Blizzard Entertainment has revealed an extensive content roadmap for the Midnight expansion during the State of Azeroth 2026 presentation. The roadmap extends through Season 2 and into late autumn, introducing mid-season raids, expanded Delve experiences called Labyrinths, and a mysterious standalone game mode from the Plunderstorm team.
Midnight launches March 2, 2026 at 23:00 GMT globally. Early access begins February 26 at 23:00 GMT for players who pre-purchased any edition.
Midnight Expansion Features
The expansion raises the level cap to 90 and adds four new and reimagined zones. These zones contain both campaign chapters and local stories, with additional chapters available at max level. The Haranir join as a new Allied Race, and the Prey System adds new depth and challenge to gameplay.
Eight new dungeons and eleven new Delves arrive at launch. Valeera Sanguinar serves as the new Delve companion, joining players in these solo and small-group experiences. A new Delves season launches with Season 1 and continues evolving with each subsequent season.
The Arcantina functions as a new social hub. This mystical tavern lets players interact with notable figures from WoW lore, learn more about them, and complete quests on their behalf.
PvP players get Slayer's Rise, a new Epic Battleground that also exists as an outdoor world space for War Mode participants.
Season 1 Raid Structure
Season 1 begins a couple weeks after launch and delivers an unusually dense raid structure with three separate zones launching in close succession.
The Voidspire is the primary raid with six bosses, serving as the capstone for Midnight's opening narrative. The Dreamrift adds a one-boss encounter alongside it. Four new world bosses round out the initial offering.
Shortly after Season 1 begins, The March on Quel'Danas opens with two additional bosses. This raid caps off the initial Midnight story chapter and sets up what comes next. Combined, Season 1 offers nine raid bosses plus four world bosses before any patch content arrives.
The Mythic+ pool consists of four new Midnight dungeons and four updated legacy dungeons. A new PvP season launches alongside the raid content.
Blizzard emphasized Story Mode as a way for any player to experience raid content regardless of playstyle. The team wants to provide multiple paths through Azeroth's story, from tackling raids to completing Delves to simply spending time in the Arcantina.
Patch 12.0.5 - Early Spring
The first post-launch patch hits the PTR shortly after Midnight releases and addresses the aftermath of Season One's raids.
Void Assaults appear across the outdoor world as Xal'atath's threat remains unresolved. These outdoor events bring new enemies, new reasons to defend Azeroth, and new rewards. They continue and escalate in Patch 12.0.7, maintaining an ongoing world presence for the expansion's primary antagonistic force.
Prop Hunt (also called Decor Duel) is a queued 5v5 minigame where two teams face off in instanced versions of Silvermoon City and the Alliance/Horde neighborhoods. One team disguises themselves as pieces of decor, hiding among props and doodads scattered throughout the environment. The other team hunts them down.
Blizzard positioned Prop Hunt as a fun diversion rather than major content, giving players a low-stakes environment to mess around in together. Specific rewards weren't confirmed, though activities like this typically include Trading Post progress and achievements.
Patch 12.0.7 - Late Spring
This update continues the story and quest content alongside escalating Void Assaults.
Sporefall is a standalone one-boss raid set in Harandar, the lush and nature-filled zone of Midnight. This marks a major shift in how Blizzard approaches raid content.
The last standalone raids released outside major seasonal updates were Crucible of Storms in Battle for Azeroth and Ruby Sanctum after Icecrown Citadel. With Midnight releasing raids in mid-patch updates alongside standard seasonal raids, the gap between new raiding content shrinks considerably compared to recent expansions.
Blizzard expressed excitement about moving away from raids being locked to massive twice-yearly updates. The goal is matching content to the ongoing narrative and telling stories of different shapes and sizes. Details on loot systems and difficulty scaling for these mid-season raids weren't provided.
Turbulent Timeways returns in this patch.
Patch 12.1 and Season 2 - Summer
The first major content update delivers a new zone with max-level content, a new raid, a new dungeon, new Delves, and a new world boss. The Mythic+ pool updates alongside new PvP and Delves rewards.
This patch also overhauls the Friends system, making it easier to keep up with existing friends and make new ones. Housing, social, and UI updates are included, along with Brewfest updates.
Patch 12.1.5 - Labyrinths
Labyrinths are a new content type built for the Delve community. Blizzard acknowledged that while Delve gameplay has found a dedicated audience, some players want more than bite-sized experiences.
These Labyrinths draw inspiration from mega-dungeons and function as a raid equivalent for solo and small-group players. They're large, sprawling experiences that can be tackled all at once or broken up across multiple sessions. Players progress at their own pace rather than committing to one-shot clears like standard Delves require.
Labyrinths keep the core Delve elements of exploration and combat alongside companions, but feature a separate reward structure to account for their greater size and time commitment. Valeera Sanguinar remains the companion for these new experiences.
A new one-boss raid also arrives in this patch. Unlike Sporefall's standalone story, this raid directly continues Midnight's main narrative and bridges into the next major update.
Patch 12.1.7 - Late Autumn
Story and quest content continues alongside holiday updates and another Turbulent Timeways event.
A new standalone game mode arrives from the team behind Plunderstorm and Remix. Ion Hazzikostas called them "mad scientists" creating experiences that exist entirely separate from core WoW gameplay.
Concept art shown during the presentation depicts a dark, shrouded town haunted by ethereal glowing magic similar to the Drust from Kul Tiras. The atmosphere looks significantly different from the pirate-themed Plunderstorm.
This mode was first teased at the Evolving Azeroth Panel at PAX East in May 2025, where Blizzard revealed experimental game modes in development. Key art from that event showed Darkshire in the haunted forests of Duskwood, matching the State of Azeroth concept art.
At PAX East, Blizzard confirmed this wouldn't be a battle royale like Plunderstorm. They described the vibe as more like a "scary story," sparking community speculation about a murder mystery party game inspired by Among Us.
Datamining from late 2023 during Dragonflight adds another layer of intrigue. Scenescript files (typically used for minigames and cutscenes) referenced "Vampire Survivors Mode" with entries including "10.2.5 - Vampire Survivors Mode - Game Mode - Client Scene (OJF)" and "10.2.5 - Vampire Survivor Mode - Data - Creatures." Nothing came of it at the time.
Vampire Survivors would fit the "scary story" vibe tonally, and its gameplay loop of auto-attacking characters fighting waves of monsters could translate well to WoW. Whether this connects to the upcoming mode remains unclear.
Housing System Updates
Housing launched as an Early Access feature for Midnight pre-purchasers, with the full launch described as "just around the corner." Blizzard called this feature twenty years in the making, designed to grow and evolve over time.
The development team said they've been overwhelmed by player creativity during Early Access. Ion Hazzikostas stated this is "just the ground floor for housing in WoW," emphasizing their commitment to expanding the feature alongside players.
Exact timelines aren't confirmed beyond a Housing Update notation for Patch 12.1 on the roadmap, but Blizzard outlined several priorities.
Pet and Mount Integration lets companion pets wander around homes while favorite mounts can be hitched up in outdoor yards. This addresses feedback about homes feeling incomplete without these cosmetic collections on display.
Mass Select Decor tackles a common pain point. Players have built elaborate pieces by combining multiple decor items, but moving these creations currently requires full reconstruction. The update adds support for selecting multiple items and moving them together. Blizzard used a grand piano assembled from various decor items as an example.
Copy and Paste allows duplicating designed decor creations without reassembly.
Import/Export Design Sharing introduces quick importable codes for sharing designs, usable as complete renovations or starting points for customization.
Decor Budget Increases reward ongoing progression with larger budgets as technical limits expand.
The team is also monitoring Endeavors, how they affect Neighborhoods, and how players interact with them.
Community Programs
The Ambassador Program focuses on community members helping each other. Blizzard described Ambassadors as helpful friends within the WoW community who connect players with communities sharing similar playstyles or interests.
Blizzard announced a partnership with Habitat for Humanity through a charity pet pack featuring Roofus. This pet is available in both retail WoW and Classic. Roofus loves to build, which becomes visible when the pet is left idle. Retail players also receive a dog house, bowl, and bed.
Habitat for Humanity has helped more than 65 million people globally. More information about bringing Roofus home will be shared later.
Blizzard plans to launch surveys within the game to gather player feedback, emphasizing their commitment to listening and acting on community input.
Pre-Expansion Content
The Twilight Ascension Event runs through March 2. Players join Umbric and Grand Magister Rommath to keep the Twilight's Blade cult at bay through World Quests and defeating rare enemies to disrupt rituals. Event currency purchases limited-time rewards, including armor sets, pets, a mount, and Housing decor.
The new Void-themed ranged spec for Demon Hunters uses Void magic and gains access to the Scarred Hero Talent tree (formerly Fel Scarred). Void Elf Demon Hunters unlock through a short questline.
Transmog updates include situational outfit swapping, an improved UI, and slot-based transmog that eliminates re-transmogging with every upgrade. Players can unlock and save full outfit sets across characters.
Training Grounds provide PvP newcomers the opportunity to learn against smarter AI opponents in Arathi Basin, Silvershard Mines, and Battle for Gilneas.
Winds of Mysterious Fortune is a limited-time event that boosts reputation and XP gains for players below level 80, offering opportunities to level alts or catch up on reputation-based Housing decor items before Midnight.
From January 29 through February 1, inactive accounts get full access to the game and all characters without a subscription during Welcome Back Weekend. Eligible players must have previously had an active subscription. Access ends February 2 at 18:00 GMT.
What This Means for Players
The State of Azeroth 2026 presentation reveals a more aggressive content cadence than recent expansions. Mid-season raids break from the established pattern of raid content arriving only with major seasonal updates, potentially addressing long-standing community complaints about content droughts between patches.
Labyrinths represent Blizzard's clearest acknowledgment that solo and small-group players deserve endgame content comparable in scope to raids. The mega-dungeon inspired format offers progression-focused players an alternative that doesn't require coordinating large groups or working around guild schedules.
The mysterious standalone game mode continues Blizzard's experimentation with content outside the traditional WoW loop. Following Plunderstorm and Remix, this "scary story" experience suggests the team sees value in varied gameplay experiences under the World of Warcraft umbrella.
BlizzCon 2026 arrives in approximately eight months, with Blizzard promising revelations about plans for the next twenty years of Warcraft. The Last Titan, the final chapter of the World Soul Saga, looms beyond Midnight.
Midnight Early Access begins February 26, 2026, at 23:00 GMT worldwide for players who pre-purchased any edition. The full expansion launches March 2, 2026 at 23:00 GMT.
