World of Warcraft: The War Within Has Begun Taking Beta Signups

At BlizzCon 2024, developer Blizzard revealed that it's currently working on the next expansion for World of Warcraft. The War Within will be the first part in a three-part series of expansions that Blizzard is calling the World Soul Saga, and it is scheduled to launch later this year. If Blizzard wants to stick to its usual release cadence for World of Warcraft expansions, it'll need to launch The War Within's beta relatively soon. Today, World of Warcraft players were treated to great news as Blizzard finally opened signups for The War Within beta.

When Does the World of Warcraft: The War Within Beta Start?

In opening up beta signups, Blizzard has indicated that The War Within beta is right around the corner. In a previously shared roadmap, the developers said it was coming this summer, so we're right in that window with today's announcement. That said, the World of Warcraft team didn't share concrete information about when the beta will start, though they did say players who sign up may receive an e-mail granting them access. Those invitations will come in waves, so if you don't get one soon, you may still gain access as more testers are let into the new WoW beta.

Either way, if you want to sign up, all you need to do is head to the official site and click the "Sign Up!" button. From there, you'll need to enter your account details and then you should be good to go. If you're selected, you'll need to install The War Within beta branch from the "In Development" tab. Then, you'll be able to create a new character or transfer your main character over and get to testing. 

World of Warcraft: The War Within Release Date

World of Warcraft: The War Within doesn't have a firm release yet; however, the previously mentioned roadmap did show that Blizzard's current plans have it launching toward the end of the summer. That would mean the next expansion is launching in August or September, but that date could shift around. Dragonflight and Shadowlands both dropped in November when they launched, but the two expansions before those came out in August. Regardless, it's a safe bet to say that The War Within is coming this fall.

The new expansion has fans excited, especially from a story-telling perspective, because Blizzard is developing the next three expansions concurrently, meaning they'll be able to better adapt the story around the fan response. The War Within also bumps the difficulty up to Level 80 and introduces a new mechanic called Hero Talents, which lets players further customize their characters. It's also bringing a new mini-dungeon feature called Delves and adding Warbands which is a new way to earn account-wide progression, a welcome addition for players with several alts.