World of Warcraft’s next expansion The War Within will run a beta before launch, and you can sign up now

World of Warcraft is setting a whole new story arc in motion with its next expansion, The War Within. If you can’t quite wait until this summer to see what the first chapter of the new Worldsoul Saga trilogy has to offer, you might not have to wait so long. Blizzard are running a beta for War Within that will give testers the chance to delve into the subterranean addition early - and sign-ups are now open.

The War Within was revealed at the end of last year as the next big step for modern WoW, while WoW Classic continues to crack open the time capsule of expansions past - with Cataclysm next on the nostalgic trip.

The War Within will kick off the three-part Worldsoul Saga with a new campaign story, as well as adding everything else you’d expect from a major expansion such as a new playable Allied race in the Earthen, eight new dungeons, a new raid, new ‘Delve’ experiences for smaller parties, a fresh season of PvP and four new zones, including the underground Ringing Deeps, the Pandarian isle of Dorn, Hallowfall castle and the city of Azj-Kahet.

That’s all due to arrive sometime this summer, with a content update in the autumn bringing more story, quests and updates, along with some kind of celebration for WoW’s 20th anniversary (can you believe it?)

If that sounds like the kind of thing you can’t wait a few more months for, best get yourself over to Blizzard’s registration page for the War Within beta. They’ll be inviting testers starting soon and then throughout the beta period, allowing for an early look at the new expansion’s offerings.

Once you’ve got an invite in hand, you’ll be able to select the test server from within the MMO itself, which will also let you make a copy of your existing character (or make a new one) to give it a look.