An expansion of "What ifs.."

Lore Story Forum
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So the marvel shows got me thinking. What if we got a “What if…” expansion where multiple branching timelines wanted to assault the main timeline. Like an iron horde conquered world or a legion conquered azeroth. etc or just a scarlet conquered world and then we had a “multiverse” expansion like that.

Personally i wouldnt have much issue since it would be nice to get back to the Roots of warcraft. and with the new lore being able to be melded with the old.

Like what if “Gorak Tul Was the lich king” in this timeline the lich king wasnt nerzhul but it was an ancient entity That was awoken after the deliberate usage of necromancy in the 2nd war etc (or 1st)

Or what if The draenei became lightforged on draenor after the orcs drank the fel juice.

Idk.

Hearthstone tackles this very well though.

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I don’t think a what if style scenario can work with expansions. However I can see it as a scenarios or even as a quest chain with different phases, involving the Infinite Dragonflight.

Like an infinite agent is trying to trick us into aiding them and then a Bronze shows up and show us exactly what would if the infinite got us to do their work.

So in that regard we could the fall out of what if insert thing happened.

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Tbh Wod is literally a what if expansion.

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The could have accomplished this with an Infinite Dragonflight expansion. Sylvanas could pull a Garrosh and look to Time Travel as a means of achieving her goals. Could have been an opportunity for some real complex character development, presenting her with an opportunity to stop the Scourge in WC3, or stop Genn from breaking Helya’s lamp.

Instead of BFA’s Sylvanas, we could of had a Sylvanas that actually explored the Forsaken as an ethnic group, and this weird train of thought of “Would preventing the undead plague from taking hold of Lorderon be a form of cultural genocide?”

There really is no right answer to that, mostly because it is such an absurd scenario, but that’s the fun thing about fantasy imo. And I think that is a much better take on a “morally grey” character than the trash we have gotten in BFA and SL.

Imagine, right after Legion we get an expansion that takes us to the Dragon Isles. of course we have 1 major city hub of some kind, but also “Dragon Shrines” that serve the same roll as the class halls from Legion. Each shrine depends on the playable race split between Green, Red, Blue and Black Dragon Shrines, with the Bronze Dragonshrine being the main portal hub to several AUs, which serve as Questing Zones, Dungeons, Raids, Scenarios. As we essentially just Dr.Who our way through the timelines, Thwarting corrupted Nozdormu and the Infinite Dragonflight. Sylvanas and her goal to alter timelines for her benefit pushing the main PVP content.

Just off the top of my head, I have already provided

  • A more interesting plot
  • An interesting setting
  • Plenty of fan service potential
  • Unlimited sub-plot potential
  • Used pre-existing and familiar lore
  • Provided two familiar and sympathetic antagonists
  • Even left the door open for a faction conflict, because for some reason Blizzard INSISTS that should be a thing

Us getting what we got from BFA and SL… There really is no excuse for it. It’s just lazy.

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It’d probably require A LOT more work to pull off than I think the creators are willing to put into things. I mean, WoD was basically one of those that turned into a wet flop. Something even more ambitious? I doubt they could EVER pull it off. The closest thing that would actually work, IMO, would be something similar to the End Time dungeon. A couple of dungeons where we have to fight the Infinite Dragonflight (yet again) in alternate pasts presents and futures could be fun. Could be…

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All your ideas are good… and there’s even more that could’ve been done with Dragon Isles scenario after Legion. I’ve had a similar scenario in mind but different for a Dragon Isles expansion, one less focused on the faction conflict.

Remember how in Legion all dragons were put on the extinction clock after defeating Deathwing because that made them sterile somehow? That quest “The Last of the Last” with Senegos and the blue dragons. A Dragon Isles expansion would be the perfect time to address that issue. Not to mention Alexstraza, being compassionate and the Lifebinder, would want to get right on saving her people from extinction. This could even address the issue of Sargeras’ sword stuck in Silithus by having the Chamber of the Heart physically located on the Dragon Isles.

We even have dragon characters with closer ties to each faction who can act as guides an emissaries; Chromie is a bit closer to the Alliance, I think, and as of Legion, we have Ebonhorn for the Horde. Most dragons are neutral and happy to work with both sides. In fact, this could even be a good time to bring in Sabellian and the Black/Nether dragons from Outland.

While the faction conflict would take a backseat, there’s still opportunities to explore that. Genn’s out for Sylvanas’ head, Anduin wants answers if not bloodshed, Tyrande and Malfurion wanting to help the green dragons to honor Ysera’s memory (Tyrande being almost as anti-Horde as Genn). On the Horde’s side they could bring the Nightborne to study the Titans’ power and technology stored on the Dragon Isles and Sylvanas wanting to weaponize that against the Alliance while also getting back at Genn for ruining her Val’kyr plan. Not to mention given her increasing acceptance of using undead, I’m sure Sylvanas would be willing to make a lot of undead dragons given the “possible dragon extinction” element of the plot.

Plus there’s a great major villain who’s ideal for the theme of the Dragon Isles. Chromantus. The only successfully created Chromantic dragon from the books; Warcraft’s five-headed answer to Tiamat from DnD and King Ghidorah from the monster movies. He’s practically unkillable; it took four aspects’ full might plus Thrall filling in for the Earth Warder/Deathwing just to incapacitate him so that’s a majorly tough raid boss, Chromantus can use the powers of all five dragonflights AND he’s currently locked in a Blue dragonflight vault where enough arcane magic - we’re talking from the world and its arcane nexus - will wake him up again…

Which brings me to another major villain for this hypothetical expansion; Queen Azshara. At this point she’s still gathering power and ostensibly working for N’Zoth, so she would be very happy to get her hands on the Titans’ power stored in the Dragon Isles. Also, remember how Chromantus needs arcane magic to wake him up? If any one person has enough arcane magic to wake Chromantus up, it’s Azshara.

Chromantus and Azshara also have shared ties to the Void AND Azshara’s got the cleverness to bargain with or manipulate Chromantus. She could simply get an alliance by promising him the chance to get revenge on the Aspects. Azshara could start implementing her plans for N’zoth or even try to harness the power of the Titans for her own ends (it could even provide the possible apotheosis plan she hinted at in Nya’lotha).

As for Chromantus, he could try to sway other dragons to his side by promising a cure for their sterility (whether he actually can fix that or not is irrelevant for persuading them; villains often make false promises in fiction). That creates conflicts of interest and doubt, and adds some “morally grey” such as dragons considering whether or not working with Chromantus or fully joining him might save them from extinction. We might not even have to resolves the issue of the dragons’ sterility in this expansion, but by expansions’ end, a solution will be found, if not implemented.

Just sharing a similar idea for how a Dragon Isles scenario could work. And I think both mine and your ideas, off the top of your head and a few minutes of brainstorming from me, are superior to what we got in BfA and SL.

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Oh that is a neat idea. The Dragons are supposed to be the guardians of Azeroth. At least originally. It would make sense for their Shines to be built in defensive locations. Protecting, so to speak, the physical Hardware of the Titan Soul. Ruby Shrine built on the Chamber of the Heart. Bronze on the Chamber of Memory. Blue on the Chamber of Reason. Green on the Chamber of Dreams, and Black on the Chamber of Body. Or something like that. Each shrine giving their own Artifact like Legion. This way, Magni could really take a central role in the story like Khadgar in Legion. Rather than in BFA, where it seemed like the only people listening to him was the PC.

I always thought they were super cool and would love to see more of them. Even have their lore fleshed out a bit. I always thought it would be cool if they had humanoid forms like typical dragons, but they were all a little off, a little Alien. Like some weird uncanny valley thing going on.

I dig it. Especially if Azshara has the opportunity to be a bit of a mastermind through it. I personally like the idea that Azshara is trying overthrow N’zoth, rather than free him. Using Xal’atath to do this is one of the more interesting things to come out of BFA, but like everything else, wasn’t executed properly.

With a Dragon Isles expantion being also a Naga and N’zoth expansion fits thematically, which BFA did not, making Ny’alotha seem awkward and out of place. But 4 major patches with end raid bosses being Azshara, Chromantus, Murozond and N’zoth sounds awesome. And with Murozond in the picture, you can do all sort of weird, timey-wimey BS to ensure certain characters survive (Azshara survive the raid encounter only to Heelturn against N’zoth in the final patch).

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It looks like you’ve combined some of both yours and my ideas, and I’m digging the results. Your idea for the Chamber of the Heart is great, as is bringing in Khadgar and Magni.

While my idea focused less on the Old Gods and more on the “dragon extinction clock” plot, this could work too. Azshara be a bit of a mastermind? Of course! The “Azshara trying to overthrow N’Zoth” idea and her reanimating Chromantus can go hand-in-hand. She’d find him a useful ally, and Chromantus’ directness and Azhsara’s subtlety would make great foils for each other. She’d try to control him, and he wouldn’t be easy to control.

The cinematic trailers even write themselves;
Cinematic 1) Azshara breaking into Chromantus’ vault and reanimating him ala Gul’dan with Illidan in the Vault of the Wardens
Cinematic 2) Alexstraza’s and Azshara’s forces confronting each other on the Dragon Isles along with Khadgar for the Alliance and Rommath or Thalyssra for the Horde. Alexstraza and Azshara exchange words including a nod to War of the Ancients, fight begins.

While I didn’t plan to have Murozond or N’Zoth in my idea - Chromantus can use Bronze Dragonflight time magic too - I’m not against either showing up again given timey-wimey stuff and how N’Zoth is Deathwing’s and Azshara’s boss (or at least he’s signing Azshara’s checks and she’s pretending to be loyal to him).

Speaking of Chromantus, his motivations during this expansion would make for plenty of story and are quite simple (btw are you familiar with Chromantus?);

  • Save dragons from extinction
  • Kill the Aspects
  • Avenge Deathwing (by doing the above step).
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We had this, it was called wod and it sucked.

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An HD render of all these characters in a Blizzard Expansion trailer cinematic would have been so cool.

Honestly, curing Dragon Sterilization can go hand in hand with an Old God plot. The duality of the Light and Void seems to intend to reflect the duality of man. The Light is the romanticized concept of virtue while the void is the villainized concept of corruption. Within the scope of the human psyche, these things are a bit nuanced.

Given that Dragons were originally elementals of stone, it is likely true that Dragon reproduction is a function of the Curse of Flesh. It would be an interesting tie-in for Chromantus, now Aligned with Azshara, N’zoth and the Infinate Dragonflight, actually DID have a cure for Dragon sterility. The details of could be a little more complex, perhaps it is a cure given through further Old God corruption. Even still, it would be an interesting way to explore exactly HOW one becomes corrupted in the WoW universe. As corruption is so often a hand-waved thing, making corruption something that is a conscious choice, rather than something that just happens, bring a whole new level of nuance to the story.

Alexstraza coming to terms with Deathwing’s fall, and starting to question herself. Defend Azeroth from the force capable of pulling the Draconic race back from the edge of extinction? From the force that ALLOWED the Draconic race to exist in the first place?

And the Villain lineup makes sense. These are all people who became corrupted for one reason or another. Changing their history from these mustache twirling “Evil for evils sake” characters, to… People who made difficult decisions for a cause they believed in. Whether or not those causes were good or evil, left open to interpretation.

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WoD had lore that was better than BFA and Shadowlands. Much better.

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Personally, I wonder… “What if…”

… Anduin kept his mouth shut and let Garrosh eat the poisoned institutional food the Windrunner Sisters cooked up for him in the Warcrimes novel.

That would have ended WoD before it began.

I agree. Hearthstone is a good avenue for this sort of thing.

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Myes… I was thinking more in line of having “Variants” for lack of better words. Maybe the opening of the timelines at the hands of both the Horde and Garrosh (and rogue Infinite) could have Consequences of letting random creatures etc come into from other timelines. Like maybe a Scarlet crusade with tanks and stuff Idk.