The World of Warcraft pre-expansion update 7.0.3 is now live and players can jump in and get a feel for what the Burning Legion has in store for Azeroth when the Legion expansion hits on August 30.

The patch offers a multitude of changes. There is a new transmog collection system, revamps to PvP progression and honor, new quests and world events and fundamental changes to all the classes (Melee hunters are back, and gnomes can now be hunters.). The number of characters per realm has also increased to 12, opening up a slot in case you want to add the new Demon Hunter class to the other 11 character classes. The Demon Hunter will become available no later than August 17 for those who pre-ordered the game. Others will need to wait until the game launches.

Below is an overview video and the complete patch notes.

New Transmogrification Collections System: Appearances

• New Collection tab: Appearances
• Unlock new appearances by collecting Soulbound weapons and armor your character can equip.
• Unlocked appearances are account-wide and usable for transmogrification by other characters that can equip the item.
• When first logging into a character after Patch 7.0, the appearances of appropriate items in your bags, bank, and Void Storage are learned automatically. Additional appearances will be unlocked based on previously-completed quests.
• Transmogrifiers located in most major cities have been improved with additional features.
  • Got a look that you like? Save the entire transmogrification set as an outfit. Create and swap between outfits at the Transmogrifier.
  • Additionally, transmogrifications can now be associated with your current specialization. Your outfit automatically changes when switching specializations if you so desire.
  • Added a new option to hide shoulders.
  • The option to hide helmets, cloaks, and shoulders has been moved into the transmogrification system.

Revamped PvP Progression and Honor System

• The PvP Reward System will now provide appropriate items for players level 100 and below.
• Honor Points and Conquest Points have been removed as a currency.
• Items that were purchased using Honor or Conquest are now available for purchase with Marks of Honor that can be earned from Battlegrounds, Arenas, and Skirmishes.
• Learn more about upcoming PvP changes in our Legion PvP Preview.

Equalized PvP Gear

• Gear has been normalized in PvP combat. Characters entering a Skirmish Arena, Battleground, Rated Arena, Rated Battleground, or Ashran now receive an aura called Principles of War.
• Principles of War removes all stats gained from gear (Strength, Stamina, Haste, etc.), disables gear related bonuses (like trinket effects and set bonuses), and gives the character stats based on their specializations, and increases based on overall item level. The goal is to provide a much more finely tuned and balanced PvP experience.

Arenas

• The pennant attached to the back of characters now changes its appearance based on the player’s best rating in the Arena bracket.
• The 5v5 Arena bracket has been retired. "Arena Master" achievement has been converted into a Feat of Strength.

Battlegrounds

• Winning a Battleground with characters below level 110 now awards a Crate of Battlefield Goods. Players on the opposing team also have a chance to receive a crate with an increasing chance based on team score at the end of a match. The crate contains a piece of armor appropriate for the character’s level and specialization with a chance for the crate to contain additional rewards such as weapons or relics.

Raids and Dungeons

Hellfire Citadel

• Enemies on Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulty now deal roughly 30% less damage.

Legacy

• Normalized gold from Legacy raids prior to Warlords of Draenor. Heroic difficulty Cataclysm Raids now award less gold than before, while raids from Mists of Pandaria and Wrath of the Lich King will now award more gold.
• Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj now resets daily instead of every 3 days.

Quests and World

Legendary Ring Quest Line

• Players can no longer start the quest line for the legendary ring. Players currently on the legendary quest line have until the launch of Legion to complete it; at which point uncompleted quests will be removed from the quest log.

Tap Changes

• All creatures and NPCs can now be tapped by up to 5 other characters.

World Events

• The Brawler's Guild is taking a break and will return at a later date.
• The Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza has taken a temporary hiatus while the fish are restocked.

Items and Itemization

Itemization

• In an effort to reduce the amount of gear swapping between specializations, the following changes have been made.
  • Legion cloaks, rings, and items worn on the neck are no longer tied to a specific primary stat, and will remain relevant between specializations.
  • Spirit and Bonus Armor have been removed.
• Multistrike has been removed. Items that had multistrike have had it replaced with another secondary stat.
• Trinkets obtained from Raids, PvP, and world drops in Warlords were overtuned and have been brought back to intended power levels.
• Set bonuses for item sets from expansions prior to Warlords of Draenor have been deactivated, though the text describing their former function still remains.
• Spell Power on all caster weapons have been consolidated into Intellect to make it easier to compare item power between two caster weapons. Overall weapon power remains unchanged.

Items

• Equipment limits on the amount of crafted gear that can be worn have been removed.
• Potion of Luck and Greater Potion of Luck no longer have an effect.
• Gladiator's Distinction set bonus has been removed from all PvP trinkets.

Character Changes

Specialization System Changes

• Characters can now change between any of their specializations at most any time for a progressive gold cost. Action bar configurations are saved for each specialization. As a result, Dual Specialization has been removed.

Updates to Combat Visuals and Audio

• Updated and improved on the animations, visual effects, and audio on core combat interactions like auto-attacks as well as many melee class abilities.

Talent System Changes

• Players may now change talents freely when in any rested XP area. The Inscription profession can craft consumable items that allow for this to be done in the field. In addition, after queuing into an instanced dungeon, raid, or PvP content, players have a grace period during which they may change talents freely.

Glyph System Changes

• The Glyph panel has been removed from the game. Some minor glyphs that had a cosmetic effect that does not apply to a specific spell have been converted into cosmetic items that provide the same effects as before.
• Some minor glyphs that made cosmetic alterations to a specific spell have been added to the spell itself in the spellbook.

Gnome Hunters

• Gnomes can now be Hunters.

Draenor Perks Removed

• Draenor Perks have been removed from the game.

Armor Changes

• Hunters and Shaman can now equip Mail armor from level 1 (down from level 40).
• Warriors and Paladins can now equip Plate armor from level 1 (down from level 40).
• New Mail and Plate reward options have been added to low level quests.

Racial Abilities

Human

• Every Man for Himself now removes all Stun effects and shares a 30-second cooldown with other items or abilities that have a similar effect.
• The Human Spirit has been redesigned. Human characters now gain 1% more of all secondary stats (Haste, Critical Strike, Mastery, and Versatility) from all sources

Class Changes

All classes and specializations have undergone changes to abilities and mechanics. Check out our class preview logs for a better understanding on the thought process behind these changes. (Click on the bulleted item for the link).

Garrison

• Many sources of gold from the Garrison has been reduced or removed.
• Newly obtained salvage from the Salvage Yard no longer contains equippable items. Salvage obtained from before the patch remains unaffected.

Collections

Toy Box

• A number of items with novel effects have been converted for inclusion in the Toy Box.
• Orb of Deception now lets the character retain features like armor that’s worn when transforming.
• New toy: Soft Foam Sword, sold by Jepetto Joybuzz. The toy mortally wounds (but does not kill) an enemy of trivial difficulty.

Professions

Inscription

• Major glyphs, along with many minor glyphs, have been converted or removed from the game.

UI

• Character nameplates have been reworked and have been upgraded to show class resources. Players may select a larger version of these nameplates from within the Interface Options menu.
• Enemy nameplates now provide additional information on status effects.
• Added class resource bars that display directly underneath your character.
• The character sheet has been trimmed down, though fully verbose stats are still available via the API.
• Interface options have changed and been further streamlined.
• Tab targeting logic has been reworked, and should now behave in a more consistent and predictable manner.
• A buff icon has been added to make it easier to tell when a character has XP gain disabled.

Account

• The maximum amount of gold that can be held at once has been increased to 9,999,999 gold. Guild bank maximum has also been increased to 9,999,999 gold.
• Maximum number of characters on a realm has increased to 12.

Graphics Engine

• Maximum draw distance has been extended greatly for all world content.
• 5 additional levels of graphics presets have been added with 3 above the previous ‘Ultra’ setting.
• More advanced rendering techniques for fog have been added.
• Modern techniques for rendering color and other post-effects have been added.