World Of Warcraft has needed an expansion like Legion for some time now. While the MMO’s last addition, Warlords Of Draenor had (and has) its fans, it left the majority of players cold. After a strong launch, the paucity of content when compared to previous expansions caused players to desert WoW in the millions. With Legion, Blizzard had a lot of ground to make up so it helps that, in spite of its rather uninspiring moniker, this is easily the best expansion Blizzard has released for WoW since 2008's Wrath Of The Lich King.
From its opening cinematic – which sees Horde and Alliance forces crash onto beaches against the demonic force of the Burning Legion – Legion works hard to makes an impression. Players are thrust into the action quickly and, unlike the previous expansion, Warlords, the quests maintain a knockabout sense of fun. Rather than feel like an arduous grind for new players and returning veterans, the new questlines succeed in reminding players why they fell in love with WoW in the first place.
If you’re new to WoW, or simply fancy a change, you can dive straight in with the new Demon Hunter class. Legion allows players to boost one of their characters to level 100, or they can create a level 98 Demon Hunter right out of the gate and head straight into the Twisting Nether. The bonus of the latter is that it fills newbies in on a lot of the game’s lore while giving veterans a fresh class to get to grips with in terms of ability and movement – Demon Hunters are by far the most nimble class WoW has features.
On top of new quests and new raids, Legion offers a brand new area in the form of the beautiful Broken Isles, and an improved version of the Garrisons from Draenor: class-specific Order Halls. It’s here players can recruit followers and send them out on quests allowing them access to upgrades for their stronghold. For maximum efficiency, it’s well worth having these running in the background while players tackle the main quests with their characters.
All told, Legion is an impressive and engaging expansion. It fixes a lot of the issues players had with its predecessor, pitches itself perfectly for both old hands and fresh faces and, above all, is the most fun WoW has been in years.