Naxxramas still exists canonically on Azeroth, what could it be used for in World of Warcraft's future?

One of World of Warcraft’s most memorable raids, despite only 1% of the population playing the original, is Naxxramas. Introduced in Vanilla WoW, it was truly exciting. It would come back in Wrath of the Lich King, with the whole citadel floating to Northrend, due to Kel’thuzad’s magic. Canonically, it still exists in-game, as well.

On the retail servers, it was even revamped slightly, allowing players to go back and farm some classic, no longer available tier sets. However, as just mentioned, in the World of Warcraft canon, Naxxramas is still a very real place. What could it be used for? This is, of course, pure speculation, but it would be nice to be correct!

---

What could the future of Naxxramas be in later World of Warcraft expansions?

A recent discussion on the WoW subreddit led to the topic of Naxxramas still existing in the World of Warcraft canon. This comes courtesy of Redditor slimeyellow, but also from the Exploring Azeroth: Northrend book. However, this comes with a bit of a caveat — the “Exploring” books are likely considered to be non-canon. That doesn’t stop us from doing a bit of reckless speculation though.

Naxxramas is canonically still floating around northrend, no one has been able to knock it down. Brann says “it’s waiting for something”. DK PLAYER HOUSE INCOMING byu/slimeyellow inwow

According to the Exploring Azeroth: Northrend book, Bran and Muradin Bronzebeard reported that Naxxramas was still floating around Northrend, almost as if it was waiting for something. This took place after the war against the Jailer (Shadowlands).

Even if this isn't canon, it's important to note we've never seen the destruction of Naxxramas in WoW - so the likelihood of it still existing, floating in the sky is very high. There are also a few canonical updates that are coming that could lead to some Naxxramas love.

First, the Midnight expansion is supposed to bring player housing to the game. While we don’t exactly know what that means yet, much less when Midnight is coming, it would be interesting if players could take up residence in places like that.

What if it was class-based housing, and Death Knights could go to Naxxramas? Of course, it would likely be Acherus Hold — the Death Knights’ budget version of Naxx — but it would be a worthwhile endeavor to call Naxxramas home in World of Warcraft. It would certainly be worth whatever quest chain or gold cost it required. This one’s smaller.

You can still visit the Northrend Naxxramas raid by the old portal in the Eastern Plaguelands, interestingly enough (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

That said, we do know that The Last Titan is going to be a return to Northrend proper, a remade, updated Northrend. Almost nothing is known about this yet, other than that we’ll witness the Titans’ return to Azeroth, and will be heading to Ulduar — perhaps as a city/hub, but also potentially a raid.

Would Blizzard Entertainment really give players Naxxramas as a raid for a third time? If it fits the narrative and could be somehow redesigned/made worth doing in this modern time, absolutely. I could see that happening in World of Warcraft: The Last Titan.

---

Again, this is all just speculation, but in my estimation, we’re going to go back to Naxxramas one more time. Maybe not as a main raid, but as some kind of event or content. I’d be willing to bet on one more trip to Kel’thuzad’s floating necropolis.