The long overdue next major content patch for the current WoW expansion Shadowlands was recently released. Patch 9.2 End of Eternity brought along the standard programme of a new raid, new quests and open world activities in the new area Zereth Mortis as well as some fresh mechanics. But what will happen now that the dungeon master has passed away? Diligent dataminers from WoWhead have compiled some interesting information on the subject.
According to the information on WoWhead and first pictures of artwork and code information of the sales editions of the next WoW addon, one could at least assume that. Among other things, there are also hints about the rewards of the Deluxe Edition. New dragon mounts for players? That sounds very much like a dragon theme for the next expansion. Especially since the Dragon Isles have been at the top of fans’ wish lists for additional playable areas in Azeroth for a very long time, actually since the Vanilla days. According to lore, these should be located in the Eastern Kingdoms on the northern coast of Lordaeron, if the Cataclysm hasn’t completely turned that upside down.
At this point, one can only speculate whether there is any truth to the info, or if it is unrelated to the next expansion. However, it is quite possible that after our excursions into other dimensions we will finally return to Azeroth, and many players would like to see this happen. Hints of this can already be found in the current patch, where hints are repeatedly scattered about what is going on in Kalimdor Northrend and Co. in our absence and what could still happen.
No matter what the new expansion will be. We probably don’t need to expect it this year. If you look at the time and release schedule of Alpha, Beta and Release of the past World of Warcraft addons, you quickly notice that it was always at least a year after the first announcement and the official launch.
Hopefully Blizzard will give us some clarity on 19 April. That’s when the Californian developer plans to announce the ninth expansion to the long-lived MMORPG. However, this will be in a somewhat slimmed-down form, as the traditional Blizzcon for this year still has to be cleared up, also due to the scandals still to be dealt with in connection with Bobby Kotick and sexual abuse.
