Blood In The Water

WORLD OF WARCRAFT players have killed gods and kings. Now it’s time to kill one another in BATTLE FOR AZEROTH.

- Steven Messner

Even in defeat, Sargeras casts a shadow over Azeroth. In the climax of Legion, the titan plunged his sword into its crust—a final effort to destroy the planet. As you may guess, sticking a continent-sized sword into a living world isn’t a good thing for its denizens.

The battle with Sargeras and his Burning Legion cost the Horde and the Alliance more than lives, however, it also destroyed any trust that existed between the factions. Battle for Azeroth marks a new chapter for World of Warcraft—not just because Blizzard is returning to the conflict that started it all, but in how it’s pushing this 14-year-old MMO into brave new frontiers.

“Horde and Alliance tensions have been an undercurrent throughout all of Warcraft history, but we’ve never really tried or had the chance to tell the story of a full-blown war between them,” game director Ion Hazzikostas tells me. “And now it’s time to settle that score.”

It’s a bold vision for an MMO that has historically focused on defeating mutual villains, like Arthas the Lich King. But Blizzard is reinforcing this theme of all-out warfare on multiple fronts. Each faction sets sail to their own continent, and when players reach the new level cap of 120, they’ll invade the other faction’s territory. Two radically different game modes and a completely new PvP ruleset lay the groundwork for battles at every turn. Nothing and no one is safe, as evidenced by the Horde burning the night elf capital city to the ground while the Alliance tries to retake the undead city of Lordaeron. “There’s a lot of inspiration that is taken from the early real-time strategy roots of the entire Warcraft franchise,” Hazzikostas says. “But we really set out to craft an expansion that reflects that Horde-versus-Alliance conflict every step of the way.”