Update!

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.

The World of Warcraft clock is about to strike Midnight, and the heroes of Azeroth are being summoned to defend their world against the encroaching darkness -- better mount up on an appropriately yellow and glowing steed before riding into battle.

There’s always one part of a new expansion I have trouble with, and that’s figuring out what in the sam hill hickity heck to do with all this junk before I go accumulate even more junk. I probably should’ve done a ton of crafting and AHing in the lead-up, but the entire gameplay loop of items and crafting just isn’t my thing. I want to hit the ground running in whatever (as long as it’s transmogged) and be a little loot goblin and hoard stuff forever. It doesn’t matter what it is as long as I can pick it up. Anyway, anybody want a scourgestone?

This is The Queue, our daily column where you ask us questions and the answer is probably not to just buy a new tab and shove all this garbage in there. Right?

We have another pair of very different games from the Epic Games Store for free this week.

Here we are again, on the doorstep of another World of Warcraft expansion -- what do you have planned for the first time you log in to Midnight to answer Lady Liadrin's call and defend the Sunwell from swirling purple monsters from beyond?

This March is the last World of Warcraft Trading Post for The War Within expansion and naturally to help you gear up for the return to Silvermoon City when Midnight launches on March 2, 2026, the Trading Post is rolling out a variety of Elf themed items.

I’m still not entirely sure what I’m playing in Midnight, so I hope no one expects me to have a plan for anything else. But a little uncertainty never frightened anyone. We shall march together into the strange future of tomorrow and see where it leads us! Onward! To Midnight!

And if that doesn’t make any sense to you, this is the Queue, our daily Q&A column where we do our best to answer your questions (though sometimes we have questions of our own). Let’s get to it.

The Cataclysm expansion approaches Hearthstone, and Ragnaros is duking it out with Nefarian again.

This week our usual crew of Joe, Matt, and Eric was joined by Liz to discuss William Gibson's novel Neuromancer.