I was fortunate enough to have gotten into the World of Warcraft Legion Beta. I immediately rolled a Night Elf Demon Hunter so I could see what the new class was like. It didn’t take long for me to see that it is a really fun class to play.
I’d been holding off on posting my screenshots from my experience in the Legion Beta (just in case some of them turned out to be “spoilers”.) The Legion expansion was released on August 30, 2016. About a month has passed since then. The screenshots I’m including in this blog are from the Demon Hunter starting zone.
There are Demon Hunter player characters in Diablo III. As someone who spends more of her time in Sanctuary than on Azeroth, I wanted to see what the World of Warcraft version of the Demon Hunter was like. The two versions aren’t exactly the same, of course, but both are fun in their own ways.
I intentionally avoided reading the majority of the lore that was available in the Legion Beta. My interest was in checking out the playability of the Demon Hunter, and I didn’t need the lore stuff in order do do that. Skipping over it gives me something to look forward to after I get the Legion expansion and roll a Demon Hunter.
The screenshots you see in this blog are from May 15, and May 26, 2016.
I really like the artwork in this log-in screen. It is big change, in theme, concept, and color palette, from the Warlords of Draenor log-in screen.
Those that want to play a Demon Hunter have two choices of race: Night Elf or Blood Elf. I decided to roll a Night Elf Demon Hunter for the Legion Beta. When I get around to making an in-game Demon Hunter, it will be a Blood Elf. I’ve already got a Night Elf Hunter, and I don’t have any Blood Elf characters. Playing a Night Elf now, and a Blood Elf later, will hopefully prevent me from getting bored with the content.
The box in the screenshot above says: Demon Hunters start at a higher character level and are suitable for advanced players. If you’re new to World of Warcraft, we recommend starting with a different class. You then have the opportunity to click one of two boxes: “Pick a Different Class” or “Continue”.
I’m not new to World of Warcraft. That being said, I don’t have any characters that are at level 100 yet. When I was in the Warlords of Draenor Beta, I opted to roll a pre-made level 90 character. It immediately became clear that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I don’t regret making that choice in the WoD Beta, but would have been upset if I’d done it in-game. The “warning” box that pops up when you try to roll a Demon Hunter is a good idea.
After spending way too much time trying to figure out a good name for my Demon Hunter, I decided to let the Randomizer name my character for me. The name Shannana made me giggle – so I picked that one.
Shannana started out at Level 98 and in Mardum, the Shattered Abyss. I’m assuming that is the location of the Demon Hunter starting zone. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Fortunately, there were tons of other people in the Legion Beta who had also rolled Demon Hunters. All I had to do was follow them.
The remainder of this blog post will mostly consist of an “art appreciation” collection of screenshots from the Demon Hunter Starting Zone in the World of Warcraft Legion Beta. There will be a few comments, here and there, about the gameplay. This is not going to be a game guide, or anything close to that.
One thing I really liked about the Beta was that the players were super friendly. Upon entering the game, I was immediately offered an invite to a guild.
The guild had so many people in it, chatting away, that the text was scrolling by almost too fast to read. The awesome thing about this was that when players posted a question into the Guild Chat – someone else provided an answer right away.
The screenshot above provides a good look at the Demon Hunter weapons. Shannana is changing a Legion Banner in order to complete a quest. Many of the quests in the Legion Beta (and, I presume, in the Legion expansion as well) were in a chain. Finish one, another immediately pops up for you. Players don’t have to run back and forth between quest givers as much as they have to in previous content.
Here are some NPCs (non-player characters) having a chat about a keystone.
Kayn Sunfury
Kayn Sunfury: I’ll cut a hole through the demons and meet you in the volcano.
The Legion Beta was the first time I saw the NPC pop-up screens appear. (Those who did not get into the Legion Beta first saw this new way of distributing information to the player in the pre-expansion Demon Invasions.) It took a minute to get used to, and then I found it to be helpful. The pop-up includes audio as the NPCs talk to you. Yay for more opportunities to listen to Blizzard’s voice actors/actresses!
Felsaber Mount
Another view of the Felsaber Mount
There goes Shannana the Demon Hunter, flying away on a huge Felbat!
I want to learn how to draw that green, glowing, circular design.
Anguish Jailer
Accidental extreme closeup
Fighting an Anguish Jailer and a pack of Felguards
The sky in the background of this screenshot is fantastic!
Brood Queen Tyranna is displeased.
I cannot remember what this is or what it was for. It’s pretty!
Doomguard Eradicator
Something about fighting Blood Queen Tyranna, in this setting, reminds me of fighting Diablo in Diablo III. This is not a complaint.
Doom Commander Beliash
The above screenshot shows a portion of an interesting quest that led to something unexpected.
Doom Slayer: I will rip the fel from your soul.
Matron Mother Malevolence is the Shivarra Captain. I don’t know anything about the Shivarra. What I can see is a female Captain in charge of an all female group of soldiers. They are huge! (Demon Hunter for scale)
Lady S’theno is the Coilskar Captain. I’ve seen Naga before in World of Warcraft, so I have a basic idea of who they are. What I can see is a female Captain in charge of an all male group of soldiers.
Lady S’theno: Let us be done with this business. A volcano is no place for naga.
Battlelord Gaardoun is in charge of the leader of the Ashtongue forces. What I can see is a male Battlelord in charge of an all male group of soldiers. The Ashtongue forces are made up of the Broken – a race I’ve seen before in World of Warcraft.
Demon Hunter armor
The screenshot above shows the first “bug” I encountered in the Legion Beta. I’ve no idea what it says, or what any of that means. If I remember correctly, this “bug” resolved itself before I had time to do anything about it.
New shoulders are nice! Having one of my Demon Hunter’s feet fade into the ground isn’t so nice.
Prolifica- the Imp Mother
I took the above screenshot while I was trying to finish a quest that perplexed me. As you can see, there were a bunch of other Demon Hunters working on the same quest, at the same time, that I was. In short, the quest allows players to pick which specialization they want. The choices are to keep going with the default one or switch to the other one.
Things were not working for me. I opened the window that has specialization details in it, but the button I needed to click on was grayed out. I re-read the quest, in case I missed something. As such, I believed this problem to be a “bug”, and I logged out of the Legion beta to go report it.
After I logged back in, I realized that the “bug” wasn’t actually a “bug” at all. There was a reason why opening the window with the specifications, and trying to click on that, wasn’t working.
What I couldn’t see before was revealed. Look closely, and you will see that the few remaining Demon Hunters are standing around a desk-like piece of furniture. I was supposed to click on that in order to choose a spec.
In other words, the problem I was having was not due to a “bug”. It was due to an overabundance of players who all needed to click on the same thing at the same time. Looking back, I’m going to assume that this problem is one that players won’t have to put up with in the live Legion expansion. (Or, they won’t face this problem after initial excitement about the Legion expansion dies down a bit.)
This was the point in the Legion Beta where I decided to switch specs. It made sense to try both of them out.
Maiev Shadowsong
The above screenshot and the one below, were taken during an indoor battle that involved slaying demons and destroying portals. It was a lot of fun!
Shannana the Demon Hunter hit Level 100! She also got an Achievement for having an Armored Direwolf Mount.
Illidan is in a crystal. This screenshot comes from part of the game where the NPCs are talking and the player gets to watch and listen. I figure most people who play World of Warcraft assumed that Illidan would make an appearance in the Legion expansion. This is the only screenshot from that part of the Legion Beta that I will put in this blog post (to avoid potential “spoilers”).
I should probably note that at least some of these screenshots are presented out of order. I took a ton of screenshots, threw them into a folder, and let them sit there until I found the time to make this blog post. It turns out they didn’t go into the folder in order. In other words, what you see here might suggest a narrative that isn’t entirely accurate.
It seems appropriate to end this blog post with a screenshot from the Legion Beta that amused me. I turned around, away from the action in the area I was standing in, and found this “Blizzard Construction Co.” horse off in the corner. It was a cute reminder that I was playing in a Beta, where things are still being worked on.