Back in 2017, Jagex decided they would go forward with an expansion model consisting of three expansion's that year. Only one of the expansion's had been revealed, which was Menaphos. However, due to poor results Jagex paused the expansion model and instead worked on 'Unfinished Business' and typical regular updates.
Last year, two updates (which essentially have the same outcome) were polled and both had a very high popularity. Whilst the wording may be incorrect, they were something along the lines of 'Rejuvenating the Wilderness' and 'Wilderness Before the God Wars'. I believe this makes sense to be the big update coming this summer or start of next year, because the planning.. had already been done, and when polled, players loved it.
So what's the evidence that Expansion 2 was anything like this?
- First of all, check out the URL for this image. Each individual image has a similar URL which states 'Before The Wilderness', you can find the full set of images here.
- Secondly, check out these graphically reworked God Wars bosses which were confirmed by Jagex to be from 'expansion 2'. By themselves, it's pretty speculative as to what expansion 2 could have been, but in the context of 'Before The Wilderness' it makes a lot of sense. Before the Wilderness as it is in-game, it was Forinthry. The area where the God Wars took place.
- Thirdly, the RuneFest 2017 lore talk was about the formation of armies during the God Wars. I unfortunately can't find a link to it, but many people will surely remember this talk. This information would have been essential in creating an update where we revisit the God Wars. EDIT: Here is the document
- Next, check out these images. Note that they're all 'Copyright Jagex' as opposed to hobbyist images. All of the following images look like content which could fill Forinthry before it was destroyed by the God Wars. The creatures could represent animals and monsters to fill Forinthry, now extinct due to the God Wars.
- If you look at the Jagex website, you can see Jmods working on concept art for 'Wilderness 2'. Click here to see that.
- Finally, in a recent livestream Mod Jack, Mod Timbo and Shauny made in-house jokes about visiting the Wilderness before the God Wars, and creating Player-Owned Towns.
I think this sounds like a very exciting update, and due to some work being done on it previously, and it performing so well in the polls.. It could make sense as the upcoming large summer update, or large update next year.
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