Recap of WoW Deep Dive Panel at BlizzCon 2023

BlizzCon 2023 has provided World of Warcraft players with an exciting recap of the Deep Dive panel, revealing new features and updates coming in the next expansion, The War Within. Game Director Ion Hazzikostas delved deeper into the game's philosophy and the plans to enhance player experience with evergreen content and improved gameplay mechanics. In this blog post, we'll explore the new additions, including Delves, Warbands, Hero Talents, the Earthen allied race, dynamic flight, PvP updates, and more!

Delves: Exciting Adventures for Solo and Group Play

Introducing Delves, a new endgame pillar alongside dungeons, raids, and PvP. These quick adventures can be experienced alone or with a group of up to five players. With 12 different Delves available at launch, players will embark on 10-15 minute adventures in various environments throughout Khaz Algar. Shaped by lessons learned from previous content like Torghast, Islands, and Scenarios, Delves offer more player choice, variety, and replayability.

• Unravel mysteries and seek out treasure in Khaz Algar
• Enjoy new seasonal rewards with a narrative tie-in and NPC companions
• Meet Brann Bronzebeard, the NPC companion for Season One

During a Delve adventure, players will face puzzles, defeat bosses, and make their way to a treasure-filled room at the end. The rewards include currency, gold, chances at cosmetics, and more. If players possess the right key, they can open large Resplendent Chests that occasionally appear. Keys can be earned in other Delves, outdoor gameplay, or through a weekly quest—ensuring a balanced reward system against dungeon and raid loot.

Warbands: An Alt-Friendly Experience

Over the years, players have embraced multiple alternative characters, leading to the need for a more alt-friendly experience. Warbands will provide account-wide convenience and flexibility without boosting the power of alts. Here are some features:

• Warband Bank: Share items between characters on a single Battle.net account
• Warbound Items: Bonus personal loot items that can be shared with alternate characters

• Transmogrification Collection and Warband Reputations

Warbands will integrate with the Transmogrification Collection, allowing players on one character to add class-specific items to their collection for use on other characters. Additionally, several Warband reputations will become available for all characters, eliminating the need to re-earn reputation on each alternate character.

• Flight Paths, Delves, and Achievements

Unlocking a flight path on one character will grant access to all characters in your Warband. Leveling up a companion NPC will also be accessible to all characters within your Warband. Furthermore, achievements will become account-wide, rewarding the individual player rather than specific characters.

Hero Talents: Deepening Class Fantasy

The War Within expansion brings 10 new talent points for each of the 10 levels players will earn. These Hero talents offer a deeper class fantasy, flexibility, and progression without overwhelming complexity. Each specialization will have access to two of the three Hero trees:

Note: Names of Hero Talent trees are subject to change.

Earthen Allied Race and Dynamic Flight

Completing The War Within's campaign and the endgame questline will unlock access to the Earthen Allied Race. This new race can join either the Horde or the Alliance and play as various classes. Additionally, dynamic flight will be available for many flying mounts in all flyable areas, including Khaz Algar, and players can switch between dynamic flight and the flying style introduced in The Burning Crusade.

New Battleground and Interface Updates

A new 10v10 capture-point battleground set in the Ringing Deeps will challenge players with minecart control and a central node. Additionally, the interface will see improvements, with a cleaner Spellbook layout, enhanced quest filtering options, and refined icons.

Cross-Realm Guilds and Future Updates

Blizzard aims to remove social barriers by allowing players to freely apply for or recruit new players to their guild, regardless of the realm they are on. Mythic raiding is available from the start of The War Within, and the Hall of Fame will continue to recognize top guilds. More updates on The War Within's progress will be shared in the future.

Have any burning questions? Don't forget to submit them for the upcoming Q&A session! Stay tuned for further updates on World of Warcraft: The War Within!