World of Warcraft's latest expansion, The War Within, is winding down. Players will soon move on to World of Warcraft: Midnight, the next part of the Worldsoul Saga, as antagonist Xal'atath takes her fight to the Sunwell in a revamped area of the Northern Eastern Kingdoms.
Midnight has a variety of improvements on the horizon. A new void-infused spec for Demon Hunters, a vast variety of default UI improvements, an outdoor bounty system called Prey, and a revamped Silvermoon City all await players in 2026. The biggest headline act is Player Housing, which is a massive system designed to bring high-quality Animal Crossing-like gameplay to the maturing MMORPG.
Is World of Warcraft trying to become a console game? No, says Hazzikostas.
When I reported that the next Xbox will essentially be a PC, some outlets misrepresented the direction Microsoft is taking with its console, coalescing around a conspiracy theory that Microsoft is somehow forcing Blizzard to "dumb down" WoW for the next Xbox.
Midnight will make combat addons far more restricted, with popular systems like WeakAuras effectively being killed off in this scenario. Some theorized that killing addons is specifically so Blizzard can bring the game to Xbox — but since the next Xbox is literally a PC, it would have no issue running CurseForge or offering access to system files to include addons.
Blizzard has said for some time they want to make the game friendlier for gamepads, as Steam Deck and Xbox Ally play via the ConsolePort addon has become increasingly popular in recent years. But, that's not the goal with Midnight's overarching combat design changes, says game director Ion Hazzikostas, who reiterated that there's still no roadmap for a console version of World of Warcraft at this time.
Is Midnight's class combat design philosophy inspired by a charge to target gamepads? "It is not," says Ion Hazzikostas.
"To be fully transparent, there is no reason for us to hide anything about this. If we were actively working towards bringing World of Warcraft to consoles or a bunch of other platforms, we'd be saying: 'we're actively working towards this. We have a lot of work to do but it's a place where we want to land.' Our focus remains on the PC-based experience."
"A lot of these changes, as a package, are about approachability broadly. World of Warcraft is an incredibly complex game. And as much as, I know there's members of the community who celebrate that complexity, but I think there's a big difference between having a very high skill ceiling in a game, and having a tremendous amount of depth, and just having, you know, complexity. Blizzard's goals, with all of our games, is to have them be easy to learn and nearly impossible to master."
"And I think a lot of our changes in World of Warcraft, in Midnight, are aimed at improving the 'easy to learn' side of that spectrum. I think the skill ceiling of this game is still going to be incredibly, incredibly high. The people who have been pro-level PvPers, people who run [Mythic Dungeon International], people who push the leaderboards in Mythic+, the people who race to world first — they're going to be the same ones coming out on top in this world. There's going to be countless challenges for people to tackle as they approach perfection."
"We've been talking about this for over a year now philosophically. This is us stepping back and taking stock of the state of the game, what's required to play it well. What's required to play it at a baseline level, considered by the community at endgame. What is a normal or heroic raiding guild expecting you to know, or have installed, or to do? What's an average Mythic+ PUG is expecting of you? [It's about] making those expectations more reasonable."
Hazzikostas explained that the changes are designed to lower the complexity for new players, but maintain complexity and challenge at the high end for those who seek it — while encouraging players to continue offering feedback on areas that could perhaps use more work.
"The changes we've been making on a class side, for example. Unlike the last round of pruning that we did 8 years ago, 10 years ago, where we actually just focused very heavily on button count in terms of numbers and abilities in your spell book. And we mostly pruned utility abilities, that maybe didn't feel as commonly used by the average player."
"The feedback we got around that that was doing a lot to harm class and spec identity, that was actually in some ways lowering the skill ceiling — we were taking niche abilities away that let players feel cool or smart, or differentiate themselves because they were using them properly? But what we weren't doing back then, is slightly simplifying the core combat rotation that 100% of players need to do. That's more of the approach we're taking here today."
"How many abilities do we have that are redundant that are commonly macro'd together? There's no deep gameplay to them, just 'it's the right answer to push this button when it's off cooldown no matter what', and maybe you build a WeakAura to remind you to do that. Is that really adding interesting gameplay? Is that adding depth? Or is it just adding complexity? That's what we've tried to target."
"I'm not going to say that we're finished or that we've done a perfect job there, but that's the starting point of this overall approach. The team is continuing to iterate over the course of [Midnight] Alpha and beta to follow."
Hazzikostas explained that Blizzard ultimately wants to offer playstyle variance across the specs, with some emerging as more complex than others. He explained that Beast Mastery remains intentionally among the more "approachable" specs, and remains popular even when it isn't winning in sims or tier lists, owing to its playstyle friendliness. He said, however, that some specs are intended to offer a more complex style of play, and even more simplistic specs should feature opt-in complexity via talents.
"There are certainly places where we might have gone too far." Hazzikostas impressed, "This is the simplest we're going to get, whatever pruning we were going to do upfront before hearing from players. We've heard from some players we've gone too far, they feel like there's gaps in their rotation or beloved abilities that are missing. There are things that the team is very open to returning."
"That said, it's not a bad place for us to have a range of complexity when it comes to different specs, you know? The number of specs we have in the game we have at this point, particularly pure DPS classes where you have three options, it's okay if there's one that feels a little simpler and more accessible."
"There is a very health appetite among a broad base of players for simpler specs. So do we want everything to be that? No. We also want there to be the more challenging [specs], particularly if you're spec'ing into certain talents where you can opt-in to extra layers of complexity?"
"We're trying to cast a broad net here to offer something for every type of playstyle. But, we also understand, as you know, if you've played Warlock Demonology for years and years, you don't want it to be too significantly changed out from under people in ways that contradict expectations, and things that they've come to fall in love with about the specs."
"That said, with every new expansion, we add new things. We're adding new Apex Talents, new set bonuses, and other things to layer on top of this. We have to be mindful, which is why we use the pruning analogy. We can't just have unshackled growth open-endedly where things are just going to collapse under their own weight."
World of Warcraft's broad appeal is one of its strengths, and biggest design challenges
World of Warcraft: Midnight looks to be one of the most feature-rich expansions of the 20-year-old MMORPG's history. The Player Housing feature was developed over multiple expansions and is as complex and comprehensive as games that are entirely dedicated to this type of gameplay.
The new Prey system looks as though it will add some much-needed danger to the open world, and the new Arcantina player hub has huge potential.
I'm unsure about the gameplay changes so far. I'm glad Affliction Warlock dropped the annoying Malefic Rapture spam, and the changes to Unholy Death Knight have been fun to play around with as well. I'm glad minions spawn instantly now on my Demonology Warlock as well, although it's hard to say how it'll all feel when I get into the expansions' Mythic+ pool and new raids. Some classes seem happier than others, that's for sure.
But that's what the imminent beta is all about. Hopefully, Blizzard will listen to the most critical feedback and deliver on its promise to keep the game "easy to play, tough to master" moving forward.
In the full interview with Ion Hazzikostas, we talked about his journey from WoW player to WoW game director, the way the WoW community has evolved over time, and also learned more about Blizzard's design philosophy for the future of the game. Be sure to check out the full interview here, across YouTube, Spotify, and all other podcast services.
A huge thank you to Ion Hazzikostas for sharing some time with us!
FAQ
Is WoW being simplified for a console port?
No. Hazzikostas says there’s no roadmap for a console version, and changes aren’t tied to Xbox or PS5.
Why are addons like WeakAuras being restricted?
Blizzard wants to reduce reliance on third‑party tools for baseline gameplay, making the game more approachable for new players.
Does this mean WoW is being “dumbed down”?
Hazzikostas argues no — the goal is to make WoW “easy to learn, impossible to master.” The skill ceiling remains high, but redundant or macro‑bait abilities are being trimmed.
Will complex specs still exist?
Yes. Some specs will remain more challenging, while others will be more accessible. Talents will allow players to opt into extra complexity.
How is Blizzard handling feedback?
Hazzikostas admits some specs may feel “too simplified” and says the team is open to restoring abilities if needed during beta.
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