Fourth World of Warcraft Expansion Taking the "Continent Approach"

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Fourth World of Warcraft Expansion Taking the "Continent Approach"



Blizzard is comfortable with the current cataclysmic World of Warcraft and wants to bring players somewhere new again next time.

Blizzard's massive dragon named Deathwing [http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Cataclysm-Pc/dp/B002I0HKIU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291678686&sr=8-1] that destroys everything players knew and loved, or were bored with, from the original game. According to Blizzard lead systems designer Greg Street, the upcoming fourth expansion will keep things as they are, nice and destroyed, and introduce a new continent once again.

Speaking to CVG, Street said: "I think the next expansion will be something more like a new continent approach. More like the Wrath of the Lich King [http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Expansion-Burning-Crusade-Pc/dp/B000BWZY7Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1291678996&sr=1-1]'s] Northrend, where we send players somewhere new that they haven't seen before."

He added that Blizzard might have to polish up some areas of the original World of Warcraft [http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Battle-Chest-Mac/dp/B000H96C9M/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1291678996&sr=1-2] continents, the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, but that they're pretty much "good now." Still, he admits that completely revamping these old lands with new quests, NPCs, and graphics leaves the previously advanced expansion worlds in a tough spot.

"On the other hand we have this weird story now where you almost go back in time when you hit the Burning Crusade and Lich King content," he said. "We're going to have to do something to bring that up to speed."

He's referring to the fact that once players finish up with the original lands and take the portal to Outland in Burning Crusade to level up to 70, the whole world starts talking about the menace of Illidan, while the early game is all about the much larger, scarier, and angrier terror of Deathwing. Street thinks that Blizzard will have to make that story transition "a little smoother" in an upcoming patch, or possibly the fourth expansion pack.

Street continued to say that Blizzard "wants to get expansions out on fairly regular schedules," and won't be resting on its laurels now that Cataclysm is on the verge of launching on December 7. He didn't give an indication of where the next continent he refers to would be, but theories put it in areas such as the Emerald Dream or even on the dark side of Azeroth, with Old Gods, more of the Burning Legion, or a mighty Sheep/Cow Deity (that's my theory, anyway) up to naughty deeds. I'm sure we'll hear plenty of speculation and rumors about it in the near future now that Cataclysm has been shoved out of the door.

Source: CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=279290]

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Sarakin

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Dec 6, 2010
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cursedseishi said:
Well, if there is only 2 more planned expansions as rumored
just because the projections only go to 2015 doesn't mean they only want 2 more expansions. Why plan that far ahead when you have so much to do in the meantime?

Maybe an expansion where we go after other worlds invaded by the burning legion? Argus i'm thinking would be it's own huge expansion though.
 

Eri

The Light of Dawn
Feb 21, 2009
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cursedseishi said:
Well, if there is only 2 more planned expansions as rumored, the final one will be us dealing with Sargeras himself, which requires us raiding the Nether once again (which might serve as a good reason to give Outlands a slight revamp).

The next one then, will most likely be us fighting the Old Gods on their turf. The emerald dream is mostly just a shadow of the areas around it, so it would serve more as phased content, not a new continent. The Old Gods, on the other hand, are well known about, and serve as the best stepping stone towards Sargeras than anything else I can think of.
They're not stopping after 2. Crapquest II has had like 17 expansions and keeps going. No reason wow won't keep going that long, it has a better game and higher subscription count.
 

The Madman

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Dorian Cornelius Jasper said:
SomethingAmazing said:
introduction of a massive dragon named Deathwing that destroys everything players knew and loved, or were bored with, from the original game.
Wasn't he a villain in a previous game?
I think he got a mention in WC2's expansion.
He was one of the Horde Hero in Warcraft 2.
 

Alar

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Dec 1, 2009
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Mr.Mattress said:
A new Continent? Come on Pandara! Come on Pandara! Come on Pandara!
Unfortunately Pandaria is just an island, not a continent. That doesn't mean it couldn't be included in some way, though.

I'm betting Southrend (seriously, we are missing a big chunk around there), or a whole mess of islands.
 

darkfire613

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It's a fairly jarring jump moving from the new Azeroth content to Outland. The new quests all feel fresh and new, offering unique "gimmicks" which help split up the grind; one that stands out in my mind particularly was in the Burning Steppes where you fly the dragon overhead raining down fire and death on an opposing army. Even outside these epic-feeling quests, the new zones have a much more cohesive feel, each telling a story and dragging you in as well, a feeling I'm just not getting now that I've transitioned to Outland with my character.
 

Vaccine

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darkfire613 said:
It's a fairly jarring jump moving from the new Azeroth content to Outland. The new quests all feel fresh and new, offering unique "gimmicks" which help split up the grind; one that stands out in my mind particularly was in the Burning Steppes where you fly the dragon overhead raining down fire and death on an opposing army. Even outside these epic-feeling quests, the new zones have a much more cohesive feel, each telling a story and dragging you in as well, a feeling I'm just not getting now that I've transitioned to Outland with my character.
Yeah, I took my Paladin through outland recently after New Azeroth and it's like, Back to the Future: World of Warcraft.
 

WhiteFangofWhoa

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The Madman said:
Dorian Cornelius Jasper said:
SomethingAmazing said:
introduction of a massive dragon named Deathwing that destroys everything players knew and loved, or were bored with, from the original game.
Wasn't he a villain in a previous game?
I think he got a mention in WC2's expansion.
He was one of the Horde Hero in Warcraft 2.
He was also the strongest hero in that game. The human campaign dedicated an entire mission just to tracking down and killing him, and obviously like most pre-WoW character deaths it didn't stick. I'm no WoW expert but it sounds like he's spent all this time underground getting his metallic skin rebuilt by... someone.

OT, I don't know how they're going to make it possible for player characters to fight the Titans or the Old Gods without some contrived way of weakening them like with the Lich King. Except ramp that up by a factor of one hundred. I may never see the fight myself but I hope that at least Deathwing doesn't require such crutches to beat. Dilutes the experience, you know?
 

James B Hamster

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Mr.Mattress said:
A new Continent? Come on Pandara! Come on Pandara! Come on Pandara!
I was honestly a bit disappointed with the way the new races were added in Cataclysm. I really wanted goblins to be added as a third, neutral faction, outside the Horde/Alliance framework. I think the Pandarens would be another race that would be unfortunate to shoehorn into the existing dualistic alignment system.

That said, I don't care whose side they end up aligning towards: if Pandarens get added, I've got a new main.
 

Mr.Mattress

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Jul 17, 2009
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James B Hamster said:
Mr.Mattress said:
A new Continent? Come on Pandara! Come on Pandara! Come on Pandara!
I was honestly a bit disappointed with the way the new races were added in Cataclysm. I really wanted goblins to be added as a third, neutral faction, outside the Horde/Alliance framework. I think the Pandarens would be another race that would be unfortunate to shoehorn into the existing dualistic alignment system.

That said, I don't care whose side they end up aligning towards: if Pandarens get added, I've got a new main.
When the BC came around, I really wanted Furbolgs to be the New Alliance Race (I love those things for some reason). They could have made Furbolgs the New Alliance Race, instead of the Draenai (They are okay. My Main is a Draenai actually). I am fine with the Worgen in Cataclysm though.
 

dagens24

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A new continent bums me out; I find it hard to believe there would be entire un-discovered continents in Azeroth. Then again Kalimdor wasn't discovered by the Eastern World until War3... I dunno, it just kind of rubs me the wrong way.
 
Sep 17, 2009
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Oh come on don't feed us this when Cata isn't even out yet.

I actually like the revamping of Azeroth better than the new continent approach, but hey Outlands and Northrend were ok I sure the next one will be decent too.

Also, I want a new class. Not a Hero Class...a new one I can level from 1-85 or whatever the level cap will be by then.
 

darkfire613

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dagens24 said:
A new continent bums me out; I find it hard to believe there would be entire un-discovered continents in Azeroth. Then again Kalimdor wasn't discovered by the Eastern World until War3... I dunno, it just kind of rubs me the wrong way.
There was a rumor going around that the next expansion would be the Emerald Dream, which would avoid this issue.
 

Exort

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SomethingAmazing said:
introduction of a massive dragon named Deathwing that destroys everything players knew and loved, or were bored with, from the original game.
Wasn't he a villain in a previous game?
Not the main Villain but I remember he was in Warcraft 2.
 

Exort

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WhiteFangofWar said:
The Madman said:
Dorian Cornelius Jasper said:
SomethingAmazing said:
introduction of a massive dragon named Deathwing that destroys everything players knew and loved, or were bored with, from the original game.
Wasn't he a villain in a previous game?
I think he got a mention in WC2's expansion.
He was one of the Horde Hero in Warcraft 2.
He was also the strongest hero in that game. The human campaign dedicated an entire mission just to tracking down and killing him, and obviously like most pre-WoW character deaths it didn't stick. I'm no WoW expert but it sounds like he's spent all this time underground getting his metallic skin rebuilt by... someone.

OT, I don't know how they're going to make it possible for player characters to fight the Titans or the Old Gods without some contrived way of weakening them like with the Lich King. Except ramp that up by a factor of one hundred. I may never see the fight myself but I hope that at least Deathwing doesn't require such crutches to beat. Dilutes the experience, you know?
No, in the novel Day of the Dragons Deathwing was alive they didn't change it just for Cata. I think it was a merely a setback for him.
He was made of metal since he betray the other dragons. In warcraft 2 if you look at his portray he is covered in metal.