WoW devs think The War Within is doing one thing better than other expansions

World of Warcraft: The War Within is about to enter a new phase, as Patch 11.1 hits live servers for the first time. As part of that, it feels like a good time to take stock of what players have received so far, and the devs think the expansion has hit the right notes in one area in particular.

As players prepare to explore the Goblin hub of Undermine for the first time, The War Within is set to enter a new and exciting phase. Bringing with it a new dungeon and raid, as well as two new Delves and a new PvP Arena, it’s packed to the brim with new content.

In all of that, it would be easy to forget that it also needs to drive the story forward, and connect to the grand narrative planned for three full expansions.

We spoke to Game Director Ion Hazzikostas and Lead Game Designer Maria Hamilton about delivering that story to players, and just how far they’ve planned ahead.

Laying out The Worldsoul Saga story and exploring The War Within

Blizzard Entertainment

The War Within is only the first part of a three-expansion series known as The Worldsoul Saga. This is the first time in history that Blizzard have gone in this direction with releases, and it’s changed a lot about how they develop each one.

As Hamilton explains, they’re planning further ahead than ever before, and it’s giving them a chance to experiment in entirely new ways.

“We’re planned all the way out at this point. We’re actually in production on Midnight, and we’re in pre-production on The Last Titan. So, we are well underway.

“It is really exciting and nice to be able to plot out a story with a long arc and be able to see things in appropriate places as we go. Tell interesting stories with a beginning, middle, and end in those chunks, which is very satisfying, but at the same time be advancing our story and taking it to different places. It’s really a pleasure.”

Equally, the expansion’s overall approach to giving players more ways to enjoy the game than ever has allowed the narrative side of things to come to the fore across the board. Though the story quests are still the main vehicle, players can pick up important information wherever they are.

“I think the main quest line has about a dozen of what we call “local stories” which are stories that are primarily about the cultures or the people or the place to help flesh out the world. It’s important that the world feel alive. It is the world that we’re proud of. So it’s important to us to have those stories.

“But we very carefully plan out how many chapters we believe we need to tell the story of the mainline campaign. Then, of course, the dungeons tell stories, the raids tell stories, even the Delves are contributing to the story.

“Traditionally, while some of that other content has told the story, we haven’t integrated quite as smoothly as we have with The War Within. That’s something that we’re doing much better with.”

The Undermine(d) content update is putting Goblins front and center when it hits live servers on February 25, with Season Two set to begin a week later on March 4.