With the official release of World of Warcraft Midnight expansion drawing ever closer, many players are starting to ask those who pre-ordered it whether it's really as fun as it seems, as well as about leveling and exploration strategies, so they can immediately use them and smoothly progress when it fully launches on March 2nd.
Among these discussions, the most frequently mentioned topic is the new endgame world event added in this expansion: Prey. While it offers extremely challenging missions, it also brings incredibly generous rewards, which greatly increased the expectations of some advanced players who are keen to challenge their limits.
However, before you do that, we strongly recommend that you bring WoW Midnight Prey Guide provided by EZG.com. The comprehensive explanation of how the content works, the list of rewards during the process, and the available tips and strategies will make you more than capable of handling Prey after you reach the level cap and unlock the endgame content!
Overview
First, let's get a brief overview of Prey. In this event, you need to complete Prey Hunts to defeat specific objectives in zones of Quel'Thalas, which will advance your position on Prey Journey track and unlock different rewards. This is very similar to the reputation system in this game series, except that a mission objective has been added to it.
This Prey event has three difficulty levels: Normal, Hard, and Nightmare. Normal has already been released in Early Access, Hard will be released alongside Midnight expansion, and Nightmare will be released on March 17th. By the way, the latter two difficulty levels also require you to reach the level cap of 90.
The main difference between these three Prey difficulties is that Hard and Nightmare Difficulties contain more affixes, which can cause debuffs to you or buffs to elite monsters and bosses, making them harder to kill; and you need to complete more objectives to find the target's location. But don't forget, the rewards they offer are also doubled.
This higher difficulty level will reward you with gear containing higher item levels, more exclusive currency, more valuable Dawncrest, and a richer Great Vault - all of which are unavailable on Normal difficulty. Therefore, it is highly recommended that if your character is strong enough, you prioritize trying the highest difficulty Prey event. Although it carries a higher risk, it is also more profitable!
How to Unlock?
Unlocking Prey event is very simple. Just go to Silvermoon City in WoW Midnight expansion and find an NPC named Astalor Bloodsworn. He will give you an introductory quest, Prey: Astalor's Initiative, at which point the location of Astalor's Sanctum will be marked on the map.
After you complete the last To the Sanctum! quest, you can claim Normal difficulty Hunts at Hunt Table in Astalor's Sanctum. Since Normal difficulty has no level requirement, you can complete these Hunts while leveling up; once you reach the level cap, you can go back to Hunt Table in Astalor's Sanctum to unlock Hard and Nightmare difficult Hunts.
How it works?
Now comes the main event of this guide. To unlock Prey, you'll first need to interact with Hunt Table in Astalor's Sanctum, which will provide you with a map listing all available Hunts. Clicking the button on the map will give you detailed information such as Hunt zone, Hunt difficulty, Active Hunt affixes, and Hunt rewards.
Among these, affixes are the ones you should pay the most attention to, as they will directly affect the difficulty of your encounters and Prey Hunts. In Normal difficulty, only affixes specific to that difficulty level take effect; in Hard difficulty, affixes from the first two difficulties take effect together; and in Nightmare difficult Hunts, all affixes take effect. The specific effect is as follows:
- Ambush (Normal) - Your target may ambush you while fighting other enemies or when you activate a trap.
- Torment (Hard) - Astalor's Artifact torments you with its insidious torment, increasing your damage taken by 2%, stacking with your hunt progress.
- Hunter's Momentum (Hard) - If you die in this zone, your Hunt progress will be reduced.
- Seeping Gore (Hard) - During battle, bloodstains will occasionally appear at your feet, dealing Shadow damage after a short delay.
- Echo of Predation (Nightmare) - Bloodthirsty spirits will periodically chase you, dealing large amounts of Shadow damage on contact.
- Bloody Command (Nightmare) - Astalor will occasionally command enemies to be killed by you, causing you to bleed and inflicting a large amount of Physical damage if you fail.
An Encounter Bar will appear on your screen, displaying an Anguish crystal that tells you your current Hunt status and your chances of finding your target. Initially, your target is invisible. You can lure out the target's location by completing World Quests, Prey activities, searching for Treasures, defending against ambushes and counterattacking, disarming Traps, and killing rare monsters in the area.
Once you've filled Encounter Bar, Anguish crystal will emit a bright red glow, and the target's location will be marked on the minimap. You can use Anguish crystal marker at that location to initiate a boss encounter and complete your Hunt. Please note that you are not at the top of the food chain in this Hunt zone, as your Prey target may also be lurking around you, ready to ambush you.
If it appears suddenly, you can try using Disarmed Trap to control it, or directly attack it to reduce its health to below 50%, both of which will cause your Prey target to escape and leave behind the event's exclusive currency, Remnant of Anguish. Furthermore, you can use Riposte to counterattack targets that are still nearby, which will also give you additional Hunt progress.
What are Rewards?
For each Hunt you complete, you'll earn WoW Midnight Gold, Preyseeker's Adventurer Chest, and points to advance your Preyseeker's Journey Track. The first four Hunts each week will grant you 1,000 points, and each subsequent Hunt will grant you 50 points, allowing you to progress from Rank 1 to Rank 10, each has corresponding rewards.
As for Preyseeker's Adventurer Chest, it includes gear whose item level increases with the difficulty of the Prey you encounter, as well as Voidlight Marl, Veteran Dawncrest, and Tormented Tantalum. If you run the game multiple times on the same difficulty level to progress through Preyseeker's Journey, you will earn a Preyseeker's Adventurer Sack, which contains everything in Chest except for the gear piece.
Meanwhile, your progress in the World Row of the Great Vault will also be linked to the number of Hunts you complete. And to unlock all World Great Vault slots, you need to complete at least 8 Delves, Hunts, and/or Open World activities. During this process, the rewards contained in Great Vault still depend on the difficulty of your Prey Hunts: Veteran Track (Normal), Champion Track (Hard), and Hero Track (Nightmare).
Don't forget Remnant of Anguish you receive for Prey's escape and for each Hunt completed, which can be exchanged for a super-rich Prey Reward at Construct V'anore in Astalor's Sanctum, which includes various currencies, pets, transmog, and mounts. Also, there are exclusive house decorations for this expansion, with Hard difficulty rewarding you with Preyseeker Bust decor rewards and Nightmare difficulty rewarding you with Preyseeker Effigy rewards.
The above explains the working principle and reward details of Prey mechanism in the current WoW Midnight expansion. Here highly recommends this game to all players who enjoy high-level challenges. The fun it offers is unimaginable, and the rewards are unparalleled. Have fun playing!
