This Week in WoW: 19 April, 2024

April 19th by Blizzard Entertainment
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Catch up on all the latest World of Warcraft news from the last week—take a tour through The War Within in the WoWCast developer chat, pre-purchase the World of Warcraft®: The War Within™ 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition, get a closer look at the new Warbands System, and more! 

WoWCast Developer Chat: Go Into the War Within

Join Game Director Ion Hazzikostas and Associate Art Director Tina Wang as they sit down with Community Manager and host Bethany Stout to take you into The War Within™.

The alpha test is right around the corner and we look forward to moving into the next phase of development of The War Within with you. Learn more about what’s ahead from The War Within™ website.

Pre-Purchase the World of Warcraft®: The War Within™ 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition

World of Warcraft®: The War Within™ arrives this year1, and the wings of a grand new adventure will spread widely across the next three expansions.2 Be a part of the epic story that commemorates the first 20 years of World of Warcraft and sets new foundations for Azeroth's future!3

The World of Warcraft: The War Within 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition is now available for pre-purchase and comes with an array of rare and commemorative items to aid in your journey into the depths of Azeroth.

  • The Art of The War Within—Leaf through the visual evolution of The War Within expansion with this beautifully bound lexicon filled with exclusive art.
  • Collectible Pin—Featuring Thrall, Anduin, and Alleria primed for battle.
  • World of Warcraft 20th Anniversary Gryphon Rider Statue—Perched and ready to defend from above.

Pre-Purchase today!

The collector's edition is available for pre-purchase exclusively on the Blizzard Gear Store. It includes everything in The War Within Epic Edition—an Enhanced Level 70 Character Boost, 1,000 Trader's Tender4, 30 Days of Game Time, plus more!

Already pre-purchased an edition of The War Within? No problem! These three new commemorative collectibles can still be added to your trove. When you purchase the World of Warcraft: The War Within 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition, you’ll receive a Battle.net® balance reimbursement for your previous purchase to use in-game or on Battle.net.

1Available on or before December 31, 2024. Requires World of Warcraft Subscription or Game Time.
2Future expansions not included in WoW®: The War Within™ purchase.
3Requires World of Warcraft Subscription or Game Time. If you already have Dragonflight on your account, it will not be re-granted.
4An active World of Warcraft Subscription or Game Time is required to acquire and use Trader's Tender. Trader's Tender does not expire regardless of Subscription or Game Time status.

The War Within: Warbands Preview

Get a closer look at the new Warbands System with the World of Warcraft development team.

With public access to The War Within test phase just around the corner, we want to share more details about what’s in development for Warbands.

What are Warbands?

The new Warbands system being introduced in The War Within will encompass all of the characters on a player’s Battle.net account as well as the items, collections, and progression they share.

It’s important to note that your Warband is limited to characters within a single region (i.e., Americas, Europe, Korea, Taiwan) but spans every realm, faction, and even subscription you may have within that region

Many aspects of World of Warcraft have been shared across your account for a long time—essentially a Warband. This includes your collection of pets, mounts, transmogs, heirlooms, and more. With the release of Warbands, we are significantly expanding what additional aspects of the game have Warband integration. To name just a few changes:

  • New reputations and Renown tracks will be Warband-wide.
  • A new Warband bank will allow you to easily store and share items between your characters.
  • The ability to collect most item appearances with any character in your Warband, regardless of their ability to equip the gear.
Goals of the Warband System
  • Make playing alternate (alt) characters easier and more enjoyable – Data shows that many players already have an alt or two (or ten) and enjoy playing them,  so we want to make playing them even better.
  • Switch between characters without falling behind – There will always be a lot of character-specific progression in World of Warcraft, such as high-end gearing, but wherever it’s appropriate, moving progression onto your Warband should allow you to freely play multiple characters without losing efficiency or long-term progress.
  • Acknowledge the player behind the screen – In other words, wherever possible, we want to celebrate your accomplishments within your Warband, not only on your character, so you can carry those accomplishments with you to whichever character you choose to play.
  • Clarify which aspects of the game are account-wide versus character-specific – It hasn’t always been clear which parts of the game apply to your characters versus your account. We've taken this opportunity to clarify these differences in the UI, as well as replacing the term "account" with "Warband" throughout the game.

Learn more about Warbands in our previously published article.

Sign Up To Test The War Within

Make an early descent into World of Warcraft®: The War Within™. You'll journey through never-before-seen subterranean worlds filled with hidden wonders, earn the trust of the new Earthen allied race, and face an ancient evil lurking in the darkness when you sign up for the beta!

Sign Up!

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.

  • 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.

Take a Dive into Plunderstorm’s Plundersurge Now!

Hoist the sails and batten down the hatches; a Plundersurge has arrived!

Dive into the battle-royale-inspired Plunderstorm1 event now to double the reputation earned (including the winner's bonus) from all sources of Plunder during the Plundersurge! This bootyful opportunity lasts until Plunderstorm ends on April 30, helping scallywags catch up on rewards.

Set Sail for the Plunderstorm

Plunge into a challenging battle that earns excellent rewards for World of Warcraft® Modern and Classic progression realms. All you have to do is survive…and plunder. Can't seem to stay in the realm of the living? No problem. Plunderers still gain progression that helps unlock new rewards.

Each match is 10-15 minutes long and has 60 players per match, with the winner being the last one standing. Level up and acquire new abilities and spells by killing creatures and enemies, looting chests, and avoiding the encroaching storm.

Prepare to Plunder

Plunderstorm is perfect for pick-up and play! No expansion purchase is required, but a World of Warcraft Subscription or Game Time is needed to participate in a high-stakes, play-by-the-seat-your-pants match. This means that Classic players can also participate in a plethora of plundering fun by simply installing the modern (Live) World of Warcraft client:

  1. Launch the Battle.net desktop app.
  2. Click the World of Warcraft icon at the top. If the icon is missing, click on All Games and select the game from the list.
  3. On top of the Install button is a drop-down menu. Confirm that you wish to install World of Warcraft.
  4. Click Install.

Once you’re in modern WoW:

  1. Select Plunderstorm2 from the World of Warcraft game menu to get into the action.
  2. Create a new, ready-to-play character—player characters are unique to this event. You don't need previous knowledge of races and classes to chart your course for mayhem.
  3. Choose between Solo or—to play with your Battle.net friends—make a group from the Plunderstorm character screen and select Duo. If queued for a Duo without a partner, you'll be automatically matched with one. You can also access chat, customize characters, and see the queue from the Character Select Screen.

1 Requires World of Warcraft® Subscription or Game Time.
2Plunderstorm is accessed from the World of Warcraft® game menu but exists outside of player progression in World of Warcraft® and Wrath of the Lich King Classic™.

The War Within alpha test begins this weekend. Check in each week to stay up to date on World of Warcraft news and all the latest developments!