Let's See How Wrong We Get It!

Blizzcon is now only a day away, and we will be hearing about the next WoW expansion.

Just for fun, I thought I'd put down, for the record, what the prevailing (insomuch as there is such a thing) theory is about expansion 5. Either this will look like some kind of cool prophecy (or at least an intelligent reading of the hints we've gotten) or it will be a hilariously backwards, totally wrong mess.

So here's the synopsis, taking a whole bunch of sources and filtering it through my brain:

The next expansion will be called Warlords of Draenor. After his defeat in Orgrimmar, Garrosh sits as a prisoner at the Temple of the White Tiger, waiting to stand trial for his war crimes and his desecration of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.

Yet Garrosh has a most unlikely ally: Anduin Wrynn. A faithful young man, Anduin makes it his mission to redeem the very man who nearly murdered him a year ago. The Light offers redemption, after all, and redeeming Hellscream would be a great victory for a priest of the Light.

Meanwhile, Kairoz has been deeply troubled by the visions he has seen thanks to the Timeless Isle. He worries that the timelines are falling prey to some new threat. And most disturbingly of all, he sees himself as the instigator of the oncoming chaos.

Anduin does not fully grasp the danger of meddling with the time ways. Perhaps after finally getting Garrosh to open up, he suggests using the powers of the Bronze Flight to travel back in time so that Garrosh can confront his father - the person who set Garrosh on the path to his madness.

Anduin, so devoted to the cause of redeeming the former Warchief, breaks him out of prison and the two find some way to travel back in time.

What may have been done with the best intentions nonetheless could have dire consequences. The Timewalkers and the Bronze Dragons fear that the two might undo the timeline, which could be devastating. Meanwhile, Horde, Alliance, and Pandaria must track down the most wanted criminal in the world.

But there's another person who has a keen interest in seeing what happens next: The Prophet Velen.

Velen is convinced that Anduin is destined to lead the Army of the Light - the grand unified strength of Azeroth that will one day destroy the Burning Legion.

Anduin is heading off into a dangerous world - just as the Horde is beginning to form and ravage the land with their bloodlust.

Velen may remain mysterious, because he knows what must happen for the young prince to become what he needs to be. And besides, he has his own past self to watch out for the boy.

So what do we get? A past version of Draenor, before it was shattered into Outland. We get new character models, and either Ogres and some other race for the Alliance, or Demon Hunters, or something else.

New level cap is 100.

We get "Timewalker" dungeons, scaling our level and gear down (though keeping all our abilities.)

We get a bunch of Orc and Draenei lore.

Major figures include Anduin, Garrosh, Gromm, Velen, some new Draenei characters, Nozdormu, Kairoz (uh, and, um… hopefully some female characters.)

Major antagonists include Burning Legion, the Old Horde, the Shadow Council, and the Infinite Dragonflight.

We see a profoundly different version of Outland, with perhaps some entirely different zones as well as some intact versions of Outland zones (Farahlon, for example, where Netherstorm is today.)

We get a UI for "toys" like we did for pets and mounts. Also tabards, hopefully.

Final boss is not Gromm Hellscream (I really can't believe we'd have Hellscreams as back-to-back end bosses.)

So there it is: for the record. I look forward to laughing at some of the more outlandish (ok, pun technically not intended, but I stand by it) things that prove false.