Designated Legion Welcome Post

Hello my dear one single reader,

WARNING: NO SPOILERS

Thank you again for sticking with me through all these years!

I had briefly moved onto play random games like Creativerse and FFXIV, but all that is the past as Legion is back and its a roaring good time.


Where to Begin: The Story

Questionable/10

I have been meaning to do the obligatory Legion Just Launched post earlier but, I had to play the darned thing and there's so much to talk about that it just isn't possible to complete this in one sitting!

I'll have to go into semi-sporadic notes mode with this one.

Where did the Broken Isles come from again? Last I remember, we defeated Archimonde for his now 1% drop mount, and he cast Gul'dan away into a portal.

So between that time and now Gul'dan has somehow revived the Legion by finding Sargeras' tomb?

Apparently the old Gul'dan had already found the tomb and was ripped to shreds, so the Broken Isles had existed before WOTLK?

The Questing

10/10

The stories of each zone were well done, while I felt that they were short and sweet (or I was so immersed it felt short?).

Azsuna: Basically a borough of Suramar, it is elfy and magical.

Stormheim: Basically Howling Fjord 2.0.

High Mountain: For whatever reason I loved the winding passes and the mountainousness of this zone. But its basically what Thunder Bluff wished it was.

Val'sharah: Be warned if you play a druid you WILL die of orgasmic overload.

Suramar: Basically my favourite zone EVER. You will see once you reach it.

Class Fantasy

While everyone was blasting their way to 110 and immediately doing mythic dungeons on the SECOND DAY OF RELEASE I was first levelling my Truny then decided to get ALL my level 100 characters (Only 5) their first weapon as well.

The class halls was what garrisons was testing out and it's what I thought garrisons SHOULD have been, a minor but integral part of the game, but does not take up 95% of all content. Very well done.

Below is a list of all the classes I have tried out:

Warlock: Destruction

We are basically the same, with the removal of embers for soul shards you no longer spam incinerate to fill up the gauge, which feels...kind of empty. Rather you wait for conflagrate and also immolate crits.

With Shadowburn thrown into the mix and our Demonic Power cleave, destruction actually feels a bit more chaotic and spastic. Will update once we start raiding.

Warlock: Demonology

Truny is 110.

So many demons. We lose metamorphosis, which was a clunky-ish in-and-out CD in exchange for summoning tons of demons which we empower. Single target sustained damage seems okay. A bit of a ramp-up. Can't really switch targets. Implosion is fun but higher ramp-up. Your weapon talks to you! I found Demo to be a bit more interesting than Destruction for levelling, since you can basically level up with Shadowburn without looking.

Warlock: Affliction

More DOTS, more self healing, but otherwise....eh I like seeing my spells. Will comment if I randomly raid with this spec.

Warlock: Summary

Overall very fun, as Demonic Armor makes us nearly invincible unless we're taking on 10+ mobs unexpectedly. Our class hall is pretty damn awesome. Shadowburn spam is fun. Multiple demons is fun. Phantom Singularity sounds bad-ass.

Druid: Boomkin

Turny is only 102.

One word: Full Moon. I'm glad the lame moon cycle is gone cause sometimes you just zone out and don't care outside a srs bsns environment.

Druid: Restoration

One word: Have you SEEN our artifact abilities? OP HAXORZ??

Druid: Summary

Well I've only gotten to 102 but Boomkin is just..FULL MOON. I might just heal to 110 cause wow Boomkins take SO much damage (aka more than 2% of health per fight) compared to the warlock and can't really take down more than 8 mobs at once.

Hunter: BM

Turby is only 101.

What happened?? Sure the weapon is cool but why do we feel so...clunky? So much waiting? I think it's actually just the actual tactile feedback of the class. Dire Beast has no sound so its just hitting a button. Cobra shot is fairly silent even though we use a gun. Our gun is silent. Kill Command is also relatively quiet now so its just like...hitting buttons. It's...no good. And what happened to Spirit bond? Why am I taking damage?? Why is my pet dying?

I can still chain-kill tons of mobs at once but can no longer do a dozen mobs? Or i'm just undergeared.

Hunter: Survival

Decided to try out our new melee spec since finding BM to be...amiss. It's actually quite fun. We're like..a pseudo wearrior with a pet, which somehow feels more like BM than the actual BM spec. There's actually a spell that's synergistic with the pet. Rather than spamming silent buttons? Not much AOE and also "survivability" is questionable against more than 3 mobs.

Hunter: Summary

Will try out MM ...way way later. Our self heals are down, pet heals are down, we're just....not OP? Can I say that? Why am I waiting on energy we're not a silly rouge or warrior? Why does BM feel so....disjointed? It's not...satisfying. I can't really seem to put my finger on it but it just feels....lacking somehow.

Demon Hunter: The DPS One

Trueny is 100.

Loldoublejump

Tried it, it's fun. Probably won't continue with it though. Because the only melee I enjoy has stealth...

Rogue: Assassination

Runy is 100.

That weapon scenario was fun times. Kind of like getting the Fangs of the Father, stealthy style. I might try out Subtlety after reading up on the changes today....

End Game

Wow, there's actually STUFF to do at 110. Lots of stuff. Like we have to decide what to do and what not to do stuff! World Quests have finally arrived. Remember when we used to say things like: "There should just be random quests around the world to help out the locals"? It's been answered.

Sure its mainly gear and AP grinding but since its a choose your own adventure thing it doesn't feel "forced". What I do is just do the 4 Emissary Quests then log off.

One good thing is we don't have to do BORING dungeons to gear up. Sure a lot of effort is put into designing dungeons and encounters, but really....5 mans are just...so much boring mob killing then some boring boss fight for a chance at gear, and for those of us who haven't quit but are sick of the gear treadmill, WQ's have really really helped with the boring dungeon grind.

Perhaps I'm just some jaded impatient wrath baby elitist but the time-to-effort ratio for boring normal dungeons that require no extra skill beyond what we've already developed over the past DECADE whatsoever is just ...no good. Eg. If someone hadn't also chain pulled some mobs outside a boss fight, Truny could have almost solo'd one of the bosses after everyone died in that ...underground dungeon. I don't know which one LMAO. See, we might not have amazing big dick dungeon damage burst but Warlocks are still borderline immortal?

My ultra arrogant attitude that has developed in the past couple expansions is that Truny can basically operate at around 18-27 ilvl above her equipped so I won't even bother gearing up until that is actually tested in the first raid encounter.

Reputations are back and are paced very nicely. You can choose to farm the hell out of WQ or just take everything in stride. Again SURAMAR IS AMAZING I WANNA LIVE THERE!

I'm starting to lose my train of thought and shoving everything under the End Game heading now.

Overall, Legion seems to have been very well done. Heck even the tailoring quest chain was entertaining and I don't think I'm even done yet! Other than BM feeling sort of...off kind of like how Warlocks kinda sucked in Cata everything is going well. We already know that end-game is WQ farming and that's pretty entertaining. Let's check back in in a few months yeah?

Love,

Truny, Turby, Turny

World of Warcraft: Legion - Semi Knee-Jerk Analysis

This was the game everyone has been waiting for and wanted and what Wrathion had predicted back in MoP: The Burning Legion returns!

As a warlock I am supposed to be ultra-hyped for this new xpac, as I adore everything demonic and with the introduction of Demon Hunters, what will happen to the Demo Warlock spec? 2 classes that can turn into demons? If so I demand we get to become more "castery" demons while the Demon Hunters be melee demons and we can all have demon dance offs!

Due to the lackluster taste WoD left in many of our mouths, my initial reaction to this xpac announcement was:

"Hey all you 'I started in BC' folk, come love us again"

Artifact Weapons

Aka: We don't need to design/animate for weapon models for the entire xpac. This saves resources on the business side yet I do commend the team for adapting what I loved about LOTRO and that is a weapon that grows with you.

It appears WoW's weapons are not as indepth in terms of customizing them with runes but there are talent trees tied in, hopefully not as shallow as our own "every 15 levels "talents"".

Even with the multiple skins, as long as one other person has it then it is not "cool"/unique and if everyone is wielding an artifact of Legend.....is this a single player game or an MMO?

Artifact weapons immediately gives every single person "something to do", though how they manage how far/fast you can grind up your weapon may become a concern. Eg. People who play 24/7 may have their weapon maxed before we've even downloaded the game.

I know personally this would already make me want to run dungeons since there's a slow stream of "progress", perhaps this will fill the Valor Point void as WoD certainly lacked any sense of external character progression outside of the RNG based raids.

Are there meaningful caps to how fast weapons can be ground out? Are they tied to our level? Could be interesting but need more info on how the weapon progression works.

Also I expect a HUGE release of all the warlock info especially how Demo is changing.

Demon Hunters

Sounds cool I'll make one but what of Demonology Warlocks? Dat double jump tho.

Honor Hall

As a warlock, why would I want to hang out with other warlocks? I hate them they steal my cloth gear, heck fewer people should play warlocks.

Seriously though, I hope we get demons as our champions. You know what just copy what FF14 does with retainers a lot of issues would have been resolved if LOTRO had been copied many years ago.

The game has seriously lacked class identity with the culling of skills and all that jazz. Class halls may bring meaning back to the various classes and it is a great concept to have all the different classes united under one single purpose.

Maiev is Back

She was my favourite hero in WC3 and I occasionally visit her in her prison in old Outlands so it'll be nice to catch up again.

My Most Hyped and Hence Bolded Point

TRANSMOG SPACE! See as a warlock, I NEED every single 1H sword, 1H wand, Off-Hand, Staff for myself, and every 2H mace, 2H sword, 2H axe, polearm for my Wrathguard.

Depending on how this plays out this may open up all 160 of my void storage slots and at LEAST 200 of my bank slots! HYPE!

Unanswered Questions

1. What of professions? Are they still gimped?
2. Are factions meaningful?
3. New spells/abilities? Talent tree revamps?
4. Can we start flying at 110? I don't mind the grounded content though.
5. Why Dalaran again? Oh well.
6. Any intent to change the "drop in drop out" attitude of the community?
7. Any new battle pets?
8. New mounts that will blow our minds?
9. Scenarios return?
10. Honor hall invasions?
11. Remove x-realm zones???
12. How's exploration?
13. Is gear going to be not bull-shit RNG with crap secondary stats? Where an ilvl 640 may be better than a 665?

Overall

Hype Level 4.5/10

I have a borderline skeptical good feeling about this expansion but due to the blah that is WoD right now I bet the hype won't hit until actual game play. We also need more info.

Truny for the Legion