World of Warcraft is approaching the announcement of its ninth expansion pack. The game's storied history, spanning almost two decades, will have its next chapter revealed on April 19th. Given that Blizzard Entertainment made the decision to cancel this year's BlizzCon online show, the next World of Warcraft expansion unveiling will come in the form of an official livestream hosted on appropriate social media channels.
Unfortunately, the community reception for Shadowlands has been less than stellar, to say the least. From allegedly cutting one of its major content patches to fumbling with the ending for the Shadowlands, players have been hoping for a change in direction for the story away from the cosmic side of the Warcraft universe and back to where it all began: Azeroth.
Whether World of Warcraft players will get their wish on April 19th remains to be seen, but fans of the franchise will be able to watch the livestream on YouTube and Twitch, with the time of the announcement starting at 9:00 AM PDT (6:00 PM CEST). If past expansion reveals are anything to go by, then the announcement show will likely kick off with the trailer before transitioning into a deep dive of the expansion pack's setting, gameplay, and progression systems.
While still in the realm of speculation – like many expansions prior – some broad details of the next World of Warcraft expansion have already been leaked ahead of the announcement. Rumors of the expansion being set on the Dragon Isles have only further been reinforced when a supposed concept art surfaced that featured Alexstrasza the Life-Binder herself striking a pose next to a tarnished, silvery World of Warcraft logo bearing the subtitle Dragonflight.
Fans have already made jokes about the next expansion being a differently-flavored version of Shadowlands, with Aspect Power and choosing one's Dragonflight, but if the rumors are true – it would at the very least represent a much-needed break from the cosmic scale of the past couple of expansions. In addition, it would return the Warcraft franchise to its roots – something that was promised with Battle for Azeroth, but the execution left a lot to be desired in the eyes of the playerbase.
With rumors of Wrath of the Lich King coming to Classic through Season of Mastery, there can be no doubt that Blizzard Entertainment still values its MMO highly, despite its recent dry spell. What the company precisely has in mind for its future, however, will be revealed in less than a week on April 19th.
World of Warcraft is available now on PC.
Source: World of Warcraft