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Greetings Firestorm!

The wait is almost over. The War Within is coming to Firestorm, and we're ready to show you what's ahead.

This expansion introduces a variety of new content. Our development team has been working hard over the last few months to get as much of it ready as possible. While there's still some work to be done before it's fully polished, we're now at a point where we can start sharing some of the key features.

Of course, a beta realm for The War Within will be available soon.
We'll start by inviting a small group of players, then slowly open access to more, beginning with the most active members of the community. We'll also be giving away beta keys on social media and Discord.

We'll keep you informed about the beta launch, so make sure to keep an eye on our website and Discord!

NEW ZONE: KHAZ-ALGAR

Khaz Algar is the new continent introduced in this expansion, it includes four regions and a major capital city: The Ringing Deeps, Hallowfall, Azj-Kahet, and the Isle of Dorn, where the new capital, Dornogal, is located.
This continent also introduces a new playable race, the Earthen, a resilient titan-forged people native to the depths of Azeroth. Alongside them come new world events, factions, and of course, a quest campaign.

Let's talk about development:

• Isle of Dorn (levels 70 - 73): The main campaign and side quests are already in place. While world quests and rares are in the final stages, treasures and other content are still in early development.
  • World activity, The Theater Troupe: The development of this event is ready.
     
• The Ringing Deeps (levels 73 - 75): The main campaign, side quests, world quests, and rares are all ready, except for one world quest and the treasure content, which are still in development.
  • World activity, Awakening the machine: The development of this event is ready.
     
• Hallowfall (levels 75 - 78): The main story has been implemented, side quests are nearly finished, and the rest of the content is still in development.
  • World activity, Spreading the Light: The development has not started yet.
     
• Azj-Kahet (levels 78 - 80): The main campaign and side quests have been implemented, and most of the remaining content such as world quests, rares, treasures, and renown activities has also been implemented, with only a few elements still in development.
   

There's a world activity that will take place across all of Khaz Algar Worldsoul Memory, but its development has not yet started.
 

• The Earthen Allied Race: The majority of the questlines needed to unlock this new race are finished, and we’re aiming to have everything set for the closed beta.
   
• The War Within campaign: The introductory storyline "Visions of Azeroth" is fully developed and it will be available during the beta, since it's the first step in this adventure.
   

Testing is underway, and development is still in progress.
Most of this is expected to be available when the Beta launches, with the rest being added gradually throughout that phase.

RAID: NERUB-AR PALACE

The first raid of the expansion is one of the most important additions for PvE players.

The full raid has already been developed, and testing is underway. Of course, some fixes will be needed during this testing phase. But the Nerub-ar Palace raid will be available in all difficulties for players to try out during the Closed Beta. This will help identify bugs and make sure everything's ready for the official launch.

Here's the raid boss list:

• Ulgrax the Devourer
• The Bloodbound Horror
• Sikran, Captain of the Sureki
• Rasha'nan
• Broodtwister Ovi'nax
• Nexus-Princess Ky'veza
• The Silken Court: Anub'arash and Skeinspinner Takazj
• Queen Ansurek

THE WAR WITHIN DUNGEONS

Dungeons are another major pillar of PvE content, and this expansion brings eight new ones. Below, we'll take a closer look at how their development is progressing:

Level-Up Dungeons 70 - 80:

• The Rookery: The development is finished and it's currently stable and playable.
   
• The Stonevault: The development phase has recently ended, and testing is now in progress, but it’s expected to be ready for the Closed Beta.
   
• Priory of the Sacred Flame: The development is finished and it's currently stable and playable.
   
• Ara-Kara, City of Echoes: The development just finished, which means testing hasn't started yet, but it's expected to be ready for the Closed Beta.

Max-Level Dungeons:

• Cinderbrew Meadery: The development is finished and it's currently stable and playable.
   
• Darkflame Cleft: The development is finished and it's currently stable and playable.
   
• The Dawnbreaker: The development is finished and it's currently stable and playable, though there are still a few things to look into.
   
• City of Threads: The development is finished and it's currently stable and playable.

Naturally, these tests were run on a testing realm, without hundreds or thousands of players running the same dungeon or content at the same time. As the Closed Beta progresses, some issues could still appear, and additional fixes will be applied to these dungeons as needed.

SEASON 1 DUNGEONS

Mythic dungeons take more development time than standard ones due to the additional mechanics involved, like scaling difficulty and affixes.

This season includes four dungeons from The War Within and four from previous expansions. Here's the list of The War Within dungeons from Season 1:

• Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
• City of Threads
• The Stonevault
• The Dawnbreaker
• Mists of Tirna Scithe (Shadowlands)
• The Necrotic Wake (Shadowlands)
• Siege of Boralus (BfA)
• Grim Batol (Cataclysm)

Let's talk about the development status of these dungeons from previous expansions, as the TWW ones have already been covered above:

• Mists of Tirna Scithe (Shadowlands): Development is complete, with testing still in progress and further fixes planned. The dungeon is now considered to be in a stable and highly playable state.
   
• The Necrotic Wake (Shadowlands): Development is complete, with testing still in progress and further fixes planned. The dungeon is now considered to be in a stable and highly playable state.
   
• Siege of Boralus (BfA): Development is complete, with most testing and fixes already done, though some testing is still ongoing. The dungeon is now considered to be in a stable and highly playable state.
   
• Grim Batol (Cataclysm): Development is complete, with testing still in progress and further fixes planned. The dungeon is now considered to be in a stable and highly playable state.

These tests were conducted in a controlled testing environment, without hundreds or thousands of players running the content simultaneously.
As mentioned in the previous section on dungeons, some issues may still appear as the Closed Beta progresses, and further fixes will be applied to these dungeons as needed.

DELVES

Delves are a new type of short-form instanced content that you can run solo or in a group of  2-5 players, accompanied by an NPC companion, who can take on the role of DPS or healer. The Bountiful Delves feature will be available as well.

Although the system for Delves has already been developed, only the first variant (storyline) of each delve is currently implemented. Development is still ongoing, but the first phase of testing has already started, and some fixes are expected to come along with it.

It’s possible that not all delve variants will be available by the start of the Closed Beta, but they'll be added progressively during the Beta period.

The weekly quests related to this content are also functional, but the NPC Zekvir's Lair is not available yet.

CLASSES FEATURES AND HERO TALENTS

As usual, the arrival of a new expansion brings major and meaningful changes to all classes. Naturally, this takes a lot of development work to ensure classes are as balanced as possible.

Our developers have been working on this for a while, and plenty of testing has already been done, though the process is still ongoing.

This is where the Closed Beta realm really helps. Players who join will be able to test the content and help us identify any potential class issues early, so we can fix them as soon as possible. Keeping classes well-balanced is never easy, but we’ll keep working on it until we get it right.

As an additional note, the Dracthyr race will be able to choose from the following classes during the Beta: Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, and Warrior.
This way, we can ensure everything works properly by the time the expansion goes live.

WARBANDS

This expansión introduces a new account-wide system, aspects such as renown, transmog, gear that has the "Warbound Until Equipped" attribute and currencies are shared, making progress feel smoother no matter which character you're playing.

Let's talk about this features:

• Warband Bank, which is an account-wide bank with multiple tabs. It's functional and development is finished, and we don't expect too many issues during the beta.
   
• Warband reputations: The development is finished and both for the Dragonflight factions and for the 4 new TWW factions are working.
   
• Transferable currencies: The development is done and it's functional, but we also expect our players to help with general testing during the closed beta and apply fixes if needed.
   
• Warbound Until Equipped Gear: The development is done, and we expect to apply some fixes during the Closed Beta. We also have implemented the small chance of having warbound until equipped bonus loots in dungeons, delves and raid.

The Warbanding Together questline is available and rewards the spell Warband Bank Distance Inhibitor, which summons a personal portal directly to your Warband Bank for 10 minutes.

SKYRIDING

Inspired by the Dragonflight system, Skyriding is a dynamic form of flying that uses momentum and abilities to reach high places and travel across the world.
Flight speed is capped at 705%, and hundreds of mounts have been updated to support this mode, including Druid flight forms. Evokers can also skyride using their racial ability, Soar.

This mode is unlocked automatically, along with the Flight Style Switch, which allows players to swap between Skyriding and Steady Flight (the classic flying style). To use Steady Flight on this new continent, you will need to unlock the achievement The War Within Pathfinder, as usual.

The races are ready and testing is underway! Other Skyriding features, like glyphs and the still track, are still in progress, but they're expected to be ready for the Beta or added as it progresses.

PvP

PvP brings a few new features, which we'll go over below along with the ongoing development of this game mode:
 

• The new battleground Deephaul Ravine is already in development, though it’s still in the early stages.
   
• Bloody Tokens will be the only currency used in War Mode, and they are already working as intended.
   
• PvP gear scales up in arenas and battlegrounds as usual, but not in War Mode activities. For open-world combat, you can use valor stones and crests to upgrade your gear to the highest item level available outside instanced PvP.
   
• The PvP gear and vendors for Season 1 of The War Within are ready.
   
• The Solo Rated Battleground Blitz mode is currently in development and is expected to be ready for the Closed Beta.

OTHER FEATURES

 

• Professions: The profession system in TWW builds on the model introduced in Dragonflight,with several changes and new additions:
  • The Concentration and Ingenuity systems, including the Concentration recharge mechanic, have been fully implemented.
  • Patron NPC orders system and its knowledge point catch-up sub-system have been scripted and only requires some fine-tuning to the order-generation process, as well as the addition of the orders' crafting rewards.
  • Most traits in each specialization tree are now scripted, and all first-craft order rewards have been added.
  • Development also covers nearly all reagent conversions and scavenging systems, such as Darkmoon Card conversions, Scour Through Scrap and more.
  • A significant portion of on-use items and gems with special effects have been scripted (such as Heartseeking Health Injector, Algari Flask/Potion Cauldrons and more)

Development on professions is still underway, with further testing planned. We expect to uncover and fix bugs throughout the Beta. Additionally, more profession-related content will be added during the Beta phase.
 

• The New Map Legend: This feature will also be ready and available in the closed beta.
   
• Gear Item Level Upgrade System with the new currencies Valorstones and Crests is working.
   
• The new interface feature: Arachnophobia, will be available.
   
• Trading Post: There are no significant changes to the trading post, and it will work as usual.
   
• Great Vault: The Vault will continue to function the same way it does now, but there's a change in the third tab: PvP will no longer be the activity that grants a selectable item. Instead, it will be replaced by "World Activities," which will now include delves.

As the closed beta approaches, our development and QA teams are working hard to ensure you have the best possible experience. In the meantime, we hope you’re enjoying the current Dragonflight content!
We'll be back soon with more news about The War Within! Until then, we wish you a great time on Firestorm!
We're grateful for your continued trust and support.
The Firestorm Team.