World of Warcraft’s next expansion, The War Within, is coming to PC August 26, 2024 and will feature a story brought to us by everyone’s favorite knaifu waifu Xal’atath.

Microsoft-owned Blizzard Entertainment made the announcement at the Xbox Games Showcase alongside a video that embodied a full-figured retrospective filled with figures from numerous portions of trailers from Warcraft’s past, and voiced over by Xal’atath’s dulcet tone.

Blizzard revealed that The War Within would be part of a revolving three-part story known as the Worldsoul Saga including Midnight and The Last Titan, with release scheduled for the following years. The news came shortly after Blizzard was acquired by Microsoft and Chris Metzen once again took the title of senior vice president of story and franchise development at the game studio and publisher to make the announcement.

As Shadowpriest players may know Xal’atath’s story goes back to the Black Empire when Old Gods arrived on primordial Azeroth. The story of The War Within will address growing concerns about the world soul, the very core of Azeroth, which is part of a great being, a Titan, a creature of immense power, and the giant sword that has speared directly into its heart through the desert of Silithus by the Titan Sargeras as he was being pulled away.

It’s been a long strange journey for many players, but having that particular storyline resolved – and whatever might be happening with that wound struck by having a sword thrust into the very heart of the world. I’m sure that Magni Bronzebeard is beside himself, wringing his hands waiting to tell us all about it.

Upon the release of the new expansion, players will receive access to new features, including Warbands, a new progression system that encompasses all characters in a player’s account that tracks a player’s items, progression and collections. There will even be a bank and a way to help alts from falling behind for high-end gearing – in a way, Warbands are Blizzard’s acknowledgement that WoW can sometimes be alt-unfriendly.

Image: Blizzard Entertainment