WoW: The War Within played

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Our MMORPG expert Karsten Scholz was able to play the new WoW expansion The War Within during an exclusive alpha test round. The new adventure in World of Warcraft is more comfortable and accessible than ever before, while losing even more of its MMO roots.

Blizzard is preparing for the upcoming WoW: The War Within alpha and allowed me to play the new expansion a few days in advance. The following content awaited me on the press client:

  • An adapted introduction to “The War Within” adventure, which will be different at the final launch.
  • The three campaign chapters of the new area Isle of Thorn, which is home to the Earthen (all in-game sequences were blocked).
  • Some depth instances that I was able to explore with NPC dwarf Brann Bronzebeard.
  • At level 71 I unlocked the new hero talents for my villain, although these were still placeholders for my favorite class. The Dragonflight talent trees will continue to exist.
    • The new character overview shows four heroes of the war pack.
  • Reworked UI elements and options such as the spell book, the character overview or the new mode for arachnophobics (replaces all spiders with other creatures).
  • Access to the first benefits of the War Pack feature (such as cross-account bank with multiple slots and account-wide reputation for all characters).
  • The opportunity to try out the dynamic flight characteristics of dragon riding with a pure heart racer – the horse mount hops through the air.

    • Using the group search, I was also able to join queues for the new battlefield “Deephaul Ravine” and the first two dungeons. However, due to a lack of teammates, the first practical tests were not carried out. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to enter the PvE instances of The War Within with followers (which should be possible later).

    The cinematic trailer for WoW: The War Within:

    World of Warcraft: The War Within – Cinematic Trailer

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    Typically WoW…

    In one leisurely evening, I was able to complete the island’s quests, master several depths, and get my rogue to just shy of level 73. The War Within felt a lot like Dragonflight at this time, except that there are dwarves jumping around everywhere on Dorn and a lot of it revolves around forging.

    As is typical for WoW, my premade fighter, equipped with green clothes, sliced ​​through opponents and orders like a hot knife through butter. You shouldn’t expect a tough level of difficulty or innovative quest mechanics when leveling up.

    The design of the new mushroom creatures is wonderfully detailed and slanted.

    The only thing I found remarkable was one task in which I had to repel several waves of Nerubians. To do this, I had to place defenses at various access routes. I then followed the actual battle from the back of a flying mount while throwing various lightning attacks at the advancing enemies.

    …but even more accessible

    What you can expect, however, is the even greater accessibility of WoW. Thanks to dynamic flying, you can achieve every quest in just a few seconds when leveling. You can optionally play through all of The War Within’s dungeons that await you during the campaign or level phase either solo or with AI followers. Wait for other players? That’s so 2020!

    The villain grabs the aggro in the depths and heals Brann Bronzebeard.

    And the new depths are also comfortable to play: there are several levels of difficulty, if necessary Brann Bronzebeard provides healing and additional damage and after ten minutes you are back in the fresh air. By the way, some special features await you in the depths:

  • There are webs all over the ground in the Earthburrower Mines that slow down and periodically summon attackers as soon as you touch them.
  • The Depths of Warval’s buffs are shrouded in darkness that gradually reduces your maximum health. You can only counteract this with the bright glow of candles, which burn down after a while.
  • In the depths lurk traps (such as flamethrower candles), special tasks (for example, I should save all the earthens cocooned by the Nerubians) and elite bosses.
  • You can use crates to obtain short-term buffs that are reminiscent of the perks from Torghast from Shadowlands.
  • At the end you will find a treasure chamber with the final reward and a shortcut to the entrance to the instance.
  • Brann Bronzebeard collects experience points, levels up and unlocks more skills for your adventures together.

    • Last but not least, the new pack of war feature brings more convenience and accessibility. You get access to a new, cross-account bank compartment with several compartments (activating all compartments costs a lot of money). In addition, reputation progress, achievements and collections count for all characters on your account. For the frequent twinkers among you, this innovation should be a blessing.

    The new character model of Alleria Windrunner.

    Homeopathic traces of MMORPG

    For many years, World of Warcraft has been following the path of all major theme park MMORPGs, tearing down walls or offering more and more options and content designed to expand the target group and attract new players to the servers.

    Blizzard is particularly targeting casual players who actually just want to play games in peace for a while every now and then. And for players who don’t feel like social obligations, fixed raid dates and unfriendly dungeon players.

    Part of me can totally relate. As a father of two kids, a tough dungeon run from WoW: Dragonflight or Final Fantasy .

    However, the other part of me thinks: At least you remember the fun visits to Germany! Modern MMORPGs play far too often like solo role-playing games with optional multiplayer. With The War Within, WoW is now going even more in this direction. Dumb!

    Alternative perspective on The War Within
    My wonderful colleague Mary also had the opportunity to watch the alpha of The War Within for Gamestar. She was also able to ask the Blizzard developers all sorts of questions about the upcoming expansion of World of Warcraft. You can find out what she learned and what her personal view of the add-on is in her Preview of WoW: The War Within.

    You see, there are two hearts beating in my chest. Fortunately, it’s not a question of “either…or”, after all WoW Classic and The War Within run in parallel. Which version of World of Warcraft do you prefer?

    You can find out more about the upcoming expansion of World of Warcraft here: The alpha of WoW The War Within is not live yet, but Blizzard is already saying: Sorry, we’re changing that

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