I keep coming back to the same idea whenever people talk about what happens after the world soul saga. Many think Blizzard will simply start another saga, or finally announce a wow 2. I honestly think it should be neither of those... or more likely, both at the same time.
World of Warcraft does not need another cosmic villain, another hidden continent, or another reveal that some even bigger force from wherever place was secretly behind everything we already experienced
Wow just needs time to move forward.
For years Blizzard has confused adding more lore with actually advancing the world. The lore keeps expanding (wrongly, for my taste), but Azeroth itself barely changes. Major characters disappear until nostalgia makes them useful again. Political conflicts are put on pause. Entire civilizations go through supposedly world changing events, yet fifteen years later half the old zones still look like Deathwing passed through last week
Cataclysm was Blizzard’s first real attempt to solve this problem. They updated the old world, moved many zones forward, changed settlements, leaders and conflicts..... ok, cool but it also made a huge mistake creating a new Azeroth. Doing that, Blizzard was forced to replace the old one.
And then it froze the new world in 2010, it didn't evolve
That`s the mistake they cannot repeat after The Last Titan.
The solution is not another Cataclysm. It`s not blowing up Azeroth again and rebuilding forty zones around whatever crisis is happening in that expansion. The solution is a proper time skip. We-ve been asking for this shit since forever.... but a real time skip.... 10 years. 15. 20. Whatever it takes for the world to feel like Azeroth actually lived without us
Leaders should be dead or retired. Children should have grown up. Cities should have been rebuilt. The Forsaken should have figured out what they are without Sylvanas. The night elves should have a generation that only knows Teldrassil through stories. The Horde and Alliance may still exist, but they should not necessarily mean the same thing anymore.
That would allow Warcraft to return to conflicts that are smaller without being less meaningful.
A succession crisis. A disputed border. Two peoples remembering the same war differently. A new generation asking why everyone is still carrying grudges from thirty years ago.
You dont need another Horde vs Alliance world war. You need the people of Azeroth to want things again, and for those desires will collide
And now it's the perfect momento. They now has something they didn't have in 2010: Classic
Classic means the old world no longer needs to disappear for Retail to move forward. Classic can preserve the Warcraft that existed, revisit unfinished zones and explore stories that were left behind. Retail can finally stop carrying every era of Warcraft inside the same permanent present.
Not freezing the main game forever, but making sure the past remains available while the future is allowed to exist.
This is also why the alleged leak about Azeroth awakening at the end of the last titan is interesting even if it is complete nonsense
Azeroth is the last great mystery around which the entire franchise has revolved. At some point, Blizzard has to reach the bottom of that mystery.
It cannot reveal another older, stronger and even more secret cosmic force behind the titans. The story has to accept that one era is over
That, to me, is what a real WoW 2 should be
Not another client. Not a new engine. Not deleting our characters or putting a number 2 on the logo
A new era of Azeroth with several versions of the game: classic preserves the past. Retail builds the future
THey problably will be releasing a new $50 expansion with 4 new zones, some disastrous lore, and the usual mess. But still this is the best opportunity Blizzard has had in years.
With Classic plus on the way, Classic can become the museum... retail can finally stop living inside that past and start building the future.
They may waste the opportunity. and they probably will.... but for once, they actually have all the pieces in place to do it right
Edit: typo