Exciting things are afoot in Azeroth with World of Warcraft expected to release not one, but three new expansions as part of their upcoming Worldsoul Saga trilogy, beginning with the upcoming expansion WoW: The War Within. This expansion will introduce the Horde and Alliance to a new threat that stirs beneath the ground with a new subcontinent full of diverse zones and new races to meet or possibly do battle with. The War Within was announced at BlizzCon 2023 through a series of cinematics and discussions with lead developers for the project.
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World of Warcraft's trio of upcoming expansions, Worldsoul Saga, will bring together many of the loose story threads of the past and look at the deeper lore of the world of Azeroth and its history with the Titans. Magni Bronzebeard, Anduin, Thrall, and even Alleria Windrunner will all play their parts in uncovering what ancient, dark threats surround them. The War Within is the first of these expansions to come, and its trailer portrays a distraught Anduin and Thrall being brought together to see what the cause of the giant Sword of Sargeras in Silithus is and what voice is calling to them.
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World Of Warcraft: The War Within Release Date
One Of Three Expansions To Come
World of Warcraft is celebrating its twentieth anniversary in 2024, and Worldsoul Saga is a culmination of the past two decades of story. Its first part in WoW: The War Within is expected to be released in the later part of 2024. The expansion is already available for pre-purchase from Battle.net in three editions which all include many extras such as Trader's Tenders and more to encourage preparing for the epic battles to come, as well as an included copy of WoW: Dragonflight if that expansion is not already owned on the account.
The story for World of Warcraft: The War Within will explore many of the pieces of lore that have been in the background of Azeroth's narrative, particularly focusing on the Titans. A new area with four zones is unlocked, each of which is filled with new races, treasures, and threats for heroes to uncover. The stories told here will be just the beginning, but being able to forge a friendship with a new Allied Race will help with future challenges as well.
New Subcontinent Of Khaz Algar Is Revealed
Four Distinct Zones
Khaz Algar takes up a very small portion of the map in World of Warcraft: The War Within because much of the playable zones take place deep beneath the surface. The only surface-level area that is to be seen is the Isle of Dorn where the main capital for players will be located and is home to many of The Earthen.
Zone Name | Description |
|---|---|
Isle Of Dorn | Lush and beautiful surface-level zone. This is where the main capital city for players is and where many of The Earthen can be found. |
Ringing Deeps | Underground cavern with lava pools, furnaces, and boundaries. This was the home of the Machine Speakers but since has been taken over by Kobolds who are led by their king, The Candle King. |
Hallowfall | Home of the Arathi, it is a bright and thriving underground zone that is struggling with diminishing light from its glowing crystal lately which is making the area go dark without warning. |
Azj-Kahet | High capital to the more evil Nerubian empire and society, down in the deepest parts of the world. |
The Nerubian empire is at the lowest level of Khaz Algar and is constantly in a battle with the Arathi civilization. These Nerubians have evolved through the help of Xal'atath to become strong soldiers for the powers of darkness and evil. The Champions of Azeroth will likely need to help the Arathi to keep them at bay.
Dungeons And Raids In WoW: The War Within
Eight Dungeons And One Raid Announced
The War Within adds a new eight-boss raid to World of Warcraft called Nerub'ar Palace. This raid will be the culmination of this expansion's story featuring the Nerubian Empire, their Queen, and Xal'atath. The above image gives a sneak peek at its expected layout, which will have more of vertical progress than other dungeons and raids. In addition to it, there are also four dungeons designed for players to see during the process of leveling up, and found more that are max-level dungeons.
Dungeons For Leveling Up | Max Level Dungeons |
|---|---|
The Rookery | Cinderbrew Meadery |
The Stonevault | Darkflame Cleft |
Priory of the Sacred Flame | The Dawnbreaker |
City of Threads | Old City |
A new system of adventures called Delves is being added to the game which will be beneficial for solo players as well. The War Within will include 13 unique one- to five-player role-agnostic small adventures called Delves where an NPC companion will accompany them. These Delves are part of the Dragonscale Expedition and will provide beneficial rewards for completion.
Brann Bronzebeard will be the first companion for Delves in The War Within and will have customizable talents and abilities.
New Races Introduced, Including A New Allied Race
The Three Factions Of Earthen Can Join Horde Or Alliance
Khaz Algar is the home of The Earthen, which were forged by the Titans and are made of living stone that has been imbued with the essence of Azeroth's worldsoul. They have the appearance of dwarves with glowing eyes and beards. They were first created by the Titans with the task of maintaining the structures beneath Azeroth and being a race of helpers to the Titans themselves. Unfortunately, the Titans have now been absent for many eons, leaving The Eathen society to go into decline and split into three groups who have differences of opinion: the Unbound, Oathsworn, and Machine Speakers.
Facing a disastrous future for their community, it is up to the Champion of Azeroth to help them out and eventually convince them to join either the Horde or Alliance. The Earthen will be unlocked as a playable Allied Race after another character on the Battle.net account has completed the Earthen quests and any other qualifications in The War Within.
Other races introduced in WoW: The War Within include the Arathi, who are Bastions of Light against the darkness. They wield Holy Fire and face an unrelenting struggle to bring hope to the world. Also, there are the Nerubians, who are the more evil force in this expansion. Nerubians are ancient survivors of The Black Empire, and their queen has made a deal with Xal'atath to make the Nerubians into better soldiers, whether they want to be or not.
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The new expansion, The War Within, adds an incredible amount of new content to the game, even beyond the new locations and storyline. An entirely redesigned Hero Talent Tree system gives each class essentially a new skill tree. Meanwhile, a Warbands system will help to represent all the characters on a player's battle.net account and features many perks and benefits for those who like to have many alts. This is just the first expansion in the trilogy of content coming to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of World of Warcraft, and it looks as though there will be a lot of exciting lore and more to come.
Source: Battle.net, World of Warcraft/YouTube
