World of Warcraft: Midnight
WoW Midnight drags a Void storm over Quel'Thalas and makes the Sunwell the first thing worth defending. Characters work through the blood elf homeland, an Amani troll forest, a primordial jungle and the Voidstorm itself, with Zul'Aman and Harandar open in either order after Eversong Woods.
Top 3 Reasons to Play
- Every player receives a free home; there is no lottery and nothing to maintain. Houses can be shared across a Warband, visited cross-faction and placed in public or private neighborhoods, and extra interior space comes from earning Neighborhood Favor.
- Two new ways to build a character. The Devourer is a third Demon Hunter specialization, a caster that fights at mid-range with a glaive and feeds on Void fragments taken from slain foes rather than fel energy. The Haranir allied race joins either faction and can be a Druid, Hunter, Mage, Monk, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock or Warrior, and a short questline opens the Demon Hunter class to Void Elves.
- Prey hunts pit players against powerful targets scattered through the zones, and the quarry may turn the tables mid-hunt. Normal, Hard and Nightmare difficulties scale the threat.
Story and Lore
Midnight is the middle chapter of the Worldsoul Saga, the three-expansion arc that began with The War Within. A three-chapter prelude questline in a late War Within patch leads in, and the campaign proper opens with a desperate defense of the Sunwell on the Isle of Quel'Danas.
Xal'atath, the Harbinger, drives the invasion. From the Voidstorm she moves to dominate Azeroth's worldsoul, and the storm hangs over Eversong Woods, an area reshaped by the Sunwell's renewed power.
- Opening: the Sunwell defense leads straight into Eversong Woods, the first leveling zone.
- Zul'Aman, Harandar and Arator's Journey can be played in any order, and the Voidstorm opens once they are done.
- Max level: a six-chapter campaign continues the story from there.
Gameplay and Mechanics
- Dungeons (8): Windrunner Spire, Magisters' Terrace, Murder Row, Den of Nalorakk, Maisara Caverns, Blinding Vale, Nexus-Point Xenas and Voidscar Arena.
- Raids (3, with nine encounters in total): The Voidspire has six, The Dreamrift one, and March on Quel'Danas two, ending at the Sunwell Plateau.
- Delves: ten standard Delves plus a Nemesis Delve, with Valeera Sanguinar as the companion.
On the PvP side, Slayer's Rise is a 40 vs. 40 battleground set in the Voidstorm, and a Training Grounds mode lets players fight game-controlled opponents. Transmog moves to an outfit-based system that can save favorite looks and assign default appearances to each gear slot.
Characters and Factions
- Xal'atath: the Harbinger, who rules the Voidstorm with her Devouring Host.
- Arator: son of Alleria Windrunner and Turalyon. Players recruit him at Alonsus Faol's request, and his questline hunts for relics of the Light as priest and paladin reserves run dry.
- Zul'jarra: the Amani chieftain searching for a way to protect her people from the Void, advised by her brother Zul'jan.
- Lor'themar Theron, who leads the blood elves, and Sylvanas Windrunner also appear among the returning cast.
The blood elves hold Silvermoon City, rebuilt as the campaign hub and open as a sanctuary to both Horde and Alliance, apart from a Horde-exclusive quarter. The Amani trolls hold Zul'Aman, where their truce with the blood elves is fraying and the old loa temples have been left to the forest.
Harandar is a primordial jungle at the roots of the World Trees, home to the haranir and to the warriors called the Shul'ka, who guard the Rift of Aln against what climbs out of it. The Voidstorm belongs to void creatures, among them the domanaar, beings that are both strong and organized into a hierarchy. Horde and Alliance get separate questing hubs there.
Editions
Midnight comes in three tiers, and each includes everything from the one below.
- Base Edition: Midnight, a license for The War Within if the account does not already have it, an enhanced level 80 character boost and 500 Trader's Tender, the Trading Post currency.
- Heroic Edition: everything in Base, plus 1,000 Trader's Tender in total, the Lightwing Dragonhawk flying mount and the Lightstrider Raiment transmog set.
- Epic Edition: everything in Heroic, plus 2,000 Trader's Tender in total, the Voidstrider Raiment set, the Voidwing Dragonhawk and Voidlight Surger flying mounts, the Hopeflutter and Doomfeathers pets, housing decor (Light-infused and Void-corrupted rotundas and fountains, and four character paintings) and 30 days of game time.