'World of Warcraft: Legion' release date: Expansion coming with level 100 boost

World of Warcraft website

Aside from a new upcoming movie adaptation, Blizzard entertainment hopes to get back the huge numbers it once had with its "World of Warcraft" massive multiplayer title.

With the "World of Warcraft" movie coming very soon, Blizzard has also set the stage for revamping the franchise with another expansion, Legion, also scheduled to be released next year. Meanwhile, the publisher hopes to keep fans' interest alive, and gather some players it lost to titles in other genres, with additional treats and surprises.

Although the release window for "World of Warcraft: Legion" is not happening until summer next year, Blizzard has already announced pre-orders for the title, along with the additional perks and bonuses that early purchasers of the game can enjoy. For starters, players who pre-order "Legion" can get an instant boost to level 100 for any characters across all in-game realms. This is significant as "WoW: Legion" has a level cap of 110, and starting the game already 10 characters removed from the highest definitely will have its advantages.

This pre-order perk is in line with Blizzard's plans to involve newcomers to the title right from the start. In an interview with VentureBeat, J. Allen Brack, executive producer and senior vice president for "World of Warcraft," said that the level 100 boost is a plus for those who want to try the game for the first time but don't want grinding to take up too much time. Brack said, "The idea on this is — let's say Blake has always wanted to try a rogue, but he didn't want to use a character boost token on it, so he's going to try a rogue with his level 100 boost. He's going to decide whether or not that's for him."

"World of Warcraft: Legion" is slated for a summer 2016 release, opening up new worlds to discover for both old and new players.