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s World of Warcraft marches towards its 20th anniversary, it's also bracing for its 10th expansion. With all those daunting multiples of 10 knocking around, developer Blizzard clearly wanted to make a statement with the momentous release of The War Within, because it could well be the most ambitious
Much of Azeroth's surface world has been traversed throughout many years of expansions, so The War Within takes things underground. The new continent of Khaz Algar has four distinct zones that burrow progressively deeper into the depths of Azeroth, and are filled with new dangers, new treasures, eight new dungeons, and an epic new raid to challenge the most experienced of guilds.
It all begins on the Isle of Dorn, a fairly classic overworld zone with the city of Dornogal at its centre. But the idea is that the deeper the player goes into Khaz Algar, the stranger the world gets. The Ringing Deeps, for instance, are an impressive mix of industrial architecture, lava flows, and unexpected flourishes of lush greenery, while below that is Hallowfall, one of the most eye-catching zones in the game.
expansion in the game's history. A new allied race, Delves, an impressive new landmass, and a cross-character reputation and banking system headline the features, so we had a quick chat with Lead Game Designer Maria Hamilton about what this all means for the game.
"It goes from being a natural environment to something marvellous and miraculous," Hamilton begins. "Because you come from a tight space and then enter into this enormous cavern that just stretches as far as you can see. There's an endless ocean that laps against these shores, there are airships flying around, but the thing that really stands out is the giant crystal embedded in the ceiling." This crystal provides light and life to the zone, and in a nice touch all the foliage in this area is tilting towards it, drawing on its mysterious energy. Apparently, 'the crystal goes dark' at times, but we'll say no more here.
For many World of Warcraft veterans, time is a more precious resource than when they first started playing 10, 15, 20 years ago, and The War Within seeks to welcome these time-strapped players as well as reward those who are able to grind away the hours. Bolstering the story's journey to the centre of the world are all-new Delves 10-20-minute mini-dungeons that can be tackled in groups or solo. If you go solo or in a smaller group, a customisable AI companion will accompany you for these mini-adventures, and will level up alongside you as you complete them, while formidable bosses await at the end of each one.
Hamilton says that these delves cater to those who prefer to play without the pressure of the more competitive segments of the WoW community, while still having opportunities to earn plenty of spoils. "Their efforts in the delves are rewarded through our great vault, which now has a new row in it to reward outdoor world play and give you the ability to gear up your characters," says Hamilton. "The ambition was simply to be inclusive, so if you want to play by yourself, you can. But if you want to play with friends, you can."
There's some great lore here too, told partly through your companion and partly through the delves themselves, many of which end in a glossy cutscene that unveils new details about the world. All this feeds into a sweeping new story, which sees Azeroth's heroes face inner conflicts while venturing deep into Kaz Algar to tackle a new threat.
Bolstering you on your journey will be 39 new archetypes and Hero Talents, which offer powerful new skill trees, letting you explore new specializations like Dark Ranger, Keeper of the Grove, and Rider of the Apocalypse. Then there's the new Warband system, which merges elements of progression across all your characters. You'll be able to easily transfer items between alts through your Warband Bank, share transmog items, and earn achievements together. Warband-wide reputation means that reputation progression is shared across characters too, as are the reputation rewards!
All this is bound together by a new menu that sees all your characters together on one screen, huddled around a campfire like a close-knit band of travel companions. While Warbands are being introduced in The War Within, Hamilton hints that the feature might expand to the rest of the game. "The warbands feature is an Evergreen feature, so we would expect it to continue," she tells us.
Journey to the core of Azeroth in World of Warcraft's momentous 10th expansion.
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And within your Warband, you can now have a representative of a new playable race known as The Earthen. Able to ally with the Horde and Alliance to take on the forces that threaten their capital city of Dornogal, the Earthen are a hardy gem-encrusted race with unique traits, such as consuming gems instead of food for unique buffs, or Azerite Surge, which burns enemies while healing allies. They introduce their unique mount too, the great-horned Slatestone Ramolith.
How these new features, systems, and countless new class abilities and specialisations will manifest will, as always, be down to the creativity and drive of players. The new world is vast, the progression possibilities are plentiful, and as World of Warcraft prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary, it's fitting that this new expansion lets you delve deeper into Azeroth than ever before. You can buy The War Within at Battle.net now, and begin the latest leg of your WoW adventure.
