World of Warcraft's upcoming "The War Within" expansion is making its way to everyone in just over a month, but starting this week, the pre-patch goes live (tomorrow!) and it brings forward many changes to the user interface. The largest changes though? New quest icons! There have been so many different systems using the same few icons, Blizzard has gone through and revamped everything to provide more distinction within the map and interface so you know what you want to complete immediately and what side quests are available for later.

Check out Blizzard's preview down below of what you can expect in The War Within.

Quote From Blizzard

New Map Legend

zone map with expanded map legend

Players can open the map (Hotkey M) to view a new map key that has been added, letting you quickly and easily identify various types of quests and content.

QUESTS
  • Campaign: Quests that continue the main story.
  • Legendary: Quests that give legendary rewards.
  • Repeatable: Time gated quests.
  • In Progress: Quests that are currently in progress.
  • Important: Quests that unlock important features and rewards or teach you about the major mechanics.
  • Meta: Time gated quests that give valuable end game rewards.
  • Local Story: Quests that explore local cultures and side adventures.
  • Turn In: Quests that are ready to be turned in.
LIMITED-TIME ACTIVITIES
  • World Quests: Open world activities that give varying rewards.
  • Bonus Objective: Bonus open world activities that give experience and varying amounts of rewards.
  • Rare: A special creature that provides various rewards.
  • World Boss: A difficult open world boss that drops valuable loot, intended for large groups of players.
  • Event: Various patch specific activities that provide valuable rewards.
  • Rare Elite: A rare special creature that has a chance of dropping valuable loot.
ACTIVITIES
  • Dungeon: Content designed for a party of five adventures and provides loot.
  • Hub: A central location with NPCs, activities, and available quests.
  • Pet Battle: Challenge NPCs to pet battles.
  • Raid: Challenging content that is intended for large groups of players, and provides valuable loot.
  • Delves (not shown in screenshot): Content designed for a party of five adventurers using any combat role, and provides loot.
  • Digsite: An archaeology location where you can dig for artifacts.
MOVEMENT
  • Teleport Point: Teleports you to a different region.
  • Cave Entrance: The entrance to a cave or different zone.
  • Flightpoint: Transports you to a different area in the same region.

Quest Log Updates

Additional updates have been made to the quest log (Hotkey L) with an additional checkbox selector for the quests you would like to track along with additional information on the quest and its status. Mousing over the quest in the log will also identify types of quests such as whether it’s Repeatable, Important, or part of a Campaign questline. It will have an icon with three dots showing if a quest is in progress or a campfire indicating it’s part of a Warbands eligible quest.

Spellbook Updates

Warrior Talent Tree with Fury Talents and Slayer Hero Talents displayed Hero Talent selection screen showing Slayer and Mountain Thane Trees

Along with the addition of Hero Talents (available at level 71) to the Talent Pane, additional updates have been made to the Spellbook. Specializations, Talents, and the Spellbook have all been consolidated into a single Talents and Spellbook option (Hotkey N) in the interface.

Full-Sized and Minimized Spellbook

Players will be able to view more of their spells and abilities on one screen with all discipline abilities more easily viewable within the pages. The search function at the top of the Spellbook will also allow players to view spells and abilities that are missing from the action bar. The Spellbook can also be minimized and passive abilities can be hidden from the list.

Crafting Reagents

Reagents will now indicate what expansion they are associated with, making it easier to sort through the items you have stashed in your bank and determine if you REALLY need that Rain Poppy you’ve been saving from Pandaria or if it’s really time to just let it go.

Arachnophobia Mode

For those who have an aversion to spiders and would rather not see them on your screen while adventuring, a new Arachnophobia Mode is available within the Game Menu (Escape Hotkey) Options under Accessibility in the General section.

pink and lavender large hermit crab-like creature

Warning: Clicking on this image will reveal the original model.

While selected, spiders will be visually replaced with alternative creatures where possible. Not all spider models will be replaced and you may still come across references, but we hope that this additional option will aid you in your adventures throughout Azeroth. Learn more in our support article (clicking on examples will show both spiders and the alternate form in the same reveal).

We hope these and many improvements will help make your time in Azeroth even better.