A free game on Steam is looking to take some of the stress out of World of Warcraft raid nights, allowing players to practice upcoming boss mechanics from WoW’s latest Midnight expansion.
Midnight Season 1 will introduce three raids for WoW players to overcome, and the free game Vellum: Raid Night Study Hall wants to help make sure players are prepared. The game features eight practice encounters from across WoW’s upcoming Voidspire, Dreamrift, and March of Quel’Danas (or, as Vellum: Raid Night Study Hall calls them, the Annoyed Spire, Gleamdrift, and Starch for Quail-Ganache) raids.
The game comes from developer Alvios Games, creator of the spellcasting co-op roguelike Vellum, and uses many of the same assets from the indie game to teach players Midnight’s new raid mechanics. While players play, dynamic tips appear to help teach each fight, and an in-game codex (similar to WoW’s dungeon journal) gives additional insight and information.
Instead of classes, players in Vellum: Raid Night Study Hall have abilities in the form of a resource builder, a resource spender, a dash, and an ultimate that need to be used to deal with mechanics and defeat each boss.
“Vellum: Raid Night Study Hall is your free, personal, MMO boss-killing cheat sheet with a literary spin! Get your practice in, build your confidence, and prepare to not stand in the fire,” the game’s Steam page reads.
It’s not the first time someone has made an entire game to help prepare for WoW’s latest raid encounters. Alvios Games on Steam said it was inspired by the Pineapple Raid Guides from creator TacticalAirHorse, who crafted pineapple-themed browser games to help players learn raid mechanics for previous expansions like Shadowlands and The War Within.
WoW: Midnight’s first season hasn’t even launched yet (the season starts March 17), but players can already (sorta) visit its next-to-be-added zone. In other WoW news, former quest designer and Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan revealed the MMORPG’s faction divide was only agreed upon late in development, calling the idea to split the playerbase into two teams “really controversial.”