World of Warcraft: Legion Reception Has Been Lukewarm, May Not Thwart Subscriber Decline

When Blizzard announced that it would reveal its next expansion for World of Warcraft at Gamescom only nine months after the release of Warlords of Draenor many could tell that something just wasn't right. This is a game that has always had expansion reveals at BlizzCon in November, allowing each chapter of the game to live out a reasonable amount of time before sharing what's next. Not this time.

The early reveal is only part of the story. According to Activision World of Warcraft is down to 5.6 million subscribers, nearly half of what they were last November. With this in mind you could say that whatever is next for World of Warcraft has a lot of weight to carry on its shoulders. This might be the most popular subscription-based MMORPG in the world, but it's one that has been in decline for several years. If it wants to survive Blizzard needs to make the correct strategic decisions to win back fans as soon as possible.

Watching the announcement presentation, when the screen went black and the debut trailer was started, deep inside I knew that it was unlikely that what Blizzard was about to show would be sufficient to recapture the essence of World of Warcraft. Even then, I wanted to be impressed, and genuinely sought a reason to be excited. I remember the reveals for Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and even Warlords of Draenor being memorable moments in MMO history, making a strong impression that caused positive discussion and healthy anticipation. I couldn't wait to experience level 70, battle the Lich King, and explore Draenor.

Sadly, I didn't find myself impressed by Legion's reveal. While some pieces of the expansion are sure to be great additions to the game's structure moving forward, this is the first time I can honestly say that I'm apprehensive to return to the game to level up and experience the new endgame environment.

My lukewarm reception of Legion isn't out of the ordinary. Social media and forums are rich with discussion about the expansion right now, and there's more negativity than I ever remember reading after an expansion announcement. Let's look at a few posts:

"Audience members are leaving. You can just feel there's no love from the team, no excitement whatsoever. It's like they're pitching a new health insurance program to a room of employees. Heck even the audience aren't even into it -_-"

– Nforcer, World of Warcraft Forum

"Very unimpressed by what I saw. It's once again, very generic, the only highlight was the new class, the rest was same old. They might as well re-release wotlk, add +10 levels, bring the bosses up to 123 or whatever in raids and 121 for dungeons and so on. But yeah, if I'm wrong just come back 2 months after the release of TBC2.0 and tell me how wrong I am. Please."

– Huldu, MMO-Champion Forum

"Kinda irritated about double jump being a Demon Hunter exclusive. Play one then go hate playing my other characters. #worldofwarcraft"

– @clchaotix

"I think my main problem with this expansion is they haven't revealed anything interesting endgame to do outside of the normal three activities.

They really, really, really need to come up with something else besides dungeons/raids/pvp to keep the player base engaged and interested once they hit max level."

– Princess Cadance, NeoGAF Forum

There's a sense in the air that World of Warcraft's magic has been lost over the years. The truth is that major components of the Warcraft RTS games of which provided strong foundations for content in the early days of the World of Warcraft have largely been harvested up to this point through the conclusive telling of stories of characters such as Illidan, Thrall, Arthas, and Kael'Thas. Since Cataclysm, Blizzard's expansions have felt more like side stories rather than evolution of the main narrative, sending players on vacation to Pandaria and traveling back in time. Meanwhile, new features have been hit or miss, with many such as Garrisons and Scenarios being the latter.

There are some qualities of Legion that don't do it any favors. For one, rehashing of old content such as the inclusion of Memories of Violet Hold and an Illidan-oriented theme is precisely what fans were hoping Blizzard would avoid. The addition of a third leather tank is perplexing, and it doesn't help that the Demon Hunter is Elf-exclusive and will be the only class in the game with double jump. Also, the customizable Artifact system delivers deja-vu of Cataclysm's canceled Paths of the Titans system. Some players are already doubting whether or not it'll survive development.

It'd be unfair for me to say that the expansion reveal was entirely negative. The Broken Isles looks like a nice place to spend time, and PvP is being improved in major ways with exclusive talents and the new Prestige system. It's understandable that with time it has become increasingly difficult to create compelling new content, but it's only natural for myself and other fans to judge the direction of a game we care so deeply about. Many of us want World of Warcraft to provide the captivating experience it earned its reputation for during its best years, and win our attention with new ways to play. Unfortunately, it has become something far less interesting and unless Legion has some unknown tricks up its sleeve, World of Warcraft is likely to continue its dramatic decline.