Legion is very, very good. The questing is the best it’s ever been, dungeons are actually relevant for the first time since Cataclysm, and the new class campaigns are a welcome improvement on the much-hated Garrison system in Warlords of Draenor.

However, there is one aspect to Legion that has received a lot of criticism: the Legendary system. Unlike in past expansions, where Legendaries were only achievable after a long, complicated grind, in Legion, players randomly receive Legendaries by completing basic content.

Needless to say, this system has many downsides. Because of the greater diversity of Legendaries, there are a few (namely, the ones that increase damage dealt) that are much, much better than the others. As a result, if a player receives a ‘bad’ Legendary, they’ll be upset because of all the potential damage they’re missing out on.

For example, take this Legendary: Prydaz, Xavaric’s Magnum Opus is a necklace that gives the wearer 2,010 Stamina, 1,247 Critical Strike, 1,247 Haste and 1,247 Mastery. It also has a Prismatic Socket and the ability: Every 30 sec, gain an absorb shield for 25% of your maximum health for 30 sec.

As you can probably tell, Prydaz, Xavaric’s Magnum Opus is a very strong Legendary. Its stats are very good for a necklace, and its effect basically increases your maximum health by 25% (which is very good). However, it doesn’t increase your damage, so it’s deemed a ‘bad’ Legendary.

This is a big problem, but the solution is relatively simple: make all the Legendaries in the game pure utility. This way, there will no longer be any ‘Best-in-Slot’ Legendaries, as they’ll all be basically the same value-wise.

Of course, this solution brings up another problem: what happens to all the DPS Legendaries currently in the game? Fortunately, the solution to this problem is once again very simple: change them from Damage to Utility.

A good example of this is the Retribution Paladin Legendary Cape Whisper of the Nathrezim. Currently, the Legendary has this effect: Templar’s Verdict and Divine Storm increase the damage of your next Templar’s Verdict or Divine Storm within 4 sec by 15%. Most of a Ret Paladin’s damage comes from these two abilities, which means that this Legendary is easily the class’s Best-In-Slot.

However, what if Whisper of the Nathrezim’s effect was changed to: Templar’s Verdict and Divine Storm cause your next Templar’s Verdict or Divine Storm within 4 sec to heal you for 30% of the damage done? The cape no longer increases your damage, but it provides your character with a powerful source of self-sustain.

After a change like this, Whisper of the Nathrezim would still be a very good Legendary, but if you were to get Prydaz, Xavaric’s Magnum Opus instead, you wouldn’t be too upset.

Now, while many Legendaries could be changed this easily, there are some that would require a bit more work. For example, there’s the Windwalker Monk boots Katsuo’s Eclipse, which have the effect: Reduce the cost of Fists of Fury by 2 Chi. This is a difficult Legendary to work with, as its method of increasing damage isn’t as straight-forward. However, there are some pretty cool things that could be done with it.

For example, what if Katsuo’s Eclipse now said: Enemies struck by Fists of Fury have a 15% chance to be stunned for 2 seconds. This is a very powerful effect (especially in Mythic + dungeons) but it doesn’t increase your damage in any way.

Overall, I think that making changes like these is the best way to improve the Legendary situation. It won’t be easy, but it’d be really cool to see what crazy utility Legendaries Blizzard would come up with.

 

Here are a few more of my thoughts for changing Legendaries. Please tell me what you think about these changes in the comments below!

 

Name	Class	Old Effect	New Effect
Toravon’s Whiteout Bindings	Death Knight	While Pillar of Frost is active, you deal 15% increased Frost damage.	While Pillar of Frost is active, 50% of the Frost damage you deal is converted to an absorption shield that lasts for 10 seconds.
The Instructor’s Fourth Lesson	Death Knight	Scourge Strike has a chance to burst an additional 1-5 Festering Wounds.	Festering Wounds heal you for 100% of their damage when burst by Scourge Strike.
War Belt of the Sentinel Army	Hunter	Each enemy you hit with Multi-Shot increases the damage of your next Aimed Shot by 10%, stacking up to 20 times.	Aimed Shot now interrupts enemies recently damaged by Multi-Shot.
Shard of the Exodar	Mage	Your Time Warp does not cause Temporal Displacement on yourself and is not affected by Temporal Displacement or similar effects on yourself.	During Time Warp, Blink has infinite charges.
Hidden Master’s Forbidden Touch	Monk	Touch of Death can be used a second time within 3 sec before its cooldown is triggered.	If an enemy dies from Touch of Death you receive an absorption shield equal to 50% of the damage dealt.
Liadrin’s Fury Unleashed	Paladin	While Avenging Wrath is active, you gain 1 Holy Power every 2.5 seconds.	During Avenging Wrath, your melee attacks and spells have a 15% chance to interrupt the targeted enemy.
Anund’s Seared Shackles	Priest	Each time Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch deal damage, your next Void Bolt gains 2% increased damage, stacking up to 50 times.	Each time Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch deal damage, the cooldown on Psychic Scream is reduced by 1 second.
Insignia of Ravenholdt	Rogue	Your attacks that generate combo points deal 15% additional damage as Shadow to all targets within 15 yards in front of you.	Your attacks that consume combo points heal you for 10% of the damage done per combo point, stacking up to 5 times.
Emalon’s Charged Core	Shaman	If Crash Lightning hits 3 or more targets, you deal 10% increased damage for 10 sec.	If Crash Lightning hits 3 or more targets, they’re stunned for 3 seconds.
Archavon’s Heavy Hand	Warrior	Mortal Strike refunds 15 Rage.	When Mortal Strike’s effect expires, you are healed for 150% of the healing prevented.
Cinidaria, the Symbiote	All Leather Classes	Your attacks cause an additional 30% damage as Physical to enemies above 90% health.	Damage you take from enemies above 90% health is reduced by 50%.