Questions for Legion

We'll have a developer Q&A about Legion (the recently announced WoW expansion, in case you've been living under a rock or just don't pay much attention to World of Warcraft, in which case this article will not interest you at all) tomorrow, where I suspect we're going to get a lot of answers to lingering mysteries about this upcoming expansion, which looks to be the biggest (at least in terms of high-stakes story) in the game's history.

The expansion is probably pretty early in development (though hopefully the reason that Warlords has been so anemic is that they've been pouring their efforts into Legion - and if ever there were an expansion to do right, it's the one that features the invasion of the Burning Legion,) and so a lot of our questions might not even have answers yet.

But here are the ones that I'm wondering about:

1. Where will all the Classes congregate?

We only know a couple of these - Paladins will meet up in the vaults under Light's Hope Chapel (I know that, given the name, it makes sense that Tyr would be buried under Tirisfal, but he'd be the perfect Holy Relic to make Light's Hope so special.) Shamans will be in a cave overlooking the Maelstrom and Warlocks will be on a Legion Portal World (whatever that means.) But while certain classes like Mages have obvious choices, and several classes have existing class headquarters (though they haven't said much about revamps for Acherus, the Peak of Serenity, or Moonglade (or Ravenholdt) or if they're creating new things (if it's Acherus, Paladins and Death Knights will be next-door neighbors!) other classes, like Priests or Warriors, are so broad in scope that it's a tough decision for where they'd meet up.

2. To what extent will Class Orders affect play?

We know that the Class Orders are there to try to make the experience more distinct for different classes - to let Rogues go around stealing things and assassinating enemies while Shamans can focus on restoring harmony to the elements.

Presumably, the zones on the Broken Isles will have universal stories to tell, but I wonder if we'll see class-specific steps in those quest chains. Basically, how big a role is this going to play, and will we be spending most of our time in our Halls or in Dalaran 3.0 (counting the big pink bubble as Dalaran 1.0.)

3. How will we deal with Artifacts and Dual-Specs or changing specs?

It looks like "Relics" will essentially be our new weapon drops, and they'll be plugged into our weapons to change their stats as we level up or get drops in dungeons and raids. How universal will these relics be? Will a Frost DK need to get two while an Unholy DK gets only one? And will the same relic work for an Elemental Shaman as it would for an Enhancement one?

Also, as we earn Artifact Points to fill out the artifact talent trees, will we be able to spend them on whichever artifacts we have, or only the one we were using when we earned them?

And before we get to that, how are we going to get our off-spec artifacts? Will we just do two quest chains? I assume these chains will be rather quick, so that might be the best option. Or will we be forced to choose one quest to do and just get the other artifact automatically (in which case, unless they give something impossibly awesome for Protection Paladins, I'll have to get Asbringer first - impossibly awesome being more awesome than the Ashbringer, which would basically have to be Taeshalach and some equivalent shield.)

4. How will Demon Hunter mechanics work?

We saw a few abilities in the demonstration after the trailer, but out of context, we don't really get the best sense of how DHs are going to play. I want to know how Fury is going to work as a resource - if it's going to be in addition to something like Energy or if it's going to be the main thing (purple resource bar? PURPLE RESOURCE BAR?)

Also, what role is Metamorphosis going to play? Is it going to be basically the way that Demonology Warlocks worked in Mists and Warlords, where you build up Fury and then spend it in demon form on a regular basis?

5. What are they going to do to keep Dungeons relevant?

I know that Artifact Points are going to be one way, but I'd really love to see some other solid methods here - the return of Justice and Valor would restore a huge amount of faith in my eyes.

6. What kind of patch cycle are we looking at?

I know they said that they don't know this yet, but Warlords' biggest flaw is that the expansion barely added anything after it first shipped. 6.2 was a decently large patch, but it was at best on par with that of 5.2 - which was one of four major patches with real content that we got in Mists of Pandaria.

No one wants faster expansions if they don't bring the amount of content that we've come to expect from a full expansion. And especially with a story like Legion - this climactic battle that the entire series has been building up to - we don't want to rush through it and find ourselves dealing with some other threat after two raid tiers.

7. How's the New Transmog System going to Work?

They say that this expansion will have the new transmog system - one that will finally let us free up some space - but I'd like to get details on how it will work. Will they be efficient and just save "looks" (like all the Conqueror's Aegis helmets?) Are there going to be obscure enough weapons or armor (that one quest reward from vanilla Darkshore) that they don't make the list?

And if literally everything you've "unlocked" is listed, how will we search through it?

8. How will professions work?

Are we sticking to this daily cooldown system, or will we be able to grind things out like we used to?

9. What classes and specs are getting big changes?

We know that Survival Hunters are becoming a melee spec. We know that DK Frost is going pure dual-wield. We know that Demonology getting seriously re-oriented away from Metamorphosis so that Demon Hunters can have that kit. Who else? Is a Rogue spec (Subtlety) becoming a ranged spec? How will the various Artifact Talent-thingies affect the specs?

10: Who is the final boss? And who altogether are we fighting?

Are we actually taking on Sargeras? Or his Avatar? Does Archimonde have enough time to get a new physical body to make it for this invasion? Are we going to see Kil'jaeden from the waist down? Is Azshara going to be fightable in this expansion or is she going to be on the periphery?

11: Will we finally get to meet the Titans?

We've made it to the largest invasion of Azeroth ever. If we aren't ready to meet the Titans now, we never will be.