World of Warcraft: The War Within is the tenth expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following Dragonflight. It was announced in November 2023, and released on August 26, 2024. It acts as the first part of the Worldsoul Saga trilogy of expansions, led by Chris Metzen, the executive creative director of the Warcraft franchise.
Gameplay
The primary setting for The War Within is the subterranean continent of Khaz Algar, divided into four distinct zones: the Isle of Dorn, the Ringing Deeps, Hallowfall, and Azj-Kahet while the capital city of Dornogal serves as a central hub for players. The primary narrative revolves around the Harbinger of the Void, Xal'atath, who mobilizes her forces to pose a threat to both Khaz Algar and Azeroth as a whole. Following the completion of the main campaign, players can unlock a new playable race, the earthen, which are available to both the Horde and the Alliance. Dungeons and raids continue to play a key role, with eight new dungeons and a raid added as end-game content.
The level cap in The War Within has been raised to 80, allowing players to further develop their characters with new abilities and talents. Starting at level 71, players can unlock new Hero Talents for every class and specialization, providing more depth to character customization and combat strategies. The Skyriding feature, initially introduced in Dragonflight as Dragonriding, allows players to explore the new zones at a fast pace while using various in-game mounts. The Delves feature has players tackle instanced content alongside a dedicated NPC companion and provides solo or cooperative play for up to five players to defeat bosses and obtain end-game loot. The Warbands feature acts as an account-wide system, allowing players to progress reputations and achievements across multiple characters.
Plot
The War Within campaign Visions of Azeroth As numerous individuals across Azeroth experience strange visions known as the Radiant Song, Thrall, Lady Jaina Proudmoore and the former High King of the Alliance Anduin Wrynn seek out the diamond-bodied Magni Bronzebeard who had previously been able to communicate with the Azeroth's Worldsoul that had now been silent for several years. After Magni is injured attempting to commune with Azeroth, they relocate to the floating city of Dalaran, home of the Kirin Tor mages, along with Magni's daughter, Moira Thaurissan, and her son, Dagran Thaurissan II. They consult Archmage Khadgar and Alleria Windrunner on how to proceed, and Magni awakens to explain that Azeroth warned him of dark forces on the subterranean continent of Khaz Algar, so Dalaran is teleported above it to investigate the undiscovered land. Alleria, who had been hunting the mysterious Void entity known as Xal'atath, discovers that her target had managed to infiltrate Dalaran and launches a full-scale assault on the city with an army of nerubians, an ancient race of intelligent spiders previously thought to be near extinct, who begin kidnapping civilians. After Alleria and Anduin evacuate Dalaran's remaining citizens, Khadgar confronts Xal'atath and witnesses her absorbing the arcane energies of Dalaran into the Dark Heart relic before she obliterates the city, seemingly killing the archmage along with it.
Into the Deeps The survivors of Dalaran's destruction find themselves on the Isle of Dorn and hold off another nerubian assault while rescuing survivors from the rubble. They soon run into Stormward Baelgrim, leader of the Stormriders earthen, who details how his people have been isolated on the island for millennia and that they strictly follow a set of edicts issued by the Titans. He reluctantly agrees to work with the outsiders, and they attempt to defend the earthen capital of Dornogal from the nerubians, but they succeed in damaging the Coreway, a large access tunnel that connects the surface to the rest of Khaz Algar underground. Upon meeting Councilward Merrix, leader of the Oathsworn earthen, he accepts the outsider's aid while Thrall and Jaina leave the island to gather Horde and Alliance reinforcements. Baelgrim then seeks out Stoneward Adelgonn, the estranged leader of the Unbound earthen. Despite her history of rejecting the Titan's edicts, Baelgrim recruits her to repair the Coreway. He then attempts to rally the Stormriders together, only to discover that the vast majority had been killed in his absence. With the lack of an earthen military force, Adelgonn lays a trap to fend off the nerubians. Baelgrim sacrifices himself to defeat the nerubian commander, saving Dornogal from further incursions. Inspired by Baelgrim's sacrifice, Merrix and Adelgonn reform the Council of Dornogal, and the Coreway is soon repaired. Alleria, who is being taunted by visions of Xal'atath, quickly heads underground to pursue her target, seeking vengeance for Dalaran's destruction.
Now able to access the Coreway, Brinthe, a representative of the Machine Speakers earthen, travels to the settlement of Gundargaz in the Ringing Deeps. She finds that her people are in disarray as the Awakening Machine, a facility used to recharge the earthen, remained in a state of disrepair, meaning the earthen would eventually all shut down. Brinthe is soon joined by Magni, Moira, and Dagran, who together meet with High Speaker Eirich, leader of the Machine Speakers, who dismisses Brinthe's concerns and the numerous problems his people face, seeking only to reactivate the Awakening Machine. Deciding to solve the issues herself, Brinthe allies with a group of rebellious kobolds and helps depose their tyrannical leader, ending kobold attacks on earthen settlements. Magni and Dagran investigate an abandoned mine only to discover it overrun with skardyn, earthen corrupted with void magic, and soon learn that Eirich allowed Xal'atath to help repair the Awakening Machine, but that anyone who uses it becomes skardyn. Brinthe then confronts Eirich, who finishes corrupting the Awakening Machine out of self-preservation. Magni manages to call upon Azeroth's Worldsoul to help purify the machine, shattering his diamond form and returning him to his original dwarven body. With the Awakening Machine reactivated, the earthen could now be recharged and no longer faced extinction, and dormant earthen could be reawakened. Brinthe takes Eirich's place as High Speaker and unites the Machine Speakers and kobolds to defeat Eirich and his skardyn forces before returning to the surface to join the Council of Dornogal.
After Anduin learns from the earthen that they previously traded with a race known as the Arathi, mixed-race descendants of humans and high elves from the ancient Empire of Arathor, he travels to the expansive cavern known as Hallowfall. He quickly discovers Beledar, an immense crystal embedded in the cavern's ceiling that acts as an inner sun, and meets Faerin Lothar, a hopeful Arathi Lamplighter, who protects the Arathi from threats by lighting Dawntowers that radiate holy light. She explains that the Arathi were part of an expedition sent by the Arathi Empire's prophetic emperor fifteen years prior, but became stranded in Hallowfall. Anduin and Faerin then arrive at Hallowfall's border wall, where they hold off a nerubian attack. Alleria soon joins them, and they witness Beledar shift into a temporary Void state. The trio then meets with General Vaelisia Steelstrike, who commands the Arathi military, and they fend off a raid by the monstrous kobyss who attack whenever Beledar shifts. They soon discover that the Order of Night, a group of void cultists allied with Xal'atath, were attempting to corrupt the area. Anduin then struggles to purify a Dawntower corrupted by the cultist's leader Aelric Leid after previously losing access to his Light abilities, but is aided by Faerin. Anduin and Alleria soon join the combined Arathi forces led by Steelstrike in defending the city of Mereldar from a joint invasion of the Order of Night and the kobyss, where they defeat Aelric before he can corrupt the Arathi's sacred Eternal Flame. The nerubians soon launch another offensive on the border, and after fending them off as long as they can, Alleria and Faerin board an airship to escape. Anduin stays behind to protect the others and is quickly overwhelmed.
Seeking to rescue Anduin from his captors, Alleria and Faerin descend into the nerubian kingdom of Azj-Kahet, where their airship quickly becomes ensnared in its webbed defenses. Before they can be overwhelmed, the mysterious druid Orweyna comes to their aid. She reveals herself to be a haranir, a reclusive subterranean race who came to Azj-Kahet to protect the great roots throughout the region from the corruptive Black Blood of the deceased Old Gods that permeate the area, but is forced to leave due to her people's isolationist traditions. Widow Arak'nai, a nerubian spymaster known as "the Weaver", contacts Faerin seeking allies to stand against Queen Ansurek, the ruler of Azj-Kahet and Xal'atath's closest ally, who usurped her own mother, Queen Neferess, to whom the Weaver was deeply loyal. After Ansurek made a bargain with Xal'atath to restore her struggling kingdom's former glory, many nerubians in positions of authority were replaced by the Ascended, nerubians transformed by the Black Blood. This angered the traditionalist Anub'azal, the former commander of the nerubian military known as "the General". To undermine Ansurek's authority, the General works with the goblin Monte Gazlowe, Trade Prince of the Bilgewater Cartel, to free numerous prisoners who were captured during the assault on Dalaran and were brought to Azj-Kahet to be experimented on. After receiving an invitation to visit the nerubian capital, the City of Threads, Alleria meets with Executor Nizrek, one of Ansurek's advisors known as "the Vizier", who had become horrified by the queen's actions and secretly rescued Anduin. They then observe one of Ansurek's speeches and witness Xal'atath by her side. Alleria impulsively attempts to assassinate Xal'atath, who easily avoids the attack, and Ansurek sends guards to apprehend them, forcing Anduin and Alleria to flee. They inform the Weaver of what transpired in the city, and she contacts the General and the Vizier, who together decide to form the Severed Threads conspiracy to launch an insurrection against Ansurek.
Algari Offensive After returning to the surface, Anduin and Alleria inform their allies of the danger they face if Xal'atath is allowed to proceed with her plans. Thrall and Jaina soon reach the Isle of Dorn with a large fleet of Horde and Alliance ships and begin training the earthen for war. With the combined might of the earthen, Arathi, Horde, and Alliance, they form the Algari Offensive to protect Khaz Algar and stop Xal'atath. While the Council of Dornogal had been restored with Merrix, Adelgonn, and Brinthe among its members, they still sought to reform the Stormriders and find a new Stormward to lead them. Thrall seeks out Lufsela, who tends to the elemental stormrooks that the Stormriders use as mounts, and together they recruit new riders and manage to summon forth new stormrooks to use in battle. The council soon decides to renounce the Titan's edicts for good, giving the earthen the freedom of choice and to assist their new allies better. For her help in restoring the Stormriders to their former glory, Lufsela is made the new Stormward, making the Council of Dornogal whole for the first time in thousands of years.