Blizzard Is Looking at Tougher Open-World Leveling for WoW: The Last Titan

Blizzard wants World of Warcraft: The Last Titan to make outdoor leveling feel more dangerous and more rewarding, according to game director Ion Hazzikostas. Speaking to Windows Central at BlizzCon 2026, Hazzikostas said the team is interested in something similar to a Diablo-style Heroic World Tier for players who want more bite from the open world.

The Last Titan is the retail WoW expansion planned after Midnight, and Blizzard hasn’t published a formal design blog or blue post laying out how this system would work. For now, it sounds like a design goal rather than a locked feature.

Hazzikostas pointed to recent experiments, including Legion Remix’s Heroic World Tier and a mid-season update that added harder versions of some instanced outdoor zones. Those versions removed flying mounts and made enemies tougher, which is the kind of friction Blizzard seems to be considering for future retail leveling.

“We would like to offer something like that in The Last Titan,” Hazzikostas said, describing a more challenging outdoor experience with better rewards, more purpose, and a world that doesn’t feel empty of threats.

He also pushed back on the idea that players who want slower, more immersive leveling should simply play Classic. Blizzard sees modern WoW’s leveling and new-player experience as areas that still need work, especially compared with Classic-style pacing and the upcoming Forever approach.

The interview also touched on faction identity and cross-faction play. Hazzikostas said building two full faction campaigns can split resources in a way that leaves both sides with less, even as players continue asking for fewer restrictions between Horde and Alliance. Blizzard still wants those factions to matter, but it’s clearly trying to balance that against how people actually play now.