Raid Testing and Dungeon testing have commenced and the current reality of the add-on replacements hits home. Was last week's anxiety justified?

The Midnight Beta is Live. Raid Testing is Scheduled. As the March on the next Warcraft Expansion moves on the crew questions if we are going too fast, too slow, or both simultaneously.

The Warning Overlooked

• Midnight Prologue: The Warning
• Dec 2nd in NA
• Vereesa Windrunner and Arator investigate visions and prophesies
• As a part of the content update, players who have added Midnight to their account will gain access to Housing Early Access.
• Updated New Player Experience
• New Lorewalking: The Elves of Quel'Thalas allows players to learn about the origins of the Blood Elves and the Void Elves.
• The Lich King’s assault on the Sunwell
• The tainting of the Sunwell by Alleria Windrunner, and the creation of the Void Elves
• Pandaren Heritage Armor
• Turbulent Timeways returns
• 10 weeks of Timewalking
• 6 new dungeons from the Shadowlands
• The Brawler’s Guild
• Dec 9
• New bosses
• Revised encounter order
• Rewards including Housing Decor

Links

• Midnight Prologue: “The Warning” Content Update Goes Live December 2!

Play with the Blues: Midnight Pre-Launch Event

• Mon Nov 17
• 11:00 PST - 13:00 PST
• Realm: Midnight Prelaunch Event
• The realm will become available when the event begins and will remain open after the event ends for a short period of time for those who still want to test out the pre-launch event.
• Requirements: Copy a character from the live servers to participate in the test.
• The quest “The Cult Within” will begin a chain that will lead players to the Twilight Highlands in the Eastern Kingdoms.
• The event repeats quickly and can be tracked in the map.
• The build will be based on Midnight so there will be class changes

Links

• Play with the Blues: Midnight Pre-Launch Event - November 17

Midnight Beta

New with the beta:

• Allied Race: Haranir
• COMBAT TUNING
• Developers’ notes: As Midnight transitions into beta, tuning will quickly start happening at a much more rapid pace. We are working to get things into a better tuned state to ensure quality playtesting and feedback from both internal and external sources. This tuning will come in various stages and won’t all happen at once, but a few notable changes are happening that feel worth discussing slightly more:
• Several classes will see some generic increases or decreases to their overall throughput amounts. Most of this right now is to coincide with “zeroing out” some passive modifiers attached to the class or spec that was adjusting their throughput. Rather than continue to tweak this number up and down, most of them have been set to zero. In some cases, we adjusted the spec’s tuning up or down to compensate for the change. In other cases, we felt it was ok to not adjust the spec’s throughput and just return the values to zero.
• Melee classes are starting to see an increase to their auto-attack damage dealt either in this week’s update or in the coming week’s updates. Auto-attacking is a part of melee characters, and we want to make sure that an appropriate amount of damage is being attributed to your auto-attacks while engaged in combat.
• All healers had a 20% increase to their damage dealt this week. We are monitoring the rate at which they can complete content while solo and felt that a boost to their offensive throughput would be appropriate.
• NEW ACCESSIBILITY FEATURE: COMBAT AUDIO ALERTS
• Combat audio alerts have been added for reading your target’s name and announcing when your target dies, when combat starts, and when combat ends.
• Transmog is disabled for the week.
• Next Week: Limited Raid Testing
• Updated Transmog System
• Mythic+ Dungeons
• Midnight Season 1 Dungeons
• Upper-tier Delves
• Housing - Night Elf and Blood Elf exterior decor
• Additional User Interface Updates

Links

• Midnight Beta Test Development Notes - #18 by Linxy
• https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe26_kqAy4ypSkmpRiO_eJQyvcp0el5PKcUTO0ZrYu4qi3-eQ/viewform

Raid Testing

• Midnight Raid Testing Schedule

News

BlizzCon 2026

Blizzard announced today that BlizzCon 2026 Passes will go on sale November 7th.

• Friday, November 7, 2025, at 9 a.m. PST through Sunday, November 9, 2025, 11:59 p.m. PST
• $249.99 USD each
• Maximum number of passes a single account can purchase raised from two to four
• Tuesday, November 18, 2025, at 9 a.m. PST at $289.99 USD
• BlizzCon Charity Night Addon for $499.99 USD
• Blizzard will donate 100% of the purchase price to Make-A-Wish
• Darkmoon Faire After Hours for $89.99 USD
• Three-hour event Saturday evening, September 12
• 20 Faire Tokens and a collectible credential
• Rough outline provided for the event
• Opening Ceremony
• Show floor playable gameplay for WoW, Diablo IV, Overwatch 2, Hearthstone, and Diablo Immortal.
• The Blizzard Arcade
• Dev Stages including a separate Classic Stage
• Esports return with the AWC, MDI, and competitions from other games (Overwatch World Cup)

Links

• BlizzCon 2026 Passes go on sale November 7!

Unshackled Fury Ion Interview

• To celebrate their 10th anniversary the Unshackled Fury podcast with hosts Berzerker and Jez sat down with World of Warcraft Game Director, Ion Hazzikostas. During the interview they talk about Ion’s life outside of the game, his early years and how he ended up at Blizzard. It humanized him in a way most interviews never do.

Links

• Interview with World of Warcraft Director Ion Hazzikostas! Midnight, Madness, and Mayhem!

The Conversation Continues

Ion and Andy Churchill met with the BW/DBM authors to discuss the state of Combat Timeline and find solutions to their biggest pain points. There was a lot of good detail to come from this meeting and I suggest watching Adam’s video where he goes through it in detail.

• Player Spell Casts are no longer secret values (even in combat)
• Addons will be able to filter spells in the timeline
• No ability renaming
• No ability timers on nameplates
• Will not allow warnings when a debuff/target of a spell is applied
• Custom sounds for Cooldown Manager will be permitted

Links

• Boss mod addon authors talked to Ion Hazzikostas about Midnight

Prey

Midnight unleashes the Prey system as a new endgame activity.

• Role agnostic
• Each difficulty presents 4 hunts per week.
• The same Target can be at a different difficulty and location when encountered in a new week.
• You can do any activity in the zone that will help your hunt progress
• 3 Difficulties

🚨  EPIC EDITION GIVEAWAY 🚨 

Thanks to the team at Warcraft we have 3 Epic Edition codes to giveaway!

HOW TO ENTER

Twitter: Like, Follow and Retweet THIS tweet

Instagram: Like, Follow and Repost THIS post

Youtube: Like, Subscribe and comment FAZ GIFT on THIS video

All 3 winners will be drawn on November 10th 2025

Outro

Be part of the conversation and join us on Discord bit.ly/fazdiscord

Thank you so much for supporting the show!

Lex can no longer trust the developers as chaos continues to unfold for add-ons. The trio discusses WoW for consoles; and Sean relishes in the snarkiness.

News

WoW on the Next Xbox

Windows Central released an article with some confirmed and some speculated details of the next Xbox console.

• The next Xbox is reported to have a PC experience not dissimilar to the SteamOS interface.
• The system is expected to run Game Store Fronts such as Steam, Epic Games Store, the Riot Client, and notably Battle.net
• The article points to quotes from senior officials as well as undisclosed insider sources.
• Phill Spencer speaking of the Xbox Ally to see the direction of the next console.
• Sarah Bond hinting at 1st party hardware made in partnership with AMD
• Internet pundits reignited the conversation that WoW is being reworked for consoles.

Addressing Addons

Team 2 posted a message about Midnight’s Impact of Combat Addons.

• The initial version of the new API logic was the most restrictive iteration and the team had a (uncommunicated?) expectation that feedback would guide where they loosen restrictions.
• The team has been providing detailed technical updates directly to addon devs
• The post includes a section about customization.
• Addons should not be able to automate combat decisions for the player.
• Addons should retain their ability to customize how information is presented to the player.
• Team 2’s post speaks briefly about a focus on accessibility.
• Text-to-Speech support or other audio alerts
• Examples of the ability to announce when combat begins and ends, to announce your health and resources at regular intervals, to play sounds when you gain or lose a secondary resource (e.g., combo points), to announce your target’s name and health, and more.
• Healing and Raid Frames
• New display for 
• Major defensives (or similar ability)
• Role specific debuffs (ie: tank swaps) 
• Additional buffs displayed on raid frames beyond the previous limitation
• 3 different layouts with 2 being inspired by popular addons.
• Border visualization and colour highlights for Curses, Diseases, Magic, or Poison effects. 
• Additional Authors announce a pause in support of popular addons.
• Latest Updates provided to addon authors include changes listed under Alpha Phase 6

Links

• How Midnight’s Upcoming Game Changes Will Impact Combat Addons

Midnight Alpha Phase 5

A little earlier than in weeks past, the next phase of the Alpha is here!

• Level 90
• Story and Quests: 
• Level 90 Campaign - Chapter 1
• Arcantina Visitor Quests
• Weekly Quests (must complete the main campaign or use the skip)
• All previous content is once again available
• Housing
• Budgets for room placement and decor have been returned to levels closer to week 3
• Dyes are re-enabled
• Delves: 
• Parhelion Plaza
• The Darkway
• Torment’s Rise (Nemesis delve)
• Prey
• World Boss available
• Thorm’belan
• Found in the Encroaching Bloom of Harandar
• Level 90 Activities: 
• Saltheril’s Soiree
• Abundance
• Legends of the Haranir
• Stormarion Citadel
• Amani Abyss
• Professions
• Sparks are available for testing
• Class Sets added
• Balance Druid, Feral Druid, Guardian Druid, Brewmaster Monk, Protection Paladin, Affliction Warlock, Demonology Warlock, Destruction Warlock, Fury Warrior, and Protection Warrior.
• Class changes

Links

• In Development: Phase Five of the Midnight Alpha — World of Warcraft — Blizzard News
• Midnight Alpha Test Development Notes - #16 by Linxy

Outro

Be part of the conversation and join us on Discord bit.ly/fazdiscord

Thank you so much for supporting the show!

Sean love affair with Lemix is more fickle the fel-flame. Lex laments some aspects of Delves. The crew weighs in on the must-have features for the integrated UI in Midnight.

News

Legion Remix: Rise of the Nightfallen

The 2nd wave of content for Lemix is now live in NA and EU, after a long extended maintenance.

• Return to Karazhan
• Nighthold
• Suramar Campaign
• Legion Remix Helper

Links

• Legion Remix: Rise of the Nightfallen Now Live!
• World of Warcraft on Instagram: "The story continues in Legion Remix Phase 2! Relive the Suramar Campaign, return to Karazhan, and defeat Gul’dan at Nighthold!"
• https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/legion-remix-helper

Turbo Boost is Now Live!

The 2nd part of Turbo Boost is

• Mythic+ drop rates from Mythic+ dungeons and Manaforge Omega are greatly increased for Warband until Equipped gear. Valorstones may now be transferred across Warbands.
• Two vendors this time.
• First quest for 3 Puzzling Cartel Chips.
• Players will be able to earn a maximum of 9 Puzzling Cartel Chips per character.
• Weapons, trinkets, and cantrip items.

Links

• https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24242856

Midnight Delves

In the upcoming expansion Delves are being integrated into the leveling experience and continue to be an endgame pillar. We’re taking some time to talk about Delves so far on the alpha.

• What did we think about Delves last tier?
• Experience in alpha with Delves so far
• What would make delves a joyous experience for us?

Story Title

Phase 4 of Midnight Alpha allows players to level up to Level 90, and includes the following content:

Zone: Voidstorm

Dungeons: 

• Voidscar Arena
• Nexus Point Xenas
• Magister's Terrace

Delves: 

• Shadowguard Point
• Sunkiller Sanctum

PvP: 

• Slayer's Rise PvP zone
• Slayer's Rise 40v40 battleground

Classes: Apex Talents

Links

• In Development: Phase Four of the Midnight Alpha - General Discussion - World of Warcraft Forums

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Subscribe to For Azeroth! 

UI Feature Shortcomings

We are beyond the halfway point

Raid Frames

• Sean: Raid frames ability to adjust tracking, position and size of debuffs

CD Manager

• Sean #1: Tracking for Racials and Trinkets
• Lex: Alert for resource thresholds (below or above a certain amount of a resource)
• Sean #2: CDM still needs some way to track debuffs with white/blacklisting

Nameplates

• Sean: Health bar color change based on aggro
• Sean #2: Nameplates need a way to color mobs based on type (casters, lieutenants, etc).
• Sean #3: White/blacklist for buffs/debuffs tracked

Encounter Warnings

• Lex: Sound Customization
• Sean: Ability to turn on/off warnings based on role
• 
  
• Platynator: [addon] Introducing Platynator, a new customisable nameplate addon : r/WowUI

Outro

Be part of the conversation and join us on Discord bit.ly/fazdiscord

Thank you so much for supporting the show!

Sean, now corrupted by the Legion, dives into Lemix; Lex is too good for the rest of us and is all Alpha all the time; and Manny is stuck editing as Sean leads this episode of For Azeroth!

The conversation about Add-ons reaches a new frenzy as details about new API restrictions come to light. Legion Remix crashes onto servers but maybe eclipse by Blizzards other offerings. This and more on the latest episode of For Azeroth!

Is there darkness over the horizon for healers? Alpha Phase 1 has made monumental shift with the tool-kits of all classes and specializations. Manny talks with Voulk, a healer writer, theorycrafter, and man behind the curtain over at Questionably Epic.

Join the QE Discord: https://discord.gg/jBSGHDm5G8

Follow Voulk on Twitter: https://x.com/qe_wow

Lex, Sean, and Manny get hands on time with the Alpha. We have built our first house, devoured the latest spec of Demon Hunter, started our stand against Xal'atath, and are ready to give our initial impressions.

Make sure you sign up for alpha/beta: https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/midnight#blz-optin-1

The Alpha is almost here. Lex, Sean, and the other one go through the focused-phase testing, the announcements of the Deep Dive into Midnight and how you can submit your questions for the upcoming Q&A.