Alright, guys. So Heelz has spent just over an hour, going over Legion and what it means for the future of WoW and Activision-Blizzard.
You can find this video right here. Do understand that his video may have some cusswords in it, and he even warns you that if you’re offended, don’t feel bad about yourself for being so.
Lastly… I can’t stress this enough. Do NOT give into hype when it comes to video games! WoD has proven what hype can do… leaving us feel empty and confused, of where in the hell is the rest of the promised content.
What is listed in this post is still subject to change.
(For the TL.DR(Too Long Didn’t Read) people…)
3:56: “BlizzCon was actually better this year than 2013”
5:23: “The Alliance and the Horde working together, and there’s a ’40-man scenario'”
22:21: “The New Zones are really cool, yet there’s an island not accessible on launch”
26:46: “View distance raised 3x upon the release of the expansion”
29:01: “New ‘questing structure’. Pick a zone, start your road to Level 110!”
34:13: “A possible new soloable endgame content mechanic: ‘Command Table 2.0′”
51:36: “Dungeons to possibly scale up with you as you level”
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With that said, let’s begin with the breakdown, and my reactions (and if it’ll get me to come back to WoW).
At 3:56, he says that BlizzCon 2015 was actually good; that they were a lot more careful with their words (compared to promising us the moon back in 2013).
This is good, in my opinion. This proves to me, that they KNOW they’re in shit deep and do NOT want to lose anymore subscribers. It’s almost seen as an apology to the community.. that they’re sorry they over-hyped WoD.
At 5:23 he mentions that after the climatic (if this is possible), that we could start right after the climatic ends. This involves the Alliance AND the Horde… working together. He also mentions a “40-man scenario” in The Broken Shore.
I… well, I’m not sure about it. Though it is cool how I hear that the Alliance and the Horde will be in the same scenario. In other words, you’ll actually be playing with real players from the opposing faction.. not PvP, actually WORKING WITH them! That.. is really cool! That’s something Blizzard have never pulled off. But 40 man?! I dunno. I got nothing wrong working with the Horde, just… 40 man. 39 people all depending on my DPS. -_- I might like it. Who knows.
At 22:21, Heelz goes over the new zones of the expansion. He says that there’s 7 new zones(6 in The Broken Isles). He believes most of the fighting (including the 40-man scenario) will be at The Broken Shore. But he mentions that it’s possible “we won’t have a lot of time here”. He explains that it looks like the zone isn’t that big, and we will probably get “pushed out” to the rest of the world.
This sounds similar to the way WoD opens up. It really does. It also makes me hope that the aforementioned “40-man scenario” isn’t mandatory for you to do.
He finishes off this area by mentioning the names of the zones;
“Val’sharah” (Used to be the prime of the Night Elf Druid)
“Stormheim” (Going by pictures I found, it almost looks like… Skyrim! 😀 )
“Azsuna” (“A dying breed of the Blue Dragonflight” is rumored to be here…)
and “Highmountain”(rumored to have old Hemmet Nessingwary back again)
He believes the one named “Suramar” will be for Level 110’s only.
However, the island off of Stormheim, this was mentioned as “coming in a later date”. If this being the entire zone, or just that island… let’s just hope it’s that island. This means likely we won’t be able to go there at launch, but maybe hopefully at 7.1 or 7.2 of Legion.
At 26:46, he mentions that WoW will have its view distance raised by 3x when the expansion launches. Of course, this is in the options. If your computer can’t support it, you can lower the draw distance. However, if you have the money and/or the time to buy parts and build your own PC, now’s the time to think about getting newer hardware. But if you have the beef computer already to make NASA cry, you’re all set…
I still remember when I had MoP, and my turning speed was so.. UGH! I had to get 8GB of RAM to counter it. And I had to get a new Motherboard, because my old one couldn’t support DDR3. And already, we got DDR4’s and 5’s coming out, and CPUs that have EIGHT cores in them instead of four. Wow, technology. SLOW DOWN, will you!?
At 29:01, he discusses leveling “getting a new structure”. Meaning, you can pick ANY of the four zones mentioned at 22:21, to start your road to Level 110!! That is SO AWESOME!! 😀
Unfortunately, this awesome thing has its drawbacks. One is teaming up with friends. Because, this is an MMORPG, and like any MMO.. you’re supposed to be playing with your friends.
The issue is, say I did have a friend. Friend A(me), wants to go to Azsuna to start questing. Friend B, wants to go to Val’sharah. I can’t allow him (or her) to be on the same quests, as I’m in a different zone. Nor can they help me with a boss fight.
Also… and this I don’t like, but I think they’re taking pointers from Guild Wars 2. He says that the zones will level up with you. ALL..zones. This means, no more “Zonename here: Level 105-107”. They will be all based around your current level. I both like AND unlike this. What I unlike, is the mobs will have a high chance of kicking my ass, no matter what zone I go to.
At 34:13, he talks of what we’ll have once the road to Level 110 is reached; the endgame. This is really the most important thing. What will be the new soloable content/dungeons/raids, for the next 1-2 years ’till the next expansion?
Well, Heelz believes Blizzard ‘understands’ that the community was pissed with Apexis Crystals, and/or sitting in your Town Hall in your Garrison, twiddling your thumbs ’till the next expansion (while waiting for your Work Orders and followers to do awesome raids… without you).
As of now, it’s unknown. But he hopes, and prays… that we get “Command Table 2.0”, were WE can go on these quests and raids, and get our OWN gear! Even base it off of out own playstyle and class. I would.. LOVE this. If Blizzard makes this just like Heelz says, I’d forget ALLLL the mean things I said about WoD!
Create your OWN endgame content! FUCK YEAH that would be so awesome!! 😀
At 51:36, he talks about dungeons. He mentions there would be five “leveling up” dungeons, and five max level dungeons. He actually hopes that these level up dungeons will scale up with you… if so, this is bad news for me. I want to be able to try them AFTER I hit 110, not during. But the way Heelz put it, it’s not really that bad. He mentions that it would be like the ending of the Spires of Arak (forcing me to enter a dungeon to complete the storyline of that zone). But the dungeon would be scaled to my level, instead of being Level 97 when I’m 95. That’s a good option.
And the rest was about the (maybe) new change to endgame dungeons (mainly for challenge lovers).
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Overall, I love the fact we’ll be facing an enemy from OUR WoW past, and not Warcraft’s past. Also, I love how most of it will still be of our current post-Cata Azeroth. We’re able to finally kiss the orcs..orcs.Orcs OrCs ORCS ORCS (and also hopefully its Apexis Crystal hell).. goodbye!
The art style… well, there’s no question. Of COURSE it’s BEAUTIFUL!! This is what WoW shines on.
This really.. really has my interest, especially meeting “a dying breed of the Blue Dragonflight” here. Possibly a breed that refused to fight against the reds in WoTLK.
If this expansion continues on this path, it’s likely I will be coming back to WoW with open arms. Plus, even if I get a beta test invite, I’m just going to ignore it! It’s better to be amazed, then be spoiled. Make this the expansion that turns this game around. Bring my hope back to Blizzard that they still do care about their community.
But this is what was not discussed;
-Flying after questing/certain patch? … Maybe we should not know ’till closer to the release.
-Changes to professions.
I don’t expect the game to work flawlessly. There will be bugs, and features not 100% working that slipped through beta testing. Though I do pray that Blizzard actually listens to their testers THIS time…