World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Expansion Begins Today

World of Warcraft’s seventh expansion debuts today. Blizzard Entertainment celebrates the arrival of the Battle for Azeroth expansion with a released statement detailing what players can expect as it goes live today.

The Battle for Azeroth sparks a conflict between two of the game’s biggest factions—the Horde and the Alliance, bringing us back to the classic Warcraft and Warcraft 2 plotlines. Blizzard explains that “tensions between the Horde and the Alliance have reached the breaking point, and the entire world of Azeroth is now consumed in the fires of war.”

Mike Morhaime, CEO, and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment comments on how far World of Warcraft has come and what this expansion means for community:

“Battle for Azeroth builds upon nearly 25 years of faction rivalry, history, and pride to challenge World of Warcraft players with the question of what it truly means to be a member of the Alliance or the Horde. This expansion is loaded with new content and features that draw upon that core conflict, but today’s launch is just the beginning—we’re excited for players to experience everything we have planned as the Battle for Azeroth unfolds.”

This massive narrative means big changes to the game as players will now fight on behalf of their faction. Both factions will have to travel to new lands, seeking help from other races to fight in the war. Gathering resources will also play a role in the new expansion as players head out on Island Expeditions. Add in a new level cap and there should be a lot of content for the community to dig into.

Blizzard’s statement details all the new content coming to World of Warcraft: Battle of Azeroth, in which players can expect to:

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 favor of the Dark Iron dwarves, Mag’har orcs, Highmountain tauren, Void elves, 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.

Prepare to Charge the Stromgarde Warfront: Get ready to 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 mode inspired by classic Warcraft real-time strategy-game battles.

Infuse Your Armor 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 customize your armor 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.

The standard edition of World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth is available now for $49.99 both digitally and physically. Meanwhile, there is also a Digital Deluxe Edition available for $69.99 and a retail exclusive Collector’s Edition for $99.99. You can find the full details of these various editions of the game on the World of Warcraft website.

Watch the launch trailer for the Battle for Azeroth expansion below.