Blizzard Watch Podcast

Before we say our goodbyes, there was a lot of WoW stuff to discuss, including the Forever naming window, which did not go smoothly. Joe explains why this is actually a good thing (despite the fact that someone was able to sneak my name out from under me). We also have a very short preview of Talebound, which is being called a demo because reasons. We have theories. There's a set of new tentacled shop offerings for your Player Housing, including new exteriors, which was a roller coaster ride of emotions.

And then we ride the roller coaster of emotions right to the bottom with the news that EA is shuttering BioWare. The crew explains how we got here, and what we're all losing -- an icon of the industry, with a deep portfolio of moving stories that we've all replayed many times over. Not being surprised about it doesn't make it any less upsetting.

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Hallow's End has begun in World of Warcraft, and with it comes all our old haunts, plus a ton of content for our Player Housing neighborhoods. After all, the best part of the holiday is trick or treating door to door! These quests take you to far-flung creepy corners of Azeroth, and somehow, Nomi is there, which is the real horror. And the scares doesn't stop there -- the new Labyrinths features have been plagued by a lot of bugs! Our experiences have certainly been spooky. And speaking of bugs, Aqir Invasions are ending in patch 12.1.7. And this is the perfect time to mention the new Old God-themed Hearthstone expansion, Reign of the Black Empire, which released earlier this week, and features an "assemble" keyword, which allows you to mash together a bunch of different effects to the wackiest of ends.

But enough with the Halloween theme -- the bright spot that is WoW: Forever is fast approaching, with the name reservation window beginning October 27. And beyond that is even more -- this week we got a preview of some of the old/new stuff, including the Brotherhood of the Horse, and the timeframe for the opening of raids. By the way, yes, you will have to attune for those. Everything old is new again, including your inability to get that Headless Horseman mount drop.

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This week is patch 12.1.5 in World of Warcraft, which isn't a big patch but it has some story content we aren't happy about and Labyrinths that we are happy about. Plus huge improvements to crafting decor (you don't need nearly as much lumber now), store transmog sets with hair under hats, the strange state of WoW Classic, and how gold sellers (and buyers) are already getting banned in WoW: Forever. Yes, it's still in beta, but some people just couldn't wait.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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We got a special treat this week as our Aussie columnist and player housing enthusiast Sara Hanson joined the podcast. She walked us through a lot of the very recent changes to how certain player housing features work, and discusses some of the things the housing community is trying to uncover, like which pets do what when they're hanging out, now that we can add them. She also has strong opinions on transmog, much like the rest of our hosts, so they had to discuss both the new cash shop offerings and this month's Trading Post, which we got an advance preview of. And not only an advance preview, but this one will bring back a bunch of older offerings as well, for a Trading Post megamix.

Also something something Mythic Raiding race, or whatever. You know we're focused on the real end game, here.

We also waded through some Gamescom news, which included CD Projekt Red teaming up with Blizzard, bringing The Witcher to the Battle.net launcher — and teasing some future announcements for BlizzCon. Of course, Matt thinks this means Cyberpunk on the Battle.net launcher, but Cory isn't the only one who can huff hopium around here. But Gamescom isn't all sunshine — several projects showcased are apparently using AI heavily in their development process. If I were a sim, I would have two red minus signs above my head in Crazy Taxi's general direction right now.

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Liz, a person who has a legitimate phobia of snakes, is rather emphatically not enjoying the Coiled Isle. Now that she's had time with the patch, she can confirm that she hates it. Some areas are less snakey than others, and those are okay, but Blizzard is not her favorite set of people just now. She did admit to enjoying the green, though. Luckily, she can experience the whole thing vicariously as the Race to World First kicked off this week with the beginning of MidnightSseason 2, and the opening of the Mythic version of the Venomous Abyss raid. Several of the teams are raising money for charity through the race, including a fun one from Liquid where if you donate a certain amount, they'll post your pet's photo on stream. If anything can help Liz make it through, it's puppies.

There are also some new class sets coming to Hearthstone, which Liz is happy to explain. And read the site news! Anything, just enough with the dang snakes already.

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Our favorite things about World of Warcraft patch 12.1 are mostly related to Player Housing, if we're being for real. There are other things to look forward to — raids, delves, quests, and maybe lore if you're into that kind of thing — but yeah, we're mulling over a name change to HousingWatch. But the patch is still new, so that could change. Probably won't, but it could.

We're also excited that D.Mon is coming to Overwatch. Another character that's been on everyone's wishlist for years, D.Mon also has a lot of story associated with her, including a few new lore drops. Our cohosts are optimistic about what this means for Overwatch and the lore going forward. But, hold that thought, because the next news item is about the Microsoft management. Or at least, don't take a big swig of water here.

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There have been few hopes dashed harder than when Matt looked at our topics and thought for a brief, shining moment that maybe dyes were coming to transmog, and not just staying in Player Housing. But no, it's just for Player Housing, and there have been some changes to dyes as we head into patch 12.1 next week. Because we livestream the recording every week, and Liz has been playing WoW our guest host for this week Six took us on a quick tour of his apparently bonkers Housing creation, and we talked about some of the incredible looks you can get with creative item combinations. (And if you like streaming, Liz has been streaming indie games on Twitch, and you can catch the videos on YouTube if you miss the livestream.)

And speaking of streaming, we have confirmation this week that BlizzCon will be livestreamed for free. And speaking of things being announced, did you hear there's going to be a new World of Warcraft adventure for Dungeons & Dragons? Pretty wild they announced that with about a month to go til BlizzCon. Makes me kind of excited to see what will be unveiled during the big show.

Oh, and this is proof that if you send us some questions for the podcast, we will answer them! Eventually!

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This week's podcast kicked off with the discussion that has been pinging around the World of Warcraft community this week: a GM cheating so a streamer could clear a M+23 dungeon on time. Though we all had Opinions on that one, we quickly forged ahead to happier topics, including the newly released launch date for patch 12.1 and season 2 of Midnight. That's right kids, it's time to grab your coat and move to the exits on season 1. We also issued a warning that spoilers for patch 12.1 are being datamined, even if in a slightly weird format that probably won't end up in the game. Then, we had the announcement of the BlizzCon digital bundles and a new Hearthstone Battlegrounds season to unwrap like a gift on Christmas morning.

And speaking of unflagging optimism, Cory was our guest host this week, so it was time for another Heroes of the Storm Hopium Corner.

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We hope you got your fill of both the gameplay and the Player Housing rewards from Decor Duels, because they're going away in World of Warcraft patch 12.1. Well, you may be able to still get the decor, but not so much the transmog or mounts (at least according to the PTR). It was a fun little mode, but there was so much else going on we didn't get to play a ton, so we'll probably be investing some time in it before it goes away. And speaking of having no time and player housing, patch 12.1 brings us artisanal rooms, which are rooms that are essentially preset that you can just pop in to your player housing. Neat! This week's special guest Six helped us run down some stuff coming on the 12.1 PTR.

But it's not all WoW. There are some changes in Diablo 4 worth a chat, and some Fallout news in the works with Bethesda's presser last week. Now if you'll excuse me, I am now contractually obligated to listen to Big Maybelle sing Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On.

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We kick off this week's show talking about the new Corrosive items coming in WoW patch 12.1, and reminiscing about the good ol days when our buddies would stack insane amounts of Corruption in order to make healers contemplate a grippy sock vacation. Speaking of healers losing it, we have a few more weeks of Turbulent Timeways: we're up to Shadowlands, and your last chance to start stacking your buff for the icy protodrake mount. Also, Matt thinks that the new 6-month subscription bonus mount, the Sunflare Driftmoth, is secretly judging him. What a moth has to be snobby about is anybody's guess.

There was a bit of Diablo discussion, as there were a few little events and a few hotfixes to discuss. We ended on a high note, talking about some of the runs we enjoyed from Summer Games Done Quick, which raised over $2.4 million for Doctors Without Borders. There were a few upcoming releases discussed. Just a couple weird lil guys Liz is looking forward to talking about next week. We'll see you then.

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The new Zul'jan quest line just went live, so we're looking forward to World of Warcraft patch 12.1, which includes a new Player Housing exterior. Maybe. We hope. And we're not Monkey's Paw-ing this thing either, so don't act like we said it and that's why it's on the store. We already firmly rejected that possibility, so it is not on us if it goes down like that.

Speaking of Monkey's Paws, Summer Games Done Quick is live, and Microsoft took that as a challenge, seeing if they could finish games as a whole really quickly by firing 20% of Xbox employees. This included closing many iconic game studios, some of which are going independent (again), and some being bought out by another party. There are some silver linings here, but it's a tough summer for people who make or enjoy games.

A new Hearthstone expansion also released this week, so we have the lowdown on Escape from Violet Hold. It involves a jailbreak and Vanessa Van Cleef, so we're going out on a high note.

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We are jumping right in to Turbulent Timeways this week, which have returned until August. It's a great time to level an alt, before we roll into patch 12.1 and all its trolly goodness, though that's on the PTR now. There's a new Trading Post, which means lots of talk about transmog and its many endgame metas. The Darkspear Dash was the highlight of our week, but we wish there were more opportunities to have rainbow streamers on our feet at all times. Again, end game.

This week we got the news that Le Sserafim are coming back to close out BlizzCon 2026. Which, by the way, is both happening, and is happening in like, two months. Yikes.

We close it out with a few faves that are on sale for the Steam Summer Sale, and there are a lot (including Pacific Driveand The Long Dark, which they didn't mention on the show, but I write the summary so I do what I want).

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Do you remember how last week we were talking about how voidy and purple the Midnight expansion has been? Well, hold on to your shorts, because patch 12.1 has been announced and it's acid green and snaky. We're shook, but especially Liz, who doesn't particularly enjoy snakes, and wishes there was a filter like arachnophobia mode, where all the snakes turned into crabs. There are so many new features announced already, from the new Lairs, which are sort of a new version of World Bosses, all the way to a WoW Discord integration, which we're a little skeptical is all that useful.

Also not purple is the Midsummer Fire Festival, which has come to WoW until July. There are a ton of orange rewards to collect, including a very hot new mount.

There are also new seasons coming soon to Diablos 3 and 4, and for Diablo 4 this includes a collab with Overwatch, bringing some of those hero skins into Sanctuary. This is just making me wonder when we'll get that Raynor skin for Druids. Or do Druids seem more like Tychus?

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If you thought the purplest expansion couldn't get purpler, patch 12.0.7 of World of Warcraft proves us all wrong with yet another Void-themed event. When do all these void shenanigans end? Well, we'll keep doing them, as long as transmog is on the line -- and it is! I hope you like yours purple, and I hope you didn't blow all your Marl on the previous sets of purple Void transmog. You did? Ah, pity. There's also a surfboard mount, if you're into other sorts of serious end game activities.

Then, the cohosts muse on what's next for WoW Classic. We're not saying they're doing the whole historically accurate Siege of Orgrimmar 18 month tier, but we are wondering when we'll hear what happens next.

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