As if the speculation surrounding potential titles for the next World of Warcraft wasn’t bad enough with all the Corgis Below, a new possibility has entered the ring. MMO-Champion is reporting that Blizzard has trademarked “Warlords of Draenor.”
The domain “warlordsofdraenor.com” was also registered recently, adding credence to the rumour.
The really bizarre thing is that this very title, along with other details of the expansion, was “leaked” by a random poster on MMO-Champion the other day. This post was roundly dismissed as a troll initially. Aside from the lack of any corroborating evidence (at the time), its predictions were ludicrously improbable.
It stated that the main villain of the expansion is Grom Hellscream, Garrosh’s deceased hero father. Which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. This leaker also said that the expansion features heavy use of time travel, and that “The Dark Below” is the name for Titan.
Both of those things also make no sense at all. The Bronze Dragonflight only governs Azeroth (and is much weaker than it used to be), so going back in time on Draenor shouldn’t be possible with the current lore, and Titan is still years away, so I can’t imagine Blizzard trademarking a name for it already.
Of course, all the Legion fans and old school players are taking this as proof that the next expansion will be Burning Crusade 2.0, solve all of WoW’s problems, bring playable Demon hunters and Ethereals, and end world hunger.
Personally, while I try not to be the sort of person who judges an expansion based on the name, I am dismayed by this news. Even assuming the nonsenical expansion leaks are false, I can’t see any concept for “Warlords of Draenor” that would appeal to me.
As a lore fan, my eye twitches whenever I think of Burning Crusade, and it still makes me wince whenever talk of the Legion or Outland gets brought up. It could also be a time travel expansion about Draenor’s past, but that just seems random and kind of pointless.
I suppose I could hope that it proves to be the awesome Legion and/or Outland expansion we deserved and never got, but I’d rather just focus on the Old Gods or expanding Azeroth’s storylines.
It’s still possible this is (another?) hoax. I kind of hope it is. The Dark Below still sounds far more interesting to me. Most people, including Boub at MMO-Champion, seem to think it’s legit, though.
Ugh, I’m so confused.
What do you think? Real or fake? Awesome return of the Legion, or a bold jump over many sharks?
Superior Realities 