World of Warcraft will have players beginning the first part of a story that spans three upcoming expansions this August. The War Within, the next expansion to hit servers will do so on August 26th, 2024. In preparation a date announcement cinematic was released this weekend. The cinematic, narrated by Xal’atah (we’ll give you the rundown on her in a moment), and featured remastered versions of earlier World of Warcraft trailers. It was an amazing tribute to the 20 years this game has reigned. Considering this may be the beginning of the “final battle” such a celebration heightens the feeling that this is the culmination of something.
In terms of what’s coming up for World of Warcraft it seems that the stakes are about to get very high, especially if the final image of the planet cracking apart is anything to go by. It seems Xal’atah has her eyes set on the world-soul, the spirit of a nascent titan, which might lead to The Last Titan, the third expansion set. Xal’atah herself is a Void entity who was trapped in a sentient blade of the same name before possessing the corpse of a high elf with the help of the player character. She then offered the player character, and the relics she helped them locate to the Old God N’zoth in exchange for her complete freedom from the blade. She departed through a portal and has since been missing in the story. It seems she is ready to return and, most likely, wreck havoc on the world of Azeroth. Based on the trailer, her goal is most likely to involve claiming the world soul, even if that leads to wide scale destruction and calamity. There’s still more to learn about Xal’atah in the coming story arcs, and the subterranean kingdoms that will be explored and added in The War Within.
As World of Warcraft approaches its twentieth anniversary, fans can be excited about the new story coming to the game, and based on comments from developers, it’s an attempt at a more story driven narrative for the series as a whole. Hopefully they can match the hype they’ve set up. Only time will tell.