Highlights
- World of Warcraft: The War Within, the 10th expansion, was announced at BlizzCon 2023 and will feature new zones and the ability to recruit the Earthen as an Allied Race.
- Players can expect a new level cap of 80, new Hero Talents for every class and specialization starting at level 71, and the introduction of account-wide Warbands for shared resources and reputation.
- The expansion will include new outdoor experiences called treasure delves, eight new dungeons and one raid at launch, and a new mount feature called Dynamic Flight for certain mounts.
At BlizzCon 2023, Blizzard revealed World of Warcraft: The War Within, the long-running MMORPG's 10th expansion, and delved into some of the gameplay elements players can expect when the new chapter launches in Fall 2024. In The War Within, World of Warcraft players will be able to recruit the dwarf-like Earthen as an Allied Race and will explore the subterranean depths of Azeroth across new zones with new Hero Talents to use.
A month before BlizzCon, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra set the tone for what players could expect at BlizzCon 2023. With the news that the Warcraft series would be the most featured one at BlizzCon, hype and speculation about the future of World of Warcraft began to stir. With the Dragonflight expansion coming to a climax with the upcoming Guardians of the Dream content update, players will soon turn their attention to the first of three new expansions coming to World of Warcraft known collectively as the Worldsoul Saga.
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The upcoming expansion was revealed by Chris Metzen, the executive creative director of the Warcraft franchise, as the final announcement of the BlizzCon 2023 opening ceremony. Following a cinematic trailer that featured Anduin and Thrall, a separate gameplay trailer focusing on Alleria Windrunner was shown off and later uploaded to the World of Warcraft YouTube channel. While initial leaks about the World of Warcraft expansion focused on the continent of Avaloren, the trailer proved those rumors false. Instead, the focus was on new zones such as the dwarven Isle of Dorn located above ground. Players will eventually delve underground into the Nerubian citadel of Azj-Kahet and the mysterious Ringing Deeps that some kobolds and Earthen call home. In addition, the Arathi city of Hallowfall was briefly shown, with a gigantic sun-like crystal looming overhead.
World of Warcraft: The War Within Gameplay Features
- New Allied Race: The Earthen (Available to both Alliance and Horde)
- New Level Cap (Level 80)
- New Hero Talents For Every Class and Specialization Starting at Level 71
- Four New Zones: The Isle of Dorn, The Harrowing Deeps, Harrowfall, Azj-Kahet
- New Account-Wide Feature: Warbands (Shared reputations and features for all characters on a single Battle.net account)
- New Mount Feature: Dynamic Flight (Dragonriding for pre-Dragonflight mounts)
- New Outdoor Experience: Treasure Delves
- Eight New Dungeons and One New Raid Available At Launch
As for gameplay features, World of Warcraft players will be able to form account-wide Warbands to share resources and reputation across all their characters, and the Earthen will be available to both Alliance and Horde players as an Allied Race. Players will also be able to take part in treasure Delves, and all classes and specializations will be able to pick from Hero talents to further customize their builds. For example, a Balance Druid can become either a Keeper of the Grove or a Chosen of Elune. Finally, some older mounts such as Invincible and Ashes of Al'ar will be able to use Dynamic Riding, which appeared to be based on Dragonflight's popular Dragonriding feature.
Though Patch 10.2 is immediately on World of Warcraft's horizon, Blizzard also confirmed that a future patch will bridge Dragonflight and The War Within together. It remains to be seen what Blizzard's plans are in between expansions.
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is an incredibly successful MMORPG that has been going strong for almost two decades. It's one of the highest-grossing franchises in history and is widely considered the most popular MMORPG ever made.
