Blizzard Watch Weekly: Fat Bear Week

This is the best week of the year. Between Rutherford Bear Hayes my trusty Hunter pet and Bear & Breakfast, it’s no wonder that I adore Fat Bear Week.

While we renovate a B&B while trying to not tip off any humans that we are, in fact, a bear, 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?

• Brewfest began September 23, goes til October 9
• Diablo 4 season 10 started September 23
• Mists of Pandaria Classic phase 2 started September 23
• Hades 2 official release date September 25
• This week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl: Shadow Reflection Tavern Brawl (Standard, Constructed)
• Epic Games Store free game of the week: Eastern Exorcist and Jorel’s Brother and The Most Important Game of the Galaxy

Brewfest has returned to World of Warcraft and will continue for the next couple weeks, so get those sweet kilts and barrel helicopters while you can. If you’ve been a little confused on how to complete the new Brewfest Banquet event, we wrote up a guide.

The second phase of Mists of Pandaria Classic went live this week, which includes the much-beloved Landfall campaign.

On the Cute front, it is currently Fat Bear Week, and we are obsessed. Not only did we recap the winners of previous years, we also ran down the bracket reveal for this year. Also, Fat Bear Week may be part of our decision to roll a Druid in this season of Diablo 4, which went live on Tuesday, but just part of it.

 What’s Happening Next Week (and beyond)

• Midnight alpha begins October 2
• Legion Remix releases October 7
• Player Housing comes to WoW in patch 11.2.7 before the end of the year

We got news that the Midnight alpha begins October 2, with a deep dive Q&A with the developers happening the day before. We also got a list of the content in phases that will roll out over the course of the alpha. Ready your gifs, everyone, it’s happening.

Though we do want to reiterate that this will be the invite-only alpha phase, mostly for influencers, press, and friends and family, not the beta phase which will include the people who have pre-ordered Midnight.

In further Midnight news, there are also a bunch of PVP updates coming, including a new 40v40 battleground and a permanent Comp Stomp mode.

This week’s podcasts

• Blizzard Watch Podcast: Midnight Alpha is (really!) coming soon
• Lore Watch Podcast: Is it finally time for Forsaken Paladins?
• Tavern Watch Plays Outgunned Adventure, episode 3: Surviving almost certain death

This week on the Blizzard Watch Podcast, the hosts chatted about the upcoming Midnight alpha, and how unusual it is they gave us a list of phase rollouts in advance. Plus, some of us are playing Diablo 4‘s season 10 because of the… cute pets? I need to check my notes here for a second.

On Lore Watch, Joe and Matt answer a few more listener questions, including whether it’s time for Forsaken Paladins at long last.

Tavern Watch wraps up their play of Outgunned Adventure, which includes a viking ship, a volcano, and certain death. Now, that’s my idea of a well-spent weekend.