World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth’s Pre-Launch Event is Now Live

With mere weeks to go until the release of World of Warcraft’s Battle for Azeroth expansion, Blizzard has now officially kicked off the first leg of a special pre-launch event in which the Alliance and Horde muster their forces for the devastating battles to come.

Both sides brace for war.

The event, which Blizzard is calling the ‘War of the Thorns,’ kicks off with Horde Warchief Sylvannas Windrunner amassing her forces in Ashenvale to launch a surprise offensive on the Night Elven city of Darnassus. Sylvannas’s ultimate goal is to burn Darnassus to the ground, driving the Alliance off the continent of Kalimdor for good, and naturally the Alliance isn’t going to just stand by and let her have her way.

Level 110 players who want to participate in the event can now venture to either Stormwind (for Alliance) or Undercity (for Horde) to begin a new quest chain that ultimately unlocks a new series of limited-time world quests centered around the brewing conflict in Ashenvale and Darnassus. Those who participate in the event can earn gold, faction reputation, and unique gear that can only be obtained during the event.

Sadly, the full narrative of the War of the Thorns event isn’t currently available. Instead, Blizzard is slowly unlocking new parts of the event through a series of week-long time gates. Since there will be a total of three parts, that means that players won’t be able to experience the War of the Thorns in full until August 7, one week before Battle for Azeroth’s August 14 launch date. It’s a move that has caused some grumbling amongst fans, but it also ensures that there will be new narrative developments to look forward to for each week leading up to Battle for Azeroth’s arrival.

In the meantime, World of Warcraft fans can now watch the first in a series of new animated story trailers that help to shape Battle for Azeroth’s looming conflict. Also, if you want to just catch up on any World of Warcraft content you may have missed, the game’s new all-in-one subscription model means that now is the perfect time to do so.