VideoGamer held an interview with World of Warcraft Game Director Tom Chilton as a follow up to their Leipzig coverage. In this interview Tom Chilton confirms their plan for a yearly WoW expansion stands correct. The South Seas, the Maelstrom and the Emerald Dream, (and can I say Gilneas hinted?) have pop into the radar through Chilton’s own lips. So ... a yearly expansion (check) ... the south seas (check). See you at BlizzCon fellas.
 Blizzard Quote: |
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| VideoGamer.com: The first expansion was set in Outland, the second in Northrend, which was a little closer to home. Is there anywhere else left on the original map that can accommodate an expansion or does it have to be somewhere foreign? TC: No I don’t think it has to be anywhere completely foreign yet. There are parts of the map that we have left ambiguous and unexplored. There are parts of Eastern Kingdoms and Azeroth that haven’t been filled out yet. Out there in the South Seas there are islands, there’s out where the Maelstrom is. There’s still quite a bit of land mass. We keep referring to the Emerald Dream, which is maybe not exactly in Azeroth, but is sort of tied to it in some way or another. But there are definitely places in Azeroth itself that are close to home that haven’t been filled out yet, so there’s more room for that sort of thing. |
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We recently unearthed a new trademark by Blizzard that might or not tie-in with the theme of a Maelstrom and South Seas expansion.
We interviewed Chris Metzen and Micky Neilson last February, where they said there were plans for Gilneas, and talked about the upcoming World of Warcraft: Stormrage book which hits bookstores on February 2010. It deals with the Nightmare and the Emerald Dream.
The stars are aligning. (sits in yoga-position and hums).
Even though I am still working to level my 9 characters O^O and have yet to hit level 80 on any of them, I am still really excited about the next expansion. 
So we’re talking about a late 2009 - early 2010 release, apparently. All the pieces of the puzzle are coming together…
/sit
*hummmm…*