With Midnight approaching fast, Blizzard is rolling out a pre-patch event to bridge the gap before the expansion officially arrives. The Twilight Ascension event introduces new activities, rewards, and catch-up systems designed to prepare players for what’s coming next. MrGM shared a video guide on his YouTube channel, telling us everything we need to know about how the event works, where it takes place, and what you can earn. Let’s dive in.
Release Dates and Event Timing
The Midnight pre-patch officially launches on January 20 in North America and January 21 in Europe. However, the Twilight Ascension event itself begins one week later, starting on January 27 (NA) or January 28 (EU). While Blizzard hasn’t explained the gap between the pre-patch and the event, these are the key dates players should keep in mind.
The event is available for characters from level 10 to 80, making it accessible for leveling alts. At the same time, the Winds of Mysterious Fortune buff will be active, increasing leveling speed. While the event’s structure isn’t strictly optimized for power leveling, the combination of bonus experience and repeatable content makes it a potentially solid option for alt progression.
Intro Questline and Event Unlock
To access the event, players must complete a short introductory questline on one character. This quest takes place in your faction’s capital city before sending you to the Twilight Highlands, where you infiltrate the Twilight’s Blade—a newly emerged faction aligned with Xal’atath.
Completing the intro establishes a faction hub in the Twilight Highlands, featuring Void Elves for the Alliance and Blood Elves for the Horde. This camp includes convenient portals to Stormwind, Orgrimmar, and Dornogal, making travel quick and painless. Once unlocked, the Twilight Ascension event becomes account-wide, so you won’t need to repeat the quest on additional characters unless you want to.
The Twilight Highlands themselves are now fully level-scaled, allowing characters of any eligible level to participate without issue.
With the event unlocked account-wide and frequent travel between the Twilight Highlands and capital cities, players will likely be spending a fair amount of resources throughout the pre-patch. Having enough WoW Gold prepared ahead of time can make gearing alts, handling consumables, and overall progression far more convenient as Midnight approaches. For players looking for a reliable option, MmoGah provides fast WoW Gold services across multiple regions and realms.
Twilight’s Blade Insignia Currency
All event rewards revolve around a new currency called Twilight’s Blade Insignia. This currency is Warband, meaning it can be freely transferred between characters on your account with no penalties. Insignias are used to purchase cosmetics, mounts, pets, toys, and catch-up gear, making them the central progression element of the event.
World Quests in the Twilight Highlands
One-half of the event’s gameplay comes from newly added world quests in the Twilight Highlands. At any given time, around four to five world quests are active, each rewarding 10 Twilight’s Blade Insignias. On alternate characters, these quests also grant a small amount of Resonance Crystals.
The quests rotate every few days and are relatively straightforward, making them easy to complete as part of your regular routine.
Rare Events and Outdoor Scenarios
The second major activity is a rotating series of rare events, which function as small outdoor scenarios. These appear roughly every ten minutes, at least based on PTR testing. When a rare event spawns, an icon appears on the map. Players travel to the area, defeat nearby enemies to fill a progress bar, and then eliminate ritualists to summon the zone’s main rare boss.
Defeating the boss grants a mix of rewards, including Valorstones, Resonance Crystals, crests, a chance at Warband Champion gear, and one Twilight’s Blade Insignia. While the insignia reward is modest, the events are frequent and stack well with other activities.
During these events, players may also notice floating ephemeral void orbs. Collecting enough of these summons an additional rare enemy known as Voice of the Eclipse, which drops the same loot as the main boss. It effectively doubles the rewards.
Enemies in the area can also drop gray-quality items that unlock Midnight transmog appearances. These appearances will also be obtainable once Midnight launches, so there’s no pressure to farm them during the pre-patch unless you want early access.
Weekly Quests and Insignia Income
Twilight Ascension includes two weekly quests, both of which are Warband and can be progressed across multiple characters.
The first weekly, Disrupt the Call, requires defeating three Twilight Ascended rares and rewards Valorstones, Resonance Crystals, Runed Crests, and 40 Twilight’s Blade Insignias.
The second, Twilight’s Dawn, asks players to complete eight world quests or defeat eight Twilight Ascended rares, granting Valorstones, Resonance Crystals, and another 40 Insignias.
Between weekly quests, world quests, and rare events, players will accumulate insignias quickly—an important consideration given the number of rewards available.
Event Rewards and Vendors
The main reward vendor offers a wide selection of cosmetics and collectibles. Players can purchase Arsenal: Weathered Twilight Hammer weapon transmogs for 40 Insignias, along with the Well-Worn Twilight Cultist’s Attire ensemble for another 40.
Housing decorations are also available, including the Silvermoon Wooden Chair and Enchanted Blood Elven Candelabra for 50 Insignias each, and the more expensive Sin’dorei Winged Chaise for 75. It’s currently unclear whether these housing items will be available after the event ends.
Mount collectors can obtain the Retrained Skyrazor, a recolor of a War Within Season 1 mount, for 100 Insignias. Several pets are also on offer, each priced at 30 Insignias.
A new toy, the Twilight’s Blade Top Secret Strategy Training Guide, introduces a simple tic-tac-toe-style minigame and costs 30 Insignias. This toy ties directly into one of the event achievements.
A secondary vendor sells Warband Champion catch-up gear, including armor, accessories, and weapons. These items are recolors of the Khaz Algar dungeon sets and cost 40 Insignias each. Since the same gear can drop from rare events, it’s often best to wait before spending currency here.
Achievements and Mount Rewards
Two major achievements are tied to Twilight Ascension. “Two Minutes to Midnight” requires defeating each rare boss summoned by the Twilight’s Blade in the Twilight Highlands. Completing it rewards the Light-Forged Mechsuit mount and the title “Thorn of Twilight.”
The second achievement, Crunching for Cultists, tasks players with winning the Twilight’s Blade strategy game 50 times. The game can be played at the event basecamp or via the toy once unlocked. While the requirement is time-consuming, it’s a necessary grind for completionists.
Final Thoughts on Twilight Ascension
Overall, the Twilight Ascension event offers a solid mix of world content, cosmetics, and catch-up systems. The addition of new world quests helps the event feel more dynamic than previous pre-patches, and the steady flow of currency ensures players can work toward multiple rewards without excessive friction.
While Champion gear won’t be useful for every character and higher-tier gear is notably absent, the event still provides meaningful progression for alts and collectors alike. It’s possible Blizzard may adjust rewards once the event goes live on January 27–28, but as it stands, Twilight Ascension serves as a fitting prelude to Midnight.
