It’s weird to think thatWorld of Warcraftis the longest relationship I’ve had with a game. There are older games I’ll revisit now and then in the same way that you occasionally hit up your middle school best friend on Facebook to see how they’ve been, but WoW is the oldest game that’s consistently been part of my life - and I didn’t even start at the beginning.
This year is the 20th anniversary of World of Warcraft, and to celebrate, Blizzard is launching The War Within, WoW’s 10th expansion and the first in a trilogy of expansions collectively known as The Worldsoul Saga. I got to take an early look at the Alpha before it hits the public test server to explore the Isle of Dorn and get a first taste of some of the new upcoming features, like Hero Talents and Delves. With this first zone, Blizzard is aiming to recapture the feeling of our first steps in Azeroth 20 years ago, and from what I’ve seen so far, it’s absolutely nailing it.
The War Within is the start of a three-act story that promises a payoff for many of WoW’s long-hanging narrative threads. Both Alliance and Horde are headed to a new landmass called Khaz Algar to help the Earthen, a new titan-forged allied race, fend off an invasion from the Nerubian army led by Xal’atath, the Harbinger of the void. Eventually, the heroes will take the fight into the caverns beneath the surface of Azeroth to uncover the secrets of the universe, but the journey begins topside, on the pastoral Isle of Dorn.
Almost all of my playtime was spent exploring the Isle of Dorn and its capital city, Dornogal, which will serve as this expansion’s hub. I’ve been eager to see what the hidden world beneath the surface of Azeroth looks like, but I found myself unexpectedly enthralled with this starting zone. This expansive, idyllic countryside is rooted in WoW’s past while offering all of the modern conveniences that retail WoW is known for.
Having leveled countless characters through the Elwynn Forest, Hillsbrad, and Mulgore, the Isle of Dorn felt like coming home. Tiny villages and cottages dot the rolling plains and lush mountains across the island, while craggy mountains and mine break up the landscape. There are classic enemies and wildlife everywhere, like kobolds, grazers, and elementals, but there are some twists on tradition too, like beach-bound shimmerfin that look like a distant, forgotten relative of murloc. The Isle of Dorn manages to feel familiar without feeling derivative, which isn’t an easy thing to pull off in a 20-year-old game.
One thing that helps give the island its own identity is the way it’s designed to complement dynamic flying, which is the rebrand of dragonriding from the previous expansion, Dragonflight. You’ll now have the option to use dynamic flying with any mount right from the start, and so, much like Dragonflight, The War Within’s zones are built to accommodate this method of traversal. Dorn is a massive zone with large expanses of open land that make it feel like an actual, natural land mass, rather than a zone made specifically for questing. Exploration is so much more enjoyable thanks to dynamic flying, and being able to use your own mounts is the icing on the cake.
One of the War Within’s big new features is the Delves, an endgame activity that offers another path of progression for the Great Vault alongside raids, battlegrounds, and Mythic Dungeons. These are instanced activities scattered around the world that can be completed solo (with the help of an NPC) or in groups of up to four. They’re like small, linear dungeons in which you fight your way through a map and collect random, temporary buffs along the way. The one I played through had me rescuing people in a spider-infested mine and escorting them out in a minecart alongside Brann Bronzebeard.
It was a ten-minute encounter that rewarded me with a spider pet at the end, which was a nice thematic touch. These have scaling difficulty and will reward additional rolls on the Great Vault each week, and they also tie into seasonal rewards, so you’ll be able to get unique toys, pets, mounts, and more for completing them. I love the idea of having alternate ways to earn Great Vault rewards. If I don’t have time to raid or push mythic keys some weeks, it will be nice to have Delves to fall back on for quick solo grinding.
I got a small taste of Hero Talents, the new semi-specialization agnostic subclasses you’ll start to unlock points for starting at level 71. Each specialization has access to two of the three talent trees, though you may only select one at a time. Unlike the regular talent trees, you will unlock the entire hero talent tree you’ve spec’d into once you reach max level, so the only choice that matters is which of the two available trees you choose.
As aMarksmanship Hunter, I had the choice between the shadow damage-focused Dark Ranger tree or the nature-inclined Sentinel tree, and both have some pretty interesting abilities. On the sentinel side, the final skill point unlocks Lunar Storm, which summons a celestial owl when you use Rapid Fire that creates a ten-yard arcane storm. There’s enough juicy class fantasy here to give pause to even the most meta-obsessed minmaxers, which is always something great to see from new class abilities.
I’ve barely scratched the surface on what The War Within has to offer, but I’m excited to finally have a better sense of what the expansion will look and feel like. There’s bound to be big expectations for the 20-year anniversary of World of Warcraft, and it feels like Blizzard is keyed into what fans want: a nostalgic journey that brings closure to some of Azeroth’s oldest mysteries.
