‘World Of Warcraft’ Developers Detail ‘Legion’ Pre-Patch, Large Background Download Now Available

Yesterday World of Warcraft players noticed a large 20 gigabyte download for the MMORPG on their Battle.net launcher. With the current expansion no longer being updated, the massive update could really only point to one thing. The Legion pre-patch is imminent, and likely about to release on the live servers. Today, Blizzard Entertainment confirmed that the pre-patch is just weeks away and the current PvP season is coming to an end beforehand.

Although no exact release date for the pre-patch is cited, an exact end date to the PvP season is noted giving a relative time frame for the Legion pre-patch release. The current Warlords of Draenor PvP season is scheduled to conclude on July 19. The next PvP season will, of course, start after the expansion releases. In the interim, players’ Honor and Conquest currency will be converted to gold at a 35 silver per point rate according to Battle.net. With the PvP season over, the only thing remaining before Legion releases is the pre-patch.

In the weeks leading up to the release of Legion, players will welcome the pre-patch and its gradual release of new features, changes, and quality-of-life improvements. When the pre-patch first releases, three major features will be immediately available. The transmogrification revamp, class changes, and role queuing will be accessible right after the pre-patch releases.

The transmogrification changes are sure to please any player that uses the appearance customization option. Item appearances will soon be collected in the interface rather than needing to be kept in bags, banks, and Void Storage. This overhaul of the transmogrification system will free up many players’ inventories, allowing more bag space for everything else in World of Warcraft. The immediate features of the pre-patch also include a wealth of class changes and the ability to queue as all roles available to a class simultaneously.

“Players will be able to queue up for dungeons, raids, Battlegrounds, or Arenas as any role that is available to their class, while continuing to play as another role while they’re waiting. When they enter the content they’ve queued for, they will automatically switch to the suitable role upon entering (at no cost) and then switch back automatically when they leave the instance.”

According to the official website, weeks after the pre-patch releases, more features of the event will debut. This includes Burning Legion invasions and early access to the Demon Hunter hero class for those that pre-purchase Legion. Finally, The Battle on the Broken Shore will usher in the Legion expansion kicking off players’ latest World of Warcraft journeys. All of these upcoming features will be available to any World of Warcraft subscriber except for access to the Demon Hunter hero class. Players must have pre-purchased Legion in order to gain early access to the new class.

Again, no official release date was confirmed for the Legion pre-patch; however, the PvP season is ending next week. The pre-patch could start as early as July 19, the final day of the PvP season, but it is more likely that the pre-patch could release on July 26. Of course, that is just an estimate and the only thing solid about the pre-patch release date is that it will occur before August 17 since that is the guaranteed latest date for pre-purchase players to start their Demon Hunters early.

As the Inquisitr reported, the next World of Warcraft expansion will release on August 30. Players will need to purchase the $50 expansion in order to gain access to the Demon Hunter hero class, Artifact weapons, the Broken Isles area, leveling to 110, and much more. The aforementioned features of the pre-patch will also continue to be prevalent during the Legion expansion with ongoing opportunities to collect transmogrification options and continue mastering the new class changes.

KINGDOMS. WILL. BURN. #Legion pic.twitter.com/DNeoJHLYUQ

— World of Warcraft (@Warcraft) June 9, 2016

Which features coming to World of Warcraft with the Legion pre-patch are you most excited about?

[Image via Blizzard Entertainment]