World of Warcraft: Legion will arrive in August

Blizzard has announced that World of Warcraft: Legion will be out on August 30.

The sixth World of Warcraft expansion will follow the events that unfolded in Warlords of Draenor, as the betrayer Gul'dan unleashes a demonic invasion “unlike any the Horde and the Alliance have ever faced,” Blizzard said. Players will travel to the new continent known as the Broken Isles, wield new Artifacts, and forge alliances with the Demon Hunters of the Illidari, the “vengeful disciples of the dreaded Illidan Stormrage.”

More practically, pre-purchasing World of Warcraft: Legion will grant players an immediate boost to level 100 for any one of their characters, so they can leap into the Broken Isles action as soon as the expansion goes live. Pre-purchasing will also unlock access to the new Demon Hunter hero class ahead of Legion's launch, our impressions of which we wrote about last year.

Hopefully the rollout of Legion will go more smoothly than that of its predecessor, Warlords of Draenor: The new content was pleasing, but Executive Producer J. Allan Brack issued an apology in November 2014 for what he acknowledged was a "sub-par launch experience." Full details on the World of Warcraft: Legion expansion are up at wowlegion.com.

PRODUCTS

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.