World Of Warcraft: The War Within is the first installment of the new Worldsoul Saga, an ambitious creative endeavor for the Warcraft universe.

In World Of Warcraft: The War Within, players will travel to the new continent of Khaz Algar as an ancient civilization rises to power deep beneath the surface of the planet.

Deep beneath the surface, an ancient nerubian civilization is rising to power, aided by Xal'atath, the Harbinger of the Void first introduced in the Legion expansion. Players will need to enlist the aid of the Earthen, a new allied race available to both Horde and Alliance players, as they make their way deeper and discover an entirely new world that has existed for centuries and whose denizens are preparing for conflicts that loom on the horizon.

World Of Warcraft's The Worldsoul Saga includes two expansions following The War Within—World Of Warcraft: Midnight and World Of Warcraft: The Last Titan.

The journey toward the launch of The War Within, World of Warcraft’s first entry in the ambitious new Worldsoul Saga, hits a new milestone as the beta testing phase is now live! 

Over the course of the test, the WoW team will be inviting players, including those who pre-purchased the Epic Edition, to check out the upcoming expansion and capture feedback. Additionally, players who purchase or who upgrade to the Epic Edition of The War Within during the course of the beta, will also gain immediate access. 

For the beta testing phase, players can experience all the new features including hero talent trees, the complete leveling campaign and all zones, dungeons and delves. Additionally, players can test out new broader system features including warbands, and an expanded library of mounts integrated into the skyriding system (known currently as dragonriding in Dragonflight). 

Players selected to participate* will receive an email invitation directing them to download the game client directly from the Battle.net desktop app. Players who purchase the Epic Edition may also receive email notifications. As always, please be aware of phishing attempts—if you’re unsure whether your invitation is legitimate, please log in to your Battle.net account to verify that there is a The War Within beta license attached (under Your Game Accounts).

Getting Started

Join us in testing The War Within. Players who have opted in can be selected to be testers, and invitations will go out regularly throughout the test. If selected to participate in the beta test, your Battle.net account will already be flagged for access. Players who upgrade to the Epic Edition of The War Within will also gain immediate access to the beta.

• Make sure your graphics drivers are up to date.
• Run the Battle.net® desktop app—it may need to update itself if you haven't run it recently. If you don't have the app installed, get started here.
• Once Battle.net is installed and updated, select World of Warcraft from the list of games.
• In the Game Version drop-down menu above the Play button, choose The War Within (listed under In Development) option, then click Install.
• Allow installation to complete, click Play, and select any available Test Servers.
• Create a new test character or use the character copy to import your existing Dragonflight character.
• Enter the game and test the available content.

If you have issues installing and operating The War Within Beta, please check our Common Technical Issues and Solutions to begin troubleshooting.

What's Available in the Beta?

New systems, the complete leveling experience, zones, dungeons, delves, Warbands, and the new playable Earthen are all available in the beta. Raid testing will come at a later time.

THE ZONES OF KHAZ ALGAR- DESIGNATED SECTOR AR-934

Beneath the surface of Azeroth, an expansive world exists, fraught with danger and waiting to be explored.

• THE ISLE OF DORN: Discover the land of Khaz Algar, off the western shores of Pandaria and home to the Earthen. Their capital city, Dornogal, will become the new meeting ground for the Horde and Alliance.
• THE RINGING DEEP: This gigantic cavern serves as the home of the Machine Speakers, Earthen who maintain the gigantic Titan machines of old.
• HALLOWFALL: Lit by a massive crystal at its center, this bright underground zone is home to the Arathi who are engaged in a continuing battle against the nerubians.
• AZJ-KAHET: The pinnacle of nerubian society where Xal’atath, Harbinger of the Void, has been gathering and mutating nerubian forces to create an unstoppable army.

For players who are concerned about entering into a space filled with spiders, there will be an arachnophobia filter that can be turned on which will convert spider creatures into crabs.

MEET THE EARTHEN

We’ve met Titan-forged Earthen before in Ulduar and other places, but this society of Earthen has been isolated within Khaz Algar for a long while and have developed their own manners and customs. Visually, they are a bit larger, and gem encrusted.

Earthen will also unlock as a playable race. Replenishing the culture’s dwindling numbers by either joining the Horde or the Alliance. Players will be able to choose either faction to begin their journey.

There are many customizations that will be coming for these Earthen including different gem encrustations, beards for all body types, skin colorizations, and more.

Learn more in our overview article.

DUNGEONS

Similar to the launch of previous expansions, there will be 4 level-up dungeons and 4 maximum-level dungeons that are available in each of the four new zones.

Level-Up Dungeons

• The Rookery
• The Stonevault
• Priory of the Sacred Flame
• City of Threads

Maximum Level

• Cinderbrew Meadery
• Darkflame Cleft
• The Dawnbreaker
• Old City

If you don’t want to use the Dungeon Finder to take part in dungeons with other players, you can continue the campaign story with Follower Dungeons which will be available to play through in all level-up dungeons.

NERUB’AR PALACE RAID DUNGEON

The Nerub’ar Palace raid dungeon will offer eight boss encounters. Located in Azj-Kahet, it will result in the culmination of the story we see play out involving the machinations of the nerubian empire and Queen Ansurek’s collaboration with Xal’atath.

Players can also expect new tier rewards for their valiant efforts.

NEW FEATURES

• Delves: Deep beneath the surface lies treasure vaults waiting to be discovered. Explore these world instances solo or with up to four friends, along with an NPC companion, to defeat bosses and gain epic end-game loot.

Delves New Mechanical Mount Reward

Mix and match customizations to make your new mount your own.

Learn more about Delves in our overview article.

• Warbands: Expand the potential of your alternate characters with account-wide progression across your family of characters on your Battle.net account. Share your Warband Bank access, War Within Renown, achievements, collections, and more. Visit our latest article to learn more about Warbands.
• Hero Talents: Rise to new heights of power with new Hero Talent trees. Each class specialization has access to two choices of self-contained Hero Talent trees inspired by iconic Warcraft universe archetypes. Revisit our previous Hero Talent previews to get a glimpse at what is in development.

 *Please note many of these trees have been updated since the original previews.

• Mountain Thane, Lightsmith, San’layn, and Chronowarden
• Keeper of the Grove Druid, Dark Ranger Hunter, Frostfire Mage, and Oracle Priest
• Elune’s Chosen and Wildstalker Druids, Scalecommander Evoker, Herald of the Sun and Templar Paladins, Trickster Rogue, Diabolist Warlock, and Colossus Warrior
• Rider of the Apocalypse and Deathbringer Death Knights, Aldrachi Reaver Demon Hunter, Druid of the Claw Druid, Flameshaper Evoker, Pack Leader Hunter, Spellslinger Mage, Shado-Pan and Conduit of the Celestials Monks, Farseer Shaman, Hellcaller Warlock, and Slayer Warrior.
• New Battleground: Deephaul Ravine
• Professions: New Recipes and Enchantments, updated NPC Work Orders
• UI Updates: Improved quest icons to make types of quests clearer.
• Skyriding (previously Dragonriding): Take to the skies on one of your favorite flying mounts with all new flight mechanics. Learn more in our Skyriding overview article.

 Key Features:

• 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!

World Of Warcraft: The War Within is coming to PC/Mac in 2024.