The next addon of World of Warcraft could lead the heroes back home. The clues for this are slowly intensifying.
Even though World of Warcraft is currently heading towards Patch 9.2, many players are already wondering where the story will go with the next addon. Update 10.0 will likely be a test for many fans of the game to see if “WoW can make a comeback”. Because not everyone liked the strange setting of the Shadowlands, which has very little to do with the original Azeroth.
There is great hope that the 9th expansion of World of Warcraft will take place back on Azeroth. There are already initial clues about this – some hidden in the game data, others can be derived from promotional material.
A first hint that Azeroth is coming back into focus is already provided by a small teaser from Blizzard itself. Blizzard has informed some former players via email that Patch 9.2 is coming soon. The last sentence is particularly exciting:
“Prepare to face your fate in ‘End of Eternity’ – the soul of Azeroth depends on it!”
The “soul of Azeroth” has hardly been mentioned in Shadowlands. It was only mentioned once during the intro experience when the Jailer declared: “Death comes for the soul of your world.”
Thus, it is clear that Azeroth will play at least a role in Patch 9.2.
But there are more clues about it. In one of the already released screenshots for Patch 9.2, we see the Jailer – presumably as a boss in the upcoming raid. However, if you look closely, you can see in the background the blue-golden-white colors of an energy beam – the color of Azerite or in other words: the life essence of the planet Azeroth.
This has even been confirmed. Data mining for Patch 9.2 reveals that Azeroth is being attacked directly by the Jailer and thus wants to injure or even kill Azeroth. However, how this will end is still unknown.
What exactly the Jailer is planning is still unclear. Some suspect that he simply wants to “drain” the soul of the planet and intends to use the connection between Icecrown and Torghast, as illustrated by a Reddit user here:
Others suspect that he wants to use his ruling magic to subjugate Azeroth and possibly force its awakening – whatever that would entail. After all, Azeroth is the most powerful Titan of the known Warcraft universe. In the past, however, it has been significantly weakened, as the Old Gods have taken root and recently Sargeras drove his sword into it, which brought Azerite to the surface.
The suspicion is strong: In Patch 9.2, something will happen with Azeroth’s soul that at least injures it and ensures that we are traveling again on the surface of the planet in the next expansion to fix the resulting problems.
One of these problems could be the Void Lords or a resurgence of the Old Gods. Because if the Jailer Zovaal really completes his plan and manages to kill or severely injure Azeroth, a saying from Il’gynoth would again be relevant:
“At the hour of her third death, she heralds our coming.”
Once again, it would be possible that Il’gynoth is pointing to this very circumstance.
Major overhaul of the world with Patch 10.0?
But even apart from Patch 9.2, there are hints that it will soon be back to Azeroth and even that some things will be overhauled. In recent years, Blizzard has begun to spruce up the PvP battlegrounds. Especially Warsong Gulch looks really nice again after the graphical overhaul. It contains so many different assets that it would be a waste not to transfer them to places like the Barrens, Azshara, or Darkshore.
The most puzzling are the new houses that were smuggled into the game data with Patch 9.1. These are 4 buildings from the human areas – the tavern, the small house, the large house, and the stable. All four buildings received a very detailed HD overhaul with completely new textures and slight design changes, but have not yet been integrated into the game.
Old “large house”. 
New “large house”. 
Old “small house”. 
New “small house”. 
Old interior design of the tavern. 
New interior design of the tavern.
That Blizzard would “just casually” overhaul a few buildings seems rather unlikely. While it is possible that they are only preparing to update some individual areas (like Elwynn Forest), a major overhaul in the sense of “Cataclysm 2.0” with a possible time jump seems conceivable. After all, the original release of Cataclysm was almost 11 years ago.
Whether Blizzard will truly dare a second, larger rework or if the story with Patch 10.0 is heading towards “new areas in Azeroth” – like the Dragon Isles – remains to be seen. However, there are so many hints that a renewed focus on Azeroth is quite likely.
What would you like to see for 10.0? Where do you think the next expansion should take place and what should it contain?
