World of Warcraft: Legion

World of Warcraft: Legion is the sixth expansion set in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following Warlords of Draenor. It was announced on August 6, 2015 at Gamescom 2015. The expansion was released on August 30, 2016.

The expansion raises the existing level cap from 100 to 110, features artifact weapons for each class's specializations, includes a new area on Azeroth called the Broken Isles and introduces the demon hunter hero class that starts at level 98. It initially included ten 5-man dungeons and two raids.

Gameplay

The expansion allows players to level up to 110 in the Broken Isles, an increase from the cap of 100 in the previous expansion Warlords of Draenor. Initially, there were ten dungeons in 7.0 with patch 7.1 adding the revamped Karazhan dungeon, patch 7.2 adding Cathedral of the Eternal Night and patch 7.3 adding the Seat of the Triumvirate on the planet Argus - the headquarters of the Burning Legion and the former home of the Draenei.[4] There are four raid tiers in Legion, with the first tier being The Emerald Nightmare that opened three weeks after Legion's release along with the small raid Trial of Valor that opened in patch 7.1, the second raid tier The Nighthold in patch 7.1.5, the third raid tier Tomb of Sargeras in patch 7.2.5 and the final raid tier is Antorus, the Burning Throne on Argus in patch 7.3.2.[5] After Emerald Nightmare was opened, Mythic Plus dungeons and Legion's first player versus player (PvP) season began. PvP seasons usually follow raid tiers or major patches, with Season 6 beginning after Antorus opened.

The development team made a number of changes to the PvP aspects of the game. There is a PvP honor system that unlocks PvP honor talents and there are separate abilities for use only in PvP that are not available in regular gameplay. Honor talents are abilities earned through increased levels in PvP and are activated while players engage in PvP. Once players hit maximum honor level, they can choose to earn a prestige level that resets the honor talents earned and gives cosmetic bonuses. In PvP combat, gear will be nullified and all bonuses related to gear will be deactivated, with the exception of artifact weapons and their related powers. Instead, the game will predetermine a set of stats configured to a player's specialization that can be modified for class balance purposes. However, a player's average item level will still factor in PvP; every point above item level 800 results in a 0.1% increase to a player's PvP stats.

Artifact Weapons

Artifact weapons are powerful items that were wielded by legends of the Warcraft universe, and only available to player characters in Legion. There are 36 unique weapons specific for every class and specialization combination, which include the Ashbringer (the sword wielded by the Mograine family, and later Tirion Fordring) for retribution paladins, the Doomhammer (the warhammer wielded by Thrall) for enhancement shamans, the Icebringer and Frostreaper (twin blades together known as the 'Blades of the Fallen Prince' that are forged from the Frostmourne wielded by the Lich King) for frost death knights, and other powerful weapons from the Warcraft lore. In addition, there is a fishing artifact called the Underlight Angler for those dedicated to fishing.Players complete quests to obtain these weapons, and the weapons will gain power alongside the player as they level in the Broken Isles, complete world quests, and defeat bosses. The appearance of each artifact can be customized and artifact-specific appearances are unlocked after completing certain tasks. At level 102, quests are available to acquire the other artifact weapons from a player's class that were not initially earned at level 100.

Demon Hunters

Demon hunters are the second "hero class" in World of Warcraft, joining death knights that were introduced in Wrath of the Lich King. Demon hunters begin as members of the Illidari, the elite guard of Illidan Stormrage during his rule of Outland in The Burning Crusade. Demon hunters operate on the concept of "fighting fire with fire", wielding demonic fel magic to fuel their attacks and harnessing the powers of demons they kill to fight against the Burning Legion. To become demon hunters, an initiate must consume the heart of a demon that results in most initiates dying due to being overwhelmed by the demonic energy or going insane; the survivors become part demon, taking on demonic aspects including horns, wings, claws and hooves. Demon hunters ritually blind themselves to gain 'spectral sight', allowing them to detect demonic energy from demons and to see stealthed enemies, but losing their eyes in the process.

Similar to death knights, demon hunters are able to fill the tank or damage dealer (DPS) role, but only have two specializations: Vengeance for tanking and Havoc for DPS. They wear leather armor and wield a pair of warglaives as well as a few other types, a weapon that is a curved two-bladed short sword that is similar to the Blades of Azzinoth wielded by Illidan.[3] Unlike death knights, which are available to all races, demon hunters are only playable by the two elvish races - Night Elves and Blood Elves.[12] While any race has the potential to become a demon hunter, Illidan only trained elves in the Black Temple. A player is only allowed one demon hunter per realm and must already have a level 70 on that realm in order to create one.

As a hero class, a demon hunter does not start at level 1 but instead starts at level 98.Demon hunters have a unique starting experience, similar to death knights; their story begins ten years before Legion (shortly before Illidan's death in the Black Temple raid, as depicted in The Burning Crusade) on the shattered Burning Legion world of Mardum, where they have been sent by Illidan to obtain a demonic artifact, the Sargerite Keystone, used to gain access to the Legion-controlled planets. Upon returning to Outland, the demon hunters find Illidan slain by the Wardens, and are captured and imprisoned in the Vault of the Wardens on Azeroth. Ten years later, demon hunters are freed in order to fight against the Burning Legion after the Horde and Alliance losses at the Broken Shore.As a base of operations, the class's order hall is the captured Legion ship Fel Hammer located on Mardum.