Blizzard Watch

This week we have a lot to say about the Overwatch (not two!) yearly overview. Much of it is negative, and a lot of it is tinged with incredulity, like the moment Liz found out there are actually two different billionaire nepo babies among the heroes. Some is positive, but most of the crew is not all that optimistic. The Hearthstone announcements last week were also new and exciting and interesting, but because Hearthstone is so consistent in what they deliver, it's just par for the course: three new expansions, three new minisets, Year of the Scarab. You know em, you love em.And speaking of love, Love is in the Air in WoW, and our cohosts are, as always, transmog-motivated. Also, cute mount motivated. All the true endgames, we suppose!If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we started off discussing the announcement of an announcement which has now been actually announced by the time the podcast was produced and published, as a part of Blizzard's 35th anniversary. We still have some announcements coming up for Overwatch, Diablo, and Hearthstone, which we speculated on a bit. But, in terms of the stuff we know is happening in WoW, the team is "whelmed" by the Midnight prepatch event, which just started.Something we're slightly more whelmed on are the Neighborhood Endeavors, now that Blizzard has boosted some of the rewards and XP gains, making the whole enterprise slightly less daunting.Also, Player Housing on Zillow? It's more likely than you think.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're waiting on a whole lot this week -- servers to come up for the Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary realms pre-patch, and for the Midnight pre-patch next week, and all the sweeping changes that brings. The team discusses the addons they'll miss and why, which also serves as a bit of a reminder to you to make sure yours are all updated, or they won't work at all come patch 12.0. There was also a really nice technical post about that Burning Crusade Anniversary pre-patch rollover, which Joe and Phil Ulrich team up to try to explain to us less enterprising folks. (That's a pun, because it involves enterprise backups to tape).Also, oh hey, Guild Halls are coming soon to Player Housing! If you're surprised, don't worry -- so are we. This is the first time this was discussed beyond a far-reaching future possible feature, and now it's just kinda tossed off with a "coming soon," along with several other anticipated features.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're looking back at the events of 2025, with our special guest Phil Ulrich. Rather than going at it chronologically, Matt consults a D8, which means we discuss one of our favorite things from the year which actually happened last: player housing! But there were a ton of things that happened in all of Blizzard's games this year, from Plunderstorm's return to Legion Remix, three Hearthstone expansions, and a ton of Diablo 4 seasons (though who can tell the difference between them). We also met new friends like Valentina, the lizard that was a part of a Hearthstonemarketing campaign we would die for, and King Krush, also a Hearthstone-based lizard. Probably a coincidence.The In Memoriam section this year is Warcraft Rumble. May it rest in peace.Then, all the other games that had us in a chokehold. But honestly, it's mostly the player housing.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week our usual hosts were joined by our Diablo Maven Liz Patt to talk about the announcement of Lord of Hatred, the next Diablo 4 expansion. Lord of Hatred was announced at The Game Awards -- though it was not related to The Statue -- and we have a ton to say about the details we have so far. Liz Patt preordered the expansion, and so therefore got to play one of two new classes, the Paladin, hands-on, and chats about it with us a bit. The other class remains a mystery, but our cohosts had some ideas for what they think the class may be, as well as what they wish it was.We also talked about all the various winter events we're experiencing over the next few weeks in all Blizzard's games. They're only here for a short while so get your holiday fill while you can.Plus, we ran down a bunch of little tips and tricks we've seen for player housing. We also wrote about these on the website but they're so charming we just had to get them out there twice.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We very wisely started off the podcast this week with all the other news. There's a new Hearthstone Battlegrounds season that just started, with a fun new mechanic which is actually pretty similar to Trinkets, if we think about it, but we can play as Chromie so everything else is irrelevant. Plus, there's an upcoming Diablo 4 season, and a potential announcement for the franchise at The Game Awards, with a bizarre statue in the California desert.And then, we finally got to talking about the most anticipated patch to hit WoW, perhaps ever. It wasn't without its foibles -- as our guest host Flan noted, some of these decor items are weirdly expensive in old mats, like arcanite bars. It's even more expensive in lumber, which had our hosts going all over the map to collect. And for each little item you want to place, you need to collect more and more of these things. It's a wonder they had time for the show this week.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We start off the show this week talking about WoW Classic, namely that Burning Crusade Anniversary realms were announced and are coming in January, perhaps concurrentish with the release of Midnight. It's fine, it's not like we have lives outside of this one video game or anything. Then, we pivot to the changes to transmog coming in Midnight, and it seems like every time we look at those changes they get worse and worse, much like the gear we had to wear right at the beginning of The Burning Crusade.While we're excited to see Vendetta, the new Overwatch 2 hero coming soon, it's kinda weird she calls herself a term used in both Italian and Spanish slang to mean "lady of the night." She does have a big sword, and she seems neat.Also, we're coming to the end of the year, so it's game awards season. Lots of awards have been announcing their nominees, and the lists aren't without controversy.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.