WoW Post-Legion Recap
- Last updated: November 21, 2020
This recap is dedicated to those who quit WoW sometime during Legion. Here we have gathered all the major changes and new features/content beginning with patch 7.1 you need to know heading into the Shadowlands.
Systems And Features
Auction House
The AH has undergone a major revamp, both in UI and functionality. You no longer need to list by stacks or a specific amount, nor do you have to undercut others. Simply select an already listed price and add your items to that. The latest additions are the first to sell.
Mount Equipment
Special abilities have been decoupled from mounts. For example, the Water Striders from Pandaria no longer walk on water by default. Instead there is a new Mount Equipment slot in the in the mount collection tab where you can customize any active mount with extra perks. These perks include water walking and gathering without dismounting.
As for how to obtain the equipment, they mostly come from the same sources as before – for the water walking perk you still need to grind reputation with the Anglers.
The list of all available mount equipment can be found here.
Barber Shop Rework
Never before has WoW had this many customization options. New skin tones, accessories, even druid forms can be altered in the barber shop! Not only that, but now you may also change between male and female for a couple of gold coins, it’s no longer a paid store feature. Very skilled barbers indeed.
Communities
Look at them as an alternative to the guild system, there are all sorts of communities you could join without having to leave your guild. Kind of like an ingame Discord server.
Are you in a guild with friends, but want to get more involved in PvP? Join a PvP community! Or maybe you want to build a better future for all gnomekind? There’s a community for that too. The possibilities are endless!
General
Portal Room
Navigating old content just became easier! Both faction capitals now have their very own portal rooms providing easy access to major hubs of every expansion as well as other the cities of their faction.
PvP Servers
The PvP/PvE server split is no more, every server is the same. Instead we have an optional War Mode. More on that in the PvP section below.
Pathfinder
The pathfinder requirements for flying in WoD and Legion areas have been retired. Pathfinder now only increases your mount speed in those expansions.
You still however need pathfinder achievements to fly in BfA zones.
Allied Races
A new concept introduced near the end of Legion, allied races are new, faction based playable races. Unlocking them no longer requires exalted reputation, but you still have to do associated quest chains and achievements.
Allied races start at level 10 and thus get to skip the first zone.
Alliance:
- Void Elf
- Lightforged Draenei
- Dark Iron Dwarf
- Kul’Tiran Human
- Mechagnome
Horde:
- Nightborne
- Highmountain Tauren
- Mag’har Orc
- Zandalari Troll
- Vulpera
Heritage Armor
In addition to allied races having their unique gear sets themed after their people, some of the old races have also received heritage sets as an ongoing project. These are:
- Dwarf, Gnome, Worgen for Alliance.
- Blood Elf, Goblin, Tauren for Horde.
Warforging and titanforging removed
Items from Shadowlands onward no longer have a chance to warforge or titanforge and come with a higher than expected item level. There’s still a chance for random socket slots to proc on looted gear though.
Professions
First Aid Removed
First Aid is gone, making it the first profession ever to be fully removed from WoW.
- Bandages are now rolled into Tailoring.
- All the other recipes became part of Alchemy.
New Skill Levels
Profession skill is now based on individual expansions. For example you no longer need to level Alchemy in TBC before you could learn WotLK recipes.
PvE
Timewalking
Warlords of Draenor is now part of the Timewalking rotation and comes with two brand new mounts that can be purchased with TW tokens. A few old raids have also made a comeback for their respective weeks, including Ulduar.
Bonus Rolls
Bonus rolls for loot will be absent from Shadowlands.
Weekly chests
Come Shadowlands there will be less RNG when it comes to Mythic+ chests. You’ll be able to select multiple items from a list instead of getting completely random loot.
Leveling
Level squish
An unprecedented level/stat squish has happened in the Shadowlands prepatch. 50 is the new max level, soon to be raised to 60 in the new expansion. Item levels have been adjusted to fit the squished numbers.
Party Sync
Ever experienced being on a different part in the leveling process than a friend of yours? Already did the quests in a zone, but your friend is just starting out? With party sync, higher level players can now join their lowbie friends and replay content they’ve already done, while gaining credit for quests all over again! This enables both of you to progress together.
Heirlooms
Heirlooms have been reworked. They went from each piece of armor and ring increasing experience gained by a small amount, to using a tier bonus system. The XP bonus has been completely eliminated, the closest thing we have now is a passive effect which makes rested XP last longer.
Every piece of heirloom armor, necklace and ring contributes to the completion of the set bonus. Weapons and trinkets on the other hand don’t.
Exile’s Reach
This is a new level 1-10 zone that’s supposed to be the universal tutorial for all new players, regardless of race. It goes by fast (about an hour) but teaches many of the fundamental concepts a WoW player has to know in the current era (vehicle combat, boss mechanics, LFD, etc.).
When you make a new character, you’re going to have to decide between leveling in Exile’s Reach or in your race’s starting zone.
Chromie Time
It’s now possible to select a single expansion and level up there all the way fom 10 to 50. This should make leveling more of a coherent experience, and potentially very different for every new character you create.
To begin, seek out Chromie in your faction capital. She is near the Embassy in Stormwind for Alliance and Orgrimmar for Horde players.
Your character must be level 10 or higher to access this feature.
level scaling
Mobs and quests in most leveling zones now scale with your level, which means you’re no longer forced to change zones every few levels. You can also do them in any order you want.
PvP
PvP Progression Rework
The core of the Legion Honor system is still in place, but some tweaks were made:
- Prestige ranks have been removed and the PvP talents simplified.
- Every few Honor Levels you still earn rewards. Maximum level is 500, rewards can be found on this page.
Battlegrounds
40v40 battlegrounds now have their own random BG queue under the name of Epic Battlegrounds, separate from regular BGs. Currently available ones are Alterac Valley, Isle of Conquest, Wintergrasp and Ashran.
Strand of the Ancients is no longer in the game.
You can no longer “ban” maps from being selected in RBGs.
PvP Vendors
The PvP vendors are coming back from the dead for Shadowlands.
PvP Talents
The Honor Talents have been replaced with PvP talents. The concept is the same – these are only active in BGs, arenas and world PvP (War Mode ON) but the execution is different.
Whereas in Legion Honor Talents had the same layout as regular specializations (with talent rows), from BfA onward there are only 3 PvP talent slots and you can slot in any combination of PvP talents. These talents are no longer lost when you prestige.
PvP Trinket
The traditional PvP trinket that’s used to break any form of CC makes a return as the anti-CC slot is getting removed from the PvP talent window.
The trinket will be available for purchase from Honor and Conquest vendors.
War mode
The PvP/PvE realm split is now gone and War Mode is the replacement. When toggled on you’ll be placed in a shard with only those that have also toggled it on. It’s an easy way of opting in and out of world PvP, but you may only toggle it on in your faction capital.
There are certain benefits to War Mode. During leveling you’ll get bonus XP between 10-30% based on which faction is the underdog in the zone. At max level War Mode increases world quest rewards. There is also a chance for a supply drop randomly in each zone, incentivizing clashes.
Miscellaneous
Legendary Transmogs
Legendary weapons can now be transmogged by all classes that are listed as eligible on the description of the weapon.
There is only one exception – the Warglaives of Azzinoth, dropped by Illidan are exclusive to Demon Hunters. It’s not that simple though. DHs must first farm out both glaives on a single character capable of wielding them (this doesn’t have to be a DH).
Then they have to wait for Burning Crusade Timewalking to come around and successfully clear Black Temple’s Timewalking version. They could do that on any character however, only the achievement is required.
Once both of these criterias are met, Demon Hunters on your account will be eligible for the warglaive transmog.
Micro Holidays
These are small, annual events that usually last 1-3 days. Micro Holidays rarely have rewards associated with them. Most of the time these are just little side activities you could participate in, like the Auction House Dance Party.
Recruit A Friend Revamp
Everyone has their own referal link they can use to recruits their friends to try WoW. In the new RAF system when you successfully recruit someone, both of you gain 50% bonus experience as long as you’re in the same group and within 100 yards. You’ll also unlock a hearthstone-like feature that allows you to teleport to each other’s location (this is on a 30 minute CD).
For every month of gametime one of your recruits add, you’ll gain a special reward – including mounts and skins! The rewards cap out at 12 months.
Legion Specific
Artifacts
The artifacts are now inactive. Artifact Power world quests now grant Wakening Essence instead, which is used to purchase Legion legendaries.
Artifacts can now be transmogged even between different specs of the same class (e.g. a Holy Paladin can now use the Prot Mage Tower skin).
Most Artifact Powers are gone, but some were made baseline.
Mage Tower skins are the only Artifact appearances that are no longer obtainable.
Legion Legendaries
Legendary items from legion have been disabled, now they don’t even function in Timewalking anymore.