Skip to main content

You are not prepared! Illidan Stormrage returns this summer for World of Warcraft: Legion

Blizzard Entertainment is certainly having a big year. The multiplayer shooter Overwatch launches next month, Hearthstone continues to drain the battery life of millions of phones, and the Duncan Jones-helmed Warcraft film hits theaters this summer. But if you’ve been waiting for the next real reason to return to Azeroth, you don’t have to wait too much longer, as World of Warcraft: Legion arrives this August.

This release date comes less than two years after the launch of the previous expansion, Warlords of Draenor. This shouldn’t be a total shock, as players vented their frustration with the lack of content in Draenor relative to the other expansions, and with the Warcraft film releasing just two months earlier, Blizzard is definitely trying to pull moviegoers into the game — either for the first time or as “relapsed” players.

If you decide to play World of Warcraft for the first time with the release of Legion (or if you haven’t played since the days of Burning Crusade), you may want to pre-purchase the game. This allows you to hit level 100 with one character: just ten levels short of Legion‘s level cap. Given the amount of time I remember it taking me to just hit level 70, this seems particularly enticing.

The narrative of Legion also sounds a bit more interesting than the last few expansions. Gul’dan, who you may know as the Warlock from Hearthstone, has launched a “demonic invasion force” in Azeroth, and both the Horde and Alliance must work with “the Demon Hunters of the Illidari” to save their world. The expansion also marks the return of Illidan Stormrage, perhaps the greatest villain the Warcraft franchise has ever seen. It appears, however, that he may not be so villainous anymore.

World of Warcraft: Legion launches on August 30.

Editors' Recommendations

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Blizzard games hit with late-night DDoS attack
Genji slashes a robot in Overwatch 2.

Several Blizzard games suffered outages last night due to a distributed denial of service or DDoS attack. As reported by Dot Esports, players attempting to log in to Battle.net and play Overwatch, Hearthstone, and World of Warcraft were unable to find matches or connect with their friends. The attack was first reported around 10:15 PM EST last night as increased latency and connection issues in Overwatch, where some frustrated players were getting disconnected from competitive matches and suffering leaver penalties. Blizzard technical support officially declared the presence of a DDoS attack around 11 PM, and it lasted until about 3 AM this morning. It's not yet clear who was behind the attack.

After Overwatch players continued to disconnect from ranked matches, frustrated users poured into Blizzard's forums to complain about the issues. Queue times were extended, players were randomly disconnecting from matches, and few could log into Battle.net. I experienced this firsthand, as a friend and I tried to play Overwatch around 11 PM and were unable to see anyone on our Battle.net friends list or even get into a match.

Read more
World of Warcraft development paused amid Activision-Blizzard harassment lawsuit
A party attacks a red dragon in World of Warcraft.

Following an explosive lawsuit filed against publishing giant Activision-Blizzard, development on World of Warcraft has been paused according to a senior designer working on the game.

Taking to Twitter, World of Warcraft senior system designer Jeff Hamilton didn't mince words, saying "I can tell you, almost no work is being done on World of Warcraft right now while this obscenity plays out. And that benefits nobody -- not the players, not the developers, not the shareholders."

Read more
World of Warcraft Classic: How to level a boosted character from 58-60 fast
wow classic how to level boosted character 58 60 fast leveling guide featured

Leveling up in World of Warcraft Classic was no easy feat: A bitter reminder of just how little time players of the original game have in adulthood. If you were able to stick it through, you're likely all set to venture through the Dark Portal as Burning Crusade Classic launches in early June. If not, there's still hope. A one-time paid boost can take a character of your choice to level 58. But with level 60 still being the goal, you don't have much time to get there. Here's how to level a boosted character to level 60 fast in WoW Classic.

Further reading:

Read more