With the launch of World of Warcraft: Legion 7.3 update, Shadows of Argus, players are now off on an interplanetary jaunt to take the fight to the Burning Legion. Once and for all, we are told, the threat from the Legion to Azeroth will be ended.
There’s a ton of new content too including new zones to explore, the addition of the Invasion Points, new iLevels to earn, a new dungeon and a new raid and much more. Most of the new stuff will unlock over the coming couple of weeks, but in the first blush, there are some pretty interesting things about 7.3.
Fel Reavers
Anyone who played ‘in the day’ or who has leveled through Outland will be instantly familiar with the spooky sound of a fel reaver as it ramps up to squash you like a bug. These bad boys have been on patrol for years and it seems that the Burning Legion understands the watery feeling in the guts of players since one is on patrol right outside the first hub.
Unlike the long meandering path of its Outland brothers, the Argus fel reaver seems doomed to an endless loop on a very tight path, but that doesn’t make it any less lethal. For the unwary, a single raised boot and a resounding thud can cause a scramble from the nearest graveyard to retrieve a corpse.
The biggest insult? Not a single thing drops when you and a raid party manage to bring it down. We’re betting it will eventually have a 1-in-a-billion chance for a rare battle pet drop. Yay RNG.
Artifact upgrades
The good news is that, “just” a year after the launch of Legion, the expansion is finally alt friendly. When a brand new level 110 is born, all Artifact relic slots unlock without having to go through the sometimes tedious Order Hall campaign tramping through what feels like endless dungeons.
In addition, Artifact Knowledge at 110 is automatically set at level 41 and increases weekly without having to conduct research. HUZZAH!
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Lastly, Artifact Power rewards for World Quests and dungeon runs has been increased hugely. Where before 7.3, the biggest WQ reward hovered around 30-40M at its highest levels (and these were incredibly rare), post 7.3 can and often does cruise over 100M with the proc rate also hugely increased. For new 110s, this is huge as Artifacts gain levels quickly. Of course, it’s also balanced out by the fact that at a certain point, Artifacts will hit the need for AP in the billions to get to the next level.
For instance, my Artifact, Maw of the Damned, is a level 57 and needs 2.5B to get to 58. Imagine how many billions, nay trillions, of AP will be needed to get to the new Artifact level cap of 75. It’s mind-boggling.
New Caster Animations & Effects
This one is a mixed bag. While most agree that the new spell effects are being well-received, caster animations are much less so. Mages, Shaman, and Priests have all gotten a new look, though the community reaction is rather mixed.
For instance, check out this little sparkly number:
And how about this Panda shooting from her head, it seems:
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While Blizzard has put in a good effort, it’s clear that some tuning needs to be done despite 7.3’s time on the PTR. Some players are asking for the ability to toggle new animations off but it will remain to be seen what Blizzard is willing to do. For now, it’s a work in progress.
Though we can't say definitively that this is true, we believe that Warlocks are thinking they dodged a bullet by not having new animations included yet.
Invasion Points / Greater Invasion Points
If you’ve played Diablo 3, these will feel instantly familiar. Invasion Points, at least according to lore, allow players to travel to other worlds where the Burning Legion is already present. In the lesser version, teams of up to 5 can battle the forces they meet along with an end boss. It’s roughly equivalent to a dungeon run. The greater version requires a raid group to complete. As with all things, the greater the risk, the greater the reward.
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Alleria and Turalyon
The Army of Light was last seen in Warcraft 2. Headed up by Alleria Windrunner, sister to Horde Warchief Sylvanas Windrunner, and High Exarch Turalyon, the two have not been seen in over 30 years as they have been battling the Burning Legion on Argus. Throughout the years, Blizzard has teased their return with a loading screen that pondered their whereabouts. With the release of 7.3, we finally find out what they have been up to in the interim.
Argus: Week 1 Mini-Review
There’s an inescapable feeling on Argus that we’ve “been there, done that” so many times over the course of the last couple of expansions. Demons, fel green, barren rocks….it’s like the Broken Shore in space.
Granted, it’s just week 1, and by all reports, the terrain will change a great deal by the end of the Argus campaign. But right now, it just feels like the same thing we’ve seen throughout the course of Legion and even Warlords before it.
Perhaps it’s more a function of another area to grind, more World Quests to complete, those billions of AP points to earn that makes Argus just feel...tiring. Time will tell if that feeling goes away or not, but even if Blizzard announces the next expansion at Blizzcon 2017, it still means at least a year of Argus with little more to look forward to. Most had genuinely hoped to avoid the doldrums experienced with lack of meaningful content prior to Warlords but it’s looking bad for Legion with regard to the same.
