World of Warcraft Midnight events have moved. Is Blizzard taking more time for its next patch after the 12.0.5 disaster?

The next World of Warcraft Midnight update is set to be patch 12.0.7, titled 'Revelations.' It continues the fight against the Void, pushing into a pair of new zones where we'll attempt to cut the invasion off at its source. It also promises another single-boss raid showdown, against fungal giant Rotmire in Sporefall, where Blizzard is testing out more flexible Mythic group sizes of between 15 and 25 players. Also on the list is the return of Turbulent Timeways. The date for that has just shifted on the WoW PTR, however, raising questions about whether Blizzard might be taking a bit longer for the new patch after its recent debacle.

When the World of Warcraft 12.0.7 PTR first launched, the placement of Turbulent Timeways on Tuesday June 16 suggested that we'd be getting the new update by that day, which would line up neatly with an eight-week cycle. The returning event gives you the chance to run a much faster rotation of Timewalking dungeons, earning stacking XP buffs and a mount if you keep up your streak across the full course. This time, it's the new Spawn of Vyranoth on offer, with six extra Dragonflight dungeons in the mix. However, the most recent PTR update has pushed the schedule back.

As spotted by Wowhead, the latest 12.0.7 PTR build now lists the Turbulent Timeways event as starting on Tuesday June 30. Does that mean Blizzard has pushed back its original plans for the update's schedule? With no official date announcement, there's no way to be certain, but it would seem like a reasonable move. The studio has just spent weeks tidying up a raft of big problems with its most recent release. It even offered a public statement apologizing for the disappointing launch of patch 12.0.5, which it called "not up to our standards."

Patch cadence is always a touchy thing in MMORPGs. Having regular new activities and story content is important to keep the community busy and thriving, and the longer updates drift apart, the more players look to find other things to fill their time. Even FF14 Director Naoki Yoshida, who has typically encouraged its players to enjoy other games and activities during downtime, announced during the reveal of new expansion Evercold that his team was going to try and bring patches slightly closer together again.

Moments like WoW's fumbled 12.0.5 launch and subsequent apology, which coincidentally landed at almost exactly the same time as Yoshida's Evercold keynote, will cause developers to reconsider how close they can squeeze updates together before the cracks start to show. A longer wait for a patch might cause your players to get itchy feet, but a broken release could stop them from coming back for that cycle altogether.

Until Blizzard gives us a firm release date for patch 12.0.7, we won't know for sure. While typically PTR clues have given away potential plans, I'd be careful about leaping to any big conclusions here and locking in your schedule until we have official confirmation.