World of Warcraft: Legion cinematic trailer is pretty great – out next summer

By Stephany Nunneley

The cinematic for World of Warcraft: Legion was shown off during BlizzCon 2015 today. As usual, it’s rather impressive.

The expansion will be released next summer, which goes well with the “on or before” September 21 release outed earlier today.

As previously announced at gamescom in August, the expansion sports the following features:

• New Hero Class: Demon Hunter—Unleash the demon within as an all-new melee hero class gifted with preternatural mobility—and the ability to metamorphose into hellish new forms.
• New Feature: Artifact Weapons—Smite the Legion with class-specific weapons of lore. Unlock awesome abilities and traits, and customize your weapon to suit your needs.
• New Continent: The Broken Isles—Discover the fate of a lost night elf civilization, confront twisted fragments of the Emerald Nightmare, and hunt agents of the Legion in all-new zones.
• Boost to Level 100—Come fully prepared to battle the Legion with a level-100 character boost, and fight alongside your friends in this epic new chapter of World of Warcraft—available immediately upon pre-purchase†.
• New Feature: Order Hall—Unite fellow NPC members of your class’s order to carry out missions at your command.
• New PvP Honor System—Fight for fame, glory, and a range of new PvP-specific powers as you face the opposing faction in Arenas and Battlegrounds.

The expansion will be made available as a standard edition both in digital and physical formats ($49.99).

Pre-purchases can be upgraded to the Digital Deluxe Edition ($69.99), which contains the following in-game bonuses for the MMO as well as other Blizzard titles – as per the leak earlier today:

• WoW – Illidari Felstalker Mount and Nibbles Pet—Stalk the invading demonic forces atop one of the Burning Legion’s own twisted hounds of war, and summon a delightfully demented companion to keep you warm by the fel fire—both available immediately upon pre-purchase.
• Heroes of the Storm – Felstalker Mount—Charge down the lanes of the Nexus and wreak havoc on the opposing team astride this fierce fanged terror.
• StarCraft 2 – Fel Protoss Portraits—Take back Aiur in infernal style with psionic-infused StarCraft II portraits of Illidan and Gul’dan.
• Diablo 3 – Wings of the Betrayer—Equip your hero with Illidan’s wings and strike terror into the hearts of Sanctuary’s demons.

Players who pre-purchase either the digital standard or Digital Deluxe Edition of Legion through the official website will be able to immediately boost one character to level 100. Customers can also purchase additional level 100 character boosts directly through the game at $60 each.

A retail-only Collector’s Edition ($89.99) will also be on offer. It includes the contents of the Digital Deluxe Edition, a full-color hardcover art book, a behind-the-scenes two-disc Blu-ray/DVD set, a CD soundtrack, and a Legion mouse pad. Supplies are limited so check with your local retailer for pre-order details and availability.

All who pre-purchase Legion will be granted early access to the Demon Hunter class prior to the expansion’s release. The class starts out at a higher level than other classes, which means players participating in early-access will be able level the Demon Hunter to 100.