Happy Friday, everyone! I really want to go play video games and I bet you do too, so let's run through the gaming news and then get to the actual gaming. And it seems like there should be some kind of terrible Dadgar joke here, but it's not coming to mind. You'll have to add your own joke.
Let's get to it. /sunglasses
Get hype about the next Overwatch hero!
- We don't have much, but the Overwatch team did pos...
2018-02-24 01:33:53 +0000 UTC
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The response to our latest Breakfast Topic about crafting professions was overwhelming: apparently no one is making anything in the game these days. (Or at least no one except the handful of people who are selling the handful of actually useful crafted items on the auction house.) Perhaps it shouldn't have surprised me: Legion has made professions a grind that's locked behind dungeon r...
2018-02-23 06:20:52 +0000 UTC
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Overwatch League is back, complete with my underdog darlings the Shanghai Dragons. It shouldn't surprise anyone that they lost to the Dallas Fuel 3-1. But I'll keep rooting for the Dragons. They have to win eventually, right? Right?
Well, I'll keep waving my tiny Dragons flag and hope for the best.
In the meantime, on to the news.
Speaking of Overwatch League...
Hi there, Patrons! Here's this week's pre-show and episode of the Blizzard Watch podcast, uncut. If you'd like to download to your favorite device and listen to it later, you can head over to SoundCloud and nab it from there. Thanks for listening!
2018-02-21 22:46:58 +0000 UTC
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It's not really a surprise that I'm still super hyped about the Overwatch Puppy Rumble. I think this should become a staple of Overwatch League, with exciting ranked matchups between each stage. And maybe we could get a Puppy Rumble for Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone and, heck, even WoW. I'm not sure how any of those would work, but I'm pretty sure they'd all be great. With apologies to Matticus and other haters of cute things.
But alas, the Puppy Rumbl...
2018-02-21 05:32:23 +0000 UTC
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I was really not prepared for the majesty of today's Overwatch Puppy Rumble. While Alex is cringing at the fact that our work vocabulary now includes the word "doggo" and Matticus continues to reject all things cute, I am weeping with joy. They're all good dogs, Brent. All of them.
Puppy Rumble? What Puppy Rumble?
Ulduar Timewalking is coming to a close next week, so hopefully you’re making the time to squash an Old God this weekend. If not, you probably should, because they’re a real health hazard. Really, you’d be doing Azeroth a favor (and possibly picking up some sweet ilevel 930 loot in the process). If your guild isn’t game, there’s always the group finder… though I do kind of cringe at the thought of a disorganized group trying to kill Flame Leviathan.
And if that doesn’t work, you ...
2018-02-17 00:49:23 +0000 UTC
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How’s leveling those new Allied Races going? Today a hotfix has either hindered or helped your efforts, depending on how you were doing dungeon runs. Here’s the story… and everything else that happened today.
Dungeon scaling was broken, and now it’s not
The week is half-way over, people! We're on the downhill slope to the weekend, and that means games. (Or at least relaxing in the peaceful Jade Forest. It is peaceful, right? I'm not misremembering that am I? I'm sure I'm not.) Even if your only plan for the weekend is to enjoy not having to get up when your alarm goes off every morning, that's a pretty good weekend, too — and we're nearly there.
But while we wait out the rest of the week, here's the news.
The
2018-02-15 01:45:45 +0000 UTC
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Hi there, Patrons! Here's this week's pre-show and episode of the Blizzard Watch podcast, uncut. If you'd like to download to your favorite device and listen to it later, you can head over to SoundCloud and nab it from there. Thanks for listening!
2018-02-14 22:32:59 +0000 UTC
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Happy Ulduar Timewalking week, everyone! I'm writing this as fast as I can so I can descend into the madness of fighting Yogg-Saron. That's what Tuesdays are for, right? I mean, "Tuesdays with Yogg" has a nice ring to it. Maybe we should just make the effort to go visit an Old God every Tuesday. After all, they have to be lonely. Who visits C'Thun anymore? Who comes to be consumed by madness? No one. The poor thing doesn't even have a Timewalking raid. Maybe I should go check in on him ...
2018-02-14 01:28:57 +0000 UTC
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It's Monday, which means we're about to say goodbye to the World Quest bonus event in WoW. It was fun while it lasted. (Okay, really it wasn't fun at all, but I appreciate the rep gains.) Tomorrow Wrath Timewalking begins, with our first shot at Ulduar Timewalking. Are you looking forward to spending some quality time with Yogg-Saron? Bowing down before the god of death, being cons...
2018-02-13 04:49:11 +0000 UTC
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This week our Lore Watchers Anne, Matt, and Joe dive into the mailbag to answer a few reader emails. Some time is spent on the fascinating subject of what happens to planets when world souls are born, but then the subject turned to a…spirited discussion about Allied Races. What’s up with Tyrande and her refusal of the Nightborne? Or Lor’themar, and his avoidance of the Void Elves?
For Patrons, we're happy to give you access to the episode before everyone else - enjoy it 2018-02-12 00:07:57 +0000 UTC
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And the weekend means everyone should be finishing up their reputation farming while the World Quest Bonus Event and Darkmoon Faire are still going on. Which, now that I think about it, doing every World Quest on my map is not actually that much fun. By the end of the weekend I may be looking forward to Monday.
But before I dive back into my unending World Quest nightmare, let...
2018-02-10 04:43:42 +0000 UTC
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No, I'm mistaken: it's always Overwatch o'clock. Not only are we heading to the end of Stage 1 in Overwatch League, today has been all Overwatch (almost) all the time. Let's take a look.
The Year of the Dog arrives in Overwatch
By Matthew Rossi
Why do I love Diablo 3 and keep coming back to it? Why did I decide with less than a week left in Season 12 that I should roll yet another Barbarian? And why did I level to 70 and begin grinding away at Greater Rifts to complete the Season journey and get the full Immortal King set? Ultimately, because I enjoyed it.
There’s more, of course. There’s a visceral thr...
2018-02-08 19:07:01 +0000 UTC
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No, anything didn't happen. Everything happened, because Battle for Azeroth alpha testing has begun. Let's take a look at what we know.
The alpha is here!
- The alpha is live. Okay, folks, that's it, let's pack it up for today.
- Well, maybe not. But there's a lot of info flying around and everyone's still sorting through it, so ex...
2018-02-08 05:02:18 +0000 UTC
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Hi there, Patrons! Here's this week's pre-show and episode of the Blizzard Watch podcast, uncut. If you'd like to download to your favorite device and listen to it later, you can head over to SoundCloud and nab it from there. Thanks for listening!
2018-02-07 22:43:48 +0000 UTC
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Oh yes. This week is a magical confluence of events that make it the time to farm reputation in WoW. The World Quest bonus event is live through the 13th, granting extra reputation with every quest completed. On top of that, the Darkmoon Faire is in town, and if you go ride the carousel you'll get an hour-long buff that gives you an extra 10% reputation for any reputation-earning activities ...
2018-02-07 02:51:00 +0000 UTC
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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
2018-02-06 07:55:14 +0000 UTC
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Didn’t we just have this conversation? Are you sure? Hm, well, if you say so, I guess we’ll go through the day’s happenings like always.
We hope you like farming, cuz ’tis the season
It’s true! It’s nearly been three years since Blizzard Watch was born. AOL shut us down and with your help we started right back up. It’s been a hell of a ride, and I’m glad you’ve all come with us for the journey.
And now, before I start tearing up, let’s take a look at what happened today.
It’s our birthday! Almost!
- Uh, wasn’t I supposed...
2018-02-02 01:52:16 +0000 UTC
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Hey! You there! Wake up! After the craziness (and bugginess) of yesterday's pre-order hype and Allied Race rollout, today's been pretty quiet. (Well, as quiet as it can be to the sound of Blizzard's bug-stomping boots.) Here's what's been happening today.
Bugs, bugs, and more bugs
Hi there, Patrons! Here's this week's pre-show and episode of the Blizzard Watch podcast, uncut. If you'd like to download to your favorite device and listen to it later, you can head over to SoundCloud and nab it from there. Thanks for listening!
2018-01-31 22:45:30 +0000 UTC
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Hopefully you are, because Battle for Azeroth pre-orders have arrived to plenty of excitement (and more than a few bugs). Here’s what you need to know from today’s news.
Battle for Azeroth pre-orders are here
By Matthew Rossi
Recently, I saw a person talking about World of Warcraft and Blizzard’s storytelling who was not particularly complimentary. And they had some merit to their position: Blizzard has not always told the most satisfying stories with its massive, decades old, sprawling game setting. But one of the mistakes I see when people discuss WoW as a story is acting like it’s the work of a singular entity, as though ‘Blizzard’ is a being that wro...
2018-01-30 17:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Let’s dive straight into this new week with some new news. (New news? Is that even a thing? We’ll call it a thing.)
Don’t forget!
This week our Lore Watchers Anne, Matt, and Joe dive into the mailbag to answer a few reader emails. Along the way, discussion is had about the mysterious Ethereal known as Locus-Walker, and a lengthy diversion into the matter of Odyn, Helya, and the Shadowlands. Is Helya really dead? Were we doing the right thing when we followed Odyn’s orders? And where does Sylvanas Windrunner fit into it all?
For Patrons, we're happy to give you access to the episode before everyone else - enjoy it
2018-01-28 23:22:49 +0000 UTC
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The news just can't catch a break this week. Last night, after writing this very roundup, a beta client for Battle for Azeroth hit the official Blizzard servers and the datamining began. There's apparently no rest for Blizzard (or naptime for us) this week, as there's no stopping the runaway train of Battle for Azeroth.
About that beta build...
Here at Team Blizzard Watch, we’ve been waiting one day, just one day of the week where we can kick back and take a nice afternoon nap. (Who doesn’t love naps? Everybody loves naps!) Sometimes that’s Wednesday. Sometimes Thursday. Maybe Friday. Monday is give or take and Tuesday is rare.
This week, Blizzard has kept things interesting by doling out a little bit of news every day. Which is pretty great… even though it’s significantly cut into nap time. (Not cool, Blizzard. Not cool.)<...
2018-01-26 01:36:04 +0000 UTC
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