Battle for Azeroth in World of Warcraft’s next expansion

World of Warcraft‘s next expansion, “Battle for Azeroth”, was today detailed by Blizzard.

Available for pre-purchase from today and available this Australian winter, those who take advantage “can begin their journey to recruit four of the expansion’s new Allied Races, each representing comrades they’ve fought alongside on the Broken Isles and Argus in the game’s most recent expansion, Legion,” Blizzard confirmed.

Here’s what the expansion offers:

• Explore Two Fabled Kingdoms: As a champion of the Horde, travel to the empire of Zandalar to persuade the trolls to lend their naval might. As a defender of the Alliance, venture to the seafaring kingdom of Kul Tiras, home of Jaina Proudmoore, and rally its inhabitants to fight for your cause.
• Recruit Allied Races: Take a new form for your adventures as several new playable Allied Races, each with unique racial abilities. Earn the favour of the Highmountain tauren, Void elves, Dark Iron dwarves, and others to create a new character of that race and add their strength to your faction.
• Plunder the Islands of the Great Sea: Set out on Island Expeditions and conquer an ever-changing array of enemies, environments, and objectives. Battle in groups of three as you race against cunning rival intruders—or enemy players—to collect each island’s resources and fuel the war effort.
• Charge Into a Warfront: Fight on the battlefields of a large-scale, 20-player cooperative Warfront to claim a key strategic location. Capture resources to build your faction’s forces, lead the charge as your troops lay siege to objectives, and fight the enemy commander to claim victory in this new PvE mode inspired by classic Warcraft real-time strategy–game battles.
• Infuse Your Armour with Titanic Might: Seek out Azerite, an invaluable new resource that has emerged in the Burning Legion’s wake. Imbue the Heart of Azeroth—a legendary neck piece entrusted to each hero by Magni Bronzebeard—with Azerite to customise your armour with new powers and traits.
• Battle to Level 120: Trace the corruption of the Blood God to the Underrot, unearth the secrets of a lost titan vault, escape from the Drust Realm of the Dead, and more as you quest through 10 new levels—then continue to grow in power through new World Quests, raids, dungeons, and more.

“Upon winning the respect of an Allied Race by completing quests and earning reputation, players will unlock the ability to create characters of that race and set out on a new adventure across Azeroth,” Blizzard continued. “Alliance players can add the shadow-touched Void elves and valiant Lightforged draenei to their ranks, while members of the Horde will be able to bring the ancient Nightborne and noble Highmountain tauren into their faction’s fold—with additional Allied Races to come in the future.”

Those who pre-purchase are also given the game’s level-110 character boost immediately. Upon full level 20–110 completion as an Allied Race character, players will gain access to that race’s Heritage Armour, “a set of cosmetic gear that represents their dedication to finding their people’s place in Azeroth,” according to Blizzard.

The game offers both standard ($69.95 AUD) and Digital Deluxe ($94.95 AUD) editions. The Digital Deluxe edition includes in-game bonuses that allow you to proudly proclaim your allegiance to the Horde or the Alliance in a variety of Blizzard games, including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, StarCraft II, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch.

“Battle for Azeroth” will also be offered as a boxed Collector’s Edition, though details on that particular release haven’t yet been made available.

World of Warcraft‘s “Battle for Azeroth” expansion heads to PC later this year.