Omnihanded Entertainmet News | WoW’s Housing System Is Coming Early, But Only If You Preorder

World of Warcraft players who preorder the game’s new Midnight expansion will receive player housing early, leaked preorder bundles have revealed.

Following the release of WoW’s 11.2 Ghosts of K’aresh update, some players (as spotted and confirmed by Wowhead) were able to view Midnight preorder bundles on the in-game shop ahead of Midnight’s official reveal at Gamescom. The expansion will once again have three different versions–Base, Heroic, and Epic–and each one will grant housing early access.

As for when that early-access period will start, the bundles don’t say, but Blizzard is also continuing the controversial practice of selling a three-day head start to the expansion itself for those who purchase the $90 Epic Edition of the expansion. Blizzard first offered a three-day early-access period with The War Within, WoW’s current expansion.

A look at WoW: Midnight's leaked preorder bundles (via Wowhead). — A look at WoW: Midnight’s leaked preorder bundles (via Wowhead).

The Epic Edition additionally includes beta access and a number of exclusive cosmetics, including a Midnight Housing Bundle with light- and void-themed housing decorations. It’s unclear if players will be able to earn these decorations or variations of them through gameplay, or if purchasing them is the only way to earn them.

Blizzard has not yet commented on the leaked preorder bundles and we still don’t know exactly when Midnight will release. At BlizzCon 2023, Warcraft executive producer Chris Metzen said Blizzard is looking to release new WoW expansions on a faster schedule than the MMORPG’s usual two-year cycle. Midnight seems to be lining up with that approach, and could possibly release early next year, though that is still speculation. We will know more at Gamescom, where Blizzard is set to reveal the expansion in full. A Midnight prequel novel, Blood Ties, is set to release on November 18.

We went hands-on with WoW’s player-housing system earlier this year, and came away impressed at the seemingly endless decorating possibilities. Blizzard has slowly revealed more details about player housing since then, sharing how its neighborhood system will work and how players will essentially level up their house’s potential over time.

Where to Find the Scoutmaster in Peak

If you want to find the Scoutmaster in Peak to unlock the Mentorship Badge achievement, note that you first need to summon him. He’s not a random encounter, and there are specific steps to follow beforehand.

There are two methods for the Scoutmaster to appear in your game. These depend on whether you’re playing solo or with others online, and are noted below:

In single-player, you must use the Scoutmaster’s Bugle, which is a rare item in Peak.

In multiplayer, you have to defy Scoutmaster Myres’ advice and actually leave a friend in need by deviating from teammates.

For the first method, the Scoutmaster’s Bugle is a rare item, meaning that it has a very low chance to appear in the game. You have a chance of getting the item from either Ancient Luggage–which are the suitcases that have the red emblem on them–or from the Ancient Statues that appear at the summit of each biome. Note that for the latter, all players must be alive when you interact with it. Otherwise, the statue will revive any fallen climbers, instead of dropping an item.

It’s indeed possible for the Scoutmaster’s Bugle to appear in multiplayer matches as well. In either case, the chances of encountering it are quite low. In over 26 hours of playing Peak, I’ve only seen the item twice–but again, there were several instances where the statue didn’t drop an item since one of our teammates had died in the biome, so your mileage may vary.

The Scoutmaster is not messing around.

If you’re playing Peak in multiplayer, encountering the Scoutmaster is somewhat easier. You need to distance yourself from your co-op buddies, whether that’s just one more person or several of them. A way of ensuring you trigger the encounter is by having everybody else but you stay at the starting point of the Shore biome. Then, head over to the opposite side toward the peak and start climbing.

After a few minutes of gaining latitude, you’ll begin hearing a different music than the usual background environmental track, similar to bells in the distance. The Scoutmaster is designed to chase whoever splits from others, so you’re likely to see him get close to you. A good way of knowing when he’s nearby is a film grain effect on the screen, which will gradually obscure your visibility the closer he is.

If the Scoutmaster is in your vicinity, get close and you’ll see the Mentorship Badge achievement appear. There’s a chance of him falling off a ledge and interrupting the chase, but he’ll likely climb back up again shortly. From here, you can either attempt to escape–the Scoutmaster is quite fast, mind you–or let him trap you. When tackling this myself, the Scoutmaster grabbed me and promptly threw me off the mountain.

That’s all you need to encounter the Scoutmaster. Bear in mind that there’s a chance of triggering the encounter by accident if you stray from other players. It’s a punishing and quite terrifying way of ensuring that you’re lending a helping hand whenever possible.