Developer: Blizzard
Publisher: Blizzard
Platform Reviewed: PC
Release Date: August 30, 2016
Acquired via: Purchase via Battle.net
World of Warcraft was a game that had seemingly lost its place. In the eyes of players, like me, who had put years into the MMORPG – and especially those who had cut their teeth during the “vanilla” years – WoW was washed up. The Warlords of Draenor expansion was generally accepted as a vastly inferior product. Interest in the MMO dwindled, and players fled like birds from gunfire.
World of Warcraft Legion was unofficially tasked with righting the ship. Blizzard never said as such, but all the weight of Warlords of Draenor’s failures was dropped on Legion’s shoulders. This was the expansion that would rekindle interest in the MMORPG, enticing both new players and disenchanted old fans simultaneously. I’m not a soothsayer, but I think Blizzard has concocted the right expansion to do both.
This expansion brings the Burning Legion, the antagonists of WoW’s first expansion, back to the forefront. Their invasion of Azeroth is the “big bad” that galvanizes the heroes of the Alliance and the Horde to fight against a common enemy. The pre-expansion storyline that dragged both factions to the Broken Shore pulled no punches, killing prominent characters off and setting the dire stakes very plainly. Once the game launched, Blizzard began to openly flex its storytelling and world-building muscles, showing that they still can bring it when it counts.
Once the launch content is done the game cuts you loose, free to explore the Broken Shore’s four main zones at your leisure. The new world structure scales to your level, allowing you to tackle it in the order you want. Whether you hit Stormheim or Azsuna first, the gameplay will tailor to your experience level. This gives players some feeling of agency, not just going to an area because that’s where you’re supposed to go to now.
All of the zones are absolutely gorgeous. In typical World of Warcraft fashion, there is ample detail and character to each zone. The quests do funnel you from one story point to the next, but there is ample side content for adventurers like me to chase after. Whether it’s a treasure chest that contains an item that can add artifact power to your weapon or a rare spawn that drops a companion pet or rare piece of armor, there are plenty of diversions for an ADHD player like me.
Throughout my quest to reach World of Warcraft Legion’s new level 110 cap, I never found myself bored or dragged down. Yes, the typical “kill x number of y” fetch quests got tiring by the third time I had to do it, and the endless grinding needed to gain reputation or reach a certain item level was exhausting. But ripping through the questlines to resolve story arcs did not feel like a chore. The story elements pulled me through, keeping me interest in the story and the stakes.
Blizzard’s dark humor shines throughout the questing. At one point, I have to conduct an escort quest with an elf addicted to mana . Having to stop periodically in order for the elf to get a bump is silly. Sillier still is another escort quest where I have to proceed at a tortoise’s pace in order to not over-tax an elderly tauren woman. The dialogue in both instances will generate a few chuckles.
Speaking of instances, the 5-man dungeons in World of Warcraft Legion are a return to form of sorts. While Warlords of Draenor’s dungeons were technically interesting, they seemed to lack a sense of story interest and general fun. Legion’s instances seem to be more engaging; running them through them with my guild was entertaining despite the brutal way they treated us. And there are quite a few of them at launch, ensuring that you won’t get bored farming them for better gear.
That farming highlights the one weakness with an MMO like World of Warcraft in general: the grinding! Once all the questlines are completed and all the instances done, the game will ask you to keep running through ground already tread to grind reputation for the different factions in the expansion. Though it is not necessary, it rewards dedicated adherents with improvements in gear and perks. Many players will jump on the hamster wheel, seeking those bonuses. And they will cry.
One grind that will definitely reap rewards is the artifact weapon grind. Artifact weapons, introduced with World of Warcraft Legion, are a really cool way to inject new interest into a character’s primary weapons. Each class specialization has its own artifact weapon based on the game’s lore. This weapon will stay with the character throughout the expansion’s playthrough, upgraded by applying artifact power to augment certain stats. Acquiring these artifacts requires the player to complete a questline that delves deep into Azeroth’s history, giving Blizzard another chance to show off its storytelling muscles. One of my artifact quests (you can do one for each specialization for your class) sent me to an area I had rarely visited as a member of the Alliance and helped flesh out one of my class’s heroes. This system is absolutely awesome.
Another new mechanic is the class order hall. Every class in World of Warcraft Legion has its own order hall that serves as its headquarters. Originally, I feared that the class halls were just going to be gussied-up garrisons, easily the most disappointing part of Warlords of Draenor. Thankfully, order halls are an improvement. They break away from al the micromanagement shit that garrisons required, focusing on simple things like upgrading the order halls and upgrading the artifact weapon. It’s also good to go to a dedicated area for my class. Garrisons are entirely solo; I enter the garrison and am cut off from the rest of the world. Going to my order hall and spotting two dozen player-rolled warriors of different specs and races is pretty cool. It’s almost like a secret club; all that’s missing is the secret handshakes and cool hats.
The best mechanic is not noticed until all quest content is consumed. Once everything has been done, the endgame content is supposed to carry players over until the raid content is unleashed. Raids won’t be available for a few weeks, so the game has to entertain us somehow. Here, Blizzard smartly introduced the world quest system. This replaces the old daily quest system and makes sure content won’t get stale quickly. Instead of forcing players to run the same few quests every day for every zone, players are sent all over the zones to do different things. It mimics Diablo III: Reaper of Souls’ adventure mode, randomly generating quests every day. This turns the Broken Shore into a pseudo-endgame area, giving players a set of bounties that give real variety to the endgame process. Better loot drops, artifact power trinkets, and heaps of gold await those who run that path.
Overall, World of Warcraft Legion brings a good amount of new ways to do the same old thing in the game. They add a fresh new sheen to the base mechanics. Yes, you have to cleave through an inordinate amount of enemies to progress, but you’re having more fun doing so. At no point during my playthrough did I feel like I was bogged down in crap. Whenever I wanted to break from the questline, there were plenty of treasures and rares around to justify my breaking away for a bit of adventuring. I still came back to the questline, not because it was mandated but because I cared about the story. Ysera has been corrupted? I want to reverse the corruption! Malfurion is missing? Let’s go find him! I was completely invested in the story at every point, and that is an impressive feat for an MMORPG.
I haven’t even talked about the new class that was introduced in World of Warcraft Legion: the Demon Hunter. Quick summation: they’re awesome, roll one and go nuts! They look like Lord Illidan, the absolute coolest individual in the Warcraft universe. DO IT AND NEVER LOOK BACK!
In truth, that speaks to the greatness that is World of Warcraft Legion. The new hero class is just another reason to play this game. I’m not going to pretend that I’m an authority on the series; I began to play the game about midway through the Burning Legion expansion. I will say, however, that this expansion has reinvigorated my interest in the game. For the first time in years, I am willing to keep my subscription alive. If this is what they have available at launch, what will they drop on us later? I want to know, and the game MADE me want to know.
This is the highest praise I can heap upon the game: I want more. Since my introduction to WoW, I have only cared about leveling and progressing one character. That persisted through all the expansions I have played. For the first time, I want to progress more characters, starting with my newly-minted level 100 Havoc Demon Hunter. I want to see how I can change up the progression. I’ll start in a different zone and try to power through the questline without distractions. After that? Well, I have a 100 Orc Warrior. How different will the questline be for a Horde character? I’m guessing it won’t be that much different, but I want to see!
If you can get me to play the same game three times and have me excited at the prospect, you win! World of Warcraft Legion wins!
