Blizzard Watch Weekly: An embarrasment of riches

While I know we’re all in on Blizzard Entertainment around here, when Steam Next Fest started I once again went feral. Everything from Squirrelled Away to Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 is just waiting on a release date, and until then, they’re with a thousand of their besties in the purgatory that is my wishlist.

In the meantime, let’s see what happened this week, and what we have to look forward to next week, and some stuff you may have missed.

What happened this week?

• Patch 11.1 of World of Warcraft, Undermine(d), released February 25
• Plunderstorm ended February 25
• Turbulent Timeways ended February 25
• This week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl: Miniature Warfare (Wild, Constructed)
• Active Twitch Drop campaigns
• Epic Games Store free game of the week: Mages of Mystralia

It was a bittersweet Tuesday as we bid a fond (?) farewell to both Plunderstorm and Turbulent Timeways as patch 11.1 Undermine(d) released after a rather lengthy maintenance with a fun new cinematic to celebrate. If you did all your Plunderstorm stuff, we have a few transmog suggestions for your Stormridden Finery.

But when a door closes a window opens, as the saying goes. Sometimes that window can be tough to find, which is why we wrote up a guide for how to get to Undermine. We also wrote up a guide to the rares you’ll find in Undermine (and maybe want to tame) because it’s not exactly the most straightforward feature.

We have a ton of non-Blizzard games to play this weekend, especially the new hotness, Monster Hunter Wilds. We also have a lot of Steam Next Fest demos to slog through before that ends next week, with our writer Christian taking the time to showcase 12 great ones you should take for a spin. And speaking of other games, we were tickled pink to see you can (sort of) quest your way through Tirisfal Glades with this Baldur’s Gate 3 mod.

And for your weekly dose of eyebleaching cute this week, we have the platypus. I always thought it would be so fun to pet one, even if they are venomous.

What’s Happening Next Week (and beyond)

• Season 2 of TWW begins March 4
• Steam Next Fest ends March 4
• Diablo 2: Resurrected ladder season reset March 7/8
• Diablo 4 Gilded Goblin event, March 4-11
• Kalimdor Cup ends March 10
• Journey to the Emerald Dream Hearthstone expansion releases March 25

Take note that Kalimdor Cup returned to WoW this week. It’s a little overshadowed by, you know, the whole previous section, but it’s sticking around all next week so you have time to beat your times. If you’re not great at mastering the miracle of flight, we have tips on how to get Gold in the Kalimdor Cup.

Speaking of that previous section, even though we’re ripping around Undermine in our hot rods, season 2 of TWW doesn’t technically start til Tuesday, so that means we’ll see stuff like the Race to World First kick off and the new Mythic rotation begin Tuesday.

If you’re a D2:R diehard, it’s also time to rev your engine: the ladder season reset was announced earlier this week, and it’s a global release taking place on either March 7 or 8, depending on your time zone. If you’re more a Diablo 4 kind of person, there’s a campfire chat coming up on March 7, which is sure to include some degree of new information, but sometimes those devs just get chatty.

This week’s podcasts

• Blizzard Watch Podcast: Getting ready to explore Undermine in WoW patch 11.1
• Lore Watch Podcast: Suffer well: the lore of Death Knights in World of Warcraft
• Tavern Watch Podcast: D&D’s messy release schedule continues into 2025

As you might have noticed from the above, the main story this week on the Blizzard Watch Podcast was Undermine and patch 11.1. Though, since Cory was our guest host this week, we also touched on the PTR changes coming to Heroes of the Storm, and how that game has shaped some of Blizzard’s other offerings.

Lore Watch this week was a deep dive into all things Death Knights, but especially what, exactly the “death” part means.

Tavern Watch was a talk show format, rather than a play session. The final book of the D&D 2024 (uh, slash 2025) suite finally came out, and there’s a new D&D show in the offing, so you’re up for a great year if you’re into either Dungeons or Dragons (or Fallen London, which Liz is very excited about).