The Best Order at a Glance
If you want the cleanest “this feels like a story” playthrough, follow this order:
- Expansion Introduction → Silvermoon Hub Setup
- Eversong Woods (finish the full zone campaign)
- Choose Your Path (do all three paths in this order for best narrative payoff):
- Arator’s Journey (unlocks Arcantina Key and delivers major emotional context)
- Zul’Aman (political tension + “old wounds reopened” energy)
- Harandar (cosmic/dream/rootways context that makes later beats land harder)
- Voidstorm (treat it as the turning-point act, not a side zone)
- Story arc endgame order:
- The Voidspire
- The Dreamrift
- March on Quel’Danas (climax energy—save it for last whenever possible)
- Delves, dungeons, Arcantina, and Prey in a story-friendly cadence (you’ll get an exact “when” plan below)
If you’re short on time, you can still keep the plot clean: finish Eversong, do Arator’s Journey first, then do the path you’re most excited about, and only then move into Voidstorm.
Before You Start: Set Yourself Up for a Great First Playthrough
Midnight is designed to be flexible, but “flexible” can accidentally become “messy” if you bounce around too fast. These simple prep steps keep the story crisp without turning your playtime into homework.
Pick one character as your “story main.”
Even if you plan to play alts, let one character do the full campaign first. Midnight’s hub, branching paths, and endgame story beats flow better when one character is the “canon run.”
Decide your spoiler tolerance early.
- If you’re spoiler-light: avoid jumping into raid content the moment it appears in a group finder if you haven’t finished the main campaign beats that lead there.
- If you’re spoiler-free: stick to campaign chapters, zone arcs, and only do dungeons when the story sends you there.
Use the in-game tracking tools on purpose.
Midnight introduces a stronger “tracking” mindset with features like Journeys, and the campaign structure benefits from it. The goal isn’t to 100% everything—it’s to keep your story threads from getting tangled.
Make one rule for side content:
A good story run needs breathers, but not constant detours. Use this rule:
- Do side content after you complete a zone’s main chapter, not mid-chapter.
- That keeps the zone arc feeling like a complete episode before you go do “bonus scenes.”
Step 1 — Play the Expansion Introduction and Settle Into Silvermoon
Your first job is to let Midnight establish its tone: invasion pressure, familiar streets, and the sense that Quel’Thalas is not a backdrop—it’s the main character. This is also where the game teaches you the “rhythm” of the expansion: you’ll return to Silvermoon repeatedly to regroup, make decisions, and take your next step.
Treat Silvermoon as your story home base.
Midnight’s Silvermoon is rebuilt and is intentionally designed to support the narrative: it’s where plans are made, tensions surface, and different groups brush shoulders. If you rush out and ignore the hub, you’ll miss the connective tissue.
Do the hub conversations, even if you’re not a “read everything” player.
You don’t need to read every line of ambient dialogue. But do take the main NPC conversations seriously—because Midnight’s themes (Light vs Void, unity under pressure, what “home” costs) show up first in how people talk, not in how hard mobs hit.
Step 2 — Finish Eversong Woods First (And Why It Matters)
Eversong is your anchor episode. Midnight’s whole story works better if you let this zone finish its arc before you chase the branching paths.
Here’s why Eversong first is non-negotiable for the best narrative order:
It reintroduces the homeland with “new reality.”
Midnight’s Eversong is reimagined, expanded, and tied more seamlessly into the world. That matters because the story wants you to feel the land as living history, not a museum.
It sets the emotional stakes before the cosmic stakes.
The Void will get big, weird, and terrifying later. Eversong makes sure you care about what’s being threatened first—people, culture, streets, rituals, and the feeling of “this is ours.”
It makes the “Choose Your Path” moment feel like a decision, not a menu.
When you finish Eversong properly, the branching paths feel like strategic choices: who do we help first, what knowledge do we need, what alliance do we shore up? If you skip Eversong early, the paths can feel like random zone hopping.
Story-first habit for Eversong:
- Finish the main zone campaign.
- Do the capstone questline that sends you back to Silvermoon.
- Only then start your first branch.
Step 3 — Choose Your Path: How to Pick the Best First Branch
After Eversong, Midnight lets you choose between three major paths. You’ll ultimately want to do all three for the cleanest story, but the order you do them changes the emotional pacing.
Think of the three paths like three different kinds of story fuel:
- Arator’s Journey = character drama + Light philosophy + “why this matters to the Sunwell” context
- Zul’Aman = political tension + history + fragile diplomacy under invasion pressure
- Harandar = cosmic roots + dream/rift horror + deeper “Worldsoul Saga” vibes
If you want the story to land hardest, you’re aiming for a pacing curve like this:
personal → political → cosmic → abyss.
That’s why the recommended order below starts with Arator.
Path Order Option A: Best for Story Impact
Arator’s Journey → Zul’Aman → Harandar
This is the most satisfying “season pacing” order for most players.
Why start with Arator’s Journey
Arator’s Journey is designed to be a character-and-meaning questline. It’s not only travel; it’s identity work. Doing it first gives you two major benefits:
1) It unlocks Arcantina access early.
Arcantina is a narrative breather hub with rotating visitors and questlines that send you across Azeroth. Unlocking it early means you can use it as a deliberate “intermission” between heavier story chapters.
2) It frames the Light side of Midnight with nuance.
Midnight isn’t just “Void bad, Light good.” Arator’s Journey digs into what it means to serve the Light, what relics and traditions represent, and how legacy shapes choices. That context makes later conflict feel more personal.
Arator’s Journey includes major stops that feel like lore touchstones—places where the Light’s history is complicated, not cartoonish. When you’ve finished it, you understand why Midnight’s war isn’t only about force. It’s about belief.
Why Zul’Aman second
Zul’Aman is where Midnight’s “unity under pressure” theme gets teeth. This is politics and history, not cosmic abstraction. Doing it after Arator means you show up with a stronger emotional baseline: you’re not just helping because quests say so—you’re helping because you feel the weight of what losing this region would mean.
Zul’Aman also works beautifully as the middle of your branching paths because it’s grounded. It resets you from continent-hopping into “we’re back in the region, and the neighbors are complicated.”
Why Harandar third
Harandar’s mood is different: fungal jungle bioluminescence, rootways, thin barriers between dreams and reality, and threats that feel like reality is breaking. It’s the perfect “end of Act One” branch because it naturally points you toward what comes next: Voidstorm and the sense that the war is moving beyond conventional battlefields.
By the time you finish Harandar third, you’ll be ready for the Void to feel overwhelming—because you’ve already seen hints that the world’s deeper structures are under threat.
Path Order Option B: Best for Zone Flow
Zul’Aman → Harandar → Arator’s Journey
This order is best if you want the first half of Midnight to feel like a continuous expedition across new zones before you do the globe-trotting questline.
Why it can work
- You stay in the expansion’s new geography longer before bouncing to old locations.
- You build “regional stakes” first: homeland neighbors, local alliances, local threats.
- Arator’s Journey becomes a mid-playthrough emotional reset rather than your opening branch.
The downside
Arator’s Journey unlocks Arcantina access, and Arcantina is a great narrative intermission tool. If you do Arator last, you delay that tool and might miss the best timing to use Arcantina as a story breather between major arcs.
If you choose Option B, a smart compromise is: start Zul’Aman, do a big chunk of it, then switch to Arator long enough to unlock Arcantina, then return to your zone flow.
Path Order Option C: Best for Minimal Backtracking
Arator’s Journey first until Arcantina is unlocked → then Zul’Aman and Harandar in either order
This is the “efficiency without ruining the story” approach.
You’re basically saying:
- “I want Arcantina access early.”
- “I still want zone arcs to feel clean.”
- “I don’t want to juggle three narratives at once.”
So you do Arator early, get Arcantina, then commit to one zone at a time.
When to Run Each Dungeon for Maximum Story Context
Dungeons in Midnight aren’t just loot tunnels—they’re often “side episodes” that deepen the zone themes. The best story order is to run each dungeon when its story context is fresh in your head.
Here’s the cleanest timing approach:
Rule: Run a dungeon when one of these is true:
- The campaign sends you there directly, or
- You’ve just finished that zone’s main chapter and want a “bonus episode” before moving on
Eversong/Silvermoon-adjacent dungeons
These are best done after you finish Eversong’s main arc and you’ve returned to Silvermoon at least once.
- Magister’s Terrace (reimagined and expanded)
- Murder Row (Silvermoon underbelly vibes; great for “home isn’t perfectly clean”)
- Windrunner Spire (best after you’ve reconnected with the Windrunner-family emotional tone)
Zul’Aman-adjacent dungeon
- Den of Nalorakk
- Do this when you’re deep into Zul’Aman’s story so the Amani themes and temple history feel relevant.
Harandar-adjacent dungeon
- Maisara Caverns
- Do this after you’ve seen enough Harandar to appreciate its “beauty + horror” mood.
Voidstorm-adjacent dungeons
- Nexus-Point Xenas
- Voidscar Arena
- Save these for after you enter Voidstorm. They’re much more satisfying when Voidstorm already feels like a hostile domain rather than a random purple zone on your map.
The “anytime” dungeons
- Blinding Vale
- This one can fit in multiple places depending on how the campaign routes you. The story-friendly move is still the same: don’t do it mid-zone chapter; do it as a chapter break.
When to Do Delves So They Feel Like Chapters, Not Side Content
Delves in Midnight are story-laced and more flexible than ever, including outdoor-styled experiences and a new companion: Valeera Sanguinar. The best way to integrate delves into a narrative playthrough is to treat them like “character-focused side scenes” that reinforce the zone you’re currently in.
Midnight includes a set of delves across the expansion, including:
- The Shadow Enclave
- Collegiate Calamity
- Parhelion Plaza
- The Darkway
- Twilight Crypts
- Atal’Aman
- The Grudge Pit
- The Gulf of Memory
- Sunkiller Sanctum
- Shadowguard Point
- Torment’s Rise (Nemesis)
Best story cadence for delves
Do one delve after each major zone arc.
- After Eversong’s main chapter: do one delve as your first “Valeera episode.”
- After Zul’Aman: do one delve that matches its mood (especially anything that feels like ancient history or buried conflict).
- After Harandar: do one delve that feels uncanny or dream-adjacent.
- After entering Voidstorm: do one delve as a “survival vignette” before you push into bigger endgame story beats.
Why this cadence works
- You avoid the “I did five delves and forgot what the main plot was.”
- You still see the story threads that delves carry.
- Valeera feels like a companion in your journey, not a random system you used for gear.
How to Use the Arcantina as Your “Story Intermission” Hub
Arcantina is one of Midnight’s smartest narrative tools if you use it intentionally. It’s a cozy, cross-faction tavern-hub vibe where familiar faces rotate in groups, offering short questlines that send you back across Azeroth to chase relics and stories.
Best order for Arcantina in a story playthrough
Unlock Arcantina early (ideally via Arator’s Journey), then use it between heavy chapters.
Perfect Arcantina moments:
- Right after you finish Arator’s Journey (as a “cooldown” after a character-heavy arc)
- Between Zul’Aman and Harandar (as a tone break: politics → cosmic horror is a sharp shift)
- After your first serious push into Voidstorm (as a “breathe before the next plunge” moment)
How not to use Arcantina
Don’t let Arcantina turn into infinite detours. The rotating visitors are tempting, and the “go back to classic places” quests can pull you away from the main momentum. If you want the best story order, set a boundary:
- Do one Arcantina visitor set per major campaign milestone, then return to the main arc.
That way Arcantina feels like intentional pacing—like the quiet episode that makes the next scary episode scarier.
Where the Prey System Fits in a Story Playthrough
Prey is an opt-in hunting system where you pick a target and then continue doing normal world content while the hunt unfolds unpredictably—sometimes with ambush energy. It’s exciting, but it can also interrupt your story flow if you let it.
Best story placement for Prey
Treat Prey like “monster-of-the-week” content:
- Start it after you’ve settled into Silvermoon and finished Eversong’s main arc.
- Use it between major story chapters, not mid-chapter.
- Use it as a “power fantasy break” when the campaign feels heavy.
Why Prey works as a narrative side dish
Midnight’s campaign tone is pressure and invasion. Prey gives you agency: you choose a target and hunt back. It’s thematically satisfying as long as it doesn’t replace the main story.
Step 4 — Enter Voidstorm as Your Turning Point
Voidstorm is where Midnight stops feeling like a homeland defense story and starts feeling like you’re stepping into the enemy’s logic. This is the “Act Two shift,” and it lands best when you arrive there after you’ve built up the following:
- Personal stakes (Arator’s Journey)
- Regional stakes (Zul’Aman politics and history)
- Deep-structure stakes (Harandar’s roots, rifts, and dream-danger)
How to experience Voidstorm in the best order
Don’t treat Voidstorm like “another zone to clear.” Treat it like a campaign climax stage.
Do this instead:
- Enter Voidstorm and do the opening chain until you understand the threat’s “rules.”
- Do one Voidstorm-adjacent dungeon or delve as your “I survived my first night” moment.
- Return to Silvermoon for story regroup beats.
- Then continue pushing the Voidstorm campaign arc in longer sessions, because the mood is designed to build.
Voidstorm is at its best when you let it feel oppressive and dangerous. If you only dip in for five minutes between errands, it loses its intended impact.
Step 5 — Raid Story Order: Voidspire → Dreamrift → March on Quel’Danas
If you want Midnight’s endgame story to feel like a coherent arc, the raid order matters. Even if you’re not a “raider,” Midnight includes ways for more players to experience major moments. The best narrative sequence is:
1) The Voidspire
This is your “we take the fight to the enemy” raid chapter. It’s where Light and Void spectacle ramps up and the invasion feels structured rather than random.
2) The Dreamrift
Dreamrift is surreal, horror-leaning, and conceptually different—more “reality is thin” than “army siege.” Doing it after Voidspire works because it widens the story’s scope at exactly the moment a middle chapter should: you realize the war is not only physical.
3) March on Quel’Danas
This is the emotional climax location, and it hits hardest when saved for last. The name alone signals “history, stakes, and symbolism.” If you do it out of order, you risk draining the finale energy too early.
Simple rule:
If something feels like the climax of a season, don’t watch it mid-season.
If You’re Solo or Casual: How to See the Story Without Stress
Midnight is designed to be more story-accessible than many older WoW eras, but you still need a plan if you don’t want group content to derail your narrative run.
Use a “campaign-first” rule.
Finish the main campaign and all three path arcs before you worry about optimizing raid entry. You’ll enjoy raids more when you understand why you’re there.
Do dungeons when the campaign points at them.
That keeps your story in order and reduces the chance you see a big reveal early.
Treat raids like movies, not chores.
If you’re mainly there for story:
- Do them when you can focus, not in a rushed “one pull before dinner” mood.
- Watch the cutscenes. Let the moments breathe.
If You’re Hardcore: How to Keep the Story Coherent While You Push Performance
Hardcore players often do content in the most efficient order for power, not for narrative. You can still keep Midnight’s story clean with a few small habits.
Make one night “story night.”
Even if you speedrun everything else, set aside one session where you do campaign chapters in order and don’t skip cutscenes. You’ll be surprised how much that improves your connection to the expansion.
Do the three paths fully, one at a time.
Don’t half-finish Zul’Aman, then half-finish Harandar, then start Arator’s Journey. That creates narrative static. Full arcs feel better and are easier to remember.
Use Arcantina as intentional decompression.
When you’re grinding keys and raid prep, Arcantina quests can become “background noise.” Flip it: use Arcantina as a controlled break that keeps your story brain engaged even while your power brain is optimizing.
Best Order for Alts and Warband: Replay Smart, Not Long
Once your main character has done the full story, alts become about selective replay—not repeating everything.
Alt plan for story fans
- Do the expansion intro (so the alt “belongs” in Silvermoon)
- Choose one path that matches the alt’s fantasy
- Paladin/priest vibe alt: Arator’s Journey
- Jungle/adventure vibe alt: Zul’Aman
- Cosmic/weird vibe alt: Harandar
- Dip into Voidstorm enough to feel the tone
- Use delves for progression because they also carry story flavor
Alt plan for efficiency
- Unlock your key hubs and systems early (Silvermoon access, Arcantina if you want it)
- Run the dungeons that match your gearing route
- Only replay story chapters you genuinely enjoy
The goal is to keep Midnight feeling fresh across characters, not like you’re re-watching the same episode on repeat.
Practical Rules to Keep Midnight Spoiler-Light (And Still Feel Everything)
If you want maximum hype with minimum spoilers, these rules protect your experience:
Rule 1: Don’t do “finale-coded” content early.
Anything that screams “Sunwell climax energy” should be last.
Rule 2: Finish Eversong before you chase branches.
It’s the emotional foundation. Skipping it makes everything else feel flatter.
Rule 3: Do one branch at a time.
Branch hopping is the #1 way to forget what you’re doing and why it matters.
Rule 4: Use Arcantina as a chapter break, not a permanent detour.
One visitor rotation, then back to the main plot.
Rule 5: Keep Prey hunts between story chapters.
Prey is fun chaos. Story chapters are structured emotion. Don’t mix them if you want narrative clarity.
Rule 6: Run dungeons with context.
Dungeons land harder when you already understand the zone politics, not when they’re random queue noise.
BoostRoom: The Smoothest Way to Experience Midnight’s Big Moments
Midnight’s best story order is easy to follow—until real life hits: slow group finding, inconsistent runs, missed raid nights, and that awful feeling of being “behind” right when the story is getting good.
BoostRoom helps players experience Midnight’s story beats in a smoother, more controlled way, especially when you want:
- Reliable dungeon runs so your gearing doesn’t stall your campaign momentum
- Raid help so you can see the big story chapters without weeks of frustrating wipes
- Coaching so you learn the mechanics and keep progressing confidently
- Alt catch-up support so your Warband stays ready without turning Midnight into a second job
If your goal is to experience Midnight like a well-paced season—chapter by chapter, climax last—BoostRoom can help you keep that pacing without the usual launch-week friction.
BoostRoom is a third-party service and is not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment.
FAQ
Do I have to do all three “Choose Your Path” branches to understand Midnight’s story?
For the most complete narrative, yes. Each branch covers a different pillar—personal meaning, regional politics, and cosmic stakes—then funnels you toward the same larger confrontation.
What’s the best first branch if I only have time for one early on?
Arator’s Journey is the best first branch for most story-focused players because it adds major Light-and-legacy context and unlocks Arcantina access early.
When should I start Voidstorm if I want the story to feel right?
Start Voidstorm after you’ve completed Eversong and your three path branches (or at least after you’ve finished most of your chosen branch order). Voidstorm lands best as a turning-point act, not a casual side zone.
Should I do dungeons while leveling or save them for later?
Do them when the campaign sends you there or right after you finish a zone chapter. That timing keeps the dungeon stories meaningful instead of random.
How do I fit delves into the story without getting distracted?
Do one delve after each major zone chapter. Treat delves like “bonus scenes” that deepen the theme of the zone you just finished.
What’s the correct order for Midnight’s raid story?
For the cleanest story arc: The Voidspire first, then The Dreamrift, and save March on Quel’Danas for last.
