World of Warcraft Midnight early access launches today — if you pre-ordered the Epic Edition

Mark your calendars, World of Warcraft players — whether you’ve just joined the fun or you’ve been along for the ride since the beginning, the next chapter of Azeroth’s story, Midnight, will have its Early Access go live at 3pm pacific (6pm eastern) on February 26. Surprise: that’s today.

This is a full four days before the official Midnight launch date of March 2, also at 3pm pacific (6pm eastern). To be able to jump the gun on the new expansion you’ll need to purchase the Epic Edition of Midnight for $89.99. That also comes with a boatload of other extras such as mounts, character level boosts, Player Housing decor, and 30 days of game time.

Early Access will look familiar if you took part in during The War Within, which was the first expansion to offer early access. That time, nearly all of the max-level features were disabled or tuned down in order to avoid players getting a multi-day head start on gearing up. Midnight’s Early Access is similar, offering a head start, but no top-tier content. Dungeons are only available up to Heroic difficulty, Delves only go up to tier 7, and the new Prey system is only available on Normal difficulty. Raids and higher-tier dungeons will not be available until Midnight Season 1 starts on March 17.

Here’s what you can access during Midnight Early Access:

• Level up to 90
• All Midnight zones: Eversong Woods, Zul’Aman, Harandar, and Voidstorm.
• Midnight World Quests
• Midnight Renown Tracks
• Delves tiers 1-7
• Dungeons: Normal and Heroic difficulty
• Prey: Normal Difficulty

Reactions to the first iteration of Early Access in 2024 were mixed. Some players viewed the move as a transparent way to squeeze a few extra dollars out of the playerbase and bemoaned the gold that could be made with a head start on professions would be significant. Others saw a spreading out of the playerbase in time as a smart plan to ease strain on launch day servers or enjoyed being able to utilize the weekend to explore new content.

Whether you’re here for the story, the new zones, new Delving challenges, or just all of the cute things, you’ll be able to start experiencing Midnight on February 26.

Originally published February 2, 2026; updated February 26, 2026