I played over 50 hours of WoW: Midnight in 3 days – It is really that good

MeinMMO demon Cortyn has thrown himself into World of Warcraft Midnight and completed all quests. The conclusion is positive – even with a few minor errors.

It still feels a bit surreal to me that we are already playing another expansion of World of Warcraft – at least for those who have purchased the Epic Edition of Midnight. I have therefore temporarily severed all social connections in real life for the last 3 days and dove into the new expansion with way too many hours of gameplay.

My simple and honest conclusion: World of Warcraft Midnight is almost everything I ever wanted from WoW – even if there are minor quirks.

But to briefly summarize what I have done in the past days (Spoiler: I had very, very little sleep):

• My shadow priest has reached level 90.
• I have completed the main campaign and 60 of the 65 side quest lines.
• I have already maxed out fishing and cooking.
• I visited the depths up to level 7, a few dungeons on heroic.

The Main Story – The Big Plot of the World Soul Saga

The primary plot of Midnight revolves around Xal’atath and her attack on the Sunwell – at least initially. After this can be temporarily repelled through great efforts by light workers, it shifts towards local stories:

• In the Immersang Forest, the Cult of the Twilight Blade causes chaos and undermines the blood elves, who simultaneously struggle with strange plants that have mutated due to the light.
• In Zul’Aman, we help the Amani defend against the Twilight Blade and possibly reconnect with the Loa, whose powers they violently robbed in the past.
• In Harandar, we learn a lot about the history of the World Trees and the Haranir people. This very nature-oriented people struggles with problems that seemingly encroach upon their home along the roots of the World Trees.
• There is also a campaign with Arator, who must find his way between light and shadow. After some drastic conflicts with his father, he travels through the Eastern Kingdoms to work through his family’s past. However, this campaign is a bit shorter than the others.
• In the Voidstorm, we try to turn the tide against Xal’atath. There, we meet the Domanaar people – void creatures who have built a complex society and only serve Xal’atath partially.

Meanwhile, tensions simmer in Silvermoon. The paladins under Turalyon’s leadership behave more like an occupying force and demand more and more resources from Silvermoon, arrest innocent citizens, and show little understanding for the people to whom the city actually belongs. Here, the seeds for a story are laid, which will surely continue to develop over the coming weeks and months.

I enjoyed the stories very much. The main campaign of the individual areas is quite focused, has many cutscenes, and a lot of voiced dialogues. Everything gets enough time to resonate but never takes too long.

I particularly love the sheer number of “stay a while and listen” moments that exist. Every few quests, there is the opportunity to talk to important NPCs again and trigger some voiced dialogues to learn more about the personal views of the characters or conflicts.

This is optional, and if one does not care, they can simply skip it – but for those interested in the lore and the main characters, there is a lot of additional material offered here.

Side Quests – The Soul of the Game

The side stories of World of Warcraft are usually a bit less heroic. The developers often call them “Local Stories” – telling about the everyday lives of the people living in the respective areas. You learn more about their culture, their problems, and individual fates.

These quests are extremely diverse. From small, rather silly stories to dark incidents, there is a lot to explore. Everything feels coherent and rounded. A few examples:

In Zul’Aman, we meet the great Loa again. Demigods that the trolls confide in and rely on their strength. Among them is a rather cute capybara Loa named Fi’lo. This Loa does not speak, but enjoys playing with children and protects them. He also guards the souls of deceased children and watches over them until their parents die as well, so they can move on together. All other Loa fear Fi’lo and keep their distance, as his wrath is feared.

In Silvermoon, we are approached by a beggar who is looking for capable champions for a magistrate. This magistrate then explains to us that a rival magistrix is spreading lies about him because he has gotten a position that she actually wanted – so we are to destroy the supposedly fake evidence.

Piece by piece, we discover that the magistrate regularly abducts homeless people from the streets and annihilates their souls with magic to indulge in demon magic. A crime he has been able to pursue without consequence until now because hardly anyone in Silvermoon cares about the homeless and beggars.

In the Immersang Forest, we meet a mysterious huntress who shamelessly exploits our existence as “an adventurer who does whatever he is told.” We gather items for her, only to slowly discover that she is a necromancer whom we should actually slay.

When we confront her, she reveals that after the fall of the Sunwell, she actually studied necromancy, but for a good reason: A friend, a former hero of Quel’thalas, who was killed by the Scourge, now exists only as a perpetually suffering banshee. Through necromantic rituals, she tries to temporarily alleviate her suffering and restore sensory perceptions such as feeling the wind or tasting wine.

In the Voidstorm, we find a captured draenei with a special accent – one that we have never heard as draenei. They are Eredar, who were left behind during their escape from planet to planet and have since wandered through the cosmos and built their own civilizations – detached from Argus, Velen, or other draenei. Since my priestess is herself a draenei, I get special quest texts and many dialogue options that others wouldn’t see. It is a rather emotional quest line, at the end of which stands another great sacrifice.

These are just 4 of the 65 side quest lines, each consisting of several steps. Some are quite short, others a bit longer. But they all feel coherent and valuable. You learn more about the world and culture, and with each single quest, I thought to myself: That is interesting to know. That made the world richer.

An Expansion of a Whole

Especially visually, Midnight has a lot to offer. The first time you see the huge, holy beam of light shooting from the Sunwell into the Voidstorm, it is quite impressive.

Equally fantastic is the first entry to the city of Silvermoon and the Immersang Forest. Especially as a blood elf fan, it is a revelation. The city is beautifully designed, so large and complex, with such a love for details that you can hardly get enough of it.

I literally spent hours getting lost in the grand streets, stumbling through underground passages, watching students study, or visiting a pet café to admire all the details.

Silvermoon created the same feeling Suramar did during Legion. It feels like a magnificent elven metropolis.

It should not be forgotten that housing is also part of Midnight – even if we have already been able to play it for a few weeks. I have praised this extensively in the past, so I’ll spare you here – but it is a significant plus point of the expansion.

Everything fits wonderfully together and is bound to please nostalgia fans. The Immersang Forest picks up so many stories from the past and continues them that you basically discover an interesting detail with almost every second quest that you might not have thought about for 20 years – when you sent your first blood elf on her travels.

Finally, there are many meaningful improvements to the interface. WoW now inherently includes various add-ons, such as a damage meter or boss mods. Therefore, I have said goodbye to all external add-ons of this type to get used to the new standard. This takes some time but turned out to be intuitive and fitting. Quickly, you forget add-ons like Deadly Boss Mods – they are simply no longer necessary.

The Big Question Marks

Yes, I am aware: This is not a comprehensive, all-inclusive review. On the one hand, I have only played one class thoroughly so far, and on the other hand, many contents are not yet accessible. The dungeons have only been available on normal and heroic, the depths still had a rather low cap, and the raids will not open for a few weeks.

The loot system unlocks after completing the campaign, but so far it has only been available on normal difficulty. It has been “quite nice” – but that’s it. Since “Normal” is basically the tutorial difficulty, I want to hold off on making a judgment until I have seen more of it.

I can only judge what has been visible so far – but that has pleased me quite a lot.

The Search for a Hair in the Soup

Of course, not everything is perfect – that is simply not possible at the launch of an MMORPG or an expansion; at least I have never experienced that. There have been minor issues and bugs. Most of them will surely be resolved by the first patch at the latest. However, a few are attributable to the fundamental design, which could be problematic in the long run.

A friend of mine encountered some English screen texts in the German version – the specializations for some professions were still in English. This should not occur in the release version.

Another point that gnaws at me, and for which I almost regret having to write: the music. Midnight is the first expansion where the music – with few exceptions like Silvermoon – seems rather characterless. Especially with the Haranar music, I find it interesting that they tried something new, but I quickly get the impression: This somehow does not feel Warcraft. Much sounds similar, but at no location did I have the feeling that the music would stick in my memory for long – quite unlike previous expansions.

Maybe I need more time to get used to it, but the music felt, for the first time in the history of the game, quite arbitrary and interchangeable to me. But that might just be my personal preference, especially after being spoiled by the fantastic Dimensius soundtrack recently.

For me, the biggest gameplay issue might be the apex talents, at least with my class, the shadow priest. Because the apex talents “force” me into a certain talent selection and drastically limit my options. Since the apex talents enhance the “shadowy apparitions” for shadow priests, I basically have no choice but to choose all talents in the main area of the talent tree that enhance this ability.

The apex talents are very strong – but they do take away my freedom to experiment and reduce my choices. I would like to see a revision of this in the middle of the expansion.

But as mentioned, these negative aspects are really just minor details. Things that bother me – some more, some less. However, they do not tarnish the overall impression:

Conclusion – Midnight is What World of Warcraft Should Always Have Been

It probably shows in the text and in the fact that I have played approximately 50 hours of WoW in 3 days: I am quite satisfied.

World of Warcraft Midnight was created with unbelievably great attention to detail. The game world, the stories in the quests, the entire presentation – it is a feast for all who fell in love with the world at the latest with “The Burning Crusade” and can relate to the modern playstyle of WoW.

At least what has been available so far makes me eager for more and shows that Blizzard still has it. The early access went quite smoothly and the content available so far is of a high standard. Let’s just hope that the patches can maintain this level, as that has always been a small issue in the last expansion.

I know that World of Warcraft Midnight will rob me of a lot of time again in 2026 – but I am looking forward to it.

What were your experiences with Midnight in early access? Have you completed the campaign and leveled your professions? Are you taking it easy and spending a lot of time on some things? Or are you waiting for the regular launch and will really get started only from tonight? If you’re not ready for the launch yet, here are 3 things you should know beforehand.