Throughout this almost 20-year ride World of Warcraft has had unbelievable highs and..unforgettable lows. From Wrath of the Lich King to a full year in Siege of Orgrimmar. From Warlords of Draenor and another
full year in Hellfire Citadel to the wonderful Legion. As somebody who's always championed Legion and believe it's World of
Warcraft's best ever work. Today I'm asking the question:
is it as good as I remember? Let's find out. This video will be broken up into segments which I will chapter and
timestamp in the description if there are sections you would prefer to jump to. The first part of this video will be a story
recap, which will be the longest segment by far so feel free to skip over that
if you have no interest in it. I'll also be skipping PvP, as I wouldn't
be able to give a clear evaluation on it. I hope you'll enjoy. Before we jump into Legion, we have to
document the ending of Warlords of Draenor and regardless of what a car crash it was it did pave the way for Legion narratively. Bllizard pulling the plug on Warlords early
and redirecting most of their resources into Legion was very clear to see, with the amount
of care, love and quality that went into it. Warlords of Draenor was really disheartening because the potential was there
to create something really great and ultimately it was just such a waste. It's without a doubt the biggest 'what
if?' in World of Warcraft history. Some backstory that you may not be familiar with. After Illidan's defeat to Arthas
in Northrend back in Warcraft III Illidan would return to
the Black Temple to recover and begin to train both Blood and Night Elves to
become Demon Hunters, also known as the Illidari. They would go on to attack many Legion worlds Nathreza being the one of most importance which is the home of the demonic Nathrezim;
the dreadlords who served the Legion. He'd also sort of project his spirit onto Argus
to spy on Kil'jaeden, but he was found out. However Illidan was saved
by a really powerful Naaru who also gave him a vision
of himself in the future now wielding light magic and
being a Champion of the Light. This vision disturbed Illidan immensely. Illidan and his Army's mission was
to obtain the Sargerite Keystone which would allow travel to every
world controlled by the Legion. This campaign took place at the same time that the Heroes of Azeroth raided the
Black Temple in The Burning Crusade. Whilst the Illidari were successful at obtaining
the keystone after slaying Brood Queen Tyranna who was the leader of the forces in Mardum. They would return to find their leader dead at the hands of our Heroes,
Maiev Shadowsong and Akama. Maiev would have all of the Illidari arrested
and put into stasis inside green crystals along with the corpse of Illidan with the keystone now in
possession of the Wardens. With Archimonde's defeat in the finale of
Warlords of Draenor in Hellfire Citadel we see Gul'dan pushed into The Black Gate and into
the Twisting Nether and ultimately, our timeline. Tasked to open the way for the
Burning Legion to return once more. Gul'dan would make his way to the Tomb of Sargeras where he originally met his end in Warcraft III as he was torn to shreds by a swarm of demons. Alternate timeline Gul'dan would open an ancient
sealed portal from the War of the Ancients securing the Legion's invasion. The leaders of the Alliance and Horde were
told and would assault the Broken Shore the island where the Tomb of Sargeras is. The Alliance and Horde forces led by King Varian Wrynn and
Warchief Vol'jin respectively were separated and pincered,
which led Sylvanas to wave off the archers that have been assisting the Alliance leading Varian and Greymane to
believe the Horde had betrayed them. The assault on the Broken Shore proved futile with Varian sacrificing himself to save his forces allowing Gul'dan to disenchant him on the spot. Vol'jin was also fatally wounded and with his dying moments declared
Sylvanas his successor as Warchief. After the Assault on the Broken Shore Gul'dan and Cordana Felsong who was the traitorous Warden
from Warlords of Draenor would attack the Vault of the
Wardens searching for Illidan's body which was intended to be used
as a vessel for Sargeras. Maiev freed the Illidari, as she despised
the Legion more than the Demon Hunters. Gul'dan was successful at
retrieving Illidan's body, as well as the Sargerite Keystone
and would escape the vault. The Illidari also escaped and would pledge
themselves to both the Alliance and the Horde The invasions would continue across Azeroth with Jaina moving Dalaran
above Karazhan In Deadwind Pass to defend Stormwind and nearby areas. Khadgar expressed Dalaran should be
used in defense of all of Azeroth and for the Horde to be let back into the city. A vote was called and passed
with Jaina left furious as she left and wasn't seen
again until Battle for Azeroth. Khadgar would task the Champions of
Azeroth to search both Karazhan and Ulduar in a bid to stop the Legion Invasions. The existence of the artifacts known as The
Pillars of Creation would be discovered. These were given to the Titans
during The Ordering of Azeroth and were later used in the War of the Ancients
to close the portal in the Tomb of Sargeras. The same portal that Gul'dan has now reopened. The Pillars of Creation were
scattered across the Broken Isles which would serve as the new continent in Legion with the Kirin Tor teleporting
Dalaran above the Broken Isles. The Legion were already making progress with
corrupting the denizens of the Broken Isles with many allying with the Legion including the people of Suramar. The leader of Suramar, Grand Magistrix Elisande was worried what the Legion would
do if they didn't bend the knee. The player characters would be tasked with finding the Pillars of Creation and
returning them to Dalaran. The Heroes of Azeroth would secure four
out of the five Pillars of Creation. In Stormheim the player character
would face off with the Felskorn a Vrykul tribe loyal to the Legion. They would compete with them
for the Aegis of Aggramar which was held by Odyn, a Titan keeper
who resided in the Halls of Valor. Odyn was trapped within the Halls of
Valor by Helya, the first of the Valkyr out of spite for the transformation. Odyn once managed to get a
look into the Shadowlands and see how the Kyrian were carrying
souls of mortals into the Afterlife. inspired by this he made the Valkyr. The first Valkyr, Helya wasn't happy with this so she cursed him and trapped
him in the Halls of Valor. The champions of Azeroth
managed to defeat the Felskorn and obtain the Aegis of Aggramar. They'd also visit Highmountain where they would
meet an uncorrupted black dragon named Ebonhorn while also obtaining the Hammer of Khaz'goroth. In a cursed Night Elf region of Azsuna they
would obtain the Tidestone of Golganneth after having some trouble
with Queen Azshara's naga. And lastly in the region of Val''sharah the heroes of Azeroth would
face the Emerald Nightmare a corrupted version of the Emerald
Dream by the Old Gods and the Void. This corruption was spread by Xavius former adviser to Queen Azshara. The battle against this corruption was tough with
the Dragon Aspect Ysera falling into corruption and ultimately having to be killed. After Ysera's defeat the Champions of
Azeroth would claim the Tears of Elune the fourth Pillar of Creation. Then our Heroes would go
into the Emerald Nightmare and cleanse the Dream of
corruption, defeating Xavius. In Val'sharah we would also find and free the imprisoned Maiev Shadowsong
with the help of her brother, Jarod. The fifth Pillar of Creation, the Eye of
Aman'thul was kept in the city of Suramar which as mentioned earlier
is allied with the Legion. It would take the Heroes of Azeroth
months before they would be able to free the city with the help of the Nightfallen a faction of exiled Nightborne who refused
to ally themselves with the Legion. They were cut from their
power source, the Nightwell thus withering and dying. We would see seek their help and would slowly liberate Suramar
City and the surrounding region. The Alliance and the Horde
would occasionally clash most notably at Stormheim where the forces of Sylvanas and Nathanos would
fight with Alliance forces led by Genn Greymane. As we now know, we would find
Sylvanas making shady deals with Helya who was also allied with the Jailer. Helya then gave Sylvanas
an item called the Soulcage that Sylvanas was supposed to use to
enslave Eyir, the leader of the Valkyr and then force her to give the Valkyr to Helya who would corrupt them making them servants of the Jailer. Greymane thought Sylvanas wanted to
use Eyir to continue raising forsaken so he chased her down and found her torturing her and then managed to break
the Soulcage and free her proclaiming that he took her future
the same way she took his sons, when she killed Liam during the Cataclysm. After we deal with the problems in Val'sharah something would fall into the orbit of Azeroth and onto the shores of Suramar. Khadgar instructs us to recover this artifact which would turn out to be the
core of a Naaru called Xe'ra which contained a message from
the Army of the Light and Turalyon who went missing with Alleria
after the destruction of Draenor. The message says to seek out Prophet Velen. We head for the Exodar which
is under attack by the Legion led by Velen's corrupted son. Velen explains to us that only Oros, the
last descendant of Xe'ra can unlock the core. However Oros is destroyed by the Legion. We defeat Velen's son and leave for Dalaran. Before leaving we overhear that
the Draenei are preparing to work on a vessel that will take them back home to Argus. The Light's Heart, the name for the
core of Xe'ra remains in Dalaran until Khadgar figures out the Tears
of Elune could be used to activate it. The plan succeeds and we get a vision of Xe'ra who
tells us she seeks the Child of Light and Shadow: Illidan Stormrage. It's strongly hinted that Xe'ra is the same Naaru who gave the vision to Illidan
while rescuing him from Argus. She explains that the Light's
Heart can be used as a vessel. She would then send us to the Illidari
who searched for the soul of Illidan and found out it was being
held by Helya in Helheim setting up the raid the Trial of Valor. We would defeat Helya,
obtaining the soul of Illidan which would be kept in Light's Heart
until we were able to recover his body. The defeat of Helya also liberated Odyn from
being imprisoned within the Halls of Valor. While working on liberating Suramar the Champions of Azeroth would
have to go back to the mainland and stop the Legion from taking over Karazhan. We're successful and we also
get to meet the spirit of Medivh where he and Khadgar have a touching moment. The forces of Azeroth, now
together with the Nightfallen slowly encroach upon the city of Suramar. All that remains is The Nighthold where Grand Magistrix Elisande
and her loyal followers reside. Not only that, but Gul'dan is
atop of The Nighthold; the Nightspire where he's performing a ritual to use
Illidan's body as a vessel for Sargeras. Furthermore the Eye of Aman'thul, the last
pillar of creation is right there too. The Crusade into The Nighthold
begins as we conquer everything including Elisande and make our way to the top of the
Nightspire where we fight Gul'dan. During the fight Gul'dan uses the
powers of the Eye of Aman'thul and near the end of the fight Sargeras would take
possession of Illidan's body for a brief while but is ultimately defeated by us. Khadgar then uses the Light's Heart to transfer the soul of Illidan back
into his body, resurrecting him. He proceeds to disenchant Gul'dan
until all that is left is his skull. Then we get an interesting moment where
Illidan decides to crush the skull to pieces rather than consume it as he did in the
past with main timeline Guldan's skull. Now that we have Illidan back,
and all five Pillars of Creation it was time to strike back at the Broken Shore Kil'jaeden would increase
the intensity of the invasion while the Class Orders would unite into a
coalition called the Armies of Legionfall and this time we are successful at assaulting
the Broken Shore and establishing a foothold. We would make our way towards the Tomb of Sargeras where we plan to seal the Legion
portal with the Pillars of Creation. During the fight at the Broken Shore an Alliance player would find a
compass that belonged to Varian Wrynn. They would show this compass to King Anduin who had come to the Broken Shore to
witness the place where his father fell. Here he would recover his father's sword,
Shalamayne, which would light up once again. Also during this time Death Knights,
known as Deathlord of the Ebon Blade supplied with the information by Lich King Bolvar would go in to the Ruby Sanctum the main residence of the Red Dragonflight to seek out information regarding a
great dragon skeleton in Northrend. The Deathlord is then given a choice to murder
all remaining dragons here or spare them. The armies of Legionfall led by
Illidan, Velen, Maiev and Khadgar break into the Tomb of Sargeras placing the Pillars of Creation at various
points to seal the entry of demons into Azeroth . We then fight the Fallen Avatar locked in a Titan facility beneath
the tomb, reawakened by Kil'jaeden. After the Avatar is defeated we would chase
after Kil'jaeden into the Twisting Nether. We'd end up on his spaceship making
its way into the orbit of Argus. We would finally defeat Kil'jaeden
and with his dying words said that he was always envious of Velen and never really believed that
Sargeras could be stopped. Velen places his hand upon
Kil'jaeden's forehead in silence out of empathy, or perhaps
forgiveness, and Kil'jaeden dies. The spaceship sustaining heavy damage and with no one to steer it would
start crashing into Argus's orbit. Illidan uses the Sargerite
Keystone to bring us home but in doing so also opened a massive
rift between Argus and Azeroth essentially allowing easy travel with
the two now in each other's orbit. Khadgar is horrified by this but Illidan smiles and says that "The
hand of fate sometimes must be forced". It was mentioned earlier that
the Draenei would start work on a vessel that would bring the them home to Argus and that work is finally done and the vessel
known as The Vindicaar is ready to go. Our heroes would make their way to Argus and here we would witness the
arrival and the crash of The Xenedar a major spaceship of the Army of the Light an army that was comprised of the
survivors of Legion invaded worlds. Here we finally meet Alleria and Turalyon the fabled legends of Azeroth
who disappeared decades ago. They ended up in the Army of the Light where
they fought the Legion for a thousand years with time working differently
in the Twisting Nether. We're also accompanied by Lothraxion a light infused dreadlord who was sent by Turalyon to aid the paladins during
the Broken Isles campaign. Along the way we'd meet Eredar survivors who refused to bend the knee to the Legion but were still mutated into
the broken called Krokul. We would make our way to the crashed Xenedar where we would recover the shards of Xe'ra. Returning the Light's Heart,
Xe'ra's core, would reawaken her. She would see Illidan and bent on fulfilling the prophecy
of the Child of Light and Shadow the vision Illidan saw of himself
as a Champion of the Light she began imbuing him with the light. Illidan was very much against this. He believed there were no chosen ones and he already had experience with
trading freedom for power before so iIllidan would get enraged
and would destroy Xe'ra blowing the elder Naaru to pieces. Turalyon, incandescent with rage
would take a swing at Illidan who would quite literally just grab his sword. The Argus campaign would now begin with our heroes and their allies making
their way towards Antorus, The Burning Throne which served as the final raid of Legion. It was here where they hoped to strike at the very
engine that resurrected the souls of the Legion. They would also come across
the Seat of the Triumvirate where they would fight a darkened Naaru
whose powers Alleria would consume granting her powers of the
Void and a new Void Form. She was known to dabble in
the powers of the Void before for which she was even imprisoned by
Xe'ra before the crash landing on Argus. Magni Bronzebeard, Speaker
of Azeroth came to Argus and upon arriving found out that
Argus also had a World Soul. We would invade Antorus freeing the Titans Sargeras kept
after capturing their souls. We would also visit Elunaria
where we would protect Eonar. Along the way, we would also fight Varimathras who was gravely tortured for his actions from Warcraft III to Wrath of
the Lich King with the Forsaken. Now that all Titans were freed we would get teleported to
the Seat of the Pantheon from which the Titans wanted to use
the power of the World Soul of Argus to imprison Sargeras once and for all. The World Soul of Argus is brought
to the Seat of the Pantheon severing his connection with the Burning Legion. We could see a growing cloud looming over Azeroth. Sargeras was coming. The main reason Sargeras could never claim Azeroth was that he didn't know exactly
where it was in the Cosmos but with the rift opened by the Sargerite
Keystone after the raid of the Tomb of Sargeras Azeroth was now closer than ever. Sargeras would command the soul of Argus to rise and kill Azeroth's Champions,
as well as the Titans imbuing Argus with some of his powers. We're ultimately successful in defeating him. At the end of the fight, Sargeras would
finally emerge, desperate to strike at Azeroth and would manage to stab the
planet with his sword Gorribal. The Titans would use their collective powers along with the last of Argus's energies and would imprison Sargeras
within the Seat of the Pantheon Illidan would remain here
to serve as Sargeras' Jailer while the Champions of Azeroth would then
make their way home with The Vindicaar Accompanied by the Army of the Light. The rift between Argus and Azeroth would close and a red star would adorn the skies of Azeroth. Sargeras' sword would leave a giant wound in
Silithus and cause the planet immense damage. Magni would then use the powerful
artifacts the Champions of Azeroth gathered such as Ashbringer, Doomhammer, Blades
of the Fallen Prince and even Xal'atath to stop Azeroth from dying, but
weakening the artifacts permanently. As a nice epilogue to the story of Legion we find a crystal on The
Vindicaar left behind by Illidan. Through it we hear a recording of Illidan telling
us that the crystal contains two messages: the first one is for Malfurion,
Illidan's twin brother telling him how the teachings
of Cenarius were never for him and how he wished to quell
the strife that divided them and telling him to take care of Tyrande,. The second message was for Tyrande the love of Illidan's life,
who chose his brother over him. Illidan tells her that he always
kept her in his heart as his anchor and tells her to take care of Malfurion and that she made the right choice by choosing him even though he sometimes wished it differently. After delivering the messages Illidan tells us to go to the second Well of
Eternity atop Mount Hyjal. A monument to his dedication to Azeroth and leave the crystal there where it
is revealed there is one last message: for you, the player character. A projection of Illidan, Malfurion and
Tyrande sitting on a bench appears. Illidan tells us that we've proven
our commitment to Azeroth and that our dedication and sacrifice rivals his own. He then tells us that the defense
of Azeroth is now in our hands and with that, the message is over and the echoes would dissipate and fall
into the Well of Eternity. This is without doubt the biggest storytelling
experience World of Warcraft has ever done and this felt like a true conclusion
to the events of Warcraft III excluding the storyline of Arthas
which obviously ended in Wrath or eventually Shadowlands, if
you have the courage to say that. I'd just like to say that I'm not
an expert on the lore by any means and full credit of this story recap and
the segments regarding the Order Hall Class Campaigns were taken from a post on Reddit which you can read in the
description if you're interested Class Order Halls felt like Garrison's
done right or a bit better at least. I mean at least you actually saw
other people this time, right? On a serious note this felt like something players
have been crying out for for a very long time. Player agency and class fantasy or identity is something that felt lost for
a really long time until Legion and now sadly does again
post Legion in my opinion. it was a hub for your class enriched with lore and was a great
foundation for different types of content: Artifacts Class Quests Class Mounts
and so much story to discover. Similarly to Garrisons, you would acquire followers that you
could level up and send off on missions to bring back certain things: artifact
power, gold, items for your followers, battle pet currency and so much more. Each Class Order Hall had its
own campaign, mostly side quests so here is a list of some of the important things
that affect the story of Legion and beyond: The priests would meet Calia Menethil the last living heir of
Lordaeron, and sister of Arthas. And they would also turn a
Void God back into a Naaru showing us how the Light and the
Void are two sides of the same coin. The priest specializing in
Shadow would obtain Xal'atath an ancient sentient blade of unknown origin but that was used in service of the Black Empire. This blade would play a major
role in Battle for Azeroth and will be at the forefront of The War Within. The paladins would find Tirion Fordring trapped
on the broken Shore, where he was presumed dead. However he would die here and a paladin
would take up the mantle of Ashbringer. As a paladin main, this made me sad and his death seems so forgettable
if you aren't a paladin player and this just felt like a cop out so the
player could just wield the Ashbringer. For such a storied character
and the man who actually shattered Frostmourne to be done dirty like this I..don't know. it was-it was
sad. You deserved better, Tirion. The Death Knight's would raise new Four Horsemen: Nazgrim, Thoras Trollbane, Darion
Mograine and Sally Whitemane. Originally the Death Knight's would attempt to
resurrect Tirion Fordring as the fourth Horseman as the Death Knights would storm Light's Hope
Chapel in an attempt to steal his corpse. The Death Knight's would fight Lady
Liadrin, and attempt to begin a ritual only to be burned by searing light. Darion Mograine would open a deathgate
to save the player and the horsemen but would pay the the price for it and die. But what is dead may never die. Showing great courage and leadership, Darion would
be raised and become the leader of the horsemen. Players would also reconnect with
the Lich King Bolvar Fordragon while also reforging the shards of Frostmourne
into the Blades of the Fallen Prince. The Shaman would gather the Earthern
Ring and make peace among the elements still in chaos after the Cataclysm. A Shaman would also become
the wielder of Doomhammer after Thrall found it unusable because of the
guilt he felt after Garrosh Hellscream's death. The Rogue's would be joined by Vanessa Vancleef an important character in the
stories of Vanilla and Cataclysm. A couple of classes would also find
out what's below Tirisfal Glades the Tomb of Tyr, a Titan keeper who was
instrumental in creating the Dragon Aspects. The most important part narratively
is the Illdari storyline who would make contact with
the soul of Illidan Stormrage which was out-and-about in the Twisting Nether after being expelled from his body by
Gul'dan to make space for Sargeras. Illidan is more demon at this point,so
his soul is more demonic than not thus roaming the Twisting Nether. Illidan would instruct the Illidari
to seek the Sargerite Keystone and also go to the black Temple to
seek the help of Akama once again. Akama wasn't really into this so the Illidari would separate the soul of Akama taking the piece that was
loyal to the Illdari with them as he knew all the plans
for destroying the Legion. The Illidari would also break
into the Vault of the Warden's slaying Cordana Felsong to retrieve
the Sargerite Keystone once again. I've always been a one character Andy
having always stuck to my Paladin but the Class Order Hall gave me a reason
to want to play different characters because there was new content and
story locked behind each class. It was motivating and exciting, and it
begs the question as to why Blizzard moved away from something
that was so widely praised. We could put it down to laziness or perhaps what felt like
a hangover with Garrisons or maybe this was just an attempt to
reinvent the wheel with expansion features such as Covenants in Shadowlands. Covenants had massive potential when you
tie power to them it defeats the purpose because players nine times out of ten are going
to choose the one that is the most powerful. It felt like Class Order Halls were perfect but they didn't envisage it going beyond
Legion, and for them it served its purpose. Depending on how you feel about
weapons, your opinion may vary. I know some people who absolutely
love the artifact weapons and some who felt really sad knowing they would have no weapons to look
forward to in the Dungeons and Raids of Legion. I think the weapons were a brilliant idea but weapons have always been
a huge draw in content too. Of course we could talk about really
fun trinkets and tier piece bonuses, but weapons just hit different. Literally. it also felt a bit odd to be sat in the Class
Order Hall with everybody wielding the Ashbringer but I thought it was genuinely a very cool idea. I do understand the disappointment or frustration some players would have by not having any
shiny new weapons to look forward to though. I think Blizzard tried to combat this with
relics you could put inside the artifact weapon. They strangely reminded me of materia
from Final Fantasy 7 a little bit. Relics would enhance specific
traits in your artifact weapon as well as boosting the overall
item level of the weapon. I'll praise Legion to the moon but I'm very mindful that Legion paved a
cruel road for World of Warcraft to walk with the introduction of borrowed power, and
an insane increase of tasks required of you. it didn't feel so bad in Legion, at least for me. it was grindy but I like that, and
MMOs are essentially time sinks anyway. Admittedly, it didn't feel nice to dump
all of your artifact power in one weapon effectively locking yourself into that spec. Borrowed power was a novelty at the time and for me, it was an incentive to play the
game more, do the tasks and get stronger. The amount of bonuses and quality of
life that existed in the artifact trees was a huge draw for me to keep pushing myself by grinding Maw of Souls until I couldn't see
anymor- I mean completing World Quests..obviously. it felt akin to leveling in Classic World
of Warcraft and earning Talent Points. Putting those points in your artifact
weapon tree felt exciting and rewarding. This ultimately got out of hand
with both BFA and Shadowlands and thank God we're back in a place now with
a good old-fashioned dedicated talent tree. However it does have me curious
how many times they will expand this current talent tree before tearing
that down for something completely new. Dailies were also revolutionized with
the introduction of World Quests. World Quests would reward gear, reputation, gold,
currency, and most importantly artifact power which would be used to gain
levels with your artifact. I know.. I know. it can't all be perfect, right? Legion had its flaws for sure. If locking yourself into one
spec with artifacts wasn't enough can I interest you in a Sephuz's Secret perhaps? The legendary system in Legion was
unforgiving and it took no prisoners. It's a sad thought to receive a LEGENDARY
item and be disappointed with it. Legion had what was called a
legendary eligible activity for example : kill a dungeon or raid boss,
open a treasure, open an emissary cache etc. These would increase your chances
of receiving a legendary drop. Once a legendary drops, the chance of your next legendary resets to the base drop chance and then
you'll work your way up again. However you had no control over the
legendary you would actually receive, with some being a whole lot better than others. This could essentially make or break some specs with some guilds or pugs even going to levels
of not taking people to certain content if they didn't have their bis legendaries something that was totally
out of the player hands. In patch 7.3.5 an additional method to
obtain Legion legendaries was implemented the Purified Titan Essence item can be purchased for 1000 Wakening Essences and
will grant a random legendary which didn't exactly help you
target the one you were looking for if you still didn't have it by then but it would at least help
eliminate other legendaries. At the end of the day everybody who plays WoW or games generally know there's
going to be a meta and a route to go. Whether that is talent builds in WoW, Diablo
builds, Heroes of the Storm talent builds. There will always be THE route that will
give you the best possible performance and whilst variety is the spice of life, most
people just want to perform the best they can. Case and point: Covenants in Shadowlands.
Hold tight Hero Talents in The War Within. And whilst I can appreciate them being creative
and having fun with some of these legendaries tying them to RNG was a
great failing of Blizzard and arguably the biggest blunder of the expansion. So what's your item level now? What do you mean? Well now that you've got a legendary! Oh I can't equip it. It's shit. As mentioned in the story recap Legion saw the return of the Hero Class
with the introduction of the Demon Hunter. The Demon Hunter had been considered twice before in both The Burning Crusade and
Wrath of the Lich King respectively but Blizzard didn't feel ready
to introduce a new class in TBC and in Wrath it just didn't make much
sense with the theme of the expansion. I remember people being upset they were
also yet another leather wearer coming off the back of Monk in Mists of Pandaria which didn't seem great, but
Demon Hunters looked immense. Seeing abilities in the developer preview like
Metamorphosis and Eye Beam looked so good. Demon Hunter was the first class
to only have two specializations: Havoc for DPS and Vengeance for Tank. They originally started at Level 98 and had their
own introduction starting Quest Zone on Mardum which would serve as the 'flashback' to when you and the Illidari are sent
on the mission by Illidan to receive the Sargerite Keystone that I
mentioned at the story section of this video. The mobility of the Demon
Hunter was a huge talking point with both Fel Rush and Vengeful Retreat
making it super easy for them to get around. They also possess a double jump
and a built-in glide function. I feel that Havoc had a very strong
place in Legion as a Powerhouse DPS but outside of the mobility it just felt pretty boring and there wasn't
a great deal of complexity to the class and Vengeance on the other hand just felt like it really struggled
to find its feet as a tank in Legion. I think Legion had the best dungeons of any
expansion and for me, it's not even close. Halls of Valor Eye of Azshara Black Rook hold Maw of Souls Vault of the Wardens Need I go on? These were stone cold bangers. The fact that Legion would expand on
dungeons as the expansion went on too with the likes of Cathedral of Eternal
Night and The Seat of The Triumvirate is something we haven't seen since. We were truly spoiled in Legion. The introduction of Mythic+
transformed World of Warcraft forever and is a pillar of what modern
World of Warcraft is today. Mythic+ was heavily inspired by
the Challenge Modes we had seen in both Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor. It's a system that offers players an endlessly
scaling challenge in five player dungeons. The system allows players
to compete against a timer but has much more lenient times so the emphasis is on solid
execution, rather than pure speed. Depending on the time you finish a key it can level up to a maximum of three times. Dungeons have various affixes
that will change on a weekly basis to create challenges, keep things interesting and have you think of alternate ways
you may approach a dungeon that week. To begin a Mythic+ dungeon, at least one
player in the party must have a Mythic Keystone which can be obtained from the last boss of a
Mythic dungeon or your weekly challenger's chest The Great Vault as of Shadowlands. Mythic+ wasn't without its issues early doors. If you fail to finish a dungeon in
time, your keystone will be depleted. Depleted keystones can still
be used to start dungeons but those dungeons won't reward loot at the end. If you do beat the timer on a depleted
keystone, your keystone will be restored so you can attempt the next difficulty for loot. This was really frustrating if
somebody would rage quit the group or if you had party members randomly disconnect as opposed to the iteration it has now, where
it would simply go down a level if failed. The Weekly Challenger's Chest
mentioned before was also quite odd too as you were essentially rolling the dice
on any potential loot from a random dungeon as opposed to the ability to pick-and-choose
the reward in The Great Vault like in Shadowlands and Dragonflight. Mythic+ is great in the sense that
you can just simply plug in and play. You don't have to to be online at a set
time or have a raiding schedule to stick to. Just find four people to
play with and away you go. Along with the introduction of Mythic+ we were
also introduced to the Mega-Dungeon series. This has been a staple since
its Inception in Legion as we have now seen Return to Karazhan Operation: Mechagon Tazavesh, the Veiled Market and most recently Dawn of
the Infinite in Dragonflight. Mega-Dungeons are massive five player dungeons
that use a lockout system similar to raids. The dungeons also eventually get split up into two separate dungeons when they are
added to the Mythic+ season. Legion was already knocking it out of the park for me but that Karazhan trailer was amazing. Karazhan is in my top five raids of all time. I actually booked a week off work so I could
play the hell out of Return to Karazhan but then got incredibly ill,
so I couldn't play at all. That was sad. Anyway, the reintroduction of
Karazhan was a masterstroke by Blizzard and if I had any complaints about it it would be having to farm Drape of Shame which is obviously a fault of
Titanforging, which we'll get to but I can't tell tell the amount of
runs I put my friends through for that. Return to Karazhan was such
a beautiful hit of nostalgia and to re-explore it and see how
things had changed was so much fun. I'm really glad they continue to
expand on the Mega-Dungeon series, and I can't wait to see where they take it
next as I feel they've all been excellent I thoroughly enjoyed raiding throughout
Legion and I have fond memories of every raid. Besides maybe Tomb of Sargeras that place was just..um pain. The Emerald Nightmare fights were okay. it felt interesting finally getting
this close to the Emerald Dream after it had been a wish
of the players for so long. Visually it felt a bit dull or samey and it's honestly quite a
forgettable raid in my opinion. It would probably rank last place for me. I really enjoyed healing Ursoc and I know some people didn't like it
but I really liked the Cenarius fight but I felt Xavius was a bit of
a let-down as a final encounter. Trial of Valor was just a filler raid, but I did
enjoy it a lot more than the Emerald Nightmare I really enjoyed Odyn, although
it was a bit of a long encounter. Guarm was a lot of fun, and I thought Helya
was really cool with the intermission phase. I sadly never got to do this on Mythic, but
thoroughly enjoyed it on Heroic all the same. The Nighthold is the Gold
standard for Legion raids and is also in my top five raids of all time. Every boss was unique and engaging and I don't think I had any issues
with any of the bosses in there although Mythic Star Augur is by far one of
the most mentally taxing fights I've ever done. Gul'dan was brilliant and the detailed story in the
build-up made this raid feel epic. if I had to pick a favourite fight I think I'm honestly going
to have to go with Krosus with Tichondrius just missing out on top spot. I think Krosus is such a simple
but well-designed encounter. I think The Nighthold is probably where some
of my happiest memories of WoW are, period. Tomb of Sargeras. Yikes. Welcome to Hell. Tomb of Sargeras is just nightmare fuel. Can I call it a guild-breaker? Is that a thing for Tomb of Sargeras? I feel like it was. I was looking forward to this raid so much as it has so much lore and history to it but this raid genuinely made me miserable. The constant soaking was just such a drag the raid felt very punishing and it became so tiresome that my guild actually folded. I can't even remember how far we got I think Sisters of the Moon Mythic, and my guild
just had enough and didn't want to play anymore. The Raid felt exhausting. After my guild folded I continued to play and
did Antorus Mythic which I thought was brilliant. There were some great fights in here. Healing Imonar was a ride and I loved Coven Aggramar and Varimathras. Take your pick really. This raid had a lot to offer. This place had stunning visuals the stakes were high and it was an epic ending for Legion. Thunderforging was introduced in Mists of
Pandaria for the Throne of Thunder raid and Warforging would follow in Siege of Orgrimmar. Thunderforged loot was designed to be a rare
chance drop from Normal and Heroic bosses which would award an additional
six item levels to an item. For example Normal mode loot in Throne of
Thunder would have had an item level of 522 Thunderforged Normal would
raise this item level to 528. The same would apply for Heroic, with regular
Heroic items item level 535 raising to 541. You could also use seals for a chance to
potentially roll an item from a bosses loot table which also had the chance to thunderforge. As mentioned, this trend continued into
Siege of Orgrimmar renamed Warforged and then in Legion it would
be Warforged and Titanforged and this is where it start to get out of hand and the carrot on a stick method
for loot was truly realized. Receiving Warforged gear in Legion
became a lot easier to achieve as you could get it from World
Quests as well as Dungeons and Raids. Receiving Warforged loot in Legion would
increase the item level of loot by 10 item levels If it gained 15 item levels or more,
it would be considered Titanforged with the gear potentially
going 45 item levels or higher. I remember doing an LFR in The Nighthold once with somebody getting a Convergence
of Fates trinket from Elisande but it titanforged so it was almost the equivalent
of the Mythic version which just felt ridiculous to players who
are actually progressing those fights. This felt extremely frustrating if you
were targeting your best in slot gear as you would never ever feel that
your character set was truly complete
as there was always a chance for
your gear to war or titanforge. The same would apply to gem sockets being
on the gear if you were lucky enough or tertiary stats, such as leech and avoidance. Whilst the latter still exist, I think we can all
agree: good riddance to this terrible modifier. Is there anybody out there
who doesn't still quote: "An illusion! What are you hiding?" I refuse to believe it's just me. This is another prime example of something
that has been left to rust by Blizzard: the city of Suramar. it's too good to be left to waste. I would love to see it transformed
into a Horde capital at this point. Music in WoW has always delivered and
the music in Suramar is no exception. It felt like so much love and
care went into this place. It reminded me of when I first
saw Gilneas back in Cataclysm. it just looked so far ahead of
anything else they'd ever done. Suramar felt like an actual city. You have NPCs walking around
and doing different jobs guarding cleaning cooking and so on. The buildings were all unique. I actually read on Reddit and had to
check for myself to see if it was true there are wine sellers where time is
sped up, so you walk at 300% speed and you can watch the workers
restock shelves at lightning speed. I know some found Suramar tedious and there will always be
complaints regarding things whether it's be the Ancient Mana grinding or things getting rep-gated or whatever it may be but for the most part, it was very well received
and the storytelling in this zone was brilliant. It's one of Warcraft's best
ever zones in my opinion. The only complaint I would have with Suramar
is having to navigate it with a ground mount which leads me to my next subject... It would feel disingenuous to leave Pathfinder out because I know it was an issue
for some players in Legion. We'd only seen Pathfinder once
before in Warlords of Draenor. it served as a two part
gatekeeping achievement in Legion which would allow you to fly in
the Broken Isles once completed. The achievement was account-wide and part one tasked you to: explore the five Legion questing zones complete all major storylines in the Broken Isles complete 100 different World Quests complete your Class Order Hall Campaign and to earn revered reputation
with the six Broken Isle factions. Completing part one of this achievement would
grant your ground mounts increased movement speed. Part two was implemented in patch 7.2. Part two required you to explore the Broken Shore
and hit revered with the armies of Legionfall. Originally you also had to complete
a Legion invasion in each zone but this has been hotfixed out. Pathfinder upset a lot of people, as
they saw it to be pointless and frustrating. Even more so when people were gatekept from flying in these continents after those
expansions were no longer relevant Like Draenor, or Kul'tiras
and Zandalar for instance. Legion without a shadow of a doubt had the
best patch cadence any expansion has seen besides Dragonflight, which has done really
well in releasing content at a similar pace. '77 days' is what people would say. 11 weeks and it would be time to
sink your teeth into something new. There was also a pattern with Legion's releases. The patches contained new
dungeons, new story quests
and introduced new zones
and artifact weapon revamps with Concordance of the Legionfall and
The Netherlight Crucible respectively. it wasn't so much the pace
that felt so good about Legion but every patch in Legion felt like there
was always a reason to play and participate. When in comparison to something
like Warlord's 6.1 patch which introduced the S.E.L.F.I.E
cam, this felt amazing Legion is one of the rare expansions
I've played without ever unsubbing. I feel like Blizzard have done well to
try and replicate this with Dragonflight albeit players still complaining there
still isn't enough to do in the game and the structure and vision is
obviously a bit more different now too with World of Warcraft
being seen as a seasonal game. Let's finish with a nice one: The Mage Tower A true fan favourite of Legion. It challenged players to conquer
unique solo class specific encounters and was a true test of mastery. I love that the rewards were
simply artifact skins and not gear like it's so often the case with WoW. I'm an extremely average Ret Paladin but I
made it my mission to get the Ashbringer skin because I was so in love with
it, and I still use it today. The Mage Tower was so successful and pined for
that it made a return permanently in Shadowlands with the reward being a Legion themed transmog. You could also work towards an
achievement called A Tour of Towers, which would reward you with
a Soaring SpellTome mount. Huge props to anybody who has that mount. So to answer the question I think: Yes I do think Legion is as
good as I remember it to be. It isn't perfect by any means, but nothing is. Like any other expansion it
certainly had its issues. Legion's biggest strengths were its storytelling the amount of love and care that
went into all of the classes and the replayability that it offered. But as I previously mentioned, it paved a
cruel road for WoW to walk for some time with borrowed power and the amount of
chores and tasks that were expected of you. This video is my opinion and you may have similar or completely
different views to me and that's great. These videos are made for discussion,
entertainment and opinion. So enough from me, I want to know what you think. Is Legion all it's cracked up to be? Would you play Classic Legion
if it ever got to that point? Do you think Legion is overrated or perhaps like
me do you think it was peak World of Warcraft? Let me know your thoughts in
the comment section below. Thank you so much for watching especially if you sat through the entire thing. If you enjoyed this video, please
consider liking and subscribing and I'll see you in the next one.
