I would be so ready for this, not going to lie.
I could see them hold Avaloren until after TWW or Midnight. I think Avaloren would be an amazing continent to visit and we know the pirate Nightsquallâs been able to get there and back as well as figured out a way to navigate the waters that surround it meaning that the pirates will likely get there first along with the naga. We may very well find Avaloren sieged by the forces of the Void and actually would be a great continent to visit.
I have a feeling theyâre zone revamp of Silvermoon may have us start there and end in Avaloren. The Northern Eastern Kingdoms are quite small zone wise and it would be better if they updated those zones for the first part of Midnight, but then have us go to Avaloren to get whatever McGuffin may be held there to save the world of Azeroth yet again⊠Some light weapon to save the Sunwell from becoming the Voidwell.
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When was the last time they developed a horde characters outside of faction conflict. Believe it or not horde gets no love from blizzard. Look at the amount of active alliance characters compare to 1 horde.
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Something tells me the Avaloren expansion is going to involve the Lightbound
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https://www.wowhead.com/news/hallowfalls-ending-an-important-characters-fate-spoilers-339212
Looks like Anduin might spend yet another expansion kidnapped LOL. Thereâs a possibility weâre going to see âWar Withinâ his mind while captured by Xalâatath while players get Shadowlands dĂ©jĂ vu. Maybe heâll become a Shadow Priest infused with the Void instead of regaining the Light if heâs captured for a lengthy amount of time? This is so far looking like it could get dangerously close to just repeating story beats from Shadowlands. 
I think thereâs datamined stuff where in the next zone after Hallowfall we rescue Anduin early on, so hopefully we wonât really be going through another expansion with Anduin being kidnapped.
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I can defiantly see Blizz almost immediately repeating one of the most loathed SL storylines out of sheer obliviousness, yes.
âSurely theyâll appreciate our genius this time!..â
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I think Avaloren is going to be a patch zone in 11.2. Now that we have information on it being these Arathi homeland, I donât think itâs enough to be an expansion in itself.
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Out of all of the bad stories WoW has put out lately, them pulling an SL story arc 2.0 so soon after recovering from the loss of players from SL definitely had me rolling my eyes.
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It is a bit early to say for sure exactly how it will go. But a core theme with Anduin in TWW is he no longer trusts himself or thinks himself worthy of the Light because he thinks part of him enjoyed harming others as Zovvalâs finger puppet. This is likely how they plan to allow him to resolve that, with him being tempted to do just that by Xalâatath and realizing that isnât what he enjoyed to begin with.
It was not having responsibility for his actions for once.
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SPOILERS BELOW: Spoiler is getting spoilered AGAIN! 
LMFAO! So not only are they destroying my beloved home city of Dalaran for the second time like its the Death Star, theyâre also going to have Anduin kidnapped ALSO for the second time by the possessed body of an undead elf woman. Some story!
The person who wrote the article about this on Wowhead had me laughing my butt off.
For now, at least, it seems safe to assume Anduin is alive. After all, heâs no stranger to being kidnapped and held captive by an evil purple woman with the body of a dead elf. If Xalâatath spends any time with him, thereâs also at least a 5% chance heâll have her reforming her ways by the end of the expansion. On the other hand, Xalâatath might just be the person to help Anduin discover the joys of being a Shadow Priest. Either way, heâll be fine⊠We hope.
The writing so far truly is worthy of the ridicule! If this is their much vaunted opening salvo for the trilogy thatâs supposed to alter the fate of WoW forever, then surely that fate will see it consigned to the dustbin of history. The story and the game really should have just ended with Legion with the defeat of Sargeras before the dropping of the meme sword. Itâs become painfully clear that they have had absolutely no idea what to do with the narrative since then, emphasis on painful!
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Seems a bit premature to jump to conlusions when all we have for that aspect of the plot are data-mined scraps. Might be good to see at least see what the alpha story is before declaring it trash yeah?
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Itâs not even trash, its straight up plagiarism at this point (and yes, a person can plagiarize oneself). Theyâre just reusing the same story elements theyâve already used before. In the case of nuking Dalaran for shock value itâs at least the work of different people who wrote the story for Warcraft III. The kidnapping of Anduin is literally from the last expansion!
Perhaps it is just me⊠but jumping into overwhelming odds against spider monsters to buy time for others to escape echoes Varianâs sacrifice on the Broken shore more than Masworn Kyrians swooping down and plucking him out of the middle of Stormwind while Genn waves his fist in the air and shouts impotently at the sky.
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One might think Anduin is auditioning to be a companion on Doctor Who with how often he gets captured!
If heâs free again (ideally at least partially by his own action) relatively quickly, I donât think it would feel too much like Shadowlands. As repetitive as it is, running headfirst into danger and getting hurt or captured as a result is a pretty reliable character trait of his. If anything, Shadowlands was unusual in that for once he was at home mostly minding his own business when he was captured.
I believe Alleria gets on his case earlier in questing about how he shouldnât be down there because itâs too dangerous. Someone really should have warned her that Anduin hardly ever listens to such advice.
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Again, itâs quite literally recycled old stuff because they canât come up with anything new. And even if you pass off the valiant jumping into the fray as a son living up to his fatherâs legacy (which for all we know from the brief description of the cinematic may not even be how it happens) the end result is still him getting kidnapped by Sylvannas 2.0 Pro Max. Varian died for his heroics, Anduin is going to get damsel-in-distressed yet again.
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Hm. Is that so? I was unaware you had the full script of the expansion. And quite honestly every story is a remix of a story. Metzen likely intends for this to be a way for him to undo (or redo?) what he sees as a botched Shadowlands element he can salvage by having Anduin grow instead of diminish from it.
I suppose time will tell.
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Thing is sometimes the payout isnât immediate. Sometimes I get the feeling the writers are trying to do something that would, probably, work in a novel or trilogy but are having trouble translating their novel plots into the beats of an MMO.
So very true.
Would be my guess.
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What we have to keep in mind is that Danuser and Golden did some work on this expansion which will largely remain. Theyâve planned for Xalatath to return probably since the beginning of DF, and surely have an outline of things sheâs going to do. I get the feeling that Anduin getting kidnapped is a reused plotpoint from Danuser, he didnât have many great ideas so him reusing his own plots wouldnât surprise me. Meanwhile something like the Arathi probably comes from Metzen, their backstory is consistent and make sense unlike the Centaur in DF whose only explanation was âthey exist :)â. The broader aspects probably come from Danuser with Metzen fleshing out the finer details.
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Maybe the repetition is intentional to show exactly how those stories will differ.
Also, people tend to forget but Anduin did learn how to use the shadow and has used it before.
We also have to consider that son of the wolf comic, if the void sees all futures, Xalâatath saw that future of an old Anduin leading the forces of light against darkness, and is trying to make sure that doesnât happen by guiding him to another future where he is an emissary of the void.
And, this could be the gateway for Paladin Anduin if he recovers his light during it.
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hehe he