Chris Metzen is back on the World of Warcraft team. He is not only working on The War Within but has also been involved in many other expansions.
This Friday it will happen, then the Early Access launch of the new WoW expansion “The War Within” will start. In the run-up to this, Blizzard is releasing some discussions and interviews, including one with the story legend Chris Metzen. He has been back in the WoW team for some time and is responsible for the story of the Warcraft franchise.
He revealed that he is not only working on the World Souls saga but also already on some things that will come afterward.
Spoiler Alert: The interview with Chris Metzen contains mild spoilers about the upcoming plot of World of Warcraft.
This is how far Metzen plans ahead: The fact that the WoW developers are essentially already working concurrently on the next expansions is already known. It has also been revealed that there will be further WoW addons after the World Souls saga. However, Chris Metzen is already mentally in the future – very, very far into the future:
We are already planning [Patch] 13.1 and 13.2 and how they will go and connect with each other. […]
And without wanting to reveal too much, but we are already working on the next couple of [expansions] after that, up to the 17th. This keeps the assembly line running. It has been loud and clear that fans want more content and want it more regularly. In a way, we are planning so far ahead to ensure that everything serves a purpose in telling this much longer story.
So Chris Metzen is already working on the story for four more addons that take place after the World Souls saga.
The big “Sword Problem” will probably be solved only in 2028
What else did Metzen say? Another point in the conversation was the big sword that Sargeras drove into Azeroth at the end of “Legion”. It still remains embedded in the planet’s crust. When asked if there will be a quest to pull the sword out, Metzen said:
I’m glad you brought that up. Actually… the resolution to the sword that we started at BlizzCon, that is something for the 13th. We will build the road to that. […]
I would even say: You are not ready for this moment. And I’ll leave it at that. But it is a 13 thing.
When Metzen says “13,” he probably means version number 13. This would therefore be the expansion “The Last Titan,” which will mark the finale of the World Souls saga. If one assumes an addon release every 2 years, then the resolution of that will happen at the earliest in 2028.
Xal’atath will stay with us for a long time
A concern that many fans had revolves around the fate of Xal’atath. It is often the case in World of Warcraft expansions that the initial villains die relatively quickly and are no longer present by the end of the expansion. This was the case with Gul’dan (Legion) but also with Raszageth (Dragonflight).
For Xal’atath, it seems to work out a bit differently, as Chris Metzen revealed that she will appear repeatedly in the story and then occasionally disappear from the scene:
[Xal’atath] is not a villain like Deathwing, who simply flies in, burns everything down, and you think, “Oh no.” […] She has been crafted in a way that we will be challenged by her and will encounter her multiple times throughout the saga. This is not a “once and gone” type, where you say, “Oh, she is just the raid boss.
She is meant to appear multiple times during the upcoming events and then disappear again.”
So anyone who was worried that the “Knife-Waifu” would only remain the opponent for a few patches can breathe a sigh of relief. It seems as though Xal’atath will stay with us for a long time. If you still don’t know who this dark lady is, we have the entire story of Xal’atath explained for you.
