Summary
AllWorld of Warcraftplayers will now be able to access the starting zones for Allied Races, asThe War Withinwill add dedicated portals next to the Alliance and Horde embassies. Allied Races have been one of the more unorthodox additions toWorld of Warcraft, initially introduced in Legion as the expansion’s final content update. The subsequent expansion,Battle for Azeroth, expanded the selection of available Allied Races significantly.
What makes Allied Races different from the basic options inWorld of Warcraftis that players must first unlock them in order to create an Allied Race character. With the inclusion of theEarthen Dwarves inThe War Within, eachWorld of Warcraftfaction has access to six Allied Races, and the Horde and Alliance embassies serve as a hub for Allied Race content. Barring a few exceptions, the starter zones for Allied Races were considered off-limits to regular characters. However, outside of turning in their quest to claim Heritage Armor, players had little reason to return to these exclusive areas.
The recent build forThe War Within,as discovered by Wowhead, is making a change to these starter zones by allowing allWorld of Warcraftplayers to access them via conveniently placed portals. Though certain zones, such as Telogrus Rift, became accessible inDragonflight’s Patch 10.2.7, this change effectively opens up the rest of the Allied Race hubs to everyone.
World of Warcraft is Adding Portals to Allied Race Zones in The War Within
A strong argument could be made that the Alliance is the bigger beneficiary of this change, as Shadowforge City is a significantly larger zone compared to the other Allied Race hubs. Furthermore, unlike the Allied Races of the Alliance, the Mag’har Orcs and the Vulpera don’t have a dedicated starter zone, and insteadbegin theirWorld of Warcraftjourneyin Orgrimmar. While this has little bearing on gameplay, the roleplaying community stands to gain a great deal due to this quality-of-life change, as the new embassy portals offer convenient access to important lore locations such as Suramar and Shadowforge City.
The Earthen Dwarves already have access to their own starter hub via the Alliance and Horde embassies, and it’s likely that this change was made for the sake of uniformity. Thelaunch ofThe War Withinis slated for June 24, 2025, and it’s unlikely that Blizzard will make any dramatic decisions in the beta beyond class balance and quality-of-life changes. Ultimately, theWorld of Warcraftcommunity is excited aboutThe War Within, as it will continueDragonflight’s philosophy of creating evergreen features and being respectful of a player’s time.
