New WoW Expansion Announcement

[Elysian Radiance]

For those of you that haven't heard, they're announcing the new expansion at Gamescom on August 6th.

Blizzard has announced that it will soon reveal the sixth expansion for World of Warcraft, and apparently someone has already leaked its synopsis.

The developers of the massively-multiplayer online game have announced that they will be formally releasing details about the the next World of Warcraft expansion next week at Gamescom 2015 in Cologne, Germany.  That's just nine months after the launch of the most recent expansion, Warlords of Draenor. Surprisingly, they don't want to wait until BlizzCon 2015 (their own convention) to reveal their next expansion.

Here's what they said in their announcement:

Join us Thursday, August 6 at 9 a.m. PDT for a special World of Warcraft event streamed live from gamescom 2015 in Cologne, Germany—where we’ll be unveiling the next chapter of the World of Warcraft saga. . . .

Tune in again Sunday, August 9 at 8:00 a.m. PDT for a World of Warcraft developer chat before the show ends, and find out more about what’s in store.

Stay tuned to our dedicated gamescom page for further details on the live stream. Those who are able to join us in person at gamescom can visit us at the Blizzard booth in hall 7.1. We hope to see you there!

And there are already rumoured leaks of the content of the expansion as well...

Thanks to some users on MMO-Champion, we have learned that this chapter could be the big South Seas expansion players have been apparently waiting for

If these unconfirmed leaks are true, this expansion's title could be World of Warcraft: The Dark Prophet.

I hope you like the Zandalari and Vashj'ir content, because the bad Trolls and Naga of Azeroth are back

Zul and Azshara are the main villains.

After the last defeat Zul has asked Rastakhan for more support, but Rastakhan has lost the confidence in Zul and refuses support. In a big coup, Zul has Rastakhan assassinated and assumes control of the Zandalari.

The Zandalari trolls ally with the naga, whose goal it is to flood the continents and raise the ocean level.

The big focus of the expansion will be on night elves and trolls, with Malfurion and Vol'jin being the main heroes.

This is Vo'jin's big opportunity to prove himself as the warchief of the Horde.

A big emphasis will be on Vol'jin's loyalty to the Horde, despite the opportunity to be part of a newly risen troll empire. His story will be about resisting the temptation to join the Zandalari and stay with his family.

This is the South Seas expansion that so many players want.

New class will be Shadowstalker.

Trolls, Blood Elves, Orcs, Goblins, Forsaken, Humans, Dwarves, Worgen, Night Elves and Gnomes will be able to be this class.

The class will be a ranged class that uses bows, crossbows and guns, and it will have a heavier focus on magic attacks.

Specs are Dark Ranger, Spirit Mending and Shadow Hunter. Dark Ranger and Shadow Hunter are dps specs and Spirit Mending is a healing spec.

New Shadowstalkers will start at level 1, but players who buy The Dark Prophet will be able to create 1 Shadowstalker character at level 100.

New levelcap will be 110.

The expansion will have 8 zones.

The Valarian Depths, Zandalar, Kul Tiras, Kezan, Tel'Abim, Plunder Isle, The Rift and Broken Isles.

The two starting zones will be The Valarian Depths and Zandalar.

The Valarian Depths are an underwater zone with naga, similar to Vashj'ir, but smaller. It serves as the intro to the storyline revolving around the naga. The story in this zone deals with Ozumat and the kidnapped Neptulon.

Zandalar used to be the capital of the Zandalari, before it was destroyed in the Cataclysm. This zone is completely ruined. Players will get here and figure out what happened to the trolls, and what they are up to.

After the starting zone players in each zone will board a ship that will lead them to either Kul Tiras for the Alliance or Kezan for the Horde. These zones will serve as the capitals for the factions, Players will get their own ship here, which they will use to travel around the islands. Around the capitals there will also be some questing.

Tel'Abim is a tropical paradise. A group of peaceful trolls, the Sunspear tribe, live here. The zone is mostly light-hearted. Players have to help the Sunspear tribe against a new pygmy-like race that is giving them trouble.

Plunder Isle is a pirate island. Here people can recruit pirates for their crew.

The Rift will be the first of two endgame zones. Here lies the naga city of Nazjatar.

The Broken Isles are a group of islands, and it is the second endgame zone, that is overrun by a mix of troll and naga forces. Here the naga and trolls are going through the ruins of the Tomb of Sargeras in search for powerful artifacts. The Tomb of Sargeras will be a dungeon.

Players will not only be able to travel with their ship from island to island, but also be able to explore the open seas and hidden islands. They will be able to recruit a crew of pirates. Depending on what pirates you pick, they will contribute in different ways to your ship. For example you can get a cook for your ship, which will unlock exclusive cooking recipes and who will be able to cook for you. Other pirates might contribute with different abilities, like professions or as a barber on your ship, or by offering rare quests.

Blizzard returns to creating multiple dungeons per zone. Expect about 2-3 dungeons in most zones.

None of these details have been confirmed by Blizzard's announcement, so take them as grains of salt.

[Moraline]

Damn you Blizzard, I'll have to go explore another expansion pack! Why are they so good?

I'm really glad they are going to have 2-3 dungeons per zone. It's nice to have a range of content. What I like best about WoW is the exploring new places.  I can't say I'm a fan of Vashj'ir - didn't like it all. But I like pirates, Vol'jin, and almost everything else mentioned so far.

My first character was a Troll Warrior. I might have to break her out again if I can get into my old account.

We should all totally start forming an E guild right now to do this content; come up with a guild RP theme and backstory.

[Thorne]

*snork* Well, I've got a guild I can volunteer, if y'all are willing to run Horde, and are on the same server. :p

Zandalari. Again. Rassenfrassen ... I really thought we stomped them into good manners back in Pandaria (I have a troll shaman, my main, who's just face-palming all over that shit - she got Exalted with them, and now she's helping kick their butts all over Azeroth. Whyyyy.. ). Still .. Vash'jir .. I loved Vash'jir, even if the 3d combat aspect of the thing made me dizzy sometimes. The zone was just .. amazing.