Legion Checklist

While I'm spending more of my time these days playing Diablo III Season 5 (at this point, my seasonal characters are way better equipped than my normal ones, thanks in large part to the free set I have on my seasonal Demon Hunter - even though supposedly DHs got the crappiest one this season, I'm finding it easier to tear through things like crazy,) I am, of course, eager to hear more news of World of Warcraft: Legion, which is still in its "Alpha" test (though by Alpha they practically mean Beta. I think the only reason they're sticking with that nomenclature is that they don't want people to expect an invite.)

The Alpha has been going for a little over two months. If we were to use Warlords' beta as a gauge, that would put them at just under halfway through, though given that this expansion is bringing far more system changes than Warlords did, I'd err on the side of expecting a longer testing process.

What might be a good gauge of the expansions' progress, however, is how much stuff is available to test.

At the moment, the level cap is 108, suggesting that the next time they raise it, they'll probably bring it to the expansion cap of 110. There are a number of specs that are not yet playable, though those are shrinking as the test goes on. So let's break it down:

ZONES:

Stormheim: Yes
Highmountain: Yes
Val'sharah: Yes
Azsuna: No
Suramar: No
Broken Shore: No. Not sure how the Broken Shore is going to fit into the questing game, but I suspect it'll be level-cap content. Whether it actually releases with launch is another big question, though Blizzard has it on the little infographic for the latest build (though that might also just be referring to the intro scenario.)

3/6 ish

DUNGEONS:

Halls of Valor: Yes
Neltharion's Lair: Yes
Vault of the Wardens: Yes
Violet Hold: Yes
Black Rook Hold: Yes
Darkheart Thicket: Yes
Suramar City: No
Suramar Sewers: No
Eye of Azshara: No
Maw of Souls: Possibly? I think it's opening up very soon.

6-7/10

RAID BOSSES:

I'm not going to list all of these, partially because I don't know we have a full list.

3/17 tested

CLASSES/SPECS:

Ok, here's one that's big enough that I could totally mess up on it, but going by the latest infographic:

DK:
Blood: Yes
Frost: Yes
Unholy: Yes

DH:
Havoc: Yes
Vengeance: Yes

Druid:
Balance: Yes
Feral: No
Guardian: Yes
Restoration: Yes

Hunter:
Beast Mastery: No
Marksmanship: Yes
Survival: Yes

Mage:
Arcane: No
Fire: Yes
Frost: No

Monk:
Brewmaster: No
Mistweaver: Yes
Windwalker: Yes

Paladin:
Holy: No
Protection: No
Retribution: Yes

Priest:
Discipline: Yes
Holy: No
Shadow: Yes

Rogue:
Assassination: No
Outlaw: Yes
Subtlety: Yes

Shaman:
Elemental: Yes
Enhancement: Yes
Restoration: Yes

Warlock:
Affliction: Yes
Demonology: No
Destruction: No

Warrior:
Arms: Yes
Fury: Yes
Protection: Yes

25/36

And one key thing about playable specs is that it might be less based on how well the spec is put together at this point, and more about polishing and finishing up the design of the artifact acquisition quests. And it's still about 5/7 of the way there.

Of course, even once everything is in place, it'll still take a little while to get everything tested. The raid testing is clearly in pretty early phases, and there are some big questions left to be answered, like how one gets off-spec artifact weapons.

Still, the fact that we aren't still waiting for testing to begin means that the biggest hurdle has already been jumped. Obviously I'd knock on wood, but I think things are on track for a potential release in the first half of 2016.