WoW Midnight: 12.1.5 arrives 14 October in Europe

Blizzard announced on 29 September that the 12.1.5 content update for WoW Midnight arrives with weekly maintenance on 14 October in Europe. Content updates go live region by region, so North America gets it one day earlier, on 13 October. Until now the update had been on the public test realm only, and the most recent test realm notes carried no release date. Blizzard's announcement lists a new single-boss raid, The Unbinding of Kith'ix; the Labyrinth of Kindo'jan; the mid-season refresh for Season 2 together with Keystone Myth; a new story campaign, The Promise of Tomorrow; and a new outdoor event, Aqir Invasion.

The Labyrinth of Kindo'jan is an ancient Amani funeral complex, sealed for centuries and now reopened. Blizzard says looters and Vilebranch comb it for relics while the spirits interred there defend it with deadly force. Blizzard describes a Labyrinth as a massive, Delve-like gauntlet with 9 chambers, built as a sprawling, mega-dungeon-like experience with its own progression systems, powerful unlocks and rewards to match, among them Mythic gear, cosmetics, titles and a Tier 11 solo challenge. As in Delves, a companion goes with you, here Valeera Sanguinar. Blizzard says a Labyrinth can be taken in one long session or one wing at a time: a single wing still pays out, and every extra room completed brings more chances at treasure and more risk to overcome.

The raid, The Unbinding of Kith'ix, is a single fight. Blizzard says Kith'ix was bound in a lair beneath the Venomous Abyss, and that with Ula'tek's defeat the restraints holding him have weakened, unleashing the monstrosity the Amani locked away long ago. Players face him with Lady Liadrin at their side, on Story Mode, Normal, Heroic and Mythic difficulty; on Mythic the group is flexible, from 15 to 25 players. The new story campaign, The Promise of Tomorrow, tempers an uneasy peace between Quel'Thalas and Zul'Aman, takes players to the deepest depths of the Coiled Isle and ends in a final stand against the Amani's ancient foe, the C'Thraxxi general Kith'ix. Keystone Myth returns as well: the Midnight Keystone Myth: Season 2 achievement asks for a Mythic+ rating of 3600, and Blizzard says it will make targeted dungeon tuning changes for difficulty outliers at the same time.

The mid-season refresh comes with a schedule of its own, and it starts before the update. Blizzard asks players to finish 2 quests, from Decimus in Voidstorm and from Orin Straylight in Silvermoon City, before weekly maintenance in the week of 7 October. What Orin hands out after that — an extra bonus roll each week, then the Ascendant Venomstones — opens up over the weeks that follow.

The new outdoor event, Aqir Invasion, is a zone-wide public event in Eversong or Zul'Aman. Blizzard says that for 10 minutes each hour players work through a series of public events across the zone, one after another, before an intense boss fight, and that they are rewarded for completing as many objectives as they can before the window closes. Each invasion draws on 6 scenario types, 3 built around combat and 3 not, and a combat scenario can carry one of 8 affixes: among them a Voidweaver that shields the other aqir, burrowers that knock anyone standing close into the sky, roaming Void Spheres that try to trap players, and swarms of smaller aqir in place of the usual enemies.