Doesn't really fit, when the Horde invaded Azeroth they were corrupted to the core by the Burning Legion & Kil'Jaeden, their leaders were corrupt, they drank in demon blood, etc etc.

I imagine if the Alliance had to uproot they'd take the Draenei approach at first, unless the world they moved to was in fact, hostile.

I'd love to see the bad guys win a definitive battle @ the end of World of Warcraft to set up World of Warcraft 2 or Warcraft 4 in a whole new world with new factions/allegiances, because at that point you'd be either be remaking duskwood/barrens again for a 3rd time, or you'd be building a new world from the ground up.

Keep in mind by the time any of us see WoW 2 or Warcraft 4 it'll probably be, oh.....10 years from now given how long Blizzard takes to develop/release things(2 years per expo, 6 years for that one expo to 100). ;p

It'd be a good way to allow post-Cataclysm players--and those of us who weren't online at the time--to experience the gate-opening event for ourselves, if part of the "Fallen Kingdom" questlines involved us protecting some young adventurers from Infinite interference (Perhaps with "clear the way in this phased version of Blackwing Lair so the heroes of the past can break through to the Broodlord and take his head!" events), hopefully culminating in fighting the Qiraji forces alongside Saurfang and the entire Might of Kalimdor.

I was always under the impression that was what the purpose of the Emerald Dream was. Back up copies of Azeroth. The Emerald Nightmare corruptions are probably "very bad" for the purposes of restoring such a back up though. But I am pretty sure the restoring of such a backup does just change the land, but sort of like a historical save state meaning all current inhabitants will cease to exist. Which would not be ultimately helpful for those homesick for their now destroyed planet.

Going by their development and release schedule for the first 3 expansions, it should break down something like this if we get a WoW 2 after level 100...

Expansion IV (Level 90) - Late 2012

Expansion V (Level 95) - Late 2014

Expansion VI (Level 100) - Late 2016

Final Patch of Expansion IV - Early 2018ish probably?

WoW 2 - 2019ish?

If WoW 2 happens around then, it would be 15 years after the release of the original WoW. It would be more than long enough for a new WoW at that point. To put that in perspective, Everquest has been around for around 11 years now (roughly 2/3 the theorized lifespan of WoW in this example), and it feels like it's been around forever!

I'm rather confused with the possibility of Deathwing being in 4.2....What with so many good choices for the position. War of the Ancients, some Twilight Hammer mischief, Old Gods...even the Emeral Dream, which I personally don't care about - hate Satyrs.

I'm a fanboy, no denying that, but the thought of having Deathwing treated purely as a rabid dog by the Old Gods is slightly disturbing. In the past, he's had an agenda of his own and acted with only himself in mind, so why just be a lieutenant (even if the most powerful) for the Old Hags, I mean Gods.

Still, he's taken a few blows to the head, heard a few too many voices and commited so many awful acts he could've driven himself insane just out of what he did to his conscience. I can imagine his current mental state to be a complete wreck, which means he'd be easier to mind control and bait with promises of power. But he's still the Goddamned Deathwing, that'd just be tragic. My secret hope was that, regardless of Old Power infusions and whispers, he'd come out on top, maybe even helping us kill one of his masters.

On another note: What do you think happens to the Twilight Hammer Cult after Cho'Gall's death? New leader, or is it extinct, apart from some warbands? I'd personally like to see someone a little more competent than Cho'Gall in charge - although, the ogre did lead them to occupy much land.

Re-origination is the obvious solution to a reboot. Since it should overwrite anything currently present, then anyone who wants to survive should be shipped elsewhere, at least temporarily.

Re-origination raises multiple problems.

First, it's supposed to be a "save" state of Azeroth, presumably shortly before the Titans left. This would mean no flesh (except the Dragonflights?!? Titans made them and they weren't en-fleshed later by the Old Gods...), just Mechnognomes, Iron Vrykuls, and so on. It also means the Old Gods should return. They were present when the save was made, they should return with it. Landmasses should un-continental drift and un-Sundering and all that jazz.

Second, the Emerald Dream is supposed to be the "save" state. This would be fine except for the fact that the Emerald Dream appears to have changed over time (disregarding the Nightmare). If your save point changes over time, when you restore it you're not going to have what you expected.

Third, you have "disk error" or "sector corruption" where the Dream has been perverted by the Nightmare - corrupting your saved data.

I just don't think Re-origination can function as advertised. The best solution would be to run a rapid planetary reset. Throw Azeroth past its sun at close proximity, get it all nice and molten, restabilize its orbit. Geoform. Repopulate.

That being said, even though I expect to see the Titans dealt with before the end of WoW, I think the smoothest solution would be scale us up to assault Sargeras at home. Have vast portions of the Horde and Alliance passing through portals to assault Xoroth, Argus, and such. Spend months/years fighting the Legion. Win a hard-fought victory. Celebrate. Open up portals back to Azeroth - step through and find the place re-originated while we were gone, with the Titans again elsewhere. Cue anguish and outrage as all the loved ones left behind are gone. Start WC4 or WoW2 on the blank slate (or a few years later).

Blizzard has always borrowed story concepts from many sources and genres. The more I look at this current storyline the more it reminds me of the Dragonlance novels leading up to 5th age. We are killing the aspects and essentially wardens of the planets. Some beings are acquiring god like strength(Thrall), and forging the strength supposedly to start facing our creators(Sargeras being an ultimate goal supposedly).

The way I see it going down is eventually the Titans come back, find all or most of their Aspects dead, find the Old Gods have corrupted their vision, their "backups" are corrupted, and the planet is full of amazingly powerful "heroes". They are pissed. Thrall being the Mary Sue has found a way to unbind the Old Gods and permanently destroy them, and parlays with the Titans. Titans agree to leave Azeroth to it's now liberated fate and take Thrall with them(possibly promoting him to a replacement Titan or something) to help clear out other Old God issues.

With the fundamentals of Azeroth essentially having been turned upside down, and the majority of the Immortal species decimated(dragons) or at least their leadership, an Age of Mortals begins. For the first time Azeroth is left to fend for itself with just it's inhabitants. This would also allow for vast mechanics changes for any future games or sequels in the WoW universe sort of like the 5th age allowed for mechanic changes for Dragonlance.

I don't think any theoretical Warcraft 4 or WoW 2, will just be a new number, but a completely fresh look on the mythos ultimately, and we are definitely heading in that direction.

That would be the most logical, but the Brann stuff in places like Halls of Stone rather clearly explains re-origination.

I cannot find the reference, but the Emerald Dream has been linked in as the original planetary blueprint. Which is where we have the problems, since that blueprint has effectively had coffee spilled on it and someone's kid went crazy with a crayon over important sections.

Sterilize and build from scratch works. Reloading a "saved game" has problems. And I still cannot get over the fact the Titans made the Aspects... which are fleshy dragons (we've never, ever seen metal/stone dragons). Flesh is supposed to be an Old God corruption, yet the anti-old-god defense is flesh?

There's also the problem of Nozdormu being granted mastery over time by a Titan, and said Titan not looking into the future himself and discovering certain design flaws.

To clarify I don't use the term Mary Sue in a negative fashion but to reflect the comments recently made at Blizzcon suggesting that Thrall is being groomed towards immense power and being a savior and a solution. The concept of a Mary Sue is not always a bad thing, only bad when poorly written just like most tropes.

Implication nothing, he flat out stated that as fact. The implication is that all stories and characters in Warcraft are merely setups for Thrall who is now the apex to everything that goes on.