So what is next for World of Warcraft? Based on the current reception of the game’s expansion, my personal prediction is another few months of trying to salvage things, a year-long content drought, and a desperate attempt to completely change everything that was introduced with Battle for Azeroth. A flushing sound effect and a sad trombone are not required but presumably offered anyhow.
Sorry, my tongue just sort of sprang into my cheek there for some reason. You don’t need to ask me to predict what comes next, of course; there’s a panel about that going on now, and we’re going to be liveblogging that in the comments down below whilst catching up on the bigger announcements in the main post if you don’t want to sift through the comments. So let’s all gather round and find out what happens next.
6:30 – Ion Hazzikostas on stage. Turtles joke ahoy. Vowing that there’s gobs of story and content incoming in the next few chapters. Recapping Tides of Vengeance and a look ahead, promising updates to “rewards and systems.” Lots of cheers for heritage armor for non-allied races as well as account-wide unlocks.
6:38 – Tides of Vengeance is coming December 11th, with the raid coming after the new year.
6:40 – New cinematic. Gruesome.
6:43 – On to the .5 updates. Confirmation of the new allied race/class combos already up on the official site.
And the mounts and druid forms!
6:48 – 8.1.5 is getting a revamp for Children’s Week. More on the way.
Portal rooms are happening in the two key cities.
New questlines are coming for all the crafting professions.
Now PvP upgrades, including graphical updates for battlegrounds in a gorgeous video.
PvP brawls – players against AI – are coming.
6:56 – 8.2.5 will have new character modes for gobbos and worgens. Wheee!
7:00 – The next update after that? It’s called Rise of Azshara, and YAY NAGA. We’re going to the zone Nazjatar and assaulting Azshara’s Palace, the headline raid, with eight bosses.
Apparently we’re also getting a gnome-and-gobbo adventure in Mechagon, complete with a “megadungeon” akin to Karazhan. Mythic only. *shrug*
Gnome and Tauren heritage armor on the way in ROA too.
More island expeditions are planned, including Crestfall and Snowblossom.
Heroic warfronts are happening too, plus a new arena and the return of flight.
And that’s a wrap. No ETA.
