World of Warcraft: Legion 7.3 Upcoming Features

With what seems to be the final update for the current World of Warcraft expansion launching relatively soon, the folks at PC Gamer have put together a list of the upcoming new features they’re most excited for. Some of these were officially announced, others mentioned in random interviews, and others still were simply datamined, so take those with a grain of salt.

An excerpt:

Argus and your new home base, the Vindicaar

When Blizzard first announced the journey to Argus at Blizzcon 2016, I had hoped that the planet would be more than just the setting for the new raid. Argus is so much more than that. Containing three sizeable zones, Argus looks like the biggest addition to World of Warcraft since Legion first launched last year.

Following Kil’Jaeden’s defeat in the current Tomb of Sargeras raid, Illidan uses the Sargerite Keystone to create an interdimensional rift between Azeroth and Argus.[…]

With the two planets now side by side, the forces of Azeroth launch an invasion of their own on the eredar homeworld to stop the Legion once and for all. Using the Vindicaar, a dranei spaceship, players will travel to Argus and quest through the three new zones in what Blizzard is describing as “a very story-driven update.” Unlike patch 7.2, Argus will appears to feature a ton of in-game cutscenes, story-driven quests, and solo instances to bring story back to the forefront of Legion. Given how sparse the story of 7.2 was, this is really exciting.

Only one zone is available on the PTR right now. Simply called Argus, this zone is a seared and battered landscape that offers a breathtaking view of Azeroth from space. The three new zones won’t allow you to take to the skies using your flying mounts, so instead you’ll have to explore on foot. Fortunately, the spaceship that flies you to Argus, the Vindicaar, is capable of making an elaborate network of portals to help you travel around quickly. Blizzard says they’re like regular flight paths but travel happens instantly and they’ll unlock as you venture deeper into each zone.

World quests and world bosses will be available on Argus, though it’s not clear what other activities each zone will contain as of yet outside of the main story quests. What we do know is that the Vindicaar will be your new homebase away from Azeroth. Aboard the vessel is the Netherlight Crucible, “which allows you to upgrade your Artifact [weapon] to unlock a new way to customize your Relics.” How that all works isn’t clear as it’s not available on the PTR. Though we do know that Artifact Knowledge will become an automated process, with players obtaining the upgrade automatically each week instead of having to start the process manually and return in two days to pick up more Knowledge. Thank god. Now I don’t have to feel guilty for not logging in every few days.

[…]

Invasion Points

This is the feature I’m most intrigued about because, from the sounds of it, World of Warcraft is going to get a lot more like Diablo 3. In an interview with YouTuber Jesse Cox, game director Ion Hazzikostas said that Invasion Points are a network of Legion portals to new planets scattered all across the cosmos. Players can collect riftstones and enter Greater or Lesser Rifts (sound familiar?) to travel to new planets and help the locales defeat the Legion.

It’s not clear whether these rifts will, like their Diablo 3 counterparts, use procedural generation so that each instance feels different than the one before it. Dataminers have snooped around, however, and discovered that each rift appears to lead toward one of six biomes: blood, fire, forest, ice, islands, and marsh. Aside from the huge implication that comes with suddenly travelling to planets all over the cosmos, Invasion Points could be one of the coolest new features added to Legion—depending on what you’re actually doing on these new worlds and what the rewards are.