Blizzard Watch WeeklyFeb 23, 2026 9:00 am CT

Blizzard Watch Weekly: We’re holding out for a hero (of the storm)

By Elizabeth Harper

After a busy few weeks of roadmaps and big reveals, this last week has been a little quieter for news about Blizzard games as we wait for all of those reveals to turn into real, playable games. (Though an actual blizzard is hitting the east coast today, that one’s beyond our purview.) We’re looking forward to Midnight launching this week in early access, with a full launch next week. After a lot of excitement around Diablo last week, the next big event is a D4 developer livestream in early March. And, while we had a little Hearthstone news last week, the big event is the Cataclysm expansion launching in mid-March. We’re in a bit of a holding pattern, waiting for multiple launch days.

But it’s Monday, which means time to catch up on what’s been happening and what’s coming up. Here’s everything you need to know about what’s going on in Blizzard games (and a little bit more).

What happened last week?

With two new patches in Heroes of the Storm this month — this game is doing a terrible job of being in “maintenance mode” — I asked Cory what made this game so special, and why people are still playing it. He sent me these 1400 words about why Heroes still has a hold on his heart.
We know we’re going back to Northrend in The Last Titan expansion, but that begs the question of where we’ll be calling home when we’re there. We have a few ideas on where players might set up a new home base in a modern Northrend.
Hearthstone has rolled out another Darkmoon Faire reward: a baby Hogger pet. But since there are more rewards than usual this time around, getting baby Hogger is even more expensive: buying every reward will cost $200. (No, I did not accidentally add an extra zero to that.)
This week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl is the Lunar Blessings Tavern Brawl, and we are counting our blessings that we don’t have to build a deck for this one. Get in and get your free pack for the week!

What’s happening this week (and beyond)

February 24: The Azeroth Interiors event has challenged 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, and judging for everyone takes place on the 24th! If I knew what time it was happening, I’d tell you, but as it is we’ll both have to watch for it to show up.
Through March 2: The Lunar Festival is live in WoW. Visit the Elders and take your yearly jaunt to Moonglade for transmog… but no decor.
Through February 23: Love is in the Air is over for another year, so I hope you got your new pastel butterfly mount… but if not, there’s always next year.
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 runs right up to the launch, 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 at 3pm pacific (6pm eastern). 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
April 28: Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred launches
Until they’re gone: BlizzCon 2026 tickets are on sale

Other things we’re playing, watching, and more

This week the Epic Games Store is again offering two free games for the picking: the FPS Stalcraft X and the visual novel Return to Ash. This is probably both the first and the last time you will hear these very different games mentioned in the same sentence.
February is Zine Month in the TTRPG community, and that means we’re getting a ton of new games and mini-games, from the interesting to the just plain odd. We’ve rounded up some of the best zines we’ve seen this month.
Everybody needs to drop what they’re doing and look at this baby Asian Elephant at the National Zoo.