Warbands Are Coming to World of Warcraft: The War Within, Making Progression Easier

World of Warcraft’s upcoming expansion The War Within is set to debut some groundbreaking new features for the iconic MMO. One such feature is the introduction of Warbands, which will give players a golden opportunity to buff their alt characters in a far more feasible way. If you’re wondering what exactly they are and how they’ll work, here’s our handy guide that explains everything we know so far about Warbands.

What Are Warbands in The War Within & How Will They Work?

Without question, Warbands will be one of the most anticipated new features coming to The War Within and the game as a whole. Grinding alt characters in World of Warcraft has always been an arduous journey, but it has become the norm for much of the player community now. Aside from buying level boosts, you still have to repeat many of the same challenges and achievements you obtained previously.

However, that’s all about to change with the introduction of the Warband system. It will allow you to share most of your main character’s progression account-wide, from achievements to weapons, gear sets, transmog collections, and more, courtesy of a Warband Bank. This means that any alts you have will get to share in the spoils, regardless of their faction (Alliance or Horde).

This is one major part of Blizzard’s strategy to cater to the expectations of a more modern and accessible MMO experience. In essence, the goal is to shift from its classic character-specific progression to account-wide progression that embraces more “convenience and flexibility” (as mentioned at BlizzCon) for players.

With the Warband system, players will also notice a big change to the Character Select menu. A cozy campfire setting will replace the classic dashboard (as seen above), and feature your main character along with any registered alts you currently have, all on the same screen.

Will Warbands Cover All Expansions?

Before you go launching new or existing alt characters with the intention of bringing them all into your Warband circle, it’s important to know exactly how this new system will work.

Upon the release of The War Within later this Summer, Warbands will not cover every previous expansion. Starting out, they will apply only to progression made during Dragonflight and The War Within. As it is a new concept to WoW, the developers will need time to tweak and refine it, and ultimately figure out the perfect balance in terms of what exactly players can share between characters.

However, they have confirmed that Warband progression will eventually extend to all expansions, which is certainly a big relief for many. It will be a gradual process, so patience is key while the Worldsoul Saga unfolds.

That concludes our guide to Warbands in World of Warcraft The War Within. We hope you found this helpful, and let us know what you’re looking forward to most in this upcoming expansion.

Be sure to check out all of our other guides and news about World of Warcraft, such as how to check server status in the game.