Blizzard Watch Weekly: Another week in paradise (if paradise is snakes)

Our adventures on cursed snake island continues in WoW patch 12.1, as we keep running through dailies (of killing snakes), watching the Race to World First (of killing snakes), and working our way through the new Zul’jarra’s Forces renown (by killing snakes). The patch really picked a theme and ran with it — and it’s most of what we’re talking about in another news-light week leading up to BlizzCon.

But even a quiet week has news, so here’s what’s been happening in the world of Blizzard games, and what’s coming up this week.

What happened last week?

• The Race to World First for Venomous Abyss isn’t over yet, but it may be wrapping up soon. Here’s a recap of the first week of the race, and here’s how to watch the race live as we go into the final boss this week!
• We’ve been busily exploring the Venomous Abyss, raid, not only by watching the Race to World First, but also by digging into the lore behind the bosses we encounter here.
• If you’re having trouble with the Venomous Abyss because the raid entrance isn’t exactly obvious, we have an easy guide on how to find it.
• Looking for more to do on the Coiled Isle beyond the raid? Or reasons to stick around cursed snake island? There’s a whole list of renown rewards for the new Zul’jarra’s Forces faction to keep you busy.
• Jimothy is now available in World of Warcraft: Midnight. This is not a drill, so go and get your own Jimothy right now.
• Somehow, September starts tomorrow and with it comes a brand new Trading Post packed with fresh transmog and other goodies, plus the outlet is open in September to let you pick up looks from previous months that you missed.
• Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary realms just advanced to Phase 3, adding iconic raids Black Temple and Mount Hyjal.
• Get ready for some RNG, because this week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl is Who’s the Boss Now?, in which you get random boss hero powers that swap every turn. It can be fun, but you should go in expecting some chaos and the inevitable frustration said chaos brings.

What’s happening this week (and beyond)

• Through September 8: Sorcerer’s Grassy Garb transmog set in WoW available as a Twitch Drop
• September 12 – 13: BlizzCon 2026
• November 17: World of Warcraft D&D book launches

Other things we’re playing, watching, and more

We’re continuing to play the spooky mystery The Séance of Blake Manor on our weekly indie game stream. Catch us live Thursday at 8pm eastern (follow us on Twitch to get notifications of this and any one-off streams), or watch on YouTube later. This week it’s Liz and Mitch stumbling through a game of connect the dots as they try to reconstruct magical runes in this definitely not haunted house:

•  Blizzard Watch Plays The Séance of Blake Manor, episode 3: Connecting the dots, literally

There are currently two free games from the Epic Games Store: Breathedge, a survival game that strands you in the harsh depths of outer space, and Rival Horse Stars Racing, which is exactly what you think it is. You can grab both of these games free through Thursday.

Gamescom was last week, and though there were no big announcements from Blizzard, you can watch Opening Night Live to catch the big announcements.

Our latest podcasts

• Blizzard Watch Podcast: WoW’s real end game (and boring end game)
• Lore Watch Podcast: Necessity is the mother of Gnomish invention
• Tavern Watch Plays Kids on Bikes, Episode 3: Time to pay the piper

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back next week with another weekly news recap!