World of Warcraft. For over ten years Blizzard’s behemoth has occupied the throne as king of the MMOs. With over 10 billion dollars in revenue, 100 million created accounts, more than 6 million years cumulative playtime, countless pieces of merchandise, a highpoint of 12 million monthly subscribers, and five expansions, there’s never been any game that can compare to WoW.
The game’s sixth expansion, Legion, was recently announced to the public. The official release date is still unknown, although most people suspect it will officially come out sometime in the middle of next year. If you can’t wait that long then head over to battle.net and sign up for the beta, which will be launching later this year.
Here we have gathered 8 of the coolest new things we know about Legion so far. Some of the better-known ones have been left out, such the level cap going up to 110 and the invasion storyline, in favor of some of the lesser known features and game mechanics.
WoW may have been losing subscribers recently, but could Legion see the game return to its former glories? We will have to wait and see.
8. The Broken Isles continent
Legion is another WoW expansion that introduces a new continent to the game; this time, it’s the Broken Isles. A group of Islands set in the heart of Azeroth, the Broken Isles are the starting point for those first venturing into the Legion (specifically, the area located in the southeast called The Broken Shore).
As well as the Broken Isles, the new continent has five other zones. These include the forgotten druid refuge of Val’Sharah; Stormheim, where players can uncover the origins of the Val’kyr and the Kvaldir; Azsuna, the resting place for the ghosts of ancient Night Elves and remnants of the blue dragon flight; the Tauren lands of Highmountain; and the ancient Eleven area of Suramar, which is said to be very different from anything WoW has seen before.
7. Find sanctuary in the order halls
The Class Order Halls introduced in Legion will be a place for players of a specific class to hang out. They are an area for both the Alliance and Horde to customize their artifacts (which are discussed later) and receive quests. From these halls, a player can send NPC followers on missions to defend Azeroth from the Legion's incursion. Order Halls will also have champions; these differ from followers by actually enhancing the player’s experience, rather than just going out on missions and returning with rewards.
6. Tomb Raiders
Legion will initially come with two new raids: Emerald Nightmare and Suramar Palace. The former will be available soon after launch and come with 7 bosses, while the latter will follow at a later date with 10 bosses.
Created using the twisted thoughts and fears of sleeping beings’ subconscious minds, the Emerald Nightmare is a mobile area of corruption within the Emerald Dream. It travels slowly through the Dream, leaving corrupted, vicious animals and Unwaking travelers in its path.
Suramar Palace is home of the Nightborn, ancient relatives of the Night Elves and Powerful magic users. The palace is home to the Nightwell, source of the Nightborn’s magical power. Should players make it to the final boss of the raid, they will face Gul’dan.
5. What a prestigious honor system
WoW players will see an entirely new PvP system in Legion, one that differs from the current system of accumulating honor points to buy gear with.
Honor system version 3 is a new talent point-based mechanic that turns honor into a variant of experience. As a player progresses from Honor Rank 1 to 50, they earn perks, bonuses and talents that only work in PvP. Once you hit the system's level cap you get the option to go back to level one to unlock cosmetic rewards such as new character portraits and mounts.
4. Leeroy Jenkins
There will be nine new dungeons in Legion. They have supposedly been designed so as to keep a player’s attention better than the dungeons from Warlords of Draenor.
The dungeons include the Valhalla-inspired levelling area of the Halls of Valor; Lord Ravencroft’s ancestral home, Black Rook Hold; the Demon Hunters starting area and place of Darkness, Vault of the Wardens; Eye of Azshara, where players will deal with the minions and Naga of Queen Azshara; the corrupted Darkheart Thicket at the base of the world tree; Neltharion’s Lair, located in Highmountain and serving as the center of Drogbar Society; Helheim, where players will battle damned spirits of the Kvaldir on a ship that sails through stormy seas; Surmar City, the city of night where the Nightborn rule; and Violet Hold, which will reveal more about Dalaran and the world itself.
3. Fly, my pretties!
Yes, there will be flying in Legion. After the 6.2.2 WoW patch, we finally have flying in Warlords of Draenor (after completing certain conditions, though most people will have already met them). The same template for achieving flight will probably be used in the upcoming expansion – but not right away.
Blizzard have been pretty vague on the specifics regarding Flying in Legion, but the company seems to be suggesting that flight will be unlocked via an achievement rather than by paying with gold. This could take the form of a quest, finding a certain item, exploring areas or possibly from requirements such as rep. As with Draenor, Blizzard have said flight won’t be immediately available. All this may change, of course, as Blizzard likes to constantly remind people that statements aren’t promises.
2. Introducing the Demon Hunter
Legion sees the introduction of the new mighty Demon Hunter hero class. Only the second hero class, after the Death Knight, Demon hunters can operate as either a damage dealer or a tank, turning the power of the Burning Legion against foes. They forgo heavy armour in favour of speed, meaning they are only capable of equipping cloth or leather, and Demon Hunters can only be Night Elves or Blood Elves. Being a hero class, they will more than likely start at a high level, probably 100.
Demon Hunters come with two specs; Havoc for DPS, and Vengeance for tanking. They use their spectral sight to detect enemies, even those behind obstacles, can metamorphosis into fel forms, are able to channel the chaos energy within them into their melee weapons, have the power to cover their bodies in a shell of flame, are able to double jump in and out of combat (probably their most exciting feature), and can even unfold their wings allowing them to performing gliding descents to surprise unsuspecting enemies from above.
1. Feel the power of the artifacts
Legendary items just not doing it for you anymore? Then prepare to get your hands on some artifact weapons. Set to become the highest level of WoW item quality, Legion will feature 36 artifact weapons and each one will have its own questline relevant to the class and specialization that wields it.
Artifacts have their own ability trees and grow in power alongside the wielder. The upgrades a player assigns to an artifact not only grant the item new skills and traits, but it also alters the look, feel and even the sound of the weapon - allowing for a greater level of customization.
There'll even be some artifact variations that can only be attained in the form of special rewards in PvP.
