Last AttemptWarcraft media
Last Attempt Guildcast · Episode 005

Midnight Prospective + Microsofts Aquisition + WoW News

March 8, 20262 hr 27 min
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Segments

Episode Topic 1

Midnight — Big Picture

11th expansion — launches Mar 2, 2026. Season 1 starts Mar 17, M+ keystones Mar 24
  • Second chapter of the Worldsoul Saga (TWW → Midnight → Last Titan)
  • First teased BlizzCon 2023. Full reveal Gamescom Aug 19, 2025
  • Pre-patch (12.0.0) Jan 20, 2026 — pre-expansion event "Twilight Ascension" Jan 27
  • Epic Edition early access Feb 26 at 3:00 PM PST
  • GameSpot called it "arguably the most transformative expansion since Cataclysm"
  • Ion: "the fastest expansion we've ever made" — ~18 months from TWW
  • Ion: "Midnight really has the potential to be our best expansion ever… my high-water mark is probably Legion. I think this one can top it"

On the table

  • After TWW being so well-received, can Midnight actually live up to "best expansion ever"? Or is that setting expectations too high?
  • 18-month dev cycle — does the faster pace feel like momentum or rushing?
  • "Most transformative since Cataclysm" — is that exciting or terrifying? Cataclysm was polarizing too.
Episode Topic 2

Systems & Progression Changes

Level cap 80 → 90. 10 new talent points: 3 class, 3 hero, 4 spec tree
  • Apex Talents — every spec gets a unique three-tier package at bottom of spec tree. Major power boost + new gameplay element
  • Hero talent tree gains a new column — at max level, entire hero tree is filled for the first time
  • Class pruning — abilities removed across the board. Some specs hit hard (Holy Priest lost ~half its abilities), others barely touched (Prot Warrior)
  • Blizzard says Apex Talents at 90 will restore missing complexity
  • Paladin pruning reverted during beta after backlash. Kubit: player feedback was "passionate," they "heard loud and clear"
  • Pre-patch also brought: stat/ilvl squish, complete transmog overhaul (slot-based appearances + outfits system), built-in damage meters, native boss alerts, cooldown manager, simplified skyriding (6 shared charges, no Vigor bar), PvP training grounds
  • Assisted Highlight & One-Button Rotation — new accessibility tools, controversial

On the table

  • Class pruning — did your spec get hit hard? Does Blizzard's promise that Apex Talents restore complexity reassure you?
  • One-Button Rotation for accessibility — good idea or dumbing the game down? Where's the line?
  • The transmog overhaul and built-in meters — are these the addons Blizzard should have always been making?
Episode Topic 3

Quel'Thalas — Four Zones & Silvermoon

Setting: fully revamped Quel'Thalas, split into 4 zones with branching progression
  • Eversong Woods — starting zone. Merges old Eversong + healed Ghostlands. Radiant autumnal forest. Void forces, Lightbloom magical overgrowth, Amani troll conflict
  • Zul'Aman (player choice) — Forest Troll homeland. Expanded from TBC raid into temperate rainforest with hidden crypts and ziggurats
  • Harandar (player choice) — primordial bioluminescent fungal jungle built around World Tree roots. Haranir homeland
  • Voidstorm — final zone, unlocks last. Void invasion epicenter above Quel'Thalas. Xal'atath's Voidspire stronghold. Contains Slayer's Rise PvP area
  • Silvermoon City — completely rebuilt from scratch. Full flying support. Expansion hub for both factions
  • ~2/3 is sanctuary zone (both factions). ~1/3 reserved for Horde
  • Contains profession hubs, PvP vendors, Timeways portal system for dungeon access, all major NPCs

On the table

  • Branching zone paths (Zul'Aman vs Harandar) — are you going troll jungle or fungal jungle first? Does player choice in leveling paths excite you?
  • The return to Silvermoon — for blood elf mains especially, how big a deal is this? Were you one of the people asking for this?
  • Silvermoon as a shared hub — does a 2/3 sanctuary, 1/3 Horde split work? Should it have been full sanctuary?
Episode Topic 4

Devourer Demon Hunter

First new spec added to an existing class since DH launched with only 2 specs in Legion
  • Mid-range DPS caster (~25 yards). Intellect leather. Glaive-wielding soul-harvesting spellcaster channeling Void and cosmic energies (not Fel)
  • Dual resource: Fury + Soul Fragments. Consume filler generates Souls → collect 50 Souls (35 with Soul Glutton talent) → enter Void Metamorphosis → spend burst window as Fury drains
  • Key abilities: Collapsing Star (massive damage), Void Ray, Voidblade, Shift (3-charge Fel Rush equivalent)
  • Entropy talent solves slow ramp-up — starts encounters with 25 Soul Fragments
  • Apex Talent: "Midnight" — Collapsing Star always crits, increased Cosmic damage, 5 Souls + instant Collapsing Star on entering Void Meta
  • Shares Void-Scarred hero tree with Havoc and new Annihilator tree with Vengeance
  • Void Elf Demon Hunters are now a new race/class combo
  • Icy Veins: "incredibly powerful for Season 1" but "might have difficulties with execution requirements" — struggles in M+ when pulls end too quickly

On the table

  • A caster DH — does the fantasy resonate or does it feel like a different class wearing a DH skin?
  • The ramp-up problem and M+ pull timing — is this going to be another spec that's amazing in raids but frustrating in keys?
  • Is anyone in the guild rolling Devourer? Will it be overrepresented at launch?
  • Should Blizzard add third specs to more classes? What class needs one next?
Episode Topic 5

Haranir Allied Race

Haranir — bioluminescent fungal race descended from ancient dark trolls. Both factions
  • Unlocked by completing the Harandar questline — no reputation grind
  • 10 classes available. Excludes Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Evoker, and Paladin
  • Visual identity bridges Troll and Night Elf aesthetics
  • Racials: Rootwalking (network-based teleport), Thorn Bloom (AoE damage/heal), Lash Out (+1% crit damage/healing)
  • Druid forms: Bear = pangolin-like "Quillbear," flight = massive bat, aquatic = axolotl with leafy gills

On the table

  • Bioluminescent fungal people — does the aesthetic appeal to you? Rolling one?
  • No rep grind to unlock — is that the right call, or does that cheapen it?
  • Those druid forms — pangolin bear, bat flight, axolotl aquatic. Best allied race druid forms ever?
Episode Topic 6

Player Housing

Tentpole feature — most universally praised addition. 21 years of player requests
  • Designed as evergreen system, not expansion-specific. Early access launched Dec 2, 2025 for pre-purchasers
  • Philosophy: "If you want a house, you can have a house" — no lottery (pointed contrast with FFXIV), no exorbitant costs, no upkeep
  • Land costs 1,000 gold (first plot free). Housing is warband-wide across all characters
  • Plots in Founder's Point (Alliance) or Razorwind Shores (Horde) — ~50 plots per neighborhood
  • Up to 2 houses per account (one per faction). Horde can live in Alliance neighborhoods and vice versa
  • Neighborhoods: public (auto-created, unlimited) or private (guild/charter-based, invite-only)
  • Freeform or grid-based 3D placement. Dyeable furniture, swappable towers/windows/facades
  • Decor from quests, achievements, professions, AH, vendors, adventuring
  • House Level progression system. Monthly Endeavors = neighborhood-wide themed activities with exclusive decor
  • Early access surprises: players focused more on exteriors than interiors — building walking fortresses and floating airships
  • Lead Designer Ragaini surprised players were "literally reusing assets in a way we never intended to create 2D art"
  • Blizzard increased outdoor decor budgets in response. Acknowledged storage caps too low — promised 50% increase
  • Soft-lock bugs and confusing decor deletion were noted issues
  • 4+ million players engaged with housing in its first two weeks
  • Community wishlist: copy/paste tools, import/export, placeable pets/mounts, mannequins — confirmed for future patches

On the table

  • Did you try housing in early access? What did you build? Exterior focused or interior?
  • No lottery, 1,000 gold, first plot free — is Blizzard's approach better than FFXIV's? Is it too easy?
  • Is housing going to be a "log in daily" system for you, or will you set it and forget it?
  • The community building floating airships and 2D art from 3D assets — is this the kind of emergent creativity WoW needed?
  • Storage caps and missing features — is the foundation strong enough even if it's light on tools at launch?
Episode Topic 7

Season 1 — Dungeons & Mythic+

8 new dungeons at launch — split between 4 leveling and 4 max-level
  • Season 1 M+ pool (4 new):
  • Magister's Terrace — reimagined TBC classic
  • Maisara Caverns — fungal underground in Harandar
  • Nexus Point Xenas — Void-themed in Voidstorm
  • Windrunner Spire — explores Windrunner family history
  • Season 1 M+ pool (4 legacy):
  • Algeth'ar Academy (Dragonflight)
  • Seat of the Triumvirate (Legion)
  • Skyreach (WoD)
  • Pit of Saron (WotLK) — first Wrath dungeon ever in M+ rotation
  • Reserved for future seasons: Murder Row, Den of Nalorakk, The Blinding Vale, Voidscar Arena

On the table

  • Magister's Terrace in M+ — hype or horror? That dungeon was punishing in TBC.
  • Pit of Saron in the M+ rotation — first Wrath dungeon ever. Does that track's gauntlet work in M+?
  • Windrunner Spire exploring family history — are you here for dungeon lore, or do you just want to pull and kill?
  • Legacy dungeon picks — Skyreach and Seat of the Triumvirate. Good choices or were there better options?
Episode Topic 8

Season 1 — Raids

Unprecedented structure: 3 raids at Season 1 launch — 9 total bosses
  • The Voidspire (6 bosses) — primary raid. Set in Xal'atath's fortress
  • The Dreamrift (1 boss) — experimental single-boss raid where primordial dreams meet reality
  • March on Quel'Danas (2 bosses) — delayed opening Mar 31. Bosses: Belo'ren (void-corrupted phoenix from Al'ar's last clutch), L'ura (Light creature corrupted by Void)
  • 4 world bosses rotate weekly with Season 1
  • Blizzard committed to 2 additional one-boss raids in patches 12.0.7 and 12.1.5 — signaling a shift toward more frequent, smaller raid releases
  • Dylan Barker (Lead Encounter Designer) confirmed raids designed for the post-addon world: "mechanics possible in Midnight that might not have been possible in the recent past... harder on a communication axis, on a coordination axis"

On the table

  • 3 raids at launch with 9 bosses — is that better than one big 8-boss tier? Does splitting it up help or hurt the World First Race?
  • One-boss raids like Dreamrift — love the experimentation? Or do you want full raid tiers?
  • March on Quel'Danas delayed to March 31 — good pacing or annoying?
  • Raids designed without addon support — are we ready for "harder on the communication axis"? Is your guild's comms good enough?
  • Belo'ren being from Al'ar's clutch — deep TBC callback. Does lore-connected raid bosses matter to you?
Episode Topic 9

Delves, Outdoor Content & PvP

10 delves + 1 nemesis delve at launch
  • Prey — new outdoor hunting system
  • Labyrinths (mega-delves with saveable progress) coming in patch 12.1.5
  • 5 major post-launch updates announced
  • Slayer's Rise — new 40v40 Epic Battleground in Voidstorm. Inspired by Alterac Valley + Isle of Conquest
  • Outdoor PvP zone with War Mode activities, world quests, Slayer's Duellum reputation faction
  • CC changes: diminishing returns grant immunity after 2 applications (was 3), reset timer 18 → 16 seconds
  • Gladiator cutoff drops from 2400 → 2300 rating

On the table

  • Prey outdoor hunting system — is this the open-world content that keeps you engaged, or will it be like every other WQ?
  • Labyrinths (mega-delves with saveable progress) — is that the Delves evolution that was needed?
  • New AV-style 40v40 — are you going in? Does epic battleground content excite casual PvPers?
  • CC granting immunity after 2 applications instead of 3 — good for the game or over-nerfing crowd control?
  • Gladiator at 2300 now — accessibility win or devaluing the title?
Episode Topic 10

Season 1 — Meta Predictions

Icy Veins rates Arcane Mage as potentially "broken tier"
  • Brewmaster Monk rated S-tier tank for Season 1
  • Devourer DH rated "incredibly powerful" but execution-dependent and potentially weak in short M+ pulls
  • Method's top-50 raider Hype publishing extensive Devourer guides
  • Bellular: average spec lost ~2 buttons from pruning. Made a free keybinding planner tool to help players adapt

On the table

  • What's your spec looking like going into Season 1? Any rerollers?
  • Arcane Mage "broken tier" — are you worried about early-season tuning making or breaking specs?
  • With only ~2 buttons lost on average, was the pruning panic overblown?
Episode Topic 11

The Addon Disarmament — Deep Dive

Ion called it "the single largest systemic change in WoW expansion history"
  • Blizzard introduced "secret values" — combat state info addons can display but cannot process or trigger logic against
  • Ion's metaphor: "Combat events are in a black box; addons can change the size or shape of the box and paint it a different color, but they can't look inside"
  • CAN: customize nameplate appearances, buff/debuff frame locations, cast bars, similar UI elements
  • CANNOT: parse combat events in real time, trigger automated responses, make decisions based on combat state
  • Casualties — Top 25 addons, 7 NOT updated at launch:
  • RareScanner, Raider.IO, WeakAuras, Mythic Dungeon Tools, GTFO, World Quest Tracker, Healbot
  • WeakAuras — discontinued retail support entirely. Patreon statement criticized "poorly communicated changes" and "fundamental incompatibility"
  • ElvUI — halted development
  • Survived: Deadly Boss Mods, BigWigs, Details!, Plater — all adapted to Blizzard's new container system
  • Blizzard's native replacements: built-in damage meters (DPS, healing, interrupts, dispels, avoidable damage — up to 3 windows), boss warning/alert timers, cooldown manager with sound alerts + TTS
  • Dylan Barker: Midnight raids designed specifically for post-addon play — "harder on a communication axis, on a coordination axis," not just "we shoot more bullets at you"

On the table

  • Now that we've had the pre-patch — is it as bad as you feared? Better? Worse?
  • WeakAuras gone — what did you lose personally? Did you find Blizzard's built-in tools adequate?
  • Raider.IO not updated — does that change how pugs work? Is that good or bad?
  • "Harder on communication, not more bullets" — does that design philosophy excite you for mythic raiding, or terrify you?
  • Hot take: were addons a crutch that made the playerbase worse, or tools that made the game playable?
  • Are you still playing, or did the addon changes push you away? Know anyone who quit over it?
Episode Topic 12

Class Pruning Fallout

Pruning generated immediate backlash — Paladin changes reverted during beta
  • Associate Game Director Paul Kubit: feedback was "passionate," they "heard loud and clear"
  • Some specs devastated (Holy Priest lost ~half abilities), others barely changed (Prot Warrior)
  • Blizzard's position: Apex Talents at 90 restore missing complexity
  • Bellular's viral video "Midnight's Ability Prune Is BRUTAL*" — actually clickbait, most specs lost ~2 buttons average
  • Devs admitted they had been designing encounters around addon use for years — pruning is part of the reset

On the table

  • Did you read your spec's pruning patch notes and panic? Did it play out better or worse than expected?
  • Blizzard admitting they designed around addons for years — does that explanation justify the pruning?
  • "Swing the pendulum to one end and creep it back" — do you trust this strategy?
Episode Topic 13

Community Division — The Split

Addon removal splits community roughly 50/50
  • Supporters: addons had become "mandatory competitive advantage" not optional customization. Encounters designed for human communication is better
  • Critics: 20-year veterans with deeply customized UIs feel their playstyle was invalidated
  • Sara Hanson (Blizzard Watch): "the biggest thing to hit World of Warcraft in a while"
  • PC Gamer post-pre-patch: "Not having combat UI mods in WoW hurts way less than I expected"
  • But forum posts from 20-year veterans declare it the least interested they've been in an expansion
  • Consensus "mature take" per community analysis: "wait and see" — most serious players adapting, vocal minority considers it a dealbreaker

On the table

  • Where do you fall — supporter, critic, or wait-and-see?
  • Do you know anyone who actually quit or is sitting out over this?
  • If Midnight is a hit, does the addon debate just fade away? Or will it simmer for years?
Episode Topic 14

Pre-Launch Story — Cinematic & Shorts

Blizzard's deepest pre-launch narrative investment ever — novel, 3 short stories with audiobooks, 3 animated shorts, cinematic trailer
  • Cinematic: "Intercession" (Aug 19, 2025, Gamescom)
  • Liadrin prays at the Sunwell. Lor'themar summons her to defend Silvermoon from Xal'atath's Void assault
  • Spellbreakers charge the Devouring Host. Xal'atath teleports in. Lor'themar overwhelmed, snaps: "You couldn't even break one elf" (referencing Alleria)
  • Xal'atath retaliates with psychic devastation. Liadrin drops her weapon and prays: "I know that I am unworthy… but I know my people do [deserve your help]"
  • A gauntleted hand rises from the Sunwell — Liadrin returns leading an army of mysterious Light-empowered paladins
  • "Supremacy" (Feb 9, 2026) — Xal'atath (Claudia Christian) bends Nexus-King Salhadaar to her will by revealing her mortal origins — a young girl consumed by the Void who lost her world, like the Ethereals lost K'aresh
  • Fan debate: is Xal'atath telling the truth? Child wore symbol similar to Hallowfall Arathi
  • "All That is Sacred" (Feb 18, 2026) — Lady Liadrin's full arc from priestess to Scourge survivor, through Blood Knights siphoning Light from nauru M'uru, to Sunwell protector
  • "Son of Two Worlds" (Feb 23, 2026) — Arator the Redeemer's upbringing. Half-elf raised by aunt Vereesa while parents Alleria and Turalyon were beyond the Dark Portal. Grew up visiting their statues in Valley of Heroes

On the table

  • The expansion cinematic — did it get you hyped? How does it compare to TWW's cinematic?
  • Xal'atath's origin as a mortal girl consumed by Void — does that make her more sympathetic or is it too much villain redemption bait?
  • The Hallowfall Arathi connection to Xal'atath's child form — if she's Arathi, what does that do to the story?
  • Did you watch the animated shorts? Which hit hardest — Supremacy, All That is Sacred, or Son of Two Worlds?
Episode Topic 15

Pre-Launch Story — Written Content

Three short stories with full audiobook recordings (YouTube) — "hour-long narration videos"
  • "The Void Between" (Jan 23, 2026) by Alex Acks. Narrated by Kirk Thornton as Grand Magister Rommath (~1+ hr)
  • Follows Rommath and Magister Umbric's fractured relationship — shared history as young magisters through blood elf tragedies. Can they ally before Xal'atath's invasion?
  • "Legacy of the Amani" (Feb 2026) by Graham Roswell. Narrated by Mela Lee as Chieftain Zul'jarra
  • Zul'jarra, granddaughter of Zul'jin, must prove her right to lead fractured Amani tribes after centuries of war, lost loa connection, and a rival's challenge
  • "The Quiet at the End of Us" (late Feb 2026) by Hugo Award-winner Catherynne M. Valente. Narrated by Ike Amadi as Amarakk
  • Literary, reflective story about two Haranir whose discovery of a forbidden rootway to Azeroth's surface transforms their friendship
  • Community praised Blizzard for hiring real literary talent
  • Novel: "Blood Ties" by Christie Golden (Nov 18, 2025) — Arator investigating Burning Legion remnant alongside Alleria & Turalyon. Family dynamics of heroes who experienced 1,000 years of war while their son aged decades

On the table

  • Did you listen to the audiobook short stories? Is this level of pre-launch storytelling something you want more of?
  • A Hugo Award-winning author writing WoW lore — does that change how you feel about Blizzard taking the story seriously?
  • Rommath and Umbric's story — does Void Elf lore finally feel fleshed out?
  • Zul'jarra as Zul'jin's granddaughter — are you excited for deep troll lore? The Amani have been sidelined since TBC.
Episode Topic 16

Story — Where We Are Going

Continues directly from TWW: Xal'atath killed Locus-Walker, seized the Dark Heart containing Dimensius the All-Devouring, channeled its energy to create the Voidstorm over Quel'Thalas
  • Devouring Host — unified Void army: Ethereals, void creatures, corrupted beings — assaulting the Sunwell
  • Key characters: Alleria (hunting Xal'atath), Lor'themar, Lady Liadrin, Arator, Rommath, Umbric, Vereesa, Zul'jarra, Zul'jan
  • Xal'atath remains primary antagonist through Midnight and into The Last Titan
  • Design Director Maria Hamilton: "there will be important characters that do not survive the trilogy… a lot of death"
  • Leeroy Jenkins confirmed appearing to help defend the Sunwell
  • Dev Jake Shillan: team "had to play historians/archaeologists" going deep into all Warcraft history for the Zul'Aman expansion
  • Windows Central noted WoW writing "has been under a microscope" — characters sometimes forget events, behave out of character, let old hatreds die too easily

On the table

  • "A lot of death" — who do you think doesn't survive? Lor'themar? Alleria? Vereesa? Place your bets.
  • Xal'atath as a multi-expansion villain — is she compelling enough to carry TWW through Last Titan? Or is villain fatigue setting in?
  • Leeroy Jenkins defending the Sunwell — fun fan service or too memey for a serious expansion?
  • WoW writing "under a microscope" — do you trust this team to deliver after the Shadowlands writing backlash?
Episode Topic 17

Asha Sharma & Microsoft Gaming

Asha Sharma — EVP and CEO of Microsoft Gaming as of Feb 23, 2026
  • Replaces Phil Spencer after 38 years at Microsoft. Sarah Bond also resigned
  • Born 1989. Came from leading Microsoft's CoreAI division (Azure AI Studio, Copilot developer tools)
  • No prior gaming leadership experience — described as a "surprise pick"
  • Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley warned the appointment reflects Microsoft viewing "everything as a gen AI problem"
  • Sharma pushed back directly: "We will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop"
  • Committed to "great games," "the return of Xbox," and "the future of play" — games need "deep emotional resonance" and "a distinct point of view"

On the table

  • An AI exec with no gaming background running all of Microsoft Gaming — worried?
  • The "soulless AI slop" quote — do you believe it, or is that just PR from an AI exec?
  • Should WoW players care about Xbox leadership changes? Or is Blizzard insulated enough?
Episode Topic 18

Microsoft Gaming Finances

Q2 FY2026 (Oct–Dec 2025): gaming revenue declined $623M, or 9% YoY, to ~$5.96B
  • Xbox content and services fell 5%, hardware revenue plunged 32%
  • Management called results "well below expectations" — unspecified impairment charge recorded
  • Xbox hardware in steady multi-year decline: -42% FY24Q4, -29% FY25Q1, -32% FY26Q2
  • Division faces daunting 30% profit margin target — significantly above industry averages
  • Analysts project gaming revenue growth of just 2.1% FY2026, accelerating to 15% FY2027
  • WoW is NOT on Game Pass — no announced plans. Erroneous Jan 2025 marketing email quickly corrected
  • WoW subscription (~$15/month) generates significant standalone revenue Microsoft appears unwilling to cannibalize
  • Windows Central's Jez Corden has speculated about potential Game Pass Ultimate bundling

On the table

  • Declining gaming revenue and a 30% margin target — does that pressure eventually come down on WoW?
  • WoW staying off Game Pass — right call? Or is it inevitable eventually?
  • If WoW did go to Game Pass, would it change the game for better or worse?
Episode Topic 19

Layoffs & Unionization

~3,600 Activision Blizzard employees laid off between 2019–2025
  • Most recent: Jul 2025 — ~100 Blizzard positions cut. Project Odyssey cancelled. Warcraft Rumble moved to maintenance mode
  • In response: 3,500+ Blizzard developers unionized across WoW, Overwatch 2, and Diablo teams
  • Ion: Midnight was made "without crunch" and with "no sacrifices to quality"
  • The Last Titan is "well underway" — planning extends through a 13th expansion and beyond

On the table

  • 3,500 devs unionized — does that feel like protection for the games, or could it complicate development?
  • "Without crunch" — do you believe it, and does it matter to you as a player?
Episode Topic 20

WoW's Health & Blizzard 2026

Player population at multi-year highs:
  • Jul 2025 — French concert promo tie-in cited 9M players
  • Third-party trackers: ~9.7M monthly after Jan 2026 pre-patch. ActivePlayer.io: ~11M MAU heading into launch
  • WoW remains dominant subscription MMO: FFXIV ~3.3M, ESO ~2.8M monthly actives
  • Johanna Faries: 2026 is potentially "the biggest year yet for Blizzard"
  • Midnight + Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred (Apr 28) + Overwatch 10th anniversary + Blizzard 35th anniversary
  • BlizzCon returns Sep 12–13, 2026 — first since 2023, first under Microsoft ownership. Early bird tickets ($249) sold out Nov 2025

On the table

  • 11 million heading into launch — how high can it go? Is this a new golden age?
  • WoW tripling FFXIV's player count — has the MMO race shifted definitively?
  • BlizzCon 2026 — are you going or following from home? What do you want announced there?
  • Biggest year for Blizzard — Midnight, D4 expansion, OW anniversary, BlizzCon — do they actually pull it off?
Episode Topic 21

Content Creator Temperature Check

Bellular: "Midnight's Ability Prune Is BRUTAL*" video — somewhat clickbait (most specs ~2 buttons lost). Built free keybinding planner tool. Sees addon changes as genuine adjustment
  • Preach Gaming: maintained testing-focused approach rather than speculating
  • Taliesin & Evitel: offered measured analysis
  • Method / Hype: top-50 raider publishing extensive Devourer guides. Competitive community taking the spec seriously
  • General creator sentiment: cautious optimism

On the table

  • Which content creators are you following into Midnight? Has anyone changed your mind on the expansion?
  • Is "cautious optimism" where you are too, or are you fully on the hype train?
Episode Topic 22

The Big Gamble — What Blizzard Is Betting

Blizzard's strategy: reset WoW's foundations to be more accessible, less addon-dependent, more sustainable long-term
  • Addon disarmament alone would define any expansion — layering on housing, a new spec, class pruning, stat squish, and transmog overhaul creates a launch unlike anything in WoW's 21 years
  • Housing gives casual players a reason to log in daily
  • Addon changes force hardcore players to rediscover human coordination
  • Apex Talents promise to restore complexity that pruning removed
  • "Swing the pendulum to one end and then creep it back" — the explicit strategy
  • The central narrative tension: Midnight either reinvents WoW for its third decade or is the expansion where Blizzard changed too much, too fast

On the table

  • Is this too much change at once? Should any of these have been spread across multiple patches?
  • Do you believe the pendulum strategy — that they'll creep back toward complexity? Or is this the new normal?
  • Six months from now, will we look back at this as the expansion that saved WoW or the one that broke it?
  • Final question — on launch day, what's the FIRST thing you're doing? Leveling? Housing? Rolling a Devourer? Rolling Haranir? Going straight to Silvermoon?
Episode Topic 23

The Last Titan — Theories & Predictions

Ion: The Last Titan is "well underway," teams are "thinking beyond" expansion 13
  • Blizzard confirmed planning through patch 13.2 and brainstorming through a potential 16th expansion
  • Most popular theory: "The Last Titan" refers to Azeroth herself — the world-soul at the center of the Worldsoul Saga
  • Sargeras theory: returning either as antagonist or redeemed figure. Metzen confirmed the Sword of Sargeras plotline resolves only in The Last Titan — told fans they're "not prepared for that moment"
  • Northrend rework confirmed for The Last Titan. Community expects Ulduar and Storm Peaks as endgame hubs
  • Provocative theory: Titans reframed as morally ambiguous — questionable creators who imprisoned Azeroth's world-soul rather than nurtured it. Datamined hints suggest Old Gods could return as allies against the Titans
  • New class predictions: Bard has strongest support (connected to "Radiant Song" mechanic). Tinker is perennial runner-up
  • Hamilton's confirmation of major deaths — community speculation: Lor'themar, Alleria, even Sylvanas (still doing penance in Shadowlands) as candidates

On the table

  • What's your Last Titan prediction — Azeroth the world-soul, Sargeras returning, or something else entirely?
  • Titans as villains and Old Gods as allies — would that be a brilliant twist or an insult to existing lore?
  • Sword of Sargeras finally addressed — what do you think "you're not prepared" means? Do they actually remove it?
  • Bard vs Tinker — which new class do you want more?
  • Northrend rework with Ulduar as endgame — does WoW keep reworking old continents, or does that eventually run out of nostalgia fuel?
  • Planning through expansion 16 — does it feel like WoW has another decade in it? What keeps it alive?

Episode notes

Welcome to the Last Attempt Guildcast. In this episode, Squirrelthug is joined again by guildmates — Shakatan & Templrivanho — we cover World of Warcraft's latest expansion Midnight and the features it brings!We cover:• Recruiting update: Mythic team needs (tanks, heals, DPS)-Discord app link below• The aquisition and their role in the first WoW expansion developed under Microsoft• New lore released in a novel and some short stories as well as a number of animations___If you’re looking for a Mythic team going into Midnight Season 1, we’re actively recruiting all roles. If you’re a consistent raider who wants a focused-but-chill group that’s still pushing, reach out.

Raid schedule:Tuesday–Thursday, 9:00–11:30 PM PacificMake sure to follow our Guest-Host Templrivanho at his twitch streamhttps://www.twitch.tv/templrivanhoAs well as our Co-Host Shakatan on his twitch channelhttps://www.twitch.tv/shakatan_360You can follow me, Squirrelthug on twitch as well. And I make it a habit of streaming our raid nights, schedule above.https://www.twitch.tv/squirrelthug_Join the guild / apply:Discord + application link: https://discord.gg/7hrBH5G7Hf