Blizzard Watch WeeklyFeb 16, 2026 9:00 am CT

Blizzard Watch Weekly: A big week for demonology

By Elizabeth Harper

Roadmap season is officially over for Blizzard games, as this year’s 2026 plans for Hearthstone and Diablo both rolled out last week. Hearthstone looks to be continuing as expected, but the Diablo devs dropped some huge surprises… one of which is already live. And of course every team has teased something big at BlizzCon, but no one’s dropped so much as a hint, so we’ll have to keep waiting.

That’s to say it’s been an exciting week, so let’s get to it. Here’s what happened last week and what’s coming up this week.

What happened last week?

The Warlock class is coming to Diablo 2 Resurrected, Diablo Immortal, and Diablo 4. That’s right, the Diablo franchise is rolling out a brand new class across three games (with apologies to Diablo 3, the forgotten middle child). The class is available right now in Diablo 2 Resurrected with the Reign of the Warlock DLC ($25), and comes with some big quality of life improvements, including loot filters. The D2 Warlock is a hybrid caster with some melee might by means of their ability to levitate a 2-handed weapon to smash their enemies. We have no details on the class in Diablo Immortal (where it launches in June) or Diablo 4 (where it launches in April with the Lord of Hatred expansion), but we can expect something in a similar vein.
The next Hearthstone expansion is Cataclysm, a big theme for a big expansion. Deathwing arrives in Hearthstone with a host of other villains, a new round of Colossal minions, and a shatter keyword that splits your cards in half (and lets you put them back together). On top of the usual pre-purchase bundles and free cards and packs from drops, there’s an unexpected bonus coming for the expansion:
- Every player will get access to all cards from Into the Emerald Dream and The Lost City of Un’goro starting on March 10. That gives everyone access to a huge card library for building decks. It’s available through the Cataclysm expansion, so enjoy it while it lasts.
We have some new Warcraft story… though one is definitely told by an unreliable narrator:
- The short animation, Supremacy, features Xal’atath spinning a story for Nexus-King Salhadaar. It’s up to you whether you believe her.
- A new short story, Legacy of the Amani, follows Chieftain Zul’jarra (Zul’jin’s granddaughter) in the lead up to Midnight. You can read it or listen to it as an audiobook.
Blizzard has rolled out the first WoW Player Housing items available for the premium currency Hearthsteel: plushie lion and plushie wolf decor items, which cost 100 Hearthsteel each ($1 each) or as a bundle including four of each for 500 Hearthsteel ($5). It’s a small price to pay for something this cute, but microtransactions are a gateway drug that lead to more microtransactions.
February’s big birthday Trading Post continues for a couple more weeks, but if you’ve been wondering where to get all of these anniversary rewards, they’re only available near the Trading Post in Dornogal.
Wondering what to do with that lumber you’re collecting while roaming the Twilight Highlands in search of the Two Minutes to Midnight achievement? We have some suggestions.
The week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl is the Brawl of Gaudiness, and it’s all about the RNG. So much RNG. Also, if you’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the deck codes we provide when these Brawls require you to build a deck, we wrote a guide on how to use deck codes.

What’s happening this week (and beyond)

February 16 – March 2: The Lunar Festival is live in WoW. Visit the Elders and take your yearly jaunt to Moonglade for transmog.
February 17 – 24: The Azeroth Interiors event begins, challenging pairs of content creators to build the best in-game house they can, with the winning home going on Zillow. This oddball event feels like WoW’s version of HGTV, but we’ll find out how it works — and whether it’s worth watching — soon.
Through February 17: The Cuddly Green Grrgl plushie decor Twitch Drop is available to decorate your in-game home through the 17th! Just watch four hours of Warcraft streams on Twitch to get yours.
February 20: Diablo 2 Resurrected Season 13 starts
Through February 23: Love is in the Air returns to all eras of WoW, with some new iridescent butterfly rewards for modern WoW.
February 26: World of Warcraft Midnight early access launches, giving players who purchased the epic edition a head start on leveling.
Through March 1: The Midnight pre-patch event is now live, and we have a rundown to help you earn the event’s rewards, including the not-suspicious-at-all Definitely Not a Cultist title.
March 2: Midnight officially launches. There’s not long to wait now.
March 5 (11am pacific / 2pm eastern): Diablo 4 developer livestream with more details on the Warlock class
March 17: Hearthstone’s Cataclysm expansion launches
Until they’re gone: BlizzCon 2026 tickets are on sale

Other things we’re playing, watching, and more

This week’s Epic Games Store freebie is actually two Epic Games Store freebies! These are a pair of detective games: Nobody Wants to Die and The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, both of which are free through Thursday. If you enjoy a good whodunit, pick ’em up while they’re free.