Are you ready for the early access of World of Warcraft: The War Within? We have summarized all the important information for you.
The wait is over. Tonight, the new expansion “The War Within” for World of Warcraft launches – at least if you want to participate in early access and start playing 4 days before everyone else. To prepare you for this “soft launch,” we have summarized all the important information for you here.
What do you need to play during early access? In order to participate in the early access of The War Within, you must purchase the Epic Edition of the expansion. This is quite expensive at €90, but offers several bonuses in addition to early access, such as 30 days of game time, mounts, pets, and transmog rewards.
When does early access start? The early access launch is on August 23rd at 00:00 – that’s tonight, from Thursday to Friday.
What needs to be done before early access? To dive directly into the new content at midnight, you should have completed the current questline related to Xal’atath. This includes the battle for Telogrus (the “home” of the Void Elves) and then the journey to Silithus to speak with Magni Bronzebeard in the Heart Chamber of Azeroth.
It is currently not entirely clear whether this questline is mandatory. However, since it is already marked as “The War Within,” you should err on the side of caution so that it doesn’t block you later.
How to start in early access? At midnight, if you meet all the requirements, you should receive a new quest. This seamlessly leads into the intro experience of The War Within, at the end of which you’ll find yourself in the new area and can start playing the campaign of The War Within.
Note that it may take a few minutes after midnight for the quest to become available. If in doubt, check with Khadgar in Dalaran and be patient for a moment.
Tips and Tricks for the Start
To ensure the start goes smoothly without frustration, we have a few tips for you to get off to a carefree start.
Clean up your Inventory
You have a few hours left. Use this time to tidy up your inventory. Sell old equipment, get rid of long-unused resources, and make sure you have at least 2 (preferably 3) completely empty bags and that your resource bag is also empty. There’s nothing more annoying than an inventory that needs sorting or emptying after every second quest.
Declutter your Quest Log
While we’re at it: Check your quest log and get rid of missions you accepted weeks or months ago and will never complete. Even though the campaign of The War Within is somewhat shorter, you can pick up numerous side quests that will keep you occupied for many hours – at least if your quest log isn’t already bursting at the seams.
Unlock Warbands Bank
A new feature of The War Within is the Warbands Bank. It has been active since patch 11.0. You can activate it at any bank counter in Azeroth and unlock additional inventory slots. Additionally, you have a quest that leads you to Gadgetzan (Tanaris). This short quest line unlocks a spell for your entire account at the end, allowing you to access your Warbands Bank from anywhere in the world. Complete this to quickly move items across your entire account in The War Within.
Take Your Time
It’s tempting to want to “sprint off” as quickly as possible and be the first to reach level 80. However, many endgame features may not be available during early access. So you can take your time, read the quests carefully, and enjoy the story of the expansion. It will take several weeks before the first season starts anyway. Rushing now will likely only hurt yourself.
Although today is just the early access, it seems that for most fans the starting gun has already been fired. In our survey, more than two-thirds of players indicated that they would start during early access – Blizzard’s plan is thus fully effective.
