World of Warcraft Midnight will add the Prey system, where you can hunt and be hunted by elite enemies across Azeroth

One of the features that is currently in development for World of Warcraft Midnight is the Prey system, a new type of combat encounter where players can take on contracts to hunt down enemies across Azeroth with a twist: your target will hunt you back. Prey will have three difficulty levels — Normal, Hard, and Nightmare — and each tier will have different challenges and provide rewards equal to the difficulty. This system will also be an “opt-in” system, all but confirming that participation is optional, and may have a toggleable setting similar to War Mode while the difficulty settings could be changed like how the dungeon and raid difficulties are on the current WoW UI.

Beyond this, details are sparse about how Prey will work in the in-game world but the information we do have gives us some hints for healthy speculation we can make about this system.

Astalor Bloodsworn is in charge of your contracts

Astalor Bloodsworn will be the NPC in charge of this new contract system and he’ll be working out of Murder Row in Silvermoon City. He’ll likely be tied to a faction that you’ll also earn rep with by completing these contracts. We’ll be using Silvermoon City to start but if contracts are meant to be across Azeroth then we could have a set up similar to the Trading Post where there are faction-affiliated NPCs in Stormwind City and Orgrimmar.

Enemies and zones

We’ll likely see Midnight-specific enemies found in the expansion’s zones introduced upfront when the expansion releases as contract targets. There will probably be a set number of targets each week but since there are three difficulty tiers to choose from, players can expect the enemies to be stronger and, specifically at the Nightmare difficulty, targets will utilize “Torments,” or different mechanics and buffs that need to be accounted for. At the Normal difficulties, other players in the open world can jump in and help you defeat your target but at the Hard and Nightmare difficulties, it will be a one-on-one fight.

Some interesting things to consider are 1) number of elite enemies found throughout the different Azeroth zones and planes and 2) the extent which a player will be hunted by their target. The Prey system could help bring some new variety back by utilizing these elites as viable contract targets as the expansion progresses and the system grows. On the flip side, given how fast players can move between different zones, it makes sense to think that you’d need to be in the same zone as your target for them to hunt you back but for now, we’ll have to wait and see.

Rewards

The rewards are going to include armor and weapons, transmog options, mounts, and very likely we will see different housing cosmetics added as obtainable rewards. Completing contracts contributes to one of the Great Vault rows, so players will also be able to progress and increase the ilvl of their gear up to the Hero tier. We learned in the Midnight Deep Dive, Astalor is interested in Anguish, which sounds like a new currency you can get from completing contracts.

If a faction is involved, then we can expect a reputation track where completing the contract progresses your standing opens up different rewards at set levels, either automatically earning them or purchasing them in some way. The different difficulty tiers could also function like Normal, Heroic, and Mythic gear where each set has a different color scheme or cosmetic flair specific to it.

There is a lot that we don’t know about the Prey system but it has the potential to add an interesting layer of gameplay to World of Warcraft. We can’t wait to learn more  about this system and will keep you updated as we do!

Originally published on August 19, 2025. Updated on October 2, 2025.