Dungeons and Raids of Legion

As with any World of Warcraft expansion, Legion will be coming out with a number of dungeons and raids. Most tantalyzingly, Ion Hazzikostas said explicitly that they felt they had done a "disservice" to dungeons in recent years, and they wish to emphasize running 5-player content more in Legion - to not have dungeons serve as a mere stepping stone to raiding, but instead be something you continue to do over the course of the expansion. I suspect that part of the incentive for this will be the acquisition of Artifact Points to power up your weapon, which can be acquired through many different methods, including dungeon running. I'd love to see a return of Valor gear as well, though they didn't say anything about that.

Of the announced instances, there are nine, which is better than Warlords' eight, but matches with Cataclysm and Mists' x.0 releases. Hopefully we'll get new dungeons over the course of the expansion - something I'm pretty sure they said explicitly that they would do in Warlords but didn't.

There will also be two raids, and much like Highmaul and Blackrock Foundry, we'll be getting a 7-boss instance and a 10-boss instance.

So, without further ado:

Dungeons:

Halls of Valor:

This is the Vrykul Valhalla, and seems to be tied deeply to the Val'kyr - the psychopomp spirits who guide valorous Vrykul to their glorious afterlife. I strongly suspect that Sylvanas will be tied to this instance, as she seems to be looking for a way to find more Val'kyr to keep herself and her people from dying out (and avoiding her own eternal damnation.) The God-King of the Stormheim Vrykul is the boss here, and has claimed one of the Titan Pillars for the Legion.

Black Rook Hold:

This is an ancient Night Elf fortress that held out against the Legion during the War of the Ancients, but a shadow has fallen upon it. It's not clear what threat it is that currently inhabits it, but it's very different from the Night Elf buildings we're familiar with.

Vault of the Wardens:

This is actually where player Demon Hunters are awakened at some point in their starting experience (presumably after getting captured by Maiev) and is essentially the Night Elf Wardens' maximum security prison. And the Illidari are not the only prisoners here.

Eye of Azshara:

Ok, first off, this is the most delightful act of trolling the internet in WoW design ever. In case you're not familiar, there's been a rumor since before the Warlords of Draenor announcement that there was going to be an "Eye of Azshara" expansion, though it was a built on top of a flimsy rumor of a trademarked name. So Blizzard I guess took note and gave this dungeon an obscure and subtle joke as a name. This is where we'll face off against the Naga who are trying to acquire the Titan Pillar in Azsuna.

Darkheart Thicket:

This is a descent into the base of Shaladrassil, a corrupted World Tree (that's three now?) that is being used to spread the Emerald Nightmare, where we'll have to rescue Malfurion.

Neltharion's Lair:

This is the old home of the Earth-Warder from before he got corrupted by the Old Gods. It has since become the capital of the Drogbar - a race of kind of trollish, orcish looking creatures who stole a relic of Khaz'rogoth from the Highmountain Tauren. We are presumably here to retrieve it.

Helheim:

This is a dungeon that takes place largely on a Ship of the Damned, taking the cursed souls of Vrykul thought unfit for the Halls of Valor to Hel (single L) where they will be transformed into the Kvaldir (origin story for Kvaldir! Hooray!) It's been compared to Grimrail Depot, which is A-OK in my book.

Suramar City:

Suramar is a whole zone. Suramar is basically the twin city of Zin-Azshari. The two stood across the Well of Eternity from one another, and it is home to the Nightborne Elves - a new off-shoot (presumably related to the Highborne Night Elves) who have prospered through the use of magic and have sided with the Legion.

Violet Hold:

With Dalaran arriving at the Broken Isles, the city's prison comes with it. It's not clear to me whether this is a revamp or a rebuild of the original dungeon. Indeed, it's possible (or even likely) that the old Dalaran will still be found in Northrend, so this might be a kind of non-destructive revamp. There are supposedly big revelations to be found here, as the Hold's proximity to the Tomb of Sargeras has awoken long-dormant things within the Hold. Supposedly, we're going to get some insight into the creation of Azeroth itself here. That's pretty big news.

Raids:

The Emerald Nightmare:

Yes, it's finally here, and as Blizzard has said in the past, it's a raid, rather than a whole expansion. Here, we'll fight against the Nightmare and Xavius' army of Satyrs who are trying to corrupt the Emerald Dream. I believe we're there to rescue Cenarius, and the final boss will be Xavius. I'll be curious to see if this means that the Nightmare is a purely demonic aberration, or if N'zoth plays a role as well (there's been little mention of the Old Gods, with the spotlight turned more to the Legion, but who knows?

Suramar Palace:

This is the central concentration of the Nightborne Elves, and it is home to their Nightwell - a dark mirror of the Sunwell (I'm a little confused on location, as I thought the Maelstrom was the location of the Well of Eternity, but Suramar... whatever. It is here that we'll finally but Gul'dan down. A bit too late, of course, but the sooner he's dead, the better.

This seems like a decent spread. I'd like to see more dungeons come out with each expansion (BC launched with fifteen and Wrath launched with twelve. Let's get double digits, folks!) but really I think it's the later patches where Blizzard needs to prove itself. Tier 19 (we're up to 19, right?) will be tied with tier 17 and tier 7 for largest raid tier, though I suspect that Emerald Nightmare will have lower-quality gear and probably not any tier pieces.

Though it could use a couple more dungeons, it's not a bad spread for an expansion launch. But then again, so was 6.0, so the real key is to ensure that we get more content as time goes on. I really hope we get at least three raid tiers (though if you want to make me really happy, Blizzard, you'd do three and a half (BC/Vanilla) or four (Wrath.) I also really hope that we see two or three new dungeons with each raid tier - I'd give up all eight Mythic Draenor dungeons for two all-new ones of equivalent difficulty and reward.

We don't know who the final boss of the expansion will be, or, if there's a middle tier, who that one's boss will be. Given the rather definitive title, I honestly think that Sargeras is within the realm of possibility, though he would certainly be the final boss of the expansion, and he might have some loophole like using an Avatar or getting pushed back through like we did to Kil'jaeden in order to preserve him for future conflicts. I don't think it will be Kil'jaeden or Archimonde, given how Archimonde is the final boss of Warlords - you wouldn't want to do that twice in a row. Illidan also has the potential to be in that position (after he was usurped by Kil'jaeden in BC) though if he's getting a more redemptive arc, that won't happen. I still think Azshara should be an expansion headliner, so I think she's likely to sit this expansion out for all but a few appearances, if that.