A World of Warcraft game master has been fired from Blizzard Entertainment after the community caught them using "development-only spells" to help their friends breeze through a dungeon and instantly wipe two bosses. Essentially, they were caught helping some mates cheat.

The cheating scandal first came to light earlier this week when a couple of Reddit users shared evidence that a game master had used insta-kill abilities usually reserved for Blizzard employees to demolish at least two bosses. A player from the group all but spelled out the situation in a stream with Yumytv, too: "I go to my GM friend and I'm like bro please can you do me a solid? This thing has 20 million [health] bro, can you please just one-shot it?"

Things sort of escalated from there, with the community wondering how commonplace incidents like this were. "Now you know it exists, therefore the pandora's box is wide open," one Redditor writes. "Which make you question a lot of stuff." Were secret GMs all around, helping their pals achieve titles and record runs?

As PC Gamer reports, Blizzard has now investigated the incident, fired the employee responsible, and assured folks that GMs aren't regularly manipulating games in secret.

"As we mentioned, we internally monitored and confirmed a recent incident in which a World of Warcraft group gained an unfair advantage by abuse of access to development-only spells on a live realm," community manager Randy 'Kaivax' Jordan writes in a recent forum post. "Our tools confirmed what was also surfaced in community discussions, and we have investigated the incident carefully. We can confirm that this was the action of a single Blizzard employee, in violation of our Code of Conduct. This employee is no longer with the company effective immediately. We are also taking action against the player accounts that were complicit in this violation.

"It has always been the case that a small number of Blizzard employees can use developer tools and spells on live servers: this lets us test and make urgent fixes to the live game when they’re needed," Kaivax explains. "Every use of these internal spells and commands on live realms is logged and shared with our Platform Security team to help ensure that the occasional use of this access is warranted. The use of development tools for anything other than development work is against company policy. It's because of the process we have in place around use of these tools that we're confident this incident was isolated to one individual."

The community manager than thanks everyone who brought the information to light, alongside community-led sites. "When your findings line up with ours, it helps confirm that our own tools are catching what they should, and we're grateful for the way we work alongside you all to protect the game and each other."

"You'll never get another World of Warcraft or Morrowind in the current climate," id Software producer says as constant layoffs batter the industry.

A World of Warcraft game master has been accused of helping a Twitch streamer's Mythic group cheat a high-level dungeon by using their GM powers to insta-kill an enemy, and Blizzard says it's actively investigating the situation as evidence piles up.

This began with a July 21 Reddit post from user Acrobatic_Pianist688, who claimed to have seen a "Blizzard GM death touching mobs in M+23 for their favorite streamer." Of course, we don't actually know if anyone's "favorite" streamer was involved, but Acrobatic_Pianist did link to a Warcraft Log record showing an abrupt end to a Mythic+23 fight in the Nexus-Point Xenas dungeon, caused by an "instakill" and "Area Death (TEST)" effect from user Daijosai, believed to be the GM in question.

Game masters are Blizzard employees with World of Warcraft privileges and permissions that enable them to resolve in-game disputes and support requests.

The incident caught fire online, and chatter only intensified after this Warcraft log was highlighted in a stream from WoW content creator yumytv during a conversation with Yiesus, a small Twitch streamer and one of the apparent teammates in this dungeon run, who's described by yumy as "witness testimony."

The moment was clipped and shared, the Twitch chat filled with accusations of "cheater," after Yiesus openly said, "I go to my GM friend, I'm like, bro, please can you do me a solid? This thing has 20 mil bro, can you please just one-shot? One time for the one time. I meant no harm from it. If Blizzard wants to revoke that key or revoke my title, whatever they see fit, I don't care. Personally, I think it was harmless. I didn't expect him to do it. In hindsight he shouldn't have done it. He was just doing me a solid."

One of the other streamers in this dungeon run, YaraByte, shared the same clip on her Twitter.

This mess quickly reached the official Blizzard forums, with players calling for the GM to be punished and the clear to be revoked, prompting a response from Blizzard. Late Tuesday night, community manager Randy 'Kaivax' Jordan replied, both in the forum thread and to the original Reddit post.

"Thank you to those who flagged this," Jordan says. "We are reviewing and will take action as appropriate. A fair and competitive playing field is essential to our games, and we won’t tolerate cheating."

Blizzard continues taking action against World of Warcraft private servers as it pushes on with a lawsuit citing "large-scale, egregious, and ongoing infringement" of its MMO.

The past couple of weeks have been undeniably difficult for the video game industry, with Microsoft's plan to cut 3,200 employees at Xbox affecting various in-progress titles and studios – one of which is id Software, the team behind Doom.

In fact, id Software producer Andrew Willis has spoken at length about the layoffs and their impact across the board. A few days ago, he called them "incomprehensible," saying that small worker-owned studios are "the only path forward" from here.

Since then, he's continued to share his thoughts over on LinkedIn, writing, "The games industry must change if it is going to create art and franchises that have long-term sustainable value."

As the producer states, "Right now, it feels like the monopolies that control it are simply trying to extract as much goodwill and value (that took decades to build) as they can with little concern for the diminishing returns it's leading to. This is what happens when the people who control it (most Ivy League MBAs) do not play games, have never shipped a game, and fundamentally do not understand the industry they manage."

Willis then says, "You'll never get another WoW or Morrowind in the current climate" – a statement I can't help but feel rings especially true right now.

It's difficult to imagine such impactful games releasing when so many developers are struggling to mitigate the blow that widespread layoffs are leaving in their wake… and according to the producer, a lot of the issues stem from improper management.

"One thing that drives me nuts while watching the games industry be mismanaged is how everyone is looking for these massive 10x returns but is so focused on short-term growth that they essentially kill the goose before it can start laying eggs," as he explains.

"Disbanding and destroying a team after just one commercial letdown… makes it so you won't ever have a group that learns from their mistakes and perfects their next attempt (see Helldivers 2)."

With such quick trigger-pulling, Willis says studios will "never get that breakout success" they're after.

"These people would've turned down funding for George Lucas, Walt Disney, etc., and they wonder why they can't establish another colossal IP that pays dividends for decades. It's mind-boggling. There is lots wrong with the game industry, but I believe that one of the main things is that the people who manage it today have no idea how it actually works and refuse to learn or listen to the people that do."

The producer cites how wild it is to see spending on hardware and software go up, but layoffs never settling.

"It's really amazing how demand and consumer spending on video games continues to increase year over year, and yet the supply side continues to be extremely volatile for employees," he describes. "The failure to connect these two sides in a way that creates sustainable growth points to a direct failure of executive leadership – the consequences of which are only suffered by workers."

Willis signs off with one final thought: "The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that the executive management class that controls the video game industry is so severely inept that they have somehow failed everyone all at once in every aspect – the shareholders, the consumers, the employees, and anyone who cares about games. They tried to sacrifice quality for profit, and they didn't even manage to generate the latter. Abysmal choices."

I'm inclined to agree with Willis on his point about a "breakout success" in this climate – it feels near impossible. Here's hoping the industry is able to heal a bit over time, and that we see less news regarding mass layoffs, too.

Layoffs might offer "better short-term financial results," late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata admitted in 2013, but "employees who fear that they may be laid off" will never produce the same results

World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14 players can finally earn some cash by playing their beloved respective MMOs and put it towards a real-life degree – but it's not as easy as it may sound.

The University of Silicon Valley in California has quite an offer on the table for a few very lucky select students (10-15 annually, apparently) – the Max Achievement Scholarship, as the educational institution outlines on its official website.

If you've not heard of it before, it gives folks a chance to score up to $15,000 in scholarship money… but it's far simpler said than actually done. It isn't only a matter of playing games, you see.

As the university explains, "The Max Achievement Scholarship recognizes students who have demonstrated extraordinary mastery, persistence, and systems thinking through the completion of rare and demanding achievements in digital gaming environments."

Yes, that means that aspiring players need to get to grindin' in their game of choice. We're talking "ultra-rare accomplishments" for the "Legendary Tier" of awards.

Many of these, as the University of Silicon Valley describes, require "500+ hours of sustained mastery across complex systems (typically <1% global completion rate)." For example, World of Warcraft players need to have Loremaster unlocked, all 13 professions maxed, and 25+ Exalted reputations, plus the Keystone Master achievement.

As for Final Fantasy 14 players, the requirements are higher than the in-game requirements to become a Mentor.

I know, I know, those aren't exactly ridiculously high themselves – but the university's are. Players need all 20 combat jobs and eight crafter/gatherer jobs at level 100 (the game's max level), plus all role quests and "all 12 extreme trials cleared," although it's not specified which ones.

I'm assuming Dawntrail's trials… and then some? The bottom line is that this scholarship money isn't easily obtainable, regardless.

MMOs aren't the only games up for the cash, either – heck, there's everything from Minecraft to Dark Souls (good luck with that one). You can even apply as a general PC, PlayStation 5, or Xbox Series X|S gamer, but you'll need platinums and perfect games galore.

Put simply, there's no quick way to have a go at the Max Achievement Scholarship money. If you think you might qualify, though, the university is accepting submissions now.

Multiple achievements may be submitted, too – but "achievements earned via modded, private, or emulated servers are not eligible." So, if you're a World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy 14 (or insert another game name here) stan, shoot your shot.

Blizzard knows World of Warcraft's removal of raid add-ons is "controversial," but the MMO's lead says its new UI "has been successful so far"

Blizzard made waves in the World of Warcraft community after deciding to remove combat mods alongside the release of new expansion Midnight, but director Ion Hazzikostas remains certain that it was the right decision.

Speaking in a new interview with PCGamesN, Hazzikostas first reiterates that raid mechanics were never developed "with the intent that add-ons would be used to solve them." It's an issue that Final Fantasy 14 players will understand well, too – although Blizzard only recently took action against combat plug-ins.

Players were meant to overcome World of Warcraft's greater challenges more organically, hence the removal of such add-ons.

Even though fans themselves have offered a bit of a mixed bag of reactions to the entire debacle, Hazzikostas believes the UI changes accompanying the add-ons' departure have largely been a good thing.

"I know this may be a controversial statement, but I will say that, overall, [the new UI] has been successful so far," he says. "It's not done, it's not perfect; there's more work to go, and we are continuing to undertake that work."

But, Hazzikostas assures us, "By and large, the vast majority of people are completing the same level of content that they were before, and far more are doing it without feeling like they need to seek out external tools."

Blizzard isn't done yet – the devs are "continuing to improve our base interface" while also making things a bit easier for add-on authors. It's about striking a middle ground, not just scrapping everything players used to know.

And, as Blizzard has said time and time again, "All of this has been in service of a more approachable experience and a more level playing field."

Reactions didn't make that easy, as the whole "killing add-ons" rhetoric "led to a very understandable, very negative reaction around that idea because add-ons have been a part of WoW for 20 years." But, they still are – just not in the same way they used to be.

It's nothing like Square Enix's third-party tool policy that those of us invested in Eorzea know very well – and it's evolving.

"While it's certainly been a transition with its challenges, we're excited to have this new baseline and foundation, and things will only continue to get better from here, both as we continue to add functionality to the base UI, and we continue to empower addon authors to add customization options," as Hazzikostas states.

Ultimately, Blizzard wants "to open up new doors and possibilities for players in raids, dungeons, delves, and everything in between" – and that's what Midnight's changes (and future tweaks, too) aim to do.

Blizzard continues taking action against World of Warcraft private servers as it pushes on with a lawsuit citing "large-scale, egregious, and ongoing infringement" of its MMO

Blizzard is pursuing legal action against private World of Warcraft server Project Ascension – a server that isn't the first to face a lawsuit from the company.

In case you missed the news earlier this year, Blizzard cracked down on private server Turtle WoW with a cease-and-desist order – only to then do the same to Stormforge, another server run by the MMO's players. There was no clear connection at the time, but Blizzard didn't stop with just the two. Most recently, it's gone on to target Project Ascension, a separate private server, with a lengthy lawsuit (thanks, Wowhead).

Project Ascension boasts a classless, free-to-play take on the usual World of Warcraft formula, with various game modes, custom raiding, and much more. It's been around for a good few years, undeniably catching the eye of Blizzard.

The company hadn't taken action against the private server for using its intellectual property until now, dubbing it an "egregious" violation on June 12.

"The defendants … have built an entire business on large-scale, egregious, and ongoing infringement of Blizzard's intellectual property," its initial complaint from earlier this month reads, outlining how Project Ascension stands "among the largest private WoW servers available today" with its million or so players.

A few days ago, Blizzard followed up on this with a summons request – and now, the clock is ticking.

As per the new request, the creators behind Project Ascension have three weeks to respond. "A lawsuit has been filed against you. Within 21 days after service of this summons on you (not counting the day you received it)… you must serve on the plaintiff an answer to the attached complaint or a motion…"

It concludes, "If you fail to respond, judgment by default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint."

That's not a lot of time, considering the private server's years of service – and, uh, also the fact that its developers are still adding to their project. Heck, 20 hours ago, the official YouTube channel announced a whopping 21 new classes.

All of this begs the question: What's next for Project Ascension, really? Will it face the same fate as Turtle WoW and Stormforge… or somehow dodge it?

Honestly, I can't see the server dodging Blizzard's legal wrath here, no matter how I spin it in my head – but I suppose only time will truly tell.

World of Warcraft Camelot discovery gives the MMO's community its most compelling evidence yet that Blizzard might actually turn a myth into a long-hoped-for reality.

A newly discovered version of World of Warcraft, called "World of Warcraft Camelot," once again has the MMO community hoping and theorizing that an enhanced version of WoW Classic is on the way.

This week, a dataminer over at Wowhead came across something called 'World of Warcraft Camelot.' Rather than a new expansion for the retail version of the MMO, though, things are pointing to something else. That's because the new discovery is attached to patch 1.60, which was initially released in July 2006.

And that's not all. The dataminer also uncovered Epic and Heroic versions of World of Warcraft Camelot, which does point to something substantial, but probably not something related to the current trilogy that the main version of World of Warcraft is going through.

That's about it for the latest discovery so far, though it's worth mentioning that it's the latest in a string of circumstances that everyone thinks lead to WoW Classic+. Plenty of eyebrows were raised in the community when several content creators revealed they visited Blizzard to see something, though other teases are even starker. One being executive producer Holly Longdale gearing up to announce what's next for WoW Classic before being comically cut off.

Regardless of what's happening, it's something Blizzard appears happy to tease. Just last year, in fact, the developers released a yearbook that mentioned developers "cooking on the long-term future of WoW Classic."

So what is WoW Classic+? It hasn't actually been confirmed by Blizzard yet, so there's no one way to explain it. Broadly, though, fans are hoping for a new version of World of Warcraft that branches off from the main MMO and resembles something like Old School RuneScape. Naturally, the original WoW Classic was Blizzard's initial take on something new based on something old, but we have been slowly catching up with retail WoW with the release of new expansions, so it's clearly time for something fresh in that space.

Out of everything we've seen so far, the datamine is certainly substantial. It remains to be seen if World of Warcraft Camelot is the WoW Classic+ fans have been hoping for, though it wouldn't be surprising if it is, as Blizzard's future plans for the MMO in its various forms have often been spied early thanks to the efforts of dataminers. With BlizzCon set to take place later this year, we should hopefully find out before too long.

"They will hopefully p*** off": As World of Warcraft players take on the Casino Bots themselves, lead confirms Blizzard has "a few folks looking into ideas" to get rid of them.

If you've been wandering around Azeroth of late, especially in any of the bigger cities, you've likely spotted casino bots – automated advertising for local gambling. They're meant to be against the rules in World of Warcraft, but real-money traders – RMTs – have been using them to get richer, quicker, and as players blow them up, Blizzard's looking into further preventative measures.

These nuisances can be found standing on wooden boxes, dancing away to pull you in for a gamble or give a winner a moment in the limelight. Users have gotten weary of the distraction, and in lieu of developers patching in more constraints for them, they've taken to taking them out.

A compilation on Reddit by user sozbro_ shows several being quite literally exploded. "I can't be online 24/7, and I certainly can't drop infernals on every casino bot myself," they say in the caption of the video. "Fortunately, this isn't a one-warlock problem."

As this is happening, Blizzard is on the case. "The casino thing that's vogue right now. Just to confirm we're aware, it's still against policy to advertise a casino so keep reporting them (or dropping infernals on them)," Tom Ellis, senior game producer on World of Warcraft, says on Twitter (thanks, Wowhead).

After some "digging in," he pins it on RMTs, because it's "an easy way to make gold quickly and cheaply." A blockade is being constructed, but don't expect much fanfare when it happens.

"We have a few folks looking into ideas on how we can make getting these people out of the game much faster so the activity is less lucrative and in turn, they will hopefully piss off," he explains. "Don't expect any sort of big fanfare 'Mission Accomplished!' banner for this one, this is one of the ones that you hopefully don't even notice stopped happening if we get it right."

As one Reddit commenter points out, gambling can be incredibly difficult and problematic for people. The allure of such activities could be triggering, especially if unexpected. Hopefully Blizzard's able to clamp down on this problem sooner rather than later.

"It has been an honor": World of Warcraft fans gather in popular private server Turtle WoW to say goodbye as it ends 8-year run following Blizzard lawsuit.

It's a sad day for the World of Warcraft community, as players say goodbye to a longstanding fan server, Turtle WoW. Following a legal battle against Blizzard itself, the lights are being totally switched off on the custom homestead, prompting players to host their own special goodbye as they await the end.

If you're unaware, Turtle WoW is a collection of custom servers for World of Warcraft that host an old-school version of the beloved MMORPG. The idea is, or was, to provide a way for people to continue playing WoW as if it never evolved much beyond its early years. That means less cosmic battles and grandiose ideas, more fantastical questing. The version is dubbed 'Vanilla+', and the whole platform is a hotbed for modified approaches to Azeroth.

A fan-made expansion eventually emerged, Mysteries of Azeroth, that delved deeper into the mythology through this lens. But after eight years, the whole venture is closing down after Blizzard managed to serve a cease-and-desist order to the group behind it.

"Working on Turtle WoW has been the highlight of our lives," Torta, a member of the Turtle WoW team, says in a forum post. "It has been an honor to build with you and for you. Whether you were exploring new stories, leveling, raiding, PvPing, roleplaying, or just enjoying a quiet moment in the world, seeing how much this game means to you has been our greatest privilege."

This spectre has been looming for some time. There was a legal tussle for the server's existence, and an open letter to Blizzard sits on the Turtle WoW homepage. "Unlike other studios, Blizzard does not yet have a framework that allows projects like ours to operate without risking legal conflict," the team wrote. "With that in mind, we respectfully ask that Blizzard consider establishing a formal ecosystem for licensing fan‑run community servers."

Several points are raised, including how popular games such as GTA 5 and Skyrim have vastly expanded their fanbase thanks to mods. Turtle WoW had a thriving fanbase, and many of them will probably hang around in the game, but this is the kind of thing that pushes players away. Never underestimate the damage resentment can do.

The YouTuber Pespline uploaded a clip of Turtle WoW diehards huddling together on a riverbank for the end of days. Honestly, it's enough to bring a lump to your throat. Godspeed, one and all - I hope you all find each other elsewhere.

World of Warcraft streamers attend top-secret Blizzard event, leaving fans hoping for the version of the MMO they've tried to manifest for years

The World of Warcraft community has always had Classic, a vanilla experience in which fans can enjoy the MMO as it was before all of its expansions, but what about Classic Plus?

If you've not heard of it yourself, World of Warcraft Classic Plus doesn't actually exist – yet, anyway – but has circulated the web for years now as players yearn for a cleaner, modern take on the base Classic release… a version with more modern updates and quality-of-life features, basically. Think Old School RuneScape and the like.

A quick search on Reddit alone shows all of the Classic Plus discussions that have unfolded over time. In other words, it's a very popular idea without any actual grounding in reality – until now, that is… or, well, we'd like to think, anyway.

As per Wowhead, Blizzard recently invited a bunch of WoW Classic content creators – like Xaryu, Esfand, Guzu, Savix, and sodapoppin – to a secret event. Unfortunately, they're all under an NDA, so we've got no idea what was actually happening over at the Blizzard campus in California, where they attended.

The fact that they're all specifically Classic streamers, however, has unsurprisingly left folks excited over a potential Plus release. Just have a peek at Xaryu's recent stream, in which he reveals he's visiting Blizzard's headquarters.

His chat goes wild with "Classic+ confirmed" messages and the like. And, amusingly, one person had to comment about a new mobile game. Here's hoping it's the former rather than the latter, though.

I'd say it's not too far outside of the realm of possibility. Xaryu's little smile feels like a hint in itself when fans start spamming their theories about Classic Plus, along with the fact that players have wanted it to come to fruition for literal years now. Heck, there's even a community-led project to make it happen – so it's evidently on the wishlist of many a hopeful WoW enjoyer. It does all beg the question, when will the NDA lift?

I suppose only time will tell, but I'm sure we'll find out what Blizzard has up its sleeve for Classic players soon enough – fingers crossed it's sooner rather than later.

World of Warcraft "will continue to decline" unless the MMO gets a "reset," says former Blizzard boss.

One of Blizzard's former leaders has some strong words for the team behind World of Warcraft following a bug-filled patch that led to the developers apologizing and promising to "do better."

Over on Twitter, former Blizzard Entertainment boss and Xbox corporate vice president at Microsoft, Mike Ybarra, weighs in on a story doing the rounds – one we covered ourselves, in fact – covering the buggy state of World of Warcraft following patch 12.0.5.

"Unfortunate," he says. "WoW has to reset and the commitment has to be clear and firm or it will continue to decline."

Ouch.

The patch itself added a few activities to offer the MMO's many denizens something new to do – from fishing activities and a prop hunt mode to new PvE activities suited to gearing your main and alt accounts. Unfortunately, though, players haven't been able to enjoy much of the new content due to various bugs.

We've already reported on the buggy Prop Hunt mode that lets some players use their minimap to find anyone, though fans have logged other issues. As a result, the World of Warcraft team released a statement promising to work "around the clock" to fix the MMO and to take the moment as an opportunity to learn from.

It's not World of Warcraft's best moment, though I'm not sure I'd say the MMO is in decline. The Shadowlands expansion wasn't a highlight for many, sure, though the following Dragonflight and the Worldsoul saga we're currently in have largely gone over well. The content is flowing at a solid cadence, and folks mostly have something fun to do. There are challenges to face, sure, though it feels like a time to fine-tune the balance between content volume and frequency rather than hitting the big reset button.

World of Warcraft's current storyline is "like a Saturday morning cartoon," former Blizzard quest designer says: "Where are the stakes?"

Blizzard has apologized for the current state of World of Warcraft following a patch that introduced a range of bugs, from the amusing to the bizarre, leaving fans frustrated and concerned for the MMO's welfare.

In a post on Reddit, the World of Warcraft team offers a candid response to WoW's latest update. "The 12.0.5 patch launch was not up to our standards," the team says, "and we know this disrupted your time and caused justified frustration."

To remedy the situation, Blizzard promises that the WoW team has been "working around the clock" to fix the biggest issues facing the MMO since the patch's launch. If you're keen to see the hotfix notes as they roll out, you can do so here.

So, what's happened exactly? World of Warcraft's 12.0.5 patch includes a range of content to give people more and better ways to engage with the MMO – you've got a new mode that's effectively Prop Hunt, new fishing activities, and new PvE offerings to help you catch up on gearing your mains and any other alternate characters.

All good stuff – expect it introduced plenty of bugs. We've already reported that the new Prop Hunt mode isn't quite working, as Blizzard forgot to disable a player's ability to find someone else using a minimap. Rubbing salt in the wound, players are also reporting that those who are too good at hiding will be marked as not participating and, as such, won't get any rewards. Feels like Hide-and-Seek, but the rules have been aggressively rigged.

There are other loot-related issues, too. One activity known as The Voidforge started handing out duplicate items, which it isn't supposed to do. That has since been fixed, though you can see why it might irk fans when a big part of the MMO grind is sweet loot.

Those aren't the only issues, either. Player housing went down across multiple regions, some classes aren't working as they should, and Delves haven't escaped unscathed either. If you're curious to read more, one World of Warcraft player has been putting together a log of all the issues, though Blizzard is currently working through 'em, so hopefully that list will whittle swiftly.

"The team is taking lessons learned from this launch to help ensure this doesn't happen again," Blizzard says. "We will also work harder to communicate openly, early, and often when a launch doesn't go as expected: the known issues we're working on, fixes as they roll out, and any other information that would be useful to our community as problems are worked on and solved.

"We care deeply about this game, and we play it right alongside you. We will do better."

The bugs facing World of Warcraft seem like an unfortunate knock-on effect of trying to strike a balance of giving people plenty of stuff to do and making sure the MMO, you know, works. Blizzard has earned plenty of praise with WoW over the past year or two because fans are eating well, by and large. A big part of MMO gaming is feeling like your subscription is worth the cost, and a big contributor to that feeling is having stuff to do.

The other side, unfortunately, is keeping the game running smoothly. It's the sort of thing we've reported on in other games, such as Helldivers 2. You've got to keep the content flowing to keep players engaged, paying, and your studio running. Lean into the new content grind too hard, though, and the foundations start to crack.

It's an interesting moment for World of Warcraft, then. I'm sure anyone is happy to enjoy some new content – except when they can't because bugs are running rampant. As Blizzard alludes to, it looks like a learning moment for the developers, and we'll only need to wait and see how well they strike the balance moving forward.

Blizzard lawsuit kills huge private World of Warcraft server as a cease and desist ends another.

There's a fun new minigame in World of Warcraft that's essentially hide-and-seek, where you try and evade the seekers by hiding as a random object. The only problem is, Blizzard managed to leave on a mechanic that highlights other players on your map. Whoops.

The special mode is Decor Duels, a spin on Prop Hunt from Garry's Mod where the hiders transform themselves into furniture or other innocuous parts of the world, and those seeking them have to track them down using other magic. It's in Silvermoon City, and there are special rewards for competing.

That's all fine and dandy, but, as noticed by Wowhead, the devs accidentally forgot to lock out the Track Humanoids ability, putting other players on the minimap. Hunters have it inherently, and using a Blackened Worg Steak gives it to everyone else.

Decor Duels is now less about skulking about or trying to suss whether that candle over there is moving, and more a glorified game of tag. Still somewhat fun, on paper, just a very different kind of entertainment to what was intended, and a situation where there's definitely some embarrassment going around whatever team of devs allowed this to happen.

To be clear, it's an easy mistake, just a quite funny one that undermines the original intent. Meanwhile, players have also found out they can hide out of bounds relatively easily. This is less egregious, because it comes with the territory of pushing people to make use of their surroundings, and World of Warcraft has some famously dodgy seams.

At the very least, people seem to be having fun, and the patch has only been live for a short time. This can all be tightened up. That said, I think it'd be more fun if Blizzard embraced Decor Duel as more of a game of chase, but that might be just me.

Blizzard lawsuit kills huge private World of Warcraft server as a cease and desist ends another.

Last week, reports began to circulate that Blizzard had scored a legal victory against the popular World of Warcraft private server Turtle WoW, and the owners of the server have now confirmed that it will soon be shutting down. It seems Blizzard has been prolific with the cease and desist orders, too, as Stormforge is also scheduled to shut down next month.

"After almost 8 years online, Turtle WoW is heading towards shutdown," the devs say in their announcement. "The final day of operation will be May 14, 2026, and the servers will go offline at 12:00 AM on May 15th. Working on Turtle WoW has been the highlight of our lives. It has been an honor to build with you and for you. Whether you were exploring new stories, leveling, raiding, PvPing, roleplaying, or just enjoying a quiet moment in the world, seeing how much this game means to you has been our greatest privilege."

Stormforge's announcement is pretty similar in tone: "It is with a heavy heart we share the news of the project's shutdown. Following a Cease & Desist request and subsequent positive discussions with a legal entity representing Blizzard Entertainment, we have agreed to cease all operations, development and distribution of content related to World of Warcraft by May 14th, 2026. Our realms will remain online and fully accessible until that date, but it will no longer be possible to register a new account and no further content updates will be released. We will also shut down the Stormforge Discord server and website. We would like to thank Blizzard for being understanding in regards to our closure process and the transition period."

It's unclear whether the two server shutdowns are connected, but the timing can't be ignored. Blizzard sued the people behind Turtle WoW last year, and earlier this month court documents revealed that the two parties had reached a settlement. Clearly, the terms of that settlement have included Turtle WoW's shutdown, and Blizzard couldn't abide Stormforge's continued existence, either.

There are numerous private, fan-run servers for World of Warcraft, each of them offering some particular advantage over Blizzard's official servers. Often, that advantage is simply "play for free," but there are benefits beyond pure piracy. Some servers offer all-new content, and players often appreciate the fact that there are usually fewer bots and gold sellers on these platforms.

But judging by the comments I've seen around the respective shutdowns of Turtle WoW and Stormforge, the fandom always figured their days were numbered because of their real-money cash shops. Maybe – maybe – Blizzard is willing to turn a blind eye to the private server devs who are doing it for the pure love of the game, but once you're trying to turn a profit? That's a lot more difficult for an MMO's legal team to ignore.

Blizzard famously took action in 2016 against a private server called Nostlarius, which offered an experience hearkening back to WoW as it originally released in 2004. A year later, Blizzard announced World of Warcraft Classic, which offered the same sort of experience on official servers. At a minimum, it seems Blizzard is at least willing to learn which features from private servers are most worth stealing back for official WoW.

World of Warcraft is still one of the best MMORPGs out there.

Classic World of Warcraft got another dose of nostalgia this past February, as Burning Crusade was re-introduced into the experience. First released almost 20 years ago, players have been jumping right back into the old school slab of MMORPG, though with the caveat they can't powerlevel like they used to any more thanks to a post-release patch.

Back in the day, dungeon-boosting, whereby you'd benefit from a more experienced player doing all the hard work in a raid, allowed people to level up alt characters much more efficiently. Sadly, on the back of Burning Crusade Classic: Anniversary, Blizzard's picked up on these tricks being trotted out, and the devs have put a stop to them.

"We've observed a significant number of Burning Crusade players entering dungeons and then participating in no meaningful gameplay," Kaivax, a community manager, states on the official WoW forums, "often while only one party member plays through the instance. When this is prominent, it can lead to detrimental economic effects, among other concerns, so we're implementing a series of hotfixes to address it."

These changes come in two salient forms. "Players must participate in combat to receive experience from dungeons," says the first, and second: "The amount of loot dropped by non-boss enemies in high-level dungeons is now determined by how many players participate in the kill."

Combined, they put an end to dungeon-boosting and powerleveling, forcing people to grind out their numbers as they're meant to. Of course, beyond simply wanting players to play as intended, there are the simple facts that these resources and exploits are more widespread than ever, putting a real strain on World of Warcraft's infrastructure.

Conversely, it's also much less tedious to do things by the rulebook to begin with. As Kaivax points out, "The vast majority of players who participate in dungeon groups as usual should see no difference after these updates." Chances are, you won't notice anything, so long as you were being honest to start with.

World of Warcraft lead asks how players would feel about playing the MMO on controller with a dedicated UI, but fans "fear that the PC experience will get worse"

The Worldsoul Saga in World of Warcraft just had its second act in Midnight. One person who definitely isn't a fan is Eric Covington, a former associate quest designer on Blizzard's mammoth MMO.

In an impassioned tweet, he tore down the conclusion of Midnight, snidely comparing the whole thing to an animated show for kids. "Is this what happens without certain voices on the team constantly fighting for plot and pacing?" he starts.

"Where are the stakes?" he adds. "Sunwell and elven unity wrapped up like a Saturday morning cartoon and the villain runs away to cause mischief another day/patch." Included is a picture of Harbinger, a major antagonist, literally saying, "We'll finish this another time, perhaps."

He finishes by saying, "This is Carmen Sandiego," since the central location will now change for The Last Titan, where the real final fight against Harbinger is likely to take place. Though flippant, I can see where he's coming from, since the narrative is remarkably neat for the second part of a trilogy.

The elven armies do indeed come together to defeat the Devouring Host, and the void elves are given special access to Silvermoon after. You can easily imagine this being a big season finale of some cartoon back in the day, building toward what might be the last season (but probably not).

Commenters on Reddit agree with Covington, to a point. "I do wonder where they're going next. It was wrapped up pretty quickly," says one. "I have conceded the fact that Warcraft's story is garbage but they make a hell of an end game that is perpetually fun for me," another adds.

World of Warcraft lead asks how players would feel about playing the MMO on a controller with a dedicated UI, but fans "fear that the PC experience will get worse."

It looks like Blizzard is testing the waters for World of Warcraft to become playable on controller. One of the longstanding MMORPG's producers is currently doing some research on whether players would enjoy as much, letting users have their say.

In a questions-and-answers session with Azeroth-centric outlet Wowhead, Holly Longdale, executive producer and vice president on World of Warcraft, proposes the question to the live Discord chat. "How many players would be interested in experiencing the game on a controller with a fully dedicated UI?" she asks, prompting a variety of responses and concerns.

For her, she sees the value in catering to as many players as possible, since her taste in games is broad. But there are a lot of considerations here, because World of Warcraft is built very specifically for mouse and keyboard and PC architecture. The consensus in the immediate aftermath skews negative on Reddit.

"We fear that the PC experience will get worse because they are trying to accommodate console users," one player comments. "For example removing add-on functionality, customizability, dumbing down classes, removing gameplay depth and complexity, etc."

This is the underlying anxiety, and as I'm sure you know, the fans often tend to be pretty critical of Blizzard's decision-making without other platforms being on the docket. "No game has become better when a PC game has to cater to a console game," another Redditor states.

There's a feeling that it might become reality sooner rather than later, though, especially in light of Microsoft now owning Activision Blizzard. Pushing towards whatever the next generation of Xbox devices is is a sound plan for goading people into dropping their hard earned cash.

"WoW port for the new Xbox/PC hybrid console thingy seems fairly inevitable," the top comment reads. "WoW will come to consoles at some point, won't it? It's just too much for MS to pass on," says another. Whatever the future holds, a joypad will probably be involved, for good or ill.

Blizzard is finally giving World of Warcraft fans an official Pride event in a new Midnight update, after 12 years of a community-led run: "Sounds gay, I'm in."

World of Warcraft is finally hosting its very own official Pride event this June as part of a big update to Midnight, and it's safe to say the community can't wait.

After all, The Running of the Trolls has been active (and a hit, if I do say so myself) over on North American server Feathermoon for some 12 years now, acting as a fan-led fundraising event for The Trevor Project – a very neat organization that advocates for and supports young LGBTQ+ folks all year round.

Now, for the first time ever, there'll be an official event for fans to participate in, too, as Blizzard has unveiled the Darkspear Dash. The Darkspear Dash will see players join "the Darkspear trolls as they celebrate individuality and identity," with run organizer Dravvie announcing the "microholiday" on Reddit.

"Just for background, Darkspear Dash Microholiday is based on the Running of the Troll, a yearly community event Warcraft Cares started in 2016 that is held every June to benefit the Trevor Project as the sibling event to the Gnome Run!" Dravvie writes.

Darkspear Dash - WoW's First Official Pride Event Coming in Patch 12.0.5 from r/wow

For anyone out of the loop, the referenced "Gnome Run" is The Great Gnomeregan Run – a similar yearly event that raises awareness for breast cancer.

Dravvie continues, explaining, "I can't comment on everything that's still in the development stage that's been datamined, but it's been a long process since I first talked with the dev team about two-ish years ago about possibly developing a Troll Run holiday." It's finally coming to fruition now.

They confirm that there'll be "lots of details for everyone once everything about the microholiday and its date is solidified and June creeps closer, as well as our yearly fundraiser and more" – so, keep an eye on their account.

Unsurprisingly, fans are thrilled, with one amusingly commenting, "Sounds gay, I'm in." Elsewhere, players of other MMOs like Final Fantasy 14 gather to question if their favorite games will "follow suit" in the future.

Here's hoping they do – I love a good Pride event, and not enough online games host official celebrations for the LGBTQ+ community, if you ask me. World of Warcraft, thankfully, is joining the list of those that do… with more to follow, fingers crossed.

World of Warcraft guild known for raid-busting exploits disqualified from new Midnight Mythic race by Blizzard after hitting 1 boss for 300 million damage: "Absolute gamers."

Every time a new World of Warcraft expansion rolls around, eagle-eyed players uncover bugs and exploits that help land them in first place in the never-ending race to tackle Mythic raids as quickly as possible – and Midnight certainly offers no exception.

The Dreamrift, a brand-new one-boss raid (yes, just the one – unheard of for those of us used to Final Fantasy 14 and its million boss phase mechanics) from the first season of Midnight, is up – and that means folks were racing to be a part of the world's first group to complete it.

Technically, that title went to a guild by the name of RAoV QA Strikes Back… although as PC Gamer writes, the team didn't get to keep its spot in the Hall of Fame for very long.

That's because, as per usual, RAoV QA Strikes Back secured its spot via exploits. You can watch them battle Chimaerus, the raid's boss, on YouTube, where you'll see them deliver almost 300 million points of damage to the formidable foe instantly.

This isn't the first time the guild has pulled such a feat off, however – it's a group that's well known for abusing (or using, as some might argue) bugs and the like to finish on top.

Congratulations RAoV QA Strikes Back on world FIRST Dreamrift! from r/wow

Even though Blizzard evidently doesn't approve of its methods, fans feel a bit differently about the guild and its shenanigans with raid exploits. A recent Reddit thread on its Dreamrift completion – and momentary stint on the Hall of Fame leaderboard – showcases as much.

As one person dubs the group's members, "Absolute gamers." Others argue that Blizzard should actually make a separate Hall of Fame for teams like RAoV QA Strikes Back.

"I wish Blizzard would make a hall of fame for the exploiters/bug abusers," one such fan says in their reply. "It's pretty cool that people discover something new like this every single season. It'll give them the credit they deserve and keep Blizzard's bug squashers humble at the same time, win/win."

I mean, I guess they're not wrong. Others just joke, "Seems Blizz wasn't as excited as we were here." No, I suppose it was most definitely not.

With all the excitement surrounding RAoV QA Strikes Back and its journey through The Dreamrift, I'd argue it could actually be fun to have a Hall of Fame for, erm, unofficial quality assurance testers (AKA fans who use exploits) – but I doubt it'd ever come to fruition.

World of Warcraft hit with FOMO complaints once again as Blizzard slams the doors shut on delve Hall of Fame after just 9 hours: "Huge day for the unemployed"

World of Warcraft is no stranger to fans' fear of missing out on timed or locked content, and the recent delve Hall of Fame achievement offers no exception – in fact, this might be one of the worst instances of FOMO that Blizzard's MMO community has experienced.

Less than a day after Season 1 launched, over 4,000 players tackled delve nemesis Nullaeus, prompting the closure of the Hall of Fame and its accompanying achievement in both the EU and North America.

Players from the former region, in fact, only had about nine hours to give it a go – which, you know, isn't exactly a realistic window for many of us, especially when those hours fall within those of the usual workday.

EU Delve Hall of Fame is full from r/wow

It's not going over well with fans, unsurprisingly, with a recent Reddit thread on the EU delve Hall of Fame showcasing as much. "Had school," reads one response. "Couldn't even log in. Should be a week for something like this."

Another adds, "So you have to take time off work or just not have a job to be able to get this one, nice." Plenty of folks echo this, with someone writing, "Bro, I didn't even get home from work…"

It's not the only post to highlight players' disappointment about having to miss out due to, you know, life.

A separate thread on the NA delve Hall of Fame highlights similar thoughts, with a reply reading, "There's going to be a lot of very disappointed people who wouldn't have even had the chance to pull it once before it filled if they worked today" – and, indeed, there are plenty. "Can confirm," as somebody responds.

Folks are taking to other social media with their complaints, too, with one post quipping, "Huge day for the unemployed." Another angry fan says, "The European Hall of Fame being filled before 2 pm, so no one employed could have gotten it, is funny as fuck LMAO please please please never do this again."

Well, they're certainly not alone in thinking that Blizzard should change its approach to such limited achievements in the future.

Others are taking the opportunity to compare the feeling of FOMO in MMOs like World of Warcraft to Final Fantasy 14.

"A couple of weeks ago, I said that one of the things I like about XIV was, outside of seasonal events, FOMO wasn't bad, and I appreciated it," one such player writes. "Because holy shit this sucks and I can't believe people defend it." That makes sense – and seasonal events are longer-term as well, which softens the blow a bit.

It's important to note that Blizzard actually changed how the delve Hall of Fame would work a couple of times. This is the first instance of special recognition for early delve nemesis kills, and initially, the cap was supposed to be 1,000 players.

The studio tweaked this, pushing it up to 10,000, before finally reducing it to 4,000 – which is evidently nowhere near enough, particularly when paired with the hours it's opened.

Here's hoping that Blizzard hears fans' feedback regarding the delve Hall of Fame and gives the wider community more of a chance next time, should there be one. It's not easy to balance such unique achievements, but I'd argue there are ways to make it more fair.

World of Warcraft update lifts flying restrictions on mounts in Midnight, even if Blizzard acknowledges "the ability to fly trivializes a challenge" for some

The long-awaited World of Warcraft expansion, Midnight, is finally here, and Blizzard's hard at work tidying up fans' experience with it via hotfixes and updates – including one that lifts the requirement to unlock Pathfinder for Steady Flight.

There were discussions surrounding the necessity to unlock Pathfinder for traditional flying in Midnight before the expansion even released – see Reddit for examples.

Folks were frustrated about the potential grind, with one fan dubbing the requirement "so fucking stupid," but the community hasn't exactly been able to agree on the matter… well, ever. There are arguments for mounted flight, of course, but also a movement against flying.

Yes, that's right – the "No Flying Movement" or "Ground Mount Movement," whatever you prefer to call it, has seen a rise in supporters as arguments that not enough players interact with the world meaningfully anymore and avoid all challenge via flight.

It's… a lot, but Blizzard is listening, and a new Midnight update proves as much. Now, Steady Flight in Midnight and The War Within zones are no longer unlocked via Pathfinder achievements.

While discussing why this requirement was in place at all, community manager Randy 'Kaivax' Jordan explains, "Questing through Azeroth has always had a… complicated relationship with flying. There are countless cases where the ability to fly trivializes a challenge or ruins the pacing of an experience."

He uses an example in which flightless players fight to reach their target, while those flying can avoid any difficulty altogether. "That said, players love their mounts, love being efficient, and love seeing the world from above, so flight has stuck around," admits Kaivax.

"Different expansions have handled rulesets differently, but we've generally sought compromise in the form of: your first time through the game, your flight capabilities are limited, and then after you've explored most of the world, your flight capability is less limited."

Seems fair enough, right? The old system of Skyriding vs. Steady Flight doesn't really work anymore, though. "The distinction between Skyriding and Steady Flight has diminished greatly so that it no longer really makes sense to distinguish between Skyriding and Steady Flight while leveling" – hence the hotfix.

As for what the future holds, Blizzard "will continue to look at how the ability to fly affects our play experiences."

Although the studio acknowledges recent arguments against flying and how Midnight "hits different" from the ground, the developers "don't have any plans to restrict flight access meaningfully in the future" – although they'll keep such feedback in mind.

Overall, fans seem impressed with the announcement so far, thankfully, and the direct replies showcase this. "Good change, reads one." Another simply declares this a "biiiiiig W."

Here's hoping some sort of balance is found between frequent flyers and ground truthers. I'd personally agree with comments pointing out that, as it stands, World of Warcraft is suited to both styles of exploration… It's up to the player to choose, which is fair enough.

World of Warcraft would've been a first-person MMO in the EverQuest-inspired world of Overwatch's Jeff Kaplan: "I argued a lot for that"

If Jeff Kaplan had his wish, World of Warcraft would look quite different. During development of the MMORPG, he campaigned within Blizzard for the first-person perspective to be used, and he views his upcoming game The Legend of California as an indirect realization of those aspirations.

"I really wanted [World of Warcraft] to be first-person," he said during a livestream, as clipped by Majid Manzarpour on Twitter. "I argued a lot for that."

He believes "WoW is great" as it is in third-person, and there are "a lot of arguments about seeing your character more," but his playing history molded his preferences toward another direction. "I had come from EverQuest, they had this weird third-person camera that didn't really fully work that great, you didn't play with it on," he explains.

"[EverQuest] is all first-person," he states, before adding that The Legend of California is him indirectly coming back to the notion of a first-person fantasy sandbox. First-person was prevalent in role-playing games for years, as evidenced by The Elder Scrolls and Might and Magic series as well, before third-person became more fashionable.

Although the open-world shooter isn't heavy on the RPG elements, nor is The Legend of California very fantastical, you can see the elements strewn throughout. There's horseback riding through forest and mountains, and the guns give you long and short-range combat, and plenty of exploration. Most importantly, less of an emphasis on how your character specifically looks, which is a fundamental facet of playing a game with customizable equipment and such.

Kaplan showed the project off during the stream, which was a mammoth ten hour long session between him and Tim Ford. There's no release window for the game yet, but when it arrives, I wouldn't bother looking for the third-person toggle, because it likely won't be there.

Former Overwatch director has sage advice for those who complain about games they don't play: "Shut the f**k up"

Jeff Kaplan have forever become known as "Jeff from the Overwatch team," but once upon a time he was "Jeff from the World of Warcraft team." And he's sorry – sorry for those of you who had to deal with the infamous Green Hills of Stranglethorn quest. Nonetheless, it still holds "a really special place" in Kaplan's heart, both because of the writing he did for it and the lessons it offered to him as a young quest designer.

"The Green Hills of Stranglethorn holds a lot of emotional value for me because amongst WoW players back in the day it was unanimously hated as one of the shittiest, most annoying quests," Kaplan explains in an interview with Lex Fridman, as spotted by our friends at PC Gamer. "But it holds a really special place in my heart. First of all, it's one of the few times I just wrote a short story that's actually in the game. It's me paying homage to Hemingway."

If you've been spared the horror of dealing with The Green Hills of Stranglethorn yourself, the idea is that the author Hemet Nesingwary – no points for figuring out why he's named that way – has misplaced the pages of his manuscript. So you need to find them as drops from mobs throughout Stranglethorn Vale.

The problem, as Kaplan explains, is that "players had very limited bag space. And as they're fighting in Stranglethorn Vale, I'm just shitting up their inventory with all these pages. And they only needed so many! You might be unlucky and you have, like, three page fives that are just junk in your inventory, and I might have, like, eight page sixes.

"This was the goal – the designer trying to puppeteer everybody. Everybody in Stranglethorn chat is like, 'Hey, I'm looking for a page six!' 'Anybody got a page three?' That was my fantasy as a designer, of like, 'and then they're gonna be social and meet each other and players are gonna be appreciative of each other!' Eventually no one did the quest, they just were super annoyed or they went to the Auction House."

Kaplan cites a bit of wisdom from legendary Civilization designer Sid Meier, who said that there are three types of fun: fun for the player, fun for the designer, and fun for the computer. This particular quest, unfortunately, fell into the "fun for the designer" category. Players didn't enjoy it nearly so much.

"It was the typical hubris of a junior game designer who thinks he's clever but is actually a dipshit," Kaplan explains. "That's The Green Hills of Stranglethorn summed up."

"It felt surreal": Overwatch co-creator allegedly left Blizzard after a former exec said he'd be responsible for 1,000 layoffs if the shooter didn't hit financial targets.

The World of Warcraft community has been buzzing after Blizzard's big Midnight release, new housing system and all – but some of the optional accompaniments haven't exactly been impressing fans with their prices.

As a Final Fantasy 14 and Elder Scrolls Online player myself, I know the controversy that surrounds real-money purchases for MMOs very well, and World of Warcraft certainly offers no exception (if you know about the $475 mount from way back when, you know). It's hard to justify spending hard-earned cash on cosmetics when you already dish out so much for a subscription and expansions like Midnight, after all.

World of Warcraft fans are facing this dilemma right now, as new shop updates bring a slew of pretty pricey decor items for the recent housing update. "Blizzard just dropped a $180 in-game shop update," as a player writes on Reddit, linking to the official Battle.net digital storefront.

And, if you scroll down to the "housing" tab, you'll see what they mean. All of the furnishings add up to quite a bit, utilizing Midnight's Hearthsteel currency.

New housing items in store, a bit pricey though from r/wow

For reference, 100 Hearthsteel is $1, so one decor pack is $25. And, amusingly, one tree – yes, just one – from the new Spring Blossoming collection started out at $7.50 on its own. That's quite a lot for virtual furniture, especially when you don't get multiple to use.

As the top comment under the Redditor's thread jokes, "Even in-game I can look at my neighbor and say, 'Damn, he has so much more money than me.'"

What the f*** are these prices? from r/wow

A separate post dubs the new housing items "a bit pricey" (although commenters say "a bit pricey is an understatement"), echoing the sentiment that, uh, yeah… eight bucks for a tree is certainly a choice.

Elsewhere, another fan asks abruptly, "What the f*** are these prices?" Thankfully, Blizzard copped on to the complaints quickly, taking the decor down… only to put it all back up for a bit cheaper. The Spring Blossom Tree, for instance, is now $2.50

Even though, as someone so eloquently puts it in a different online thread, the prices got a "nerf," the decor is "still comically overpriced" to many. "Yeah, this is like… 5% better," a still-disappointed player admits. I'm not sure there's any winning myself, really – unless it all goes free, which is incredibly doubtful.

Nonetheless, here's hoping Blizzard keeps fans' feedback in mind with its next optional release.

World of Warcraft players beg Blizzard to "turn down" the "noisy af" Sunwell after Midnight, but others surrender their ears to the light: "Please turn it up"

With the new housing system and removal of combat mods, there are plenty of new features to explore in World of Warcraft after Blizzard's big Midnight release – but fans are a bit busy grappling with some, erm, unexpected noise right now.

In case you haven't heard it yet – somehow– the magical Sunwell sitting directly to the north of Silvermoon City is loud. Very loud. Even though it's to be expected, considering that we're talking about a magic energy transformer of sorts, it's a bit much when you've got your fancy gaming headset on.

Fans are taking to memes and online forums to discuss it (although I'm not sure how they're able, over the blaring sound of eye-watering beams).

The Sunwell experience from r/wow

My favorite meme on Reddit reads, "The Sunwell experience," and it shows a funny image of the "loud buzzing noise" that is the magical fount. Commenters show a split between folks who hate it – and, surprisingly, those who like it (for lore purposes, of course).

"It is so loud. Hopefully, it gets fixed soon," states one replier. Another argues, "It's an industrial-scale transformer, except for magic, it's got to be loud."

Another (chaotic user) says, "No, please turn it up. The constant sound really sells that the Sunwell currently is a giant energy converter/battery station thingy."

Elsewhere on the web, though, people are taking to a thread to talk about how it's "noisy af." One fan responds, the Sunwell is "straight up giving me a headache any time I go there." Sure, you can always tweak the ambient sound settings yourself, but, oof.

I don't think the Sunwell is loud enough from r/wow

A separate, albeit just as amusing as the first, meme sees its poster jest, "I don't think the Sunwell is loud enough." A commenter adds, "I love how stupid loud it is; it's so funny, but also thematically appropriate."

It seems there are arguments on either side here – some can't stand the ear-bleeding effect, while others are clearly masochistic and yearning for more of it. Who will win? In my opinion, Blizzard's already won.

"Hopefully Blizzard will put a stop to this": WoW Midnight sees MMO history repeat itself as players slaughter legions of frogs for skins.

World of Warcraft: Midnight, Blizzard Entertainment's latest expansion for its iconic MMORPG, demonstrates that The War Within before it wasn't a fluke. World of Warcraft is going through a very strong and very enjoyable phase right now. Does Midnight reinvent the wheel? No, but it's a satisfying expansion with a mostly intriguing storyline, and some fantastic quality of life tweaks and changes that improve upon what continues to be excellent foundations for adventuring.

Hardcore raiders will have to wait a little longer for new raids (March 17 is the date to put on your calendar), but for everyone else, Midnight is a fantastic adventure. Alterations Midnight does bring, such as reinventing some familiar zones, makes me wonder what the future might hold for the game that has continued to reign supreme for over 20 years. It isn't perfect and some opportunities are missed but it already leaves me keen to see if the upcoming The Last Titan expansion – the third part of the World Soul Saga – could be the best expansion yet. Hefty praise for a game on its 11th expansion pack and its 22nd year – Midnight simply makes me feel good to be a World of Warcraft fan.

Refreshing the familiar

Storyline-wise, Midnight can feel a little convoluted. That's not exclusive to this expansion pack as the Warcraft world is something that its players can find divisive. Many players absorb every inch of the lore while others simply stick to leveling and unlocking new content. It's near impossible to avoid taking in the story starting out given you're thrust into repelling an invasion. However, once you reach Silvermoon, the expansion's core hub, you're left to decide to fight through the campaign or tackle side quests at your leisure. The focus is on Arator, a half-elf paladin who also happens to be the son of Turalyon and Alleria Windrunner, names that will spark excitement among Warcraft enthusiasts. There's a lot going on here but its basic theme rings true: families are complicated.

It's easy enough to skip dialogue in Midnight if you want but I wouldn't advise it. For once, you can choose to learn more about the storyline, feeling a little more part of the tale. It's not as all encompassing as a traditional RPG but it's a nice enhancement. There are plenty of side quests to expand the story, and one big decision is even actually down to you. For RPG fans, this is basic stuff but for WoW? This is a big step forward. Of course, the seemingly significant choice doesn't appear to change anything all too much, but it's nice to feel a bit more in control rather than the usual rollercoaster ride that you see in WoW.

Similarly, you can expand storylines by clicking 'stay a while and listen' on certain quests. It's a feature that was in The War Within, but this time around, it's actually worth paying attention to.

You'll spend a lot of time in Silvermoon which is nothing like you remember from The Burning Crusade days. It's vast, wondrous, and a little confusing at first. Pro tip: get used to flying around. Everything about Midnight is very focused on using your flying mount and it actually means you'll see more of the world than relying on the automated flight paths that are speedy but take out any sense of adventure or autonomy. I've loved getting to see a new dimension of Silvermoon, and it feels like that extra level of engagement is rewarded.

A lot of quests aren't simply 'kill x creature' this time around, and move on with some surprisingly cozy moments. The storytelling ends up reminding me of some of the ways notable competitor Final Fantasy 14 develops its tale, and it's great to see World of Warcraft: Midnight begin to experiment away from simply attacking rats.

'Kill x' type stuff is still here, of course, in some capacity, which you'll find throughout Eversong Woods, Harandar, Quel'thalas, Zul'aman, and Voidstorm. I absolutely adore Eversong Woods. It's a beautiful reimagining of its earlier incarnation and it makes me excited to see if this type of re-envisioning will be the trend for every zone in the game eventually. I've enjoyed poking around and seeking out every side quest which is good because if you focus exclusively on the campaign, you'll likely end up underleveled at times.

Once you've completed the core part of Eversong Woods, you open up the other zones. Harandar is the letdown here. It's pretty dull, both visually and in terms of story development. It has its moments though. As you'll find throughout the expansion, some quests have actual simple puzzles linked to them. Others may have you talking and psyching up allies and other creatures. There's more variety than I remember usually seeing and it's much appreciated.

The true icing on the cake though? Getting to return to familiar fan favorites like Scarlet Monastery and Blackrock Mountains. These are the names that provoke a lot of emotions ranging from glee to gaming PTSD and it's great to have an excuse to go back. Even more so given it's tied into this expansion pack's storyline. There are plenty of other nods to the past that remind you this is a game keen to appeal to old hands at the game like me.

If it's been a while, you're in luck. Returning to the game is a little more straightforward than before with a catch up mode that takes you through Arathi Highlands and right up to date. You can skip catch up if you prefer but I wouldn't advise it. Blizzard has put a decent amount of effort into streamlining the lapsed player experience so you're not stuck with an endless battle to get back up to speed. When starting afresh, Exile's Reach has been tweaked too to improve the new player experience, although my OG loving heart still prefers the starting zones. Still, it's less complicated than before to follow the preferred path set out by Blizzard which means you get to the good stuff faster.

The next war

Another refreshing adjustment comes from Delves. I was a big fan of the concept when they were introduced in The War Within but they didn't entirely work. Essentially mini-dungeons that you could run solo and quickly, earlier Delves felt like a regular dungeon shrunk down and lacking personality. The new ones in World of Warcraft: Midnight's zones feel far better designed and actually feel like a mini single-player adventure. Some are even quite maze-like so you're not just going through the motions. Others like Grudge Pit have you participating in a Fight Club-esque experience which is short but sweet. The variety keeps things interesting rather than just constantly following a samey to-do list.

Talking of things that World of Warcraft has needed for a while, the potentially biggest thing to arrive via Midnight is player housing. You can finally call a place your own and do a huge amount to personalize said home. Players have been craving this feature for a long time, constantly side-eyeing Final Fantasy 14 which has done it so well in recent years. World of Warcraft's housing experience is solid, with grid and freeform placement starting proceedings and many quests unlocking new decor that you can place within your home. It all ties together neatly. There's a lot to figure out in an almost The Sims-like way, but you can also keep things simple and still feel like you've achieved something worthwhile.

Dare I say it but the housing experience actually feels cozy and relaxing in comparison to the usual bloodshed of the main game. I've already spent a lot of time trying to build my dream house already, and I still feel like I'm only scratching the surface . It's wonderfully idyllic and I think I'm dedicating chill Sunday afternoons to sprucing up my home after a busy week of collecting new decor. I can't wait to see how it's expanded in the future but even now, it's fun roaming around the neighbourhood and feeling part of something bigger. Likewise, the transmogrification system is much improved too. If looks are everything to you, you'll love the revamp which makes it much simpler to get your characters to rock the fits of your choice.

Less appealing is the introduction of the Prey system. The idea is you hunt down specific 'prey' – basically much stronger enemies that are more akin to the bosses you see in Delves rather than regular zone mobs. They can pursue you too in the general world and it can be tough even on Normal mode (with harder options, naturally, available). Surviving an ambush and emerging victorious is tricky work but it isn't particularly fun. It's a brief distraction that I suspect will only appeal to a small subsection of players. In that vein, its niche appeal is similar to the skyriding races seen in The War Within which haven't been expanded here.

There's also a new allied race in the form of the Haranir which unlocks after finishing the Harandar part of the campaign. A neutral race, think of them as like a cross between a troll and an elf. Class options include Druid, Hunter, Mage, Monk, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, and Warrior. The Haranir looks cool and there's some nice lore behind it but it's similar to other recent race classes in that there's nothing revolutionary going on here.

If you do want to level one, you'll soon notice that accruing experience points is more balanced. It takes a little longer to level up (albeit not as slow as WoW Classic), so it's a touch more satisfying than before. It feels like a return to enjoying the journey rather than exclusively aiming for endgame content all the time. There's also a new specialization for Demon Hunters – the Devourer. Think part ranged, part melee, all DPS. In predictable fashion, this one will be divisive as is any major change to a spec.

Mostly though, World of Warcraft: Midnight is a very strong expansion for the MMORPG. Following on from The War Within, the World Soul Saga is shaping up to be one for the ages. While no one's playing WoW for its visuals alone, it also looks far more luscious than before with some lovely character models if you look past the still aged looking cutscenes.

We're at the start of a new expansion pack so there's more to come too. Later in the month, three raids, Heroic dungeons, and new Bountiful Delves are coming with Season 1 starting. That's the beauty about WoW at this point. It's doing a good job of being appealing to a wide range of demographics. There's the cozy side of things with player housing, more balanced leveling, a welcoming experience for returning players, but also some high-end content on its way.

I'm itching to devote far more of my life to World of Warcraft than I have in a long time, something I really didn't expect to feel from Midnight. Count on setting aside plenty of spare time to absorb all that's available here, and don't be surprised if the love affair starts afresh.

World of Warcraft Midnight was reviewed on PC with a code provided by the publisher, with additional testing on Mac.

Keep an eye on our new games calendar for what's next! Or, take a look at our best RPG games ranking for your next quest!

If I had a penny for every time World of Warcraft players start killing frogs en masse, I'd have two, which isn't alot but it's weird that it's happened twice. An area of the new Midnight expansion happens to have endlessly spawning amphibians, creating ample opportunity for people to dial up the numbers on their skinning stat.

You can find this water slaughter going on near Silvermoon City, at the Stillwater Pond. There, Gloombelly Toads are in ample supply, because once you clear them out, more just keep coming, as if they're breeding within minutes.

A user called themikegman posted about the phenomenon on Reddit, where they include a screenshot of a group of players just decimating a bunch of toads. "Hopefully Blizzard will put a stop to this," they comment.

Non stop skinning. from r/wow

Their sentiment is shared by some in the community. "This type of shit ruins the [Auction House] for the rest of us down the line," comments one player.

"I love skinning, and I don't wanna ditch it," says another Redditor. "But exploits like this just make it so unfun to even bother trying to make a bit of gold."

As the saying goes, exploit early and exploit often. This is a troublesome one economically, because once skins are this plentiful, their prices plummet. But it's useful to run up your numbers, if skinning's a profession you care about. A similar incident occurred back during WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria, and that was actually sort of game-breaking because the pondlife provided useful loot and currency.

Blizzard responded to the Mists of Pandaria Remix debacle by depowering players based on the amount of frog-kills they had on record, leaving them at a number more expected for the length playing and drop frequencies. It's not necessary to do that here, but there'll definitely be a fix relatively soon.

Enjoy the frog murderfest while you can. The Worldsoul Saga truly has something for everyone, even the toad haters.

"We here at Blizzard feel very lucky and happy that we're not using generative AI": World of Warcraft Midnight composer says devs are making "what we think is cool"

As major publishers and giant tech companies attempt to shove generative AI into everything, World of Warcraft Midnight's composer counts himself lucky that Blizzard Entertainment seemingly isn't using the tech.

World of Warcraft's lead composer Leo Kaliski says as much in an interview with Game Informer ahead of the long-running MMORPG's next expansion, Midnight, out now in early access and due to release for everyone on March 2, 2026.

Generative AI and its use in game development has been a hot button topic these last few years, whether it's focused on Arc Raiders' text-to-voice dialogue or a highly controversial texture in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's launch, but Kaliski is thankful that AI-generated music is a bit easier to spot than other forms of the tech.

"I feel lucky that AI in music still feels quite a way off," he says. "Sometimes you look at AI photos, and if you don't look closely, you might not know it's AI. Music is not there yet. Usually, you hear it, and you instantly know something is not right about it, or the fidelity isn’t there. So in some ways, it's not as top of mind as it probably is for other artists."

Either way, he continues to say that "we here at Blizzard feel very lucky and happy that we're not using generative AI" and the team is "just writing what we think is cool, and are happy to do that."

Elsewhere in the industry, Square Enix laid off over 100 employees after pledging it would automate 70% of its debugging and quality assurance using AI. PUBG and Subnautica 2's publisher also announced it would transform into an "AI first" company late last year.

"He was the first person the Light called": World of Warcraft Midnight turns to the MMO's mightiest hero to help us push back against the Void – Leeroy Jenkins

World of Warcraft: Midnight early access has begun, and everybody's working their way to level 90. Ahead of the release, a major exploit seemed poised to absolutely break the leveling race, but Blizzard quietly announced it had been fixed less than an hour before launch. The studio is also making some notable changes for the first month of Midnight as a result of the exploit.

In the pre-release version of Midnight, players discovered that Endeavors – a new system tied to player housing – could be used to get obscene amounts of XP all at once. You could use this system to scale a low-level zone, rely on an unscaled player to kill mobs for you, and reap massive XP rewards. Some estimates suggest it would've been possible to level from 80 to the new cap of 90 in under 60 minutes.

Community manager Randy "Kaivax" Jordan confirmed that "Endeavor XP is temporarily disabled in Midnight Early Access" in a post to the Blizzard forums less than an hour before launch. "Furthermore, scaling for the older zones when doing Endeavor activities is disabled for the entire first month, and will return with the Endeavor that begins in early April."

Concerns about the exploit had lingered for some time before Blizzard finally addressed them, and the timing of the announcement so close to Midnight's launch has certainly annoyed some fans. Now we face the question of how rewarding Endeavors will feel with their XP payouts restricted, and what the balance will look like when those rewards return. Just another day in balancing an MMO for wildly different audiences that want wildly different things, I guess.

"He was the first person the Light called": World of Warcraft Midnight turns to the MMO's mightiest hero to help us push back against the Void – Leeroy Jenkins.

Blizzard's decided to go a bit Avengers: Endgame with World of Warcraft: Midnight, as the opening set-piece involves characters from across the MMORPG's history helping to defend the Sunwell. There are plenty of faces to pick out, but one particular hero stands alone - the inimitable Leeroy Jenkins himself.

Fellow millennials and older folks won't need reminding of this guy's importance to Azeroth, but younger generations might not be aware. Essentially, he's an OG World of Warcraft meme, going viral in 2005, well before smartphones were ubiquitous and when YouTube was but a neat-seeming new video platform nobody was quite sure of.

In the clip, the eponymous legend pre-emptively takes his Paladin roaring into battle during a raid, using his own name a battle-cry. He and the rest of his guild are then minced, much to our collective hysterics, and his antics became synonymous with the game. To give you a sense of just how popular Jenkins was, he appeared on-stage at BlizzCon 2007, and there have been numerous references to the meme, including on How I Met Your Mother and Jeopardy!.

Since Midnight is the second act of the epic Worldsoul Saga, it only makes sense our man Leeroy would make an appearance, and players enjoying the expansion in early access were quick to notice his presence. "I was delighted to find Leeroy. But he really needs to be informed about transmog," says one fan on Reddit.

Indeed, Jenkins is sporting the same costume he had years ago. It's called fashion, look it up. "He was the first person the Light called," another player adds, something I choose to believe is canonically correct. "The best part is that his combat voice seems to be actually extracted from the original audio. It's even low-quality sound," a third Redditor states.

As an absolute sucker for low-poly tributes to the vibes of yesteryear, I applaud Blizzard's dedication all the way around here. Midnight's early access is currently running for those who pre-order the Epic Edition, with full release on March 3. If you're booting it up now or then, you know exactly what to shout as you dive in.

"We've got this whole huge world": Blizzard is revamping World of Warcraft's "decades" old zones for new expansion Midnight, because "we should be able to use them, and we want to."

Between the new housing system and removal of combat mods, Blizzard has been preparing World of Warcraft for its big Midnight expansion – the second chapter of the Worldsoul Saga – but it hasn't just been looking at new content.

The developers have also been reworking old areas and expanding on the decades-old lore that has kept the community so dedicated to the MMO since its 2004 release date.

They state as much in a new interview with PC Gamer, with associate game director Paul Kubit saying, "It would be a shame for us to say that every story has to be told entirely within the context of a new continent or island or liminal space, wherever we're going."

That's why Midnight – and The Last Titan, the third part of the Worldsoul Saga that's set to launch some few years from now – will build upon all of Wow, revamping past content.

"We've got this whole huge world with decades of world-building inside of it, and to have places like Light's Hope Chapel that we can't go back to, or Wyrmrest Temple, or Orgrimmar, or Stormwind – all these places that have such strong memories for us," as Kubit puts it.

"We should be able to use them, and we want to." And so they will – and no, it doesn't matter too much that older zones feature a more "aged" aesthetic, so to speak. "They were built with different art parameters and possibilities at that time," Kubit explains. "But when you're telling the full story, none of that really matters for most players."

I suppose that does make sense. Most of the visuals, old or not, are core to what makes WoW… well, WoW.

Game designer Jake Shillan has been hard at work on Midnight and its zones, likening the expansion of older parts of the MMO's story and world, particularly the Amani, to, uh, pizza.

"We got to flesh out Zul'jin and the Amani out of this little ball of dough – I don't know why it's the metaphor I'm choosing, but stick with me – this little ball of dough, and now it's a whole pizza, okay? Toppings, sauce, cheese."

Heads up, though. "There is no pizza in Zul'Aman. I'm gonna spoil that for you right now." There's plenty elsewhere, however, and I love how Shillan describes Blizzard's process.

"We sort of have to play Mad Libs, right? What happened in the interim between that moment [many] years ago and now, and how can we use that to launchpad into whatever comes next?" Mad Libs it is, I suppose – although I'm sure it's a bit more structured than that.

With the pre-Midnight patch 12.0 in mind and everything else Blizzard has going on before its expansion pack's release date next week on March 2, World of Warcraft is shaping up to boast some massive changes alongside its entirely new content.

Blizzard is so concerned with World of Warcraft expansion Midnight completely changing the MMO's meta that it's already loading over a month of balance patches

It's almost time for World of Warcraft's Midnight expansion to officially launch and introduce housing in full to the MMO on March 2, so developer Blizzard is making sure everything is ready for its arrival – getting out the nice silverware, preparing a hefty update based on Early Access feedback, and so on. But some players continue to want more.

Perhaps anticipating this, Blizzard disclaims in a February 24 post on the World of Warcraft website, "Housing is an evergreen feature that we will continue to build and iterate on." That said, the developer is already planning to issue several updates to Midnight "in the coming weeks."

"We're discussing this far in advance of when we'd normally talk about in-development features because we want your feedback early and often," says Blizzard. Currently, the developer hopes to increase house decor storage, improve functionality for decor deletion, and fix a "weird rotation bug" that shifts furniture when you save and re-enter your house.

Later, Blizzard wants to re-enable exterior lighting, introduce time-limited Visitor Codes so you can have friends over, and a "pets-as-decor" feature that will let you welcome home the fuzzy – or creepy – companions you've collected.

"Layouts and pets, YES!" says one comment on Blizzard's post. Others are more tortured about it, complaining that Midnight introduces a "digital dollhouse with no basic functionality that other MMO's like ESO provide," as another commenter says.

"Once people start to raid and quest and do M+ later, no one will step foot into their doll houses either," says a reply. Another player agrees, "Imo, we really need to hear about actual useful content for our houses. Reasons to use them."

Perhaps consider the most worthwhile reason of all: World of Warcraft Animal Crossing.

Blizzard is so concerned with World of Warcraft expansion Midnight completely changing the MMO's meta that it's already loading over a month of balance patches.

Blizzard has revealed its upcoming roadmap for World of Warcraft: Midnight, which includes a month of planned updates for tweaks and balancing. This plan is due to how it's feared the expansion will shake up the almost 20-year-old MMO.

Midnight is launching on March 2, but things won't really get going until March 24, when the first raid goes live. Blizzard is taking the slow-and-steady approach when it comes to this expansion, and as such has released a blog post, which includes a roadmap for tweaks and balances that lasts more than a month.

The expansion includes "access to the new Apex Talents and their additional talent points" as players try to level up to the new cap of 90. Blizzard also claims that "many specializations have undergone large changes," which naturally means there will be plenty of things that require balancing.

On March 17, roughly two weeks after the expansion launches, there'll be the first pass of balances and adjustments alongside Midnight's season 1 launch. The changes will be decided by "internal metrics" and "player sentiment" so feel free to speak out about anything you're not vibing with.

Mythic and Mythic+ difficulty won't be available until March 24, which is when the final major difficulty adjustments for Heroic difficulty will be made. This naturally allows for all of the difficulties to hopefully be adjusted correctly for when the first raid, March on Quel'Danas, goes live on March 31.

However, throughout this process Blizzard says it is being cautious in order to "avoid being overly disruptive to progression." Naturally, this won't be the end of the balancing updates, and the team intends to keep an eye on player progression, and make further balancing adjustments as needed. The final major tuning pass is scheduled for April 7.

This is all with the caveat that games can be very unpredictable, and these dates could change without warning. Blizzard will also be putting out hot fixes for bugs and tuning as and when needed.

Blizzard's never done this before, but World of Warcraft devs say they ditched combat addons to make raids harder strategically – not to "shoot more bullets at you"

Before World of Warcraft devs at Blizzard release the hugely anticipated Midnight expansion introducing customizable houses, they had to do some housekeeping. They severed the MMORPG's compatibility with players' dear addons in a pre-patch that totally redesigned classes, and, devs now say, the way raids work.

WoW lead encounter designer Dylan Barke tells our friends at PC Gamer in a new interview, that, without addons, there are raid mechanics "that are possible in Midnight that might not have been possible in the recent past, and we're able to challenge players [via] puzzle and communication and coordination and strategy more."

Before World of Warcaft abandoned them, addons like streamer Fojji's gold-standard WeakAuras have been integral to the raid experience for over a decade – though you were only in the best position to take advantage of them if you were fluent in their code, which helped sort raid mechanics on a perhaps overcomplicated level.

This high barrier to entry influenced how Blizzard approached designing for its own game, as Barke says the developer had to trim "what we would call 'dexterity mechanics' in bosses, especially raids, in favor of mechanics that can challenge players' coordination and their strategic abilities." But Blizzard has more control in its arsenal now that players will no longer be able to code monkey their way out of problems. Barke gives an example with one of Midnight's opening raids: "The way that gets harder from Normal to Heroic to Mythic is not 'we shoot more bullets at you,' he says, "It is harder on a communication axis, on a coordination axis."

Blizzard's never really tried this approach to raids before, so WoW players should anticipate another world of change in the game's already shifted atmosphere ahead of Midnight's release on March 2.

WoW Midnight's Prey system is a "don't AFK mode" on its nastiest difficulty, says Blizzard dev who was "surprised" to learn "players really liked being ambushed."

The early findings of World of Warcraft's new Prey system – coming in the Midnight expansion due to launch next month – are in, and Blizzard is happy to report that a lot of you "really liked being ambushed." Hooray.

If you've played Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, then the idea behind the Prey mechanic is pretty easy to understand. You opt in, and the race is on between you and a big bad to see who can knock the other over first. Eventually, the two of you will square off in a one-on-one bout, at which point you'll hopefully win. It'd be embarrassing if you didn't.

Digging into why Blizzard wanted to bring such a thing to Azeroth, senior game designer Kim Flak shares that it's equal parts open-world difficulty and changing up the routine you've likely honed for years.

"It's not like just clicking on a hard mode," Flak tells our pals at PC Gamer. "It's more increasing moment-to-moment gameplay challenges, and giving players opportunities for skill expression in the outdoor world.

"It's easy to get into a flow state when you're just doing your routine, you know, you're doing your world quests, your rares, your treasures, you slouch down in your chair…"

So what would happen if you had something to challenge your long-honed habits and routines? Flak shares that Blizzard's thinking is that the specter of a nemesis – if you will – will force you to sit upright in your chair by giving you more to think about – "'Do I have crowd control? Do I have the right talents? Do I have enough health before I go into this?"

Of course, Blizzard wants to keep things fair. On lower difficulties, you'll only be jumped when you're actually in combat, so if you "AFK to go get your pizza," your rival won't see that as a prime opportunity to get the jump on you.

On harder difficulties, though, they won't be so merciful. "Nightmare mode kind of is the 'don't AFK' mode," Flak says. "If you need to AFK, you're going to want to go to a rested area. You might even want to log out. You might want to hearthstone back home, because on Nightmare mode, going AFK might get you killed. But hey, it's in the name, you signed up for it."

Plan your meals accordingly.

Naturally, we'll have to wait and see how people feel about the Prey system when Midnight launches next month. As with plenty of other expansions, though, Blizzard has plenty of sources of feedback – pre-patch events, betas, and the like. So far, so good, it would appear.

"One thing that I was surprised by was that players really liked being ambushed," Flak says. "I was a little afraid, like you mentioned a little bit earlier, that players might see these as moments of friction that felt a little unfair. Like 'I pulled that mob, and I would've lived if that guy hadn't ambushed me!' But players overall were like, 'I like being jumped. I like that experience. It's fun, it's surprising, and it's a moment for me to, all of a sudden, shift how I'm thinking about what I'm doing.'

"It really delighted me, because I was hoping players were going to like the surprise of ambushes, and overall, a lot of them did."

Blizzard pleads with World of Warcraft fans not to judge the removal of combat mods too early, because Midnight was designed with it in mind: "We changed some of how we build encounters."

World of Warcraft developer Blizzard wants to simplify its classes ahead of the giant Midnight expansion's launch on March 2, but some of the MMO's players have already made it clear, that's not going to work.

Associate game director Paul Kubit suggests to PC Gamer that many of World of Warcraft's class abilities – like Rogue mercenaries' Roll the Bones spell – were historically "very complicated" because Blizzard assumed they'd be paired with addons.

"We settled into an expectation that at competitive high end-play, players who really wanted to maximize their characters were going to use some computational addons" that would more help optimize decisions, Kubit says. Now, Blizzard wants players to be able to take full advantage of their class's capabilities without extra help. But it won't be easy upending a system dedicated WoW players have known for years.

"The only really all-encompassing word to describe [player feedback] is 'passionate,'" Kubit says politely. "When things change, then there's always a little bit of figuring out time." In the spirit of change, Blizzard has already reverted some of its tweaks to Paladin after it "heard loud and clear from players that it was not what they were looking for."

Kubit says, "I would expect that back-and-forth feedback to continue when it comes to class design."

He continues, "The rest is really just based on listening to feedback, and nothing specific is planned at this time, other than – there's one really big thing coming, and that is on the 2nd of March, people start leveling to 90."

Blizzard "looking at" giving World of Warcraft's older races the customization overhauls they deserve, but it's not happening "soon."

Blizzard has made waves in the World of Warcraft community after its decision to remove combat mods, a plan that started to roll into action with the recent release of pre-Midnight patch 12.0 – an update that prepares the MMO for its upcoming expansion pack.

It does so by smoothing things out across the board – but the most significant change is undeniably the restriction of access to user interface add-ons, which folks used during more challenging content like raids to help with cues and combat information.

For many, it's come as quite a blow, but Blizzard thinks folks should wait until they actually get to experience the rest of the changes that Midnight has in store before casting their final judgment.

Speaking to Polygon, associate game director Paul Kubit defends the studio's decision to axe add-ons, explaining that the new expansion's content and tweaks will make it far less painful for players, as Midnight was crafted with the removal of mods in mind.

One of the big things, for instance, is "that apex talents unlock for classes, and so classes are going to have a little bit more structure to how they play out," as he describes. "And then also all the new content comes, all the new dungeons, all the new raids, and whatnot."

Lead encounter designer Dylan Barker agrees – fans should feel the difference post-Midnight. "We changed some of how we build encounters to suit this new environment," as the dev puts it. "We want to be able to provide clarity on what players are meant to do to succeed more through our own means."

This applies to more than just the user interface, too.

"And that's not just in the UI – that's doing extra levels of presentation on the creatures, in the world, and getting players to really look at the creatures that are trying to kill them, so that they can play better in that way," Barker states. "It's been a fun period for our team, because we've been focused on how to up that level of our game."

As for Blizzard's reasoning behind doing away with add-ons, Kubit reiterates that it's about keeping things fair – something the team has now stated multiple times, that it's to "level the playing field" overall.

The devs felt it's important they're "not giving players tools that shortchange the work that class design or encounter design does to provide challenges for players." It's all too reminiscent of Final Fantasy 14 and the topic of third-party tools, if you ask me.

Blizzard wants "to make sure that you don't feel compelled to have" combat mods, hence their removal and Midnight's rework of, well, a lot. Kubit and Barker acknowledge that World of Warcraft's encounters and their design were a large reason why the add-ons have been so popular, as they "were able to basically solve a number of problems that were intended to be solved by players."

For now, Kubit states they're "anxiously awaiting to see players' feedback" on how Midnight feels without any combat mods – but the work won't be over for the devs. "This is not going to be a '12.0.1 and done' initiative to make sure that players have all the tools that they need to be able to represent everything they want to see in combat," as he concludes.

Blizzard is going to continue "to find issues" and address any room for improvement.

Blizzard "looking at" giving World of Warcraft's older races the customization overhauls they deserve, but it's not happening "soon"

As World of Warcraft moves further into a new era with the launch of Midnight, the second act of the Worldsoul Saga, this year, there's a growing desire for more options to make your characters feel unique. On the back of housing, Blizzard's keen to up the level of customization across all the races, though it's not a going concern at present.

Chatting to Windows Central, Maria Hamilton, the design director of World of Warcraft, reveals it's something the team discusses, but no concrete plan has been decided.

"We don't have a roadmap just yet," she says. "We've taken runs at it from time to time, and we know players love it. But now we're looking at it as a sort of larger project, rather than drops here and there like we did with Heritage Armor."

She doubles down by adding, "it's not soon," and Jay Hwang, principal artist on the MMORPG, points to the transmog system – whereby equipment can be visually altered – as an example of the studio inching in this direction.

"That's why we've been investing in things like housing, which aren't player power related, and focused more on avenues of expression," he states. "So, in the future, maybe goblins will get more ears and noses for you. These are things we're definitely interested in for ourselves, too."

But it's always important to remember, World of Warcraft is now 20 years old, and that means the inner-workings of Azeroth are a deeply knotted structure. Implementing more of, well, anything, involves a lot of testing and massaging to make sure it all sits right.

"We have abilities and toys in the game that can change the way something looks; we can attach audio and visual effects," Hamilton comments. "There's, over the years, been an astonishing bunch of different things overlapping, and none of it is part of a consolidated system."

Staring down the release of one major expansion, with the big third act, The Lost Titan, due after, forces prioritization, and customizable bits and bobs don't enter the equation just now.

"Adding and improving animations have come up more than you might imagine," she says. "People want animations that are appropriate to the role they're playing. How could we integrate that? It's all part of a larger project for the future."

World of Warcraft lead sometimes wishes Blizzard "hadn't called it Warcraft" because "it sounds intimidating," admits the MMO's executive producer and VP

World of Warcraft has been in the limelight recently, thanks to new expansion pack Midnight and Blizzard's plan to remove World of Warcraft combat mods – but developers have an even greater future in mind for the MMO.

They'd like for it to boast a bigger, more diverse audience, with executive producer and vice president Holly Longdale revealing as much to The Game Business during a recent interview. This extends to the Warcraft name in its entirety – not just the 2004 MMO.

"It's a fantastic IP. In my humble opinion, it's been underutilized, and I just want to bring it to as many people as possible," Longdale explains. How would Blizzard go about doing that?

One way, as Longdale puts it, would be to make it more "approachable" to folks. "And that means evolving what Warcraft means, what it is, and where it's going," she says. "We want it to be approachable."

The Warcraft name, however, doesn't make it sound too… well, welcoming to outsiders – and the IP executive creative director is well aware, apparently. Longdale describes how he brings it up to fellow devs.

"Chris Metzen is sometimes like, 'I wish we hadn't called it Warcraft. It sounds intimidating.'" Longdale doesn't necessarily agree, though: "But I'm like, nobody really thinks that about Warhammer.

It's an understood name." I'd argue she's correct here – not to mention the fact that Warcraft doesn't really have to sound "friendly," anyway. The storylines often deal with difficult topics, and, yeah, war. It's central to the IP, and I'm not alone in thinking so.

Reacting to Metzen's words, one fan uses official art from Blizzard in a post to argue that Warcraft is a fitting title. Featuring "one of the most badass orcs in Warcraft history with alliance heads hanging off his belt," the argument checks out – and, uh, the orc in question is literally named "Grommash Hellscream," so I personally get it.

Comments show fellow fans agreeing with the sentiment, although I do also understand where Metzen is coming from. With games like Final Fantasy 14 as competition, it's hard to present yourself as just a dark, gritty fantasy without some of the flair that makes other games so beloved.

Longdale gets into this a bit, stating, "We want people to come in, hang out, and have birthdays, weddings, raids, grand adventures, play with their friends, meet new friends" – you know, the more chill social activities MMOs are known for, too.

She concludes that Blizzard is "never going to stop doing the things people love, but at the same time, we have a bigger vision than simply being an MMORPG." Here's hoping that vision pans out nicely over the next decade or so of WoW.

"Made without crunch": World of Warcraft Midnight is the "the fastest expansion" Blizzard has ever made, with "no sacrifices to team health"

World of Warcraft's Midnight expansion, due out, March 2 is a hurricane, introducing a brand new housing feature to help shake the 22-year-old MMORPG up, along with a whirlwind of customization features. But, according to developer Blizzard, something this ambitious could only be accomplished without crunch.

Game director Ion Hazzikostas tells reporter Christopher Dring in a new The Game Business interview, while Midnight is certainly "the fastest expansion we've ever made, in terms of the shortest gap between expansions," he's glad its developers didn't have to sacrifice their weekends to produce its size and quality.

"No corners cut, no compromises in terms of what we're delivering to our players, and no sacrifices to quality," Hazzikostas says. "And I think most importantly, perhaps, no sacrifices to team health."

The director also notices that the game industry's notorious "crunch" periods requiring extreme hours from its employees are, thankfully, becoming less acceptable. He tells The Game Business, sacrifice "may be a rarity in the game industry, but thankfully that's starting to change more." So Midnight "is an expansion that was made without crunch. This was an expansion that was made without telling the team, 'All right, we need to come in weekends and stay late, and work harder.'"

It's important for both World of Warcraft itself and its creators that Blizzard stick to this balanced approach to development. "Because at the end of the day," Hazzikostas says,

"we're going to keep making this game for years and years and decades. And this is a marathon, not a sprint. And we need to treat it accordingly."

World of Warcraft has always asked us to call Azeroth home, but Midnight's new player housing is the first time you'll have one to call your own.

World of Warcraft turns 22 this year, but despite spin-offs like Hearthstone and its movie adaptation, WoW vice president and executive producer Holly Longdale thinks the Warcraft IP has "been underutilized" and says Blizzard has "a bigger vision" beyond simply being an MMORPG.

Speaking to The Game Business in a new interview, Longdale explains that she wants to bring the franchise "to as many people as possible," with the aim of making it feel approachable to all.

"It's a fantastic IP," she says. "In my humble opinion, it's been underutilized and I just want to bring it to as many people as possible. And that means evolving what Warcraft means, what it is, and where it's going. We want it to be approachable."

She notes that Warcraft executive creative director Chris Metzen sometimes expresses that "'I wish we hadn't called it Warcraft. It sounds kind of intimidating.'" She disagrees, though, arguing that "nobody really thinks that about Warhammer. It's an understood name."

Even if Longdale doesn't think the name is holding Warcraft back as a franchise, though, she still sees that there's room for growth. "This idea of 'third space' in our online worlds, we couldn't even define what that means exactly, but we're working on figuring that out. We want people to come in and hang out, and have birthdays, have weddings, have raids, grand adventures, play with their friends, meet new friends, like all the things that traditionally, for over 20 years, World of Warcraft has been good at."

She's presumably on about roleplayed, online weddings there, but it would be rather amusing if Blizzard aimed for its MMO to somehow become a venue for real, officiated ceremonies. That aside, she says, "And at the same time, we want to take advantage of 20 years of stories that have been told and not told, and start bringing it out to the world in a broader way. That's my goal and vision."

Concluding, Longdale says: "We're never going to stop doing the things we know people love. But at the same time, I think we have a bigger vision simply than an MMORPG."

World of Warcraft lead teases there'll be "a lot of death" for "important characters" during the MMO's Worldsoul Saga, so pray for your favorites.

The spirit of Garry's Mod continues to live on – and not just from, y'know, all the people still playing Garry's Mod in 2026. The Prop Hunt mode that the legendary sandbox helped popularize is now a part of everything from Fortnite to Genshin Impact, and we'll soon be able to add World of Warcraft to that list. Yes, Blizzard's MMO is getting its own take on Prop Hunt this year.

In WoW, the mode will be called Decor Duel, and in today's State of Azeroth broadcast, director Ion Hazzikostas was not shy about calling it a "Prop Hunt-inspired event." It'll land as part of patch 12.0.5, which will hit the PTR "shortly after Midnight's launch."

Described as "a small diversion," Decor Duel will have you "queue up and find yourself on a team facing off against another small team of five in a location like Silvermoon City, or the Alliance and Horde neighborhoods, where one team uses enchantment and illusion to disguise themselves cleverly as innocuous props and try to hide in the environment, while the other team tries to seek them out."

Yep, that sure does sound like Prop Hunt. The game mode's origins reach back into the shadowy pre-history of online gaming mods, but the take made for Garry's Mod is the one that stuck. Play hide-and-seek as a piece of movable furniture and wait for chaos to ensue. The appeal is pretty self-explanatory, and it's little wonder it remains so popular that the biggest games in the world are now regularly swiping from it.

But World of Warcraft in particular hasn't been afraid of getting zanier with its diversionary side activities. Just look at that 60-player pirate battle royale mode. The only real question is what's next. A take on social deduction ala Among Us? An extraction mode? Anything would be a nice respite from all the death WoW players are apparently in for.

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This year's Midnight expansion marks the second act of World of Warcraft's universe-altering Worldsoul Saga, and there's tragedy on the way, whether it arrives now or slightly later. Designed to mark 20 years of the MMORPG, there will be casualties in the epic multi-part story, and chances are at least one of your faves might be among them.

"There will be important characters that do not survive the trilogy," Maria Hamilton, design director on World of Warcraft, explained to PC Gamer. "It'll be a lot of death, I'm afraid. Those are hard decisions. We have arguments about, 'Is this the right time? What will we do with that person gone?'"

Currently, the forces of Azeroth are rallying against Xal'athat, a cosmic being who hails from the Void, in an effort to prevent everything from being consumed by total darkness. This trilogy, started by The War Within and to be wrapped up in The Last Titan, is working toward a gigantic standoff between the power of light and the encroaching shadows, digging deep into Warcraft lore all the while.

Telling this kind of story effectively requires stakes, and it's good to hear the team at Blizzard isn't shying away from that. Continually evolving a game like this means embracing impermanence, no matter how long someone has been around. Nothing is safe, but when done right, these are the kind of twists that make sticking around completely worthwhile.

Don't think anything's been forgotten either, even if it takes a while - potentially a long while - to come back up. "Sometimes Chekhov's Gun, or Chekhov's Sword as the case may be, is going to lie there for a couple of expansions before something comes of it," Ion Hazzikostas, game director, adds, alluding to the gigantic blade that was plunged into the planet during Legion back in 2016. "Get used to that."

It's an interesting time to be a WoW player, that's for sure. Midnight is due to arrive on March 2.

Blizzard isn't "walking back" plans to remove World of Warcraft combat and UI mods: "Our goal was never to stamp out the addon ecosystem."

World of Warcraft developer Blizzard has issued a moratorium on its Anniversary realms' gig economies. It'll continue to ban GDKP raids, in which players bid gold on loot and split the subsequent pot of gold among each other, and other business ventures it deems "non-traditional." But WoW Classic entrepreneurs are furious. Do you know the cost of a mount these days?

The comments section for a January 27 post on the Blizzard forums is hot with frustration now that community manager Linxy has explained Blizzard's current stance on "in-game advertising, in part to bring our policies regarding non-traditional services (including 'boosting') in Anniversary realms in line with other versions of WoW."

According to Linxy, "organizations who offer boosting, matchmaking, escrow, or other non-traditional services, including those offered for gold, are prohibited." Those who try to outsmart Blizzard could face warnings, suspensions, or even permanent bans. That said, both players and guilds are free to use "provided in-game tools (such as the Services chat channel) to buy or sell in-game services for in-game currency," Linxy adds.

"However, 'boosting communities,' especially those who operate across multiple realms, are not permitted," the manager concludes.

Well, that sounds definitive. But WoW Classic players are nowhere near satisfied.

"Nearly as out of touch with reality as is possible," reacts one commenter.

"Not to mention the ban simply doesn't work," quips another. "These people are just delusional."

"Give us back GDKP or people will quit!" threatens another player. But Blizzard doesn't seem convinced.

Blizzard isn't "walking back" plans to remove World of Warcraft combat and UI mods: "Our goal was never to stamp out the addon ecosystem."

World of Warcraft developer Blizzard has just released its pre-patch for the gigantic Midnight expansion, and it is predictably infested with a variety of bugs ranging from big, small, or… gray.

Many World of Warcraft players accept the MMORPG's often messy pre-patches as a loved one's quirk – nobody's perfect, after all, and Blizzard has at least been actively monitoring the Midnight pre-patch's known issues. But there really are a lot of them this time.

Popular WoW guide site Icy Veins, for example, has spotted the fact that the typically idyllic green hills of the Nagrand region have somehow been turned to 3D-printed gray slime; soaring dragons have suddenly started to swarm the Eastern Kingdoms' northern skies, and players have also been describing a seemingly infinite list of broken quests, useless UI, and that the transmog customization feature is nonoperational.

It's inspiring trust issues. In one Reddit thread, a player bemoans the fact that "the state of the pre-patch is not a good look for midnight," while their compatriots quip things like, "first time?" But others don't find yet another round of pre-patch madness so amusing.

"'FIRST TIME? DUR DUR DUR ARE YOU NEW HERE? DUR DUR DUR,'" says one tortured thread reply. "Been playing since 2004 here, I just expect them to try and do better for once."

The full Midnight expansion, which will introduce highly coveted player housing, launches in full on March 2.

World of Warcraft Midnight "brought me to the verge of tears," says MMO's production director, and it's not only "our best expansion ever," but maybe one of the most important ones in 10 years.

The pre-patch for World of Warcraft: Midnight has rolled out ahead of the expansion's launch in March, and that means the first stage of Blizzard's big revision to UI addons is here. The devs have presented this change as a way to "level the playing field" for players, but there's always been a big question lingering: why now?

Addon use goes all the way back to WoW's beta days, senior game director Ion Hazzikostas tells our friends at PC Gamer. "What we started to see 10 years later in Warlords of Draenor was increasingly bespoke add-on solutions that were designed to simplify and solve specific mechanics," he says.

"That was just the beginning," Hazzikostas continues. But there was no "one specific function" Blizzard could block to address the issue, and since addons were by then fully ingrained into WoW's player culture, the team essentially said, "'Okay, I guess this is how it's going to work now." But the issues the team began to take notice of in Warlords of Draenor had only become more "pervasive" in modern WoW.

"We've probably let this go farther than we should have," Hazzkostas admits. "But we really just boiled down to the question of, do we want this to be what WoW is forever? We probably should have done something sooner, and it would have been a less-jarring transition for the community."

Hazzikostas puts it another way: "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is today."

The addon crackdown – or "disarmament," as Blizzard has put it in the past – is intended to keep combat addons from changing the expectations for how high-level content should be balanced. Players with a ton of information naturally have an advantage in high-end raids, and Blizzard doesn't want to have to keep balancing around both addon users and those who stick with the native UI.

But the team doesn't want to kill UI mods entirely. "Our goal was never to stamp out the add-on ecosystem," Hazzikostas says. "It was to move away from it being something that feels like a required competitive aspect of the game."

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World of Warcraft developers are expecting big things from the game's upcoming Midnight expansion, which will finally bring housing to the two-decades-old MMO once it launches in full on March 2, 2026. Since the housing early access period began December 2, some WoW fans are already getting cozy with what promises to be a highly customizable experience, but Midnight's creators think the expansion could be even more important than that.

"I think Midnight really has the potential to be our best expansion ever," WoW game director Ion Hazzikostas tells ScreenRant in a new interview. "I can't wait for people to experience the full stakes of the story and to see millions of people unleashed upon housing and all the rest. So yeah, I think before that, my high-water mark is probably Legion," the transformative expansion that launched in 2016. But Hazzikostas maintains that Midnight is exemplary: "I think this one can top it."

Though, principal game designer at developer Blizzard Jesse Kurlancheek admits, "There are lots of challenges up and down the line. You know, just doing a feature this large is naturally going to cross expansion boundaries, figuring out the tech solutions for problems we didn't even know we were going to necessarily have years ago." But "the goal is, housing is just another pillar of WoW gameplay."

In any case, Blizzard's toil seems to be paying off. In fact, associate production director Garth DeAngelis says wandering through the Eversong Woods starting area in Midnight "almost brought me to the verge of tears with how nostalgic it felt." However, he also shares that he is "relatively" new to WoW.

World of Warcraft lead thinks the MMO will still be "kicking" in 10 years, but despite having ideas for "the very long run," Blizzard is currently focusing "on the next 5 years."

With World of Warcraft: Midnight just around the corner, one of the central developers behind the ever-popular MMORPG has taken a second to reflect on what the next decade may look like. Hopefully still king of the MMO space, he says, though Blizzard's projections aren't quite as long-term.

"Still around, still kicking, I think hopefully, still at the forefront of the genre, and really, you know, defining what it means to be a persistent online community in a world," game director Ion Hazzikostas tells tells ScreenRant, asked where he sees the game in 10 years. "But I think right now, I would say our focus is on the next five years."

He mentions the team has "ideas" for "the very long run," but they always leave space for players to show them what should get attention. "We're going to be guided by our community and the response we see to the choices we make every step of the way," he states. "So it's almost impossible to predict where that's going to lead us, because, you know, humans are uncertain, if nothing else."

The introduction of housing – an addition long in the offing – will provide key insight here, as Blizzard sees what people enjoy about the implementation, and what can and should be replicated in the future. "We're going to be looking very closely, starting, just in a few weeks, all the way through the net launch and beyond, to understand how we can best empower our players," Hazzikostas continues.

"How they're looking to use housing, looking to connect with each other through this feature, and that's really going to guide what our roadmap looks like, you know, in the years to come. And the same is true for other facets of WoW," he finishes.

Besides the power to buy your own home in Azeroth, Midnight is sending shockwaves through WoW by deactivating a variety of combat mods, as Blizzard aims to replace them with official mechanics. The times, they are a-changin', and it seems like the devs are just waiting to see what direction the wind blows them next.

World of Warcraft: Midnight's riff on Monolith's The Lord of the Rings Nemesis System was spurred on by a War Within feature Blizzard doubted: "We weren't sure how people would react"

I've played World of Warcraft since the distant days of the closed beta (2004. Yes, you may not have been alive for it. Thanks for the reminder) and every time I return, it feels like I'm coming home. Things often change, but there's always a reassuring sense of familiarity. As a predominantly Alliance player, that's also known as chilling in Stormwind but finally, I have an actual home to call my own.

That's thanks to World of Warcraft: Midnight, the latest expansion pack which is set for launch in 2026. It's currently in beta testing for anyone who bought the Epic Edition and one of its most notable additions is player housing. It's early days, but it's the highlight of the whole experience for me right now. It feels like a particularly warm welcome for old school players keen to have somewhere they can always return.

Part of the furniture

I've played through every WoW expansion pack. Some more than others, granted, but Midnight feels like a more substantial change than most. Like other players, I'm used to the key additions being more zones, an increased level cap, and maybe a new race to play. It's all bigger and better but it's been a while since we saw truly positive and forward thinking steps made. Player housing might not shake up Azeroth exactly, but it is a hotly anticipated feature.

After all, Final Fantasy 14 has had player housing since 2013. It's been long overdue for WoW but if it took this long to make it better than Final Fantasy 14's method, I'm not complaining. The big selling point is that there's no pesky lottery dictating whether you can buy a house. Want a house? Got the money? You're all set in World of Warcraft. There's no risk of running out of housing, with theoretically endless public neighborhoods meaning there's always a plot for you to purchase. That's a far cry from Final Fantasy 14's lottery system with its dedicated entry days and results days, meaning a certain amount of luck is needed to get a home. Unfair? Yup, that's about right. It's a frustrating experience and one I haven't put much time into. World of Warcraft simplifies it extensively.

Besides being easy to find a plot and go 'hey, that's my home', it's also simple to move house and even change your mind and move back. Everything is boxed up just like moving in real life so it's simple to reset progress. If you log off for a while (maybe to move house in the real world), your home won't be demolished due to inactivity either.

It's all idyllic. Midnight guides you through everything via simple quests so you quickly figure out the basics. It's a nice introduction to the neighborhood with your arrival feeling a little bit special. You turn up to this bustling land of NPCs (mostly all called Local right now due to the beta status) and you're soon guided through where to buy furniture and decor, and how to place your plot. Your home is simple yet cozy. I can see decorating your home becoming a fast favorite amongst cozy gamers, with easy to place objects thanks to a snap-to-grid interface.

I'm no interior design expert but I enjoyed slotting in some basic furniture to get started. Then I stumbled across a series of quests that led to more furniture. These quests added to the cozy experience. Rather than having you slice and dice x amount of enemies, you're solving riddles. I have no doubt at launch, there will be easy solutions online but right now, there's a real sense of satisfaction when you solve something for yourself, especially if you're awful at riddles like I am.

There's plenty of furniture you can buy with in-game gold (the bill can get pretty high) but it's fun to gain these more special items through using your brain. It's sure to keep me hooked for a while. Decor or furniture feels like it could be a very large timesink and a lot of fun for the WoW collectors amongst us. Blizzard promises simple decor from many vendors, the auction house, trophies, and even reputation gains. It's here to stay, with some decor provided retroactively based on accomplishments you've already achieved.

This could all be a lonely experience but player housing is placed within neighborhoods with those areas all offering activities. Known as endeavors, these monthly tasks grant experience along with community coupons which can be exchanged for other rewards. At first, it's a little 'where do I even begin?' – but over time, I can see it being as commonplace to dive into as completing your dailies, albeit with less time commitment involved. From what I saw, neighborhoods are bustling hives of activity. Crucially, they're a place to be more sociable in a game that's become a tad more anti-social in recent times.

Besides the public neighborhoods, guilds can also arrange a private space for all their guildies to live together. I can imagine this being a ton of fun over time. I'm left thinking of times when I'd check in on my Free Company's house in FF14 and it'd be fun running into a guildmate. Such small interactions remind you of how this is so much more than just a game if you're willing to communicate and talk.

I'm hopeful that player housing could be a huge deal for World of Warcraft. It's been a long time coming and so far, it looks well-implemented and like it's learned from its competitors well. That's an excellent start. Right now, the beta is clearly a work in progress right down to some NPCs having placeholder names, items being incorrectly named, and some cutscenes not being fully complete. But I'm liking these foundations. All homes need solid foundations and these are looking pretty strong and reliable. 2026 could be a very exciting year for World of Warcraft players looking for more comfort.

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What better way to kill time before World of Warcraft: Midnight launches than buying an expensive mount? With the expansion going into beta, Blizzard has decided to bring back the $90 dinosaur players became enamored with last year.

The Trader's Gilded Brutosaur, a delightfully cute mini-brachiosaurus with a gold saddle and helmet, is back on the in-game store. There's a non-zero chance you've noticed the side effects of this already, as subscribers in Britain and Europe have noticed WoW Tokens being sold out for a time.

The Brutosaur became extremely trendy in October 2024. Besides just being an adorable creature to sit on, the prehistoric animal comes with a mailbox and an auction house built in, letting you access either wherever in the map you are. That's a high level of convenience in an MMO like WoW, and players were eager to pay for it then and now, even if it meant putting down almost $100.

That said, Blizzard’s naked capitalism has its detractors. “Costs more than the expansion. Company is trash,” says one reply on Twitter. "Literally why gamers can't have nice things. Everyone of you should be ashamed of yourselves for encouraging this nonsense," reads another.

"Not even slightly tempted. It's $132CAD. That's over twice the price of the base expansion for Midnight. Is it convenient? Yes. Do I need it? No," says a commenter on Reddit. There’s something to be said for the comparison, since the Midnight base game is going for $49.99, just over half of what a Brutosaur costs. If you'd like one, you have until January 5, 2026, then it goes back into the vault.

Blizzard says removal of popular World of Warcraft combat mods "needs to happen" in Midnight to "level the playing field" for the long-running MMO.