First Runner Up: World of Warcraft: Legion
Following ten years and millions subscribers, new World of Warcraft expansions drop on painfully held breaths. Old players hope for a reason to return, new players hope for an injection of momentum, and everyone in between just wants great content. At the same time, it’s no easy task answering those hopes without just pinning powerful gear and piles of quests on last season’s end-game. The typical fodder for MMO expansion, even with a great story, won’t rest well on seasoned players immune to anything but genuine novelty.
So Legion went all out.
The first new class to be added since 2012, Demon Hunters shook technical foundations with their unfairly fun double jumps and wing gliding. Their introduction revolves around the return of the Burning Legion, a dark force that’s assaulted Azeroth since the dawn of WoW history, and Illidan Stormrage, a lore centerpiece even more intriguing. He is everything so conflicting about Demon Hunters — their pain, anger, and twisted sense of justice — and both are far from heroes.
The technical and ideological novelty of Demon Hunters spills into the quests and narratives of the Shattered Isles, Legion’s new region. Each of the five zones revolve around a condensed and impressive plot line, trimming out fetch quests for more unique mechanics and epic, “no turning back now” story decisions.
While they’re out there, players can enjoy revamped skill trees, which after being reduced to fluff abilities years ago, are finally showing meaningful build choices. Blizzard plans to evolve the trees even more in a search for balanced, personal, and satisfying options. Future patches will also bring additional dungeon content, epic class mounts, and a return to the sacrificial scene of the Broken Shore.
At the center of each character adventures are class order halls, the bigger, bolder, and far more successful evolution of Draenor’s garrisons. These headquarters unfurl into their own stories, and house the most revered names of Warcraft history. You’ll quest alongside greats once secluded to cutscenes and lore books, wielding unique class weapons meant to be tuned and upgraded far beyond the new 110 level cap, an early milestone for Legion players.
The best may be yet to come, as BlizzCon 2016 revealed the final chapters of Legion will take players to Argus, the unexplored planet of demons. It’s an unmistakable and unprecedented step forward, much like everything else of Legion.
This is the first expansion to palpably excite players since 2008’s Wrath of the Lich King. Legion in so many ways feels like a long-awaited push for Blizzard, a moment in World of Warcraft history finally ready to explore deep technical and narrative feats, and with no time to hold back.
