World of Warcraft: Midnight devs reflect on first season without addons and with new Prey system

The first season of World of Warcraft: Midnight has been a mixed bag, but Blizzard developers are broadly satisfied with how it went. In an interview with PC Gamer, lead encounter designers Taylor Sanders and Andrew De Sousa, associate game director Paul Kubit, and lead quest designer Rachel Vought called the past months a success, highlighting Mythic+, solo content, and the new Prey mechanic.

Kubit admitted he is still working on personal Mythic+ goals and enjoys replaying Delves with the new companion Valeera. He said Prey, while not technically part of the traditional seasonal cycle, complemented Delve progression nicely. Vought echoed that, noting the new system fit organically into the overall content rhythm.

The biggest change in Midnight was the heavy restriction of combat addons — a first in the game's 20-year history. This forced developers to redesign every spec without exception. The PC Gamer journalist admitted he missed addons less than expected and called the remade Silvermoon genuinely beautiful. Player housing, in his view, was a hit despite questionable microtransactions.

Criticism was not absent: the columnist panned patch content, especially the Folio system, calling it confusing. Overall, though, he is surprised that such an ambitious season — with spec overhauls, new housing, and addon limits — went so smoothly. The next update, Curse of Ul'atek, launches next week, and it will show how sound Blizzard's decisions were in the long run.