World of Warcraft may not be the monster MMO powerhouse it once was, dominating the world of subscription gaming with its 13 million+ monthly players, but it still enjoys a many-million-player strong base and when the latest expansion, Legion, was released, a lot of people returned to Azeroth.
They came back for the expanded story, the new additions to the lore, the new weapons, new levelling opportunities, new areas to explore, new mounts to unlock and more.
But is it any good?
Expansions in the past have left some gamers with a sour taste in their mouth. Mists of Pandaria really didn't tick the right boxes for some people and Warlords of Draenor wans't what everyone was after either.
So what does everyone think of Legion?
The general consensus is that this is the best expansion in quite some time – maybe the best since Wrath of the Lich King was released way back in 2008. That is of course debatable, but there is a lot of evidence to suggest that WoW Legion really is one of the better releases to come out of Blizzard in many years.
The first and most obvious addition is all the new quests in the game. Whether you're talking about all of the quests designed to guide you to the level cap of 110, the World Quests which give hardcore players endless end-game content or the Artefact quests which send you on a treasure hunt to unlock a supremely powerful piece of kit.
There's lots of them and most people seem to find them way more interesting than quest chains of old. There are no kill X of this, or collect Y quests in there: they're all intriguing, feel epic and have an impact on the story of the world itself.
And isn't that the core of a game like WoW? Making you feel like you're making a difference in a game full of eight million other players trying to do the same thing.
One area where Legion really stands out is visually. Despite being well over a decade old, Blizzard does an excellent job of making WoW look fresh. Sure its character models are still rather clunky for a game in 2016, but textures are much improved, effects are better than ever and yet the specifications for Legion are hardly anything heftier than the game has ever required.
Some of the new regions specifically look absolutely gorgeous, dripping with detail and improvements to the age old WoW look of things. Blizzard's art department has done the game proud.
New(old) features like the Order Halls are something most seem to consider a much better implementation than Draenor's Garrisons. Players are able to get that feel of gradual progression in levelling up their base, expanding their forces and improving their abilities, but there's only a handful of followers to give commands to – not dozens.
Demon Hunters are said to be a fun addition to the game. It's not a class that everyone is likely to switch over to, but by most accounts people like their speed – somewhat breaking away from the traditional MMO button mashing combat mechanics. That's still present, but Demon Hunters are the closest class to something more twitch-based and that's a good thing for players who like to break out of the usual class traps.
It's not all rainbows and green glowing demons though, as there are some aspects of the expansion which not everyone is happy with. The scaled levels of enemies has left many hankering for the days of yore, as without an eventual big bad to face off against, players get a steady trickle of achievement, rather than a big dump at the end of a long, difficult quest chain.
It also means any region is accessible to anyone at any time, which again, can make you feel like you're doing things on a much more epic scale than your relatively new character should be ready for.
Some people have said the plot was a little hard to get into as well. While epic, if you don't know all the names of characters, understand their back story and lore, it might be hard to care as much when they fall – as many NPCs do in this expansion.
The artefact weapons also mean that despite it being a legendary item in the lore of your experience in Warcraft, that's the same for everyone else in your class, so it's not uncommon to see a number of characters all sporting the same artefact, which is a little immersion breaking.
Of course though, as with every expansion Blizzard has ever released for World of Warcraft, how well remembered Legion is will really depend on what it does over the next few months. Will the end-game content that's been promised arrive as planned and be as strong as some of the middling-level content?
Will Blizzard continue to expand World Quests to the rest of Azeroth? Will it keep the game interesting throughout the life cycle of Legion?
If so, then this could be the best expansion WoW has ever had. Considering the game is closing in on 12 years old, that's quite an achievement.
PC Gamer: 90/100
Ars Technica: Top marks
PCGamesN: 90/100
IGN: 9.1/10
Trusted Reviews: 4/5
