During BlizzCon 2023, Blizzard revealed the future of World of Warcraft as a trilogy of expansions titled the Worldsoul Saga. Warcraft Executive Creative Director Chris Metzen made his return to the BlizzCon stage to offer a glimpse into what’s to come for the popular MMORPG.
Next three expansions revealed
Metzen described the Worldsoul Saga as an epic three-part adventure in the World of Warcraft. Each expansion will have its own features and narrative. Which, is no surprise with the return of Metzen, it really feels like this saga is heavily focusing on the story. The first expansion, The War Within, is scheduled to release in 2024.
World of Warcraft: The War Within
The first expansion, World of Warcraft: The War Within, came with a new visually impressive cinematic trailer. In the trailer, Thrall and Anduin sit in Silithus and discuss the need to once again save Azeroth, as they stare out at the giant sword plunged into Azeroth. Here are the main features for The War Within expansion:
- Descend into the Depths of Azeroth Itself — Journey to a new level cap of 80 as you explore the vast empires beneath the surface of Azeroth and discover ancient civilizations, both friendly and adversarial, in four new zones: the surface-level Isle of Dorn, the industrial Ringing Deeps, the unexpectedly bright and lush Hallowfall, and Azj-kahet, a pinnacle of nerubian society.
- Forge New Bonds with the Denizens of the Deep — As players progress through the main campaign, they’ll meet the Earthen that have made the Isle of Dorn and the zones beneath it their home. The Earthen will be a new allied race available to both Alliance and Horde players.
- New Endgame Pillar for World Content Players — Opportunities abound for adventurers looking to explore the secrets below the surface in search of great treasure. Delves are scalable world instances for 1-5 players which provide meaningful gear progression that will contribute to a new reward track in the Great Vault for world content players.
- Live Out Your Class Fantasy — New Hero Talents for each class specialization will provide players a way to progress their characters with evergreen self-contained talent trees that also infuse class fantasy flavor inspired by iconic Warcraft universe archetypes such as a Mountain Thane for Warriors or a Dark Ranger for Hunters.
- Expand the Potential of Your Alts — With Warbands, players can enjoy account-wide progression with all characters in their Battle.net® account, regardless of faction, that includes shared War Within™ renown, a warband bank, achievements, and more! Additionally, a new change to transmog collection will let players learn the appearance of any gear type, even if they cannot equip it!
All of these features sound like great additions to the core World of Warcraft experience, especially Warbands. Alt-bloat has been a problem for a while now, and it sounds like Warbands will help fix that issue with account-wide progression.
World of Warcraft: Midnight
In the second expansion, World of Warcraft: Midnight, players will return to The Old World and the fabled lands of Quel’Thelas. The forces of the void have invaded Azeroth and aim to snuff out the light of the Sunwell and plunge the world into darkness.
World of Warcraft: The Last Titan
In the final expansion of the Worldsoul Saga, players will return to the wintry lands of Northrend and revisit Ulduar. There, players will witness the return of the fabled Titans, and uncover a vast conspiracy that stretches throughout the history of Azeroth and challenge everything we know about the Titans.
Overall, this feels like a HUGE shift for World of Warcraft. It’s hard not to be excited, as it seems like things are finally being shaken up a bit instead of just the same old standard release of a new expansion with a new level cap and new zones and dungeons. I’m sure we’ll get some more information over the course of Blizzcon.-
