World of Warcraft: Midnight is Out Now

The real-world Doomsday Clock hasn’t reached midnight (yet), but World of Warcraft certainly has. World of Warcraft: Midnight, the second of three expansions that comprise the so-called “Worldsoul Saga,” fully launched yesterday – at least, for everyone who didn’t pre-purchase the most expensive digital edition of the expansion. If you pre-ordered the “Epic Edition” of Midnight, you’ve been able to play since February 26th, but I digress. Midnight brings with it a direct continuation of the story that was set up in The War Within. It also adds entirely new zones, updated older zones, and – to the delight of many WoW players – individualized player housing.

I don’t want to spoil any events of The War Within for anyone who might not have all the details. I’ll do my best to set the scene without spoiling anything. To make a long story short, Xal’atath, the Harbinger of the Void, now seeks to engulf the world of Azeroth in eternal shadow. The only thing keeping the Void at bay is the Sunwell, the holy relic from which the blood elves gain their magical abilities. Both the Horde and the Alliance must defend the Sunwell at all costs, which has already started to cause tension between the two factions.

The need to protect the Sunwell explains why the formerly Horde-exclusive Silvermoon City serves as the central hub for players on both factions in Midnight. Silvermoon City and its surrounding zones have now been updated and modernized quite a lot, especially since those zones seem to have been largely forgotten after The Burning Crusade ended. Alliance players will still have access to everything you’d expect to find in a hub city – banks, auction houses, profession trainers, and whatnot – but they’re only allowed within certain portions of Silvermoon. Horde players can still freely access the entire city, as was always the case.

Players can also (finally) now fly in Silvermoon City and the updated zones surrounding it. More specifically, you’ll be restricted to Skyriding in these zones until you unlock the Midnight Pathfinder achievement that unlocks Steady Flight there, but that’s still a huge improvement. The “Murder Row” district of Silvermoon City is now a dungeon, and Silvermoon City is also home to at least one Delve. The blood elf Rogue, Valeera Sanguinar, has replaced Brann Bronzebeard as the player’s companion within all Delves in Midnight. Despite being a Rogue, Valeera can still tank, heal, or deal damage, just as Brann could.

I’ve kept you waiting long enough. Let’s get into some details about individualized player housing. There are new neighborhoods that exist as their own instances near the heart of each faction’s territory: Founders’ Point (near Stormwind City) for the Alliance, and Razorwind Shores (near Orgrimmar) for the Horde. Players can buy and own a total of two houses, one on each faction. Even so, all your characters can freely visit houses you own, regardless of their faction. You can also build a private neighborhood exclusively for yourself and your guildmates, if enough active players from the same guild contribute toward that goal.

Once you’ve bought a house, you’ll also own the plot on which it’s constructed. However, if you decide you want to move to a different available plot, you can quickly and easily do so by purchasing the new plot. Once you’ve bought it, your existing house will be placed on the new plot exactly as it was (i.e., with no changes to its exterior or interior). Blizzard also seems to have made a point of emphasizing the ways World of Warcraft’s new player housing system is different from (and potentially superior to) that of, say, Final Fantasy 14.

Blizzard has stated that if you cancel your World of Warcraft subscription and/or stop playing WoW for any length of time, you will not lose access to the houses you’ve bought, unlike what (I’m told) will happen in Final Fantasy XIV. You also don’t have to pay any form of rent on your houses in WoW: Once you’ve purchased a plot, it’s yours, free and clear, from then on. There’s no new Hearthstone that’ll teleport you directly to your house, but there is a button you can click that does that (on a 15-minute cooldown) in the housing menu.

Players can choose who (if anyone other than them) is allowed to visit their house at any given time. The entire zone in which your neighborhood exists counts as a rested area, not just your house. That’s been particularly convenient for me so far. Neighborhoods are also considered Sanctuaries, so there can be no player-versus-player combat in those zones. I’ve rambled for long enough, so I’d suggest checking Wowhead if you want more details about player housing – or, really, anything else that pertains to World of Warcraft: Midnight. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got quests to do and houses to decorate!