Phil Ulrich

World of Warcraft's Midnight expansion is now live for all players, kicking off the second part of the Worldsoul Saga as baddie (in every sense of the word) Xal'atath invades Azeroth with an army of void creatures at her beck and call.

With a lead in their hot little hands freshly pried from the storage of a hijacked murder-drone, our crew of Starfinder adventurers -- brought together first to meet their friend Tier-99-Professor, then by happenstance to investigate his murder -- dive into the back alleys and data storage centers of Striving to see if they can pin down any clues as to why someone would want the good Professor dead.

In the weeks leading up to the launch of World of Warcraft's newest expansion, Midnight, we've gotten a peek into the trials and tribulations of some of the important characters we know play a role in the expansion -- first Xal'atath, the instigator of the whole expansion, then Lady Liadrin, the very first character we see in Midnight's cinematic.

A group of strangers gather in a dimly lit bar in the mechanical megalopolis of Striving at the behest of one Tier-99-Professor, who promised them some incredible news.

Every February, publishers both accomplished and new take to their favorite crowdfunding platforms to release their newest zines as part of (the event formerly known just as) Zine Quest.

Last week, we got to take a look at the origins (maybe) of Midnight's baddie supreme, Xal'atath, in "Supremacy." This week, we got a look at the past of another important figure in World of Warcraft, and one who's on our side this time: Lady Liadrin, the iconic Blood Elf Paladin, in "All That Is Sacred." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoJgQA4Uhks We also get to see someone new in this animation: High Priest Vandellor, Liadrin's adoptive father who took her in after her parents were slain by Amani trolls, and who first inspired her faith and awe for the light -- in fact, she would eventually follow in his path as High Priestess Liadrin (which you get to see if you're a Blood Elf pursuing your heritage armor, or during the Lorewalking chapter on Elves).

Folks who'd been hoping for a new World of Warcraft animation like the Harbingers and Warbringers series that predated Legion and Battle for Azeroth respectively finally got a little something today to whet their appetites: a Xal'atath-focused animation, subtitled "Supremecy." Seemingly set sometime between the end of the Manaforge Omega raid and the beginning of Midnight, this animation shows Xal'atath winning over "loyal, tractable" servant Nexus-King Salhadaar by wielding something very unusual for her: the truth.

Keeping things tense and exciting in tabletop games without just resorting to throwing the players into a fight is a central part of our discussion today on Tavern Watch -- we're talking torches burning down in Shadowdark or Crows, using the spotlight like a TV show director to keep things tense in Monster of the Week, or the Chaos mechanic in Triangle Agency that makes every roll a balancing act.

Continuing on a trend of transparency that started prior to Dragonflight, the World of Warcraft team today gave us a look at a 2026 roadmap that shows both the expected cadence of Midnight's content patches, as well as some new and exciting features and game modes and the return of an older feature that we haven't seen outside of a single experiment during Battle for Azeroth.

Things are getting even weirder for our party of all Artificers as they wrap up their sojourn into the Mournlands in the name of...