Blizzard Watch Weekly: deck them halls y’all

Is anybody else three peppermint mochas into the weekend already? Let’s get this weekly wrapup sorted so I can go break an ankle falling off a ladder while I try to hang lights outside. Festive!

What Happened This Week?

• Hearthstone Battlegrounds season 9 started December 3
• Diablo 2: Resurrected Ladder reset December 6
• This week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl: Heroic Brawliseum Standard Brawl
• This week’s WoW World Boss: Aggregation of Horrors
• Active Twitch Drop campaigns

The biggest event in the Blizzardverse this week was the advent of Hearthstone Battlegrounds season 9. It was a huge minion shakeup, and several families still aren’t available for play. Plus, adding to the confusion is the removal of Trinkets — I know my first couple matches I was trying to pack my hand with Quillboars for the drop, only to remember, nope. There were three new Heroes added, and your ability to snag one was slightly bumped up with the introduction of Reroll Tokens. Reroll Tokens are also the core of the new Season Pass Plus, which is the same as the Season Pass, but it grants extra Reroll Tokens for an extra $5 per season. And speaking of the Season Pass, we were pretty put out by the fact that half the appearances on offer this season are TBA despite already being asked to buy the thing. They’re linked to the upcoming StarCraft tie-in miniset for Constructed which is coming January 31, which is when we’ll get to see the thing we already bought. They aren’t even showing us the new Bartender — and it’s not the ultra-cool Cyberpunk Bob pictured in the splash art, more’s the pity.

Also, not sure if you noticed, but Blizzard has very slowly, very quietly, been dropping support for mac over the years. Whoopi Goldberg noticed, but we just wanted to make sure you were aware too.

In other games, Larian announced that a patch 8 is coming for Baldur’s Gate 3, and it will include 12 brand new subclasses.

What’s Happening Next Week (and beyond)

• Overwatch 2 season 14 begins December 10
• Winter Wonderland in Overwatch 2, December 10 – January 6
• The Game Awards, December 12 at 7:30 pm EST
• The Game Awards for Games Who Can’t Afford The Game Awards, December 13 at noon EST
• Winter Veil in Warcraft Rumble through January 2, 2025
• World of Warcraft 20th Anniversary Event through January 6, 2025

Beyond that, we expect it to be relatively quiet over the next few weeks, with the exception of various holiday-themed events popping up, as the dev teams take a well-earned vacation (we hope).

Podcasts

• Blizzard Watch Podcast: Quality of life improvements on the WoW Classic Anniversary realms
• Lore Watch Podcast: A deep dive into the story and choices in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

This week Cory joined in on the Blizzard Watch Podcast to talk about Warcraft Rumble, since he’s one of the seven or so people still playing it. They also talked at length about the QoL improvements on the Classic Classic realms. The Lore Watch podcast this week was all about Veilguard, and no, we’re probably not getting it out of our collective system anytime soon.

If you’d like to listen to the podcast early, Tier 2 Patreon patrons get access two days before the shows are posted here on the main page. Plus, you get our eternal gratitude for your support.

Reminders, to-dos, and ICYMIs

There is a very cool transmog to nab by streaming WoW to Discord, but it concludes on Monday so make sure to do it this weekend. If you’re not sure how to stream to Discord, the post linked gives plenty of instructions. If you need a server and some pals to stream to, we’d suggest the fabulous Blizzard Watch Discord — no bias.

We have our usual slate of new and old games we’re suggesting you pick up and play this week. Personally, I’m going to be face down in The Long Dark, which just added its Safehouse customization (among a ton of other new features). Plus, you really can’t beat a game where the most constant issue to contend with is the cold at this time of year. 10/10 immersion value.

As we’re rounding the corner on holiday spirit, you may want to start exploring your Yule Log options. In addition to the classic Papa Jeph Overwatch Yule Log, the World of Warcraft team recently published one which features all their coldest-sounding tracks, from Dun Morogh to Winterspring. For the least zen, but perhaps most festive of your options, try the Hearthstone team’s Murloc Yule Log. And if you’re really not feeling the holiday spirit, maybe the official Diablo yule, uh, log? from a couple years ago will strike your fancy.