Midnight Begins

Good news, Midnight opens with a quest called Midnight, not the dread Meet Arator Ka’resh/Maw quest.  Whew.

It has you search for Liadrin’s (image) near wherever you might be, in my case Dornogal.  She’s a blazing image who asks you to come and help defend the Light and Silvermoon.

 

What follows is a rather epic battle sequence in Parhelion Plaza and its surrounds.    You join the forces of Light, including several familiar characters.   I'm only going to Silvermoon and stopping so I have no idea if you ever see them again here.   

 

 

 You’ve various tasks in addition to fighting through legions of the Devouring Host.

 

Fighting by your side is Arator, who was surprisingly useful as a fighter and healer for my Druid but not so much for my Rogue.   Happily nobody died, and that’s all that matters to me. 

 

Arator has daddy issues and no wonder.  His father Turalyon is yelling (literally) at Arator constantly.   Arator makes side comments about his father as you go along.   He didn’t bother me as he did in the Meet Arator sequence, though, and I can work with him. 

 

I think the sequence took me an hour or so, but it was all interesting and manageable.   I’m thinking all of the classes I’m bringing to Midnight will be able to hold their own here. Except.

I thought my Rogue could have trouble. I sent her second to test her mettle.  She didn’t get through the Twilight Highlands pre-patch event, but has a few pieces of gear dropped for others.   She had a harder time than my druid, but thanks to plenty of potions and her stealth, she did fine.

Also, in this opener, there are armor rewards galore that are item level 120, so she wasn’t  at a disadvantage for long. 

My plan is to send everyone through the opening sequence before I do anything else, then they’ll all move on together.   I like it so far.

Next up is my Paladin. 

 

Meandering Monday 3 2 26

 Oof, Google tried to lock me out of my teeny blog.  Hasn't happened for awhile.  Oh well, if I'm suddenly writing on The Last Chapter again, you'll know why.  Otherwise:

Midnight at 5 pm

Why isn't Midnight releasing at Midnight?  That seems like a simple marketing tool.  Who are these guys?

Meet Arator

The Dread Meet Arator Quest--I could only stand to do it on a few characters as it drags you first to Ka'resh, then The Maw.  Surely once the expac goes live later today they won't make anyone go through that first.  Gack.  That would kill the starter experience if anything would.

Umbric The Annoying

Umbric!  I do not want to hear his voice ever again.  Champion! Blah blah blah.   

Forum Rats

The comments on Arator match my feelings about him.  How old is this guy?  Some say a teen in elven years, some say he's a 40 year old guy.  

Apparently Follower Dungeons are required as part of the quest line somewhere.  Lots of complaints about the tank and how the NPCs pull every single mob.  I think they used to be better, but recently when I've been using them for my tailor, every mob gets killed and the Hunter in particular runs over and grabs extras.  The Healer is too busy hopping around like a rabbit to heal.  The AI could use some tweaking.

Here are some of this morning's topics.

Transmog

The one time "free" transmog is finally available.  I almost wasted it but saw the tiny print just in the nick.  I'm not ready to set everyone right quite yet.

Lovely Suramar

I saw a somewhat aerial view of Silvermoon City, and thought to take a screenshot or two of Suramar, that other large elven city.

Screenshot Saturday

 I was uninspired to take pictures this week.  Sometimes one is a slug.

 

I have been running my Tailor through Follower dungeons, looking for amounts of cloth or cloth making materials.  My forum searches advised Darkflame Cleft and The Priory of the Sacred Flame as having humanoids who can drop cloth.

Darkflame is ok, I've run that numerous times.   The Priory is filled with humanoids but drops little, though it does have nice looking Arathi Overgrown Arch for your garden at the last boss.  Surprisingly The Stonecore is great, it just seems to go on forever.   Do not expect to get a single piece of material in Cinderbrew Meadery, just a window at the end, and a prolonged amount of time in the Buzz Barns with BEES.  I hate bees.

 Alliance House

How to fill a screenshot Saturday?  Why how about a look at my houses.  I'm still not doing any structural work as I've read some rooms can get stuck and you can't remove them.  Oddly I'm at the max for the outside of my Alliance House because I've not gotten to level 5 yet and I'm doing my best to create a privacy screen at the outside of the yard.  Notice though the person behind me has enlarged his house and you can see it whether you want to or not.

 

On the Horde Side

 

 

Ten posts for February by the very skin.  Got it though!

Atheren's March 2026 Gaming Goals

 Let's guess. Could it be I'll be playing through the areas of Midnight?  I've been reading the forums since Thursday night, and whoa, I am guessing Monday's official launch will be a challenge.  

I did not realize that everyone starts in Silvermoon and plays through a bit of Eversong Woods before being able to go to their chosen zone.  Does funneling so many people through such a small area seem like a bad idea to anyone else?  Even with layers, reports of the initial Early Access peeps are what you would expect.   I wish I had the fortitude to say I would be smart and wait till things died down but I'm a guppie like everyone else.  Disconnect me, baby!

Goals 

All seven Midnight Runners through the starter section and in place in their zones.

It would be dreamy if everyone got to 90 by months end.

Progress on crafting skills.

Try all the new dungeons and delves.

Try the new Prey system (though it looks over my pay grade from videos I've watched).

Do my best to gear up early.

Atheren's February Goals Check Check Check

 I  aced my tiny goal list for February:

Atheren's Adventures: Atheren's Gaming Goals for February 2026

Level up?  Yup, I leveled the Midnight Runners that needed to be at 80, plus a little flotilla of new characters.   The newbies aren't maxed, but they are well placed.

Gear up?  For the most part, I got my mains through the Twilight Highlands.  As it played out there, there were drops from bosses that were rarely for the class being played, so I tucked those into the Warband Bank for others.  There were also a boatload (half a bank tab and more) of one handed Mace and one Handed Axe drops I can't use for anyone so those got poofed.

Get Tradeskill Recipes?  Ha!  I am for the first time deep diving the current crafting system and I've nothing but bad thoughts towards whoever designed it.  I'd best leave it at that.

Cartoonified! Midnight Early Access

 

The Midnight Run

 

 

 

 

There are four new zones in Midnight, largely re-imagined Horde Zones, I believe, except for Void Storm.

https://www.wowhead.com/guide/midnight/silvermoon-city-hub-zones-maps-locations-rewards 

I have seven characters heading into these zones, all high level crafters.  I would usually start with my main in one zone, then have all characters trail through it in a konga line.  This time around, I’m going to work through all four of the zones from the start, switching between them.  I’m assigning characters in such a way that there are miners and herbalists in two zones, a lone miner in one, and I’m pairing my Leatherworker and Tailor/Enchanter in another.

As it plays out, everyone will eventually do all the zones, so if I chose wrong initially, it will be fine in the end.

Silvermoon/Eversong Woods   Inscription/Herbalist and Jewelcrafting/Mining

Harandar  Alchemy/Herbalism  and Blacksmithing/Mining

Void Storm  Blacksmithing/Mining 

Zul’aman   Leatherworking/Skinning and Tailor/Enchanter (hoping for humanoids and their juicy cloth).

 

Meandering Monday 2/23/26

 Oof! What a terrible post title. Get used to it, though.  In order to meet my monthly post count, a key is having regular post topics.  For this blog, I'll have Meandering Monday (think realm travel rather than fuzzy brain stuff) and for my spouse, Screenshot Saturday.

There are five Mondays in March, and four Saturdays.  Boink!  9 posts sliding right in toward the monthly goal of ten.  It's almost too easy.

The most regular feature of Meandering Monday is

Goals for the Week

Level Khaz Algar Tailoring and Leatherworking to 80 to get:

Tailoring 80

Undermine Bean Bag Chair

Leatherworking 80

Zhevra-Striped Rug

Well Lit Incontinental Couch

I have a tiny obsession with Undermine furniture.  This is just me getting the recipe.  I can't look at the recipe's ingredients yet, because of course they will be something obnoxiously hard to get.  Not as bad as the infamous  8 Black Lotus needed for the Classic era Alchemy Table, but, ya, the ingredients for things are a challenge.  This makes it extra sweet to place these in your home.

My Quest Logs Runneth Over

I'm finding more and more with my level 80 characters that their quest logs are full.   I blame part of this on the many auto accept quests the game throws your way.  You just can't get rid of them, they pop back in as soon as you make any in game move.  It feels like at least ten of them involve Xal'atath.  Grrr.  Also, I seem to be holding onto a few quests from old eras where I got really far in the quest line and I plan to finish it sometime.  

A goal this week is to prune whatever I can from my Midnighters quest logs.

Clear My Bags

I have such odd things in my bags I'm not sure I should get rid of.  It would be smart, and of course I will do it--to stick the stuff I really can't let go for fear I'll need it in my bank.   Nut, nut.

This Stuff Practically Writes Itself

All for this week's edition of Meandering Monday, see you Saturday for scintillating screenshots of decor and other adventures.   Up to 5 posts already.  

Wow Classic Rolls On

 Tsk it's the last week of the month and I only have 3 of my intended 10 posts up.  What to do?

More than ever, I realize the classic versions of the game aren't for me.  In Anniversary Classic, for instance, my highest level character is, I believe, a level 43 Retribution Paladin.  I had a real struggle to get her that far.  As Burning Crusade Classic arrives on these servers, I've no plans to check in.  

As it turns out, in my previous run through all of the classic eras, The Burning Crusade was not a favorite expansion for me.  The only thing I recall really liking about it was getting an astonishing two gold for every quest.

Pre-Midnight Blues

 

 I've been looking at the previews of the new Midnight areas, and, while I am excited for a fully fleshed out housing system, the expansion, the quest areas, the stories, and the new main characters such as Arator (a badly done Anduin wannabe) and Liadrin Pfft.  

Last time around, buying the Epic edition of the expansion gave players a few days head start, and it bugged me somewhat, because I was looking forward to The War Within.  Now I'm dreading Midnight, and I don't mind those poor suckers going in first at all.

My mood is tempered also, not in a good way, by several days where the warband bank was inexplicably unavailable.  I don't have much money set there, but all the shared resources my characters now depend on being to use anytime anywhere were just gone.  I noticed on the forums people fearing it would be like the guild bank fiasco where people just lost everything, and that was it.  Eep.

It's back, but I don't trust them now, and I will have individual characters hang onto things until needed, then they can swap things in.  

Since nobody in my family group has been playing much on the guild servers, I've neglected the guild banks this expansion, but, I'd best do what I've been meaning to do anyway and stock them with all the essentials, particularly for whatever the current expansion requires, potions and armor wise.

In another pre-expansion bummer, since the reset this week, the remaining characters I was sending to the Twilight Highlands aren't going to go, as they aren't earning coins to buy armor.  There is in fact in their Currency tab no spot for this currency.   Here are two of my characters, one who had done all she needed in the Highlands, and she still has a whopping 8 Twilight's Blade Insignia, which the next character could use, as it is shared.  However, when I sent that next character in and did the beginning quest sequence (which awards at least 40 Insignia), she had no Insignia rewarded, and in her Currency tab, not even a spot for the Twilight sequence.

Warlock one with Currency

  

Warlock 2 with No Currency

 

I might as well toss in the ability pruning for classes as a sad panda item.  My Mage and Warlock each lost several skills, they're just gone.  It's as if they want your character to go into the expansion as weak as possible to create an illusion of challenge, whereas with the Stat Squish and the tuning and pruning, you're just going to enjoy getting pounded for awhile.   Probably not how it works but it's how I feel as I write this.

 

Screenshot Saturday February 7, 2026

Welcome to another edition of Screenshot Saturday.  I've been trying to get more screenies but, some of my play time is spent on a shiny new laptop that won't play nice with screenshots, and it's a bit cumbersome to get them.  Even so!

 

Endeavors

Imagine my surprise when my Horde BE got a series of weekly Endeavor quests in her neighborhood!  I've only ever seen the Architect Riddles in the Alliance neighborhood.  I can find only the smallest mention of these, saying that they go with having the Valdrakken Accord as your monthly assigned Endeavor theme.   In case they make these available more widely (as they should), here are the Weeklies in Razorwind.

 

Alternative Skinning 

 

Farm To Table

 

Reverse Herb Farming

 

Magical Touch

 

Smelting For Two 

 

On the Alliance side, I filled my Endeavor bar for the month completely.  This is supposed to open up more options from the vendor.  I didn't see anything new.  I do believe on the right you should be able to see who contributed to the neighborhood Endeavors, but it's all Atherne and her Warband.  Go team warband!

 

 I got a community endeavors chest reward that had coupons and something else I didn't pay attention to.  Zzzzzzz.

 Also, I think we earned some lights adorning the town center for our efforts (me and me and me).

 

Mechagon is the assigned Endeavor theme for my public Alliance neighborhood.  I swapped my Gnome Warrior Engineer in to finish up the questing there, and I just can't get her to leave.  I hated Mechagon so much when it was originally offered I only sent one character there.  It should have been my Engineer, clearly.  I'm going to let her try to complete everything before Midnight arrives.

 

 

Hunter Love

With my BE Hunter, I saw this adorable toad-like beast  called a Fussy Swoglet and wanted it.

 

 

 

It turns out, you need to get a special book in Valdrakken city from the Stablemaster to train a dragon pet (he doesn't look like a dragon to me).

 

No problems! The flight to Valdrakken is short, and with book in hand, I got my Swoglet. 

 

Despite my Transmog whine, I have been buying from the Trading Post anyway.  I have a thing for the guns for Hunters, which are often elaborately steampunk-ish in design.  How about this BAG?