The War Within Finally Made Me Care About World of Warcraft’s World

When I sit down to write a feature or dish out my ramblings on a new game, it’s often about gameplay. New features, the nuance of progression, or something in that ballpark, and I’ll natter about my enjoyment or love for them for ages. World of Warcraft is no different, in fact, I think the BA team might be fed up with hearing me talk about it.

Hell, I gushed over World of Warcraft’s newest features excessively a little while back, and I plan to gush over the MMO again.

This time around though, I’m not here to regale you with how great its content or changes are – though they are excellent – instead, I have this overwhelming urge to share my feelings on the new expansion, The War Within, and how, for the first time in a while, I am truly invested and enthralled by the world of Warcraft.

WoW the War Within Has the Best Opening of an Expansion I’ve Seen a Long Time

Let’s start at the beginning and talk about the expansion’s introduction of the expansion. First impressions matter, and with a game, those opening moments can be a good sign of what’s to come, be it tone, setting, or themes, and I’ll admit: if your intro sucks, I’m likely not going to be interested for long.

That’s not the case here. The War Within has one of the best introductions to an expansion I have seen in a very long time.

Right off the bat, it makes it clear that the stakes are high. The first quest takes you to Silithus – you know, where that giant sword is stuck in Azeroth – and across those introductory quests, you realize quickly that things aren’t looking good. Magni, our resident diamond dwarf, cannot talk with Azeroth anymore, the people of the world are being shown visions, a “radiant song,” and a new foe is moving in shadows. 

Fast forward a bit to the magic floating city of Dalaran, and we have Magni out cold after trying to talk with Azeroth. Upon his awakening, he speaks of a vision of Khaz Algar, a land he saw in flames. After a brief debate, the council of Dalaran, you, and the heroes of Warcraft set about going to its aid. Not bad so far.

From here, the dial keeps turning up, and this is where I got hooked.

Upon Dalaran teleporting to this new land, you find it in no danger at all – least not at the moment – and a brief but effective cutscene follows with Alleria, an expansion protagonist, and Xal’atath, our big bad, who has been in disguise amongst the Dalaran council all along. Portals open, enemies flood the city, Xal’atath does a little mocking, and then it’s time to get stuck in.

It was around this point I was leaning forward in my chair and ready to take on whatever was thrown at me because I actually saw and felt like it was important. The city was visibly damaged and beset, and I wanted to help; I wanted to see what would happen next, and I felt the weight of the moment.

That dial kept going up during this introduction. The city, unfortunately, is destroyed. Khadgar, a WoW staple character, seems killed with ease by Xal’atath, and you are left to fight in the rubble of the city upon the shore of a foreign land.

And it is so epic.

This intro and the following few quests were, in my opinion, perfectly done and presented. It throws you into the adventure quickly and gives one of those epic WoW moments off the bat, while also making it clear that, for lack of a better term, shit has got real. Xal’atath isn’t messing around, and she isn’t a pushover. It’s now on you to begin fighting back and planning what to do next.

Aside from 2016’s Legion expansion, I can’t think of a time when I was all in on an expansion just by its opening. It felt much more like WoW than it had to me in a while. It felt epic and weighty, and I could see, and hoped, it would continue to deliver that sense of adventure and epicness I felt the game had lost or misplaced over the years.

I could go on about every little detail or story moment, but we would be here forever, and this isn’t meant to be a review. Instead, I’ll simply say this: the opening hour of The War Within set my expectations pretty high for the rest of the campaign and the world, and it delivered that sense of epic that the developers are always trying to serve up.

It’s just a bonus that it continued to do so beyond that intro, especially in its world.

Epic Stories in an Epic World

In a game like WoW, I want to feel like a hero, but more than that, I want to feel like a small part of a massive world. I want to walk into a zone and be taken aback by its scale, the setting, and how it looks; I want that sense of adventure and hugeness to everything I do. The War Within has that and also captures a bit of that old-school WoW flavor the game has been missing.

The moment I felt this the most was when I entered Hallowfall—the third area of the expansion. In the distance, Beledar, the huge crystal that, like a sun, lights the zone, and at times shifts into a dark, void-tinted color that changes the mood of the zone. Along with that, airships fly around the zone between the small yet bustling towns that litter the landscape, which itself is a sight to behold.

It’s underground, with stone stalactites and other caverns, and underground structures, but in the same breath, it has a sky, a “sea,” wildlife, and fauna. It also felt huge, and that first moment I looked up and saw the star, I took a moment to simply take it all in and marvel at one of the best zones I’ve seen in the game, period.

Hallowfall isn’t alone in this. Every single location feels massive, with details, color, and aesthetics that make it wholly unique yet still rooted in the style of WoW, only turned up to 11. I love being in this part of the world of Warcraft. Whether it’s Azh Kajet and its angler, spider-centric structures, The Ringing Deeps Earthren Dwarf buildings and mines, or the Isle of Dorm, the open, tranquil lands you first see in the expansions, I always felt that sense of grand scale and wonder, and oh sweet lord does it feel awesome to see these places.

I would often get distracted and fly across the zones purely to see each little detail I could, and it is, without question, one of the biggest strengths The War Within has going for it. 

But what surprised me was how much I became invested in these worlds and the people in them.

It’s one thing to make somewhere look and feel epic, but it is an entirely different challenge to make it feel grounded. There are people in these lands who are scared, need help or just need a moment to be ok or feel safe amid the imposing dangers they face. I want to be the person to give them that.

I mention this because it’s not a feeling I’ve had in WoW for a long time. Often, I’m laser-focused on the endgame or the main hurdle in front of me, partly because what surrounds that isn’t interesting to me. Dragonflight, the previous expansion, encapsulates this perfectly. I loved the systems and the way progression and endgame felt, but I didn’t give two shits about the characters or the Dragon Isles, or what dangers they faced. It wasn’t engaging to me. It just felt a bit boring and lackluster.

The War Within has had the opposite effect. These zones are home to plenty of NPCs, and where often side quests are the last thing on my list, they are much more of a priority now because I give a shit. The world feels more alive, and that same attention has gone to those little details with the characters you meet.

The world and story fit into a narrative landscape that’s established and well-made, instead of being built around its story, and that’s one of its major strengths.

Not every side quest is a massive, epic adventure, sometimes it’s as simple as helping a girl through the loss of their family, which was a highlight quest for me. As she stood there while her parent’s things burned, hoping for closure, I had this sense of duty. This little digital NPC girl moved me. It was a simple quest, but it reinforced how serious the situation was and added that extra oomph to the main campaign. I wanted to fight, not just for the experience, but for that little girl. I wanted to be the hero who chased the monsters away.

Another standout involved an Earthen at the end of its lifecycle, and as it slowly begins to shut down, you help prepare it and its apprentice to take over his role as caretaker. It’s a clear parallel to dementia, as they slowly forget you, their friends, and life, fading away. All you can do is help it be a good ending to its tale.

That was when I realized. That was when I knew this expansion would be special because I now wanted to do those side quests; I wanted to help the people of these zones because they were so well done. They are so full of character in every aspect: visually, sound design, writing, and the small details. It made me want to be in the world, and the more I saw and questioned, the more I wanted to see it saved.

If anything, this is all a testament to the quality of writing and visual teams at Blizzard, because they just seemed to nail it in every way imaginable. That’s not even including the light-hearted moments that break up this adventure, which have been so lacking in recent expansions. One standout moment being when an NPC glares at his followers after a long, bold speech, expecting to be whisked away, but instead is left hanging and made to look a bit silly, before he is promptly taken away. Or perhaps when I knocked an enemy Earthen out of a mech mid-flight with a comedic flick. It’s those little moments along with those grandiose ones, that make Warcraft. To see them be more prominent in the game brings a tear to this adventurer’s eyes.

Whether this is the result of Chris Metzen’s newfound involvement or the longer storytelling approach of The Worldsoul Saga, I’m not sure. Hell maybe the team just decided to go all in this time around, I don’t know. Whatever they are doing is working, so I would like them to keep it up if they can, pretty please, because it has been epic so far.

A World Worth Saving

What I’m trying to say in this rather rambly gusting omission, is that the World of Warcraft has never had such a hold on me because of the world. I plan to enjoy the endgame, and I am more than aware that things may not be this good going forward. Mistakes could be made. But right now I can say that I am all in on this new world and its people, and wanted to take just a moment to say a heartfelt thank you to the team for making World of Warcraft feel epic to me once again.

I am ready for what comes next, I am ready for the Worldsoul Saga, and I am ready to help each NPC and absorb every bit of worldbuilding they have for me because this is a World of Warcraft that is worth saving.

If you’ll excuse me, I have some people who need my help.

If you fancy reading about my other love affair, you can read my feature on my rocky relationships with Diablo 4. Or, you can see what’s next for Diablo Immortal in its Crucible of Justice update.

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Matthew Fuller

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