Azeroth is changing once more. World of Warcraft: Twilight Ascension signals a new era, where rising darkness, unfolding stories, and fresh challenges reshape the path ahead. Heroes, heed the call - let’s begin.
Demon Hunter Updates
With the pre-patch to Midnight, Void Elves unlock the ability to become Demon Hunters, as well as the new Devourer spec, the 3rd spec for Demon Hunter, becomes available for all DHs. A planet-crushing, mid-range spellcaster with the full mobility that you are used to from DHs. Of course, this also means the class needed a new set of Hero Talents, Annihilator.
Transmogrificate yourself a new look
The Transmog system has been overhauled. With the new system, mogs are now based on the slot, not the individual item. This means that you no longer need to reapply your mog when you get a new upgrade after a dungeon, or worse, in between raid bosses.
Outfits can be used from your action bars, so after an initial setup, switching will be easier than ever!
Most interesting will probably be the Situations system, where you can let your looks swap automatically based on what you are doing. It’s a kind of magic that Freddy would be proud of!
Endangering Endeavors for Endearing Endowment
Midnight Housing is getting an update, with the neighborhood Endeavors arriving monthly for all players. These tasks could be an endearing quest, crafting an endowment, or running an endangering dungeon. Collectively, your neighborhood works towards unlocking more rewards for your house. And of course, those who prefer a different style will be able to do so, as Kalorei (Alliance) and Sin’Dorei (Horde) styles are unlocked for their respective factions.
New UI Features and Add-ons
Although we are not going to burn ourselves on the whole Add-on debacle, and if this is the right or wrong call, this is, of course, a direct result of that major shift in game design. The new UI features include Damage Meters, Boss Warnings, and a (personal) Cooldown Manager.
A while ago, Blizzard decided that Add-ons were becoming too powerful and mandatory. Game and especially Encounter design was changing based on “This will be dealt with by an Add-on”, instead of what would be fun for players. They (Blizzard) do not want the game to go in this direction further than it already has gone, and are making some drastic changes to what Add-ons can do. Signs of those changes have been increasingly present since Castle Nathria - Shadowlands.
This means a lot of Add-ons will be majorly changed, and some will even cease to exist.
Another Squish, Your Stats be Smaller
We have heard the phrase Bigger is Better before. A bigger fireball is better than a smaller fireball, and a bigger shield is better than a smaller shield. But Blizzard realized a long time ago (Warlords of Draenor) that this is not always the case. When it comes to the numerical representation of damage you do in comparison to the number of health your enemy has, both being drastically bigger, just causes comprehension issues. As such, many numbers are being scaled down (again). Expect your health, healing, damage, and stat numbers to take a step back, and the number of digits in your game to be reduced.
What is PvP? Training Grounds gets you started!
It turns out this exists, people still play it, and Blizzard finally remembered this part of the game. Although the Training Grounds is not a way to master this ancient part of World of Warcraft, it will certainly be helpful to get you started. Battling against game-controlled opponents in either Arathi Basin, Silvershard Mines, and Battle for Gilneas, you will learn the ropes of PvP. Hopefully, this new feature will help people get started with PvP and feel comfortable enough to later try it against real player opponents.
Release Dates
World of Warcraft: Twilight Ascension - 12.0.0 will go live in the United States on January 20th and in Europe on January 21st, most likely with standard weekly maintenance. Keep in mind the Pre-Expansion event and the Winds of Mysterious Fortune buff will start a week after the patch comes out, on January 27th (United States) and 28th (Europe).
World of Warcraft: Midnight is coming out with a global release on March 2nd.
For more information on World of Warcraft: Midnight or to pre-purchase the expansion, go to Blizzard's official website: https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/midnight
Big thanks to Arco “Tex” Dielhof, our WoW Community Champion, for creating this article.