A new “leak” for World of Warcraft is making waves. But is there any truth to “Return of the Lich King”?
It’s that time again in the development cycle of World of Warcraft when “leaks” spring up like weeds. It must have something to do with spring. This time it’s about a possible next expansion for World of Warcraft titled “Return of the Lich King”.
The alleged leak was first posted on Reddit, but has since been deleted. Currently, there is still a copy of the information on mmo-champion, where a forum user cleverly copied all the details.
Here are a few bullet points on what the upcoming expansion is supposed to include:
- New level cap 120
- New hero class: Necromancer
- Starts at level 108
- Three specializations: Tank (with skeleton), DPS (undead army), and Healer (soul siphoning)
- New races: Vrykul (Alliance), Ogres (Horde)
- New zone: Northrend scales from 110 to 120 (5 new zones)
- The old Northrend now scales from 70 to 120 and has been revamped
- Dalaran will again be the capital and will travel back to Northrend
- The artifact weapons will remain and carry over
- The order halls will remain and carry over
- World quests in Northrend, both in the old and new zones
- The island Ny’alotha will be raised from the sea by the Old Gods
Story hook: In patch 7.3 (after Argus), Kel’thuzad finds the “Soulblade of Sargeras” with which he previously resurrected his demons, a pillar of creation. Alliance players have a short quest line where they find an empty grave in Stormwind. There is supposed to be a cutscene where Kel’thuzad, together with “loyal” death knights, kills Bolvar and takes Arthas’s body back to Icecrown to place the Helm of Ner’zhul on him and then revives him with the Soulblade.
Is “Return of the Lich King” likely?
Well, well. That all sounds quite exciting and sometimes also consistent. But is there any truth to these things? How likely is it that Blizzard is planning this expansion? In our estimation: Very unlikely.
First of all: Kel’thuzad is dead. And not lich-dead, but truly dead. We destroyed his phylactery, and thus a lich’s existence ends permanently. Furthermore, it would be exceptionally strange for Blizzard to cheaply “remove” the current Lich King Bolvar after building him up so strongly in the Death Knight campaign.
Ogres for the Horde have been a desire since Classic, and that desire has grown increasingly small over time. Most ogre clans no longer exist, and their joining the Horde seems odd. The same goes for the Vrykul with the Alliance – without a valid story reason, that seems unlikely.
Artifact weapons will carry over
However, the creator of the list has given the argument’s fatal blow with several points that Blizzard has already denied multiple times. The “leak” claims that the artifact weapons and order halls would make their way into the new addon. Just recently, Ion Hazzikostas, Blizzard’s Game Director, reiterated that the artifact weapons are a one-time thing and a feature of Legion that will not be used in the next expansion.
While some aspects of the proposed story do sound plausible, other points are far-fetched. Not to mention, Blizzard has not yet secured the title “Return of the Lich King”. Another clear indication that this is just the wishful thinking of a fan with a craving for attention.
Especially the source of the leak has now become a cycle that leads nowhere. mmo-champion references Reddit, and the Reddit entry has been deleted.
Cortyn says: I’m pretty sure that some of these predictions will find their way into the game in some form. Azshara and the Old Gods will definitely resurface at some point. However, as a whole, this leak is not viable because it contradicts too many of Blizzard’s statements and sometimes takes the lore to absurd lengths. But as one commenter said: “A nice piece of fan fiction.” I think we can leave it at that.
P.S: My personal highlight is “Azshara wanted N’Zoth to be her consort, which is why she will seek revenge on him” – Yeah, sure.
