WoW fans rejoice as The War Within brings first new battleground in six years
Blizzard EntertainmentWorld of Warcraft fans have taken to social media to express their delight at the game getting its first new PvP battleground map in six years as part of the release of The War Within expansion.
Overall, the announcements at Blizzcon have been met with collective warmth from the community that follows their flagship titles. For WoW specifically, there was a significant change of direction as the game’s Executive Creative Director, Chris Metzen, announced The Worldsoul Saga. The Saga is a collection of three expansions designed to take players through a single narrative thread over multiple years.
The first is The War Within, a story that will take players into the center of Azeroth alongside some of WoW’s most iconic heroes. As well as a ton of new PvE features and progression systems, Game Director Ian Hazzikostas confirmed they were additionally looking at the PvP landscape.
As part of that, he confirmed a new battleground would arrive with the expansion, and players are delighted at the news.
The new battleground in The War Within has gone down well with fans
In a post on Reddit, a user excitedly shared the news with a broader audience and was met with almost universal delight in return.
Entitled The Ringing Deeps, the most obvious thing to point out about the released map is the immediate resemblance it bears to the existing Silvershard Mines battleground. In that, players have to escort mine carts to reach a resource limit that wins the round for their team, all while fighting the enemy. The crossover points on the map will likely be the flashpoints where PvP participants must secure or escort carts.
Fans were quick to respond with their disbelief after six years of very few changes to PvP more generally, with one summing it up by saying: “Hell has frozen over.” Another chimed in with similar thoughts, saying: “I would have been fine with a reskinned AB or a Reskinned slightly different looking WSG in those six years. It doesn’t have to be a completely different game type, but just anything in those six years. Glad they finally did it.”
Despite the general positivity, many were keen to stress that they felt Blizzard need to be more ambitious with their upcoming PvP changes. One user wants to see more, noting: “Honestly, the game should be getting at least one battleground per expansion, and ideally one per patch. It doesn’t even need to be new game modes, more flag and resource maps would be great.”
Whatever does happen between now and the release of The War Within next year, the developer has made their strongest start in years. Carrying that energy through three expansions is a monumental task, but for the first time in a long time, the general feeling towards World of Warcraft is positive.
