World of Warcraft’s latest expansion hopes to rectify problems of the past while taking players on the first part of a journey through The Worldsoul Saga.
The Revival Within
Ever since early on Friday, August 23rd, some players of World of Warcraft have been playing the game’s latest expansion – The War Within. Dragonflight, the now previous World of Warcraft expansion definitely worked extremely hard to breathe life back into the game – and it did so quite well after the faults and failures of Shadowlands. With fairly constant content updates, as well as mini-events (Plunderstorm and Remix), Blizzard managed to keep players enthralled even during the final season of the expansion.
While the TWW officially launches on August 27th, Friday saw the so called, “early access” launch, and having played the game for twenty years, I was one of those who just had to keep going, and below I’ll be giving my unbiased and honest opinion on how things feel – and my personal take on some aspects of the game.
The Good
TWW has come with a new feature called Warbands – which links every character on your account together, meaning that almost everything is shared. Newly obtained gear, quest progression, farmable transmogs, and much more can all be shared between any character on an account through a nifty new Warband bank – albeit there are still some items that Blizzard is adding in the future such as class-specific tier tokens.
One thing that Blizzard almost never goes wrong with is the beauty of the game, from stunning new zones to mind-blowing cutscenes and cinematics. Once again, they have tantalised us with this in most of the new zones, even in a game where graphics are not really considered too high by the standards of 2024, at least. Even when we are essentially underground, zones such as Isle of Dorn and Hallowfall are spectacular – while Xal’atath’s story unfolds in a particularly interesting way.
On top of all this, having “sky riding” or “dragon riding” right off the bat is a massive improvement, especially when diving through the zones on early gathering adventures. But not everything is fine and dandy either – and a lot of improvements are hopefully on the way.
The Bad
Labeling this category as “bad” feels a bit harsh, as it is not all-out terrible, but something that needs to change when it comes to new expansions – especially since we have another two on the horizon. So, take this next part as something which is not great, but doesn’t change very much.
Scaling is something that has affected WoW for some time, but not in the way we have seen it in TWW or the recent Mists of Pandaria: Remix event. In both, players at a lower level (70 in TWW, 10-30 in Remix), are able to put out immense amounts of damage – often trumping those that are at maximum level. This makes a very simple way to boost people and clear through dungeons at an insane rate. While it is definitely not all bad, feeling weaker between the levels of 75-80 than someone coming in from previous content is something that should not be there.
The Early Access
Early access is something that has been part of games for a while now, with many across the different genres giving it out (at a price) to players. Now, Blizzard has taken up this practice with WoW, and it feels as though it is unfair when it comes to what the game is - a Massive Multiplayer Online one. When it comes to something like WoW, this has not been a thing – as the genre of the game should promote the togetherness of everyone. Sadly, this is why, as it stands for me, having this in the game is a terrible idea and removes a little something from the game. While I did purchase the expansion, there are options to do so without such perks, and this should not be one of them. Having cosmetics, game time, and mounts linked with the pre-purchase are all the norm nowadays, but an early access like this is not one that I can ever approve.
For what it’s worth, “early access” for WoW felt more like a launch – but a staggered one, where one part of the community wants to get ahead, while others are left behind for a few days. All we can hope for is that this does not become a regular occurrence, or if it does – maybe it will be more akin to something like Final Fantasy XIV where all players who pre-order get early access. But I digress…
As with any game, there are often a few that ruin everything for everyone, be it via cheating, hacking, glitching, or exploiting. When it comes to WoW, there are many versions of this that exist, and Blizzard is generally quick to shut it down. However, in TWW, we have definitely seen our share of exploits already being utilised, as some players found that doing old Mythic+ dungeons was possible at maximum level and rewards were beyond what should be obtainable at the time of writing. The main hope is that these players are dealt with, and the items removed – while Blizzard continues to deal with bots and the like in the future.
Final thoughts
I could go on writing for days on the topic of WoW, and it would be longer than a Master’s thesis – but nobody wants that. Instead, I will end this off with my final thoughts on TWW and what I can only hope will happen later tonight and in the future – while leaving you, the player, to decide for yourself, should you choose to play.
TWW is an expansion that needs to do well, especially after the sour taste left by Shadowlands. With a full saga planned, the game looks fantastic right now and stands to only grow upward with a lot of constant updates, balancing, and work from Blizzard. With the twentieth anniversary of WoW approaching, the game is definitely looking to put a massive stamp on that achievement and march proudly forward. However, if aspects such as “early access” continue to mar the surface, players could quickly lose interest if the content does not stick.
