Taking to the stage during the Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany, Blizzard addressed its, ahem, legions of World of Warcraft fans, who were all expecting one announcement in particular: the sixth and latest expansion for the genre-defining MMO. And the mega-publisher didn’t disappoint.
Building off last year’s Warlords of Draenor is the sixth and latest add-on, Legion, which will introduce budding adventurers to the realm of The Broken Isles. With a boosted level cap and a reworked player-vs-player combat system, this is the expansion WoW fans have long been demanding, and Blizzard will be hoping that World of Warcraft: Legion can at the very least curb the MMO’s dwindling subscription count.
No word of a release date as of yet, though Blizzard will host a beta test for the expansion later this year, indicating that the full release will occur at some point in early 2016.
For a detailed rundown of the new-fangled additions, here’s the word from Blizzard:
New Hero Class: Demon Hunter—Unleash the demon within as an all-new melee hero class gifted with preternatural mobility—and the ability to metamorphose into hellish new forms.
New Feature: Artifact Weapons—Smite the Legion with legendary weapons of lore. Earn Artifact power to unlock abilities and traits, and customize your weapon to suit your needs.
New Continent: The Broken Isles—Discover the fate of a lost night elf civilization, confront twisted fragments of the Emerald Nightmare, and hunt agents of the Legion in all-new zones.
New Feature: Order Hall—Whether you’re paladin or warlock, unite fellow NPC members of your class’s order to carry out missions at your command.
New PvP Honor System—Fight for fame, glory, and a range of new PvP-specific powers as you face the opposing faction in Arenas and Battlegrounds.
Boost to Level 100—Come fully prepared to battle the Legion with a level-100 character boost, and fight alongside your friends in this epic new chapter of World of Warcraft.
Eager fans can toss their name into the hat to be in with a chance of partaking in the beta test on Blizzard’s official site, while Legion is expecting to make its World of Warcraft debut in 2016.
