World of Warcraft: The War Within

World of Warcraft: The War Within is the tenth expansion to the iconic 2004 MMORPG by Blizzard Entertainment - known for such games as Diablo IV, Overwatch 2 and Hearthstone.

Plot

The expansion begins a new storyline, the Worldsoul Saga - the culmination of the first 20 years of WoW, and the beginning of new 20 years. It's to be continued in the next two expansions, WoW: Midnight and WoW: The Last Titan.

It's set in the land of Khaz Algar, the homeland of the Earthen - an ancient dwarven race forged from living stone by the Titans. It's also a new playable race in World of Warcraft. Story-wise, they're aligned with the Alliance and can be unlocked by completing quests for their members,

These unexplored lands, full of hidden wonders and danger, lead to the dark depths of the Nerubian Empire - to Azj-Kahet, where the Harbinger of the Void gathers an arachnid army to conquer Azeorth with.

The threat starts manifesting in visions, experienced by the orc Thrall, Anduid Wrynn - the rightful ruler of Stormwind - and more. The latter goes into hiding, trying to recover from injuries inflicted upon him during World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. The heroes do not know what's the source of the visions.

The player must discover it by traversing Khaz Algar, divided into four regions: Isle of Dorn, The Ringing Deeps, Hallowfall and Azj-Kahet. The expansion also includes Xal'atath, a talking dagger originally belonging to an elf of the same name, and an important part of the story in WoW: Legion.

New content

In addition to a new storyline and a new playable race, World of Warcraft: The War Within also increases the level cap to 80 (the level cap was originally 120, but it was lowered during WoW: Shadowlands; capped characters were moved to level 50), adds new talent trees with specialized skills for each class, eight unique dungeons and a new, challenging raid. There are also Delves, endgame vaults of treasure which can be explored solo or in parties of four.

Mechanics

World of Warcraft: The War Within introduces the Warbands system which lets players share progress - fame, achievements, collections, etc. - with other characters on the same Battle.net account, no matter their faction. Blizzard have also expanded mounted flying, first introduced in WoW: Dragonflight. Players can now traverse the skies not only on dragons, but also on regular mounts.

Technical aspects

Like the previous expansions, World of Warcraft: The War Within is not a standalone expansion, requiring the base version of WoW. The game is part of a subscription service, which players need to pay for to play anyway.