WoW: The War Within beta finally gets a start date—but access is going to cost you

World of Warcraft: The War Within beta officially begins on June 5, introducing new systems, a complete leveling experience, all-new zones, dungeons, delves, Warbands, and the Earthen, the new playable race, the Earthen… but it’ll cost you if you were considering playing this WoW expansion before it officially releases.

WoW: The War Within has been highly anticipated ever since, according to the previously unveiled 2024 roadmap, Dragonflight will no longer be getting any major content updates, and players will be able to get their hands on it a little early thanks to these June tests.

There’s a kicker though; new and returning players can access the testing period for free—but only if the devs invite them, and even then that’s a lucky dip. There’s only one way to truly guarantee access, and that’s by forking over a whopping $90 USD to pre-purchase The War Within Epic Edition.

Now everyone can agree that’s a fair bit of cash, but at least the preorder edition does come with some other goodies, including a pet, a toy, the Earthen Hearthstone effect, and three days early access to The War Within when it officially goes live, which isn’t bad. But for $90, three days of early access isn’t a lot, even with the bonus goodies. You also get access to Dragonflight regardless of the edition you prepurchase which is nice (unless you already own this expansion). It would be great if those who already own Dragonflight got a discount. But alas, that’s simply not the case, and we have to pay full price.

Whether the War Within Epic Edition is worth it is truly up to you. But if you want to try the new delves—which seem to be inspired by Diablo—explore the new zones, and run around as an Earthen with jewels all over you, it may be. However, there is no information on how long the beta will last or if beta characters will roll over once The War Within goes live. So just be warned things could close pretty quickly.

If you’ve prepurchased the base or Heroic Editions or haven’t preordered The War Within at all, you can still register your interest. There’s no harm in trying, and hopefully, some of us will save that $90 and still get to play.