World of Warcraft: The War Within is on the horizon, and players now have the chance to preorder their copy to be ready for the next step in the MMOs long history. For those particularly eager or who may need some extra time to progress before the endgame and seasonal content begins, there will be a way to get early access and play the expansion three days early, allowing players to take on the campaign and some content sooner.
For those interested, we've prepared this guide to explain how players can get early access to World of Warcraft: The War Within.
How to Get Early Access to the War Within
The only way to get early access to The War Within expansion is to preorder the epic or collectors editions of the game, which both include three-day early access, beta access, and all the additional content, such as mounts, transmogs, and character boosts, listed in the epic edition. Early access is set to begin August 22 at 3 pm PDT.
These editions cost $79.99/£74.99 and $180/£175 respectively.
Should You Get Early Access?
Naturally, with the discussion of early access, some players have been worried that those who purchase it will gain an advantage in the long run. However, game director Ion Hazzikostas told PC Gamer in an interview that the aim of the early access was to provide" a head start on leveling, aimed more at a lot of players who may not have as much free time and not have the ability to take time off work, and therefore miss out on that first week of running Mythic Zero [dungeons], or running max level dungeons with their friends and their guild mates who are able to jump in."
This means that the only difference will be some players get to level up quicker and play through the campaign, but with multiple endgame features disabled until the first reset of the expansion, those players won't be able to jump right into the endgame content and progress beyond other players. This restriction also ensures that Season 1 begins with level footing, and "You shouldn't be able to tell the difference between someone by the time Season One [with its raid and Mythic Plus dungeons] starts, who had the early access to someone who didn't."
Restrictions to Early Access
There are several restrictions with early access, as multiple pieces of content, specifically in the endgame, will not be unlocked or limited until the first reset. Some of these include:
- Mythic 0 Dungeons
- Mythic+ Dungeons
- Profession cooldowns
- Professions specialization points
- Rare enemy spawns
- Weekly Quests
The idea is that those with early access can play through the campaign, the max-level campaign, and several pieces of content, but they will not be able to dive into the endgame and the rest of the content until reset, which will have the game fully released by that point. Every player can then partake in The War Within to the fullest.
World of Warcraft
- Released
- November 23, 2004
