Note on 8/21/2009: The Details of the new expansion, Cataclysm, has been revealed at Blizzcon. The details of this expansion seem to invalidate the below list. This means that either this list was fake from the beginning, or Blizzard has moved away from their original plans and has decided to take things in a slightly different direction. I am still maintaining this post for historical purposes.

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Interesting post here: http://wow.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=21;mid=119012268058738816

The poster claims that the information he has is from 2003, but he posted it in 2007. I’m not sure if this post is before or after the WOTLK zones were announced. If it was after, then this post is highly suspect. If it was before, then this guy could be on to something. It’s all a rumor and unverified, but it seems to go along with how Blizzard has implied the expansions will go.

If the list is accurate, then the following may be expected:

As widely speculated, the next expansion will focus around the seas of Azeroth. The Goblin areas, as well as the Maelstrom, will be explorable. Gilneas will finally open up as well. Queen Azshara would be the presumed big baddie of this expansion, being that she’s supposedly still down there on the ocean floor.

The fourth expansion will include Pandaren and Worgen as playable races, and will focus around the Emerald Dream being the endgame. Ysera and/or whoever is responsible for the problems in the Emerald Dream (potentially an old god or the Burning Legion) would likely be the baddie for this expansion.

The final expansion may be raid content only (no new levels), or will take players up to level 110. It doesn’t seem even this list is clear. It will presumably have everyone going to Argus to put an end to the Burning Legion once and for all. I imagine that Sargeras would be the ultimate bad guy of WoW.

I’m very surprised there are no overt references to Deathwing anywhere. But the list only reveals regular zones and not instances.

For convienience, here are the posted zones, with additional commentary.

Draenor Set (TBC)

Azuremyst Isle – 1 to 10
Bloodmyrk Isle – 10 to 20 (Bloodmyst)

Eversong Forest – 1 to 10
Quel’thalas – 10 to 20 (Ghostlands?)
Hellfire Peninsula – 58 to 62
Zangarmarsh – 60 to 64
Terokkar Forest – 61 to 65
The Deadlands – 63 to 67 (Speculated to be the Bone Wastes, which is part of Terokkar.)
Nagrand – 64 to 68
Blade’s Edge Mountains – 66 to 70
Netherstorm – 67 to 70
Shadowmoon Valley – 69 to 70

(Note that Quel’Danas/Sunwell is not listed…)

Northrend Set (WOTLK)

Borean Tundra – 67 to 70
Howling Fjord – 67 to 70
Dragonblight – 69 to 72
Grizzly Hills – 70 to 73
Crystalsong Forest – 72 to 75
Zul’drak – 73 to 76
Sholazar Basin – 75 to 79
Storm Peaks – 76 to 80
Icecrown Glacier – 78 to 80

(The DK Starting zone does not seem to be represented… though that’s an extension of EPL technically… Wintergrasp is also not there.)

Maelstrom Set

Gilneas – 77 to 80
Grim Batol – 78 to 81 (Zone to the East of Wetlands)
Kul Tiras – 79 to 82
Kezan – 81 to 86
Tel Abim – 83 to 85
Zandalar – 84 to 87
Plunder Isle – 86 to 88
The Broken Isles – 87 to 90
The Maelstrom – 89 to 90

Plane Set

Pandaria – 1 to 10
Hiji – 10 to 20

(Pandaran Starting Zones. Hope these guys are Alliance!)

Wolfenhold – 1 to 10
Xorothian Plains – 10 to 20

(Worgen Starting Zones. These would technically be in a different world than Azeroth. Since Worgen seem to be wholly evil, I’m not sure how they could join either faction. However, that won’t stop Blizzard from pulling something out of their rear ends. Either way if this is true, I hope they are Horde.)

The Green Lands – 88 to 91
The Dying Paradise – 91 to 94
The Emerald Nightmare – 94 to 97
The Eye of Ysera – 97 to 100

Deephome – 88 to 91
Skywall – 91 to 94
The Abyssal Maw – 94 to 97
The Firelands – 97 to 100

(The last four zones represent the Elemental Plane of the Warcraft universe.)

Legion Set

K’aresh – 96 to 99
Argus Meadowlands – 97 to 100 (Argus is the homeworld of the Eredar/Draenei.)
Mac’Aree – 99 to 100 (Mac’Aree was the capital city of Argus. Presumably now a Legion base!)
Maw of Oblivion – 100+
The Burning Citadel – 100+++ (Probably where Sargeras is waiting for us to kill him so we can take his epix.)

Again, this entire thing is suspect, but it is feasible and is in line with all of the other various rumors out there. The rumor mill successfully predicted the first two expansions, the Blood Elf playable race, and the Death Knight class. I’d say that it’s at least 50-50 that the rumor mill is right about the next expansion being Maelstrom-related.