World of Warcraft: Legion's first raid, the Emerald Nightmare, will be opening its gates on September 20th along with Mythic Keystone Dungeons. In order to give everyone at least a brief glimpse at all of the horrors they'll have to constantly bash their heads against, Blizzard recently posted a boss preview for the Emerald Nightmare.
Before you move on, do be aware that this preview contains within it multiple spoilers for both the Val'Sharah storyline and the raid itself. If that doesn't bother you, or if you already know many of the names you'll be fighting against, you can find the full article over at the Blizzard website.
All these bosses aside, the Blizzard designers also talked about their inspirations for the Emerald Nightmare and what exactly they have planned for the raid in terms of story:
"Ever since the first hints of the Emerald Dream were unearthed in classic World of Warcraft over a decade ago, it has been a place players and developers alike have wanted to explore. From the moment the earliest design documents took shape for Val’sharah, with a story revolving around the Nightmare seeping into a peaceful druidic grove, we had “Emerald Dream raid” penciled in as a central piece of the expansion’s content.
Because of the Dream’s nature as a mirror of our world—initially perfect, but now deeply corrupt—we began by brainstorming specific locations in Azeroth that had strong ties to druidism, and those set pieces served as the building blocks for the raid zone. Of course, showcasing the corrupt Emerald Nightmare does not necessarily scratch that itch to see the verdant and unspoiled Dream itself, glimpsed so many years ago. But if adventurers can persevere through the trials of the Nightmare Lord’s twisted realm, perhaps a piece of the pure Dream can still be reclaimed..."
Its hard to believe its already been 10 years, but I still distinctly remember watching a whole bunch of Youtube videos demonstrating the unfinished Emerald Dream, Quel'Thalas, bits and pieces of Outland that looked far more mushroomy than they do today, and even an unused region of Kharazan that seemed like it was lifted straight out of a horror game. As you're probably aware, almost all of these areas have made their way into World of Warcraft by now, so to have the Emerald Dream join them is a rather exciting moment for me. After 10 years of waiting, its finally here!
Since there isn't much to discuss about the bosses themselves, at least not until I get a chance to smack them around with my Warglaives, I'll leave you with two of my favorite boss images:
