Returning to Azeroth: How to acclimate to current WoW for The War Within

It’s been quite a while since I last dove headfirst into World of Warcraft, and the game is quite different now. Yes, you’re still creating an Alliance or Horde character and leveling them up through the ongoing conflicts on Azeroth and beyond; however, several new systems and features drastically change the experience.

Starting or returning to WoW now is easier than before, but some changes might require a bit of time to get used to. This was the case for me, as I haven’t spent quality time with the MMO since its Battle for Azeroth expansion.

Like other MMOs on the market, World of Warcraft primarily delivers large and sweeping content updates through expansions. While they traditionally promise a continuation of the ongoing narrative alongside new activities and zones, it’s also the perfect time for Blizzard to update or add new features. Sometimes, this is on the smaller side, like the Battle Pets feature, and other times, alterations see changes to longtime features or mechanics. Quite a bit has changed in WoW over the last few years, and, in many ways, it’s made the game more streamlined for someone like myself, juggling several live service games at once.

Warbands

The introduction of Warbands is one of the first significant changes you will encounter after logging in. This includes a redesign of the character select screen, now primarily showing four favorite characters huddled around a campfire. The whole of Warbands exists to ease the experience of playing multiple characters, offering a way to share a bank, cosmetics, and even progression.

Warbands’ best features function in the background, retaining Achievement or Quest progress between characters even if they’re part of different factions. You can still undertake Quests that another character has already completed, but the new system will alert players that it’s something they’ve already done. If you decide to repeat Quest content, it rewards more reputation, which is now also tracked account-wide instead of character-specific.

For those more interested in drip, Warbands also lets you collect cosmetic appearances for all your characters more easily. Previously, you’d generally have to be playing a character that could use a specific piece of gear if you wanted to collect its look. However, now, characters can collect any cosmetic appearance for any gear they’ve obtained.

All mounts are dragons

One of the prominent features of the Dragonflight expansion was Skyriding. This rework to standard flying introduced a more active aerial traversal system, allowing players to glide around at base and use stamina to dash forward or gain altitude. At first, this feature was limited to specific draconic mounts while on the Dragon Isles, but now it is available across all flyers everywhere.

You can still switch back to the original version of flying if you’d like, courtesy of a Spellbook toggle. That said, Skyriding does have its advantages. Even if the different flying style doesn’t pique your interest, the change allows players to take to the skies much earlier than before. And with Warbands, if any character already has flying available, every character does.

One journey to rule them all

Back in the day, a new or returning WoW player would have to wade through the narrative and locales that came along with every expansion along the way to the current expansion. All the while, you’d level so quickly that you were often whisked away to new adventures long before seeing a satisfying conclusion to the content you started. That’s no longer the case, as new or returning players are funneled into the most current expansion, with XP, challenge, and rewards scaling with level.

While this does mean new players won’t take their first steps into Outland or experience the odd joy of farming in Pandaria, it does offer a more streamlined experience. After logging back in, I was offered the option to have some of my characters’ Quest Log cleared and to have them deposited in their faction’s major city, ready to start the Dragonflight expansion. Of course, this will switch over to The War Within once that launches. Not only does this remove the whirlwind of accepted tasks from across continents, but in the case of someone returning to the game, it eliminates all of the outdated material.

That’s not to say that you can’t still enjoy the older expansion content if you want. It’s still in the game, cleverly folded into the NPC Chromie and the Bronze Dragonflight. A visit to Chromie in either faction’s major city allows players to “Time Walk” back through a specific expansion, essentially opening those quests and game instancing up as if it were current content. Another option is a newer option called WoW Remix, which allows players to make a new character in an instanced version of the world where an older expansion is set as the main campaign, XP scaling and all. That said, Remix throws a few curveballs with the addition of powerful stat-increasing and ability-imbuing gems and a cloak that gains additional powerful benefits as you level.

It’s never been easier to play with friends

Part of the allure of WoW, at least for me, was getting together with a group of friends to knock out some quests or take on a Dungeon. The game has always been built to play with other people, and now it’s easier than ever to do so.

Realm worries are a thing of the past, as you can still group up with others on the same faction regardless of server. Beyond just getting together with friends, WoW now also sports a feature that lets a group leader sync their quest progress with party members. As if that wasn’t nice enough, it’s also possible now to play with friends on opposite factions, so long as it’s instanced content. While it may not seem like a particularly impressive feat, it blew my mind when I was able to queue up with a Horde buddy while I was playing on my Gnome.

I was a bit nervous about jumping back into WoW, remembering the countless systems, reputation grinds, and sporadic leveling process. However, after spending a little over a week with the current iteration of the game, I feel good about rejoining my friends in Azeroth for The War Within. I’m not shackled to older expansion content, and there’s no inconvenience grouping up with others regardless of level. More than anything else, I’m excited that I can get back into WoW without feeling like I’m picking up a part-time job.