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

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."