World of Warcraft: Midnight Season 1 is almost here, and Blizzard has already mapped out exactly what unlocks when across raids, dungeons, Delves, PvP, and world content. The short version is simple: Season 1 begins the week of March 17, 2026, but not everything opens on day one. Blizzard is staggering the rollout over several weeks, with new raid difficulties and the final raid opening later in March and early April.
If you are trying to plan your week, prep your raid team, or just figure out when Blizzard expects your sleep schedule to collapse, here is the full Season 1 unlock timeline in one place. All dates below come from Blizzard’s official Season 1 announcement and raid schedule.
Week of March 17: Season 1 Officially Begins
Blizzard says Midnight Season 1 starts the week of March 17. That first week is the big launch window for the initial batch of endgame content. On that date, the following unlocks: The Voidspire on Normal, Heroic, and Raid Finder Wing 1; The Dreamrift on Normal, Heroic, and Raid Finder; Delves Season 1 Tier 8+; Heroic and Mythic 0 dungeons; new world bosses; rated PvP Season 1; and profession updates tied to the season start. Blizzard also notes that Mythic dungeons move to a daily reset at that point.
That means March 17 is not just a raid day. It is the real beginning of the broader Midnight endgame. If you are not raiding right away, there is still plenty opening at once, which is very Blizzard of them: launch everything, then let players decide which grind to panic about first. That last sentence is commentary, but the list of unlocks is official.
Week of March 24: Mythic Opens for the First Two Raids
The next major unlock happens the week of March 24. Blizzard’s raid schedule says this is when The Voidspire and The Dreamrift open on Mythic difficulty. The same week also brings Raid Finder Wing 2 for The Voidspire and the start of Mythic+ Season 1.
This is the point where the season really starts to feel serious. March 17 is the broad launch. March 24 is when Blizzard turns the difficulty knob and starts asking whether your group was actually prepared or just emotionally optimistic. Again, the unlock dates are official; the emotional damage is user-dependent.
Week of March 31: March on Quel’Danas Opens
Blizzard’s official raid schedule says the week of March 31 is when March on Quel’Danas opens on Normal, Heroic, and Mythic, while Raid Finder Wing 3 for The Voidspire also becomes available.
This is a big deal because March on Quel’Danas is not part of the initial March 17 launch batch. Blizzard is deliberately spacing it out, which means players are getting a phased raid rollout instead of one giant all-at-once Season 1 dump. That is likely meant to keep progression pacing under control and stretch out the season’s early momentum. That pacing point is an inference based on Blizzard’s staggered release schedule.
Week of April 7: Final LFR Unlock for March on Quel’Danas
The final scheduled unlock in Blizzard’s current roadmap lands the week of April 7. That is when Raid Finder opens for March on Quel’Danas.
So if you mainly follow WoW through LFR or you are just waiting for the easiest version of the full Season 1 raid lineup to become available, that is your date. In practical terms, the complete Season 1 raid rollout stretches from March 17 to April 7.
The Three Raids Blizzard Is Rolling Out
Blizzard’s official raid overview breaks Season 1 into three raid pieces: The Voidspire, The Dreamrift, and March on Quel’Danas. Blizzard says The Voidspire is located in Voidstorm, The Dreamrift is in Harandar, and March on Quel’Danas takes place in Eversong Woods. The same official preview says The Voidspire has six bosses, The Dreamrift has one boss, and March on Quel’Danas has two bosses.
That structure makes the rollout a little different from a more traditional single-raid season. Instead of one big instance dropping all at once, Blizzard is splitting the experience across multiple encounters and release weeks. That gives the season a more episodic feel, which may help it stay in the news cycle longer. That last point is an inference from the release structure itself.
The Practical Takeaway for Players
If you only need the quick checklist, here it is:
March 17: Season 1 starts, Voidspire Normal/Heroic/LFR Wing 1, Dreamrift Normal/Heroic/LFR, Delves Tier 8+, Heroic and Mythic 0 dungeons, new world bosses, rated PvP Season 1.
March 24: Voidspire Mythic, Dreamrift Mythic, Voidspire LFR Wing 2, Mythic+ Season 1.
March 31: March on Quel’Danas Normal/Heroic/Mythic, Voidspire LFR Wing 3.
April 7: March on Quel’Danas Raid Finder opens.
Blizzard Is Clearly Stretching Out the Early Season
The big takeaway is that Blizzard is not treating Season 1 as a single launch-day event. It is more like a three-week-plus rollout, with each week adding another layer of progression. That gives guilds time to prep, spreads out the race for progression, and keeps players checking back instead of blasting through everything at once. This is an inference, but it follows pretty directly from Blizzard’s official staged unlock schedule.
And honestly, it is probably the smarter move. Dumping every difficulty, every raid, and every progression layer onto one date would be chaos. This way, Blizzard still gets the Season 1 hype spike on March 17 while keeping fresh unlocks coming through April 7. In other words, the content calendar is doing exactly what it is supposed to do: keeping WoW players busy, slightly stressed, and permanently one reset away from a new obligation.
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