Blizzard squashes major World of Warcraft XP exploit less than an hour before the MMO's Midnight early access begins, sending power levelers back to the drawing board

1. Games
2. MMO Games
3. World of Warcraft

Blizzard squashes major World of Warcraft XP exploit less than an hour before the MMO's Midnight early access begins, sending power levelers back to the drawing board News By Dustin Bailey published 27 February 2026

"Endeavor XP is temporarily disabled in Midnight Early Access"

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Blizzard)

• Copy link
• Facebook
• X
• Whatsapp
• Pinterest
• Flipboard
• Email

Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter GamesRadar+ Get the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful

Want to add more newsletters?

Every Friday

GamesRadar+

Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.

Signup +

Every Thursday

GTA 6 O'clock

Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.

Signup +

Every Friday

Knowledge

From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.

Signup +

Every Thursday

The Setup

Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.

Signup +

Every Wednesday

Switch 2 Spotlight

Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.

Signup +

Every Saturday

The Watchlist

Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.

Signup +

Once a month

SFX

Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!

Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter

World of Warcraft: Midnight early access has begun, and everybody's working their way to level 90. Ahead of the release, a major exploit seemed poised to absolutely break the leveling race, but Blizzard quietly announced it had been fixed less than an hour before launch. The studio is also making some notable changes for the first month of Midnight as a result of the exploit.

In the pre-release version of Midnight, players discovered that Endeavors – a new system tied to player housing – could be used to get obscene amounts of XP all at once. You could use this system to scale a low-level zone, rely on an unscaled player to kill mobs for you, and reap massive XP rewards. Some estimates suggest it would've been possible to level from 80 to the new cap of 90 in under 60 minutes.

Community manager Randy "Kaivax" Jordan confirmed that "Endeavor XP is temporarily disabled in Midnight Early Access" in a post to the Blizzard forums less than an hour before launch. "Furthermore, scaling for the older zones when doing Endeavor activities is disabled for the entire first month, and will return with the Endeavor that begins in early April."

You may like

• Blizzard is so concerned with World of Warcraft expansion Midnight's changes that it's already loading balance patches
• World of Warcraft Midnight is the "the fastest expansion" Blizzard has ever made, with "no sacrifices to team health"
• World of Warcraft Midnight pre-patch adds colony of bugs, filling the sky with dragons and turning hills into gray lumps

Concerns about the exploit had lingered for some time before Blizzard finally addressed them, and the timing of the announcement so close to Midnight's launch has certainly annoyed some fans. Now we face the question of how rewarding Endeavors will feel with their XP payouts restricted, and what the balance will look like when those rewards return. Just another day in balancing an MMO for wildly different audiences that want wildly different things, I guess.

"He was the first person the Light called": World of Warcraft Midnight turns to the MMO's mightiest hero to help us push back against the Void – Leeroy Jenkins.

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. TOPICS Blizzard Entertainment Activision Blizzard CATEGORIES PC Gaming Platforms Dustin BaileySocial Links NavigationStaff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

View More

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Logout Read more Blizzard is so concerned with World of Warcraft expansion Midnight's changes that it's already loading balance patches    World of Warcraft Midnight is the "the fastest expansion" Blizzard has ever made, with "no sacrifices to team health"    World of Warcraft Midnight pre-patch adds colony of bugs, filling the sky with dragons and turning hills into gray lumps    Blizzard preps patch for WoW housing in Midnight, but players seem to want more from the MMO's hot new feature    Blizzard is revamping World of Warcraft's "decades" old zones for Midnight, because "we should be able to use them"    World of Warcraft Midnight turns to the MMO's mightiest hero to help us push back against the Void – Leeroy Jenkins    Latest in World of Warcraft World of Warcraft Midnight turns to the MMO's mightiest hero to help us push back against the Void – Leeroy Jenkins    Blizzard is revamping World of Warcraft's "decades" old zones for Midnight, because "we should be able to use them"    Blizzard preps patch for WoW housing in Midnight, but players seem to want more from the MMO's hot new feature    Blizzard is so concerned with World of Warcraft expansion Midnight's changes that it's already loading balance patches    World of Warcraft devs ditch combat addons to make raids harder strategically – not to "shoot more bullets at you"    After cutting down WoW classes, Blizzard "heard loud and clear from players that it was not what they were looking for"    Latest in News Blizzard squashes major World of Warcraft XP exploit less than an hour before the MMO's Midnight early access begins    Pokemon Pokopia turns classic Garry's Mod mode Prop Hunt into a mini-game where you transform into trees and barrels    As Baldur's Gate 3 devs decide what to do next with Divinity, the RPG's publishing lead celebrates rise in players    I spend most of my time reviewing board games, here's one I can't get enough of this week    "The first ever fontslop game": Marathon players are already sick of looking at the upcoming Bungie shooter's UI    Star Wars fans are debating whether Obi-Wan Kenobi forgot about Leia being Luke's sister in The Empire Strikes Back    GAME REVIEWSMOVIE REVIEWSTV REVIEWS

1. 1Lego Pikachu and Poke Ball might be pole-position for one of the biggest releases this year, but in the end the fragile final result can be a real pain in the butt
2. 2Resident Evil Requiem review: "A soaring piece of survival horror theater that balances intense action with absolute terror across two heroes, and I can't pick a favorite"
3. 3Demon Tides review: "Super Mario Odyssey and Wind Waker collide in this expressive 3D platformer that's already one of my games of the year"
4. 4This Bloodborne-style board game is one of the best boss battlers I've ever played, hands-down
5. 5Styx: Blades of Greed review: "What if Metal Gear Solid 5 went goblin mode? This dark fantasy open-world stealth 'em up is devilishly creative"

1. 1Scream 7 review: "Never as sharp as the series' best, but still has a few neat tricks up its billowing sleeve"
2. 2Return to Silent Hill review: "Neither an impressive adaptation nor coherent enough to act as a standalone film"
3. 328 Years Later: The Bone Temple review: "The wildest and weirdest entry into the franchise yet"
4. 4Avatar: Fire and Ash review: "Still a technical marvel, with some of the year's best action filmmaking"
5. 5Five Nights at Freddy's 2 review: "We have waited two years for a Five Nights at Freddy's 1.5"

1. 1Wonder Man review: "A low-key gem that's up there with the MCU's best"
2. 2Starfleet Academy review: "It may feel a little different to what we're used to, but this is Star Trek through and through"
3. 3A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms review: "This Game of Thrones spin-off is a surprisingly heartfelt and fun return to Westeros"
4. 4Stranger Things season 5 finale review: “Shows off both the best and the worst of Hawkins”
5. 5Stranger Things season 5, Volume 2 review: “All set up for a finale that has so much to deliver”