Azeroth's a big world, but we've been making our way through the place pretty thoroughly. After all, most of the previously-established world from the RTS games was implemented in Vanilla, and in Cataclysm, many of the previously-unexplored part of said world were added, namely Hyjal, Uldum, Grim Batol, and the Elemental Planes.
Burning Crusade added Outland (which is technically not part of Azeroth, but did exist in the previous games) and Wrath of the Lich King added Northrend. Mists of Pandaria had to make up an entirely new continent, and so clearly Blizzard can keep adding areas as long as there's money to support the development (and even with subscription losses, there's plenty of that) and ideas to try.
So let's talk about the areas we've established.
Planets:
Warcraft is a multi-world setting. The Orcs and Ogres come from Draenor (which is now the broken-up "Outland," and we know of many other worlds.
Outland/Draenor: Ultimately, we've been here. While it's perfectly possible that we could find other bits of it, I think we've definitely had our "Outland Expansion." The only area established in the RTS games that we never saw was Deathwing's lair, but given that Deathwing got disintegrated, and his story is pretty solidly over, I doubt that would be enough of a draw to bring us back. On the other hand, Outland is literally stuck in the Twisting Nether, meaning that it has a strong connection to the demons and the Burning Legion. Hold on, does that mean that if we kill demons there, they truly die?
Argus: The homeland of the Eredar, this seems like an obvious place for us to mess it up with the Burning Legion. Not only is it probably a Legion stronghold (assuming they didn't just torch it on the way out,) but it's the planet that the Draenei have literally spent twenty-five thousand years trying to return to. No one likes the Legion, and frankly, I think the Orcs kind of owe them help in taking it back (though most Orcs seem to be in utter denial about their role in massacring the Draenei.)
Xoroth: While we know tiny details about Argus, the only thing we know about Xoroth is that it's the world that Dreadsteeds are from. Demonic horses seem pretty cool, but it's not a lot to go on. However, if Xoroth is actually the homeland of the Dreadlords, or Nathrezim, that would make it a lot more important. The Dreadlords, after all, are some of the original members of the Legion, the ones whose actions drove Sargeras to his fall, and seem to have been demons before Sargeras got to them. We've interacted with a number of Dreadlords over the years, and while they haven't seemed to be quite as powerful as the Manari Eredar, they're certainly nothing to sneeze at. Not only that, but consider that Dreadlords seem to be nigh-unkillable. Even Mal'ganis, who was killed with Frostmourne, and so you would think that his soul would be trapped within the blade (though that's a moot point now) would mean he was utterly defeated, but hey, he's still out there.
K'aresh: The home of the Ethereals, we know that this planet was taken by the Voidwalkers, forcing the Ethereals to flee (not unlike the Draenei, actually.) We don't know a whole lot about the Ethereals, even though they are now chilling out in our capital cities, but I wonder if they have the same desire to return home that the Draenei have.
Wherever the Hell Turalyon and Alleria Went: We know that these two jumped through a random portal after Draenor started to break apart, but we don't actually know which planet they arrived on. Given that they're said many times that they want to bring these guys back, we might follow them where they're going.
Places on Azeroth:
Ok, so we've got the whole of Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, Northrend and Pandaria. We've been to the Maelstrom, and we've seen the elemental planes. What does that leave?
The Tomb of Sargeras: Oh yeah, this is a big one. Hidden somewhere on the islands in the oceans near the Maelstrom, the Tomb of Sargeras holds the remains of the Dark Titan's avatar that fought Aegwynn. This seems to be one of the most dangerous repositories of demonic power in the world, such that even Gul'dan, arguably the most powerful mortal Warlock ever, was torn apart by its denizens. Gul'dan skull was taken from there (and tossed around like a hot potato, it seems, until it wound up with Illidan,) but surely there's a lot of dangerous and valuable stuff to be taken there. Perhaps it's not enough for an expansion, but I'd love to go in here as a raid.
The Emerald Dream: We've actually had the occasional trip into the Dream in various quests, but we haven't really explored it in full. Blizzard has struggled with how to implement this in game, and whether they should. As an expansion, you could imagine fleshing the place out, but you might have trouble coming up with areas that aren't just wilderness, yet a raid seems like it wouldn't quite be enough to do it justice.
Kul Tiras: Jaina's homeland was supposedly shifted out into the ocean after the Cataclysm, and we still have yet to see what has happened to it. Theoretically, Kul Tiras could actually be another thriving human nation, but we really don't know what has happened to them. And given that Jaina kinda-sorta let her dad die to save the people who would later nuke Theramore in thanks, she might have some awkwardness to deal with when she comes home.
Zandalar: The Zandalari have been causing us trouble for the past few years, after they had seemed so friendly for so long. There's actually a lot that could be done with Zandalar, for example, showing why the Zandalari turned on us. We know that the Island is slowly sinking and dealing with horrific flooding, and that while King Rakhastan remains on the throne, it is this strange prophet, Zul, who has captured the hearts of the Zandalari people. Who the hell is Zul? What the hell is Zul?
All of this is stuff that we've heard about in the past. I'm sure we'll get new areas like Pandaria, that are more or less entirely invented for their given expansions, but there are still plenty of pre-established locations to check out.
No comments:
Post a Comment