With this week’s major update to World of Warcraft in preparation for the Legion expansion coming on August 30th, a lot of new systems went into place. Every player class and specialization received an update in both skills and talents. The transmogrification and appearance systems are now in the live game. Many items have been converted to toys in time for Legion. The bottom line is that if people think they’re going to breeze in on Legion launch day without attending to several things, it’s more than slightly likely that somewhere, somehow they will hear “YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!”
Our purpose today is to keep that from happening by providing you with a handy to-do list that will ensure that you’re ready to hit the ground running on August 30th. So let's
1. If you use add-ons, either use Curse or WoW Matrix to update them all. Most of the “big” ones have been updated for Legion already (Deadly Boss Mods, Rarity, NPC Scan, ElvUI to name a few).
2. Then fire up BattleNet. When you hit the character select screen, do yourself a favor and disable all add-ons even if you have just updated them. This will, in the long run, save you a lot of grief.
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3. Without doing another thing, log into and out of every one of your characters on all the realms you have them on. This unlocks all transmog items.
4. When you’re ready to begin in the real work, log into your first character after double checking to ensure that all add-ons are disabled.
5. Undoubtedly, your character’s cloak and helm are now showing. If they were hidden before, they won’t be the first time you log in. Don’t panic! If you have a garrison with the transmog vendor in the bank, all is good. You’ll also get your first look at the new transmog interface where you’ll be able to choose to hide cloak, helmet and, in a new addition, shoulders -- no more rocking the equivalent of wrecking ball-sized orbs on your shoulders.
6. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our recent article “Transmog & You” for some tips on the difference between transmogrification and appearance panels and how to save your favorite outfits, create “wish lists” for new looks and more.
7. Next clear out your mail to pick up any gold received after Conquest and Honor points were converted at the end of this last PvP season.
8. Open your inventory and look at every item you’ve been carting around for the last who-knows-how-long and see what’s been converted to a toy. For instance, the Skull of the Mad Chief was not a toy in Warlords but it has been converted to one in Legion. Score one for an open inventory slot!
9. Go to your bank and do the same thing. Check everything in it to see what’s been converted to a toy. Some things inexplicably did not make the conversion but a big, big number of items did.
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10. DO NOT PLAY WITH SKILLS OR TALENTS! We’ll get to that in a bit!
11. Any gear you have stored in the bank or in Void Storage can in large part be removed and sold. It’s never a bad idea to check the appearances tab of your collections menu to make sure you’ve unlocked items you have stored away. Several players have reported things not being unlocked that they actually had in inventory so better safe than sorry. If you don’t care, head to the nearest vendor and cha-ching! Depending on how much stuff you’d had stashed away, you could pick up a pretty fair amount of gold.
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Keep in mind that tabards and shirts are also now part of the Collections tab as well, though you might be re-purchasing some tabards that you’d gotten rid of for one reason or another through the years as you completed reputation with, for instance, capital cities.
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If you’ve been a diligent collector over the years, you’ll find new achievements dinging as item appearances of a certain number are unlocked. Unlock all of the available slots including shirts and tabards and you’ll earn the new “the Fabulous” title.
12. If you hate running back and forth to the transmog guys in the capitals or in your garrison, you may want to consider purchasing a Grand Expedition Yak for 120,000 gold. You can grab it in Pandaria near the Yangoul Advance and from Uncle Bigpockets. Believe us when we tell you that in Legion you will definitely want it with how quickly you’ll be changing gear.
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13. If you’re using add-ons, begin reenabling them one at a time. Generally speaking, if you’re using common ones, you won’t run into any issues.
14. OK, now for the big one: Skills & Talents. In case you’ve been away from WoW for a time, all class talents and skills in every specialization have been overhauled. For some, including the Outlaw Rogue and the Survival Hunter, the new abilities are completely brand new, but all other classes have undergone drastic changes as well.
Logging in may also see you with new weapons or missing ones. For instance, formerly bow using Survival Hunters will log in to find themselves holding a two-handed spear. Windwalker Monks will have two one-handed swords instead of a two-handed polearm. Frost Death Knights will only be able to use two one-handed swords. And so on.
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WoWhead.com does an amazing job of putting together guides to all classes and all specializations that will give you both in depth information about your characters as well as “quick and dirty” suggestions on efficient ways to build them. Do yourself a favor and head to this Legion Class Guides page to learn more.
15. Once you’ve gotten things pretty well where you want them, head off to find a training dummy or a PvP duel (same thing sometimes!) and check out your new abilities. You’ll see right away that most classes have had skills and talents streamlined into four or five core skills and several situational ones. In addition, melee combat animations have been seriously beefed up with amazing new looks and a more visceral feel to them. Casters don’t despair! Blizzard has promised spell animations will also be getting a visual overhaul as well!
Find a rhythm that suits your style. Check to see what’s proc’ing and what isn’t. Rearrange your skill bars to fit how you like to play the game. Getting things just right will take time, so it’s best to start now.
16. Got that character squared away? Now it’s time for the next...and then the next...and the next…
While it seems like a lot of work, it goes quickly once you’ve gotten the first character out of the way. There’s no question that you’ll be glad you attended to these details when Legion launches on August 30th. You WILL be prepared!
See you on the Broken Shore!
