Northrend hints in PTR client?
by Eliah Hecht 
Apr 13th 2007 at 6:52PM
This is pretty slim evidence, but still interesting. As you might expect, people have gotten to datamining the PTR client by now, and along with all sorts of interesting graphics, they've found some interesting categorization. To be specific, there are now assets (which I think just means bits of data) categorized under "Expansion02" and then under "howlingfjord." Why is this interesting? Well, Howling Fjord is an area in South-Eastern Northrend!
It has long been speculated that Northrend is going to be the area of a future expansion, what with Arthas and all that lovely lore stuff. It's also very conspicuously missing from our Azeroth maps. According to WoWWiki, Valgarde, an outpost in the Howling Fjord, "has since become the center of Alliance activity on Northrend." So that makes Howling Fjord a pretty likely Alliance starting zone for Northrend. On the other hand, Blizz have said that we're a few expansions away from being able to defeat Arthas (but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't open Northrend and just keep Arthas from us).
What do you think? Is "howlingfjord" being categorized under "Expansion02" anything we can draw conclusions from?
[thanks, Robert]
Filed under: Expansions
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ecko__18 Apr 13th 2007 7:18PM
I think the more important one is a little above that labled "dreaming". Im in the opinion the the Emerald Nightmare will be the next expansion, with Northrend following that the next year. That gives a lot of time to develope Northrend into a truly epic experiance.
Dave Apr 13th 2007 7:20PM
The easiest explanation is that it's going to be the next Caverns of Time instance, which was already hinted at before. The one with the boat.
The most significant boat-related incident? Arthas invading Northrend and getting his cute little sword that pretty much turned him into the worst nightmare ever. (are we ready at L80 for a guy who could one-shot the guy who it's going to take 3 tiers of raid gear at L70 to beat? Absolutely not, so it won't be the next expansion, we'll have at least one full 10-level expansion before it, and maybe two if they can stretch things.)
It's probably in an expansion 2 folder... because it'll be part of Expansion Patch 2. Easy.
SymetriX Apr 13th 2007 7:43PM
I think we can draw the conclusion that fire mages = ftw :-)
Say goodbye to all that fire resist gear, and start stacking that +frost!
Kyle Apr 13th 2007 8:06PM
I agree with Ecko, I think the Emerald Dream is next (or perhaps a High Seas sort of thing, but I think the Emerald Dream is more likely).
The Emerald Dream has already seen a bit of build-up. We have Malfurion stuck in the dream, the events in the Wailing Caverns, Eranikus, Ysera's four lieutenants. Plus, Arthas/Lich King kind of feels like the "final" boss right now (at least to me).
RSH Apr 13th 2007 8:58PM
I dunno about Arthas/Lich King- I'm betting on Kil'Jaeden as the final, end-all big mama-jamma of all bosses for WoW- he's the acting leader of the Burning Legion now that Sargeras is off on vacation, he's possibly more powerful than Arthas and a threat to more than just one planet, and yet killing him would still leave Sargeras (who's more or less the top of the Evil Food Chain) out there so Blizzard could return to the Warcraft setting at some point in the future.
Satryghen Apr 14th 2007 12:06AM
Isn't there supposed to be a fifth gate to the Emerald Dream in Northrend? If the next expansion is going to be for the Emerald Dream perhaps we'll be getting just enough of Northrend to have access to that gate. And of course it would serve the double purpose of setting the stage for a later Northrend based expansion.
Sahn'jin Apr 28th 2007 1:17PM
My thoughts have always been this game will have 4 expansion, with an increase of 10 levels each, ending at an even 100. I also figured Arthas would be the last boss, meaning Northrend is the 4th expansion.
As most poeple do, I think an Emerald Dream expansion and a South Seas expansionwould fill in the other two.
We've had Emerald Dream content in the client for a while now, and that's meant nothing as of yet, no reason to think this addition of Howling Fjord makes Northrend next. It just means, that like Emerald Dream, its on the horizon and someone at Blizzard is coding something for it.