World of Warcraft’s The War Within enlargement bought a launch date throughout the Xbox Video games Showcase 2024 – coming to PC by way of Battle.web on August 26, this enlargement will probably be the first half of a trilogy of expansions generally known as The Worldsoul Saga, diving deep into the mythology of World of Warcraft.
To have fun, Official Xbox Podcast host Malik Prince teamed up with World of Warcraft group supervisor and WoWCast host Bethany Stout to interview World of Warcraft Government Producer Holly Longdale and Recreation Director Ion Hazzikostas, discovering out extra about this enlargement, and why now is an ideal second to bounce into the recreation for the very first time. You may watch the total interview beneath, or learn on for all the key particulars.
In fact, it’s one thing new to see World of Warcraft on an Xbox podcast. “We’re simply tremendous excited to be half of Xbox now, coming from Blizzard,” mentioned Longdale. “And we’re representing a PC recreation, World of Warcraft, so we’re tremendous excited to be right here, and we would like to share with all the Xbox followers that we’re right here to keep. We’ve been round for 20 [years] – we’re not your dad’s recreation, we’re not your mother’s recreation – and we’re going to be round for 20 extra no less than. We would like to invite all people into this unbelievable expertise.”
Half of that invitation comes with the recreation’s free trial, permitting you to discover the world and degree up all the means to degree 20. However there’s a brand new choice to accomplish that with the Welcome to Azeroth bundle. Together with every thing gamers want to start their journey in Azeroth, this gives the present enlargement, Dragonflight, a degree 60 character enhance, and 60 days of recreation time for $24.99 USD.
That bundle has been carefully-chosen to aid you prepare for the upcoming enlargement: “We’ve actually finished lots over the final 20 years to be sure that 20 years of content material shouldn’t be 20 years of obstacles that you’ve got to overcome to get to the newest, coolest factor,” mentioned Hazzikostas. “When War Within comes out, Dragonflight, the present enlargement, will probably be what you play by way of to degree up and bounce proper into War Within. That provides you with the energy, offer you an understanding of the mechanics, you’ll have a dragon companion that you just’ll earn very early on […] and it’s additionally going to put together you story-wise for what The War Within goes to deliver.”
All of it makes The War Within a terrific marker for when to begin taking part in WoW – as the starting of a brand-new, three-expansion saga, it is a new story that even seasoned veterans will probably be discovering for the first time. And that story is already being instructed forward of the enlargement’s August 26 launch:
“In the lead-up to War Within, there’s already stuff occurring in World of Warcraft at this very minute,” mentioned Hazzikostas. “Xal’atath – the villain that you just noticed at the finish of that [Xbox Games Showcase] cinematic – has emerged into the world, and her tendrils are branching all through Azeroth, weaving darkish plans which can be going to threaten us. It’s thrilling to have that build-up to that launch second.”
When it does kick off, The War Within will introduce model new zones to discover: main gamers beneath the floor of Azeroth into Dwarven caverns, taking them to the stunning Hallowfall Canyon (with airship journey to get round), and into Azj-Kahet, the house of one of World of Warcraft’s strongest civilizations, the Nerubian Empire. By the way, Nerubians are an clever race of arachnids – and The War Within will supply an arachnophobia choice to substitute their fashions with (friendlier-looking) crabs.
We’ll additionally get a brand new function referred to as Warbands, which is able to enable gamers to swap between a number of characters with out having to replay swathes of the enlargement. Delves will supply a brand new dungeon expertise, permitting for smaller, shorter dungeon crawls, even for solo gamers. For larger dungeons, which regularly require you to play with others, The War Within will supply AI characters for those that can’t play with a celebration.
The War Within is doubly particular for Blizzard, because it marks the 20th anniversary of World of Warcraft, and it’s a possibility to take a look at how completely different sorts of gamers strategy the recreation, and construct one thing for all of them: “It is a enormous yr for World of Warcraft typically,” mentioned Hazzikostas. “It’s actually humbling to replicate upon my very own relationship with the recreation, however actually simply to look again at the journey that we’ve taken as a growth workforce with our group. We’re a recreation that has grown and advanced as our group has.
“I believe not everybody has that point to spare today – we’re all busy, all of us have lots of tasks, however we would like to preserve a relationship, or construct a brand new one, with this world that’s been particular for so many individuals. [It’s] advanced over the years to maintain that depth for those that need to search it, however [we’re] ensuring that there’s a variety of ranges of dedication and relationship you possibly can have with the recreation and nonetheless have an epic, fulfilling expertise.”
“What you noticed [in the Xbox Games Showcase] cinematic was a celebration of the previous 20 years, and the journey of our story over the previous 20 years,” mentioned Longdale. If you would like to take part these celebrations – whether or not you’re a dedicated participant, somebody wanting to return, or a complete newcomer – now’s the time.