Ranking
I think the playerbase will merge with a brand new one. I believe the members in the community right now will die off or treat this extention as like a super big addon to toribash the orginial. As far as playing the new game goes though, I suspect many people will still love the community but won't like the new game just like the orginial. ;)

No though, I can't imagine anything too extreme will happen unless the game was literaly going to be replaced or something likewise. Considering most community things are going to be merged, it seems natural most members would atleast attempt to merge with it.
Chickster: I literally don't know why I did it.