Alpha notes are out for The War Within, giving us another peek into some of the content and changes on the way in the next big World of Warcraft expansion.
The notes cover a ton of ground, but there are some standouts. The new Isle of Dorn zone, and new dungeons, Cinderbrew Meadery and The Rookery have been included. The new Hero Talent trees system is also early on in testing in the alpha.
There are a number of placeholder assets but aspects of the Hero Talent system is available for testing, with some talents in the test build for Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Evoker, Hunter, Mage, Monk, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, and Warrior. As for Druids, theirs is a special consideration, with four sections, one tuned to each spec. “You can invest in the Guardian section to access their powerful damage resistance, or the Restoration section to unlock self-healing. Further, the talents in the bottom half of the tree are divided into “physical” and “magical” halves”.
The Dracthyr Evoker will now start at level 10, down from 58. Abilities that were learned later or at 58 itself, are now scaled along the progression journey, including some base spells now available at level 10. After choosing a specialization in the Forbidden Reach, they unlock the talent pane so there's no more temporary talents. There are also some balance changes to reflect these new progression changes.
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World of Warcraft: The War Within Alpha Hands-On Impressions
There are many more tweaks and new features on the way. One change is the upcoming removal of Inspiration. While Inspiration was intended to offer a chance to get a lucky crit on crafting, but was a bit exploited by crafters. A new ability, Concentration, and a new stat to accompany it, Ingenuity, will replace the Inspiration setup.
Accessibility options will now include an Arachnophobia mode. Toggling this will not affect difficulty or gameplay. Initial shares show spiders replaced by crabs, though we’ll see if any other creatures are added, since the notes say “alternative creatures”.
There are also a number of UI changes, updated art, and more to consider.
