WoW Shadowlands’ Final Battle Is A Complete Mystery, Leading Fans To Wonder What Comes Next

While World of Warcraft patch 9.2, Eternity’s End, won’t be the last patch for the game’s Shadowlands expansion (that will likely be the already-announced patch 9.2.5), it will be what Blizzard has touted as the “final chapter” of the Shadowlands story. At long last, players will confront Zovaal, aka the Jailer, and seek to put an end to his eons-old plan to rewrite reality.

The catch is that what that final battle will look like is currently a complete mystery aside from the names of the bosses players will be encountering. Mystery, as it turns out, is a bit of a theme of patch 9.2, factoring not only into the grand finale of the game’s upcoming Sepulcher of the First Ones raid, but also found in the design philosophy behind the new Zereth Mortis zone. Who are the mysterious First Ones? What is the Jailer truly trying to accomplish? Where will the story go next? It all leads to an even bigger mystery among the game’s community: What’s next after Shadowlands?

When asked in a recent interview with GameSpot, WoW production director Pat Dawson wouldn’t say. Normally by the time the final content patch of an expansion rolls out, players already know what the next expansion will be thanks to an earlier announcement and accompanying cinematic at Blizzard’s annual BlizzCon event. BlizzCon, however, isn’t happening this year, likely for a variety of reasons ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to ongoing sexual harassment and discrimination investigations. No future expansion announcements have been made. That leaves a giant question mark hanging over patch 9.2 and the end of the Shadowlands story.