Legion is Coming!

Going to do something a little different with this space and talk about today's HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT of World of Warcraft: Legion! (Though I will also showcase some outfits I've been working on for two of my characters. Set links at bottom of post.) In general, I am super stoked. The expansion livestream read like a love letter to the "Best of Warcraft." From Warcraft 3, to Burning Crusade, to Wrath, this seems to be like Blizzard trying to draw on the lore, story, and content of its past great games to make another great game. But not in the way that Warlords tried to do that by literally revisiting the past, by using all this classic stuff and forging something new and exciting and moving forward into unknown territory. I'm very excited, and very optimistic -- a nice change, since for this whole expansion I've been largely confused, underwhelmed, or disappointed!

Also, there were some hidden gems in the artifact weapon reveals. It seems like they might be switching Frost Death Knights over the dual-wielding full time, which is not a huge deal. But they also revealed a spear that's supposedly for Survival Hunters. Are MELEE HUNTERS making a return as some kind of new, revamped Survival Spec?

BUT WHAT ABOUT TRANSMOG.

First, there were color variants for all the artifact weapons, the first time we've been able to change our gear's aesthetic so simply. While it's not a full dye system, or color sliders to help the weapons match anything, it's still a big step in the direction of personal aesthetic choice, and I'm excited.

Second, while they didn't feature this in the livesteam, the Legion website revealed that we're finally going to get the long-awaited transmog system update: "We’re improving the transmogrification system, allowing you to collect item appearances and save your favorite outfits without sacrificing precious bag space." THANK GOD. Please oh please, don't let this go the way of the dance studio!

Third, the addition of demon hunters means I have to revisit my stable of characters and think about shuffling things around! My Night Elf Rogue Therovais exists solely as a demon hunter, so I won't need him for that purpose anymore. This frees up that slot for a different Alliance rogue. Right now I'm leaning towards either a super-savage worgen nightstalker, or a badass Gnomerogan operative. I'll probably just race change, so there's no rush to decide.

Finally, the artifact weapons feature reveals a future direction for World of Mogcraft. Once Legion drops, I obviously need to design outfits for all of the artifact weapons, one for every spec. I think it will take roughly four months to finish my "one mog of every race/class combination" mission, so I'll have some kind of gap between finishing that and the release of Legion, where I can either take requests, or go back and double-up on some of my favorite class/race combos.

In any rate, Legion looks AMAZING and I am super excited about it. Here's hoping we don't have too too long to wait!

Transmog set links: Human Paladin, Draenei Hunter.