The biggest news coming out of BlizzCon 2013 was the announcement of the next World of Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor.
While many have predicted a return to Outland when internet sleuths spotted the domain being registered by Blizzard Entertainment, it turns out they weren’t exactly right. The expansion takes us to the world of Draenor as it was before becoming Outland. We’re travelling back in time.
The story is setup like so: Garrosh Hellscream, having recently been defeated by the citizens of Azeroth, escapes his trial and travels back to the world of Draenor. His goal is to prevent the Orcs from sipping the demon blood and falling under control of The Burning Legion. So begins an epic adventure through time and space as we meet faces both old and new as we once again attempt to save Azeroth from certain destruction.
Some have lamented the fact that Garrosh is at the forefront of the antagonist role yet again, but Blizzard is being coy about the big bad villain for Warlords of Draenor. During a BlizzCon panel discussing the future of World of Warcraft, it was mentioned that Garrosh isn’t the end boss, but instead only a method of getting there.
In terms of non-story features, Warlords of Draenor will include a new level cap of 100, improved player models, a Garrison housing-type system, the ability to boost one character of your choosing to level 90, and the promise of new dungeons, raids, scenarios, battlegrounds, challenges modes, and more.
The announcement felt more like a teaser than anything else, truth be told. There are still plenty of questions to be asked: what role will the old faces of Draenor play in the expansion? How will ten levels worth of content fit into one world? What’s in store for the end-game? When will Warlords of Draenor be released?
Blizzard knows most of these answers; I’m sure they’ll share them when the time is right.
