WoW The War Within review: The WorldSoul Saga is off to an incredible start

WoW The War Within has officially started, and players around the world are racing to Khaz Algar to tackle the new adventures, battle new bosses, and uncover great secrets. There are mounts to find, and emotional side quests for players to work through. Dragonflight was a real step forward and an incredibly smooth launch, not to mention an overall enjoyable expansion. While there were some bumps along the way after launch for this expansion, it’s done some things I’ve been waiting for, for literal years.

On the other hand, there are some things that have genuinely infuriated the playerbase in this expansion, which we will be covering here. I can say that, despite a few issues, WoW The War Within has been a remarkable experience, from the new hub of Dornogal to Azj-Kahet.

WoW The War Within is doing something fresh with the current storyline

Xal'atath is up to no good, that's for sure (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

WoW The War Within starts off with a bang, and after a series of events, players find themselves on the isle of Khaz Algar, home of the Earthen. The Earthen are a race of elemental humanoids, created by the Titans out of living stone. They have been imbued with the WorldSoul, and have only recently been freed from the laws that bound them.

Without spoiling the story, the primary antagonist of the expansion is Xal’atath - you know, the mysterious violet-haired woman in most of the trailers and art. Shadow Priests know her from the dagger they unlocked during the Legion expansion. She’s free of her prison, and she’s going to make it everyone’s problem.

There’s something new going on here, and not everyone has loved it - I, however, did. I appreciate the pacing of this story, and in particular, that we don’t really resolve anything at the end of this part of the main story campaign. That’s because Xal’atath isn’t going away in WoW The War Within. She’s going to stick around throughout the WorldSoul Saga.

The light will return... (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

That’s because WoW is trying something fresh here: Long-term, slow-burn storytelling! I’m a huge fan of this. It’s one of the reasons Final Fantasy 14 is such an enjoyable MMO for me. In most WoW expansions, you have a Big Bad Antagonist, and by the time things are said and done, they’ve been bested.

Instead, the enemy has much greater plans here, and is sowing her seeds as she goes. I’m a huge fan of having a long-term story to tell in WoW The War Within. There’s so much more to go, and I’ve really enjoyed how it’s all come together. It’s more than just the main story, too. The Earthen, now free of Titan control and the edicts, are having to come to grips with mortality in WoW The War Within.

As you go through the Earthen Allied Race's unlock requirements in WoW The War Within, you’ll become privy to a seriously emotional story. Some of the Earthen are beginning to lose their memories, and slowly pass away after potentially millenia of existence. It’s hard for them to cope with, and it’s some of the best writing I’ve ever seen in World of Warcraft.

Speaking of storylines, there’s another new feature to storytelling in WoW that I had not seen before, until The War Within. When completing important Main Story Quests, you can often talk to the NPC again and click “Stay awhile and listen,” an obvious homage to Diablo. If you do, the NPCs will continue to discuss current events and help flesh out the narrative even more. Please, Blizzard - more of this.

The leveling and exploration of WoW The War Within has been strong

Cool new pets? Check (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

One of the most important parts of a good WoW expansion is how good it feels to level, and The War Within sure nailed that. Some players may not be thrilled about early dungeons being played with NPCs to introduce them, but I rather liked it. It was low pressure, you still got exp and quest completion, and learned the mechanics of the dungeon. It also fit the story nicely.

Leveling was very fast, too. I know that there were some balance issues with enemies, and they’ve since been made a bit stronger. It hasn’t made leveling up slower, though, that’s for sure. It was just that players were able to smash enemies to bits without any effort - which was admittedly quite fun.

There is so much to WoW The War Within, as well. There are new polymorph spells to acquire, rare mounts to farm, and storylines to experience. By the time you’re at the fourth zone in this expansion, you can easily be Level 80. This can be even faster, if you’re taking the time to grind dungeons, or do side quests. Having Skyriding right at the start was nice, and it’s also easy to unlock Steady Flight - which I personally prefer.

There are plenty of rares and other fun encounters to tackle (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

You can get rep with factions pretty easily too, by fighting the rare spawns and doing a variety of other things in the world. Sure, you can only get World Quest rep rewards once, but your whole Warband gets the rep, so it all balances out in the end. Having easy routes to the new zones is also a blessing - through portals, and things of that nature. Getting to other parts of the underworld of Khaz Algar is brilliant.

We have to talk about the “Early Access” period

The WoW The War Within "Early Access" period was not a popular choice with many (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

WoW The War Within introduced a new concept that was almost universally reviled - Early Access. If you bought the Epic Edition, you were given three days of early access to the expansion. Instead of this feeling like Early Access, it felt more like “Pay to not play late,” and fans were definitely upset.

I don’t think it would have been received so negatively, if it wasn’t in the most expensive bundle. If it were instead, in the Heroic Edition, the blowback might not have been so bad. Most people I know paid for Early Access anyway - but that doesn’t mean they were happy about it. I hope this doesn’t become a trend for World of Warcraft going forward. This was easily the most frustrating thing about the expansion.

How were the Hero Talents received in WoW The War Within?

Hero Talents are a neat idea, but I'm interested to see how they improve over time (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Instead of adding new “class talents” in WoW, we have a new feature called Hero Talents. Each specialization has two options - in my case, primarily Herald of the Sun/Templar, as I main a Retribution Paladin. I’ve messed around with several other Hero Talents in WoW, and spoken to members of the press/community about them as well.

Overall, I enjoyed this system, even if all hero talents didn’t feel as strong as others. I love the concept, though, but I do wonder if it’s going to stick around, or if there are ways to iterate and improve on it. As a concept though, it felt good, and you aren’t left out - you’ll get all the skills at some point (other than choice nodes), and can switch freely between them.

WoW The War Within offers players more solo options than before

It's nice to not have to deal with other players sometimes (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Not everyone in World of Warcraft wants to group up, and I get that. I have several friends that prefer to play solo. I, for the most part do, because I keep odd hours and don’t always have time to set up a raid group/party. Delves give you such a great way to tackle mini-dungeon content by yourself, and have awesome rewards to boot.

You can also take part in Follower Dungeons - introduced in Dragonflight. All eight of the new dungeons can be played through with NPCs. You can either use this to learn them, or simply to not have to deal with other players. However, you can’t do Heroics/Mythics this way, so keep that in mind.

The aesthetic of The War Within is incredible

There's such a wide array of amazing aesthetics in this WoW The War Within's zones (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

When I heard we were going underground for The War Within, I’ll be honest, I was a little nervous. Then I got sneak peeks during the Alpha and Beta - boy, was I wrong! This might be the most visually appealing that World of Warcraft has ever been. This planet must be absolutely massive though, to have all of this room in the underground. From familiar Human Alliance settlements, to vast Nerubian cities, I’m blown away by how good it all looks.

I’ve always been a big fan of World of Warcraft’s music, but again, this soundtrack is just on another level. The music always fits the theme and the mood perfectly. I’ve had times in the past where I lower the volume to listen to something else instead, but not this time. The composers really outdid themselves, as did the voice actors. The visual and auditory presentation has been top-notch here in WoW The War Within. Credit to the team for creating such memorable, gorgeous views all throughout Khaz Algar.

Final thoughts

It was a slightly bumpy ride, but a fun one - we can't wait to see what's next (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

The only other real negative for WoW The War Within has been the scaling. There were some really brief connection issues there at the start, but I personally didn’t face any of that. Balancing has been incredibly wild, though. In the lower levels, I was an unstoppable killing machine - which made sense, my gear level was high. Then, almost as soon as I hit Level 77, certain enemies really started hitting hard.

Then there are ground effects - Consecration, Poison, et cetera. These do an absolutely ridiculous amount of damage per second. Scaling is in a really weird place right now, and I think, with time and balance patches, this will get under control.

However, I think, after spending most of my days with WoW The War Within, I am more than satisfied by what I’ve seen in the expansion so far. There’s plenty to do as you level, and beyond that. I can’t wait to start leveling my next characters and get into the next content drops throughout this and next year. It’s a great time to be a WoW player.