Blizzard Watch Weekly: Player Housing HOA

Every new glimpse of the upcoming Player Housing feature we get, the more I get nervous that my little floral cozy cottage is definitely going to be forced into a neighborhood with someone who uses more bones and spikes than Joanna Gaines uses shiplap. I mean, what do I expect, my Blood Elf joined the Horde and all. But still, I think there should be a way to make sure my neighbors don’t completely harsh my mellow.

But let’s not borrow trouble just yet. Let’s look back at what happened this week, what we have to look forward to next week, plus some stuff you may have missed — like the fact that your fence is two inches too high to meet regs. Gonna have to fine you until it’s fixed.

What happened this week?

• The War Within season 2 Turbo Boost began May 13
• New Hearthstone miniset Embers of the World Tree released May 13
• This week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl: Heroic Brawliseum (Standard, Brawliseum 🤮)
• Active Twitch Drop campaigns
• Epic Games Store free game of the week: Dead Island 2 and Happy Game

The whole Turbo Boost thing for The War Within was a little confusing, so we released a few articles this week detailing how it works. For one, Puzzling Cartel Chips are now in play as a gearing catch up mechanism. While Valorstones aren’t new, the ability to transfer them between characters is new — though the cap is still in play, so be careful when you’re shuffling them around your alts.

Our writer Eric O’Dea also got the chance to visit the Warcraft 30th Anniversary World Tour last week, and we’re all very happy for him and not dying of jealousy. He also visited PAX East, and highlighted five game demos he tried out and really enjoyed.

Though, this week DOOM: The Dark Ages also released (among other great titles) so we’re ready for an indoorsy weekend, especially since this week’s Cute column featured a bunch of cute pups snuggled up in bed.

What’s Happening Next Week (and beyond)

• Horrific Visions return to WoW May 20
• Winds of Mysterious Fortune leveling boost ends May 20
• Mother’s Blessing Diablo 4 event ends May 20
• Diablo 3 season 34 ends… uh, sometime soon? Maybe June-ish at this point?
• Nintendo Switch 2 releases June 5, with preorders beginning April 24 in the US and Canada
• World of Warcraft patch 11.1.7, Legacy of Arathor, releases Summer 2025

I always struggle a bit with where to slot particular news items in this column — and it’s usually kind of arbitrary where they end up. If something big to be released in the future is announced in a particular week, should it go in the “happened this week” or “coming soon” section? All that to say, several content creators got to visit the Boston Blizzard HQ and get a hands-on play experience with Player Housing, and while we got a few additional details and facts — plus our first glimpse of the exteriors of the neighborhoods — it mostly just served as a hype train to get us excited for something in the future. So, while the announcement was this week, I’m filing this one in the “just put it in my grimy little hands already, Blizzard” section.

This weekend, make it a priority to finish up leveling your alts with the Winds of Mysterious Fortune buff before that makes its exit on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday is the return of Horrific Visions, with a glow-up which includes some quality-of-life improvements, including the ability to just run them as often as you want without worrying about keys or whatever. Just throw yourself right into the fray, and don’t worry about being perfect on every single attempt.

Also ending May 20 is the Mother’s Blessing event in Diablo 4, which wasn’t so much announced as… not announced. So if this comes as a surprise, take this as your cue to grind up an alt or work on your journey this weekend.

This week’s podcasts

• Blizzard Watch Podcast: Legion Remix and more wild speculation
• Lore Watch Podcast: The evolution of Dragons (and other fantasy creatures)
• Tavern Watch Plays Legend in the Mist, Episode 1: Never fight the undead after lunch

This week the Blizzard Watch Podcast was abuzz with the new information out of PAX: Legion Remix and the new mysterious “experimental” mode both sound really neat, and our hosts were really excited about the possibilities. Lore Watch was a slight continuation from last week, with more discussion of how fantastical creatures have evolved over time, with Eric O’Dea continuing on as a guest host.

Plus, our next TTRPG playthrough started on Tavern Watch with Legend in the Mist. Phil Ulrich is helming this adventure, packed with undead and pitfalls at every turn.