Blizzard Watch Podcast

This week patch 11.2 finally released, and we have the rundown of all the features for you, including the new World Boss, which was up this week -- surprise! We have a lot of opinions on the new Delve and dungeon and raid their collective lack of smooth Goblin jazz. We especially have thoughts on the new Cooldown Manager, which is slightly less "as seen on Temu." Plus, as the servers came up, some people got to see the perks for the different pre-orders for Midnight, some of which include Player Housing access, and some really cool items that Liz plans on using to showcase her mood.

Cory joined us for this week's show, and by coincidence there was also a Heroes of the Storm patch the day they recorded. What are the odds? Not very good, if you ask Cory. There was also a new Hearthstone Battlegrounds season to discuss. We're all very much looking forward to next week, when patch 11.2 finally releases, and we learn more about what Xal'atath has cooking. The Race for World First also already has our attention. We'll miss Void Storage, though.Plus, this week we had a lot of time for listener questions, so don't forget to send those in. Sometimes we have a ton going on so we don't get to them, but they're always fun to answer. You can address them to podcast@blizzardwatch.com or ask them in the #queue-and-podcast-questions channel on our Discord server.

If you're dipping your feet into the newly released Mists of Pandaria Classic you probably have some time to listen to us chat about it -- though it seems like the bottlenecks of spawns from the starting experience back in the day have been hotfixed. Back in our day, it took two weeks of complaints, uphill both ways, to get a single tweet acknowledging a bug even exists. Ah, memories. This one has us very nostalgic. Besides Classic, we also chatted a bit about Hacks and Hijinks, the new Overwatch Arcade mode. Joe also got to talk about the new Magic the Gathering crossovers he's been dying to discuss. They just had a huge hit with their Final Fantasy crossover, and have announced one coming soon which features Spider-man, and both those seem very different from what we've seen out of Hasbro in the past.

Player Housing was up first in the lineup of topics for this show, because of course it is. Every bit of new info we get, we're excited about -- though Joe is a bit concerned about the concept of leveling up our house. There are a bunch of new appearances to get across a number of franchises, too. Plus, how many legs does a crocolisk have to have in order to be classed as a crocolisk, anyhow? A spirited debate over the new six month subscription incentive ensues. A big thank you to our special guest Six for keeping things interesting.

Ghosts of K'aresh and its newly announced release date were the first topic in this week's Blizzard Watch Podcast, which is likely to be the final patch for this expansion. Story spoilers weren't shared, but we are excited to find out where we're going next. Our guest host Cory joined us since he's one of our resident Warcraft Rumble experts, and unfortunately that skill set is considerably less in demand since we got word Rumble is in maintenance mode. And it just wouldn't be a Blizzard Watch Podcast without a complaint about monetization these days, but King Krush is so cute, and so expensive, and so gamble-y. Plus, we're all about Summer Games Done Quick and the wacky hijinks those speedrunners get into -- including Blue Prince!

This week's Blizzard Watch Podcast begins with a discussion of several of the raccoons currently in the WoW trenchcoat -- Mists of Pandaria Classic is imminent, and there's a whole bunch of new stuff coming to retail WoW, from the Trading Post seasonal turnover to the Greedy Emissary event. And the best news is, almost all of it involves adding to our transmog collections in one way or another. The next Diablo 4 season started, and while we're still pretty cold on the whole new Reliquary system we are emphatically pro cute baby goats regardless of how they're obtained (even if it's Reliquaries). Plus, we have thoughts on the GI Joe and Overwatch 2 collaboration. And speaking of all of the above, the Steam Summer Sale is on, so you could also spend less cash on more game. That's an option. at least, until July 10. Unfortunately, no transmog there.

Ghosts of K'aresh, the upcoming content update for World of Warcraft, is the lead news for the show this week, because it was announced with a ton of detail the day after the podcast was recorded last week. Led by this week's host Joe, our crew discussed all things patch 11.2, from Tazavesh to Manaforge Omega, and where the story might lead us next. Speaking of the story, Overwatch 2 season 17 just began, and we have some thoughts, mostly related to story content and how there really isn't any.Plus, if you have $158, or even more Canadian dollarydoos, you could totally buy the most adorable, most infuriatingly monetized lil guy we've ever seen in Hearthstone. Blizzard literally told us the first gatcha is free.

We had two special guests this week: Phil Ulrich and Nick Marino were on hand to discuss the launch of patch 11.1.7. From Lorewalking to Timewalking to Overcharged Delves to the new one-button feature, there is a ton of stuff to discuss in patch 11.1.7. But of course, WoW isn't the only game with a ton of stuff going on. Overwatch 2 just put out a ton of information about their next season, and there's a new Hearthstone expansion dropping next month. The team as a whole is Team Valentina during the amazing Turtles vs Lizards Hearthstone competition stream, which is really worth a watch.Plus, Joe's flabbers are ghasted over the Steam Fishing Fest.

While we did want to discuss some Blizzard news this week -- including the frankly hilarious Dastardly Duos shirt bug -- the biggest news of the week was the reams of announcements and trailers that came out of Summer Game Fest. From The Outer Worlds 2 to Failbetter's next offering, the farm sim Mandrake, to Relooted, a hate letter to the British Museum, there were games on display for tons of different playstyles and genres and vibes. We ran through some of our favorite games and showcases, because man were there a lot of them to get through.Plus, paradoxically, Diablo 4 is adding the cutest baby goats we've ever seen in our lives to the game. Just roll with it and hope nothing bad happens to them. Also, there won't be an LFR in Mists of Pandaria Classic.