"Novels? The next big one is going to be a book focused on Malfurion (probably titled Stormrage), likely timed for the next expansion like Arthas was for Wrath of the Lich King."

Really? Verrrry interesting. The conventional wisdom seems to be that the next expansion will be in the Maelstrom, fighting naga and visiting goblins in their homeland, with Queen Azshara for a "final boss." There's been some guesses that there would be Emerald Dream-related on the side too, like the way Ulduar or Malygos have a presence in Northrend but it's all really about Arthas.

However, I've always thought that there was enough material in the Emerald Dream to support an expansion all by itself. It's a continent the size of all the Azeroth landmasses combined, but shaped very differently. The wowwiki page refers to a bunch of beasts that are extinct or just too magical to exist in the real Azeroth (and that's saying a lot). And as for new mechanics, there's the Nightmare, which apparently moves across the landscape, warping whatever is trapped inside it. I think that would be implemented as phasing more elaborate than anything in Northrend, and/or as one zone actually physically moving in relation to the rest of the world, either of which would be awesome. And here we learn that the next book will be about Malfurion, the first druid, who is at the moment stuck in the Emerald Dream, and the book is being timed for the release of the expansion. HMMMMM... maybe the conventional wisdom about the next expansion has it backwards?

Of course, Malfurion also had something or other to do with Azshara, so maybe that's all there is to it.

Reply