WoW: The War Within adds genius “Arachnophobia Filter” to next expansion offering

World of Warcraft’s next expansion is nearly here, and The War Within is bringing intuitive new features to the 20-year-old MMO. One of the most exciting is a new visual accessibility option dubbed the “Arachnophobia Filter” by the developer.

In a recent post on the official World of Warcraft website, Blizzard confirmed several new features being added to the game with The War Within. Among them was the Arachnophobia Filter, which automatically replaces spider-like models in the game with something less upsetting for those with the common phobia.

Though this change hasn’t been possible with every single spider enemy in WoW, it should mostly address the problem for some stress-free adventuring in Azeroth. Players will be able to toggle it on and off via the main menu’s accessibility options.

This confirmation came as part of a wider announcement of new features in The War Within. The Map Legend is getting a total overhaul that should make it easier to understand what exactly is going on and where.

In addition to giving many a visual refresh to many of the existing icons, there are some new quest and activity categories for better differentiation without add-ons. The Quest Log has also been tidied up significantly, with new ways to dictate exactly what you want to track.

Lastly, the spellbook and talent menus have been combined into a single option on the hotbar. This also incorporates the new Hero Talents being added to the game with The War Within, which themselves are designed to augment the existing classes and specializations.

With the expansion set to release on August 26, players don’t have long to wait to try out the new UI. The pre-patch will also give the community its first look at some of The War Within’s bigger features (including Warbands), with that set to hit live servers on July 23.