With the latest expansion, Legion, right at our door it's only fitting that we take a look back at our latest Azerothian endeavor. One that does not take place on Azeroth at all, but on the distant planet where it all began, Draenor!
-SPOILERS AHEAD-
Recap
After the events of Pandaria, rogue Warchief Garrosh Hellscream stands trial for war crimes, but the trial goes to Fel and Garrosh escapes through time with the help of an ambitious Bronze Dragonflight. Garrosh escapes to a fitting time in the Warcraft lore.
He jumps back in time to just before the Orcs of Draenor were about to sell their souls to the Burning Legion by drinking demon blood and invading Azeroth through the Dark Portal (These events shaping up the second Warcraft RTS game, Orcs and Humans).
Garrosh dissuades his father Grommash Hellscream and the rest of the warlords to not heed the false promises of the orc traitor Guldan and instead, turn on the Legion and banish them from Draenor, and they did.
Sweet, right? WRONGLOL
Now the Warlords, once scattered clans, have become a bolstered war machine that plans to racially annihilate Draenor, and beyond. Creating a PanOrc paradise.
But not if the heroes on Azeroth have anything to say about it!
You revisit Draenor for the second time (The first being The Burning Crusade, after it was known as Outland) and set forth on a journey to stop the Warlords in their tracks and set the stage for the next expansion.
Features
-The game brought a sweet graphics overhaul for the older, unupdated classic character races, whilst sharpening the newer ones. As well as environmental and structural graphics sharpening, making the game look far more sleek.
-The introduction of a more linearly cinematic story should you follow the quest line as it was intended. This was dabbled with in the previous expansion, Pandaria, but not to the extents gone here.
-Removal of the reforge system for Draenor items, and a simplification of the loot attribute system for it to look far less threatening to those just jumping aboard the Warcraft zeppelin.
-Introduction of a personal loot system, where everyone gets a fair, but random shot at high end loot as opposed to being forced to roll on items, though that option still remains for those diehard few who'd rather take their chances on greater loot drops left at the fate of the dice!
-Perhaps the most anticipated feature that Blizzard brought forth was the ability to man your very own garrison. Which throughout the game you'd populate with followers through quests, build structures that granted PvE and/or PvP bonuses, and granted boosts to your profession that made life far easier than one thought possible.
You could send your followers on missions that require time to complete (Often up to a day in real time), with rewards ranging from gold, to armor and weapons, even rare missions that grant mounts. Needless to say this provides a fun little sense of anticipation as you're out questing, raiding, or slaughtering members of the opposing faction, because you potentially have some loot to come back to!
Overall
I choose not to dabble in the events on Draenor in case some of you are still just getting on board, but Warlords was a far greater comeback for Blizzard than the unfortunately subpar Pandaria, which only truly picked up near the end.
The graphical update make this game quite the experience for those who have been out of the game for so long, and a refreshing update for veterans of the franchise (11 years strong, here!).
The extra features, especially the Garrison add a large amount of replay value that only grew stale near the endgame, which genuinely is not too shabby.
In conclusion, Warlords sets a great stage for Legion, and Blizzard has given itself a bit of a tough act to follow, but I'm confident in my blind fanboy-bias to buy their product anyway!
For the Alliance!
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