Legion was unusual in that it was announced not at Blizzard's own convention, but at Gamescom, Germany's massive gaming convention that comes a bit earlier in the year.
One thing to remember, though, is that Blizzard needed to get info about Legion out there soon. Warlords of Draenor only had one major content patch (no, 6.1 does not count.) By this point two years ago, Warlords was basically finished with content updates. That meant that players were staring into a very long period without any new stuff to look forward to. Legion, on the other hand, has a huge patch still coming, and the staggered release of raids means that even if we're on Argus before October, we're probably still a ways out from taking the fight to Antorus, the Burning Throne.
However, at this year's Blizzcon we are almost certain to hear about the next expansion.
This time around, the playerbase is highly confident about the basic premise of the expansion: the argument that it will focus on the Old Gods (probably N'zoth, the only living one not seen in-game) is highly convincing. Since Mists of Pandaria, Blizzard has tried to tie the end of each expansion into the themes of the next. In Mists, the transition from Pandaria's Chinese-themed aesthetic to the grungy industrial feel of Garrosh's so-called True Horde along with the introduction of Kairozdormu at the Timeless Isle opened the path for the creation of the Iron Horde on the alternate Draenor. Warlords of Draenor ended with Gul'dan successfully corrupting the Iron Horde with Fel magic and demons, setting the stage for the current invasion by the Burning Legion.
There are a few elements that players have noticed in Legion that seem to strongly imply the imminent relevance of N'zoth:
Comments at the end of the Emerald Nightmare raid by the Shadow Priest dagger Xal'atath suggest that by slaying Xavius and thus ending the Nightmare, we've actually managed to wake N'zoth up.
Similarly, Ilgynoth, a boss within the Nightmare raid, says cryptic things, including, on death, that he "journeys to Ny'alotha" - Ny'alotha being the sunken horror-city N'zoth resides in (it's presumably the Warcraft equivalent of Rl'yeh.)
The Naga, who are allied with the Old Gods and probably specifically N'zoth (who seems to have been the most active one in Cataclysm,) have a strong presence in Legion, but it seems that their loyalties are not to Sargeras, even as they show up in the Tomb of Sargeras raid (they're only there for the Tidestone.)
We've learned recently that the purpose of the Burning Crusade was to "save" the universe from the Void, and that the Old Gods are the Void's method of corrupting the universe. Without the Legion, wouldn't the Old Gods be emboldened?
Jaina Proudmoore has gone missing, being neither in Stormwind nor Dalaran. Perhaps she has gone back to Kul Tiras, the naval kingdom who would probably be important in a fight against the amphibious Naga and the God of the Depths.
In Highmountain we are reminded of the Old Gods' (and probably mostly N'zoth's) corruption of the Black Dragonflight. It's never mentioned, but given that Dargrul lived right where Neltharion did when he became corrupted by the Old Gods, I wouldn't be shocked to find that they had a hand in turning the Drogbar so murderously aggressive.
This one's tenuous, but why is that Helya, a Val'kyr who rebelled against Odyn, developed tentacles? Was N'zoth involved in crafting Helheim?
Now we get into spoilers:
In 7.3, we discover that Ethereals devoted to the Void have arrived in Mac'aree and are spreading it through the city. This seems totally separate from the Legion. What we do get from this is that an uncorrupted ethereal known as Locus Walker has been teaching Alleria Windrunner how to use the void. Perhaps that means that we'll have a Windrunner sister who knows enough about the Void to help us take down an Old God. Or maybe she'll be corrupted and we'll have to fight her (I'm hoping for the former.)
Furthermore, in a datamining leak-ish thing, textures for armor and objects related to Kul Tiras were discovered in a recent PTR. The armor has a robe-motif, which seems appropriate for a sailing-based civilization. The objects show maps of an island we've never seen before, which could be Kul Tiras. The resurgent significance of Kul Tiras could also help explain why it moved during the Cataclysm: if it's deeply tied to N'zoth (perhaps even the location of Ny'alotha) it makes sense that the Old God would use the destruction wrought by Deathwing to reposition itself.
Anyway, all this speculation will have to keep boiling until Blizzcon in November. For now, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves and enjoy the fact that we have a planet to go counter-invade, probably pretty soon.
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