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I’ve been obsessed with World of Warcraft for years now – playing it on and off for over 10 years or so. The game is a monument to multiplayer madness, be it the ferocious PvP community, the most absurd dedication to personal performance found in mythic raiding and dungeons, and down-bad hoarders flexing obscure cosmetics to other likeminded freakazoids. It’s probably one of the best games of all time – certainly one of the most important. But almost 20 years since it first hit computers, does its latest expansion – The War Within – still entice?
I was able to play the expansion for a little while earlier this week as part of an early preview event, and came away feeling optimistic about the upcoming update. I was able to play through an early version of the first new zone: The Isle of Dorn. I was also able to experience the primordial steps of the main questline, look around the new capital city, and try out the freshly baked PvE instanced content – Delves! Obviously, stuff like dungeon or raid content, the more competitive aspects of the expansion, as well as some challenging content weren’t available for testing.
Let’s start with the juicy new content found in Delves. These are basically like mini dungeons where you – solo or with others – can venture down into short PvE experiences for loot, gold, and other goodies. You’re accompanied by an NPC whose role your can change to fit your needs, in what turned out to be a 10-minute relaxing romp. This obviously can get harder – with additional difficulties adding strength to enemies and upping the loot quality in turn. You’ve also got temporary buffs and upgrades found within – a holdover from Shadowlands’ Torghast system, but thankfully without the built-in desire to tear your own eyes out.
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