The first alpha build forWorld of Warcraft: The War Withinhas made the rounds on Blizzard’s internal servers, as testing for the upcoming expansion pack is about to begin soon. WhileDragonflighthas undoubtedly been a major success forWorld of Warcraft, many players remarked that its narrative felt more like a side adventure than a proper story. Given theconvoluted plot ofShadowlands, perhaps that’s precisely what the game needed before it was ready to tackle the looming legacy ofLegion’s ending.
While the overarching story will span across three expansions,features coming inThe War Withinare designed to be evergreen from the start. Gone is the era of borrowed power that came to defineBattle for AzerothandShadowlands, as the upcoming expansion will bring Dynamic Flight, Warbands, Delves, and Hero Talents toWorld of Warcraftas permanent fixtures. The features were briefly teased during theWorld of Warcraftpanel at BlizzCon 2023, but players will be able to experience them in detail once alpha testing begins onThe War Within.
World of Warcraft: The War Within Starts Internal Testing
As reported by Wowhead, it appears thatThe War Withinhas launched its first version (Build 52528) on Blizzard’s internal servers, albeit under encryption. This means that data-miners can’t quite access the files just yet, but it should give theWorld of Warcraftcommunity a good estimate onThe War Within’s release window based on the testing cycle of past expansions.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight
Dragonflightwas released 220 days after its first encrypted build was uploaded to Blizzard’s servers, whileShadowlandsexperienced a four-week delay. Assuming no delays happen forThe War Within, and in a best case scenario, fans could be expecting thenextWorld of Warcraftexpansionto launch sometime between August 02, 2025, and June 20, 2025. Given that alpha testing was previously mentioned to start during Spring 2024, the release date could be moved into early Fall 2024 – which would line up with the release window teased by Blizzard at BlizzCon 2023.
WhileDragonflightstill has another Mythic Season to go through, many players would agree that Fated Raids are a poor substitute for entirely new content. If the timeline forThe War Withinlines up with the previous expansion packs, and if its testing cycle goes smoothly,World of Warcraftfans should more realistically expect a late September release rather than a late November one. Given thatWorld of Warcraftis working on two expansionsat once, the wait betweenThe War WithinandMidnightshould be far shorter by comparison.
