by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Earlier today Blizzard announced the next expansion to World of Warcraft, titled simply as “Legion“. The basic premise is fairly obvious: the Burning Legion, the big-bads of the entire Warcraft universe, are returning to Azeroth for vengeance. Players have been asking for a return to the classic lore that was set by World of Warcraft‘s predecessor, Warcraft III, for quite some time and this is clearly a move in that direction. Other features in the reveal, such as the new Demon Hunter class, are also more-than-subtle nods to the game’s source material.  We’ll be updating you all on the features of the expansion as we learn more, but in the mean time we can already begin to speculate on what this means for the future of the game.

When Warcraft III ended, we were left with three main antagonists: Illidan, the Lich King, and Kil’Jaeden, the latter being responsible for the entire existence of the others. The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King dealt with the first two foes in short order, but both contained constant references to the Burning Legion’s continued influence on the world and the conflicts that drive it. Even when players were given a chance to square off against Kil’Jaeden during the Sunwell raid, he was only driven back rather than defeated. After that, Blizzard went into mostly new territory with Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria. Both of these expansions had very little to do with the Burning Legion, and many players wondered when they would be coming back while simultaneously dealing with the new threats offered by Deathwing and Garrosh Hellscream. Finally, with Warlords of Draenor, the first hints began to form that the Burning Legion would be making its return, since Gul’Dan was the beginning of the Burning Legion’s influence on Draenor and Azeroth.

Time for Round 2

It is possible to assume, then, that we may be nearing the end of the original story set by Warcraft III. Nearly everything in Warlords of Draenor, from Khadgar’s return to the rise and fall of the Iron Horde and Gul’dan, essentially served as a prologue to get us to what may be a final confrontation with the main source of nearly every conflict that has plagued Azeroth since the original Warcraft game. This is not to say that this is a sign of the end of World of Warcraft as a whole, as Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria showed that Blizzard has the chops to create entirely new worlds and villains separate from what came before. However, a step towards wrapping up the lore that served as the base of World of Warcraft and what drove many players to make the initial plunge into the game does serve as an indication that what comes next will be completely new territory

There are, however, already signs in what we’ve been shown on where Blizzard may take us. First, we already know that the Titans will have some screen-time in Legion. The leader of the Burning Legion, Sargeras, was once a member of their Pantheon, so anything involving him could lead to more interaction with the rest of the Titans. The Titans and the limitless worlds they created can potentially serve as an endless source of material for the writers and artists at Blizzard to create, so any mention of  them can potentially clue us in on what might be next. Additionally, we still have many unanswered questions regarding the Old Gods. These subterranean Lovecraftian menaces have often been the source of many of the darker quest lines since their initial appearance in the Frozen Throne, so an entire expansion involving them could be much darker than even Wrath of the Lich King.

There’s always been something unnverving about the Old Gods, I wonder what it could possibly be?

While there is no way to know what the future of WoW holds until Blizzard sees fit to share that info with us, Legion will certainly mark an important milestone for those of us that began our journey to finish what we started in the original games. Whether or not this also means an impending end to the World of Warcraft or a new beginning remains to be seen.