We're only four days away from the announcement of expansion six, and so far there hasn't been a terribly credible leak. There are rumors, certainly, but in the past, we've seen credible trademark filings... though in the most recent case, that was also four days before its announcement, so perhaps we should keep our eyes open today!
The two rumored names I've heard are "The Dark Prophet," and "Council of Glades." Yet neither of these has, as far as I can tell, been trademarked in multiple countries, and I haven't seen the actual evidence that either is even really trademarked in New Zealand, where they are rumored to be.
So while there are some plausible rumors - and scenarios that I'm actually really hoping prove true - I can't really say with much confidence that I expect these rumors to hold true.
Still, given that we got a pretty accurate representation of Warlord of Draenor before the official announcement, I'll say that it's Azshara's game to lose, as it were.
So, let's recap the rumors:
Territory:
The South Seas, primarily, though some rumors suggest that much of the content could take place within Lordaeron (the subcontinent, rather than the country.) Whether they would Draenor-ify Lordaeron to allow us to see a high-level, more up to date version of Lordaeron without getting rid of the old leveling zones (which would be quite tough for Undead players) or if we'd simply go back there to witness important story points is sort of up in the air.
Plausibility? South Seas, very plausible, Lordaeron, cool, but less likely, though I'm definitely not ruling it out.
Key Players:
Gul'dan might lead into this expansion, searching for the Tomb of Sargeras on the Broken Isles, likely dying right where our version of him died, possibly as a dungeon or raid boss.
Plausible? Yes. We never got to fight him on Draenor. We should be able to.
Azshara could be the main villain.
Plausible? If it's the South Seas, I'd be more surprised if she wasn't the big bad.
The Prophet Zul might play a big part.
Plausible? Certainly, though unless he's secretly an Old God in disguise à la Nyarlathotep, he seems more likely to be a dungeon or mid-tier raid boss (assuming that we'll ever have middle tiers again.)
Sylvanas could be an important figure, assuming the rumors about Lordaeron are true.
Plausible? I'd be happy to see her as a key player, but hopefully not as a boss. Sylvanas is pretty much evil, but it's cool to have a pretty-much-evil faction leader - she makes the story interesting, and giving her something of a redemption arc, or just character development, would be a nice change of pace from the way Garrosh turned out.
Tirion Fordring, likewise, could step back into the spotlight, and the Silver Hand (perhaps breaking away from the Argent Crusade?) might find themselves in opposition to Sylvanas.
Plausible? Could be, though I'd rather have the Worgen play the bigger part as an anti-Forsaken force.
Genn Greymane, potentially leading some sort of offensive against Sylvanas.
Plausible? Maybe, assuming Blizzard remembers that Worgen exist.
Med'an could play a role if it's really the Council of Glades, given that he is, as far as I know, the current Guardian, and Council of Glades really seems to be similar to the Council of Tirisfal.
Plausible? No idea. Apparently a lot of people who read the comics hate him, but we've never heard any mention of him in WoW.
Illidan might make a comeback, perhaps returning as demons are wont to do, or perhaps resurrected by Azshara or some such person.
Plausible? While dead, Illidan is a half-demon, which might mean that he's simply been floating in the Twisting Nether since we killed him at Black Temple. Blizzard has said they'd like to bring him back, and it was a shame that he got so little exposure during Burning Crusade, as he's a pretty interesting character (if a bit emo.)
This would lead into:
New Class:
Demon Hunter, perhaps the most fan-demanded class, and one that seems logical to give us given that we have Death Knights. Bringing Illidan back would be the perfect opportunity for him to train up a new generation of Demon Hunters.
Plausible? Fairly. Players have wanted these for a long time. They'll need to find a way to distinguish them thematically from Warlocks, but I think the Diablo III Demon Hunter could serve as a good inspiration for them - giving them a ranged option that uses Hunter weapons would be a good way to go, while allowing them to perhaps tank/dps while dual-wielding in melee.
Shadow Hunter/Dark Ranger. One rumor suggested that we'd get a "Shadowstalker" class that would have specializations mirroring Vol'jin's Shadow Hunter status and Sylvanas' Dark Ranger - each of those being specs thereof.
Plausible? Less so - there's really no precedent of a "Shadowstalker" in-game as a distinct class. Death Knights had a ton of lore attached to them, and Monks are a standard RPG class, with the additional benefit of having Brewmasters precedented in WCIII. While you could make similar arguments for Demon Hunters and Warlocks, I really think Dark Rangers are basically Hunters. Shadow Hunters are admittedly a little outside of any existing class, but I don't really see them as being as iconic or popular as Demon Hunters.
A Ship:
One rumor suggests that rather than a Garrison, if we had an island-hopping South Seas expansion, we'd instead get our own ship. This rumor also holds that we'd have a wide-open sea to explore with smaller islands outside the major zones that might have hidden treasures or presumably things like World Bosses.
Plausible? This could be very cool, and I think that the greater emphasis on treasure-hunting and exploration we got in Draenor would translate well to a big South Seas area, and would thus almost necessitate a ship. The real question is whether travel would be too slow this way. Either flight paths would have to go ten times faster (which could be cool) or you'd need portals between the islands, which I think we all agree kind of kills immersion (Cataclysm suffered from this.) Still, a mash-up of WoW, Wind Waker, and Assassin's Creed IV could be super cool.
So we'll know in a few days. It's totally possible that all of this will be 100% wrong. We could get an expansion that has nothing to do with anything listed here. But because this is all we have, this is what we're going to work with until then.
Honestly, I'm inclined to believe this only because I haven't really seen anything else. Either Blizzard has gotten way better at caulking up any leaks or for some reason we haven't seen anything terribly official. On the other hand, as we move into the week before the announcement, we could see something.
No comments:
Post a Comment