Watching Blizzard: We brought the balloons

We celebrated our third birthday as a site this weekend, and that seems like as good a time as any to reminisce, right? But even if you disagree, you’re stuck here… at least until you decide to move on and read something else. (But you wouldn’t do that to me, would you?) So let’s take a brief trip down memory late to Blizzard Watch past (with celebratory pictures courtesy of Zylostout). Then we’ll get back to the day’s news, I promise.

The Blizzard Watch of days gone by

• Our very first post, a particularly eloquent piece by Adam.
• This might better serve as our very first real post: Announcing Blizzard Watch.
• And then there was that crazy first day on Patreon. Followed by that crazy second day on Patreon. That was a real roller coaster of a week.
• Then we have Blizzard Watch’s very first podcast, recorded the same day WoW Insider shuttered.
• Then I was going to post our first Queue, but I realized that because of changes to how we format the Queue there’s not anything there anymore. So, uh, I guess you can enjoy Alex’s snazzy header image choice. (Though if you do want to see it, ask and I can make that happen.)
• Back when we launched, patch 6.1 was the hot new thing and Blackrock Foundry was just about to open. (Do you remember patch 6.1? Because I don’t.) Here’s our very first patch post.

Okay, okay. I said something about news, right? Let’s get to the news.

Anne tackles a topic near to everyone’s hearts

• Of course we’re talking about Void Elves.

Yes, we’re still talking about Overwatch League

• But only a little, because last week’s matches are over and this week’s matches haven’t started yet. Read Anna’s recap of the last round to catch up on the Seoul Dynasty’s continuing downward slide… and the Shanghai Dragons’ continued losing streak.

Have you used your Battle for Azeroth level boost yet?

• If not, we have a guide. And it’s best if you just don’t ask how long I spent trying to figure out how a boosted character could get to Suramar. (Spoiler alert: I started looking into it at 2 p.m. and got an answer from @BlizzardCS at 4:57 p.m. saying that my boosted character was bugged.)

Good news and bad news for Hearthstone fans

• Good news: the ongoing Hearthstone card pack contest is now giving $1,200 to the grand prize winner on top of an insane 3,000 packs. Keep questing, folks!
• Bad news: new expansion cards won’t be added to the super-fun Dungeon Runs that were introduced with Kobolds & Catacombs. However, Blizzard will be removing soon-to-be-nerfed Patches from selections of “charge” cards available on runs.

I’m just going to let Alex handle this description

• No, really, the first sentence of this article is perfect: “If you don’t know who Terran Gregory is, you probably should.” And whether you do or don’t, you should check out that interview.

And looping back to our birthday… we have a nifty, Noxychu-designed anniversary shirt! (But, no, I still haven’t gotten the backstory for Aurora the phoenix out of Alex.) You have until February 22 to snag yours from Teespring! Just think of it as a present to yourself, that you absolutely do not have to rob a bank to get. No, really, don’t do that. The security in the Ironforge bank isn’t anything you want to tangle with.

This is Liz, signing off and definitely, absolutely, positively not robbing a bank.