World of Warcraft is improving the new player experience in some significant ways in Midnight, including the addition of major lore characters in Exile’s Reach, a digestible version of The War Within, and gameplay adjustments to improve approachability. These major changes should help newer World of Warcraft fans more easily prepare for the second chapter of the Worldsoul Saga.
During Gamescom Opening Night Live, World of Warcraft revealed Midnight, the next expansion coming to the titanic MMO. Shortly after, it showed off several major features of the expansion, including new zones and instances, the Haranir Allied Race, and a third specialization for Demon Hunters.
WoW: Midnight’s Streamlined New Player Experience
That said, one of its less flashy changes may be one of its most significant. World of Warcraft is overhauling the new player experience in Midnight to make it easier for people to get started in the game. To start, Exile’s Reach – the universal starting zone introduced in WoW: Shadowlands – is getting a facelift, featuring narrative adjustments and the addition of major lore characters, such as Thrall, Jaina, and Wrathion. Like before, fans will then transition into Dragonflight, but will now be funneled into The War Within after that, where they can play a shortened version of the campaign to catch up in the Worldsoul Saga, so they know what is happening in Midnight.
The videos and posts about these adjustments also make mention of Lorewalking, a new curated questing experience World of Warcraft added in Patch 11.1.7. This system lets gamers run through both existing and original content to learn about critical lore and characters, such as Xal’atath and the Ethereals. What’s more, the fact that it is being placed front and center in the new player experience implies they will continue building on the feature. This will likely be done by adding additional stories, such as the datamined Quel’thalas Lorewalking questline, ahead of the next WoW expansion’s return to the Elvish homeland.
Though Exile’s Reach was useful at the time, it has begun to show its age, in no small part due to its irrelevance to the rest of the game. Introducing major lore characters during this time is a smart idea, as it lets fans get to know them ahead of their appearances in the Worldsoul Saga.
Midnight doesn’t have a release date yet, but it is expected to arrive in early 2026. However, these changes may drop alongside the Midnight Pre-Patch, which means players could see them implemented even earlier. Regardless, pre-purchases for World of Warcraft: Midnight are live, so players can score some awesome in-game items, as well as access to all current content, if they want to get an early start.
