The current build - 7.1

Since the release of World of Warcraft: Legion in late August, Blizzard has been providing players with a pretty steady stream of content, having released the first major raid already, and only two weeks ago having released the mini five man raid Karazhan.

Also included in this update were additional incentives for PVP’ers by extending rewards into all prestige ranks, as well as allowing prestiged PVP’ers to keep all unlocked talents. This means you won’t have to lose your favorite PVP build in favor of leveling up your character’s prestige level.

They also added more story to the Suramar quest zone, an area Blizzard remains set on as being a heavily story driven area, with less focus on rewards and more on world building. These quests are only available to players at max level. They also added some minor diversions such as pet battles and the opportunity to raise a falcosaur pet and eventual mount.

So far this patch has been very well received, with Karazhan providing a challenging yet accomplishable goal for players looking to get into end game. There’s also a hidden mount in the dungeon for players looking to challenge themselves. This doesn’t even include the as yet unreleased raid the Trial of Valor, expected to be released this coming week. With so much out now, it’s shocking that Blizzard would be so eager to discuss upcoming events as far as two major patches out.

A new direction for Warcraft - Patch 7.1.5

One of the major issues any MMORPG has to tackle is the disillusionment of their players. If you’ve ever played an MMO you know exactly what I’m talking about. All games like these have an initial excitement attached to them, from exploring a new world, learning new classes, and testing your limits, you eventually find a wall or just simply become burnt out on what that content has to offer you. This was a major problem with previous expansions Mists of Pandaria and Cataclysm especially. Eventually the developers just decided that expansion was done and started work on the next one, leaving players feeling disappointed in the world they were left to explore, and it gave a sense of pointlessness to the content.

Now however, game director Ian Hazzikostas unveiled the true change that Legion would be bringing to the franchise. Rather than simply adding one large patch after another, Legion will be bringing a, “steady stream of content throughout the expansion.” This is to, what Hazzikostas describes as, bring the “living breathing world” feel back to World of Warcraft. This helps us to understand why they’re able to be so candid with the release schedule of Legion’s patches, since they’ve already planned that far ahead. There is no current release date for all of this information, however Blizzard was eager to give us a cheeky response as to a timeline.

Here’s a list of some changes coming with 7.1.5

Timewalking Dungeons are now available for Pandaria, with it’s own unique rewards. The Brawler’s Guild is back, with new challenges and rewards, including being able to fight alongside friends and allies, and a new mount. Micro-Holidays will be starting soon. These will be silly seasonal events without the stress of needing to compete for big rewards. Blade’s Edge Arena will be updated, including a new Ogre “Shoutcaster” who will eagerly point out your successes (and failures). Class updates will be coming soon, aiming for providing new incentives for varied talent builds and play styles. Stat bonuses will also be adjusted, allowing for players to build their character however suits their needs more easily. The Nighthold raid will also likely be released alongside these changes, if not sooner.

The Tomb of Sargeras - Patch 7.2

One of the strongest aspects to Legion was the inclusion of class halls, and how much they offered to personalizing World of Warcraft’s story around your character. With 7.2, you’ll be returning to help further your class hall’s campaign, as well as joining forces with a new faction, The Armies of Legionfall. There will also be events similar to those of Draenor’s garrison expansions where players will be able to choose from one of three different bases that they’ll be able to operate from. The changes from this update are so extreme, they deserve an extreme list.

  1. New world content

New world quests, even some specific to your class New outdoor questing zone, The Broken Shore. Legion Assaults will be returning.

  1. Flying

Flight will be unlocked once players have finished the Armies of Legionfall campaign, and have completed an existing achievement. Once unlocked, it will be account-wide.

  1. Class mounts

Completing the Broken Shore Order Hall Campaign, players will be awarded a flying mount based on their class. Some of them are even based on your specialization.

  1. The Cathedral of Eternal Light

A new dungeon will join the existing ten already in game. Not much information has been officially released on this yet. It is unknown whether it will be mythic only, similar to Karazhan, or if it will allow for Mythic + modes.

  1. Dungeon updates

Speaking of Karazhan, Mythic + runs of this will soon become available, with the massive dungeon being split into an upper and lower tier. There will also be a new keystone affix, “Bursting” where enemies explode on death. Have fun with that one tanks.

  1. Tomb of Sargeras

This will be a 9-boss raid divided into four sections. The themes will be centered around demon and Naga enemies, presumably ending in a final encounter with an avatar of Sargeras himself.

  1. PVP

PVP will be opening up new weekly events in a brawl system similar to Hearthstone & Overwatch’s existing systems. These will be over the top events such as everyone being mounted or huge group arenas. The new season will also start in this patch.

  1. Artifacts

Artifacts will continue to grow and gain power. New traits will be unlocked for all classes, and each class will have challenges they’ll need to overcome to unlock new appearances. Here’s an example of the Druid’s new bear form.

Oh i’m sorry, that’s too small. Here, lets really get a closer look at what’s going on with this new form that looks like Guardian druid never skips arm day.

What is my life right now? I hope it at least counts as flying.

Be sure to check out Wowhead’s awesome compilation of the new weapons, terrifying Banjo-Kazooie druid included.

The Future of Legion - Patch 7.3

As if everything we were teased with wasn’t already an overload of news, we also got hints of what we’ll be seeing far into the future. Our heroes will soon take the fight straight to the Burning Legion, traveling to the broken Draenai homeworld of Argus to fight Kil’jaedan himself atop his seat of power. There’s so much in store for World of Warcraft, and it’s exciting to see them pushing to break the slump that MMORPG’s tend to face when it comes to being able to hold their subscriber’s interest.

What are you most excited to see in the upcoming patch? Tell us in the comments below, and we’ll see you on Azeroth.