A datamine has revealed when players will be able to use World of Warcraft’s full suite of player-housing systems, giving an indication of when the MMORPG’s next expansion will launch in full.
As datamined by Wowhead, the Midnight pre-patch, which will introduce class changes and new systems (though not the actual new zones, dungeons, or other expansion content) looks to be coming on or around January 27, 2026. The datamined splash screen for the patch points out Neighborhoods, the void-focused Devourer Demon Hunter specialization, and a new pre-patch event called Twilight Ascension as new additions.
The event, which looks to have players dealing with cultists of the Twilight Hammer, states it will be available on January 27. That puts the likely release date of the expansion itself in the following three or four weeks sometime in February. Blizzard has not yet given an officiall release date for when Midnight, or the pre-patch, will release.
While players who preorder Midnight will be able to buy and start decorating their homes with the arrival of WoW’s 11.2.7 patch, expected in early December, it won’t be until the arrival of Neighborhoods that the game’s long-awaited player-housing system is fully complete. Neighborhoods allow players to participate in special community events and complete challenges that will unlock new decorations and change the appearance of neighborhoods themselves.
If the pre-patch event is like previous ones, players should probably expect to kill lots of cultists intent on destroying Azeroth. The event will likely be a great way to level up new characters (like a Devourer Demon Hunter) and get them up to speed with special event catch-up gear.
The arrival of the pre-patch will also bring one other big change to WoW in that it will officially mark the end of combat add-ons. Since the launch of the Midnight alpha, Blizzard has revealed the steps it’s taking to eliminate the ability to use (and the need for) player-created mods that specialize in assisting players in combat. While it’s a worthy goal, some players and add-on makers have been less than happy with how Blizzard has approached the major change in add-on philosophy, with several prominent add-on creators announcing their add-ons won’t be updated for Midnight.
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