World Of Warcraft: Legion is around the corner, so it’s time to catch up

Welcome to our weekly open thread for the discussion of gaming plans, nagging questions, and whatever else we feel like talking about. No matter what the topic, we invite everyone in the comments to tell us: What Are You Playing This Weekend?

I played World Of Warcraft pretty much nonstop between the game’s 2004 release and the launch of its first expansion, The Burning Crusade, in 2007. But after that, I fell into the same pattern as many players—canceling my subscription a few months after hitting the game’s new level cap and only getting drawn back in by the next big expansion. That means, this weekend, I’m heading back to Azeroth to prepare for World Of Warcraft: Legion.

Blizzard has introduced a bunch of new content to get players psyched and give them the experience points, gear, and gold they’ll need for Legion. Here that’s taking on the form of demonic invasions that need to be fought off throughout the game world and quests devoted to defeating the expansion’s titular army. I’ll want to check that out—battling demons should also provide a nice reminder of how to actually play my character—but I also need to do a bunch of spring-cleaning-style work. I’ve already made sure my copy of the game and all the third-party mods I rely on are up to date, but there’s also character maintenance to worry about, so I can start Tuesday with empty bags to fill with new crafting materials and gear. That means I’ll be selling all the stuff that’s about to be rendered totally obsolete for whatever pittance I can get from vendors, since way too many other players will be selling the same goods for the Auction House to be useful.

There’s a weird sense of futility and urgency that hits me in the days before a fresh WOW expansion. Before The Burning Crusade, my guild organized a 40-person raid of Blackwing Lair, because we wanted to prove we could beat the dungeon before it became irrelevant. I doubt I’ll do any serious raiding this weekend, but I’m tempted to clean out my quest log of all the Warlords Of Draenor tasks I didn’t get to before I lost interest. Maybe I’ll go back and level up my battle pets enough so I can capture the new Pokémon-like creatures Legion will introduce. There are a huge number of achievements I was working toward that will probably never be completed if I don’t finish them in the next few days. After all, next weekend’s going to be entirely devoted to trying out Legion’s Demon Hunter class and exploring the game’s new ones and dungeons so I can write my review.