I am so. Fucking. In LOVE with Midnight so far.
After some discussion on the subreddit, I have to agree that there are definitely some story slipups here and there, but on the whole? A FANTASTIC experience, definitely an uptick from the disappointment of The War Within. I won't get into the nitty-gritty details, 'cause that usually gets me wayyy off track (and spoilery) - though I'll happily chat with anyone who's willing! - but holy shit I've gotta say something and get this excitement off my chest!
(LONG POST UNDER THE CUT! Also! Feel free to msg me or leave replies! I'd love to chat about WoW with ya'll!)
Overall
From the get-go, Midnight has been among the most immersive and inviting experiences I've had in WoW, up there with Dragonflight, Legion, BfA (personally speaking) and MoP! The story flows evenly and makes sense for the most part, with fresh, interesting characters and touching, evocative characterizations for those we've already known. As always, there are a LOT of side quests, but this time, they're substantial! They're meaningful and well written, touching on a range of emotions and topics I didn't expect. From a pair of arguing elven lords (a Farstrider and a Magister) trying to find their lost journal, only to realize a puppy found it, stole it, chewed it up and got cornered by a lynx, to a somewhat sketchy blood elf necromancer who isn't using her powers for bad, just to ease the troubled spirits that linger in her homeland, for there are <so> many of them...
And the flavor!! There are so many little details scattered across Midnight that flesh out the world we're playing in. City guards will react in chat to certain player character race/class combos, lore items (like books and notes) tell the story of how Eversong Woods healed itself of the Dead Scar [and much more]. One of my favorite of these details is the Stay Awhile and Listen options. There are TONS of them, especially through the leveling and max-level story campaign. They're conveniently placed so you don't have to go out of your way to see them, and every single conversation I stayed to overhear was worth the wait! I loved getting to sit in on the chats between Zul'jarra and her brother, Zul'jan. Zul'jarra's banter and unexpectedly thoughtful discussions with Liadrin were much appreciated, too. At the finale of the max-level story campaign, the conversations among the many NPCs present at the Sunwell were EXACTLY the things I was hoping for! In my opinion, it's all of these things weaving together - the quests, the campaign, the Stay Awhiles, the lore objects and everything else - that make the opening of an expansion So worth the effort.
The campaign is another topic entirely! I won't spoil the story here, so don't worry about that, but holy crap! It's so good!! Since the first step out of Silvermoon into Eversong, the pacing is perfect, and nothing feels boring or out of place. There aren't any quests (so far) that make me want to gouge out my eyes, like the owlcat herding quest from Suramar in Legion. Not a single step is missed in the narrative beat, and even though you get an option to choose where to go after Eversong Woods, it doesn't feel off to wait before picking Arator's chapter, which involves some nice world-building and introspection on family. When we pick back up on the most pressing matter at hand in the max-level campaign, it's just the same! Brilliant pacing, with writing and ... choreography? Production? That truly sets the tone and instills just how serious and terrifying the threat we're facing is. It really isn't just scary shadow monsters and devouring entropy... it's an all-consuming darkness that literally wants to eat our world, whose mere presence can alter the minds and perceptions of everyone, even the strongest warriors and wizards on the planet.
After the finale of the Voidspire raid, you can really tell that tensions are high, and for good reason. There are few, if any options left to us. Yes. US. Not just the elves... everyone, which is a fact that few leaders we attempt to talk to seem to understand. This is actually a point I REALLY admire in the campaign, and something I think some other lore junkies might need to revisit. I've seen folks complain about how decades, if not CENTURIES of war and hatred and casualties and lore have been resolved in a handful of quests, that now suddenly everything is friendship is magic and WoW isn't WoW anymore (again)... and my question is, did those people even DO the quests? Sure, without going into the details, there were definitely many other options that we [Silvermoon/the fight against the Void] could have tried tapping, but this is what Blizzard wanted to give us. The "Great Elven Reunification". That was the big promo point for Midnight, so I won't slander odd story choices that point out plot holes for that... but everything is certainly NOT friendship is magic. Everyone, every faction we gathered to fight the Void, is pretty much still "I hate you" and "They killed us!" and "We'll never see you as family ever again". The hatreds and vendettas and rifts between peoples are still VERY MUCH at play, which is something I think we as lore fans should appreciate! Really, the only thing keeping most of these people from going at each others' throats is the fact that the Void is a threat to the entire world, not just the Sunwell or the Blood Elves. It's a fact that they all have to grit their teeth and bear. Concessions are made. Incredibly tough choices are decided. In fact, one of the biggest concessions made by Lor'themar in getting the Night Elves to ally with them involves an evocative conversation with Shandris Feathermoon. The point that she makes in that discussion hits home so well, and that's what makes me love Midnight even more.
We've returned to Outland. We've conquered the Scourge, and the Destroyer, the Twilight's Hammer, the Scarlet Crusade, faction uprisings and time-traveling plots to take over the world! Hell, we've defeated THE LEGION! And yet, so often, our beloved factions keep finding ways to justify fighting each other. To justify tragedies upon tragedies, war and death and ruin of both spirits and civilizations alike. It's a cycle of hatred, as the titular Warcraft book proclaimed so long ago... finally, though, we've come to the event horizon. The point of no return. It doesn't matter who did what, who killed who, none of our infighting matters. If we don't band together - because there ARE NO OTHER OPTIONS LEFT - we will ALL perish, not because of our prejudices and scorn and war, but because the BAD GUY to end all bad guys wants to EAT OUR freaking planet, and I'm pretty sure no one else wants that. We don't need to be buddy-buddy, friendship is magic with each other... we just have to tolerate each other. We have all - ALL of us - done horrible, unspeakable things. We all have our ghosts, our burdens. For some, there is no forgiveness, and that has to be okay. You will have to live with your guilt, your shame or whatever else have you. But if we want it to stop? To live? We HAVE to band together, or we're all dead anyway.
The fact that the oldest and most divided race in the World of Warcraft was able to agree to that makes my heart happier beyond words! It sets precedent for the future, both in-universe and for the game. I am SO thrilled to see what awaits for the people of Azeroth now, after the events of 12.0.5. With all of the minor story threads set up among the elven groups, as well as the harronir* and trolls, this is probably the most excited I've been to keep playing WoW I've been in a long time!
And not just about the faction relations, either. There is a particular Stay Awhile and Listen RP that occurs at the end of the max-level story campaign between Rommath and Umbric which intrigued me since the moment my bestie Joe and I went around listening to all of the dialogue. Again, no spoilers, but for those who know... their chat points out a detail I didn't notice in the March on Quel'danas ending cutscene. Their chat really fuels my hopes that Blizz can keep up the amazing work. I don't mind that the next big patch or two will probably be non-Void themed, because it makes sense, but that just means that when the time comes, the patch that brings the story back to Xal'atath better be the next best patch they've ever made!
'Cause holy shit. Midnight. Is. AWESOME.
Gameplay
I don't actually have much to say here, at least, that deviates from my thoughts on the questing. Everything has been so, so nice to play through, and that includes dungeons, raiding, and PvE content!
I was skeptical about the competitive scene (raiding and M+ [pvp, too, but I don't go there]) after the announcement of the Great Addon Purge! For me, there was more anxiety this time around, since I'm usually a little nervous before doing any boss fight for the first time... now, having to do fights without DBM, a classic and an ESSENTIAL for any kind of instanced group content, or WeakAuras... man, did it feel weird to try getting used to not having them! But hey, I think Blizz has done well adjusting their encounter design. Not too crazy, but not too simple that its not a challenge. I still use healbot and decursive, despite some of the bugs that stem from Blizz's cutting back on API and things.
The in-built boss timeline is actually quite nice! I appreciate being able to go hover over the icon of the ability that's coming up and getting to see the tooltip. I find it easy to learn these encounters, being able to pair and memorize the abilities with names, icons, voice lines and timing... I can see how its not the best, though. It was nice to have DBM with its audio cues AND visual cues, whereas Blizzard's is pretty much just visual, and pretty rough at that (though this is their first go at it, so I'll cut 'em some slack, especially with the mess of ancient spaghetti code that is WoW's backend).
One of my FAVORITE changes to the game in Midnight thus far is the adjustment to faction currencies!! In Dragonflight there was Dragon Isles Supplies, in TWW there was Resonance Crystals, yet both had issues with collecting them (unless you had an alt army, but there were problems even then). There weren't enough ways to gather Resonance Crystals in TWW, and in Dragonflight, once you outgrew the rewards of the weekly/daily activities, there were hardly any worthwhile sources of Supplies (and you had to do a lot of them, at that). Now, in Midnight, the new currency - Voidlight Marls - are actually quite abundant! They drop in modest numbers from all kinds of activities, with some other currencies even able to convert to Marls via a vendor or overflow conversion after you've outgrown the original usage. The prices for items that cost Marls are a little higher than normal, but that's nothing I'd complain about. I'm just happy to have more ways to gather them!
Bonus Mentions!
Guys. Guys!! The HD update for Quel'thalas has taken my breath away. I don't care what ANYONE says, if there's anything good to be said about Midnight, let it at least be that the art team and music team have done it again. Everyone, give them a round of applause!!
Eversong is beautiful, as always, and it is so cool to see so many details that tell how it has healed over time. The forest is so regrown that you can't even tell the Dead Scar was there at all! I figured it would have been a little visible, maybe in some plantlife that refused to grow as green as it could... but no! Everything is green and auburn and <good>! Reading that little lore note in the pavillion just outside of Silvermoon was cool, getting to read about the botanist's progress in studying and helping the woods grow back to normal. Her excitement about GRASS being seen for the first time? Heartwarming!
The slight redesigns for the creatures and foliage are all just as awesome, too! The mana wyrms are nearly picture-perfect replicas of the mana wyrm seen in the Burning Crusade cinematic, and when I saw them for the first time during the beta, my jaw literally dropped. I was too young to play very well or remember anything I saw back then... just a bby in my dad's lap, watching him on his computer and mom on hers. BC was big for them, so, in a way, it somehow holds a special place in my heart, too.
Dragonhawks are FIRE! Loved them before, and I love them even MORE now! Creatures with multiple pairs of limbs or wings have always fascinated me, and the dragonhawks are no exception; they're fierce and curious beasts, and I figured their wings must be webbed or something, much like, y'know, a dragon... then the feathered HD model came out with the expansion pre-sale mounts and it changed my entire view on them as a species. Fun fact: there's a triumphant cutscene during the "Battle for the Bridge" campaign quest where the allied forces walk past (or stand in front of?) a formation of dragonhawks. Most of them are the nice new HD versions, but there's 1 classic model dragonhawk in the middle of the lineup. I like to think that one is one of the oldest in their garrison, a veteran of many Sin'dorei warfronts. You have to wonder what he's seen...
Oh and the lynxes! Their models are nothing new, just the OG nelf cat form, but its the colors! Of course there's the orange and red for Eversong, but in the southern portion of the zone there are still Ghostpaw lynxes! They're gray and black, having kept their coloration from the days of the Dead Scar! The same goes for a scarce few Ghostfeather dragonhawks! I didn't expect Blizz to keep them, what with Eversong having healed and regrown. It's so cool to see them still there, having adapted to the Dead Scar, yet not having had the time to adapt to the restored forest. Another fun fact for any hunters out there, you can tame the rare lynx Dame Bloodshed, who patrols the riverside just outside the gates of Silvermoon. She has a red gem on her forehead that stays after taming, and her name keeps, too.
*Unless it's explained or something, I REFUSE to spell Harronir as they've been spelling it since the end of The War Within. Initially, before and during the beginning of TWW, it was spelled like so, and then Blizz decided to move Harandar from TWW to Midnight for some reason, and the spelling changed. That, or I'm experiencing some sort of personal Mandela effect, because I SWEAR I remember it being spelled differently than it is now... but maybe I'm crazy. So. Who knows?