World of Warcraft: The War Within

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.^[4] 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.^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[7] 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.^[8] The Warbands feature acts as an account-wide system, allowing players to progress reputations and achievements across multiple characters.^[9]

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 world soul of Azeroth herself^[a] who had now been silent for several years. After Magni is injured attempting to commune with Azeroth, they relocate to the floating city of Dalaran along with Magni's daughter Moira Thaurissan and her son Dagran Thaurissan II, where they consult both Archmage Khadgar and Alleria Windrunner on how to proceed. After Magni awakens, he explains that Azeroth warned him of dark forces on the subterranean continent of Khaz Algar, and Dalaran is teleported above it to investigate the undiscovered land. Alleria, who had been hunting the mysterious Void entity known as Xal'atath,^[b] discovers that she had managed to infiltrate Dalaran and launches a full-scale assault on the city with an army of nerubians, an ancient race of humanoid spiders previously thought to be near extinct,^[c] who begin kidnapping numerous civilians. After Alleria works with Anduin to 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.

The survivors of Dalaran's destruction find themselves on the Isle of Dorn and must hold off another nerubian assault while rescuing survivors from the rubble. They quickly 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 an invasion of nerubians who 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, and despite her history of rejecting the Titan's edicts, he manages to recruit her to repair the Coreway. He then attempts to rally the Stormriders together, only to discover that the vast majority had either been killed or corrupted by void magic in his absence. With the lack of an earthen military force, Adelgonn lays a trap to fend off the nerubians and 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 only to find her people in disarray as the Awakening Machine, a facility used to recharge the earthen, had been disabled for millennia meaning the earthen would eventually all shutdown. 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 problems of his people, seeking only to reactivate the Awakening Machine. Deciding to solve the problems herself, Brinthe allies with the kobold Skitter and helps depose the tyrannical Candle King, ending kobold attacks on earthen settlements and recruiting many rebellious kobolds to take the place of the decreasing number of earthen. Magni and Dagran then 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 repair the Awakening Machine but that any who use it become skardyn. They then join Brinthe in confronting Eirich, who finishes corrupting the Awakening Machine out of self-preservation before fleeing, but Magni manages to call upon Azeroth's blessing within himself and purifies 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. 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 ceiling of the cavern that acts as an inner sun and meets Faerin Lothar, a hopeful Arathi Lamplighter. She explains how her people were part of an expedition that became stranded in Hallowfall fifteen years prior after they were sent by the prophetic emperor of the Arathi Empire to find Beledar. Anduin and Faerin then make their way to Hallowfall's border wall and meet Great Kyron, leader of the Lamplighters, who defend the Arathi against threats by lighting Dawntowers that radiate holy light. Together they manage to hold off a nerubian attack and are joined by Alleria before witnessing Beledar shift into a temporary Void state that empowers the dangerous creatures that inhabit Hallowfall's darkest regions. The trio then meets with General Vaelisia Steelstrike, who commands the Arathi military, and they fend off a raid of the monstrous kobyss who attack whenever Beledar shifts. They soon discover a group of void cultists known as the Order of Night who serve Xal'atath. Anduin struggles to purify a Dawntower corrupted by the Order's leader Aelric Leid after previously losing access to his Light abilities.^[d] They then defend the Arathi city of Mereldar from a combined invasion of the Order of Night and the kobyss where they manage to defeat Aelric before he can corrupt the Arathi's sacred Eternal Flame. Before the Arathi have time to recover, the nerubians launch another offensive on the border, so Anduin, Faerin, and Alleria head to defend against it. As they board an airship to push back the nerubians, Anduin stays behind to protect the others but is quickly overwhelmed and dragged away.

Seeking to rescue Anduin from the nerubians, Faerin and Alleria descend into the Azj-Kahet, the last kingdom of the nerubians, but their airship quickly becomes ensnared in its webbed defenses. Before they can be overwhelmed, they are aided by Orweyna, a mysterious druid who then quickly retreats. She soon reveals herself to be a haranir, a reclusive subterranean race who came to Azj-Kahet to protect the great roots that grow throughout the region from the corruptive Black Blood of the deceased Old Gods^[a] that permeates the area but she is forced to leave due to her people's secretive nature. 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 whom the Weaver was deeply loyal to. After Ansurek made a bargain with Xal'atath to restore her struggling people's former glory, over time many nerubians in positions of authority became 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 the authority of Zev'kall, the Ascended that replaced him, the General works with the goblin Trade Prince Monte Gazlowe 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 known as the City of Threads, Alleria meets with Executor Nizrek, one of Ansurek's advisors known as "the Vizier", who became horrified of the queen's actions and has Anduin brought to him in secret. Anduin and Alleria 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. After they inform the Weaver of what transpired in the city, she contacts the General and the Vizier who together decide to join forces and form the Severed Threads conspiracy to launch an insurrection against Ansurek.

After returning to the surface, Anduin and Alleria inform their allies of the danger they face if Xal'atath proceeds with her mysterious plans. Thrall and Jaina soon arrive with a large fleet of Horde and Alliance ships and begin training the earthen for war while Alleria is reunited with her partner Turalyon. 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 his 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 work with the veteran Stormrider Olbarig to find recruits to replenish their number and manage to summon forth new stormrooks for them to use in battle. The council then meets and decides to renounce the Titan's edicts for good to give the earthen the freedom of choice and to better assist their new allies. For her help in restoring the Stormriders to their former glory, Lufsela is made the new Stormward with Olbarig as her second, making the Council of Dornogal whole for the first time in thousands of years.

Wanting to assist with the war effort, Brinthe and Dagran travel to the Deepforge Golemworks, an abandoned facility that once produced machines of war, only to find it overrun by the Darkfuse Enforcement, a goblin salvage team. They work together to restore both a hydropower plant and restart a mining operation which allows them to reanimate dormant war golems that quickly disperse the goblins, and the facility is reactivated.

Seeking to uncover intel that would benefit her cause, the Weaver has her quartermaster Y'tekhi undergo ascension to better infiltrate the City of Threads. After seeking assistance from the surface, Y'tekhi is soon joined by the forsaken Lillian Voss and together they sneak into the Transformatory where the Ascended were developed. They soon discover that the deposed nerubian queen Neferess is still alive and has been turned into a monstrous creature as part of a failed experiment during the development of the ascension process. Y'tekhi is then possessed by Xal'atath, forcing Voss to subdue them and flee the area, only to discover a vast operation where nerubians were transporting Black Blood to Hallowfall.

With the reformed Stormriders and newly constructed war golems, the earthen join the Arathi in Hallowfall to defend against an impending invasion of nerubians led by Xal'atath herself. Supported by the Horde and Alliance, they manage to defeat the invading nerubians, only for Alleria to discover that Black Blood was running through Hallowfall towards the Priory of the Sacred Flame, where the Arathi contemplate and worship Beledar which had shifted into its Void state. Alleria, Anduin, and Faerin head to the Priory where Neferess is compelled to attack them, but after she fights against Xal'atath's control, they choose to spare her. Alleria then confronts Xal'atath, who channels Black Blood into the Dark Heart relic within sight of Beledar, and Alleria manages to fire an arrow that strikes and cracks open the Dark Heart, angering Xal'atath who hastily retreats. As Xal'atath portals away, Khadgar emerges from the portal and collapses, having been captured inside the Dark Heart since Dalaran's destruction. As Alleria mourns Khadgar, Beledar shifts back into its Light state and Anduin manages to rekindle his Light abilities to heal the archmage. Alleria and Anduin then bring Khadgar to Dornogal to recover and Neferess is brought to the Weaver in Azj-Kahet in the hopes that the former queen can be helped.

With Ansurek's forces weakened, many citizens in the City of Threads are abducted and forced into becoming Ascended. The Vizier investigates the disappearances and finds that the void ethereal Nexus-Princess Ky'veza, a new arrival to the city, was responsible. Believing that the queen had gone too far, the Severed Threads conspirators, the Weaver, General, and Vizier, launch a joint assault on Nerub-ar Palace, Ansurek's seat of power. They manage to defeat many of the queen's loyalists, several monstrous experiments created by the ascension process, and soon engage Ky'veza, who is discovered to be an assassin sent by an unknown master to infiltrate the city and kill Ansurek as she had become too unstable. After dispelling an illusion created by Ky'veza, the assassin flees the palace which causes Ansurek to become further paranoid of traitors in the royal court and begins executing many of her subjects. The conspirators reveal their identities to Ansurek and deal with the remaining members of the court, before engaging the queen herself. In a final desperate move, Ansurek attempts to undergo ascension but is defeated. In her dying moments, Xal'atath appears before the queen and dismisses her as weak, stating that their cooperation was only a means to an end. Victorious in their campaign, the conspirators gather around Ansurek's corpse and ponder if a more dangerous threat looms in the shadows. Following the queen's death, the General takes his revenge on Zev'kall and manages to kill his rival in a duel before succumbing to his wounds.

World of Warcraft: The War Within was announced at BlizzCon on November 3, 2023 as the first entry in the Worldsoul Saga trilogy, led by Chris Metzen. Alongside The War Within Blizzard Entertainment also announced a further two expansions: Midnight, and The Last Titan^[10] with plans to release new expansions and patches faster than before.^[11]

The War Within received "generally favorable" reviews with a score of 86 on Metacritic.^[12] Leana Hafer from IGN praised the expansion, stating that it represents "the best it's ever been" for the game, highlighting the story, environments, music, and new features.^[13] Robin Baird from MMORPG.com noted that the expansion sets a strong precedent for future content.^[14] Alex Avard from GamesRadar+ mentioned that while the expansion isn't groundbreaking, it does a great job of setting the stage for the Worldsoul Saga.^[15]

• Official website