Blizzard Watch Weekly: Senioritis

It’s such a nice, warm, beautiful day outside! I would love to be lying in the hammock, sipping a tall lemonade, and reading a book, but instead I’m stuck in here with you people. Alas. No offense. I think you get it, though.

I’m going to type this as quickly as I can: let’s take a look back at what happened this week, and what we have to look forward to next week, plus some stuff you may have missed.

What happened this week?

• WoW Noblegarden, April 21 through April 28
• World of Warcraft patch 11.1.5 released April 22
• Overwatch 2 season 16 began April 22
• WoW Classic Mists of Pandaria beta began April 24
• This week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl: Everybunny Get In Here! Brawl (Standard, deck provided)
• Active Twitch Drop campaigns
• Epic Games Store free game of the week: Chuchel

Noblegarden began Monday and only runs til next Monday, so make sure you go do your Noblegarden stuff this weekend before it goes away til next year. As true endgame enthusiasts, we know that seasonal holiday pain is temporary, but transmog is forever. Even our weekly Cuteness column features adorable bunnies. In addition to Noblegarden, patch 11.1.5 also hit World of Warcraft, bringing with it a whole slew of confusing currencies, and a bunch of catch-up mechanics and other fun stuff.

Overwatch 2 has a new tentpole game mode in Stadium as of Tuesday, with the advent of season 16. Season 16 also brings its usual battle pass full of swag, and a new hero, Freja.

Oh, and Bethesda simultaneously announced and released a remastered version of 2009’s Elder Scrolls Oblivion, just in case you were living under a rock or something for the past few days. But if that isn’t enough, we also have a whole list of games you might want to check out this weekend, including Clair Obscure, omelet du fromage.

What’s Happening Next Week (and beyond)

• WoW Children’s Week holiday April 28 through May 5
• Diablo 4 season 7 end and season 8 start April 28
• Hearthstone Battlegrounds season 10 starts April 29
• Nintendo Switch 2 releases June 5, with preorders beginning April 24 in the US and Canada
• Diablo 3 season 34 is predicted to end May 4
• The War Within season 2 Turbo Boost begins May 13

As Diablo 4 rolls over from season 7 for season 8, we’d encourage you to take a look at our post describing the ways the seasonal battle pass is changing into the Reliquary for season 8. There are a ton of changes, and it’s so confusing it’s a little overwhelming to contemplate. While the new Battle Pass — sorry, Reliquary — pretends to offer players more choice by letting them buy access to parts of the Battle Pass — sorry, Reliquary — and choose their rewards, having a price that’s highly discounted for buying the whole Battle Pass — sorry, all of the Reliquaries — and having a cosmetic armor set spread out across all four Reliquaries seems like we’re just going to be buying the Battle Pass Bundle anyway. (And, yes, the bundles of Reliquaries are called Battle Pass Bundles.) The bundles are priced the same as the previous Premium and Accelerated Battle Passes, making the new system look a lot like the old system, but now has extra rewards to tempt you to shell out for the top-tier pass. I’ll admit, it’s hard to not be a cynic when we’re talking about monetization.

Speaking of being cynical and suspect monetization and battle passes — sorry, tavern pass — the next season of Hearthstone Battlegrounds, season 10, starts April 29. We’ll get a new battle pass to fill with XP, a new quirk (Anomalies are out; Trinkets are in), and a few new Heroes to play.

And because I’m mad with power and none dare to stop me, I’m just going to mention that one of my all-time favorite games, The Long Dark, is currently on sale on Steam for the deepest discount I’ve ever seen: $3.49 USD for both survival and story modes. The “Anna, why are you the way that you are” bundle is also 50% off altogether, because Pacific Drive is also on sale. So, as a nod to one of my favorite recurring bits on the site, you could buy a copy of The Long Dark for yourself and six friends for the cost of one (1) D4 s8 Deluxe Battle Pass Bundle.

This week’s podcasts

• Blizzard Watch Podcast: Elder Scrolls Oblivion is just one game we wish would make a comeback
• Tavern Watch Plays Pigeon’s 11, Episode 2: Stealing the coveted pretzel trophy

This week’s Blizzard Watch Podcast continued the trend of reminding you to get that Noblegarden transmog. We are very serious about transmog! Plus, Cory joined the usual crew, so that meant a discussion on Heroes of the Storm and how it’s totally coming back from that farm upstate one of these days.

On Tavern Watch, we’re continuing our playthrough of fawl heist-themed Pigeons 11, and it is still the wackiest, most inventive TTRPG we’ve played to date. Do not miss it.

See you next week — assuming I’m not playing hooky.