Blizzard Watch Weekly: I can’t stand the rain

It has been raining on and off almost every day for weeks now, and it’s really harshing my mellow at this point. The slugs eating my zucchini plants love it though, which is just so great. Love that for them.

Anyway, while we figure out who got the keys to the jeep (vroom), 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.

What happened this week?

• Overwatch 2 Pride Celebration, May 30 – June 30
• This week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl: End of Time Tavern Brawl (Wild, Constructed)
• Active Twitch Drop campaigns
• Epic Games Store free games of the week: Limbo and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.

Like we said last week, not a ton was slated to be released or announced this week, so there’s not a ton to report.

Blizzard announced all the offerings for the WoW Trading Post for the month of June. They’re mostly fire and fire festival themed.

Overwatch 2 is celebrating Pride Month with not only LGBTQ+ themed in-game items, but they’re also asking for art to be displayed at their Irvine HQ. Seems like a bold ask, but more power to them.

As we roll into the summer, our Cute column this week features a whole bunch of adorable little critters that live in the sea.

What’s Happening Next Week (and beyond)

• Revamped Arena mode for Hearthstone releases June 2
• Diablo 3 season 34 ends June 1
• Nintendo Switch 2 releases June 5
• Battle for Azeroth Timewalking begins June 17
• Mists of Pandaria Classic: prepatch July 1, full release July 21
• World of Warcraft patch 11.1.7, Legacy of Arathor, releases Summer 2025

The Hearthstone team announced at the end of last week that they’re revamping Arena mode, and then they’re about to just go and do it on Monday. Gotta respect that kind of turnover. It streamlines and improves some aspects of the former Arena experience, and also adds an additional form of the mode called Underground, which is for the hardest of the hardcore, much like the difference between a knife fighting ring and an underground knife fighting ring. This is probably where I admit that, because it does still cost you tickets to enter, Arena still seems pretty hardcore to me in its base form, but who’s counting.

Mists of Pandaria Classic‘s release dates and other info was released this week. The expansion itself releases July 21, with the stuff for the pre-patch launching July 1. This is a particularly fun pre-patch, as it introduces Pandaren, the Monk class, and pet battling, with the full patch allowing access to all of Pandaria, and the level cap bump, among other things.

Plus, Guild Wars 2 announced an upcoming cookbook release — Feasts of Tyria releases in September. It’s decent news, but also when you buy it you get an in-game butter knife halberd transmog, which is an inspired tie-in incentive.

This week’s podcasts

• Blizzard Watch Podcast: Mists of Pandaria Classic brings one more Classic into the WoW trenchcoat
• Lore Watch Podcast: The War Within: The story so far
• Tavern Watch Plays Legend in the Mist, Episode 3: Why did it have to be snakes?

Cory was the guest host on this week’s Blizzard Watch Podcast, so that means some Heroes of the Storm chatter, in between the actual news. The upcoming Diablo 4 season and Mists of Pandaria Classic were both on tap to round it out.

Lore Watch is exactly what it says on the tin: Joe and Matt recapped the story of The War Within from the prepatch to the end of the Undermine raid (and spoilers abound, naturally).

Tavern Watch wrapped up their Legend in the Mist playthrough and the title promises snakes, so I wound up finishing this post by peeking through a gap between my fingers. You’ll tell me when it’s over, right?

But right now I’m happy to say that it is over — the week, that is. I hope you have a relaxing weekend, because we have to do it all again next week.