The World of Midnight – Developer Panel at Gamescom 2025

We previously covered What We Learned at the Panel based on firsthand accounts and screenshots from the event, though this video should give greater clarity. The next panel —Systems Download: Diving Deeper into the Features of Midnight — also probably won’t be livestreamed, but should also be made available in the coming days.

The World of Midnight

After a quick story recap, Maria dives into the principal characters in Midnight. Turalyon, Alleria, and Arator the Redeemer will all play important roles, We already know Alleria’s story so far, but she’ll be joined by Turalyon and Arator in her fight against Xal’atath.

• Turalyon is a representative of the light, and unless she’s chosen her words very poorly, Maria Hamilton confirms that the holy warriors that arrive to defend the Sunwell in the Midnight Cinematic are actually the Army of the Light, not the widely speculated Arathi Empire.

  We also have Turalyon, her husband, who will be an important part of Midnight as a representative of the light. So at the very end of the cinematic there when we see the light coming uh in response to Liadrin’s prayer, the Army of Light has arrived and so have the players. We also will be called by the light to come and join that battle.

• Arator ithe Redeemer is also a Paladin and is very supportive of both his parents – fitting in between Alleria’s void influence and Turalyon’s call of the Light.
• Xa’latath has now stated her goal to take Azeroth, scouring everyone else from the planet and bright about Midnight. She wasn’t expecting the Army of Light to show up, but she’s got plenty of forces and is very powerful at this point.
• The Blood Knight matriarch Lady Liadrin is also a very powerful Paladin, who has called upon the light to come save the day, and will be very important to our efforts to repel the void. She doesn’t like the Amani Trolls very much and that will be an important part of her story.
• Orwena, who we met in The War Within, is actually one of the youngest of the Haranir, and will have an opportunity to teach us about her people and culture. She follows the voice of her goddess, which led her to us, but she is not one of the wise elders of her race.
• Midnight is also an opportunity for Umbrich and the Void Elves to come into their own. Having been banished from Silvermoon and their kin, Umbrich is trying to pull his people together and will have a lot to contribute in our efforts against the void.
• Zul’jarra and Zul’jan are the grandchildren of the infamous one-armed Amani warlord Zul’jin. Zul’jarra is their current chieftain, while her brother is her chief advisor. They’ll be giving us the chance to experience Amani culture, not as enemies this time, but erstwhile friends. They’re also having some slight void problems, though the Blood Elves aren’t too enthused about helping them.
• Finally, we have the Void and the Light, who cosmic forces in conflict. While we are traditionally aligned with the light, extremes of either are problematic, and there will be issues between allies on either side – like the Void Elves and Army of Light.

Culture and Zones

• Alliance players will get a chance to learn a lot more about the Blood Elves. The scourge wrecked a terrible toll on their homeland, form which they’ve been recovering ever since. Their need for power, energy, and magical strength is very well known, and that font of energy (the Sunwell) is exactly what Xal’atath is after.
• Eversong and Ghostlands have been combined into a single zone of Quel’thalas. Nature is healing, with The Dead Scar completely removed, though there are still some areas that are a little iffy.
• The newly rebuilt Silvermoon City is enormous. Because it’s the new player hub in Midnight, there’s still a small section set aside as a sanctuary open to Alliance players, but the majority of the city is Horde-only and Alliance are kill-on-sight. There’s a dungeon related to Murder Row, and may even be a little voidstorm problem going on.
• The Amani were previously enemies, but we now get the chance to see things from their perspective. They’re a very proud people and have worked very hard to get their land, earning it in service to the Zanadalari. They once had a great empire, but have lost their touch to the loa, and continued conflict with the Blood Elves has only made things worse. They’re also having void problems.
• Zul’aman has been built out and expanded, though the raid space still exists and players will recognize many pieces from it. The temperate zone features a very old forest, with tall mountains, lots of rain, and temples to the eagles, lynx, dragonhawks, and bear loa… though the amani haven’t been worshipping for some time. A lot of it is overgrown and abandoned, and the void can be seen creeping in on some areas, while Zul’Jarra searches for a way to fight it.
• We met the Haranir early in The War Within, but we still don’t really know their whole story. They’re ancient guardians of the rootways, led by a council of elders. They have a strong connection with their goddess, with Orwena’s being particularly direct, causing her to venture out into the world away from her people – something the Haranir don’t typically look kindly upon.
• The Haranir will be an allied race and look pretty awesome, featuring a lot of customization and their own unique Druid transformations, including a bat form and Pangolin. They have a tendency to wear a type of bioluminescent paint, in several different patterns on their face and chest.
• Harandar is a fungal jungle, in which the roots of the world trees converge. It’s not directly connected to anything, but the Haranir travel through the roots themselves to get around the world. From The Rift of Alm comes creates dreamt of by their goddess, which are sometimes horrific, though some Haranir take an oath to give up their connection to the goddess in order to become a warden of that place. The Den of Echoes is where the Haranir remember their past through paintings, which players will be able to interact with to learn about their stories.
• Void creatures tend to be very predatory, interested in eating anything smaller and weaker, to take more powerful for themselves. Some of the stronger void creatures we’ll deal with, the so-called Dominar, have developed their own hierarchy of dominance and are very intelligent. Of course Xal’atath and her cultists are part of this group. There are even cute little void creatures, who will also try to eat you.
• Voidstorm is a mysterious world formed by the void, which is all about gaining power and eating the next thing to become stronger. There’s a big raid in Voidstorm, during which players will join the Army of Light to face down the void and make sense of what’s going on. It’s a cool place to explore, but everything there is an enemy, everything there is hungry, and everything there will eat you.

Delves, Dungeons, and Raids

All of the new areas will of course contain delves, dungeons, and raids.

• Delves were one of the developer’s proudest additions to The War Within, and are here to stay. There are 10 new delves scattered across the zones in Midnight. They’ll have the same layers of variety and replayability, alongside some refinement, more layouts, and more enemies. A couple delves will even be mount-friendly outdoor spaces, and delves should be better integrated throughout the zone storylines.
• There’s also an 11th Nemesis delve, though they’re not giving away who we’ll be fighting.
• Replacing Brann Bronzebeard as our Delve companion will be the legendary rogue Valeera Sanguinar. She’ll aid us in many of the same ways as Brann, and hopefully stand in fewer things we’d prefer she not stand in.
• There are also eight dungeons coming in Midnight – 4 leveling, and 4 max level.
• Magister’s Terrace is a returning dungeon, though it has been reimagined and expanded with new locations, including a balcony overlooking the Sunwell itself.
• Murder Row in Silvermoon City will also be a dungeon; sharing vibes with Court of Stars from Legion, we’ll be going in undercover to investigate rumors of fel magic being used within the walls of Silvermoon.
• The Voidscar Arena in Voidstorm, where combatants from around the universe are brought to fight to the death for the pleasure of the dominar. Waves of enemies will come at you, but you’ll be able to control the pace, even in Mythic+!
• Four of these dungeons will be featured in Season 1, alongside four unannounced returning fan favorites, but unlike The War Within, all eight new dungeons will be available at their base level of Mythic+0 during the pre-season launch.
• Windrunner Spire is a winged dungeon in Quel’thalas which will teach us more about the tragic background and family history of the Windrunner family, with plenty of mysteries to uncover.
• There are three raids coming in the first season of Midnight, each featuring a different setting, to better integrate them into the stories being told, as well as offer a wider variety of challenges for different groups.
• The Voidspire: A 6-boss raid within the Voidstorm that serves as Xal’atath’s stronghold, the Dreamrift is a one boss raid in Harandar where the veil between primordial dreams and brutal reality is thin, and shortly after that we’ll be able to take the fight back to the gates of Silvermoon and the Sunwell in the March on Quel’Danas.