Weapon Oils Return in The War Within

The Creation Catalyst appears to be receiving some new updates in The War Within, as our datamining indicates that it will now allow players to catalyze weapons in addition to pieces of armor, converting them into new weapons with predetermined stats.

In our datamining of The War Within Alpha, we've discovered that our Faithful Dog has made their way to Khaz Algar, becoming a full-fledged companion, so that players will never again have to leave their pet behind!

Monks appear to have a new glyph option coming in The War Within, the Glyph of Jab causing Tiger Palm to attack with their equipped weapon instead of an unarmed strike! When Monks were originally introduced in Mists of Pandaria, Jab was their basic chi generator, while Tiger Palm instead consumed it. Standing out as the only ability to actually use a non-fist weapon, the Fighting Style passive ability caused Jab to be replaced with a functionally identical yet visually distinct version based on their equipped weapon — Club (mace), Slice (sword), Sever (axe), Pike (polearm), and Clobber (staff) — unsheathing for a quick strike before returning to the Monk's unique unarmed combat stance. This video from 2012 showcases a few of the differing animations, which was quite novel at the time. When the Legion expansion update removed Jab in favor of Tiger Palm, Monks lost this flavor, with only the unarmed strike animation available to it, though various other weapon animation abilities have appeared throughout the years since. In The War Within, Glyph of Jab restores those long lost visuals in an even better way; allowing Monks the option of deciding whether to use unarmed strikes or swing their weapon.

Players are diving into new Enchants coming with The War Within, and we're highlighting some of the most anticipated: the Weapon Enchants! This new batch of Weapon Enchantments seems to aim for an overall simpler tone than some of those from Dragonflight, such as Enchant Weapon — Spore Tender or Enchant Weapon — Shadowflame Wreathe. While focusing mainly on increasing Secondary stats such as Haste or Critical Strike, a few standout Enchantments such as Enchant Weapon — Authority of the Depths still maintain unique effects that are sure to create interesting interactions in theorycrafting and simming for many players.

We've datamined a handful of new Earthen tools and ornate jeweled weapon models in this week's update for The War Within Alpha! While the tools appear to be fairly basic farm and mining implements, the weapons are similar in style to many of the Earthen weapon and armor models found in last week's build.

During the Blizzard Content Creator Summit, developers Sean McCann and Michael Bybee revealed some insight on World of Warcraft's The War Within expansion, giving more clarity on Delves, new mechanics, and features, as well as a little bit of information on Early Access. 

Taliesin and Evitel cover the latest news in The Weekly Reset. This week they cover a possible timeline for the release of the War Within as well as the latest from the War Within Alpha.

Warning: Spoilers for World of Warcraft: The War Within below.

Blizzard held a Content Creator Summit and we participated in a group interview where a couple of kindly devs addressed questions from Content Creators. The devs for this interview were:

Primary stat increasing augment runes are returning in The War Within, with the Crystallized Augment Rune. Hopefully they won't be quite so rare this time around! First added in Warlords of Draenor, Augment Runes are consumables providing a minor increases to strength, intellect, or agility, similar to food buffs in not normally persisting through death but with the added downside of being much less widely available.

We've datamined some new mounts in today's War Within alpha build--Nerubian Beetles and Treasure Basilisks! For even more TWW mounts, check out last week's model datamining, including Wild Unicorns and Fireflies! War Within Alpha Mount Models

Wowhead's The War Within Talent Calculator is now updated for the latest Alpha build including Fire Mage, Windwalker Monk, Warlock, Fel-Scarred DH and more! Plan, theorycraft, and share your talent builds including all Hero specs! Wowhead's The War Within Talent Calculator