As of this writing, I've put in about seven hours into World of Warcraft: The War Within. I've basically played every moment from unlocking until I couldn't keep my eyes open. It's still too early to say anything definitive. But guys, I have a really good feeling about this game. From the story to the environments to the new features, this is World of Warcraft in full swing. It's not completely overwhelming or over the top, but compared to the last three expansion pack launches, the warm glow of a new adventure feels different this time around.
I've been taking my time (relatively speaking), so while some Bedramites have already hit level 80 in a few hours, I logged off that night at level 73. At that pace, I was able to collect three new hero talents for Marksmanship Hunter, choosing the Night Elf themed Sentinel over Tormented Soul, Sylvanas-esque Dark Ranger. I'm still not too happy with these talents, and I'm not sure how I'll feel at level 80, but I don't feel as big a change in my power or playstyle with each level as I would have hoped.
I do like that The War Within doesn't add a ton of new buttons to your hotbar, though – one of the reasons I chose Sentinel over Dark Ranger is because the latter lets me work new attacks into my rotation, and I like having the option to not have to worry about that.
IGN World of Warcraft review
Setting
In case you missed the big reveal at last BlizzCon, “The War Within” is planned as the first part of an expansion trilogy aimed at telling a bigger, more complete story. It's something WoW hasn't done before, and I'm super excited about it. Without giving away too much, the first hour of the story definitely feels like we're sprinting into something big and epic. Some of the major sacred cows in the lore are actually on the verge of being cut down (not literally; Baine is fine, don't worry). And Xal'atath is a fascinating new nemesis. And not just because she's a sexy goth mom.
Well, partly, yes. But there's more to it than that.
I've only seen The War Within's first zone, the lush and picturesque Isle of Dorn, which sits just above ground where the other 80% of the zones are. For longtime WoW players, it feels very familiar, just like Dragon Isles. Essentially all of the best features of Dragonflight are back, and Dynamic Flying (previously called Dragonriding) is available straight away, but I'm still a bit put off by it, as I think exploring a new zone for the first time on the ground gives you more of a sense of place and grandeur. But I'm not put off at all by the return of the thrilling aerial race courses, or the expanded profession system.
The Isle of Dorn has some of my favorite music since Wrath of the Lich King.
Dornogar, the Earthen capital of Azeroth's deep abyss, is one of the coolest hub cities to date thanks to its majestic titanic architecture and intriguing political storyline. It's also a lot more organized and easier to navigate than the occasionally disorienting vertical layout of Valdrakken.
And the music! The music in the Isle of Dorn is hands down my favorite music in WoW since Wrath of the Lich King. Blizzard's composers have always hit the nail on the head with orchestral brilliance, but to release so many compositions that stand out even by their high standards is truly impressive.
The long road ahead
As with Dragonflight, the smaller zone quests are often memorable and moving. This time, I think the one everyone's talking about is the one in which one of the semi-immortal Earthen asks for help getting his affairs in order as he realizes his mind is failing and plans to end his life in the traditional manner of his people. I'm reminded time and time again that, despite all the world-shaking high fantasy mayhem that drives World of Warcraft on a plot level, it's these heartfelt, relatable stories that make the game truly special.
I'm also pretty optimistic about Delves, the new solo content that will replace raids and Mythic+ in the endgame for people like me who don't like hanging out with random people and don't have any friends left playing the game in groups that we started in 2004. Delves has the same kinds of ridiculous temporary power-ups that I loved in Torghast, like one that lets you double jump or one that massively increases your damage as long as you don't go below half health. If there's only one fan of Torghast, it's me. I'd be out of this world without Torghast fans. So it's great to see some of the things that worked in Torghast coming back.
Ren ranks the WoW expansion packs
We ranked all of WoW's expansion packs from best to worst, and Dragonflight isn't included because we won't know where it actually ranks until a few years from now.
One of the caves I played through actually has something like Sonic the Hedgehog's jumping mushrooms, allowing you to explore vertically in a new way, and another has wall-mounted ledges you can climb with a grappling hook. What's ruining my expectations for these caves is that so far they seem very short — less than 15 minutes in some cases. One reason is that I haven't unlocked the higher difficulties yet, so I can basically arcane shot through the whole thing without looking at the health bar. And I've only seen the first three — but I was hoping for something closer to the length of a five-player dungeon experience.
At this point, there's much more to The War Within that I haven't seen, but I'm enjoying it a lot so far, which is probably the highest praise I can give to an expansion at launch. Check back next week for my first big update on my progress, and my final assessment once Season 1 and the first raid unlock on September 10th.
What we said about World of Warcraft: Dragonflight
For the first 30-40 hours or so, Dragonflight rekindles the sense of wonder and exploration that drew me to World of Warcraft in the first place. After that, it certainly starts to feel a bit stale. Riding dragons is a blast, and I love the new zone design. But the expansion's back-to-basics approach is a real double-edged sword. You probably won't get bored of it any time soon, because there's not a ton of things to do every day just to keep up, like in Shadowlands. But at the same time, once you've beaten all the very well-written side quests, it doesn't feel like there's enough really interesting stuff to do. The excellent new crafting system feels like a double jeopardy, tied to a weekly cap plus the mind-numbing, pointless grind for resources. I like Dragonflight, but my love for the game faded soon after I hit max level. I truly hope that Blizzard sees this as a year of rebuilding WoW and doesn't hesitate to iterate on some of the original ideas from Shadowlands that were perhaps one or two steps away from being great. – Leana Hafer, December 15, 2022
Score: 7
Read our full World of Warcraft: Dragonflight review.
