The War Within beta timeline
This page was aimed to document some of the major developments and stumbles of the The War Within beta and alpha.
April
- April 17
- The War Within external alpha test begins.
- Players have access to two servers: Alleria and Khadgar.
- Players are able to explore Isle of Dorn. The zone is accessed through speaking to a giant Questzertauren NPC found in the Valley of Strength in Orgrimmar and the Trade District in Stormwind City. Players can train professions and purchase crafting materials from the following Flaskataurs and associates: Professor Instructaur, Grand Apothecary Alchataur the Second, Reagent Lord Herbataur the Second, Reagent Skeleton Skinnaur the Second, Mimzy Spazzlerock's Second Evil Twin, Firelord Nomi the Second, Veeno the Second and Reagent Lady Minertaur the Second. Clerk Galesong provides access to
[68-70] Crafting Orders. - Most, but not all, hero talent trees are available for testing.
- Placeholder tauren appear on the warband screen after changing graphic settings.
- Template characters did not have their full loadouts of Dragon Glyphs or learned abilities, so they had to take a boat/zep to the Dragon Isles and find a trainer to open the Dragonriding UI to go from 3 to 6 vigor
- April 21
- The servers went offline for a while, and then they came up, addons were accidentally reenabled until the next patch
- April 25
- Access to Isle of Dorn closes, and the Ringing Deeps opens up for testing.
- The game did not persist the window size, so testers had to adjust it every time they started up
- Questers quickly hit a roadblock in the form of a gate that stubbornly refused to appear for [73-75] Retaking the Mines. It was hotfixed late on the 26th.
- Peering into Hallowfall, players may catch a glimpse of The Guardian or the Soaring Behemoth flying around.
- Two new hero talent trees added: Fel-Scarred for demon hunters and Mastery of Harmony for monks.
May
- May 2
- The Ringing Deeps is closed and Hallowfall is opened. Newly-arriving players are met by Captain Placeholder, back with a triumphant return who says:
PREVIOUSLY, ON WAR WITHIN:
Anduin is working with Adelgonn, an earthen leader from our first zone, to meet the Arathi of Hallowfall and see if they will join forces against the nerubians.
We met with Anduin in the prior zone, came to Hallowfall, and saw his reaction to the crystal in the sky. They have since come to the town of Dunelle's Kindness, where Faerin, an Arathi lamplighter, and General Steelstrike, have just had an argument about whether retreat from the nerubians was correct.
- [75-78] For Their Eyes Only was not working for the first hours
- Questzertauren got a Dragonriding trainer option, but broke the ability to teleport to Hallowfall
- The end of the Hallowfall storyline ( [75-78] The Reckoning) sees Captain Placeholder again, alongside two dancing Imperial Lynx and Zandelvari, the Delve Wayfinder at Light's Redoubt, since characters can't reach Azj-Kahet:
The journey continues in Azj-Kahet, but not right now! Thank you for playtesting the level up campaign of Hallowfall. We always appreciate your input.
If your camera is broken after the airship ride, a relog should fix it.
- Zandelvari starts a test-only quest, [70-80] Delver's Guide to Delves
- Two new hero talent trees added: Archon for priests and Fatebound for rogues.
- May 3
- With the ability to teleport to Hallowfall still broken, several testers were able to summon more people in, using the meeting stone at the Priory of the Sacred Flame in Mereldar.
- The server was taken offline and remained so for roughly 8 hours
- Around 6:15 PM PDT, the servers were brought back online, but level 76+ characters were locked. Questzertauren was fixed and teleports players to Hallowfall properly
- Pre-Hallowfall characters cannot get sent to Hallowfall, as Questzertauren says
I'm sorry friend, it looks like you aren't eligible for any of the places I can currently send you. Creating a new template character should allow me to help you get started in The War Within!
- May 9
- Hallowfall is closed and Azj-Kahet is available, starting the Azj-Kahet storyline
- Players catch up with Captain Exposition exiting the Breathing Pit for [78-80] Fear the Old Blood and [78-80] For Naught, So Vial, where he says:
As the player and Orweyna emerge from the Breathing Pit, they are confronted by the other harronir in Orweyna's pod.
An argument ensues, the other harronir questioning why Orweyna would break one of the sacred rules to enlist the help of this mortal. Orweyna says that it had to be done for the sake of the roots. The harronir begrudgingly accept the new direction and depart for now, but not before warning Orweyna that there will be consequences for all of them for what she has done.
- AddOns were enabled, intentionally this time
- The Stormbringer hero talent tree added for shaman
- May 14
- A Tuesday build rather than the usual Thursday build (likely because of Pandaria Remix launching on Thursday)
- Questzertauren allows players to head to all four level-up zones at the appropriate level
- The Khaz Algar Summary button on the minimap was added and shows all four Renown factions
- Dornogal guards have developed a taste for player blood, and merely targeting them will turn them hostile!
- The Totemic hero talent tree added for shaman
Gallery
Suddenly, tauren. Several of them!
The missing gate, found!
It's a party!
See also
External links
World of Warcraft Community Site The War Within Alpha Development Notes