Okay, let’s get one thing straight here: I am not here to complain about the upcoming “Dungeons & Dragons” crossover with “World of Warcraft” for no good reason. In fact, I was really looking forward to this book, and considered it to be the first really good reason to perhaps purchase the core D&D 5.5e books. I was a fan of the first WoW TTRPG, which was based upon the D&D 3.5e rules, so I was looking forward to what Wizards of the Coast would do with updating the setting for 5.5e.
Well, after seeing some of the early reviews of this book, I can safely say that there is literally no way in Hell that I would waste a dime of my good money on this book, let alone any WotC product in the future.
So, why the hate, you may ask? It’s simple: This is quite possibly the laziest attempt at a cash-grab I have ever seen in the Tabletop RPG space, and believe me, I’ve seen quite a few of them!
While the artwork is very nice, and certainly has stoked a lot of nostalgia in me for the world of Azeroth, it is the content that artwork surrounds that bothers me. This is a roughly 250 page book, right, chock full of new creatures, classes, races… everything you need to play in the, well… World of Warcraft. Except that really isn’t what you’re getting.
Now it should be no surprise that this is not a standalone TTRPG using the D&D rules, like the first WoW TTRPG was. This is a setting book, which is in itself just fine. Less core rules means more room in the book for WoW-specific classes, races, monsters, spells, magic items, and of course information on the setting and game lore. But even without the core game rules in this rather prodigious tome, you also aren’t getting a bunch of WoW-specific information, either.
Let’s look at classes, for example. While the book includes sections for each core class in WoW, it mostly includes a brief description of the class, a little lore, and then tells you to use a core D&D class with a very specific sub-class in order to play that WoW class. Want to play a Mage? That’s a D&D Wizard, using the Evoker sub-class. How about a Death Knight? That’s a Paladin, using another sub-class.
I could be wrong, since I don’t have this book myself (nor will I ever), but it appears there are few to no new sub-classes, let alone new D&D classes in this book. And the same can be said for other things, too. New races? New spells? Reskins, one and all. I have heard that there are some unique monster stat-blocks, but to be fair, isn’t that the bare minimum we should expect from a setting book in 2026?
Now I get it: WotC needs to make sure that these Universes Beyond books still give people a reason to buy the core rulebooks, and not supplant them. Great, no one says they shouldn’t do that. But at the same time, WoW is not D&D. There is enough difference between the two games that WotC could have produced multiple books to support “World of Warcraft”, all while keeping the core rules out of these books. They could have produced a players tome that included actual full classes and races from the WoW lore, which were specific unto themselves, and not cheap reskins or simple “Use this Class/Sub-class combo” instructions. Same with spells and so forth. WotC could also have produced a DM’s Guide which included monsters, gear, and world lore that would have made every WoW fan blush with anticipation of buying it.
I could see it clearly: Table after table with WoW fans coming to their DM’s, asking if they can play (for example) a Blood Elf Priest, and actually having a fully fleshed out race/class to present, rather than the DM just telling them to use a reskinned Elf Cleric, instead. In fact, if I can see that, and the veritable piles of cash this would have brought in to the WotC coffers – especially in the wake of WoW: Forever’s recent release – then why couldn’t Wizards have seen it?
If this is what we can expect from the Universes Beyond line of books for D&D 5.5e, then all that awaits us is a bunch of overpriced licensed trash.
Luckily I still have my “Star Wars 2nd Edition Revised & Expanded” books from West End Games, so I need not even consider the upcoming “Star Wars” book for D&D 5.5e.