Blizzard Watch Podcast

This week the crew is joined by Lore Watch co-host Eric O'Dea, and it's great that he's here, because this week was all about end game. No, not raiding, though Sunder Armor is back in Forever, which gives us a quick nostalgia hit. Instead we're talking about the transmogs from this month's Trading Post (a little disappointing), and how creative people are with their Player Housing creations (unfathomably), and just how excited we are for this year's Hallow's End, which is coming along soon.Hearthstone announced a Road to Ny'alotha opener to the upcoming Reign of the Black Empire expansion sounds a bit like a few of the narrative adventures they used to have, and Eric digs it. Plus, Doctrine is in Overwatch, and Sombra is officially a Support now, which we still think is kinda weird.And this week we also got to questions, which is a change of pace after that whole BlizzCon gauntlet. You can email those or tag us on our socials including our fabulous Discord, or if you're our Patron you can send us a message there (being our Patron is super fun and cool, and we love our Patrons a lot).

Fresh off a triumphant return last week, Cory is back to discuss Heroes of the Storm again. There's a bit more to discuss, as a new Hero also means fixes, but we started the show with the news that World of Warcraft patch 12.1.5 has an official release date. And along with that release date also comes the list of confirmed features, and among other features, we're adding an Aqir Invasion to the mix. The crew quibbled over whether anyone even likes doing these, or if it's just throwing a whole lot of bugs on a pile of snakes.And if that makes you want to drink, good news: Brewfest is back! And there's decor, which immediately makes it worth doing. Plus, Anomalies are in Hearthstone Battlegrounds, and for little guys who summon the earth-shattering entities in WoW, they are even more overpowered than usual.

This week marks 600 episodes of the Blizzard Watch Podcast, so instead of just one guest host, Cory, Liz Patt, and Mitch all joined Liz Harper, Joe, and Matt to celebrate. One of our guest hosts in particular had a lot to celebrate, as Cory proceeded to rub it in all our faces that he was right, that Heroes of the Storm is so incredibly back with new hero Xal'atath, and he takes his accolades for being RIGHT in the form of a cash payout. We find out later in the show that Liz P. was less enthused about various BlizzCon announcements, but I don't want to spoil that for you.Then we move on to the actual new hotness, WoW Forever, which Liz H. was playing during the livestreamed recording. The crew talks beta access, and whether it ruins the experience. Liz says it wears the shine off, while Joe doesn't have any problem playing the beta and then the live game.Plus, the crew has some ideas for Diablo 5. Don't we all.

BlizzCon just wrapped, and so there is so much to talk about we couldn't pack it all into an hour. We spent around an hour on WoW Forever, the new Classic+ that was rumored and is now coming to fruition with a sort-of alternate history. There was a lot of Midnight news too, including Talebound, which is an upcoming alt mode a la Plunderstorm. We got a small tidbit from The Last Titan, we saw Holly Longdale's impeccable outfit -- and that was just all the WoW stuff! No wait, it wasn't. There's also going to be Undead Paladins, to tie in to both a Warcraft 3 expansion and Wrath of the Lich KingRemix, the portmanteau for which is still up in the air (I lean toward Wremix, but I've seen a few ReLiches too).There were two very long-range reveals for Diablo 5 and StarCraft, not to mention a Netflix Diablo series with no ETA at all. The Hearthstone Battlegrounds new Anomaly family and the next Overwatch season (and next hero Doctrine) release next week though, for a little balance. The Hearthstone expansion Reign of the Black Empire is a bit further off, though, slated for October.Did I forget anything? Something that a frequent guest host might find terribly exciting, like a new hero for Heroes of the Storm? Eh, probably not. I'd remember something like that.Oh! Amazons! For Diablo 4! Liz was pretty excited about that. That must've been it.

This week we're counting it down til BlizzCon, which is happening any minute now. Editor-in-chief Liz talks a little strategy for our coverage, while we're mostly just excited for what we may see. Luckily, the World of Warcraft team had a few announcements up their sleeves, including a patch 12.1.5 preview, a new gold sink mount, and Winds of Mysterious Fortune, which will award you free tendies just for logging in! I'd say that'll hold us for now, but we all know those tendies are as good as spent.Plus, did you know Blizzard isn't the only company making video games? It's true! This week the Ocarina of Timeremake was announced, and Link looks uncanny and moist. Joe's favorite team shooter Marvel Rivals announced a new season featuring a hero which is actually a villain as the star.

The BlizzCon schedule is now live! That means the podcast crew, joined by resident Diablo maven Liz Patt, are breaking it all down. We start with discussing the schedule itself, and then move into the wild speculation we do best. The schedule also includes times and channels for watching BlizzCon on Twitch, which also includes a ton of Drops and other items you can earn from watching. Hearthstone and Diablo have the same number of panels and share a space on the show floor. Overwatch has slightly more panels, and the Matt Mercer effect, and a whole area all to itself. And then WoW has even more panels and a huge hall to fill to boot. What does it mean? That's where the wild speculation comes into play.We get into Classic speculation, what Heroes of the Storm is up to, and 30 years of Battle.net. On Diablo 5, as Liz said in the episode, we're not going to hold our breath, because we need to breathe to live.