World of WarCraft The War Within
Developed by: Blizzard Entertainment
Published by: Activision Blizzard
Platforms: PC (reviewed on)
Release Date: August 26th (PC)
Price: $49.99
A little over a month ago Activision Blizzard released the 10th expansion for it’s popular mmo, World of Warcraft titled The War Within. This expansion is the first of 3 planned expansions that will make up the World Soul Saga arc first revealed at Blizzcon 2023, and after a month of playing, I can happily say that if this is the direction that Activision Blizzard is taking World of Warcraft then I am here for it, and eagerly await what is coming.
Blizzard finally gets that not everyone is a people person.
World of Warcraft is a multiplayer game. End game raids, challenging mythic key dungeons are key to getting the best gear and if you wanted to clear these, you needed to group up with other players. While this may work for most people, there is still a group of fans that prefer to play the game solo, and with the release of The War Within it seems that Blizzard has finally realized this. This expansion feels like the first one to truly give players the ability to gear up their characters, without having to rely on repeatedly running mythic+ dungeons, or having to deal with the toxicity that can come with a pug.
One way that Blizzard has made it easier for those who want to go it alone, is the introduction of delves, these solo mini dungeons challenge players through increasingly difficult tiers that unlock as the previous tier is completed.  There are two types of delves in The War Within expansion, normal delves that provide the materials needed to upgrade gear, as well as experience points, and curios used to equip your delve companion, and bountiful delves, that feature an equipment laden chest at the end of each run that can be unlocked with keys called coffer keys that players receive by completing weekly quests. Players can also create these keys with materials found in chests, and by completing daily quests found all over the new area introduced in the expansion. In addition to being a great way to get some decent loot for your character, delves also challenge players to truly learn their class, at the higher tiers, players will find themselves having to use every trick in their character’s spell book to survive and complete the delve.
Blizzard hasn’t left players completely all by their lonesome to plumb the depths looking for treasure, players are accompanied by a customizable npc companion that can be set in a dps, or heal role, and kitted out with equipment to support your play style. Which leads me to my one complaint about the delves. Brann Bronzebeard is an idiot, or at least, his npc logic is not the smartest. While Brann can help you out in a pinch, by either tossing a needed healing potion your way, or getting off a stun when needed most, he’s not the most observant npc, there were many times in my delve runs where I set up a nice single mob pull by stunning other members of the group, only to have it ruined by Brann pulling a Leroy Jenkins, and just making it rain arrowheads. Maybe, somehow one day, we’ll get a smarter Brann, but for now, players should expect a few interesting pulls while spelunking.
Another key add in The War Within expansion is the inclusion of follower dungeons, these dungeons allow players to experience the full run through any of the dungeons released with the expansion, without having to do it in a pug. This was a great idea on Blizzard’s part, as utilizing the follower dungeon feature is a great way for new players to learn the ropes, or provide players new to a class the ability to learn that class without the pressure of trying to do that in a random group. Follower dungeons sub in a group of NPCs instead of other players including amusing npc dialogue poking fun at some of the class stereotypes. While not the way to get end game level gear, it is a quick way, when used with delves to get players ready to run heroic level dungeons to further improve their gear.
Players’ time is respected
When The War Within was announced, one thing that Chris Metzen focused on while delivering the BlizzCon keynote, was players’ time. A lot of World of Warcraft’s players are adults, with full time jobs, and families. Many of them started playing as kids, long story short, we just don’t have the time we did in WoW’s early years. Blizzard’s answer to this, 
warbands. Warbands has to be my favorite change to the game. Released in the pre-patch event, warbands lets players share rep across characters, utilize a shared bank, and find rare and epic items which can be shared among characters. The rep sharing is absolutely the greatest benefit of warbands, this is a huge quality of life change for players, I found this to be most helpful in getting my tank ready, instead of slowly plodding around as a giant bear, I was able to use my main, an assassination rogue to quickly raise my faction reputation, and get my tank access to the epic gear available from faction quartermasters. Another area where Blizzard’s respect for players’ time is evident are the dungeons in The War Within and honestly, the raid as well. A well geared guild group could realistically clear all three wings of the new raid in just about 2 hours. Both raid and dungeons feel trimmed down, with less trash between mobs, and quicker boss fights, but this has also been the trend as of late, with dungeons like Necrotic Wake, and Ruby Lifepools from previous expansions both being dungeons a group could clear in 20 or so minutes.
All of these quality of life changes introduced with the release of The War Within show that Blizzard is standing behind it’s pledge to respect players’ time, and go along way towards keeping the game interesting. My issue as a player has always been the task of leveling an alt, I just didn’t look forward to the idea of having to run the same story quests to unlock rep, and earn rewards, not to mention the level grind. Now the idea of leveling an alt doesn’t seem that boring, tweaks to the experience required to level have made the whole process a whole lot faster, and with the shared rep, and shared gear, players truly have the freedom to dig deeper into the story lines found throughout Azeroth, instead of having to deal with the boredom that comes with repeating something completed on a different character
Thoughts so far
So far at a little over a month in, The War Within has been a breath of fresh air that was much needed to revitalize the standard rinse and repeat cycle that comes once an expansion’s story is finished. The inclusion of solo content allows players tired of the same gear path of grinding dungeon after dungeon for gear, and instead provides a rewarding challenge that not only provide a chance at some decent gear, but also leaves players with a feeling of satisfaction with each delve tier cleared. Follower dungeons provide a great way for new players to learn their class, as well as the dungeons without the fear of the negativity that can come with some pugs, add in the changes to leveling, and players can find themselves level capped, and endgame ready in no time.
