Blizzard Watch Weekly: Return of the Mack

Liz went on a well-deserved vacation this week, so you got me back here to write the weekly wrapup again. Remember when I did that? It was like, last year and stuff. What a long strange trip it’s been indeed. Adn speaking of long, strange trips, I hope Liz brings back a lot of pictures of cute animals. She seems to do that after she takes a trip.

Anyway, let’s get this party started!

What Happened This Week?

• May 14: WoW Classic Anniversary realms The Burning Crusade Phase 2 released
• This week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl: Shadow Towers Tavern Brawl (Wild, Constructed)
• Epic Games Store freebie(s) of the week: Sunderfolk and Telltale Batman: Shadows Edition

Thankfully, for Liz’s vacation week, very little happened. There was a new phase for TBC Classic Anniversary but that was about it. If you’re into the TBCC thing, this phase was a good one, and opens up Sporebat mounts for the more casual players, and SCC and Tempest Keep raids for the raiders.

In the wider world of gaming, Subnautica 2 entered Early Release, and its whole legal debacle has me in a chokehold. With 2 million copies sold in a day, it looks like the parent company is going to have to pay out the bonuses for to the development team, even though the parent company’s CEO asked preeminent legal mind ChatGPT how to get out of paying that bonus. Seems like an ironclad strat to me. What a shame.

What’s Happening Next Week (and beyond)

• Through May 21: Another WoW murloc plushie decor Twitch Drop is available to add to your collection.
• May 22: Diablo 2 Resurrected Ladder Season 14 starts
• Mists of Pandaria Classic phase 5 (Siege of Orgrimmar) begins June 2
• Until they’re gone: BlizzCon 2026 tickets are on sale

This coming week is also likely to be… the Q word. I’m debating going to see a movie Tuesday midafternoon just to see if I can bait an announcement, like a patch 12.0.7 release date. Maybe even a patch 12.1 content preview? Dare I hope? Of course, by stating this outright, I’ve killed all possibility of a big flashy announcement or whatever. I’ve heard Is God Is is very good. I haven’t seen Devil Wears Prada 2 yet, either, but it looks deeply mediocre.

We did get the announcement last week that the Siege of Orgrimmar phase will begin for Mists of Pandaria Classic on June 2. Rev up your ironstars and get ready for Gamon to save us in two weeks.

It’s listed with the bullets, but the current murloc Twitch drop promotion is ending Thursday, so definitely make that a priority early this week if you want it.

Podcasts

• Blizzard Watch Podcast: Ascendant Voidcores, Guardian Druids, and more bug fixes
• Lore Watch: Millhouse Jerimus Manastorm and more, less important, World of Warcraft lore
• Tavern Watch Plays: See You Space Cowboy, episode 3: The crashout of the crypto empire

I’m just going to take this space to remind you that we are active — perhaps too much so — on social media, including a bunch of fairly unhinged shortform videos. They’re edited down versions of the podcast, and we’ve been doing a couple general clips with our logo as the visual element, but recently we’ve been doing multimedia clips as well. I feel like the one for the May Trading Post, featuring HORSIES and a TANUKI SUIT is particularly indicative of exactly what the Blizzard Watch Podcast is all about. We post these to our YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. We usually also post these to BlueSky, but they have the tightest parameters in terms of both time and file size, and sometimes I get frustrated trying to re-render to fit so I just direct link to YouTube.

Reminders, to-dos, and ICYMIs

This coming weekend will be Memorial Day weekend in the United States, which is a somber, reflective holiday which usually means big consumer sales. Specifically, if you’re looking for outdoor furnishings (including things like lighting and doormats), grills and some kitchenware, or home improvement items and tools, this weekend may be the time to buy — even if you’re outside the US. I’ve also seen some incredible deals on mattresses, but typically the weird American holiday for those is Presidents Day in January.

Also, don’t expect me in the office on Monday.