World of Warcraft's Battle for Azeroth expansion has recently been pinned for an August 14th release date. Once it arrives, it'll bring with it a massive new area to explore, six new Allied races with unique storylines and racial attributes, new raids and dungeons, a new large-scale PvP mode and the option to construct and defend your very own fortresses, and perhaps most interestingly of all, the ability to investigate uncharted and randomly generated islands.

If you're wondering how exactly these Island Expeditions will function, as well as why you would even want to do them, you'll find the answers you seek in the most recent developer preview right below. Have a look, it's quite an interesting video:

I'll reserve my judgement for when I finally get to experience them myself, but idea behind Island Expeditions is a pretty darn good one. World of Warcraft has always been lacking in difficult end-game content for smaller groups of players, so the three-man Island Expeditions seem like the perfect tool to offer that dungeon/raid experience without the hassle of actually trying to gather a dozen competent players. More importantly, due to the smaller group sizes your personal performance will often end up being the deciding factor between a victory and a loss, which is something World of Warcraft could definitely use more of.

You can read more about the Island Expeditions, as well as Battle for Azeroth itself, by visiting the official website.