WoW: New addon “The Dragon Isles” – leak or lie?

A supposed leak for the next World of Warcraft add-on promises a lot that sounds good. But what exactly does the leak say? And can there be something to it?

The final patch of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is already on the horizon. But with the approaching release of patch 9.2 End of Eternity, the popular “leak season” around World of Warcraft also begins. Supposed leaks for the next expansion are appearing everywhere. While many of these are often just the stuff of a troll’s mind, there have been more than a grain of truth in the leaks.

Therefore, this time we will also present some of these “leaks” and explain the most interesting points to you.

Keep in mind, however, that the vast majority of leaks in WoW expansions often turn out to be fake, which makes it even more difficult to uncover the actual leaks. So don’t take these leaks at face value.

The new expansion will be called The Dragon Isles

According to the leak, the next expansion of World of Warcraft should simply be called “The Dragon Isles”. They’ve been mentioned several times in the game, and the current story suggests that Wrathion hangs around there.

All patch 10.0 promotional material should say “Azeroth has awoken!”

How does Shadowlands end? The leak also explains how Shadowlands will end. According to this, the jailer will be defeated in patch 9.2 and the planet Azeroth will be saved, but there are “consequences”. Some post-battle dialogue is designed to explain the new state of Azeroth as Magni Bronzebeard loses his diamond form and reverts to a normal dwarf.

The pre-event that will take place in patch 9.2.5 is said to be huge. It will be a revised version of many old events, such as the Ahn’Qiraj earthquakes and the invasions, but at the same time a huge time-walking event that is like a “mini-season of mastery” and focuses on important dungeons and raids around Azeroth . The goal behind it is to familiarize the players with the history of Azeroth before it goes into the new story in 10.0.

Enemies in these events would include insane troggs, quilboar, mantid, and the elemental invasions that would take place primarily on Kalimdor, the Eastern Kingdoms, Northrend, and Pandaria. A new, temporary boss would be “Garaddon Son of Galakrond” – as or son of the most powerful dragon that existed in the primeval days of Azeroth.

What’s in the new expansion? A lot, according to the leak. The whole thing should be introduced by the “biggest cinematic that Blizzard has ever produced”. All of the planned Shadowlands cinematics were reportedly scrapped in order to work hard on this video. There are many parallels to WoW’s original launch trailer, but the cinematic ends with Azeroth being “born.” It goes on to say in bullet points:

• “Azeroth the Eternal” is born and is “a kind of dragon”.
• All world souls are unique, and Azeroth’s essence has shaped the planet for eons.
• Dragons are directly connected to Azeroth and as such she is something of a primal mother of dragons.
• Once players reach the Dragon Isles, they must work with Azeroth to “reshape” the world. The story is that the planet has taken a beating over the last few decades and it is now having dire consequences for its inhabitants.
• The character of Azeroth is described as “Leeloo from the 5th Element”. A supreme being with the mind of a child. Players must help her unlock the powers to save the planet. She resides in a temple on the Dragon Isles, along with Thrall and Wrathion. There’s a lot of “Earth Warden” story here as the three try to accomplish what Deathwing failed to do (before he went insane).
• Azeroth has its own talent tree that looks similar to the classic talent trees. Players help her by “teaching her things” through this talent tree. Each of these talents can also be used by the player through the “World Link” ability.
• There are new abilities that work similarly to the Covenant abilities, but you never have to commit to anything permanently. Everyone gets the same skills. Some of these have secondary effects depending on the zone you are in.

One of the most important features of the expansion is the so-called “world shaping”, in which the zones change massively over time. For example, one should be able to make a forest out of a desert. The area has a big focus on the story of the night elves, who are looking for a way to recreate the Teldrassil with the help of Azeroth.

At the same time, however, “world shaping” should also unlock new skills in the individual areas, such as water walking, flying, teleportation or finding treasures more easily – bonuses that are already known from older, similar game systems.

As the expansion progresses, this worldform should also affect older zones throughout Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, which will play an important role in the course of the patches and will be drastically revised.

By the way, there shouldn’t be a big villain in patch 10.0, but rather a series of smaller threats, including the timeless dragon swarm, the nether wings and some special proto-races on the dragon islands – such as a predecessor race of the troggs, which is highly intelligent and well developed.

New Race: Black Dragons

A small highlight and at the same time something rather surprising seems to be the new, playable race – black dragons.

They basically work like worgen, so they have two forms. Once a combative dragon form and a humanoid form. The humanoid shape can choose the appearance of any other people – just as you already know from dragons in WoW. However, they also have some cosmetic adjustments, such as horns, scales or tails.

Dragon form is used primarily for travel (as a flying mount) and for two racial abilities, so is not a permanent form for fighting.

Historically, these are fairly young new dragons growing up on the Dragon Isles – after the dragons lost their magic at the end of Cataclysm. Wrathion wants to teach these dragons (the players) to fight alongside mortals in order to help Azeroth and ultimately restore the dragons’ magic.

Where did the leak come from? From the Forum of MMO Champion. Here the user “ItsYourself” has published a lot of information about the next addon on a “disposable account”. According to his own statement, he got the information from a “private discord server of the developers”.

However, this cannot be proven.

Even if supposed leaks sprout like mushrooms before each expansion, they are often interesting and invite you to think about exactly what you actually want in the next WoW expansion.

And who knows – maybe there was some truth in the leak after all…