We have some massive and slightly sneaky news! Blizzard updated the 2025 roadmap shared during the Warcraft Direct again and added some pretty clear indications of release planning.
The Mystery of the Rune Solved
There was speculation about a mysterious rune at the very end of the 2025 roadmap and what exactly it could indicate. The two possibilities were Warlords of Draenor Remix and the player housing system. Players went back and forth on this for quite a while. One of the options was that the rune resembled a house opening and was going to be the actual housing Hearthstone we’d be getting for the new system.
Earlier today, however, a player spotted an extremely similar symbol. This came up in a Warbringer animated short (which were used to introduce Warlords of Draenor), and that once again pushed the speculation towards WoD Remix. The rune doesn’t match exactly, but it is very similar.
Source: It’s WoD Remix by Railander
However, it seems Blizzard never intended for the rune to be a mystery at all. They responded to the increased speculation by making it very clear what it meant, but didn’t announce the update.
Player Housing AND Midnight in Winter 2025?
First spotted by Wowhead, earlier today Blizzard updated the 2025 roadmap and changed the image of the rune. Now it’s extremely explicit and clear what it’s referring to. The Warcraft Direct summary article was updated with a brand new image of the roadmap:
That’s about as clear as it gets!
Now that we know the rune was indeed meant to mean player housing, this also gives us a release window for Midnight! Since the feature was announced as coming in the next expansion the two are directly connected. In fact, the only way they wouldn’t come out at the same time is if Midnight actually went live even earlier, or if housing was coming in the pre-patch! With the feature marked around the start of winter 2025, this would mean we’d be getting the expansion around a year and a few months from now! This would make the War Within last for less than a year and a half. Blizzard have been saying that the World Soul Saga trilogy started with the War Within would come at a faster pace than WoW’s usual 2-year expansion timing.
Alternative Timing Interpretations
However, there are two other things the timing of the roadmap might indicate. One of the likely outcomes is that housing might come in Midnight’s pre-patch. It seems like a good time to test things out, as it doesn’t carry the full weight of the new expansion features or story to burden it. The War Within pre-patch lasted a month, so that’s not a huge difference when it comes to Midnight’s release timing. We might see a longer pre-patch for the next expansion, however. The other option is that the icon is indicating when it will arrive on the Public Test Realm. This would be the first time players would get their hands on it, and would definitely be worth marking on the calendar.
Now keep in mind, the roadmap is just that, a plan, so it’s not absolutely set in stone. We might see other changes to it as development gets further along.
So what do you think about all this? When is Midnight coming? Is housing coming to the PTR and/or the pre-patch?
