Blizzard Watch Weekly: I would die for this lizard

I am not at all joking when I say that the Hearthstone stream of lizards vs turtles was the highlight of my week. Valentina is the best thing that has ever come out of video games. The commentary they made TJ Sanders and Darroch Brown do really elevated the whole thing to high art.

So while we watch a turtle climb a wall, 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
• Mother’s Blessing XP boost live in Diablo 4 through June 17
• This week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl: Return of Mechazod (Wild, Provided – Co-Op)
• Active Twitch Drop campaigns
• Epic Games Store free games of the week: Two Point Hospital

The biggest news this week was the announcement that Mists of Pandaria Classic won’t have Raid Finder. Instead, they’re getting Celestial Dungeons, a type of dungeon which will scale in difficulty as the expansion goes on.

Between Summer Game Fest last week (you can still watch all the showcases if you missed any!) and Steam NextFest this week, there are a lot of demos to give a try in our weekly “stuff to play this week” column. We also noticed a trend among some other games we were demoing for NextFest — demos which were a combination of creepy and cozy really piqued our interest.

What’s Happening Next Week (and beyond)

• Battle for Azeroth Timewalking begins June 17
• World of Warcraft patch 11.1.7, Legacy of Arathor, releases June 17
• The Lost City of Un’Goro Hearthstone expansion releases July 8
• Mists of Pandaria Classic: prepatch July 1, full release July 21

Patch 11.1.7 is coming in hot next week, with Overcharged Delves, Lorewalking, and a new story chapter in the Arathi Highlands campaign. Battle for Azeroth Timewalking –and its Infinite Pirate Dragon mount reward — is starting the same day. We’re expecting a longer maintenance than usual, to say the least — Liz writes a post every Tuesday morning to keep everyone informed when the servers are set to come back up, so tune in on Tuesday to get the latest.

Patch 11.1.7 is very much about the Arathi, and in the lead-up earlier this week, we got a new short story featuring Faerin Lothar. Get those hype trains chugging! We also published a guide to the Durable Information Securing Container awarded from Delves in patch 11.1.7.

Also, we’ll probably keep reminding you about this lizards vs turtles stream every week in the leadup to the Lost City of Un’Goro release. You can still watch the VOD, and we’ll probably have it on repeat until July.

This week’s podcasts

• Blizzard Watch Podcast: Our Summer Game Fest faves
• Lore Watch Podcast: Our Lorewalking wish list
• Tavern Watch Plays Masks, Episode 1: The trouble with team names

The Blizzard Watch Podcast this week talked about all the news — including that hilarious shirt bug from Dastardly Duos. Plus, there were around a dozen games we were excited to discuss from Summer Game Fest, and they were as varied as we are. Tavern Watch kicked off their playthrough of Masks, which is part superheroes, part teenage angst, and all the fun you’ve come to expect from one of our playthroughs.

Plus, with Lorewalking coming so soon, leave it to the lore experts on Lore Watch to discuss their ideas for other story vignettes to explore in the feature in the future. This one is a Lore Watch classic.

Rest up this weekend — with patch 11.1.7 coming, you’re gonna need it. See you Monday!