Everything You Need to Do Before the Midnight Pre-Expansion Update

World of Warcraft has officially confirmed that The War Within Season 3 is ending on January 20, meaning players hoping to get rare achievements like Ahead of the Curve or Astral Legend have less than a month to do so. Not everything is going away with the arrival of the World of Warcraft: Midnight Pre-Expansion update, but a lot of achievements and rewards will soon become unavailable.

Recently, World of Warcraft locked down January 20 as Midnight Pre-Patch day. This massive Pre-Expansion update includes changes to every single specialization, the addition of the Devourer Demon Hunter, a native Damage Meter, a transmog system overhaul, and much more. Then, a week later on January 27, two activities kick off until the launch of Midnight on March 2: the Winds of Mysterious Fortune, and the Twilight Ascension Pre-Patch event.

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World of Warcraft: The War Within Season 3 Ends January 20

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However, the arrival of all these new features also heralds the departure of many The War Within rewards and milestones. Most notably, the Manaforge Omega raid’s Cutting Edge and Ahead of the Curve achievements, earned for defeating Dimensius, the All Devouring on Heroic and Mythic respectively, will be no longer be obtainable as of January 20. That said, the Royal Voidwing from Heroic Dimensius will still be available until World of Warcraft: Midnight’s release on March 2, and the Unbound Star-Eater from Mythic will keep its higher drop chance until then, after which it will be significantly reduced.

world of warcraft the war within season 3 dimensius mounts royal voidwing unbound star eater

Technically, the Mythic+ leaderboards close shortly before January 20, as positions will be locked on January 19 at 10 PM PT, right before maintenance begins for the big Pre-Expansion update. This means fans hoping to reach the top .1% ratings that qualify for “the Unbound Hero” title will need to do so before then. This ostensibly means other Mythic+ Season 3 achievements, such as Keystone Hero, will also be retired, though there is a chance some may still be available after the patch.

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The War Within Season 3’s PvP content will also wrap up at this same time. This means the Astral Gladiator and Astral Legend Feats of Strength, Astral Gladiator’s Fel Bat mount, PvP transmog sets, titles, and the Arcane Weapon Enchant Illusion in World of Warcraft will become unavailable from that point onward. However, players will still be able to earn the Alliance- or Horde-themed Vicious Void Creeper mount until Midnight by playing rated PvP modes.

World of Warcraft: The War Within Season 3 Checklist

By January 20 (Midnight Pre-Patch)
- Ahead of the Curve: Dimensius, the All-Devouring (Feat of Strength Achievement): Defeat Heroic Dimensius
- Cutting Edge: Dimensius, the All-Devouring (Feat of Strength Achievement): Defeat Mythic Dimensius.
- Mythic+ dungeon season, including “the Unbound Hero” title
- Seasonal PvP rewards, titles, rankings, and achievements, including:
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  - Astral Gladiator: The War Within Season 3 (Feat of Strength Achievement): Top .1% in 3v3 arena ladder, rewards the “Astral Gladiator” title
  - Astral Legend: The War Within Season 3 (Feat of Strength Achievement): Top 0.1% of the Solo Shuffle ladder
  - Astral Gladiator’s Fel Bat mount
  - Arcane Weapon Enchantment Illusion
  - Season Three PvP weapon/armor transmog sets
  - Combatant/Challenger/RIval/Duelist/Gladiator titles
- World of Warcraft: Legion Remix
- The War Within Season 3 Delve achievements (possibly available until March 2 or later)
By March 2 (Midnight launch)
- Royal Voidwing mount from “A Twilight Oath’s End” quest item drop from Heroic Dimensius
  - Unavailable after Midnight
- Unbound Star-Eater mount drop from Mythic Dimensius
  - Drop rate significantly reduced after Midnight
- Faction-themed Vicous Void Creeper mount

Oddly enough, the blog announcing this information made no reference to the status of Delves as of January 20. Technically, World of Warcraft:The War Within Season 3’s Delves also includes several time-limited milestones, including the Delver’s Journey, Undercoin rewards, and the Nexus-Princess Ky’veza encounter. There is a good chance their omission means these activities and rewards will remain available until March 2 – but it might not hurt to try to finish them by January 20 as well, just to be safe.

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Either way, it makes sense that World of Warcraft is ending the Raid, Mythic+ dungeon, and PvP seasons with the Pre-Expansion update. The changes to every specialization tree and new Devourer Demon Hunter would throw things out of balance enough on their own, but World of Warcraft is also implementing its fourth stat squish and third item level squish as well. This number crunch will undoubtedly cause some hiccups with balancing, which could have led to some challenges becoming easier or harder than anticipated if they had still been available.

Though not directly involved with The War Within, WoW: Legion Remix also ends when the Midnight Pre-Expansion update arrives. Fans should be sure to earn challenging and time-limited achievements, purchase rare and exclusive rewards, and rapidly level up a few more characters before the game mode goes away indefinitely.