World of Warcraft: Legion

	; World of Warcraft: Legion
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment; Team 2
Publisher(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Director(s)	Tom Chilton; Ion Hazzikostas; Alex Afrasiabi;
Designer(s)	Cory Stockton; Jonathan LeCraft; Jeremy Feasel; Brian Holinka; Chadd Nervig
Composer(s)	Russell Brower; Neal Acree; Clint Bajakian
Platforms	Microsoft Windows, macOS
Release	NA/EU: August 30, 2016;
Latest release	7.3.5
Genre(s)	Expansion pack
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
	Standard; Digital Deluxe; Collectors;
Expansion packs chronology

"Legion" redirects here. For other uses, see Legion (disambiguation).

World of Warcraft: Legion is the sixth expansion for World of Warcraft. It was announced at gamescom on 6 August 2015 and released on 30 August 2016,^[2]^[3] selling 3.3 million copies by the end of launch day.^[4] The expansion's alpha went live on 23 November 2015,^[5] then concluded on 10 May 2016 in order for the beta to start two days later.^[6] The pre-expansion patch, patch 7.0.3, was released on 19 July 2016. Legion would later be merged with the base game on 18 July 2018, thus only requiring game time to access its content.^[7]

Legion was offered in three versions: Standard Edition, Digital Deluxe Edition and Collector's Edition.

Story

Kingdoms Will Burn

The Tomb of Sargeras has been reopened, and the demons of the Burning Legion pour into our world. Their full, terrifying might is fixed on summoning the Dark Titan to Azeroth-and they've already located the key to his return.

With the Alliance and Horde devastated, adventurers must take up legendary artifacts and weapons used by the heroes of old, scour the ancient Broken Isles for relics of the Titans, and challenge the Burning Legion before Azeroth's last hope dies.

Steel yourself, champion. Extinction is imminent.^[8]

Following the events of Warlords of Draenor, the alternate Draenor's Gul'dan is expelled by his demonic masters into the original Azeroth with a special purpose - to reopen the Tomb of Sargeras and the gateway to Argus, commencing the third invasion of the Burning Legion, an invasion even greater than the War of the Ancients. Gul'dan also had to find and steal the body of the famous demon hunter Illidan Stormrage.

After the defeat at the Broken Shore, the defenders of Azeroth found themselves exploring the long-forgotten Broken Isles in search of the Pillars of Creation, titan relics which were used to shape the world - and which were Azeroth's only hope for closing the massive demonic portal at the heart of the Tomb. However, the Broken Isles - a land which 10,000 years ago was home to the then mighty night elf civilization - came with their own perils to overcome, from the demon lord Xavius and his satyr armies, to the vrykul's God-King Skovald, to the powerful nightborne night elves, and the deadly naga led by Tidemistress Athissa.

As part of this desperate search, the Kirin Tor, now led by Khadgar, moved the floating city of Dalaran to the shores of this land, with the city serving as a central hub for the efforts of the world's heroes. The death knights of Acherus also took their floating necropolis to the Isles.

To defend their world against the onslaught of the Legion, the heroes of Azeroth sought out legendary artifact weapons to wield in battle, but also found themselves embracing new and unexpected allies in the form of the Illidari, Illidan's elite disciples, freed in desperation by the Wardens that guarded them to fight against the Legion in this hour of need.

Ongoing conflict between the Alliance and the Horde led to the formation of the class orders, with exceptional commanders putting aside faction to lead their classes in the fight against the Legion.

Official wallpaper.

Box art.

Features

New continent: the Broken Isles
- Dalaran moving from Northrend to become the new capital city
- Val'sharah - Home of the [Tear of Elune], where the druids fight the Emerald Nightmare
- Stormheim - Home of the [Aegis of Aggramar], where Odyn tested the order hall leaders
- Azsuna - Home of the [Tidestone of Golganneth], where the order hall leaders saved Senegos and fought the Naga
- Highmountain - Home of the [Hammer of Khaz'goroth], where the order hall leaders defeated the drogbar led by Dargrul the Underking
- Suramar - Home of the Eye of Aman'thul, where the Nightfallen would rebel against Elisande and the Nightborne
- Broken Shore - The island where the Tomb of Sargeras is located, turned into the Burning Legion's primary foothold on Azeroth
- Argus - Homeworld of the draenei and base of operations for the Legion, we must fight to defeat them and topple Sargeras from his throne from our ship, The Vindicaar. Three zones make up Argus:
  - Krokuun - The surface of Argus, where we make our first landing
  - Eredath - The capital of the shattered world
  - Antoran Wastes - The planet core, and the heart of corruption, both literally and figuratively
New hero class: Demon hunter
Artifact weapons - 36 to encompass all specializations, plus [Underlight Angler] for Fishing
- Trees for further spell/ability customization
- Appearance customization
- Artifact forms for Feral and Guardian druids
Class orders
- Order Halls
- Unique campaigns for each class
New dungeons, raids, and world bosses
Level cap increased to 110
New honor system
- New PvP-only talent system
- Removal of PvP gear
- Significance of gear in PvP drastically reduced
- Trinkets, set bonuses, enchantments, gems no longer active in PvP
- Stats automatically adjusted to specialization-determined presets when entering PvP
- Prestige ranks to earn
Character slots per server increased to 12^[9]
New social feature notifying you when friends join a queue, and allowing you to queue with them^[9]
Improved transmogrification system
Improved communication across groups^[9]
Older time limited legendary items, such as the Mists of Pandaria cape, became transmogable^[9]
Each profession has their own quest line along with some system changes, new functionality and improved UI^[9]

Bonus features

Players pre-purchasing Legion also received the following bonuses:^[2]

Level 100 Character Boost
Early access to the demon hunter class

The Digital Deluxe and Collector Edition came with the following bonuses:^[2]

Illidari Felstalker mount
[Nibbles] felstalker battle pet
Bonuses for Diablo III, Heroes of the Storm and StarCraft II available in those games

New zones

Level up zones

Azsuna
Val'sharah
Highmountain
Stormheim
Mardum - demon hunter intro

Max level zones

Dungeons and raids

Dungeons

Within the Vault of the Wardens.

An overgrown enclave in Darkheart Thicket.

Halls of Valor
- Home of Odyn, inspired by Valhalla
- God-King Skovald, leader of the Felskorn vrykul, allied with the Legion
Black Rook Hold
- Home of Kur'talos Ravencrest, ancient night elf fortress in Val'sharah
Vault of the Wardens
- Warden maximum-security facility, from where alternate Gul'dan stole Illidan
Eye of Azshara
- Minions of Queen Azshara seeking to ravage the land
Darkheart Thicket
- Insides of Shaladrassil, where Malfurion was held captive
Neltharion's Lair
- Capital of the Drogbar
Maw of Souls
- Opposite of the Halls of Valor, realm of Helya
The Arcway
- Catacombs of Suramar
Court of Stars
- The largest mansion in the Noble District of Suramar
Assault on Violet Hold
- The Kirin Tor's prison re-openeed
Return to Karazhan
- Aid Khadgar in preventing the Legion from using Medivh's tower as a second major gateway to Azeroth
Cathedral of Eternal Night
- The upper portions of the Tomb of Sargeras, corrupted and defiled by Mephistroth
Seat of the Triumvirate
- Once the seat of power on Argus, it is now overtaken by the powers of the void

Raids

The Fallen Avatar awaits in the Tomb of Sargeras.

The Emerald Nightmare
- 7 bosses
- Emerald Dream, twisted and shadowed
- Pursue Cenarius, face Xavius
Trial of Valor
- 3 bosses
- A final confrontation with Helya, ruler of Helheim
The Nighthold
- 10 bosses
- Built around the Nightwell, center of Suramar's power
- Face off against Elisande and Gul'dan
The Tomb of Sargeras
- 9 bosses
- The prison of the Avatar of Sargeras, turned into a gateway to Argus
- Kil'jaeden awaits at the other side, and will not accept defeat
Antorus, The Burning Throne
- 11 Bosses
- The seat of the power for The Burning Legion built upon Argus' core
- Face off against powerful demons such as Varimathras, purify the titan pantheon, and destroy the world soul of argus, Argus the Unmaker

Dalaran

The expansion saw story-based modifications made to Dalaran, including changes to the center (most notably Aegwynn's Tower) as well as the Underbelly, which saw a new free for all PvP area.^[10]

Artifacts

Customizing the Blades of the Fallen Prince in the death knight Class Hall.

Main article: Artifact

Legion introduced Artifacts, a special new type of weapon that served as the only weapon a player would wield over the course of the expansion.

Players acquired these new weapons early in the expansion's run, and the item grew in power alongside players. Players earned Artifact Power through engaging in most types of play, and spent this to unlock a unique tree of traits traced upon the form of their Artifacts, enhancing their abilities. Players also obtained Artifact relics from major content such as dungeons and raids, and socketed them within the Artifact to increase their power. Artifacts also came with an extensive range of visual customization options.

There is an Artifact for each class specialization, 36 in total. For example, Blood death knights and Frost death knights have different Artifacts. Obtaining each Artifact involves a unique quest to seek out these powerful weapons.

Class Orders

Main article: Class Order

Class Orders represent the collective effort of each class to band together to face the threat posed by the return of the Burning Legion.^[11] With tensions between the Alliance and Horde preventing faction leaders from working closely, it is up to the classes themselves to unite to focus on this threat, and do what needs to be done.^[11]

After their success on Draenor, the players are looked to as the leader for their entire class. The Class Order creation process begins with the acquisition of an Artifact. With this serving to inspire the allegiance of the other members of the player's class, the player founds their Class Hall.^[11]

Class Halls

The paladin Class Hall, in a hidden templar sanctum beneath Light's Hope Chapel.

Main article: Class Hall

Class Orders have their base of operations at unique Class Halls, special locations with a strong connection to the class. These class-specific areas only allow access to players of the corresponding class, and serve as a center for coordinating the efforts of that class, including sending champions on missions.

Class Halls are in many ways Legion's counterpart to Warlords of Draenor's garrisons. They serve as a secondary hub for players outside of the main capital of Dalaran, and allow players to command a team of champions to undertake special missions. A key difference to garrisons is that the Class Halls are realm-wide, and are open to all characters of that class, including characters of both factions.^[11]^[10] Class Halls were not intended to players' main residence during the expansion, but instead somewhere to travel to send champions on missions, customize Artifacts, and pick up special quests, before likely returning to the capital of Dalaran.

Champions

The evolution of the Warlords of Draenor follower system, Class Halls featured class champions, which the player is able to send on missions.

In contrast to the follower system, which saw players recruiting a large number of miscellaneous characters, in Legion players command a far small force of exceptional champions, with some fairly major lore characters such as Lady Liadrin. As with followers, players send their champions on missions, but these missions were more integrated into the rest of the game experience, unlocking content and enabling the player in related zones. For example, missions may open new areas for questing, or grant special buffs to the player while in certain zones. Players were intended to work alongside and with their champions, rather than competing with them for rewards.

Class and specialization identity

A major theme of Legion was the forging of clear and distinct identities not only for each class, but also for each specialization. While some of this was achieved through the Class Order and Artifact systems, the developers also planned on making significant changes to the concept, design and in some cases main functionalities of the existing specs.^[12] Even a specialization was renamed to be more distinct - "Combat" rogue was changed to Outlaw.

Player versus player content

Earning ranks in the new honor system.

Legion saw some of the biggest changes to the player vs player experience in the history of World of Warcraft, with the removal of PvP gear, a dramatic reduction of gear significance in PvP, the disabling of trinkets, set bonuses, enchantments and gems in PvP, automatic adjustment of player stats while in PvP, and the introduction of the first true honor talents.

A major theme of Legion was the separation of PvP and PvE, to an extent that had not been seen before. Long requested by some players, the division was intended to finally allow the designers to create two different versions of the classes, allowing for far better balance in both arenas.

New honor system

Main article: Honor system (Legion)

At the heart of the changes lies the new honor system. The new system removed [Honor Points] and [Conquest Points], replacing them with a new PvP talent system, granting access to new abilities that functioned only in PvP combat, representing the major division in abilities between PvP and PvE.

Players also earned "prestige ranks" for access to cosmetic rewards. The intention was that players who wish to focus purely on gameplay can quickly reach the maximum power for their character, and enjoy PvP without being at any disadvantage. Meanwhile, those players interested in cosmetic rewards, or simply attaining recognition for their achievements, can choose to pursue the prestige ranks, giving them more substantial goals to work toward over time.

The new honor system was also intended to heavily reduce the importance of player gear in PvP play. In the new system, the significance of gear was heavily scaled down, with the best gear in the game providing perhaps a 7% advantage over a character who had just reached max level. This aimed to still provide some satisfaction from acquiring new gear, but to for the most part remove the significance of gear from PvP, returning the focus to playing ability as well strategic options such as talent choices. It also saw the complete removal of PvP gear itself, along with PvP stats such as resilience.^[10]

System changes

Besides the new honor system, Legion saw other major changes to PvP:

When entering a battleground or PvP area, the stats of each player were adjusted automatically based on their specialization. This is intended to allow the developers to balance each class and specialization for PvP specifically, without affecting PvE.^[13]
Trinkets, set bonuses, enchantments and gems did not activate in PvP. This again served to separate the two types of play. Their removal was expected to dramatically reduce unpredictable burst damage, making sustained damage more important. The impact of these effects was replaced by the PvP talent system. For example, the traditional PvP trinket was replaced by the very first PvP talent earned.^[13]

Prominent figures

Illidan, Khadgar, and Velen witness the appearance of Argus in the sky.

Main characters

Other

Sargeras impaling Azeroth after the death of Argus the Unmaker.

Factions and organizations

Deliverance Point, the main base of the Armies of Legionfall.

New creatures

Humanoids

Broken (new unique type from Argus) (7.3)
Drogbar
Fel corrupted harpy (7.2)
Fel corrupted murloc (7.2)
Fel corrupted naga (7.2)
Fel corrupted vrykul
Highmountain tauren
- Fel corrupted Highmountain tauren
Lightforged draenei
Naga brute
Nightborne
- Fal'dorei
  - Fel corrupted fal'dorei (7.1)
- Felborne
- Nightfallen
  - Withered
Nightmare corrupted dryad
Nightmare corrupted keeper of the grove
Nightmare corrupted satyr
Tortollan (part of a purchase companion pet) (7.3.5)
Void elf (7.3.5)
Void ethereal (7.3)
Voidscarred (7.3)

Beasts

Arcane hippogryph
Arcane scorpion
Basilisk (new type)
Brinedeep Bottom-Feeder
Horse (holy light flying type) (7.2)
Falcosaur
Fox (a new type) (7.2)
Helhound
Helsquid
Lunarwing owl (7.2)
Mana ray (7.3)
Manasaber (seen previously as Shop item s)
Marsuul
Moose (previously seen as an epic mount)
Mountain lion (that isn't a saber cat)
Musken
Nightmare spider
Owl (a new type)
Owlcat
Panthara (7.3)
Ratstallion
Raven (a new larger type) (7.2)
Roc (a type with a unique model)
Sandpiper
Seeker (7.2)
Shadow serpent (7.2)
Spider (new type)
Unicorn (a new type)
Violet Spellwing (7.3)
Voidstrider (7.3.5)
Wolfhawk (7.2)
Zandalari ravasaur (part of a purchase mount) (7.3.5)

Demons

Giants

Burning Legion Titanic watcher (7.2)
Fel corrupted sea giant(7.2)
Titan (7.3)

Dragonkin

Nightmare dragon
Storm drake (a new type)
- Fel corrupted storm dragon

Mechanical

Undead

Skeletal hound (a new type)
Spectre
Soul-Eater (7.3.5)
Undead dragon whelp (new types) (7.2)
Val'kyr (Light version)
Vampyr (human and vrykul type)

Elemental

Arcanamental (as a single one)
Lightspawn
Nightmare corrupted ancient (a new type)
- Nightmare corrupted treant
Nightmare corrupted Orchid lasher
Nightmare mistlurker
Raging Tempest (7.2)
Tree of life

Aberration

Haunt (new types that aren't sha)

New notable unique creatures

Agronox (a unique fel corrupted ancient)
Fallen Avatar
High Botanist Tel'arn (a botanically transformed nightborne)
Krosus
Lothraxion (a Lightforged nathrezim)
Mischief (a purchasable companion pet)
Shadow (a purchasable companion pet)
Shu-Zen, the Divine Sentinel (a purchasable mount)
Turalyon (a human)
Vydhar

System requirements

Main article: System requirements

Development

The alpha for Legion went live on the 11th anniversary of the release of the original World of Warcraft.^[5] Flying was not available at launch and came later much like in Warlords of Draenor, with the [Broken Isles Pathfinder, Part Two] achievement.^[9]

It was stated that BlizzCon 2015 would most likely have the "first playable tour of the world".^[14]

The demon hunter class had been considered since Wrath of the Lich King. They were added in this expansion because it finally fit into the story.^[15] Demon hunter was also considered for The Burning Crusade, but the developers were not ready to add another class at that time.^[10]

Legion had the most voice acting of any expansion to date.^[16]

It was decided that the intro cinematic feature a war-zone, but the "emotional hook" was decided upon later. Going into war tropes, the cinematics team settled on the idea of an individual writing letters home, and echoing the themes of "why do we fight?" and "what is worth fighting for?" Original concepts had these letters being written by an Alliance footman, and transitioning the sequence to an orc grunt. The sequence would end with Varian writing a letter to Anduin.^[17] It was decided that while it was clear that the Alliance and Horde were on their way to fight the Burning Legion, they would be fighting the environment itself to some extent.^[18] The design of the airships was taken from 18th century frigates.^[19]

Notes

"Legion" was a placeholder name, and the expansion could have come after Mists of Pandaria.^[20]

Tie-in literature

See: Prepare for the Invasion

Gallery

Screenshots

A female night elf demon hunter.
A male blood elf demon hunter.
Tomb of Sargeras
Suramar
Val'sharah
Val'sharah
Mardum
Ashbringer
Azsuna
Azsuna
Azsuna
Azsuna
Highmountain
Highmountain
Highmountain
Highmountain
Stormheim
Stormheim
Stormheim
Stormheim
Val'sharah
Val'sharah
Val'sharah
Val'sharah
Vault of the Wardens
Drogbar
Vrykul
Vydhar
Highmountain tauren
Updated satyr model
Updated harpy model
Moose
Fel lords and felguards marching to battle.
From the gamescom announcement: customizing the [Ashbringer] at the paladin Class Hall.