Midnight’s Big Feature Trio: Housing, Prey, and Delves (What They Actually Change)

Midnight’s “big three” systems aren’t side activities. They’re designed to be repeatable, rewarding, and relevant for the entire expansion—meaning they become part of your weekly routine the same way Mythic+ or raiding does.

Housing adds a personal and social home base that’s meant to last for years, not weeks. It’s not a one-time quest line. It’s a long-term collection, creativity, and community system (Neighborhoods + monthly Endeavors + décor rewards from all over Azeroth).

Prey turns open-world progression into something more dynamic than “kill 12 mobs.” You opt into hunting powerful targets across Midnight zones, and the system escalates with difficulty tiers—while also feeding real progression rewards and weekly Great Vault credit.

Delves expand the “structured PvE without a full group” idea into Midnight with new Delves and a new companion (Valeera). It’s a huge deal for solo and duo players—and also a clean way for returning players to rebuild skill, gear up, and stay engaged without relying on group finder luck.

If you learn these three systems early, Midnight instantly feels more approachable—because you’re never stuck wondering “what should I do today?”

Housing 101: What It Is, Who It’s For, and Why It’s Different From Garrisons

WoW Housing in Midnight is built around one promise: a house for everyone. That means no punishing barriers like lotteries, extreme purchase costs, or stressful upkeep requirements. If you want a house, you can have one.

Housing is also designed to be Warband-friendly. In practical terms, your house is not “locked” to one character. Your characters can come and go, and your décor collection is designed to be shared—so earning décor on one character still benefits the whole Warband.

There are two Neighborhood zones:

• Founder’s Point (Alliance Neighborhood Zone)
• Razorwind Shores (Horde Neighborhood Zone)

Even if you play both factions, Midnight is built to reduce friction. You can visit friends and guildmates with minimal faction restrictions, and your characters can still enjoy your housing spaces without the system forcing you into faction-only social bubbles.

What makes Midnight Housing feel “new” in WoW is the combination of:

• Creativity tools (Basic vs Advanced placement)
• A constant reason to participate (monthly Neighborhood Endeavors)
• A massive reward pipeline (décor from quests, achievements, professions, vendors, adventuring, and more)
• A social layer that can be casual or serious (Public Neighborhoods or player-owned Private Neighborhoods)

If you like collecting, roleplay, social events, chill gameplay, or simply having a “home identity” in WoW, Housing becomes your long-term anchor.

Neighborhoods Explained: Public, Guild, and Charter (How to Choose the Right One)

Neighborhoods are the heart of Housing. You’re not just placing a house on an empty island—you’re moving into a living zone with other players.

Public Neighborhoods

These are created as needed by the game servers, and anyone can join. They’re designed so players shouldn’t hit a wall where “everything is full.” The game handles organization and naming, making them a great choice if you want a social vibe without admin responsibility.

Private Neighborhoods

These are created and owned by players in two main ways:

• Guild Neighborhoods
• Charter Neighborhoods (player-formed groups)

Guild Neighborhoods (Early Access detail that matters):

During Housing Early Access, forming a Guild Neighborhood requires at least 10 recently active players (in the last 30 days). That’s important because it stops “dead guild shell neighborhoods” and encourages real community neighborhoods.

Charter Neighborhoods are ideal for:

• friend groups that don’t want to join a big guild
• roleplay communities that want a consistent theme
• small teams who want control over which Endeavors run and what the neighborhood vibe becomes

How to choose (quick decision guide)

Pick a Public Neighborhood if you want:

• zero effort setup
• organic neighbors
• a lively space without managing anything

Pick a Guild Neighborhood if you want:

• your guild to feel like a real home base
• scheduled events (meetups, RP nights, raid hangouts)
• a consistent social circle

Pick a Charter Neighborhood if you want:

• full control over the vibe
• a small community identity
• themed décor goals and coordinated Endeavors

Practical tip: don’t overthink it on day one

Housing is meant to be flexible. Your goal early is simple: start collecting décor and learn the tools. You can always refine your neighborhood choice once you understand what you actually enjoy doing.

Building and Decorating: Basic Mode vs Advanced Mode, Exteriors, Dye, and Placement Freedom

Housing succeeds or fails on one thing: “Does it feel good to build?” Midnight supports different kinds of builders by offering two design modes:

Basic Mode

Best for players who want fast, clean placement without fuss. Think: snap-to-logic, easy alignment, and less time fighting angles.

Advanced Mode

Best for players who want creative freedom—fine-tuning placement, making custom builds, and pushing the system into “how is that even possible?” territory.

Midnight Housing also supports customization beyond furniture:

• Dye select items for color matching and theme building
• Resize items to fit your space and create custom props
• Place décor anywhere in your home to support creativity and expression

Exterior customization: your house’s “identity”

Your home’s exterior is customizable with themed kits, and Midnight starts with four:

• Blood Elf
• Night Elf
• Orc
• Human

You’ll be choosing things like towers, windows, facades, and more—similar in spirit to how you’d customize your character at a barber shop, but applied to your home. One important rule: while cross-faction living is supported, Neighborhood architecture remains thematically consistent (Alliance neighborhoods look Alliance, Horde neighborhoods look Horde, with neutral architecture able to appear in either).

Housing UI that actually helps you

Housing isn’t meant to be a mystery scavenger hunt. During Housing Early Access, you can collect 600+ Housing items from various activities, and the system includes a Housing Dashboard with a hotkey: H. Inside it, the Decor Catalog shows what exists, where items come from (when known), costs, and requirements.

That single feature changes everything—because it turns Housing from “random luck” into a real collection journey you can plan.

Housing Progression and Rewards: Endeavors, Collections, and Warband Sharing

Housing is designed to stay relevant because it has a built-in “seasonal heartbeat”: Neighborhood Endeavors.

Endeavors are:

• Neighborhood-wide activities
• Open to anyone who lives in the neighborhood
• Occur approximately once a month
• Built around learning from Azeroth’s cultures and factions through tasks

As Endeavor tasks are completed, the neighborhood changes:

• More themed NPCs appear
• The neighborhood becomes visually decorated in that faction’s style
• Themed decorations become available to inhabitants (and sometimes visiting players too)

Endeavors are also designed to scale:

• Larger neighborhoods have more tasks
• Less active neighborhoods have future Endeavors scaled down so they’re not permanently punished for being smaller or casual

Why this matters for normal players

Most long-term WoW systems fail casual players by asking them to grind at hardcore levels. Endeavors do the opposite: they reward consistent community participation and adapt to your neighborhood’s reality.

Décor comes from “everything,” on purpose

Midnight’s décor philosophy is simple: you should find cool housing rewards anywhere you play. That includes:

• quests
• achievements (even older content achievements)
• professions
• vendors
• general adventuring
• the Auction House

This is huge for returning players because it turns “catching up” into something rewarding. Every time you do old content, you’re not only getting nostalgia—you’re building a home collection.

Warband sharing makes décor feel worth it

Nothing kills collection motivation like “I earned this on the wrong character.” Housing rewards are designed to be shared across your Warband, so your decorating options grow account-wide instead of feeling trapped.

Hearthsteel Explained: What It Is, What It’s For, and How to Think About It Without Stress

Midnight introduces Hearthsteel, a virtual currency created specifically for buying select Housing items from the shop and in-game shop. The key point: it’s positioned as Housing-only—not mounts, not transmogs, not pets, not the Trading Post.

Blizzard’s stated guiding principles include:

• The vast majority of Housing items are earnable in-game
• Items tied to core race/class fantasy or iconic Azeroth themes won’t be sold in the shop
• Shop items are available for individual purchase (bundles may exist, but you shouldn’t feel forced)
• Hearthsteel-to-money ratios are meant to be clear and fixed
• Hearthsteel is designed to integrate with the WoW Token flow (gold → token → Battle.net balance → Hearthsteel)

The healthiest way to approach Hearthsteel

If you want a stress-free mindset, treat Hearthsteel like this:

• Gameplay earns your “meaningful” décor (achievements, faction themes, cultural pieces)
• Hearthsteel is optional polish (minor décor convenience or niche extras)

And most importantly: don’t let it distract you from what actually makes Housing fun—earning décor through play and building a home that reflects your story in Azeroth.

Prey System Explained: How Hunts Start, How Difficulty Works, and What You Earn

Prey is an opt-in hunting system. You choose to engage with it, and it follows you through your normal play instead of forcing you into a separate queue.

How you start Prey

You begin by speaking with Magister Astalor Bloodsworn in Murder Row in Silvermoon City, where you take on the challenge of hunting a specific target.

Once you have a target:

• you can continue traveling and questing normally
• you’ll encounter Prey-specific mechanics and World Quests
• detection is intentionally unpredictable: you might find your prey… or your prey might find you first

That unpredictability is the point. Prey is designed to create tension and surprise in the outdoor world—something WoW often lacks once players optimize everything.

Difficulty tiers: Normal, Hard, Nightmare

Prey progression unlocks three difficulties:

• Normal: other players can come help you in the outdoor world
• Hard and Nightmare: the hunt and final fight become more challenging via extra enemy abilities called Torments
• In Hard/Nightmare, your final encounter is for you and your friends—no raid groups

Rewards that actually matter

Prey rewards include:

• cosmetics (including mount and transmog-themed rewards)
• power rewards up to the Hero track
• contribution to the Great Vault outdoor activity slot each week

That last part is a big deal. It means Prey isn’t just “fun content.” It’s content that can fit into a serious weekly progression plan without forcing you into dungeons or raids every time you want meaningful rewards.

Prey Strategy: How to Enjoy the System Without Turning It Into a Chore

Prey can be the best kind of outdoor content—or the worst kind—depending on how you approach it. The goal is to keep it exciting while still being efficient.

The three rules of smart Prey play

1) Treat Prey like a background mission, not a timer race

Prey is built to unfold across your normal activities. If you try to “force finish” every hunt instantly, you’ll burn out and miss the intended vibe.

2) Build for consistency, not peak damage

Prey includes unpredictable moments. A glass-cannon build that melts target dummies but dies when surprised will feel terrible here. Prioritize:

• survivability
• mobility
• reliable interrupts / stops
• “panic buttons” you can use under pressure

3) Decide your weekly Prey goal early

Pick one:

• “I want Great Vault outdoor credit”
• “I want cosmetics and mounts”
• “I want to push difficulty for fun”

Having one clear goal prevents you from doing random hunts that feel unrewarding.

Difficulty-specific tips (simple and effective)

Normal tips

• Great for learning patterns and pacing
• Don’t be shy about accepting help; Normal is designed to be social
• Focus on learning detection cues and avoiding sloppy pulls

Hard tips

• Expect Torments to punish autopilot play
• Save defensives for moments when Torments overlap with other outdoor threats
• Bring a friend if you’re returning and rusty—Hard is where mistakes start to snowball

Nightmare tips

• Plan a build around survival and control
• Treat it like “mini endgame content,” not a casual checklist
• Use voice chat with friends if possible; coordination matters more than gear

How to keep Prey fun long-term

Rotate your approach:

• some weeks chase Great Vault credit
• some weeks chase cosmetics
• some weeks chase the thrill of Nightmare hunts

The fastest way to hate Prey is to do it the exact same way every time.

Delves in Midnight: New Delves, Valeera as Companion, and the Nemesis Challenge

Delves continue to be one of the best additions to modern WoW because they respect your time. Midnight expands Delves with:

• ten new Delves
• one seasonal Nemesis Delve
• a new companion: Valeera Sanguinar

The Midnight Delves list

• 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)

Valeera as your Delves companion

Valeera replaces Brann as the featured companion for Midnight Delves and supports the familiar three support roles players are used to. Companion-based content matters because it changes the feel of solo progression: you get structured support without needing to rely on other players.

“Delves go outdoors” (why that’s exciting)

Midnight Delves aren’t only enclosed spaces—Blizzard has described taking the adventure outside for the first time in this Delves lineup, and weaving more Midnight story through Delves quests. In plain terms: Delves become more narrative and more varied, not just “another hallway with mobs.”

Delves Strategy: Solo, Duo, and Group Play (Plus How to Progress Without Stress)

Delves shine when you treat them like a flexible toolkit, not a rigid grind.

If you’re a solo player

Delves are your best “I want real progress without group finder drama” content. Your priorities:

• choose a stable build you can execute half-asleep
• learn enemy patterns and avoid deaths (deaths waste more time than low DPS)
• treat tiers like a skill ladder, not a gear check wall

If you’re a duo (one of the best ways to play WoW)

Duo Delves are perfect for:

• returning players rebuilding confidence
• couples/friends who want progression without scheduling a full group
• players who want content that’s challenging but not socially exhausting

A strong duo composition:

• one durable role (tankier DPS or actual tank)
• one sustain/control role (heals, hybrid, or high utility)

If you’re a group player

Even if you run Mythic+ and raids, Delves still matter because they:

• offer a different pace
• let you practice fundamentals
• provide structured rewards without needing perfect group execution

The “Delves weekly plan” that keeps you consistent

If you want a simple routine that works for most players:

• Do a few Delves early in the week to establish momentum
• Push a harder tier when you feel focused
• Use easier tiers on tired days to stay consistent
• Don’t “spam fail” a tier—if you fail twice, step down and rebuild

Consistency beats brute force.

Journeys: The New Progress Hub That Makes Midnight Easier to Follow

Midnight adds a Journeys tab to the Adventure Guide, designed to reduce the “Where do I track this?” confusion that hits players as systems pile up.

Journeys is meant to centralize and streamline:

• Renown/progression tracking
• Delves progress
• Prey progress
• a shortcut to Great Vault rewards

One of the most practical changes: Delves integration moves so you can configure your companion directly within the Journeys Delves section, and the system becomes a clearer “home” for your progression instead of being scattered across different menus.

For returning players, Journeys is quietly one of Midnight’s best features—because it reduces the mental load of remembering where everything lives.

UI, Transmog, PvP, and Addon Changes: The “More” That Will Affect Everyone

Even if you never touch Housing, Prey, or Delves, Midnight still changes your daily experience through major updates.

User Interface upgrades (built-in power tools)

Midnight brings UI improvements aimed at making the base game more readable and competitive without needing external tools. Highlights include:

• Nameplate improvements
• built-in Damage Meters tracked server-side for better accuracy
• boss alerts / boss warnings integrated into encounter presentation
• improved customization options and scaling controls

The practical benefit: you can play at a high level with fewer addon dependencies, and returning players can set up a functional UI faster.

Transmog revamp (outfits you can actually use)

Midnight’s transmog updates are built around outfits:

• unlock and save dozens of outfits
• outfit slots cost gold to unlock
• switching between saved outfits becomes free
• outfits can be placed on your action bar for instant swapping
• outfits can also auto-switch based on situations (town, dungeon, spec change, returning home, etc.)

This isn’t just cosmetic convenience—this is a quality-of-life upgrade that makes your character feel more personal without constant vendor trips.

PvP updates (especially good for returning players)

Two changes stand out:

• Slayer’s Rise battleground: a large-scale 40 vs 40 epic battleground set in the Voidstorm, built around attacking, defending, and recruiting NPC forces as you push toward the enemy base.
• PvP Training Grounds: a learning-focused PvP mode against smarter game-controlled opponents, including maps like Arathi Basin, Silvershard Mines, and Battle for Gilneas, designed to help players gain confidence before jumping into full PvP.

Combat addon disarmament (the biggest “feel change” in the expansion)

Midnight introduces major changes to addon capabilities aimed at one core goal: addons should not provide a competitive combat advantage.

The concept Blizzard describes is effectively:

• addons can still personalize and display information
• but combat state info becomes “secret values” that addons can’t “know” and process into decision-making
• the game is adding more built-in tools (damage meters, boss warnings, audio alerts, improved frames) to support accessibility and approachability

For players who relied heavily on combat automation-style guidance, this will feel different. For returning players and casual players, it often means the game becomes easier to re-enter because you won’t be told “download five mandatory addons or you’re useless.”

Returning Player Friendly: A 10-Step Feature Checklist to Feel “Caught Up” Fast

If you want to enjoy Midnight without information overload, this checklist is the simplest way to turn features into real progress:

1. Claim or visit Housing and complete the Housing tutorial
2. Open the Housing Dashboard (H) and browse the Decor Catalog once
3. Choose a Neighborhood type (Public is fine to start)
4. Place a basic functional home layout (don’t aim for perfection)
5. Pick one décor theme (Blood Elf elegant, Orc rugged, etc.) and commit for two weeks
6. Start Prey on Normal to learn the rhythm and cues
7. Push Prey difficulty only after you can consistently handle surprise fights
8. Run a few Delves to find your comfort tier and companion setup
9. Use Journeys to track Prey/Delves/Vault progress in one place
10. Finalize your UI using the improved base features before you add extra addons

This routine prevents the “log in and freeze” problem. You always know what to do next.

BoostRoom: Make Midnight Progress Faster (Without Wasting Your Free Time)

Midnight is packed with systems, and that’s awesome—until you realize how easy it is to waste weeks doing “busy work” that doesn’t move you forward. If you want to experience the best parts of Midnight without getting stuck in the slow lane, BoostRoom helps you turn your limited playtime into real results.

BoostRoom can help you:

• Get consistent progression when your schedule is tight
• Push Delves and other PvE goals efficiently with less trial-and-error
• Stabilize Mythic+ improvement through smarter runs and coaching habits
• Adapt to Midnight’s class and UI changes faster so you feel confident again
• Avoid burnout by reducing the frustrating “dead hours” that come from failed groups, poor routing, or inefficient gearing paths

If your goal is to enjoy Midnight’s features and keep up with the content pace, BoostRoom is the shortcut that protects your time.

FAQ

What is the biggest new feature in WoW Midnight?

Housing is the largest lifestyle system, while Prey and new Delves are the most impactful repeatable gameplay systems for solo/weekly progression.

Can I get a house without grinding gold or winning a lottery?

Yes. Midnight Housing is designed so anyone who wants a house can have one—no lotteries and no onerous upkeep.

What are the two Housing zones?

Founder’s Point (Alliance Neighborhood Zone) and Razorwind Shores (Horde Neighborhood Zone).

What’s the difference between Public and Private Neighborhoods?

Public Neighborhoods are server-created and open to anyone. Private Neighborhoods are player-owned, created by guilds or charter groups.

How often do Endeavors happen in Housing?

Endeavors occur approximately once a month and are completed collectively by your Neighborhood.

Can I decorate in a simple way without advanced building tricks?

Yes. Housing supports both Basic Mode and Advanced Mode, so you can keep things easy or go fully creative.

What is Hearthsteel used for?

Hearthsteel is a virtual currency used to purchase select Housing items from the shop and in-game shop, and it’s positioned as Housing-only.

How do I start the Prey system?

You opt in by speaking with Magister Astalor Bloodsworn in Murder Row in Silvermoon City to receive a target.

How do Prey difficulty tiers work?

Prey has Normal, Hard, and Nightmare. Normal allows help from other players in the outdoor world, while Hard/Nightmare add Torments and restrict the final encounter to you and your friends (no raid groups).

Do Prey and Delves help with weekly progression?

Yes. Prey can contribute to the Great Vault outdoor activity slot, and both systems offer meaningful rewards that fit into a weekly routine.

Who is the new Delves companion in Midnight?

Valeera Sanguinar replaces Brann as the featured Midnight Delves companion.

What is Journeys in Midnight?

Journeys is a new Adventure Guide tab that centralizes progress tracking for things like Renown, Delves, Prey, and includes a Great Vault shortcut.