr race...

Ixirar/Kavalis wrote:All I know is the xpac will end with whatever it was Wrathion was preparing for with the legendary quest line.

Not necessarily.

I doubt this will be the last WoW expansion we'll see.

Blizzard is known to foreshadow things way in advance, with the exception of Pandaria of course.

Not what I expected, but sounds pretty cool.

Flo wrote:Kind of hoping they'll return to Azjol'Nerub and do it properly this time, not as some half-assed instance.

This would be awesome, I allways wanted mote of Azjol.

But not a lot of Vashj'ir... Like zones , or a bit more varied if it goes that way

My thinking, when I heard the title...

• Possibly the deep underground caverns of azeroth that house/imprison the old gods and their minions.
  
• The underwater realm of Azshara
  
• possibly, just possibly... those islands out to see where the dead husk of Sargeras was locked away and buried, sent Gul'dan mad.
  

Lots of possible options, lots of possible angles. My hope is all three. As long as it doesn't turn out like another Cata water zone (I -hated- vash'jir), Yet... I loved deepholme, the underground feel. who knows, they may make flying mounts unusable in such areas <3.

Krogon Devilstep wrote:
[*]possibly, just possibly... those islands out to see where the dead husk of Sargeras was locked away and buried, sent Gul'dan mad.
[/list]

THIS. THIS. FUCK YES. I WANT THIS.

We go deep into the ground, beyond the sea, into a dark and cruel world. And then, at the core, I present to you..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azathoth
The fifth old god, Azeroth itself.

What the Dark Below means to me;

The Rift of Aln The source of, and last remaining horcrux of the Emerald Dreams corruption. Roughly attributed to be where the Maelstrom lies in the Emerald Dream.

Now the Maelstrom was the center of the Kaldorei empire, and where Zin'Azshari was located. When Azshara and her Council sank beneath the waves, she accepted the gift of N'zoth, the corrupter of Neltharion thus turning Zin'Azshari, into the capital city of the Naga Nazjatar

N'zoth may be the driving force behind Deathwing, Azshara, and Xavius the Satyrr Lord, but it's also speculated that he's the master of the realm known as Ny'alotha, the Black Forest, the sunken city of unnumbered crimes.

So, altogether what does this mean for me in one handy dandy little list?

1) Nazjatar, Zin'Azshari underwater zone, realm of the Naga. - Heavy Night Elf presence and the destruction of Azshara. Earthen Ring makes a comeback with the aid of Thrall as they attempt to secure Neptulon.
2) Emerald Nightmare, nature zone, realm of the Satyrr and corrupted Green Drakes. - Heavy Druidic presence, Hamuul and Malfurion takes on N'zoth in the Emerald Dream.
3) Ny'alotha, Corrupted zone, realm of the Faceless ones. - Heavy Anduin/Velen presence as well as a suspected further lore development of Sylvanas as the Whispering Forest in Tirisfal sends her loopy.

"At the bottom of the ocean even light must die"
"The drowned god's heart is black ice
"The fish know all the secrets. They know the cold. They know the dark."
"In the sunken city, he lays dreaming."

Also

"In the land of Ny'alotha there is only sleep."
"In the sleeping city of Ny'alotha walk only mad things."
"Ny'alotha is a city of old, terrible, unnumbered crimes."

That is all Yoggy had to say about the "Drowned God". I have added the Ny'alotha quotes as they mention the sunken city, it could be another city, infact I think the sunken city and Ny'alotha are seperate places.

From the puzzlebox the themes that have not yet been touched imo are...
The sunken city/under the sea/Drowned god.
Ny'alotha (might be where N'zoth is)
The Blackwoods and the giant rook.

Finally regarding the Drowned god. There are mentions of the stars and the void. Could it be possible that he is not drowned in water?

Seems like Azshara is in the firing line, most of the (admittedly scarce and circumstantial) info points to her or the naga.

Ozumat stole Neptulon from his throne, and I can't imagine his temper has been quelled after a couple of years as a guest of the naga. He's going to be pissed.

It'll be nice to see Nazjatar.

Gah. Not water again. Seriously. It feels so anti-climactic to end the Horde - Alliance war to unite against the big common foe, only for it to be some angsty seaworld bullshit old god or naga queenslut.


I wanted the final confrontation with the Legion, Sargeras not-so-impossible return!

Do remember that Garrosh is the last enemy of Pandaria, Izaa, and you don't even battle him there!

This sounds exciting. As long as it isn't the next Starcraft expansion.

I wasn't a big fan of vash'jir but I'm sure they will expand it more than just floaty underwater zones. Underwater monsters are terrifying as well. Maybe they'll do a Pacific Rim and have some gateway deep under the water.

Keep in mind that they've said they won't do a Vashj'ir-like underwater zone again.

I am Anderov Ryon, and I am here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?

'No,' says the Orc in Orgrimmar, 'it belongs to the Horde.'
'No,' says the Paladins in the Cathedrals, 'it belongs to the Light.'
'No,' says the Pandaren in the Vale, 'it belongs to everyone.'

I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose...

Nazjatar.

A city where the warlocks would not fear the church,
where the tinkerers would not be bound by petty morality,
where the great would not be constrained by the small.

And with the sweat of your brow, Nazjatar can become your city, as well."
―Anderov Ryon


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Nazjatar = Rapture like sub-zone? Yes please.