World of Warcraft: The War Within is fast approaching, with beta, pre-patch, and a full release on the near horizon.
Set to explore deeper, darker themes, The War Within is the tenth expansion since the game’s release in 2001. There are two more (Midnight and The Last Titan) announced but only The War Within has a set release date – and it’s coming up soon.
As with previous expansions, there are opportunities to play The War Within ahead of its official release through the beta and early access releases. Read on for all these details, as well as what to expect from the expansion itself.
Blizzard has confirmed that World of Warcraft: The War Within will be released on August 26, with early access starting from August 22.
To get involved with early access, players will need to purchase the top tier (and most expensive) edition of The War Within, titled the Epic edition.
The price for The War Within starts from $49.99 for the Base edition, $69.99 for the Heroic edition, and US$89.99 for the Epic edition, which is the only one that offers access to the beta and early access periods. You’re guaranteed at least three days of early access, meaning that it will start at the latest from August 23, as the dates can be subject to change.
If you’ve already bought a lower-tier edition and want to upgrade, there’s still time to do so in the online Battle Net shop.
The Worldsoul, so long denied me, shall be mine.
The War Within arrives August 26.
Early Access begins August 22. pic.twitter.com/C4qoGXIbUf
— World of Warcraft (@Warcraft) June 9, 2024
The beta version of the expansion is available earlier than the early access and also be played by those who bought the Epic edition. It includes new systems, the complete leveling experience, zones, dungeons, delves, Warbands, and the new playable Earthen, with raid testing coming later.
Other players may also be selected to join the beta, although that’s not guaranteed. If you are selected, you’ll receive an email inviting you to download the game client directly from the Battle.net desktop app. From there you should follow these steps for the best experience, according to Blizzard:
Players are also waiting for news on the pre-patch access.
Pre-patch events for World of Warcraft expansions usually take place about a month before the expansion itself, offering all of the system changes that the expansion brings without the actual content of the expansion.
While a date hasn’t been given for The War Within’s pre-patch, titled The Radiant Echoes, but a new splash screen element suggests that it will launch on July 30, with an announcement expected on July 23. That fits with the typical schedule of these releases, coming roughly one month ahead of The War Within’s release on August 26.
As The War Within’s beta has already started, there’s already a good idea of which classes are ranking higher than others.
Of course, this is relatively subjective but those who have already started playing the new expansion generally seem to agree Mage, Paladin, and Evoker are all strong top-tier classes, while Shaman seems underserved by the dev team in the beta version.
That could certainly be subject to change as the game continues to develop and is based on largely anecdotal evidence at this early beta stage.
Although raids are an integral part of World of Warcraft, The War Within marks Blizzard’s debut of a new Story Mode Difficulty, geared towards non-raiders and solo players to allow them to hit all the important story beats found in raids without the need to actually battle through them – but you can of course still get stuck in if you want to.
The mode is currently scheduled to release alongside the Looking For Raid difficulty of The War Within’s first raid, titled Nerub-ar Palace.
It’s thought to be a one-and-done experience for story discovery with the option to replay later if you want to. Blizzard has not confirmed whether it will drop loot.
The main difference between the story mode and regular raids is that it’s limited to the raid’s final boss, Queen Ansurek. That means players will only have to fight one boss rather than all eight found in the raid, as well as enjoy reduced difficulty and complexity throughout, allowing players to focus on narrative beats rather than gameplay. Story Mode Difficulty is geared towards between one and five players, requiring fewer people and even allowing you to complete it on your own if you want.
Featured image: Blizzard Games
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