World of Warcraft is now two decades old and has remained at the apex of its genre right from its launch.
The video game industry has changed in weird and (not-always) wonderful ways, but despite evolving player habits, costs, and competition from other mediums, World of Warcraft has remained strong throughout.
Since being acquired by Microsoft and Xbox, World of Warcraft has entered a new epoch in its lifecycle, prioritizing player expression while doubling down on enhancing the experience for players of all skill levels and time commitments. World of Warcraft and Blizzard are continuing that tradition in World of Warcraft: Midnight, the next big expansion slated for early 2026.
We caught up with World of Warcraft leads Ion Hazzikostas and Holly Longdale to discuss what fans can expect of one of the industry’s most legendary franchises, as it enters decade number three.
After 20 years, why are we getting Player Housing?
I first wanted to see if we could get some insights into why Blizzard has decided that now is the time to invest in World of Warcraft “Player Housing,” which will, for the first time, allow players to decorate and even structure their own homes within neighbourhoods made up of real players. It’s a feature players have asked for literally since the game launched, so what changed to make it a reality now?
Game Director Ion Hazzikostas described how housing was such a significant undertaking that it its development wouldn’t fit in a typical expansion cycle. This is something that required development across multiple expansions, which isn’t something Blizzard had typically targeted. “It’s something that has obviously come up in conversation countless times,” Hazzikostas explained, “I think every time we looked at what it would take to make housing real, it didn’t quite fit the development cycle of an expansion. This time, we committed to a longer development cycle that could span multiple traditional expansion cycles. The idea to make housing a reality, to have it land at Midnight, really was set in motion even before Shadowlands came out. We knew that’s how long it would take to get it right, to give a version that stood 20 years into WoW’s lifespan, giving players what they wanted and what they deserved.”
“The other piece is building on a lot of the technological frameworks that we’ve built up over the years, including everything from the seamless instancing of Delves, to the modularity of things like Torghast. All of these things made it easier for us to set the stage for housing, to build out that environmental scale to support millions of players.”
What we’re aiming for is this idea of having something meaningful to do all of the time while living your life in Azeroth. Housing is a perfect fit for that …
Holly Longdale, Executive Producer WoW
Executive Producer Holly Longdale also chimed in, elaborating on the evolution of WoW’s philosophy to give players more ways to express themselves in-game. “Since Shadowlands and into early Dragonflight, we struck a new evolutionary path with World of Warcraft,” Longdale elaborated, “we’re reconsidering how our content serves all the different ways people play.”
“What we’re aiming for is this idea of having something meaningful to do all of the time while living your life in Azeroth. Housing is a perfect fit for that, giving you some ownership of the world that you will live in inside Azeroth — making it your own in some way.
“So, we’re kind of on this evolutionary path to be able to have things like Housing, Delves, and Transmog 2.0, focusing on creating more player identity. We’re going to continue. We’re also here to listen to feedback, obviously. I’ll be heading over to talk to players at Gamescom. The other side of this is, there is no World of Warcraft without all of you players. If we don’t get the feedback right, we won’t have a successful game.”
On player identity and Horde vs. Alliance
I joked I only became a journalist to rise through the ranks and eventually ask for playable ogres (only half true …) as we discussed the evolution of player fantasy. In World of Warcraft: Midnight, we’re getting a new race in Haranir, and Silvermoon City will finally become part of the main Azeroth map, complete with flying and a full revamp. It will, however, be opened up to Alliance.
For years, World of Warcraft revolved around the faction war between players on the Horde and Alliance, but in recent years, Blizzard has dialled it back more and more. Players can now group with opposing faction members, and the Horde and Alliance are now officially in some sort of armistice. Both sides perceive favoritism from Blizzard, with Horde characters seemingly axed at a rapid cadence in recent years. Previously, Blizzard was accused of pro-Horde bias, having many major events revolve primarily around the Orcs and Forsaken Horde races.
“So, you’re saying we need to kill some Alliance leaders?” Hazzikostas joked, “I’ll let Xal’atath know and we’ll see what she can do …”
“Seriously, though, this is part of the challenge of serving such a diverse community with different interests and preferences. I think narratively, we prefer to let every faction or group have their own time ‘in the sun.’ It lets us tell more focused, stronger stories than it would if we tried to include everyone and everything to make sure nobody felt left out.
Seriously, though, this is part of the challenge of serving such a diverse community with different interests and preferences. I think narratively, we prefer to let every faction or group have their own time ‘in the sun.’
Ion Hazzikostas, Game Director WoW
Hazzikostas described how players’ feedback around Battle for Azeroth led Blizzard to question how hard it should lean into faction conflict, “I think it’s something we’ve heard from players, where [the factions] have been working together to overcome a big bad, whether it’s The Lich King, or Deathwing, or whatever — after so many times it starts to feel implausible. ‘Okay, we’re back at each other’s throats again.’ When I was game director for Battle For Azeroth, I was excited, as part of my creative vision at the time, to really lean into faction warfare. But a shocking number of players coming out of Legion were like, ‘Why are we fighting again? It doesn’t make sense.’ I think we want to carve out a world where there is still room for those conflicts. We recognize that there are those who are like, they will never forgive, never forget. They should feel represented in the world, too. We want to tell a wide range of stories.”
Holly Longdale agreed, emphasizing that the diversity of players’ desires for expression is something the team thinks about a lot. “Identity is subjective. When we said we were doing Horde and Alliance neighborhoods, we heard feedback that was like, ‘well I want Ardenweald’ — it’s really interesting to us. On faction conflict, it’s not gone from our story, to Ion’s point. When it’s appropriate, when we find a story that’s got the depth required, we’ll probably get back to it. But we want to evolve that as well, you know?”
On adding new classes, new specs like Demon Hunter ‘Devourer’ and Evoker and the support spec experiment
In World of Warcraft: Midnight, we’re getting a new spec for Demon Hunters called Devourer, which ties into the void-themed storyline that the Worldsoul Saga represents. It’s the first expansion where a single spec, rather than a new class, has been a “headline” feature, and I wondered if that represented something of a new philosophy for Blizzard. Could we see more specs down the line? As players enjoy imagining things like Earth-based Shaman tanks, or time magic-based healing mages, for example.
“I think it’s something we’re clearly open to,” Ion Hazzikostas said, “we consider new specs as a tool in our toolkit to use where it makes sense. I wouldn’t say ‘expect,’ because that can be a weighty word, but absolutely, we hear those suggestions. As I look at where our story goes — which classes will be more prominently featured or thematically connected to the story — there’s some great opportunities.
I think adding new classes to Warcraft is something we’ll most likely do in the future too, but it carries a very heavy ongoing cost in terms of complexity, forming groups, balance, and so on. New specs can be a new avenue for player expression, and new ways to engage with your character that you’ve played for a long time in a new role — it’s something we’re always excited for.”
We consider new specs as a tool in our toolkit to use where it makes sense. I wouldn’t say ‘expect,’ because that can be a weighty word, but absolutely, we hear those suggestions.
Ion Hazzikostas, Game Director WoW
Since we were already talking about class additions, I decided to ask about Evokers. Blizzard added Evokers and Dracthyr as a new class and race combo back in Dragonflight, complete with a new DPS sub-role which buffs other players in the group. The Augmentation spec has been difficult to balance, notoriously so, but I wondered if Blizzard was done with creating specs that had a more “supportive” buffing sort of role, as someone who has long dreamed for a Bard-type class or something of that nature. I also asked Blizzard if there were plans to enhanced Dracthyr’s transmog options, since the team has such a big focus on player expression now.
“When it comes to Evokers, the feedback around transmog is certainly something we’ve heard. There are a lot of challenges with representing armor on that model, the way it was built, but it’s something our team is well aware of, and would love to do something about if possible. It’s also a lesson learned for us in the future.
Augmentation Evoker has been an experiment, and an ongoing one. It’s proven challenging to balance. At the high end, when you have a fully co-ordinated group making the absolute most of all the utility and amplification abilities, Augmentation can seem mandatory. If you pull away from that, then, they feel unwelcome entirely at the high end.
That said, Augmentation still has a place in the game today, it’s played by a lot of people who enjoy that role. On bleeding edge gameplay, it can be difficult to balance. We’d like to figure it out, because we do love that vibe of what a “Bard” is in other MMORPGs, or even a Shadow Priest or Enhancement Shaman was back in the early days, where people knew you weren’t going to top damage meters, but the group was excited to see you there because of things like old school Windfury. That’s something we’re going to continue to chase. Augmentation remains a work in progress, but it’s an experiment we’re still excited about.”
On solo player content, difficulty, and console versions
World of Warcraft has many different modes these days, with classic versions and also remix versions where previous expansions are changed up with some additional twists.
In retail World of Warcraft, Blizzard has been working hard to make solo content more meaningful. We now have soloable dungeons called Delves, and in World of Warcraft: Midnight, Blizzard is adding a new Prey system, which will let players hunt down NPC targets and bosses in the open world — or perhaps even become hunted themselves.
In Legion Remix, Blizzard is adding Diablo-like World Tier difficulty systems, which will let players tailor the difficulty of the open world content — which is a part of the game that has become notoriously easy over the years. I asked if a feature like that could ever make its way into the main retail version of World of Warcraft, and how Blizzard’s philosophy to difficulty has evolved.
On Legion Remix’s World Tier difficulty system hitting retail, “I think it’s certainly a possibility,” Hazzikostas. “Remix and the experimental modes allow us to test out ideas in a self-contained environment, learn from them, and see how they could apply to other versions of the game. I think for people who want a challenge in the outdoor world, that’s something we’d love to offer. Delves and their progression was aimed to deliver that sense of progression to a solo player, who previously didn’t have access to that type of content. If we can bring some of that feeling to the outdoor world, that would be awesome.”
I asked if the new “Prey” system coming in Midnight could become that outdoor difficulty progression pillar, similar to Delves, and Ion Hazzikostas said it will depend how players feel, ultimately.
“It could go either way,” Hazzikostas said, “it’s going to depend on player feedback and reception. Prey is definitely targeted at the type of player we were just discussing. It’s an outdoor world system. It’s for people who want to spice up their experience venturing through Midnight. Initially, it’s anchored thematically in the city of Silvermoon. You’ll get your bounty contracts in Murder Row. If it’s as successful as we hope it will be, if players enjoy it, it’s definitely something we’ll carry forward into the future — or we’ll learn and adapt it. We’re very excited to add an additional sense of danger that lurks throughout the outdoor world.”
Never say never (on whether or not WoW could eventually leap over to Xbox or PlayStation)
Holly Longdale, Executive Producer WoW
Blizzard has focused intently on meeting players where they are, both in terms of features, difficulty, and accessibility. The most recent major accessibility feature was the concept of the “one-button rotation,” which allows players to perform a simple damage rotation with a single key. It’s not as powerful as learning to do your damage manually, but it can be a great tool for those who don’t want to get into the weeds of the game’s deeper complexity. It did make me wonder if this type of work could help adapt the game’s inputs for console controllers, given how frequently I get questions about whether or not WoW could eventually leap over to Xbox or PlayStation.
“Never say never,” said Holly Longdale. “We’re trying to learn how to adapt a game like ours to a controller, and as you know, it’s a challenge. But it is important for us to adapt to that controller form factor. There are people on our team who play World of Warcraft on a Steam Deck, and probably soon, the Xbox Ally, and we want to be ready for the future. For the moment, we’re still very much focused on the PC audience.”
Hazzikostas chimed in, “There are a lot of user experience challenges to solve with controllers and consoles. World of Warcraft has 20 years of PC development. Ultimately, any platform we’re on, we want to make sure that it has that Blizzard standard of quality. For a player who favors any type of platform, we’d want them to feel like the game was fully designed for that — that would be a long road for World of Warcraft.”
A big thanks to Holly Longdale and Ion Hazzikostas for joining us!
World of Warcraft has been on an upward trajectory since the doldrums of Shadowlands. For a while, it looked like Final Fantasy XIV and other competing MMOs were about to put the aging giant out to pasture, but Blizzard pulled it back with successful launches for World of Warcraft: Dragonflight and World of Warcraft: The War Within. Since then, the team has been delivering a solid cadence of content targeting players of all interests and skill levels, building out a game that has a far broader appeal than it did when it was laser-focused on high-end play.
With World of Warcraft: Midnight, adding Player Housing is likely going to be transformative for the title, adding a cozy layer of player expression and creativity that World of Warcraft has frankly lacked. Players increasingly express themselves through custom transmog aesthetic armor sets, and with housing, that’s an entire new world of reasons to play, engage with your characters, and also show off to your guildmates.
World of Warcraft: Midnight drops sometime in early 2026, likely in the Spring if I had to guess, with Player Housing launching in something of a “beta” state before the end of the year for players who preorder Midnight.
I know I’m going to lose several more hundreds of hours to the game thanks to Player Housing. I’m curious how the broader player base responds when it finally drops.
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