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new World of Warcraft expansion revealed at Gamescom

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Chaosy

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Today Blizzard revealed the new World of Warcraft expansion at Gamescom 2015. As it turns out, it will be called "World of Warcraft Legion". As the name suggests we're back to fighting the Burning Legion.


Lore:
When we return from the alternate reality Draenor we find out that the Burning Legion is invading our dear Azeroth.
Apparently a huge portal has been opened at the Tomb of Sargeras which was featured in the Frozen Throne Campaign.
This is the Burning Legion's biggest invasion ever.​

New features:
*new continent, "the Broken Isles"
*new hero class, "Demon Hunter"
*Artifact Weapons
*Level cap raised to 110
*revamped honor system
*new raids and dungeons
Dungeons (9):
Halls of Valor
Black Rook Hold
Vault of the Wardens
Eye of Azshara
Darkheart Thicket
Neltharion's Lair
Helheim
Suramar City
Violet Hold
Raids (2):
The Emerald Nightmare - 7 bosses
Suramar Palace - 10 bosses
*Alleria, Tyralion and Illidan will be featured, no details given
Notes:
Right now, the only hero class in WoW is the Death Knight. This means that the Demon Hunter class will start at a higher level which is yet to be revealed. The class will also have a unique starting zone. They will only have two specs, "Vengeance" (tank) and "Havoc" (melee dps).

Artifacts are unique to your class and spec. They will be obtained through (unique for each weapon) quests while leveling. It's basically the really famous weapons. For example Retribution Paladins will be able to wield the Ashbringer. And Death Knights will wield att reforged version of Frostmourne. To avoid everyone using the same weapon there will be multiple variations of the weapon (visual only). The weapon also have a built in talent like system where you can gather points to spend and gain perks. This is also unique to the weapon in question. You will be able to upgrade the weapon in various ways for some currency, so it seems like you will use the same weapon the whole expansion. They did go into detail about how to obtain this currency, they vaguely said that it would be obtained by pretty much doing anything, dungeons, raids, battleground etc.

The new honor system will tune down the gear difference between honor gear and conquest gear to make it more fair. There will be a PvP rank system where you have a level which caps at 50. By leveling you unlock perks in a big talent tree.
You can reset your hero level once you reach 50 to gain 1 prestige level, just like in games like CoD. Having prestige levels will give you a small badge at your character portrait and will make you able to by visual fluff like transmog and mounts. It's confirmed that at least one Artifact will be unlocked through the prestige system.​










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It is gorgeous. O-O

I'm really excited to see the changes. I love that they are emphasizing class individuality--it is something they've completely demolished since WotLK.

On the bright side, it seems like they are moving in a good direction. I hope this will be a full-length expansion. I don't want to get my hopes up too much just yet, but it is looking good so far.
 
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Chaosy

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As they said on the stage, a class usually have 3 specs. A melee DPS spec is a obvious choice. Then what more? healer? not really. Another melee DPS spec? could work but it's hard to make it unique since a demon hunter needs to have two weapons so there would be no major difference. They said that they didn't find a concept that was close to the Demon Hunters essence or something like that.

So the tank Demon Hunter will be using Metamorphesis which makes him look rather tank so it kind of makes sense.
 

Chaosy

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Hm, good question.

Firstly, I don't think Blizzard want to deal with alternate reality stuff anymore since it was so confusing to people.
Secondly, you can't jump freely between realities. You need a huge-ass portal, in WoW Gul'dan and the whole Shadow Council was used to open a portal so Gul'dan can't do it alone.
Thirdly, IF they are to bring him back, I don't think the players will be satisfied with some copy of the 'original'.

Still, it is possible that it's an alternate one.
 
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I hope they give us either the Burning Crusade or Wc3 Illidan voice actor, because they really did a good job and a couldn't handle a weird sounding Illidan. Also i hope its a redemption story for him, because i didnt like the whole villain direction they took with him in WoW.
 
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I was hoping to have Ogres as a playable race for the Horde and the Stonemaul Clan to be added to the Horde Faction.
Still would anyone like Naga as well added to the Ally Side as a playable race?

Legion is ok, but I would of preferred playable races and the South Seas and Nazjatar.
 
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I don't like it if a franchise decides to go the alternate reality or time travel road in general.

WoD was acceptable because they traveled to an untouched version of Draenor were the inhabitants developed just slightly different.
Alternate Azeroth characters wouldn't make sense because alternate Dreanor never came in touch with it.
So, if they want to be logical. Alternate Gul'dan would have to travel to the original Broken Isles where original Maiev has hidden the original Illidan.
It wouldn't make sense if alternate Gul'dan would wake up an alternate Illidan in alternate Dreanor. Blizzard could do that because it's an alternate time line, duh.
But that would be too weird for my taste.

I would be glad if they explain how alternate Gul'dan got to know original Illidan because even the alternate Demon lords can't know him because he never existed for them.
I just hope they completly leave the road they started with WoD.
 
I don't like it if a franchise decides to go the alternate reality or time travel road in general.

WoD was acceptable because they traveled to an untouched version of Draenor were the inhabitants developed just slightly different.
Alternate Azeroth characters wouldn't make sense because alternate Dreanor never came in touch with it.
So, if they want to be logical. Alternate Gul'dan would have to travel to the original Broken Isles where original Maiev has hidden the original Illidan.
It wouldn't make sense if alternate Gul'dan would wake up an alternate Illidan in alternate Dreanor. Blizzard could do that because it's an alternate time line, duh.
But that would be too weird for my taste.

I would be glad if they explain how alternate Gul'dan got to know original Illidan because even the alternate Demon lords can't know him because he never existed for them.
I just hope they completly leave the road they started with WoD.

Well said. I don't mind if they retcon Illidan's "death" in BC, because it never felt like he really died. It is the lesser of two evils (the other one being an alternate Illidan).

"Alternate" characters/dimensions in general feel... bizarre. You can never shake off the idea that they come from a different reality (or that you're in a different reality). Just watch this Rick and Morty episode, and you'll get what I mean by the end of it.
 
Am I the only one who finds every single of the announced features stupid?

1) Broken Isles... seriously? Why not Kul'Tiras? Why give us some uninhabited random boring caribic islands when we could have a fucking pirate expansion instead?

2) Demon Hunter... Blizzard; just why? Blizzard said themselves that the demon hunter has too much in common with warlocks and rogues, hence why there will never be a demon hunter class. And they were right! Rogues and warlocks have too much in common with DHs. Why now throw this reasoning away instead of giving us an actual new class like the bard?

3) Artifacts. Sheesh. Basicly heirlooms with a skill system? Sorry, but not impressed. Is this DOTA or an MMORPG? Also, hello ultimate boredom without any more weapon drops in the game. -_-

4) No other cool features. Why not ships and naval battles? It's a friggin' island expansion FFS.

5) Also, legion expansion. Which basicly means the final boss will be Sargeras. Which basicly means that this is the final expansion.

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Chaosy

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1. I kind of agree. But to me, the name of the place we're going to is not important, if anything the theme there does. So yeah, as long as it isn't Pandaria I'm fine with it.
2. People have been requesting the class for years. It's a great way to bring back subs after the huge sub loss since WoD. (down to 5m atm) Cash > everything else. But it's really close to rogues, but so are wind walker monks and enhancement shamans.
3. I agree with you here. It would be okay if it was really hard to obtain.. but since everyone gets it.. kinda lame..
5. That's not certain. Sargeras needed a well of eternity to have a chance to enter the world, we don't such a power source to summon him to Azeroth anymore. Maybe if we go to him.. I think the last boss will be either Kil'jaeden or Aszhara. Though I wish it isn't Aszhara since she can have her own expansion. But since Xavius and her naga are there, it's a possibility.
Either way, Blizzard have stated before that they had like 5 expansion planned. This was during MoP (I think). Ending Sargeras right now is too soon.
 
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1. I kind of agree. But to me, the name of the place we're going to is not important, if anything the theme there does. So yeah, as long as it isn't Pandaria I'm fine with it.
To be honest; this was just out of sheer disappointment we will - again - not see Kul'Tiras. After all the lore we have around Kul'Tiras, it's just annoying how blizzard keeps finding excuses NOT to implement it into the world of warcraft. It's a friggin' major city and a naval hub. It doesn't make sense that no boat or ship goes there. It breaks immersion more than anything else.

2. People have been requesting the class for years. It's a great way to bring back subs after the huge sub loss since WoD. (down to 5m atm) Cash > everything else. But it's really close to rogues, but so are wind walker monks and enhancement shamans.
You can see how blizzard has gone out of ideas and took this as a last straw to get something fresh with minimal effort on their end. So many assets and ideas that can be recycled for this. So why even bother being innovative?

5. That's not certain. Sargeras needed a well of eternity to have a chance to enter the world, we don't such a power source to summon him to Azeroth anymore. Maybe if we go to him.. I think the last boss will be either Kil'jaeden or Aszhara. Though I wish it isn't Aszhara since she can have her own expansion. But since Xavius and here naga are there, it's a possibility.
Either way, Blizzard have stated before that they had like 5 expansion planned. This was during MoP (I think). Ending Sargeras right now is too soon.
As if Blizzard isn't known for sudden ass-pulls or Deus-Ex-Machina devices...
They'll find a way. 100% certain.
Legion being the last expansion might be a reaction to the rising demand for WoW going F2P. I'm not saying that there won't be content updates after this, just no more expansions in boxed form. Expansions in the traditional sense wouldn't fit into a F2P model.


Actually... now that my initial rage has somewhat calmed down, I can say that what remains is only disappointment. Disappointment because - again - blizzard is playing it safe. Squeeze out the money as much as possible. Stay away from trying to innovate the game. And stay away from all the progress the genre has made over the last decade (action combat [TERA, Wildstar], voice acted story-driven quests [SWTOR], open world content [Archeage Naval battles and trading] and zone events [RIFT, Warhammer], Siege PVP [ESO, Archeage, AOC]).

What I see is yet another lame themepark ride after the decade old formula.

Blizzard has the last remaining large-scale game in a dying MMO market. If anyone had the chance to redefine the genre, it is blizzard. But nope; that would mean taking a risk. And risks don't go well in the stock market.
 
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Oh shit everyone's leaving, quick bring back Illidan.

If this goes south, they've still got Arthas to bring back.
 
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Wow.. much amaze..wait... Legion?.. wat??! Is this ta Final Expansion?!?!??!WAT!
They could still make one named "Into the Nether".. taking the fight to the demons in the nether itself..
 
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Hold off on any real development? Rehash old characters and plots in alternate dimensions? Keep the wheels churning any way you can? Infinitely many more possibilities

COMING UP NEXT: Illidan as a mount
God forbid they make a new game with a new engine. Why bother when you can just release expansions for a decade?
 
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The Artifact System sounds like it will be awesome, but I just hope its actually challenging to get. Hopefully they keep the legendary feel to it because the legendaries in the past two expansions just seemed like a chore to me, and when I acquired them, I felt like I didn't accomplish anything.

The thought of every paladin in Stormwind weilding an Ashbringer is... an extreme turn off. On a side note, how do you guys think that will affect the lore? Multiple Ashbringers, multiple Doomhammers, etc?
 
I think it will be relatively easy to get the initial Artifact (a.k.a. pretty much everyone will have it). They said that you won't get weapons besides the artifacts, and the quest chain to earn them isn't meant to be a full-fledged/difficult questline like the fel-fire warlock quest was.

I don't think players are supposed to feel inherently special by having the artifact itself (since everyone will have them). The artifacts can be powered up to the point where they "feel" legendary.

As for the multiple ashbringers/multiple doomhammers thing--things are already like that in the sense that multiple people have the glaives of azzinoth, sulfuras' hammer, etc. It will definitely be weird to everyone running around with the same weapon, but I guess that is where the customization comes in. I'm not a big fan of them using Ashbringer and Doomhammer (I'd rather have made-up artifacts), but I guess it was sufficiently flashy and may appeal to some players. The only real uniqueness will come from how you spend your points and such.
 
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This isn't the final expansion for everyone asking. During the interview after the presentation they said they already started working on the next expansion.

This video interview I spoke of will answer a lot of questions for you guys.
 
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This isn't the final expansion for everyone asking. During the interview after the presentation they said they already started working on the next expansion.

This video interview I spoke of will answer a lot of questions for you guys.

Hopefully they will be making playable races next which are Stonemaul Clan Ogres for Horde and something else for Ally Faction.


Some thoughts for WoW;Legion as well.
I did like on how they are finally gonna make another expansion for WoW, and gonna get it to Azeroth again, but I am just wondering how is our Azeroth since our stupid Expedition into Draenor?
Will we find a way to go to the Broken Isles without causing too much attention, and what races will we aid, and how will content be like again.
Like will we be able to have our own Faction Hubs again in some places while questing in the same zone?
I did like the whole one zone to ourselves thing, but I feel like they could do it in a later expansion or even do it with Legion. Not like the whole zone be factioned off, but be able to get some of the land for one side and the other for the faction.
 
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If this expansion sucks I have only to blame myself since this are the things I've been asking for. Things I don't like are Khadgar, kicking Jaina out of the picture (at least that's how it looks like), Dalaran the main neutral city and we beeing leaders. Other then that everything is great!
 
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If this expansion sucks I have only to blame myself since this are the things I've been asking for. Things I don't like are Khadgar, kicking Jaina out of the picture (at least that's how it looks like), Dalaran the main neutral city and we beeing leaders. Other then that everything is great!

It's good actually, Jaina is a Magicbitch or even greater and more evil than Sargeras. Also we may betray the people because "Ur liders will betrayu"
 
It's good actually, Jaina is a Magicbitch or even greater and more evil than Sargeras. Also we may betray the people because "Ur liders will betrayu"

Wrong room, Diablo is elsewhere, just kidding, but what you said really sounds to me like the prophecy for Nephalem in Diablo...

I played WoD for 7 months, it always felt like a "Garrison Simulator", I just hope it won't be like that again...
Anyway, I don't feel like buying Legion, I always wanted only the lore, everything else was just fun and time killing. I'd rather buy Warcraft IV where all stories are contained, including previous expansions :ogre_haosis:
 
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[ .. ]


Actually... now that my initial rage has somewhat calmed down, I can say that what remains is only disappointment. Disappointment because - again - blizzard is playing it safe. Squeeze out the money as much as possible. Stay away from trying to innovate the game. And stay away from all the progress the genre has made over the last decade (action combat [TERA, Wildstar], voice acted story-driven quests [SWTOR], open world content [Archeage Naval battles and trading] and zone events [RIFT, Warhammer], Siege PVP [ESO, Archeage, AOC]).

What I see is yet another lame themepark ride after the decade old formula.

Blizzard has the last remaining large-scale game in a dying MMO market. If anyone had the chance to redefine the genre, it is blizzard. But nope; that would mean taking a risk. And risks don't go well in the stock market.
Doing so`d alienate their core playerbase - the (hardcore) pve raiders - tho, and I doubt they`d do anything like that.
At the end of the day you`ll have to keep in mind that World of Warcraft has been designed and developed for that endgame pve content. It`s been like that since, hm mid/late The Burning Crusade?
And WoW`s still a fine PvE game, the endgame raids are still (somewhat) challenging, tho they`ve done away a lot of the interesting stuff of late (stats, talents, many abilities); but that`s probably the necessary evil in a world where actual, interesting and challenging content`s not everybody`s cup o`tea. There`s also the pseudo-lfr-content for the vast majority.

And I fail to see them stray away from that path, because it`s tried-and-true for them to make $.
Meh. Good thing there`s private servers.
 
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Hopefully they will be making playable races next which are Stonemaul Clan Ogres for Horde and something else for Ally Faction.


Some thoughts for WoW;Legion as well.
I did like on how they are finally gonna make another expansion for WoW, and gonna get it to Azeroth again, but I am just wondering how is our Azeroth since our stupid Expedition into Draenor?
Will we find a way to go to the Broken Isles without causing too much attention, and what races will we aid, and how will content be like again.
Like will we be able to have our own Faction Hubs again in some places while questing in the same zone?
I did like the whole one zone to ourselves thing, but I feel like they could do it in a later expansion or even do it with Legion. Not like the whole zone be factioned off, but be able to get some of the land for one side and the other for the faction.

I doubt they'll add ogres at this point. If they did it would've been during WoD, where it's appropriate.

There's going to be a pre-expansion ingame event that allegedly begins on Thal'Dranath and ends on the Broken Shore. (Purple island) The Draenor forces are staying there to repair the place.

We're going to have Class Halls and Champions instead of followers.

There's a follow-up interview that answers questions that weren't answered in the Gamescom interview. Creds to MMO-Champion
 
Doing so`d alienate their core playerbase - the (hardcore) pve raiders - tho, and I doubt they`d do anything like that.
At the end of the day you`ll have to keep in mind that World of Warcraft has been designed and developed for that endgame pve content. It`s been like that since, hm mid/late The Burning Crusade?
And WoW`s still a fine PvE game, the endgame raids are still (somewhat) challenging, tho they`ve done away a lot of the interesting stuff of late (stats, talents, many abilities); but that`s probably the necessary evil in a world where actual, interesting and challenging content`s not everybody`s cup o`tea. There`s also the pseudo-lfr-content for the vast majority.

And I fail to see them stray away from that path, because it`s tried-and-true for them to make $.
Meh. Good thing there`s private servers.
I see this reasoning a lot. And I feel the need to just ask the following question:

How does added open-world content, open-world pvp, siege battles, a (good) housing system actually affect the mindless fixed-rotation drones that call themselves raiders?
The only thing that would actually change the way PvE works would be action combat. And seriously, if you ever played TERA or Wildstar, you will most likely never play tab-target games again. Because it's fucking awesome, as it brings the skill back into combat. And no, I don't mean skill as in abilities. I mean skill as in knowing how to play.

Any idiot can roll a random class, google up the optimal ability rotation and top the DPS meters. And that's about all that WoW-combat has to offer on a playstyle level.

Let's just compare it to TERA, just for shits and giggles:
WoW: Spaming your fixed rotation, "stay out of the fire" mechanics. Plus some gimmicky boss specific mechanics here and there, like the vehicle combat everyone hates. And that's pretty much the whole story. Woohoo.

TERA:
Tank: I have to adapt to the attacking patterns of the bosses block actively. Certain attacks can not be blocked and must be evaded instead. There is no passive evasion mechanic. If you want to evade and attack, you have to do it manually. Also, you have to keep your eyes open on your group all the time; your healer is currently busy? Well, just evade or block standard attacks aswell (easier said and done; if you block in the wrong moments, bosses will punish you with attacks that break your block and throw you down), but sacrifice a lot of aggro by doing that. Your healer can manage? Take some extra hits and deal more damage instead.
And evasion tanks are a thing aswell. Can be extremely effective, but only if you have the skill to actually pull if off.

DPS: Yep, even DPS is challenging. Outside of the "stay out of the fire" mechanics, you also have to keep a constant eye on the rest of the group, especially on your healers, as healing in TERA works fundamentally different to WoW. Also, collision is a thing. You can actually take cover behind your tank and make him soak up the damage. The same goes for enemies aswell: I have to check if the target I'm shooting is actually in a clear line-of-sight. Another enemy is blocking it? Well, too bad, your arrows will not pierce the other unit. Unless the enemy is a giant and you can shoot between it's legs.

Healers: Healing in TERA is fucking AMAZING. Instead of playing healthbar-whack-a-mole, I actually have to constantly keep an oversight over battle. I have to aim my heals via cross-hair in shooter style. An ally is low on health? Shit, where is he? Damn; the boss is blocking the line-of-sight! Circle around it to get a clear shot; but wait, there's a boss mechanic blocking that way; what do? Use my emergency AoE spell and waste a ton of mana? Or rely on him actively evading until you have time to heal him? Playing a healer or tank in TERA is brutal. But despite all that, it just never feels unfair.

Whenever you die, you always know that you made a mistake and can improve on that. Gear is only secondary. You can beat encounters way before reaching the appropriate gear level, if you have the skill. There is no lucky crit that will just kill you unconditionally. There is no RNGesus that will fuck up your game by just hitting the tank hard.
And last but not least: In PvP, you can totally dominate other players regardless of your gear, if you have the skills to pull it off. I've met players predicting every single move I make with almost inhumane precision, avoiding all my attacks, beating me without me even scratching them. It's feels almost like playing an arcade fighting game! You can play by button mashing and achieve something, but if you want to be good, you have to aim and time your abilities like a scalpell.


Compared to this, I just can't understand why people dig that boring buttonmashing of WoW raiding. After spaming the same spell rotation for 10 minutes, do you actually feel like you have acomplished something when defeating a boss? Other than not falling asleep?
And yes, I have raided in WoW for almost 3 years back in the Vanilla, BC and WotlK days. Back when raiding was friggin' HARD. I was part of the server-first C'thun kill in Vanilla. As a healer. Because even then, DPS and tanking was just ridicolously boring. And it still is, even to this day. Healing was stupid aswell (as it felt more like playing whack-a-mole), but at least I had to play situational when healing.
 
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