My initial thoughts on WoW Legion!

    So it's been a while since I have posted here! But today I bring news of my first gameplay impressions of Legion! Here in the UK the game has been out just over 24 hours! As soon as it released I was off to the Broken Isles!

The Tirisguard shall rise again!

Once the quest to teleport Dalaran to the Broken Shore has ended, I met up with Meryl Felstorm (my character is a mage) and he takes you on a quest to obtain one of three artifact weapons! I chose to pursue Ebonchill, Greatstaff of Alodi, and after a brief bug where the quest wouldn't complete I had obtained my new weapon!

                                   
                                          Ebonchill, Great Staff of Alodi

   The quest to obtain Ebonchill itself was pretty interesting. the quests were heavily centered around mage lore, involving characters and locations with strong links to the Mage class one way or another! This whole experience didn't take long (despite having to restart the final quest) around 20-30 minutes, and it also sets the stage for the Class Order hall!

   Once the Order hall has been unlocked you are sent on a few order hall specific missions. As a mage the quest revolved around portal-ing other mages into the Hall of the Guardians, via a Goblin mage named The Great Akazamzarak who has a knack for portals (for a price of course). After those quests are done, we head down to the Scouting Map to choose our destination, and after a little thought (not much tbh, being Forsaken it was an obvious choice ;) ) we headed off to Stormheim!

Overall the introduction to Legion seemed well paced, obtaining the artifact weapon and introducing the class order hall all well within the first hour, and with an artifact per spec, and order hall per class I can see plenty of re-play-ability!

Come Helheim or Highmountain

   

   So far on my journey I have only adventured into three of the zones, two of which very briefly. from what I have seen though I am impressed! The zones themselves are looking wonderful! and to add to that the music so far has been fantastic! The first thing I noted about Stormheim was how the music sounded very similar to that of Howling Fjord, which is a good thing! Both being Vrykul themed zones, is what makes this choice of music fantastic! It invoked memories of Wrath of the Lich King and I must say I enjoyed questing across Stormheim! If I was to chose a standout moment it would be our brief encounter with the underworld (Helheim - see the title is more than just a cheap pun), I won't put any spoilers here, but make sure to grab the pet from the Jellyfish rare whilst your there!

    A brief encounter with Highmountain so far, has been thoroughly enjoyable! again the music was spot on what I thought it would be with that hint of Native-American music often associated with Tauren, after all Highmountain is the home of several Tauren clans! I can't say much about the entire zone, but from doing the first few quests I can see it coming along nicely!

Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

   Many of you may be aware that the title for this section is also the title of a popular Anime, however unlike the title may lead you to believe I haven't tried to pick up any girls in a dungeon. So far I have only managed to do one dungeon, and that is not through a lack of trying! I have spent around about 8 hours sitting in dungeon queue's waiting for a group, yet nothing. Quite frankly I find it a little bit annoying that I am missing out on this experience whilst levelling, because I personally enjoy levelling through a dungeon! 

     Wait times aside, the dungeon I managed to get into and play was the Halls of Valor, and my oh my what a dungeon it was! Many of us were running it for the first time, and i must say the aesthetic of it is fantastic! It had a very Asgardian feel to it, especially with the light bridge, which served it well! Along with this there were other references to Thor, but I'll let you figure those out for yourself ;) There are 5 bosses in total, with enough variance to stop it feeling tired and re-hashed, the mechanics on some of the bosses keep you on your toes, whilst others (Fenryr I'm looking at you) felt a bit boring. If the other dungeons are as enjoyable as my first Legion dungeon then I'd be a very happy Mage!

Start Up, Cash In, Sell Out, Bro Down

    The final thing I want to talk about is the new profession system, many players may have skipped this step whilst trying to race to level 110, but I like to level my professions as I go. Asides from keeping the Warlords of Draenor system of being able to do it all from profession level 1, Legion improves professions greatly! The introduction of profession quests that grant profession reward and skill ups is a fantastic idea, making that grind to 800 that slight bit more bearable! Admittedly this mostly for secondary professions but it is wildly helpful! The primary profession quests take you across the Broken Isles in order to learn more of your chosen skill be it a gathering or crafting profession and this in itself is great. For example whilst gathering herbs I obtained a quest item for Aethril that upon completion gave me level 1 (out of 3) for gathering Aethril which means I am now more effective at it! These little tweaks have made gathering herbs that bit more enjoyable! 

FINAL VERDICT: 8.7/10