The Broken Isles
Quite literally the largest addition to World of Warcraft in the new Legion expansion is the introduction of the brand new continent, The Broken Isles. While Legion will bring players back to beloved areas from the original game, a majority of the time spent in Legion will consist of the player exploring and questing around The Broken Isles’ seven new zones. From the fel-swept regions of Azsuna to the corrupted druidic groves of Val’sharah, each zone consists of brand new environments, powerful new enemies, and rich, character-driven storylines for mighty new heroes to discover.
The most interesting change with the inclusion of The Broken Isles is that players are free to traverse the regions in whichever order they see fit due to the new level scaling mechanic. This change automatically sets enemy and quest levels equal to the player’s current level, providing them the freedom to choose where they’d like to go and when. Of course, each new area houses all-new dungeons and raids chock full of bosses just ready to drop some sweet, sweet loot right into the hands of heroes desperate for a higher item level.
Demon Hunter
A long while ago, the first Demon Hunter and former good twin brother turned main expansion big bad, Illidan Stormrage, was struck down toward the end of the first WoW expansion, The Burning Crusade. However before that, Illidan sent his elite squad of Demon Hunters to another world in a effort to strike back against the legion and through some very convenient storytelling, those Demon Hunters have returned as a playable class. Demon Hunters are WoW’s second hero class that draw on dark fel energy and rely on their incredible natural agility to unleash destructive attacks against their foes.
Aside from the completely obvious reason of looking like a total badass, Blizzard has given players fantastic reasons to begin anew as a Demon Hunter. Demon Hunters have only two powerful and versatile specs: Havoc (for dealing damage) and Vengeance (for tanking). Only Blood Elves and Night Elves are eligible to become Demon Hunters, but the class begins its journey at level 100, allowing the player to quickly delve into Legion content immediately. The class uses Fury to fuel its attacks and are able to wield Warglaives, Daggers, Fist Weapons, One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, and One-Handed Swords. Each player may only have one Demon Hunter per realm and the player must already have a level 70 character on that realm to even create one.
Artifact Weapons
One of the strangest, yet most inspired ideas introduced into WoW to date are Artifact Weapons. Weapons will no longer drop in Legion, instead each class specialization will be entrusted with a mythical Artifact Weapon that will be upgraded throughout the player’s journey. The weapon is given out at the beginning of the expansion and will follow the player all the way until the end. Artifacts play a central role within Legion’s story and play a major part in the player’s character developing new and extraordinary abilities.
From the moment you first step foot on The Broken Isles with your artifact in hand, the weapon is upgradable. By completing certain quests and defeating rare spawn enemies, you’ll receive items that will imbue your weapon with experience or Artifact Power. Artifact Power can be spent on upgrades for the weapon which will enhance not only the weapon itself, but also the character’s attributes and abilities as well. In many ways, one’s Artifact Weapon can be seen as another talent tree, unlocking new powers as it gains experience and levels up.
Each weapon has three available Relic Slots as well, which can be slotted with relic items that will add points into specific nodes on the skill tree and increase the weapon’s item level (thus giving it higher stats making it even more powerful). Relics can be acquired as weapons were in the past, from quests, vendors, and as boss drops. Finally, Artifact Weapons can be transmogrified by completing certain quests or raising the weapon’s level high enough. Each artifact has four unique models with four color palettes per model available to unlock and be switched at will.
Class Orders
Blizzard has decided to move away from the Garrison mechanic introduced in the last expansion and replaced it with something a bit more in line with Legion’s tone. In the expansion, players will take control and lead an organization representative of the player’s class (such as Paladins becoming the Highlord of the Knights of the Silver Hand and taking refuge within the Sanctum of Light). The Order Halls are sanctuaries for Horde and Alliance players and will act as each individual player’s base of operations throughout their journey. Heroes are able to strengthen their Artifact Weapons in these strongholds and are given questlines that allow each Order Hall to be upgraded in various ways.
Players are also given the opportunity to recruit notable NPC champions from each class and send them on missions around The Broken Isles which yield grand rewards in the form of Artifact Power, Gold, Player Experience, and much more. However, in order to send followers on missions and upgrade your facilities, you’ll require a brand new currency known as Order Resources. Not to worry though, as Order Resources can be found all over the The Broken Isles from quests, chests, and rare spawn monsters. Each Order Hall will also grant players a class-specific set of gear which can be enhanced by using Order Resources to purchase upgrade items from the Hall’s Quartermaster.
Honor Talents
Upon reaching the new max level in Legion, 110, a new set of talents will be unlocked called Honor Talents. Honor Talents are part of Blizzard’s restructuring of WoW’s PvP and are a new system of PvP-specific talents that will unlock as players accumulate honor. These talents work similarly to regular Talents in that they are class-specific and designed so that players may only choose one of three talents in each individual row. Talents will unlock as the player gains honor ranks and upon reaching the max rank of 50, the player may choose to Prestige, reverting back to honor rank 1. Though you’ll have to farm up the honor in order to unlock the skills once more, Prestiging will yield special cosmetic rewards such as new colors and skins for your Artifact Weapon or unique mounts.
In this new PvP system, both your Honor Talents and regular Talents will both come into play. On top of that, all abilities granted by your Artifact Weapon will remain active as well, turning your hero into a formidable, faction-crushing powerhouse. Be sure to remember that Honor Talents will not work in world PvP and are instead restricted to Battlegrounds and Arenas, lest you try to rely on something you don’t have access to.
World of Warcraft: Legion is full of new, game-changing features that has revitalized the almost 12 year old game. Which feature are you most excited about? Leave a comment and let us know!
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