Warcraft: Legion Expansion Guide

07/01/16 UPDATE: I talked with the folks over on the Convert to Raid podcast about my impressions of Legion Beta. I always enjoy when given the opportunity to take part in community events, so much love goes out the CTR crew. Give it a listen and let me know what you think!

As we enter the Warcraft: Legion expansion, we find ourselves in an MMO world where there is actually legitimate competition, and plenty of it. So what will Legion bring that will keep our focus and hearts in Azeroth? Well, there are actually many things that are changing in the game, some things being added, and even some being removed.

Therefore, I have found the opportunity to create more of a reference guide / recap for players returning to the game or interested in upcoming Legion changes. This guide will provide some of the newer features and changes to the game coming in Legion that you may want to know more about. My intent is not to go in depth on each of these items, but to provide a general overview of them and a means of diving further in and learning more about the item if you so choose. Think of this as a mini catch-up session for Legion – I truly hope it helps. If you still have questions after reading the guide, please don’t hesitate to ask questions either here or in-game at Accomp#1170. Enjoy!

 

Demon Hunters  —  Class Spec Overhaul  —  Class Halls  —  Artifact Weapons  —  Artifact Power  —  Broken Isles Scaling  —  World Quests  —  Suramar  —  Dungeons  —  Raids  —  Personal Loot  —  Professions  —  Legendaries  —  PvP  —  Transmog  —  Glyphs  —  Searching For A Guild

Demon Hunters

New class with Vengeance (Tank) and Havoc (DPS) specs! This Night Elf/Blood Elf exclusive class is a glaives-wielding, super mobile, in-your-face experience I’d recommend at least trying out, even if melee isn’t your thing.

Resources: Warcraft Game Guide: Demon Hunter

Class Spec Overhaul

All class specs in Legion have received a complete refresh. You can expect a large variety of differences with each spec (some more than others). This includes new abilities, rotations and, dare I say, performance tuning. I highly encourage checking out some new specs and seeing if any pique your interest as you level towards the new cap of 110.

Class communities have adopted the use of Discord, a voice and chat communication tool available on PC/Mac/mobile. I highly recommend you join the server for your class, participate, and learn as much as you possibly can about how to play your class from some of the best players out there today. See below for a listing of all the Discord server join links.

Death Knight  /  Demon Hunter  /  Druid  /  Hunter  /  Mage  /  Monk  /  Paladin  /  Priest  /  Rogue  /  Shaman  /  Warlock  /  Warrior

Class Halls

Fantasy, fantasy, fantasy? Legion brings Class Halls to each class, which is essentially a hub for all players of your class. This is where you will progress through your Artifact quest line, send Followers on missions and also use the Artifact Power you’ve found to enhance your Artifact weapon.

Here, you will also find training dummies, the Artifact Researcher NPC and the Class Hall Upgrades NPC, who will allow you to research traits for your Class Hall to improve its efficiency for you while you progress through Legion.

Resources: Wowhead Class Hall Guide

Artifact Weapons

Weapons are changing a lot in Legion. Rather than what we’ve previously seen as weapon drops in progression, each spec will now have their own Artifact. These are weapons which will stick with you for the duration of the expansion. You’ll find Artifact Power as you play through the game, which are used to progress through its Artifact talent tree, enhancing its power. You will also find Relics (basically new weapon drops) which are added to your Artifact to increase its item level and provide some extra attributes.

Starting at level 102, you are able to go back to your Class Hall and pick up the quests to obtain Artifacts from your other specs as well. You can also unlock alternate cosmetic versions and colors for each Artifact via various in-game accomplishments. Some look amazing!

Resources: Warcraft Artifact Weapon Guide

Artifact Power

As stated, to progress an Artifact, you use Artifact Power to progress through an Artifact’s talent tree. This must be done individually for each Artifact. With this said, people who may like to play multiple specs to optimize on each encounter may suffer a bit from that, or just accept they won’t be optimal on every single encounter (more likely).

It is also worth noting that Artifact Power is actually a consumable that drops. This means you could potentially level as DPS or Tank and simply funnel the Artifact Power to your Healer spec Artifact.

There is also a feature called Artifact Knowledge, which you research in your Class Hall. This is something that will increase the amount of Artifact Power in which you find, allowing you to more quickly progress through an Artifact’s talent tree (on any spec on that character).

Resources: Blizzard Watch Artifact Knowledge Article

Broken Isles Scaling

Mobs in Broken Isles zones and dungeons scale to the individual character’s level (Suramar is the exception, strictly 110). This means a level 108 can group with a level 100 and still have a productive experience/loot. Personally, I think this is one of the best changes in Legion and absolutely something I hope to see implemented across all content at some point in time.

Resources: Polygon Legion Scaling Article

World Quests

A fresh new take on dailies and faction reputation! These are quests which spawn around the Broken Isles for a set amount of time before disappearing. Completing a World Quest will yield faction reputation and a various rewards, depending on its difficulty and quest type. I highly recommend doing these in a group when possible, as it’s infinitely more efficient.

There are also daily Emissary Missions, which ask you to complete four World Quests for a specific faction. Upon doing so, you are rewarded with a hefty chunk of reputation and a loot chest, which generally contains Artifact Power and/or an item. These missions are created with a 3-day timer on them, so if you miss a day – no worries!

Resources: Blizzard World Quest Design Notes

Suramar

End-game zone with its own storyline; essentially an attunement for the raids and likely tied into future content patches. There are also various mini quest chains around Suramar which progress the zone and unlock teleporters for much easier transportation when in Suramar via the hub in Meredil.

Dungeons

There are 10 total dungeons: 4 available at level 98, 1 at level 105 and another 5 available at 110. Two of the 110 dungeons, Arcway and Court of Stars are unlocked via the Suramar quest line and exclusively available in Mythic difficulty.

Mythic+ difficulty has now been added as an additional means of PvE progression. This will allow players to use keystones to unlock higher difficulty levels, with various affixes applied to a dungeon, ultimately yielding raid quality gear at the highest difficulties. You may also yield additional loot depending on how quickly your complete the dungeon.

Your Class Hall also contains a Grand Challenger’s Bounty chest which you can open once per week. This chest will include a piece of loot with an ilvl comparable to the highest difficulty Mythic + you had completed in the previous week. It will also contain another Mythic Keystone – don’t forget to push Mythic+ every week!

Resources: Legion Dungeon Guides

Raids

Two raids will be available as we venture into the beginning of the Legion expansion: Emerald Nightmare and Nighthold. Not much is changing in regards to how raids are treated, but definitely stoked to see more content and finally see the Emerald Dream!

Personal Loot

You can now trade Personal Loot, with an item level lower than your current item, with other players eligible for loot – Be kind to each other and help one another!

Professions

Starting fresh, doesn’t require existing 700 professions and is now more quest-based for progression; great changes. You will likely want one gathering and one crafting profession, as the [Blood of Sargeras] crafting component is BoP. Crafting professions also no longer provide player-bound benefits like they have in the past.

Obliterum system allows you to break down crafted items using [Blood of Sargeras] into [Obliterum Ash] (various amounts based on quality of item/RNG). 100 [Obliterum Ash] yields 1 [Obliterum], which allows upgrades a crafted item by 5; currently capped at 850 ilvl. It is also worth noting that [Obliterum] can be traded.

Scribes can now make [Vantus Runes]. These are consumables which increase damage done towards a single boss for one week. This will be a particularly useful consumable for pushing progression on more difficult bosses.

Resources: Wowhead Profession Overview

Legendaries

These are strong ability-enhancing items which are randomly found throughout your experiences in Legion. At launch, you will only be able to equip one at a time, however this will be increased later in the expansion. The Dev advice for obtaining a Legendary item is, “just play the game.” Targeting specific Legendaries may be implemented later in the expansion.

Resources: Wowhead Legendary item listing

PvP

When it comes to PvP in Legion, Blizzard has finally taken the normalization approach. Gear stats are mostly normalized, so it will be a much more linear, skill-based competitive environment now. A PvP talent interface has been added, which allows players to select talents to match their play style. For progression, an Honor rank system has been implemented, which is essentially an experienced based leveling process, which provides various bonuses through its progression. You can gain Honor ranks by participating in PvP or completing PvP World Quests.

A new Prestige system has also been introduced, allowing the more PvP-centric players a means of ongoing progression and cosmetic incentives to display their PvP efforts to friends and foes. This allows a player to reset their Honor rank in an attempt to reach various cosmetic Prestige rewards by maxing Honor rank multiple times.

Resources: Warcraft Legion PvP Preview

Transmog

The Transmogrification system has been overhauled to be more similar with the Diablo Transmog system. Rather than needing to keep items in storage for cosmetics, appearances are now unlocked account-wide when you acquire them and added to the Transmog interface at a Transmog NPC. This should free up a lot of bank space!

There is a new cosmetic option for weapons: [Tome of Illusion]. This will allow you to change the cosmetic enchant effect to put that final touch on your Transmog!

Resources: Wowhead Legion Transmog FAQ

Glyphs

Glyphs as we had known them in previous expansions are now implemented differently. They are now exclusively cosmetic items which add additional versions of abilities directly to your spell book. The old glyph interface has been removed.

Searching for a new guild/server

So you’re returning to the game after some time away – it’s healthy to take breaks – or maybe you’re simply looking for a new team to play with. Well, if you’re willing to dish out the $25, you could consider transferring to a new server. But make sure you do your research first! Get to know the server by reading up on forums or maybe chat with some people on that server to get a sense of how troll-ridden it is or the amount of guilds in line with what content you enjoy.

I’ve listed a link below to the Guild Recruitment section on the Official WoW Forums – that’s probably your best place to start. You should also check your realm’s forums as well. On the other hand… You could always transfer over to Aerie-Peak [US] and play with us Alliance <Convert To Raid> folks. If you’re interested in Mythic raiding, I raid lead for the Convert to Mythic team. So if you’re a boss, we’d probably like to have you Trial – Just sayin’ ^_^.

Resources: Guild Recruitment Forum

Wrap-up

Well, that’s really all I’ve got for y’all. I really do hope it helped. I tried not to go too deep into any topic, so I’m sure there’s stuff here that I’ve missed or opted not to include. But hopefully the guide serves its purpose and acts as the primer for players going into Legion that it’s intended to be.

Resources: Wowhead Legion Guide

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc – please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can contact me via comments here, in-game at Accomp#1170, or on Twitter at @Accomp. Thanks guys and gals – I hope you enjoyed the read!