World of Warcraft: The War Within Preview - Scratching the Surface

17.04.2024 - 17:53 / ign.com

Back in 2022, I previewed World of Warcraft's last expansion, Dragonflight, in a press pre-alpha situation. Though I'm always hesitant to glowingly recommend an entire MMORPG expansion based on brief early alpha storyline play and not the sum of its content, Dragonflight felt exceptional out of the gate, and was, largely thanks to the transformative new dragonriding mechanic and other major changes that shook off the dust from the widely panned Shadowlands expansion. Blizzard designed the Dragon Isles with bombast in mind, and my very early experiences zipping around them adequately conveyed the sense of increased scale and majesty that would carry throughout the entire expansion.

Looking at The War Within's pre-alpha by comparison, I'm not quite as enraptured. I don't dislike it, to be clear! Largely, it just feels like more World of Warcraft, which is fine. And it's impossible at this stage to say if my muted feelings are because of anything particularly sinful about the new expansion, or just because I've seen so little of it.

Earlier this week, I played roughly 90 minutes or so of story content in the first zone, the Isle of Dorn. Most of this involved a very linear, fast-paced storyline chasing some dwarf factions around to put a council together and fight a familiar Warcraftian race of evil bug people. World of Warcraft veterans will encounter nothing shocking here: kill 12 enemies, rescue six dudes, clean up rubble, find Brann Bronzebeard, blow up Nerubian nests with kegs of explosive alcohol. The usual stuff.

The Isle of Dorn story I saw played out very fast, possibly due to numerous quests that have yet to be implemented in the early alpha build. But also it might be because the surface of Dorn itself is potentially the least exciting zone of The War Within. I wish I had incentive to explore more of it on foot, honestly, as I think I would have enjoyed it more. Nerfed dragonriding (*ahem* dynamic flying) feels terrible after the robust talent trees of Dragonflight, and having it available out of the gate means I spend a lot of time zooming from town to town and almost no time happily getting lost. I don't know, Dorn is fine I guess. It's a greenish island with some mountains and caves and forests and dwarven architecture, and a good chunk of the space is given up to the new capital city Dornogal. All of the biggest, most exciting backdrops that Blizzard has teased for The War Within are located deep underground in Khaz Algar, the expansion's surprising new vertical (not horizontal!) series of zones. Blizzard has mentioned a massive Titan industrial complex, an ancient Nerubian city, and a subterranean cavern lit by a massive crystal "sun." I want to go there!

I also ran two dungeons. The Rookery