Last week I finally got into the Legion beta, after trying to get in since I heard about it. I eagerly downloaded the beta server and then was promptly unable to play because of some technical difficulties with a patch they had just rolled out. Such is my luck. Eventually later on in the day I was able to log in without facing a multitude of disconnects and lag, and what grabbed me right off the bat was not any of the proposed changes coming in Legion, but the changes coming before Legion hits. The ones that are now on the PTR for testing (with no live date in sight, but with Legion only months away, it’s only a matter of time).
Of these changes my absolute favourite is the changes to the transmog system. Instead of carting around appearance gear or storing it forever in void storage (which has a hefty fee if you ever want to remove the item from void storage) there’s a slick new interface that’s account wide. I absolutely LOVE this change, and I think it will really make a difference in how often I get to change my characters appearance from their typical gear. Not only does it take armour into consideration but things like tabards and shirts will also be account wide. The changes to this single feature (so far) outweigh everything else I’ve seen. In true blizzard fashion they’ve taken a system that’s already around in other games (Diablo3, GW2) and added their own design features and perfected it for World of Warcraft.
One of the changes that leaves me with a less than happy taste in my mouth is the changes (and removal) of glyphs. A few are still around, but characters no longer have a glyph panel and instead these are built into your spells. The problem I have is that it doesn’t seem that Blizzard has thought it through as far as the inscription craft class goes which of course I just swapped my 2nd main character to. Instead of making glyphs, inscription will make a consumable item that’s used by players once a week to help do more DPS to a specific boss.
Eh?
Of course I’ll reserve my overall judgement for when it all goes live (nothing is set in stone) but it leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth. I guess there was some heavy debate over scribes making too much money with their glyphs and this is some sort of retribution and balance to that. Perfectly understandable but I’m still kicking myself for having just picked up the profession. On the other hand, I have enough alts that I have pretty much one of everything, so it’s not a huge deal.
I’m very excited to experience the rest of the changes, I think it’s going to be a great time for gaming in World of Warcraft.
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!