It won't be long before the World of Warcraft: The War Within early access release time is here. Tomorrow the 20-year-old MMO will get its latest expansion that introduces a new playable race and, for the first time in its history, a new account-wide progression system. The War Within also kicks off a trilogy of expansions said to finally wrap up story threads that began back when WoW was just a baby MMO.

Several of the expansion's features are already available via a pre-release update, namely Warbands, WoW's long-awaited answer for people with a stable of characters they like to play. Warbands is what happens if you squeeze all your characters into a get along t-shirt and let them share progress in the game. Reputations, transmog cosmetics, and gear are all included. Our own Fraser Brown is a big fan, calling it “a tantalizing teaser for WoW's new trajectory.”

It's been years since I've seriously played WoW, but it sounds like it's a great time to get back on the sparkle pony and try again. Here's when The War Within launches for people who preordered the Epic Edition. 

When is the World of Warcraft: The War Within early access release time? 

The three-day early access period for The War Within begins at 3 pm Pacific on Thursday, August 22, and then it'll go live for everyone on August 26. Blizzard is based in California, so it tends to launch things in its own time zone, which is why countries like Germany and Australia will technically have to wait until Friday. You can check what time it opens up in your local time or view the global launch times below: 

• 3 pm PDT (Los Angeles)
• 6 pm EDT (New York)
• 7 pm BRT (São Paulo)
• 11 pm BST (London)
• 12 am, August 23 CEST (Berlin)
• 8 am, August 23 AEST (Sydney)
• 10 am, August 23 NZST (Auckland)

If you haven't touched the game for a while, you can download it on Blizzard's Battle.net launcher. Once you've updated to the latest patch, you won't need anything else before you can jump in tomorrow. You may, however, want to watch a story recap video to understand what's been going on in Azeroth the last few years and what the goth elf on the cover is up to.