Blizzard Watch https://blizzardwatch.com Mon, 19 Oct 2026 16:32:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.19 WoW Forever stress test is scheduled for October 21; here’s what you need to know https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/19/wow-forever-stress-test-scheduled-october-21-heres-need-know/ Mon, 19 Oct 2026 20:00:37 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216667

We’re less than a month from the launch of World of Warcraft: Forever, and the beta test has been in full swing. However, there’s one feature in WoW: Forever that’s brand new to this version, which is realmless servers: essentially, all players within a single region who share a ruleset (so all the PVP players, all the RP players, all the PVE players, etc.) will share a single server instead of being subdivided into many smaller realms like the World of Warcraft that we’re used to. This system could be pretty rough on the server hardware — especially on launch day on November 4 — so Blizzard has scheduled a stress test to see how the game holds up with as many people trying to log in and play as possible.

Blizzard has announced that the WoW: Forever stress test will take place on October 21, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. PDT (5:00 p.m. EDT) for players in the Americas and Oceania, 19:00 CEST for players in the EU region, and at 5:00 a.m. in Taipei and 6:00 a.m. in Korea on October 22. The stress test will be available to anyone with a World of Warcraft account, no subscription needed — so if you’ve been waiting to try out the beta but haven’t gotten in, you can at least poke your nose into the game (although be warned that stress tests tend to be just that — a stress test — and are often a subpar time to actually play).

Once you’re in, go ahead and try to do the same things you would normally do when you first log in — make a character, do some quests, group up with others, trade some items, and really just do anything that you can to put the system through its paces while the server tries to handle the influx of incoming players. This essentially simulates the havoc of launch day, enabling Blizzard to uncover issues that might only have otherwise cropped up on November 4.

However, don’t expect to hang onto any characters you make in the stress test. Just before the stress test the regular beta will shut down, then WoW: Forever is essentially being brought up on production hardware for the duration of the stress test. After it’s over, the stress test servers will be brought down and wiped, and the beta will return — though this does not mean your beta characters will carry forward, either (they won’t). Still, this is your chance to help test the game even further ahead of its launch, and get to check out the kind of chaos that only a stress test (or an actual launch day) can bring.

]]>

We’re less than a month from the launch of World of Warcraft: Forever, and the beta test has been in full swing. However, there’s one feature in WoW: Forever that’s brand new to this version, which is realmless servers: essentially, all players within a single region who share a ruleset (so all the PVP players, all the RP players, all the PVE players, etc.) will share a single server instead of being subdivided into many smaller realms like the World of Warcraft that we’re used to. This system could be pretty rough on the server hardware — especially on launch day on November 4 — so Blizzard has scheduled a stress test to see how the game holds up with as many people trying to log in and play as possible.

Blizzard has announced that the WoW: Forever stress test will take place on October 21, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. PDT (5:00 p.m. EDT) for players in the Americas and Oceania, 19:00 CEST for players in the EU region, and at 5:00 a.m. in Taipei and 6:00 a.m. in Korea on October 22. The stress test will be available to anyone with a World of Warcraft account, no subscription needed — so if you’ve been waiting to try out the beta but haven’t gotten in, you can at least poke your nose into the game (although be warned that stress tests tend to be just that — a stress test — and are often a subpar time to actually play).

Once you’re in, go ahead and try to do the same things you would normally do when you first log in — make a character, do some quests, group up with others, trade some items, and really just do anything that you can to put the system through its paces while the server tries to handle the influx of incoming players. This essentially simulates the havoc of launch day, enabling Blizzard to uncover issues that might only have otherwise cropped up on November 4.

However, don’t expect to hang onto any characters you make in the stress test. Just before the stress test the regular beta will shut down, then WoW: Forever is essentially being brought up on production hardware for the duration of the stress test. After it’s over, the stress test servers will be brought down and wiped, and the beta will return — though this does not mean your beta characters will carry forward, either (they won’t). Still, this is your chance to help test the game even further ahead of its launch, and get to check out the kind of chaos that only a stress test (or an actual launch day) can bring.

]]> Blizzard Watch The Queue: A great day for Cory, and therefore, the world https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/19/queue-great-day-cory-therefore-world-2/ Mon, 19 Oct 2026 18:00:40 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216656

It’s my birthday! Today, this very day!

Of course, if you want to have a week-long celebration to properly observe it, I won’t stop you. Just make sure you watch lots of spooky things and tell someone a joke. Jokes and spooky things sum me up pretty well now that I think of it. Here’s a couple just for you, guaranteed groaners.

How do you know when a skeleton is sick? It runs a high femur!

Why do ghosts like to ride in elevators? It really raises their spirits!

While I think of some more wonderful spooky puns, it’s time for our daily question and answer column — The Queue!

DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT A PAGAN XERIANNE

Q4tQ: Why is there an 8 hour downtime for WoW retail on Tuesday? They’ve been hotfixing bugs and what not so why so long? Trying to decide if it is super important to deal with tomorrow or a meh not my concern.

Our Answer:

Only Blizzard really knows why their maintenance windows are so long — it could be anything! Maybe all of the hamsters formed a union, and they’re demanding more breaks from the wheels. Maybe they’ve got a Star Trek Holodeck situation happening, and Thrall has come to life and is demanding to speak with Chris Metzen to really get to the bottom of why things have been going so wrong. Maybe the code has just gotten heavy enough that it takes that long to take it all out and give it a good scrubbing.

More likely, it’s just an extra-wide window to address a bunch of update stuff from the patch that went live last week. Sometimes things can’t be hotfixed nicely and require a proper update, and the big window gives them the cushion in case something goes terribly awry in that fix.

MUSEDMOOSE I’M SMILING ALL THE WHILE, YOU WON’T BE AT THE TRIAL BUT THERE’S A PRICE I’LL PAY

Q4tQ: what upcoming games are you waiting for, and how far away are they? Asking because I was looking at my Steam wishlist after adding another game, and I realized that aside from Final Fantasy Resonance, everything I’m looking forward to playing doesn’t come out until 2027.

Our Answer:

I’m looking forward to Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War 4. I played the ever-living crap out of the first couple of them, and I like the looks of everything I’ve seen from the new one. It’s been a hot minute since I played a good RTS too, and I’m getting that itch to move lots of little guys around a big map. Plus, I hear this one has a Lion in it. Thankfully, this will be out before the end of the year.

The other game I’m looking forward to is Exodus. The Mass Effect comparisons have been being made since the first trailer, and I did love me some Mass Effect. I just hope that I’ll be able to replicate the Biotic Vanguard charge/shotgun/charge someone else build that was so much fun.

Of course, the new StarCraft and Diablo games are on the list, but they’re so far out! Who can even hold more than an inkling of interest in them? Talk to me when we get some gameplay to obsess over.

ONE THING I’VE LEARNED, YOU’LL GET YOUR TURN ALL REDS BURN

Q4TQ: can you believe those absolute clownerinos?!?

Our Answer:

I know, right? What a gosh-darn-diddly shameful display.

DOWN AND DOWN AND DOWN WE GO SCATTER THE ASHES IN THE SHAPE OF THE FARADAI

For LoreWatch – it’s your favorite goblin Farah with a meta lore question: what do you all think of using a raid encounter as a vehicle for story telling and how do you think it worked (or didn’t) in patch 12.1.5? What would you change to better tell the story within the context of a raid encounter.

Our Answer:

So I won’t talk about the spoiler here. Let’s talk about the Lich King fight instead.

That’s a fantastic fight for storytelling, because it has the opening where Tirion charges into getting iceblocked, and then the whole ending of the fight between dying and resurrection and the final burn. Which works so well because it’s storytelling that you can’t skip, can’t miss, and don’t have to do anything else mechanically during it. You’re not skipping a phase or a mechanic like getting absorbed into Frostmourne because your damage was too high; you’re not seeing some NPC voice lines yelled across the arena while you’re supposed to be dodging explosions — you get to focus entirely on being dead while Arthas monologues at you.

Even after you get control back, all you have to do is deal damage, while Arthas gets spun around like a top in all of the souls. The story can land, and you get to feel like a big part of a major event. A+ work.

Of course, comparing Kithix to Arthas is a pretty lopsided comparison, since Kithix is an epilogue to a mid-expansion raid tier, and not like the capstone of a major plot point from Warcraft 3. So y’know, mileage may vary. But I think that’s a good point about how to make raid encounters work as good story vehicles. You have to make the players stop and look at the story if you want it to be remembered well. The more they can follow what’s happened, the better it will be received.

Raids are the big show-stopping numbers for World of Warcraft. They’re where the big evil gets to hang out until our plucky bands of adventurers can kick the door down. They should have clearer storytelling beats in them. This has gotten better with time, for the most part. We have more NPCs hanging out in the raid and being present around the encounters. So I think for the most part they’re succeeding in making them feel satisfying; just this most recent one has left people feeling down on the concept.

Today’s Bacardi has the contrast turned way, way up so you can actually see his face. I felt like you deserved that after last week’s void kitty. Make sure to tell him your vault hopes and dreams so he knows what to get you. Otherwise, you might just wind up with your tenth pair of bracers and that’s just too many.

Would you rather

Work as a scare actor in a haunted house

Or

Work as a Santa Claus at a Christmas village

Today’s Anna Earworm™: Witches Burn

I hope you all have an excellent and spooky week! Make sure to leave Anna lots of spooky questions for tomorrow!

Why did Dracula read the local newspaper? He heard it had great circulation!

 

]]>

It’s my birthday! Today, this very day!

Of course, if you want to have a week-long celebration to properly observe it, I won’t stop you. Just make sure you watch lots of spooky things and tell someone a joke. Jokes and spooky things sum me up pretty well now that I think of it. Here’s a couple just for you, guaranteed groaners.

How do you know when a skeleton is sick? It runs a high femur!

Why do ghosts like to ride in elevators? It really raises their spirits!

While I think of some more wonderful spooky puns, it’s time for our daily question and answer column — The Queue!

DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT A PAGAN XERIANNE

Q4tQ: Why is there an 8 hour downtime for WoW retail on Tuesday? They’ve been hotfixing bugs and what not so why so long? Trying to decide if it is super important to deal with tomorrow or a meh not my concern.

Our Answer:

Only Blizzard really knows why their maintenance windows are so long — it could be anything! Maybe all of the hamsters formed a union, and they’re demanding more breaks from the wheels. Maybe they’ve got a Star Trek Holodeck situation happening, and Thrall has come to life and is demanding to speak with Chris Metzen to really get to the bottom of why things have been going so wrong. Maybe the code has just gotten heavy enough that it takes that long to take it all out and give it a good scrubbing.

More likely, it’s just an extra-wide window to address a bunch of update stuff from the patch that went live last week. Sometimes things can’t be hotfixed nicely and require a proper update, and the big window gives them the cushion in case something goes terribly awry in that fix.

MUSEDMOOSE I’M SMILING ALL THE WHILE, YOU WON’T BE AT THE TRIAL BUT THERE’S A PRICE I’LL PAY

Q4tQ: what upcoming games are you waiting for, and how far away are they? Asking because I was looking at my Steam wishlist after adding another game, and I realized that aside from Final Fantasy Resonance, everything I’m looking forward to playing doesn’t come out until 2027.

Our Answer:

I’m looking forward to Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War 4. I played the ever-living crap out of the first couple of them, and I like the looks of everything I’ve seen from the new one. It’s been a hot minute since I played a good RTS too, and I’m getting that itch to move lots of little guys around a big map. Plus, I hear this one has a Lion in it. Thankfully, this will be out before the end of the year.

The other game I’m looking forward to is Exodus. The Mass Effect comparisons have been being made since the first trailer, and I did love me some Mass Effect. I just hope that I’ll be able to replicate the Biotic Vanguard charge/shotgun/charge someone else build that was so much fun.

Of course, the new StarCraft and Diablo games are on the list, but they’re so far out! Who can even hold more than an inkling of interest in them? Talk to me when we get some gameplay to obsess over.

ONE THING I’VE LEARNED, YOU’LL GET YOUR TURN ALL REDS BURN

Q4TQ: can you believe those absolute clownerinos?!?

Our Answer:

I know, right? What a gosh-darn-diddly shameful display.

DOWN AND DOWN AND DOWN WE GO SCATTER THE ASHES IN THE SHAPE OF THE FARADAI

For LoreWatch – it’s your favorite goblin Farah with a meta lore question: what do you all think of using a raid encounter as a vehicle for story telling and how do you think it worked (or didn’t) in patch 12.1.5? What would you change to better tell the story within the context of a raid encounter.

Our Answer:

So I won’t talk about the spoiler here. Let’s talk about the Lich King fight instead.

That’s a fantastic fight for storytelling, because it has the opening where Tirion charges into getting iceblocked, and then the whole ending of the fight between dying and resurrection and the final burn. Which works so well because it’s storytelling that you can’t skip, can’t miss, and don’t have to do anything else mechanically during it. You’re not skipping a phase or a mechanic like getting absorbed into Frostmourne because your damage was too high; you’re not seeing some NPC voice lines yelled across the arena while you’re supposed to be dodging explosions — you get to focus entirely on being dead while Arthas monologues at you.

Even after you get control back, all you have to do is deal damage, while Arthas gets spun around like a top in all of the souls. The story can land, and you get to feel like a big part of a major event. A+ work.

Of course, comparing Kithix to Arthas is a pretty lopsided comparison, since Kithix is an epilogue to a mid-expansion raid tier, and not like the capstone of a major plot point from Warcraft 3. So y’know, mileage may vary. But I think that’s a good point about how to make raid encounters work as good story vehicles. You have to make the players stop and look at the story if you want it to be remembered well. The more they can follow what’s happened, the better it will be received.

Raids are the big show-stopping numbers for World of Warcraft. They’re where the big evil gets to hang out until our plucky bands of adventurers can kick the door down. They should have clearer storytelling beats in them. This has gotten better with time, for the most part. We have more NPCs hanging out in the raid and being present around the encounters. So I think for the most part they’re succeeding in making them feel satisfying; just this most recent one has left people feeling down on the concept.

Today’s Bacardi has the contrast turned way, way up so you can actually see his face. I felt like you deserved that after last week’s void kitty. Make sure to tell him your vault hopes and dreams so he knows what to get you. Otherwise, you might just wind up with your tenth pair of bracers and that’s just too many.

Would you rather

Work as a scare actor in a haunted house

Or

Work as a Santa Claus at a Christmas village

Today’s Anna Earworm™: Witches Burn

I hope you all have an excellent and spooky week! Make sure to leave Anna lots of spooky questions for tomorrow!

Why did Dracula read the local newspaper? He heard it had great circulation!

 

]]> Blizzard Watch Blizzard Watch Weekly: How many patches is too many patches? https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/19/blizzard-watch-weekly-many-patches-many-patches/ Mon, 19 Oct 2026 14:00:57 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216651

World of Warcraft patch 12.1.5 has been live for just under a week, so of course it’s already time to talk about patch 12.1.7, which Blizzard revealed last week. Though we knew many of the upcoming features from BlizzCon and the WoW roadmap, we have a clearer picture of the patch now — and we’re already speeding towards the next big thing. Really zooming, with WoW: Forever due out at the start of November, WoW patch 12.1.7 likely in early December, and WoW patch 12.2 likely in February. Plus we have a Hearthstone expansion and a new TBC Classic phase launching this week. There’s just no time to catch our breath!

But for now, let’s pause for a moment on this Monday morning and catch up on what’s been going on in Blizzard games over the last week, and what’s coming up this week.

What happened last week?

  • WoW patch 12.1.5 launched, but it’s already old news because…
  • Blizzard revealed WoW patch 12.1.7, likely due out in December. It will continue the main story quest, add the new Talebound gameplay mode, new Lorewalking quests (for Jaina, Thrall, the Titans, and Tyr), and new abilities for the Omnium Folio.
  • There’s a new World of Warcraft Twitch Drop to be had: the Cuddly Gold-Colored Grrgl, another variation on the plush murloc decor item for your in-game home. It’s not my favorite colorway, but I’m gonna collect it anyway, just in case I decide to make a completely gold-colored room in the future.
  • A great many things have been overhauled in World of Warcraft: Forever, but one notable change is to the First Aid profession, which can now craft much more than bandages. We wrote up the details on First Aid’s new recipes.
  • One thing WoW: Forever didn’t overhaul enough (according to some fans) was the Blood Elf models being used for the new Skyborne elves. Players who prefer playing the game in SD, in particular, thought the models looked too crisp. Blizzard has updated Skyborne graphics, changing the Druid forms to better fit in the vanilla-era aesthetic and the devs are working on new SD models, which will arrive early next year.
  • We’re still prepping for WoW: Forever’s launch, and have instructions on how to get your Skyborne from their new starting zone in Zephras Isle to Orgrimmar and Stormwind to continue their adventures (or join your friends in a different starting zone).
  • This week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl is another Brawliseum, and it’s the most frustrating variant of Brawliseum: a pre-release brawl that only lets you use cards from the of-yet-unreleased Reign of the Black Empire expansion. While you can use common and rare cards for free (an improvement over last time), you still can’t craft cards or buy individual packs to get any must-have cards to complete your deck. We have some gameplay tips, regardless.

What’s happening this week (and beyond)

Other things we’re playing, watching, and more

Liz and Mitch are back with another episode of The Séance of Blake Manor this week, in which they try out a little lucid dreaming. (Which turns out to be highly disquieting.) You can watch the latest episode here, and if you haven’t been following along you can watch all of the episodes of Blake Manor (so far) on YouTube or catch us streaming indie games live Thursday at 8pm eastern (and follow us on Twitch to get notifications).




There are once again two free games in the Epic Games Store this week, spy puzzle game Agent A: A puzzle in disguise and creepy retro animation horror Bad Cheese. Grab them both before Thursday to get them for free!

Our latest podcasts

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

]]>

World of Warcraft patch 12.1.5 has been live for just under a week, so of course it’s already time to talk about patch 12.1.7, which Blizzard revealed last week. Though we knew many of the upcoming features from BlizzCon and the WoW roadmap, we have a clearer picture of the patch now — and we’re already speeding towards the next big thing. Really zooming, with WoW: Forever due out at the start of November, WoW patch 12.1.7 likely in early December, and WoW patch 12.2 likely in February. Plus we have a Hearthstone expansion and a new TBC Classic phase launching this week. There’s just no time to catch our breath!

But for now, let’s pause for a moment on this Monday morning and catch up on what’s been going on in Blizzard games over the last week, and what’s coming up this week.

What happened last week?

  • WoW patch 12.1.5 launched, but it’s already old news because…
  • Blizzard revealed WoW patch 12.1.7, likely due out in December. It will continue the main story quest, add the new Talebound gameplay mode, new Lorewalking quests (for Jaina, Thrall, the Titans, and Tyr), and new abilities for the Omnium Folio.
  • There’s a new World of Warcraft Twitch Drop to be had: the Cuddly Gold-Colored Grrgl, another variation on the plush murloc decor item for your in-game home. It’s not my favorite colorway, but I’m gonna collect it anyway, just in case I decide to make a completely gold-colored room in the future.
  • A great many things have been overhauled in World of Warcraft: Forever, but one notable change is to the First Aid profession, which can now craft much more than bandages. We wrote up the details on First Aid’s new recipes.
  • One thing WoW: Forever didn’t overhaul enough (according to some fans) was the Blood Elf models being used for the new Skyborne elves. Players who prefer playing the game in SD, in particular, thought the models looked too crisp. Blizzard has updated Skyborne graphics, changing the Druid forms to better fit in the vanilla-era aesthetic and the devs are working on new SD models, which will arrive early next year.
  • We’re still prepping for WoW: Forever’s launch, and have instructions on how to get your Skyborne from their new starting zone in Zephras Isle to Orgrimmar and Stormwind to continue their adventures (or join your friends in a different starting zone).
  • This week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl is another Brawliseum, and it’s the most frustrating variant of Brawliseum: a pre-release brawl that only lets you use cards from the of-yet-unreleased Reign of the Black Empire expansion. While you can use common and rare cards for free (an improvement over last time), you still can’t craft cards or buy individual packs to get any must-have cards to complete your deck. We have some gameplay tips, regardless.

What’s happening this week (and beyond)

Other things we’re playing, watching, and more

Liz and Mitch are back with another episode of The Séance of Blake Manor this week, in which they try out a little lucid dreaming. (Which turns out to be highly disquieting.) You can watch the latest episode here, and if you haven’t been following along you can watch all of the episodes of Blake Manor (so far) on YouTube or catch us streaming indie games live Thursday at 8pm eastern (and follow us on Twitch to get notifications).




There are once again two free games in the Epic Games Store this week, spy puzzle game Agent A: A puzzle in disguise and creepy retro animation horror Bad Cheese. Grab them both before Thursday to get them for free!

Our latest podcasts

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

]]> Blizzard Watch The Queue: The Black Empire https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/16/queue-black-empire/ Fri, 16 Oct 2026 18:00:22 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216616

The Black Empire is coming. Again. There’s an enormous multi-tentacled creature blotting out the sun, and he comes to bring you love. Or death, I dunno.

This is The Queue, our daily Q&A column where the only question that truly matters is: who is the best Old God?

FARADAI THE BELOVED

Any new decks you’re looking forward to playing when the expansion releases?

Our Answer:

The new Xal’atath Priest, with lots of Shadow spells and Fatigue damage, seems interesting.

Apparently the new Combo Rogue with a bunch of Larvae seems to be really strong. And I’ve been on a Rogue kick lately, thanks to Troublemaker Rogue (and VanVan skins <3), so I might just continue on my path to 500 Rogue wins (despite Rogue historically being one of my most neglected classes).

AMBULANCE ROBOTS

What kind of bribes do you think Blizz will take in order to increase the amount of decor we can put outside our houses?

Tangentially: has anyone here run into a yard in your neighborhood that brings the frame rate down? My neighborhood is pretty good, and i was wondering if there were any folks that had encountered One Of Those yards in the live server wilds yet. So far it seems pretty good. Hoping the metrics back it up, and Blizz can release the brakes a bit more.

Our Answer:

It’s funny how the second part of your question might be related to your main question: maybe performance is part of the reason Blizzard hasn’t been super liberal about increasing the amount of decor. I don’t know; I’m no server engineer and all I can do is speculate. But the housing feature is something that a subsection of players gets really excited for (and have been doing some truly amazing things with), and decor is everywhere now as part of the game’s reward structures. So it stands to reason that Blizzard is very much going to continue supporting it strongly. Which means that, eventually, they should find ways to work around whatever issues prevent them from just allowing us to truly go crazy with our outside decor — assuming that’s the case.

Though they might also just be holding it to increase it slowly on purpose, before people find ways to break the game or server performance suddenly gets real bad but the cat is already out of the bag. Who knows!

KALCHEUS

Q4tQ Do you plan to earn the Legendary in patch 12.2, and if so on which class?

Our Answer:

Extremely unlikely. I didn’t get Shadowmourne, I didn’t get Tarecgosa, I didn’t get Val’anyr, etc. The only legendaries of that type I did get where the cloak in Mists and the ring in Draenor (and I’m not even sure if those count) because I could get them while being an LFR hero — and LFR was actually worth running back then.

ELIZABETH HARPER

What are YOU looking forward to in patch 12.1.7, or would you rather just skip ahead to patch 12.2?

Our Answer:

Skip skip skip skip skip. Skippety skip.

These middle patches haven’t been doing it for me, at all. I don’t find “new invasions! OMG!” to be compelling content. I don’t want to grind rep with a new faction for cosmetic rewards for the umpteenth time (I can’t remember the last time I actually bothered to finish one of these grinds — maybe Nazjatar, back in BfA?). And words like “more Omnium Folio runes to unlock!” actively sap my desire to play the game. Ugh.

On the other hand, I’m very much looking forward to race changing my Paladin into a Night Elf in 12.2. So yeah, if I could just skip ahead to that patch, I would, without a second thought.

ARTHONOS

Q4tQ: Who’s your favorite Fortune’s Weave character so far?

Our Answer:

Before the game even released, I already loved Gun Nun, I mean Anatolia, who’s not actually a nun. That still stands. And I already really liked Leda too, but I haven’t played her story yet, so I can’t say if that admiration will hold or not.

While playing the prologue, I really liked Chinese Edelgard Hong Hua. Then, as I started playing Cai’s story and she briefly showed up again, things were… decidedly different. (So much for that.)

And then, as I was fighting in the Arena alongside Theodora, the super serious queen started shouting about Cat Priest. And I saw her. Orchel. “Cat Priest.”

She inquired everyone about what the heck they were doing. Then, when people inquired her back, she refused to elaborate and left.

It’s Orchel so far. <3

MUSEDMOOSE

You need to pull off a grand heist, but you only have Blizzard characters to work with. Who’s on your heist team?

Our Answer:

Just Sombra.

We don’t need anyone else.

HIGH DENSITY WAFFLE

Is it me or do the belfs have the best color scheme in WoW?

Our Answer:

I can’t disagree here. Red and gold looks really, really good. And sometimes they throw some black in there too (i.e., Blood Knights), and it looks even better.

But I’m also very partial to the Draenei color scheme. Purple everywhere, I know, but that purple is often combined with white and gold, and it looks fantastic like that. Sophisticated and subtle.

ARTHONOS

Q4tQ: Does an announcement a game is getting more story via expansion or DLC before you’ve even finished it entice you to play more, or make you ponder waiting until the full thing is out?

Our Answer:

To be honest, I’m not a fan of that. I prefer it when they wait more to announce the DLC than releasing the game already with the DLC on the way, or shortly after. (Sadly, a lot of my favorite companies do release games that come with day 1 or “nearly day 1” DLC these days — it’s Nintendo right now, but Atlus does it a lot too.)

I just think it’s a very clear case of “business > gameplay.” That content gets released as DLC either because the company simply wants to sell more (the most likely explanation), or because some part of the game didn’t get finished in time so it was repurposed as DLC. It’s hard to believe the developers actually thought “the experience on this game we’re making will be better if the player plays the full game and then purchases some sort of addon or update to this game in just two to three weeks.”

ENO

What is the ultimate fate of Batman

Our Answer:

Gets severely injured after a climatic battle with a white-nosed clown. Passes on the mantle of Batman to some young upstart. Retires. Finally enjoys eight hours of sleep.

 

This has been The Queue. Do you have a second to hear the word of our lord and savior N’Zoth?

 

]]>

The Black Empire is coming. Again. There’s an enormous multi-tentacled creature blotting out the sun, and he comes to bring you love. Or death, I dunno.

This is The Queue, our daily Q&A column where the only question that truly matters is: who is the best Old God?

FARADAI THE BELOVED

Any new decks you’re looking forward to playing when the expansion releases?

Our Answer:

The new Xal’atath Priest, with lots of Shadow spells and Fatigue damage, seems interesting.

Apparently the new Combo Rogue with a bunch of Larvae seems to be really strong. And I’ve been on a Rogue kick lately, thanks to Troublemaker Rogue (and VanVan skins <3), so I might just continue on my path to 500 Rogue wins (despite Rogue historically being one of my most neglected classes).

AMBULANCE ROBOTS

What kind of bribes do you think Blizz will take in order to increase the amount of decor we can put outside our houses?

Tangentially: has anyone here run into a yard in your neighborhood that brings the frame rate down? My neighborhood is pretty good, and i was wondering if there were any folks that had encountered One Of Those yards in the live server wilds yet. So far it seems pretty good. Hoping the metrics back it up, and Blizz can release the brakes a bit more.

Our Answer:

It’s funny how the second part of your question might be related to your main question: maybe performance is part of the reason Blizzard hasn’t been super liberal about increasing the amount of decor. I don’t know; I’m no server engineer and all I can do is speculate. But the housing feature is something that a subsection of players gets really excited for (and have been doing some truly amazing things with), and decor is everywhere now as part of the game’s reward structures. So it stands to reason that Blizzard is very much going to continue supporting it strongly. Which means that, eventually, they should find ways to work around whatever issues prevent them from just allowing us to truly go crazy with our outside decor — assuming that’s the case.

Though they might also just be holding it to increase it slowly on purpose, before people find ways to break the game or server performance suddenly gets real bad but the cat is already out of the bag. Who knows!

KALCHEUS

Q4tQ Do you plan to earn the Legendary in patch 12.2, and if so on which class?

Our Answer:

Extremely unlikely. I didn’t get Shadowmourne, I didn’t get Tarecgosa, I didn’t get Val’anyr, etc. The only legendaries of that type I did get where the cloak in Mists and the ring in Draenor (and I’m not even sure if those count) because I could get them while being an LFR hero — and LFR was actually worth running back then.

ELIZABETH HARPER

What are YOU looking forward to in patch 12.1.7, or would you rather just skip ahead to patch 12.2?

Our Answer:

Skip skip skip skip skip. Skippety skip.

These middle patches haven’t been doing it for me, at all. I don’t find “new invasions! OMG!” to be compelling content. I don’t want to grind rep with a new faction for cosmetic rewards for the umpteenth time (I can’t remember the last time I actually bothered to finish one of these grinds — maybe Nazjatar, back in BfA?). And words like “more Omnium Folio runes to unlock!” actively sap my desire to play the game. Ugh.

On the other hand, I’m very much looking forward to race changing my Paladin into a Night Elf in 12.2. So yeah, if I could just skip ahead to that patch, I would, without a second thought.

ARTHONOS

Q4tQ: Who’s your favorite Fortune’s Weave character so far?

Our Answer:

Before the game even released, I already loved Gun Nun, I mean Anatolia, who’s not actually a nun. That still stands. And I already really liked Leda too, but I haven’t played her story yet, so I can’t say if that admiration will hold or not.

While playing the prologue, I really liked Chinese Edelgard Hong Hua. Then, as I started playing Cai’s story and she briefly showed up again, things were… decidedly different. (So much for that.)

And then, as I was fighting in the Arena alongside Theodora, the super serious queen started shouting about Cat Priest. And I saw her. Orchel. “Cat Priest.”

She inquired everyone about what the heck they were doing. Then, when people inquired her back, she refused to elaborate and left.

It’s Orchel so far. <3

MUSEDMOOSE

You need to pull off a grand heist, but you only have Blizzard characters to work with. Who’s on your heist team?

Our Answer:

Just Sombra.

We don’t need anyone else.

HIGH DENSITY WAFFLE

Is it me or do the belfs have the best color scheme in WoW?

Our Answer:

I can’t disagree here. Red and gold looks really, really good. And sometimes they throw some black in there too (i.e., Blood Knights), and it looks even better.

But I’m also very partial to the Draenei color scheme. Purple everywhere, I know, but that purple is often combined with white and gold, and it looks fantastic like that. Sophisticated and subtle.

ARTHONOS

Q4tQ: Does an announcement a game is getting more story via expansion or DLC before you’ve even finished it entice you to play more, or make you ponder waiting until the full thing is out?

Our Answer:

To be honest, I’m not a fan of that. I prefer it when they wait more to announce the DLC than releasing the game already with the DLC on the way, or shortly after. (Sadly, a lot of my favorite companies do release games that come with day 1 or “nearly day 1” DLC these days — it’s Nintendo right now, but Atlus does it a lot too.)

I just think it’s a very clear case of “business > gameplay.” That content gets released as DLC either because the company simply wants to sell more (the most likely explanation), or because some part of the game didn’t get finished in time so it was repurposed as DLC. It’s hard to believe the developers actually thought “the experience on this game we’re making will be better if the player plays the full game and then purchases some sort of addon or update to this game in just two to three weeks.”

ENO

What is the ultimate fate of Batman

Our Answer:

Gets severely injured after a climatic battle with a white-nosed clown. Passes on the mantle of Batman to some young upstart. Retires. Finally enjoys eight hours of sleep.

 

This has been The Queue. Do you have a second to hear the word of our lord and savior N’Zoth?

 

]]> Blizzard Watch Blizzard Watch Podcast: What we love (and hate) about World of Warcraft patch 12.1.5 https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/16/blizzard-watch-podcast-love-hate-world-warcraft-patch-12-1-5/ Fri, 16 Oct 2026 16:00:19 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216606

This week is patch 12.1.5 in World of Warcraft, which isn’t a big patch but it has some story content we aren’t happy about and Labyrinths that we are happy about. Plus huge improvements to crafting decor (you don’t need nearly as much lumber now), store transmog sets with hair under hats, the strange state of WoW Classic, and how gold sellers (and buyers) are already getting banned in WoW: Forever. Yes, it’s still in beta, but some people just couldn’t wait.

You can listen to the podcast directly from this post or click on “Follow” in the player below to follow the podcast in your podcast player of choice and download directly to your device.

Or catch up with recent episodes on our playlist to be sure you haven’t missed any of the latest news.

If you’d like to catch up on previous Blizzard Watch podcasts, our weekly Lore Watch podcast, or our ongoing TTRPG podcasts, check out our podcast page. You can also search for any of these programs in your favorite podcast player to subscribe and be notified when a new one is released.

And finally, if you subscribe to our Patreon Tier 2 or above you will not only get the uncut version of the Blizzard Watch podcast with a bonus 30 minute pre-show, but you will also be able to listen to the Blizzard Watch and Lore Watch podcasts before they’re released to the public.

Thanks for your support and enjoy the show!

]]>

This week is patch 12.1.5 in World of Warcraft, which isn’t a big patch but it has some story content we aren’t happy about and Labyrinths that we are happy about. Plus huge improvements to crafting decor (you don’t need nearly as much lumber now), store transmog sets with hair under hats, the strange state of WoW Classic, and how gold sellers (and buyers) are already getting banned in WoW: Forever. Yes, it’s still in beta, but some people just couldn’t wait.

You can listen to the podcast directly from this post or click on “Follow” in the player below to follow the podcast in your podcast player of choice and download directly to your device.

Or catch up with recent episodes on our playlist to be sure you haven’t missed any of the latest news.

If you’d like to catch up on previous Blizzard Watch podcasts, our weekly Lore Watch podcast, or our ongoing TTRPG podcasts, check out our podcast page. You can also search for any of these programs in your favorite podcast player to subscribe and be notified when a new one is released.

And finally, if you subscribe to our Patreon Tier 2 or above you will not only get the uncut version of the Blizzard Watch podcast with a bonus 30 minute pre-show, but you will also be able to listen to the Blizzard Watch and Lore Watch podcasts before they’re released to the public.

Thanks for your support and enjoy the show!

]]> Blizzard Watch First Aid has gotten an overhaul in World of Warcraft: Forever https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/16/first-aid-getting-new-recipes-updates-world-warcraft-forever/ Fri, 16 Oct 2026 14:00:58 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216265

World of Warcraft: Forever has thoroughly embraced the “some changes” ethos, and First Aid has gotten some big improvements. All Forever professions have been updated with new recipes and features to help along your adventures, but First Aid has gotten a particular glow up with the addition of healing potions for quick and easy healing. And because First Aid is one of three secondary professions (along with Fishing and Cooking) that all players can learn in addition to their two primary professions, the ability to craft healing potions (and more) is easily accessible to all players, regardless of their crafting and gathering professions.

So let’s take a look at what’s new with First Aid in WoW: Forever. This information is based on what we’ve seen in the WoW: Forever beta and may be changed before the game launches on November 4, 2026. There’s also the chance that more recipes and changes will be revealed after the full game launches or added as WoW: Forever adds new content, so keep that in mind.

For now, we’ll work with what we have. Here’s what you need to know about the First Aid updates and new recipes in WoW: Forever. 

First Aid healing potions in WoW: Forever

While First Aid can still make the usual bandages, it can craft several new items. The major update to First Aid in WoW: Forever is the ability to make all levels of healing potions instead of needing to spec into Alchemy. Now, every player will be able to make their own healing potions provided they are a high enough skill level. The recipes have also been updated to require additional spice ingredients on top of the usual herbs, meaning players will still need to gather themselves or purchase from Herbalism vendors or the Auction House.

Here are the healing potion recipes:

First Aid Campfire items in WoW: Forever

WoW: Forever’s new Campfire system has three new item recipes for each profession that are parts of the campsite and grant different benefits and hour-long buffs for players. Each item recipe can be learned at profession skill level 1, level 140, and level 300 regardless of profession, so no group has an advantage over the other. Profession trainers can all teach the skill level 20 items but the remaining two items may need to be learned from recipes that drop in the open world.

  • First Aid Kit (Skill level 20) — Increases Stamina (exclusive with Power Word: Fortitude)
  • Toxin Study (Skill level 140) — Contains healing potions and anti-venom, provides all benefits of a First Aid Kit
  • Plague Doctor’s Laboratory (Skill level 300) — Contains healing potions and poultices, provides all benefits of a First Aid Kit

More new First Aid recipes in WoW: Forever 

Poultices and Tourniquets are the two new First Aid Recipe types in WoW: Forever that respectively cure diseases and stop bleeding effects, up to certain effect levels. Like the Campfire items, the First Aid trainer can teach some of the beginner/intermediate skills while the high-level ones will probably drop as recipes.

WoW: Forever Poultice (anti-disease) recipes

WoW: Forever Tourniquet (anti-bleed) recipes

]]>

World of Warcraft: Forever has thoroughly embraced the “some changes” ethos, and First Aid has gotten some big improvements. All Forever professions have been updated with new recipes and features to help along your adventures, but First Aid has gotten a particular glow up with the addition of healing potions for quick and easy healing. And because First Aid is one of three secondary professions (along with Fishing and Cooking) that all players can learn in addition to their two primary professions, the ability to craft healing potions (and more) is easily accessible to all players, regardless of their crafting and gathering professions.

So let’s take a look at what’s new with First Aid in WoW: Forever. This information is based on what we’ve seen in the WoW: Forever beta and may be changed before the game launches on November 4, 2026. There’s also the chance that more recipes and changes will be revealed after the full game launches or added as WoW: Forever adds new content, so keep that in mind.

For now, we’ll work with what we have. Here’s what you need to know about the First Aid updates and new recipes in WoW: Forever. 

First Aid healing potions in WoW: Forever

While First Aid can still make the usual bandages, it can craft several new items. The major update to First Aid in WoW: Forever is the ability to make all levels of healing potions instead of needing to spec into Alchemy. Now, every player will be able to make their own healing potions provided they are a high enough skill level. The recipes have also been updated to require additional spice ingredients on top of the usual herbs, meaning players will still need to gather themselves or purchase from Herbalism vendors or the Auction House.

Here are the healing potion recipes:

First Aid Campfire items in WoW: Forever

WoW: Forever’s new Campfire system has three new item recipes for each profession that are parts of the campsite and grant different benefits and hour-long buffs for players. Each item recipe can be learned at profession skill level 1, level 140, and level 300 regardless of profession, so no group has an advantage over the other. Profession trainers can all teach the skill level 20 items but the remaining two items may need to be learned from recipes that drop in the open world.

  • First Aid Kit (Skill level 20) — Increases Stamina (exclusive with Power Word: Fortitude)
  • Toxin Study (Skill level 140) — Contains healing potions and anti-venom, provides all benefits of a First Aid Kit
  • Plague Doctor’s Laboratory (Skill level 300) — Contains healing potions and poultices, provides all benefits of a First Aid Kit

More new First Aid recipes in WoW: Forever 

Poultices and Tourniquets are the two new First Aid Recipe types in WoW: Forever that respectively cure diseases and stop bleeding effects, up to certain effect levels. Like the Campfire items, the First Aid trainer can teach some of the beginner/intermediate skills while the high-level ones will probably drop as recipes.

WoW: Forever Poultice (anti-disease) recipes

WoW: Forever Tourniquet (anti-bleed) recipes

]]> Blizzard Watch When is WoW: Midnight patch 12.1.7 release date? Our best guess is December 2026 https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/15/wow-midnight-patch-12-1-7-release-date/ Thu, 15 Oct 2026 23:00:16 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216608

It’s already time to talk about World of Warcraft patch 12.1.7: Echoes of the Worldcore. Blizzard has wasted no time in propelling Midnight along to its inevitable conclusion by announcing patch 12.1.7 (some of which we already knew about from BlizzCon), a light-weight patch that adds new story quests, the Talebound gameplay mode, more Lorewalking and Timewalking, and some other fun features.

But the biggest question everyone has about the next patch is: when is the patch 12.1.7 release date? Unfortunately, we don’t have a definitive answer yet. But Blizzard is pretty consistent about patch cadence, and according to the latest World of Warcraft roadmap, patch 12.1.7 will go live in late autumn or early winter. With that in mind, likely that patch 12.1.7 will launch on December 8, 2026 (for NA players).

Now, let’s talk about what’s actually in the upcoming WoW patch.




What’s coming in WoW patch 12.1.7?

If you’re wondering what we can expect in patch 12.1.7, a here’s the big picture overview of the patch’s major features:

  • Players return to Dornogal in a brand-new Story Campaign where Arator, Brinthe, Dagran, and Brann follow Xal’atath’s footsteps trail to the Worldcore.
  • Relive — and try to survive — the Storyteller’s spooky stories in Talebound, a new PVE Action-RPG game mode
    • …and yes, it has its own currency, Bound Silver.
  • Several new Lorewalking Quests involving Jaina, Thrall, the Titans, and Tyr.
  • Turbulent Timeways is back! Again!
    • This time, players can receive the Markeet of the Infinite mount for anyone who maintains Mastery of the Timeways for any four weeks during the eight-week event.
    • Plus, new Decor items and a chance for a Heroic-level Cache of Quel-Thalas Treasures.
  • The Omnium Folio omni-unfolds with expanded capabilities
    • Players can earn two additional Motes of Omnial Inquiry.
    • Two additional Runes have also been added: Rune of Empowerment and Rune of Critical Mass.

If you want every detail, read the full PTR patch notes here.

Blizzard continues to inundate players with new features and story updates at a breakneck pace. And as excited as I am for all things spooky, I’d be okay if we slowed down a little between patches. My house misses me, Blizzard!

]]>

It’s already time to talk about World of Warcraft patch 12.1.7: Echoes of the Worldcore. Blizzard has wasted no time in propelling Midnight along to its inevitable conclusion by announcing patch 12.1.7 (some of which we already knew about from BlizzCon), a light-weight patch that adds new story quests, the Talebound gameplay mode, more Lorewalking and Timewalking, and some other fun features.

But the biggest question everyone has about the next patch is: when is the patch 12.1.7 release date? Unfortunately, we don’t have a definitive answer yet. But Blizzard is pretty consistent about patch cadence, and according to the latest World of Warcraft roadmap, patch 12.1.7 will go live in late autumn or early winter. With that in mind, likely that patch 12.1.7 will launch on December 8, 2026 (for NA players).

Now, let’s talk about what’s actually in the upcoming WoW patch.




What’s coming in WoW patch 12.1.7?

If you’re wondering what we can expect in patch 12.1.7, a here’s the big picture overview of the patch’s major features:

  • Players return to Dornogal in a brand-new Story Campaign where Arator, Brinthe, Dagran, and Brann follow Xal’atath’s footsteps trail to the Worldcore.
  • Relive — and try to survive — the Storyteller’s spooky stories in Talebound, a new PVE Action-RPG game mode
    • …and yes, it has its own currency, Bound Silver.
  • Several new Lorewalking Quests involving Jaina, Thrall, the Titans, and Tyr.
  • Turbulent Timeways is back! Again!
    • This time, players can receive the Markeet of the Infinite mount for anyone who maintains Mastery of the Timeways for any four weeks during the eight-week event.
    • Plus, new Decor items and a chance for a Heroic-level Cache of Quel-Thalas Treasures.
  • The Omnium Folio omni-unfolds with expanded capabilities
    • Players can earn two additional Motes of Omnial Inquiry.
    • Two additional Runes have also been added: Rune of Empowerment and Rune of Critical Mass.

If you want every detail, read the full PTR patch notes here.

Blizzard continues to inundate players with new features and story updates at a breakneck pace. And as excited as I am for all things spooky, I’d be okay if we slowed down a little between patches. My house misses me, Blizzard!

]]> Blizzard Watch WoW: Forever’s new Skyborne elves are getting updated visuals to better fit into old world Azeroth https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/15/wow-forevers-new-skyborne-elves-getting-visual-updates-current-models-soon-planned-classic-style-character-2027/ Thu, 15 Oct 2026 20:00:52 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216485

The Skyborne elves, the new race added in World of Warcraft: Forever, are getting visual updates to their in-game character models to better fit the game’s classic art style. The first update will focus on reworks to the current high definition (HD) in-game models and is set to arrive in the near future, while a second update introducing standard definition (SD) character models to the game is scheduled for early 2027, for players who prefer the original low-rez Warcraft experience.

One of the main pillars of World of Warcraft: Forever is playing your way and the Forever created a set of features players could choose to customize their experience from the jump. This included the choices between SD and HD character models, essentially the choice between Classic and modern appearances for characters and NPCs. Related to the character models, players can choose which visual style of the open game world they would rather see, the vanilla/Classic style or the modern-day World of Warcraft aesthetic.

Blizzard’s goal to adjust the available in-game Skyborne model is to make it more cohesive with the overall visuals of Azeroth in Forever, acknowledging it was jarring for players to choose a Classic-looking open world and then have an HD character right in the middle of it, immediately disrupting their chosen visual style. Right now, the main example Blizzard is showcasing for updated HD models are the new Skyborne Druid shapeshift forms, with updated color palettes and textures to better fit in with the world around them while still honoring the exotic environment they hail from.

We don’t have any additional information on other adjustments that Blizzard may be considering (or is perhaps already working on) for the rest of the game. But if Blizzard is making more changes to keep the classic aesthetic, they may also tweak the current customization options players can choose during character creation. Of course, we’ll just have to wait and see what ultimately gets changed.

At the moment, the reworked aspects of Skyborne HD models don’t have a set timeline (but are expected soon), while the Skybrone SD models are on track for “early 2027.” For the HD model reworks, we could see them implemented in time for WoW: Forever’s November 4 launch but players shouldn’t bank on this until we get a confirmation from the Forever team. The SD model timeline of “early 2027” might make it into the game with the planned spring 2027 update from the WoW: Forever roadmap we got at BlizzCon.

With Forever’s launch rapidly approaching, we’re hoping to get more information on a timeline for the HD model reworks. Once we do, we’ll keep you updated!

]]>

The Skyborne elves, the new race added in World of Warcraft: Forever, are getting visual updates to their in-game character models to better fit the game’s classic art style. The first update will focus on reworks to the current high definition (HD) in-game models and is set to arrive in the near future, while a second update introducing standard definition (SD) character models to the game is scheduled for early 2027, for players who prefer the original low-rez Warcraft experience.

One of the main pillars of World of Warcraft: Forever is playing your way and the Forever created a set of features players could choose to customize their experience from the jump. This included the choices between SD and HD character models, essentially the choice between Classic and modern appearances for characters and NPCs. Related to the character models, players can choose which visual style of the open game world they would rather see, the vanilla/Classic style or the modern-day World of Warcraft aesthetic.

Blizzard’s goal to adjust the available in-game Skyborne model is to make it more cohesive with the overall visuals of Azeroth in Forever, acknowledging it was jarring for players to choose a Classic-looking open world and then have an HD character right in the middle of it, immediately disrupting their chosen visual style. Right now, the main example Blizzard is showcasing for updated HD models are the new Skyborne Druid shapeshift forms, with updated color palettes and textures to better fit in with the world around them while still honoring the exotic environment they hail from.

We don’t have any additional information on other adjustments that Blizzard may be considering (or is perhaps already working on) for the rest of the game. But if Blizzard is making more changes to keep the classic aesthetic, they may also tweak the current customization options players can choose during character creation. Of course, we’ll just have to wait and see what ultimately gets changed.

At the moment, the reworked aspects of Skyborne HD models don’t have a set timeline (but are expected soon), while the Skybrone SD models are on track for “early 2027.” For the HD model reworks, we could see them implemented in time for WoW: Forever’s November 4 launch but players shouldn’t bank on this until we get a confirmation from the Forever team. The SD model timeline of “early 2027” might make it into the game with the planned spring 2027 update from the WoW: Forever roadmap we got at BlizzCon.

With Forever’s launch rapidly approaching, we’re hoping to get more information on a timeline for the HD model reworks. Once we do, we’ll keep you updated!

]]> Blizzard Watch The Queue: Lizdormi checking in https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/15/queue-lizdormi-checking/ Thu, 15 Oct 2026 18:00:28 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216595

It’s patch week in World of Warcraft, for better and for worse, and I’m just checking in to see how everyone is doing out there. Hitting up the new raid? Checking out the Labyrinths? Experiencing perfectly wonderful new content that does nothing but spark joy?

…no? Well, we’ll have to work on that. Maybe while writing angry fanfic and waiting for the latest round of hotfixes.

But that’s the patch cycle for you. Ups and downs and downs and ups. The world keeps rolling onward regardless.

This is the Queue, our daily Q&A column where I, Lizdormi, attempt to answer your questions with what wisdom of the Dragonflights I may have. It’s not always much, but let’s get to it anyway.

KALCHEUS ASKED:

Q4tQ Do you think we’ll fight alongside Iridikron at some point in The Last Titan?

Our Answer:

In Dawn of the Infinites, Iridikron gives us what could be a whole timeline for The Last Titan:

All they [the Titans] wanted was our world. With this [the Dark Heart], the Harbinger will pry it from their grasp. And When the Titans come to claim their prize, I will be waiting.

We come to think of Xal’atath as a master planner, who’s always a step ahead of us. (Part of that is just that our characters are very dumb.) But Iridikron seems to be several steps ahead of her, retrieving the Dark Heart for her knowing that she would use it to go after the World Soul. He doesn’t trust the Void, or Xal’atath herself, but he trusts the Void’s endless hunger. It will not be sated. Xal’atath will have to go after the World Soul. And when she does, the Titans will come — not, he believes, for us, but for the soul of Azeroth itself, which they have put great pains into protecting in its nascent state. He has been setting up a multi-expansion trap for them, and quietly letting everyone else do the leg work while he waits it out.

Whether we fight alongside Iridikron or against him will depend very much on what the Titans want when they arrive. Will they seek to claim the World Soul and damn whoever is living here? We’ll fight alongside any allies who will have us. Will they seek to protect Azeroth and its denizens? Then we’ll fight alongside them, instead.

Blizzard has given different takes on what the Titans are. They may be the benevolent keepers of the peace, protecting worlds in their care from undue harm or outside influence. They may be meddlers, shaping worlds and people to their whims. They may simply want Azeroth and not care about any of the rest. The answer most likely lies somewhere in the middle of the myths the Titans left behind — but there’s no knowing for sure what angle Blizzard intends to take.

Until we know that, there’s no telling whether we’re with Iridikron or against him.

KALCHEUS ASKED:

Q4tQ We’re going to have Forsaken and NElf Pallies before ReWrath, right?

Our Answer:

More Paladins will arrive in patch 12.2 (probably coming around February), whereas Wrath Remix will arrive in patch 12.2.7 (probably coming around June or July).

LEFTY SAID:

I’m getting REALLY TIRED of completing multiple wings of the Labyrinth, and then having to reset since something glitched and I can’t progress forward.

Also,, after the patch, my DPS Valeera turned into tissue paper and equipped wet spaghetti noodles for weapons. Healing Valeera is doing more damage than Damge Valeera.

(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

Our Answer:

There is at least some good news on the Labyrinth front. I ran several of them on Tuesday and encountered a few bugs, and some points of confusion on how to progress, both of which stopped me in my tracks. But since this, Blizzard has hot fixed quite a few bugs:

  • Fixed an issue where the kill credit for a boss may not register if it was the second time the boss had to be defeated in the same Labyrinth run.
  • Fixed an issue where the Kindo’jan encounter would fail to successfully complete when Kindo’jan reached 1 health.
  • Fixed an issue in the “Returning the Bounty” scenario that could sometimes prevent the initial bag interaction from being completable.
  • Fixed an issue in the “Returning the Bounty” scenario where Hording Looters could sometimes stop spawning.
  • Fixed an issue where Ancient Hash’ey Battle Arts enchantment effects can trigger outside of delves and The Labyrinth of Kindo’jan.
  • Increased the maximum item level for the Ancient Hash’ey Battle Art enchantment to 344 (was 334).
  • Players can no longer cleanse Cursed Energy in the “Fools and Curses” scenario.
  • Enemies in Halazzi’s Lair no longer spawn within the walls.
  • Characters can no longer fall through the terrain when respawning in Nalorakk’s Rest.

I believe that first one was a problem that both you and I encountered when we tackled the Labyrinth, with bosses that would never register as dead, which stopped the run straight up. These hotfixes may not address everything, but they should help.

I agree that content shouldn’t roll out like this, with bugs that immediately need fixing when we’ve had seven weeks on the PTR to find run-ending issues like you and I have struggled with. I also know that sometimes the PTR isn’t enough. I didn’t personally test Labyrinths on the PTR because I couldn’t get the client working right, and never got there. And in general, the volume of players on a PTR is far lower than what content gets on live; sometimes bugs go unnoticed until they hit live realms and get a real stress test.

Still, Labyrinths were in a rough shape when they launched, and it felt like we could have done better and had this a little more polished on day one. They’re getting better, and quickly, which is good. But I don’t think it’s too much to ask that new features be reasonably playable on launch day.

I like this first Labyrinth, though I wish there was a little more variety and a way to save your progress. I hope Blizzard keeps iterating on the system as they have done with Prey and with Delves to improve it and make it better… but I also hope the next Labyrinth plays a little better out of the box.

As to Valeera, I don’t know. I keep her specced healing and haven’t noticed any differences. But also, it’s Valeera and I feel like her gameplay can be a little erratic, particularly post-patch. I don’t love it, but here we are,.

KALCHEUS ASKED:

Q4tQ are any of the activities added in 12.1 or 12.1.5 good for leveling?

Our Answer:

Leveling is really the same as it’s always been, just with more sources of catchup gear; the Labyrinth in particular drops a ton of Warbound gear for alts. And the Labyrinth may also be a good place to level (under 90s can enter in difficulty tiers 1, 2, and 3 if one of your characters has done a the level 90 quest to unlock it) as it has high mob density but no encounters that are over the top challenging. (In fact, tier 1 Delves feel ridiculously easy.) But it’s not exactly designed for leveling, either, and I haven’t spent enough time to tell you if the time/XP ratio is better than questing — Delves are usually good for leveling largely because of the big rewards from the quest turnin, and the Labyrinth doesn’t have quests like that.

The patch 12.1.5 Aqir Invasions may be good for leveling, but as was pointed out in the comments, they’re very short, and you’re racing to complete as much as you can on a tight timer. It could be a nice diversion while you’re leveling, but it’s not a replacement for other leveling activities.

And the Coiled Isle added in patch 12.1 is not for leveling at all, nor does it even provide catch-up gear. It’s a fairly difficult end-game zone, including the Temple of Atal’Utek area which is packed with elites and can be tough even for reasonably geared 90s. (I’m ilevel 318 but I won’t walk in if I’m not in tank spec.) You shouldn’t even be thinking about it when you’re leveling.

MUSEDMOOSE ASKED:

Q4tQ: how much to you pay attention to your time played in games? Asking because I have one week to finish my FF7R replay and somehow it seems to be taking longer the second time through. I don’t know how that’s possible.

Our Answer:

I could add up my time played in World of Warcraft, but I don’t really want to know. I’m sure the number is terrifying.

I have spent over 1200 hours playing Dragon Age: Inquisition, though, and I’ve decided I’m not even mad about it. I could be doing worse things with my life.

But as to paying attention, really paying attention, I usually don’t except when I happen across the information and (sometimes) am embarrassed by it. If I’m having fun, it doesn’t matter how many hours I’ve played. And if I’m not having fun, well, I’ve played enough hours already.

CORY ASKED:

Q4tQ: loot behind waterfalls, are you happy to find loot behind a waterfall because it’s a gaming classic? Or do you see it as a lazy gaming trope and you could do without it.

Our Answer:

Waterfalls are the final horizon of exploration and adventure. You should always put something fun behind at least one waterfall.

KALCHEUS ASKED:

Q4tQ what announced feature of 12.1.7 are you most looking forward to?

Our Answer:

Seeing this announcement is mostly making me tired. I guess Talebound is interesting, and it has some transmog rewards. But the patch cycle is relentless, hungry, insatiable.  New content will come, and we can but watch and wait.

That’s all for today my friends. Take care and I’ll be seeing you in the comments section!

]]>

It’s patch week in World of Warcraft, for better and for worse, and I’m just checking in to see how everyone is doing out there. Hitting up the new raid? Checking out the Labyrinths? Experiencing perfectly wonderful new content that does nothing but spark joy?

…no? Well, we’ll have to work on that. Maybe while writing angry fanfic and waiting for the latest round of hotfixes.

But that’s the patch cycle for you. Ups and downs and downs and ups. The world keeps rolling onward regardless.

This is the Queue, our daily Q&A column where I, Lizdormi, attempt to answer your questions with what wisdom of the Dragonflights I may have. It’s not always much, but let’s get to it anyway.

KALCHEUS ASKED:

Q4tQ Do you think we’ll fight alongside Iridikron at some point in The Last Titan?

Our Answer:

In Dawn of the Infinites, Iridikron gives us what could be a whole timeline for The Last Titan:

All they [the Titans] wanted was our world. With this [the Dark Heart], the Harbinger will pry it from their grasp. And When the Titans come to claim their prize, I will be waiting.

We come to think of Xal’atath as a master planner, who’s always a step ahead of us. (Part of that is just that our characters are very dumb.) But Iridikron seems to be several steps ahead of her, retrieving the Dark Heart for her knowing that she would use it to go after the World Soul. He doesn’t trust the Void, or Xal’atath herself, but he trusts the Void’s endless hunger. It will not be sated. Xal’atath will have to go after the World Soul. And when she does, the Titans will come — not, he believes, for us, but for the soul of Azeroth itself, which they have put great pains into protecting in its nascent state. He has been setting up a multi-expansion trap for them, and quietly letting everyone else do the leg work while he waits it out.

Whether we fight alongside Iridikron or against him will depend very much on what the Titans want when they arrive. Will they seek to claim the World Soul and damn whoever is living here? We’ll fight alongside any allies who will have us. Will they seek to protect Azeroth and its denizens? Then we’ll fight alongside them, instead.

Blizzard has given different takes on what the Titans are. They may be the benevolent keepers of the peace, protecting worlds in their care from undue harm or outside influence. They may be meddlers, shaping worlds and people to their whims. They may simply want Azeroth and not care about any of the rest. The answer most likely lies somewhere in the middle of the myths the Titans left behind — but there’s no knowing for sure what angle Blizzard intends to take.

Until we know that, there’s no telling whether we’re with Iridikron or against him.

KALCHEUS ASKED:

Q4tQ We’re going to have Forsaken and NElf Pallies before ReWrath, right?

Our Answer:

More Paladins will arrive in patch 12.2 (probably coming around February), whereas Wrath Remix will arrive in patch 12.2.7 (probably coming around June or July).

LEFTY SAID:

I’m getting REALLY TIRED of completing multiple wings of the Labyrinth, and then having to reset since something glitched and I can’t progress forward.

Also,, after the patch, my DPS Valeera turned into tissue paper and equipped wet spaghetti noodles for weapons. Healing Valeera is doing more damage than Damge Valeera.

(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

Our Answer:

There is at least some good news on the Labyrinth front. I ran several of them on Tuesday and encountered a few bugs, and some points of confusion on how to progress, both of which stopped me in my tracks. But since this, Blizzard has hot fixed quite a few bugs:

  • Fixed an issue where the kill credit for a boss may not register if it was the second time the boss had to be defeated in the same Labyrinth run.
  • Fixed an issue where the Kindo’jan encounter would fail to successfully complete when Kindo’jan reached 1 health.
  • Fixed an issue in the “Returning the Bounty” scenario that could sometimes prevent the initial bag interaction from being completable.
  • Fixed an issue in the “Returning the Bounty” scenario where Hording Looters could sometimes stop spawning.
  • Fixed an issue where Ancient Hash’ey Battle Arts enchantment effects can trigger outside of delves and The Labyrinth of Kindo’jan.
  • Increased the maximum item level for the Ancient Hash’ey Battle Art enchantment to 344 (was 334).
  • Players can no longer cleanse Cursed Energy in the “Fools and Curses” scenario.
  • Enemies in Halazzi’s Lair no longer spawn within the walls.
  • Characters can no longer fall through the terrain when respawning in Nalorakk’s Rest.

I believe that first one was a problem that both you and I encountered when we tackled the Labyrinth, with bosses that would never register as dead, which stopped the run straight up. These hotfixes may not address everything, but they should help.

I agree that content shouldn’t roll out like this, with bugs that immediately need fixing when we’ve had seven weeks on the PTR to find run-ending issues like you and I have struggled with. I also know that sometimes the PTR isn’t enough. I didn’t personally test Labyrinths on the PTR because I couldn’t get the client working right, and never got there. And in general, the volume of players on a PTR is far lower than what content gets on live; sometimes bugs go unnoticed until they hit live realms and get a real stress test.

Still, Labyrinths were in a rough shape when they launched, and it felt like we could have done better and had this a little more polished on day one. They’re getting better, and quickly, which is good. But I don’t think it’s too much to ask that new features be reasonably playable on launch day.

I like this first Labyrinth, though I wish there was a little more variety and a way to save your progress. I hope Blizzard keeps iterating on the system as they have done with Prey and with Delves to improve it and make it better… but I also hope the next Labyrinth plays a little better out of the box.

As to Valeera, I don’t know. I keep her specced healing and haven’t noticed any differences. But also, it’s Valeera and I feel like her gameplay can be a little erratic, particularly post-patch. I don’t love it, but here we are,.

KALCHEUS ASKED:

Q4tQ are any of the activities added in 12.1 or 12.1.5 good for leveling?

Our Answer:

Leveling is really the same as it’s always been, just with more sources of catchup gear; the Labyrinth in particular drops a ton of Warbound gear for alts. And the Labyrinth may also be a good place to level (under 90s can enter in difficulty tiers 1, 2, and 3 if one of your characters has done a the level 90 quest to unlock it) as it has high mob density but no encounters that are over the top challenging. (In fact, tier 1 Delves feel ridiculously easy.) But it’s not exactly designed for leveling, either, and I haven’t spent enough time to tell you if the time/XP ratio is better than questing — Delves are usually good for leveling largely because of the big rewards from the quest turnin, and the Labyrinth doesn’t have quests like that.

The patch 12.1.5 Aqir Invasions may be good for leveling, but as was pointed out in the comments, they’re very short, and you’re racing to complete as much as you can on a tight timer. It could be a nice diversion while you’re leveling, but it’s not a replacement for other leveling activities.

And the Coiled Isle added in patch 12.1 is not for leveling at all, nor does it even provide catch-up gear. It’s a fairly difficult end-game zone, including the Temple of Atal’Utek area which is packed with elites and can be tough even for reasonably geared 90s. (I’m ilevel 318 but I won’t walk in if I’m not in tank spec.) You shouldn’t even be thinking about it when you’re leveling.

MUSEDMOOSE ASKED:

Q4tQ: how much to you pay attention to your time played in games? Asking because I have one week to finish my FF7R replay and somehow it seems to be taking longer the second time through. I don’t know how that’s possible.

Our Answer:

I could add up my time played in World of Warcraft, but I don’t really want to know. I’m sure the number is terrifying.

I have spent over 1200 hours playing Dragon Age: Inquisition, though, and I’ve decided I’m not even mad about it. I could be doing worse things with my life.

But as to paying attention, really paying attention, I usually don’t except when I happen across the information and (sometimes) am embarrassed by it. If I’m having fun, it doesn’t matter how many hours I’ve played. And if I’m not having fun, well, I’ve played enough hours already.

CORY ASKED:

Q4tQ: loot behind waterfalls, are you happy to find loot behind a waterfall because it’s a gaming classic? Or do you see it as a lazy gaming trope and you could do without it.

Our Answer:

Waterfalls are the final horizon of exploration and adventure. You should always put something fun behind at least one waterfall.

KALCHEUS ASKED:

Q4tQ what announced feature of 12.1.7 are you most looking forward to?

Our Answer:

Seeing this announcement is mostly making me tired. I guess Talebound is interesting, and it has some transmog rewards. But the patch cycle is relentless, hungry, insatiable.  New content will come, and we can but watch and wait.

That’s all for today my friends. Take care and I’ll be seeing you in the comments section!

]]> Blizzard Watch The Epic Games Store is giving away Bad Cheese and Agent A: a puzzle in disguise for free this week https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/15/epic-games-store-giving-away-bad-cheese-agent-puzzle-disguise-free-week/ Thu, 15 Oct 2026 16:00:10 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216440

Every week the Epic Games Store gives away a game or two for free. This week, they’re giving us two games with retro art styles and literally nothing else in common.

Agent A is a very typical, but fun, escape room style puzzle game. You play as a secret agent like James Bond, complete with a Sean Connery-era retro art style. You have to find your way to the lair of your nemesis, and thwart her cunning and evil plan by solving several different puzzles in sequence. The puzzles look both somewhat typical, but involve objectives like defusing bombs and other spy-related narrative reasonings for the puzzles. If you enjoyed The Room series or Escape Academy this will likely be right up your alley.

  • Bad Cheese
    • Release Date: January 9, 2026
    • Game Type: walking sim, narrative adventure
    • POV: First person
    • Party: Single Player
    • DLC: None

Bad Cheese has an art style that lies between a Cuphead-style 20s and 30s animation idea, but also with the parts of Ren and Stimpy that were uncomfortably realistic. I am unfamiliar with this game, but the warnings on it for topics like abuse and alcoholism give me pause. It seems to be a relatively short experience in the “walking sim” narrative-heavy space, so it’s quite likely that those themes are the core of this experience. The art style rooted in both nostalgia and the ability to render things in a hyperbolic, unreal way will likely amplify those themes. I’m not sure this will be something I will truly dig into and enjoy. But, as usual, this is a free game, so I’m picking it up. I plan on shoving it squarely to the bottom of my ever-growing backlog of freebies and Steam sale items, though.

]]>

Every week the Epic Games Store gives away a game or two for free. This week, they’re giving us two games with retro art styles and literally nothing else in common.

Agent A is a very typical, but fun, escape room style puzzle game. You play as a secret agent like James Bond, complete with a Sean Connery-era retro art style. You have to find your way to the lair of your nemesis, and thwart her cunning and evil plan by solving several different puzzles in sequence. The puzzles look both somewhat typical, but involve objectives like defusing bombs and other spy-related narrative reasonings for the puzzles. If you enjoyed The Room series or Escape Academy this will likely be right up your alley.

  • Bad Cheese
    • Release Date: January 9, 2026
    • Game Type: walking sim, narrative adventure
    • POV: First person
    • Party: Single Player
    • DLC: None

Bad Cheese has an art style that lies between a Cuphead-style 20s and 30s animation idea, but also with the parts of Ren and Stimpy that were uncomfortably realistic. I am unfamiliar with this game, but the warnings on it for topics like abuse and alcoholism give me pause. It seems to be a relatively short experience in the “walking sim” narrative-heavy space, so it’s quite likely that those themes are the core of this experience. The art style rooted in both nostalgia and the ability to render things in a hyperbolic, unreal way will likely amplify those themes. I’m not sure this will be something I will truly dig into and enjoy. But, as usual, this is a free game, so I’m picking it up. I plan on shoving it squarely to the bottom of my ever-growing backlog of freebies and Steam sale items, though.

]]> Blizzard Watch What is your character name plan for World of Warcraft: Forever? https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/15/character-name-plan-world-warcraft-forever/ Thu, 15 Oct 2026 14:00:46 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216410

With the release of World of Warcraft: Forever rapidly approaching, I am starting to think ahead about what classes and races I’m going to play first so I don’t spend precious gaming time staring at the character creation screen on launch night. One of the stickiest questions is: what naming scheme will I use for my Forever characters?

If you’re anything like me, you’ve rolled World of Warcraft characters with the perfect name in mind before you even decided what they looked like (or even what class they were). On the flip side of that coin, you’ve also gazed agonizingly at the “name” field with your brain desperately trying to manufacture something epic, cool, and easy to pronounce.

Forever is going to exponentially grow that perfect-name-chasing difficulty by adding secondary names. This is something that no flavor of World of Warcraft has included before, and it calls for a bit of strategizing before we roll our Forever characters.

Maybe each of your toons will have their own lore-appropriate secondary name. It’s not hard to guess what you’ll see when you are sent to meet a Rockbrew or a Cogsprocket or a Moonleaf, and giving your characters a run-of-the-mill secondary name definitely aligns with the “world as the main character” vibe of Forever.

However, there are plenty of other options. Perhaps your characters are all members of an established clan of Azeroth. Some, like Runetotem, seem to be restricted, but others like Shadowsong (which we thoroughly researched on this week’s Lore Watch) are acceptable.

You could also invent your own clan and assign all of your characters to it. The idea of several Human and Forsaken characters of the same family who all end up as Azeroth’s greatest adventurers pleases me. Imagine running into your now-zombified cousin in the middle of an enormous, pointless clash outside of Southshore.

Maybe your entire roster of heroes has adopted the same secondary name. A ragtag group of Tauren, Trolls, and Orcs who were rejected by everyone but each other and adopted the secondary name “Alliancepwn” would actually be pretty cool.

Of course, players have been taking the joke route with character names since the very earliest days of World of Warcraft. An additional name increases the comedic potential greatly, and I’d bet my mechanostrider that I’ll come across several characters on launch night whose names cause me to spit out my Scalding Mornbrew.

With both primary and secondary names, what each of your characters is called has enough possibilities to keep even N’zoth happy. So what’s your name strategy for Forever going to be? Don’t forget that early name reservation officially opens on October 27!

]]>

With the release of World of Warcraft: Forever rapidly approaching, I am starting to think ahead about what classes and races I’m going to play first so I don’t spend precious gaming time staring at the character creation screen on launch night. One of the stickiest questions is: what naming scheme will I use for my Forever characters?

If you’re anything like me, you’ve rolled World of Warcraft characters with the perfect name in mind before you even decided what they looked like (or even what class they were). On the flip side of that coin, you’ve also gazed agonizingly at the “name” field with your brain desperately trying to manufacture something epic, cool, and easy to pronounce.

Forever is going to exponentially grow that perfect-name-chasing difficulty by adding secondary names. This is something that no flavor of World of Warcraft has included before, and it calls for a bit of strategizing before we roll our Forever characters.

Maybe each of your toons will have their own lore-appropriate secondary name. It’s not hard to guess what you’ll see when you are sent to meet a Rockbrew or a Cogsprocket or a Moonleaf, and giving your characters a run-of-the-mill secondary name definitely aligns with the “world as the main character” vibe of Forever.

However, there are plenty of other options. Perhaps your characters are all members of an established clan of Azeroth. Some, like Runetotem, seem to be restricted, but others like Shadowsong (which we thoroughly researched on this week’s Lore Watch) are acceptable.

You could also invent your own clan and assign all of your characters to it. The idea of several Human and Forsaken characters of the same family who all end up as Azeroth’s greatest adventurers pleases me. Imagine running into your now-zombified cousin in the middle of an enormous, pointless clash outside of Southshore.

Maybe your entire roster of heroes has adopted the same secondary name. A ragtag group of Tauren, Trolls, and Orcs who were rejected by everyone but each other and adopted the secondary name “Alliancepwn” would actually be pretty cool.

Of course, players have been taking the joke route with character names since the very earliest days of World of Warcraft. An additional name increases the comedic potential greatly, and I’d bet my mechanostrider that I’ll come across several characters on launch night whose names cause me to spit out my Scalding Mornbrew.

With both primary and secondary names, what each of your characters is called has enough possibilities to keep even N’zoth happy. So what’s your name strategy for Forever going to be? Don’t forget that early name reservation officially opens on October 27!

]]> Blizzard Watch How to win the Black Empire Brawliseum Pre-Release Hearthstone Tavern Brawl https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/14/win-black-empire-brawliseum-pre-release-hearthstone-tavern-brawl/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 23:30:27 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216576

Hearthstone is getting its next expansion, Reign of the Black Empire, next week, on October 20, and as usual the pre-release Hearthstone Tavern Brawl arrives just before launch day. If you already have any Reign of the Black Empire packs — whether you got them for free, from drops or rewards, or you pre-ordered the expansion — you can already open them, and use those cards in for this special Brawliseum only. You still have to wait until next week to use Black Empire cards in other decks.

But the pool of cards you can use in this brawl is limited to basically just that, which makes this a considerably less fun experience than we used to have in the past. So read on to find out how to win Escape Brawliseum, the Reign of the Black Empire pre-release Tavern Brawl..

Tavern Brawl basics

  • Name: Escape Brawliseum!
  • Description: Build a deck using valid cards from your collection, including cards from the upcoming expansion, and earn more new cards!
  • Fun level: 4/10
  • Difficulty: 9/10
  • Replayability: 1/10
  • Format: Special (see below)
  • Type: PVP
  • Deck: Constructed
  • Rewards: Varies based upon how much you win

You likely already have at least a few Reign of the Black Empire packs that you obtained from drops, in-game events, or a bigger chunk if you got one of the pre-order bundles. You can open those packs, and use any new Black Empire cards you get from them. But remember the rules regarding packs for this Brawl:

  • You can’t buy individual Reign of the Black Empire packs yet.
  • You can’t craft Reign of the Black Empire cards yet.
  • Standard packs won’t have any Reign of the Black Empire cards in them yet.

All players have unrestricted access to Common and Rare cards, but the Black Empire Epics and Legendaries you pull out of packs are what you get. And Epics and Legendaries are always the building blocks of powerful decks. You’ll use those free cards plus whichever Epics and Legendaries you got from your packs to face a sequence of battles until you accrue either six win or three losses — standard Brawliseum rules.

How does the Escape Brawliseum Tavern Brawl work?

First of all, you should open any Reign of the Black Empire packs you have. Once you do, enter the actual Tavern Brawl, and you’ll be greeted by a familiar Brawliseum screen. Remember that your first run is free. Build your deck, including any new cards you want to use, and keep playing until you reach either six wins or three losses, whatever comes first.

Since this Brawl involves a run consisting of multiple games, keep in mind that you can interrupt your run at any point and pick it up later. You should be queued against players that have a similar win-loss ratio to what you have at the moment — so if you win games, you’ll likely face tougher opponents; but if you’re losing, you’ll probably be pitted other players who aren’t doing so well either.

Finally, if you want to keep playing after that free first run, the cost is either two Tavern Tickets, 300 Gold, or 400 Runestones. But in all honesty? We don’t recommend playing any more after your free run. It’s expensive, and the experience is not fun enough to warrant it with this limited pool of cards.

What cards can I use to build Reign of the Black Empire pre-release Tavern Brawl decks?

Blizzard keeps changing the rules for these pre-release Brawliseums, and I don’t really like their recent experiments. This one is similar to the previous pre-release Brawliseum, for Violet Hold: you’re limited to cards from the next expansion only. While in that previous Brawl all players had access to cards from every class, regardless of which class they picked — ensuring that nearly every deck ended up being very similar — this time Blizzard locked classes into a few pairs or trios. So if you pick either Priest or Warlock, for example, you can use Priest, Warlock, and Neutral cards on your deck.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment (Official Post)
  • Build decks using only cards from Reign of the Black Empire
  • Everyone starts with free trial copies of all Reign of the Black Empire Common and Rare cards*
  • Choose from predefined multi-class combinations before constructing your deck
    • Most options combine three classes, while one special two-class combination offers enhanced C’Thun synergies.
  • Card Generation Pool: Reign of the Black Empire, Standard

Once again, what this means in practice is that the decks from those who didn’t open many packs — that’s the majority of players — are very similar to each other, except grouped into a few class choices rather than all being the same.

How to win the Reign of the Black Empire Pre-Release Tavern Brawl

Our recommendation this time is simple: pick Priest or Warlock. Those two classes are grouped together, and they get several Shadow spells (from either class) that synergize with each other, often repeating their effects on the next Shadow spell you play. You’ll simply pick nearly every Common and Rare card you have access to, including Shadewing, a neutral minion that synergizes well with this deck, and whatever else strikes your fancy.

Be smart about using your Servant of Zuramat; a 1-mana silence can be really powerful in a lot of situations. It can deal with Elusive minions, it can nullify buffs, and it can remove Taunts from your path, among other things. Don’t just waste it on anything — but don’t hold it in your hand forever either. The neutral Bloatray is another 1-mana minion that can really help you, especially if you can protect it behind taunts to strike a big minion. Blasphemy is your big board clear

You’ll also have the opportunity to try the new Assemble mechanic, which lets you craft a custom card by picking parts from other cards. So far, this mechanic seems very unbalanced: you can get some extremely broken effects if you’re lucky, amidst a sea of weak ones. High highs and low lows, as they say. But I do recommend adding a few Assemble cards to your deck to try it out for yourself.

We hope you can get your wins, but don’t feel bad if you can’t; it’s a pretty strange Brawl without a lot of room to try different things, so you have to hope to have luck on your side a little.

]]>

Hearthstone is getting its next expansion, Reign of the Black Empire, next week, on October 20, and as usual the pre-release Hearthstone Tavern Brawl arrives just before launch day. If you already have any Reign of the Black Empire packs — whether you got them for free, from drops or rewards, or you pre-ordered the expansion — you can already open them, and use those cards in for this special Brawliseum only. You still have to wait until next week to use Black Empire cards in other decks.

But the pool of cards you can use in this brawl is limited to basically just that, which makes this a considerably less fun experience than we used to have in the past. So read on to find out how to win Escape Brawliseum, the Reign of the Black Empire pre-release Tavern Brawl..

Tavern Brawl basics

  • Name: Escape Brawliseum!
  • Description: Build a deck using valid cards from your collection, including cards from the upcoming expansion, and earn more new cards!
  • Fun level: 4/10
  • Difficulty: 9/10
  • Replayability: 1/10
  • Format: Special (see below)
  • Type: PVP
  • Deck: Constructed
  • Rewards: Varies based upon how much you win

You likely already have at least a few Reign of the Black Empire packs that you obtained from drops, in-game events, or a bigger chunk if you got one of the pre-order bundles. You can open those packs, and use any new Black Empire cards you get from them. But remember the rules regarding packs for this Brawl:

  • You can’t buy individual Reign of the Black Empire packs yet.
  • You can’t craft Reign of the Black Empire cards yet.
  • Standard packs won’t have any Reign of the Black Empire cards in them yet.

All players have unrestricted access to Common and Rare cards, but the Black Empire Epics and Legendaries you pull out of packs are what you get. And Epics and Legendaries are always the building blocks of powerful decks. You’ll use those free cards plus whichever Epics and Legendaries you got from your packs to face a sequence of battles until you accrue either six win or three losses — standard Brawliseum rules.

How does the Escape Brawliseum Tavern Brawl work?

First of all, you should open any Reign of the Black Empire packs you have. Once you do, enter the actual Tavern Brawl, and you’ll be greeted by a familiar Brawliseum screen. Remember that your first run is free. Build your deck, including any new cards you want to use, and keep playing until you reach either six wins or three losses, whatever comes first.

Since this Brawl involves a run consisting of multiple games, keep in mind that you can interrupt your run at any point and pick it up later. You should be queued against players that have a similar win-loss ratio to what you have at the moment — so if you win games, you’ll likely face tougher opponents; but if you’re losing, you’ll probably be pitted other players who aren’t doing so well either.

Finally, if you want to keep playing after that free first run, the cost is either two Tavern Tickets, 300 Gold, or 400 Runestones. But in all honesty? We don’t recommend playing any more after your free run. It’s expensive, and the experience is not fun enough to warrant it with this limited pool of cards.

What cards can I use to build Reign of the Black Empire pre-release Tavern Brawl decks?

Blizzard keeps changing the rules for these pre-release Brawliseums, and I don’t really like their recent experiments. This one is similar to the previous pre-release Brawliseum, for Violet Hold: you’re limited to cards from the next expansion only. While in that previous Brawl all players had access to cards from every class, regardless of which class they picked — ensuring that nearly every deck ended up being very similar — this time Blizzard locked classes into a few pairs or trios. So if you pick either Priest or Warlock, for example, you can use Priest, Warlock, and Neutral cards on your deck.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment (Official Post)
  • Build decks using only cards from Reign of the Black Empire
  • Everyone starts with free trial copies of all Reign of the Black Empire Common and Rare cards*
  • Choose from predefined multi-class combinations before constructing your deck
    • Most options combine three classes, while one special two-class combination offers enhanced C’Thun synergies.
  • Card Generation Pool: Reign of the Black Empire, Standard

Once again, what this means in practice is that the decks from those who didn’t open many packs — that’s the majority of players — are very similar to each other, except grouped into a few class choices rather than all being the same.

How to win the Reign of the Black Empire Pre-Release Tavern Brawl

Our recommendation this time is simple: pick Priest or Warlock. Those two classes are grouped together, and they get several Shadow spells (from either class) that synergize with each other, often repeating their effects on the next Shadow spell you play. You’ll simply pick nearly every Common and Rare card you have access to, including Shadewing, a neutral minion that synergizes well with this deck, and whatever else strikes your fancy.

Be smart about using your Servant of Zuramat; a 1-mana silence can be really powerful in a lot of situations. It can deal with Elusive minions, it can nullify buffs, and it can remove Taunts from your path, among other things. Don’t just waste it on anything — but don’t hold it in your hand forever either. The neutral Bloatray is another 1-mana minion that can really help you, especially if you can protect it behind taunts to strike a big minion. Blasphemy is your big board clear

You’ll also have the opportunity to try the new Assemble mechanic, which lets you craft a custom card by picking parts from other cards. So far, this mechanic seems very unbalanced: you can get some extremely broken effects if you’re lucky, amidst a sea of weak ones. High highs and low lows, as they say. But I do recommend adding a few Assemble cards to your deck to try it out for yourself.

We hope you can get your wins, but don’t feel bad if you can’t; it’s a pretty strange Brawl without a lot of room to try different things, so you have to hope to have luck on your side a little.

]]> Blizzard Watch The Queue: i am playlist https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/14/the-queue-i-am-playlist/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 18:00:43 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216557

Playlist I have made. Song 2 I have chosen as start. Song 2 is best to start.

Is early, no caffeine, am not actually Yoda. Am very smol birb.

IF THERE’S A NEW WAY, 1UPVSCPU WILL BE THE FIRST IN LINE

Where do you see WoW Forever in terms of player numbers in a year? Will it be bigger or smaller than Classic servers? Also, does anyone else keep thinking of the wrestling chant “Fight forever” when they hear WoW Forever?

Our Answer:

I think it will be bigger than WoW Classic, yes. It’s the new hotness, even if that is weird to say about what is essentially the very old hotness with some new hotness added. I expect a lot of people will play it to see how it feels, to witness the whole Skyborne deal, and to have a last name because I’ve wanted last names in WoW literally forever. So WoW Forever is giving me that thing I’ve wanted literally forever.

It’s absolutely going to be very big.

I don’t know the wrestling chant you speak of, however.

CAN YOU FIX THE BROKEN, NABATAEAN, CAN YOU FEEL MY HEART?

The timing of WoW Forever got me thinking. What is the likelihood that this is being delivered and settled in from this year to allow Retail to totally revamp the engine/look/systems after the Last Titan? So that there remains a WoW people can recognise and immerse themselves in while Retail takes more risks/goes full next gen/different art style approach etc?

Our Answer:

I mean, this year’s BlizzCon proved to me that I have not the slightest clue when it comes to things like this. I really thought we’d get at least one more Diablo 4 expansion, not that we’d already be seeing development on Diablo 5. 

I can say that I think in general Blizzard doesn’t seem to want to do drastic graphical changes to games. I mean, WoW has had updates and changes over the years, but the idea of a different art style seems unlikely to me. I’m not saying they won’t make changes, I’m just not really expecting anything on that scale.

CAPTAIN CAKEWALK, FEEL THE WEIGHT OF A MARTYR. IT COULD ALL BE YOURS IF YOU ECHO BIRDS OF PRAY

Threw my back out again, this time moving PCs, and have been getting back into Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, which had me obtaining a Pipefox! :D

Our Answer:

Am I the only one who thinks the pipefox in WotR is likely some form of Mustelid? Like, all a ferret would need to be a pipefox would be bigger ears and smaller legs, maybe hidden under the fur if they want to keep the claws for digging?

I keep thinking about all the times things have evolved into what we’d think is a snake, but isn’t actually a modern snake nor even particularly closely related to them. Ignoring eels, because no, there’s a group of amphibians from the Carboniferous called the Aistopoda, and they weren’t even actual tetrapods but they convergently evolved a body without limbs and a physical resemblance to snakes that’s quite wild to observe.

We’re talking a snake-like animal that evolved before the Permian period, and we’ve seen numerous cases of that body plan returning again and again throughout the 358 million years since. That’s more than a quarter billion years of not-really-snakes evolving.

Even weirder is the gap in the fossil record between all the various Carboniferous not-snakes and the rise of the Caecilians. Unlike the Aistopoda, who were like related to but not actually any of the tetrapod lineages, Caeclians are amphibians who took up a burrowing lifestyle and evolved into snake or worm-like forms, with a close relation to other modern amphibian groups like frogs and salamanders. And they date back to the late Triassic/early Jurassic, while is an impressive amount of time for an order of animals to endure but is still way short of the Carboniferous. I mean, we’re talking a gap of over 160 million years between the two groups.

And legless lizards? They’re not even paraphyletic. Leglessness just keeps happen to various lizard groups that start burrowing a lot — and heck, technically snakes themselves are descended from lizards that either did that or who swam a lot depending on who you ask — snakes are closest related to varanid lizards (monitors and Komodo dragons) and are also fairly closely related to freaking Mosasaurs.

All I’m saying is, it’s about time a mammal gets to join this group of burroiwing, flexible, serpentine not-snakes and the pipefox from WotR always makes me think about that.

FOR A HILL, ARTHONOS WOULD KILL, WHY? THEY DO NOT KNOW

Q4tQ: name that character, wrong answers only

Our Answer:

Me after I get my hands on the subject of MusedMoose’s question.

WITH A PURPOSEFUL GRIMACE AND A TERRIBLE SOUND, MUSEDMOOSE PULLS THE SPITTING HIGH TENSION WIRES DOWN

Q4tRossiQueue: if Odyn is a raid boss in The Last Titan, how happy will you be to get to actually kill him?

Our Answer:

Put Him In Front Of Me

You want to know what I would do to Odyn if he became a raid boss?

Turn me into a Pokemon, you smug one-eyed (I can say that, I only have one working eye myself) melted faced son of a Titan who caused the whole problem in the first place? I’ll rip your heart out of your chest after I rip your head off and spit atomic fury down your neck, if it’s even still there.

Sorry. I just have strong feelings about Odyn and farming him for pure revenge.

Well, that was the Queue. See y’all next week.

]]>

Playlist I have made. Song 2 I have chosen as start. Song 2 is best to start.

Is early, no caffeine, am not actually Yoda. Am very smol birb.

IF THERE’S A NEW WAY, 1UPVSCPU WILL BE THE FIRST IN LINE

Where do you see WoW Forever in terms of player numbers in a year? Will it be bigger or smaller than Classic servers? Also, does anyone else keep thinking of the wrestling chant “Fight forever” when they hear WoW Forever?

Our Answer:

I think it will be bigger than WoW Classic, yes. It’s the new hotness, even if that is weird to say about what is essentially the very old hotness with some new hotness added. I expect a lot of people will play it to see how it feels, to witness the whole Skyborne deal, and to have a last name because I’ve wanted last names in WoW literally forever. So WoW Forever is giving me that thing I’ve wanted literally forever.

It’s absolutely going to be very big.

I don’t know the wrestling chant you speak of, however.

CAN YOU FIX THE BROKEN, NABATAEAN, CAN YOU FEEL MY HEART?

The timing of WoW Forever got me thinking. What is the likelihood that this is being delivered and settled in from this year to allow Retail to totally revamp the engine/look/systems after the Last Titan? So that there remains a WoW people can recognise and immerse themselves in while Retail takes more risks/goes full next gen/different art style approach etc?

Our Answer:

I mean, this year’s BlizzCon proved to me that I have not the slightest clue when it comes to things like this. I really thought we’d get at least one more Diablo 4 expansion, not that we’d already be seeing development on Diablo 5. 

I can say that I think in general Blizzard doesn’t seem to want to do drastic graphical changes to games. I mean, WoW has had updates and changes over the years, but the idea of a different art style seems unlikely to me. I’m not saying they won’t make changes, I’m just not really expecting anything on that scale.

CAPTAIN CAKEWALK, FEEL THE WEIGHT OF A MARTYR. IT COULD ALL BE YOURS IF YOU ECHO BIRDS OF PRAY

Threw my back out again, this time moving PCs, and have been getting back into Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, which had me obtaining a Pipefox! :D

Our Answer:

Am I the only one who thinks the pipefox in WotR is likely some form of Mustelid? Like, all a ferret would need to be a pipefox would be bigger ears and smaller legs, maybe hidden under the fur if they want to keep the claws for digging?

I keep thinking about all the times things have evolved into what we’d think is a snake, but isn’t actually a modern snake nor even particularly closely related to them. Ignoring eels, because no, there’s a group of amphibians from the Carboniferous called the Aistopoda, and they weren’t even actual tetrapods but they convergently evolved a body without limbs and a physical resemblance to snakes that’s quite wild to observe.

We’re talking a snake-like animal that evolved before the Permian period, and we’ve seen numerous cases of that body plan returning again and again throughout the 358 million years since. That’s more than a quarter billion years of not-really-snakes evolving.

Even weirder is the gap in the fossil record between all the various Carboniferous not-snakes and the rise of the Caecilians. Unlike the Aistopoda, who were like related to but not actually any of the tetrapod lineages, Caeclians are amphibians who took up a burrowing lifestyle and evolved into snake or worm-like forms, with a close relation to other modern amphibian groups like frogs and salamanders. And they date back to the late Triassic/early Jurassic, while is an impressive amount of time for an order of animals to endure but is still way short of the Carboniferous. I mean, we’re talking a gap of over 160 million years between the two groups.

And legless lizards? They’re not even paraphyletic. Leglessness just keeps happen to various lizard groups that start burrowing a lot — and heck, technically snakes themselves are descended from lizards that either did that or who swam a lot depending on who you ask — snakes are closest related to varanid lizards (monitors and Komodo dragons) and are also fairly closely related to freaking Mosasaurs.

All I’m saying is, it’s about time a mammal gets to join this group of burroiwing, flexible, serpentine not-snakes and the pipefox from WotR always makes me think about that.

FOR A HILL, ARTHONOS WOULD KILL, WHY? THEY DO NOT KNOW

Q4tQ: name that character, wrong answers only

Our Answer:

Me after I get my hands on the subject of MusedMoose’s question.

WITH A PURPOSEFUL GRIMACE AND A TERRIBLE SOUND, MUSEDMOOSE PULLS THE SPITTING HIGH TENSION WIRES DOWN

Q4tRossiQueue: if Odyn is a raid boss in The Last Titan, how happy will you be to get to actually kill him?

Our Answer:

Put Him In Front Of Me

You want to know what I would do to Odyn if he became a raid boss?

Turn me into a Pokemon, you smug one-eyed (I can say that, I only have one working eye myself) melted faced son of a Titan who caused the whole problem in the first place? I’ll rip your heart out of your chest after I rip your head off and spit atomic fury down your neck, if it’s even still there.

Sorry. I just have strong feelings about Odyn and farming him for pure revenge.

Well, that was the Queue. See y’all next week.

]]> Blizzard Watch Lore Watch Podcast: Just another Shadowsong, and more stories from the Void https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/14/lore-watch-podcast-438/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 16:00:39 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216537

One of the most interesting things about World of Warcraft: Forever is the possibility for new story development, and that’s how we got tangled up in the question of an NPC named Shadowsong in the beta. Is it one of those Shadowsongs? Probably not. (It’s a common name.) But could we see new stories about what Maiev or Jared are up to at the beginning of World of Warcraft? Maybe, and that’s what makes this new offshoot of Classic so exciting for us lore nerds.

Also this question may have broken Matt, and the episode isn’t really long enough to put him back together again, particularly since we move straight into trying to fit Hearthstone lore into the larger Warcraft canon. We’re sorry about that.

And then we wind our way back to that old favorite topic: the interplay of Light and Void that has been at the heart of the Worldsoul Saga so far. Void Elf Paladins? Forsaken Paladins? Night Elf Paladins? There are many paths to the Light (and the Void).

If you want even more background story, we also have a guide to every Warcraft book in chronological order (for people who prefer reading that way).

You can listen to the podcast directly from this post or click on “Follow” in the player below to follow the podcast in your podcast player of choice.

Or catch up with recent episodes on our playlist to be sure you haven’t missed any of the latest discussion of video game lore.

The Lore Watch podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. If you’d like to catch up on previous Lore Watch podcasts, our weekly Blizzard Watch podcast, or our ongoing TTRPG podcasts, check out our podcast page. You can also search for any of these programs in your favorite podcast player to subscribe and be notified when a new episode is released.

And finally, if you subscribe to our Patreon Tier 2 or above you can listen to the Lore Watch and Blizzard Watch podcasts early and ad free!

Have lore questions for Matt, Joe, and Eric? Email us at podcast@blizzardwatch.com to get them answered!

Thanks for listening and enjoy the show!

Please support us on Patreon by subscribing or increasing your Patreon tier. 

]]>

One of the most interesting things about World of Warcraft: Forever is the possibility for new story development, and that’s how we got tangled up in the question of an NPC named Shadowsong in the beta. Is it one of those Shadowsongs? Probably not. (It’s a common name.) But could we see new stories about what Maiev or Jared are up to at the beginning of World of Warcraft? Maybe, and that’s what makes this new offshoot of Classic so exciting for us lore nerds.

Also this question may have broken Matt, and the episode isn’t really long enough to put him back together again, particularly since we move straight into trying to fit Hearthstone lore into the larger Warcraft canon. We’re sorry about that.

And then we wind our way back to that old favorite topic: the interplay of Light and Void that has been at the heart of the Worldsoul Saga so far. Void Elf Paladins? Forsaken Paladins? Night Elf Paladins? There are many paths to the Light (and the Void).

If you want even more background story, we also have a guide to every Warcraft book in chronological order (for people who prefer reading that way).

You can listen to the podcast directly from this post or click on “Follow” in the player below to follow the podcast in your podcast player of choice.

Or catch up with recent episodes on our playlist to be sure you haven’t missed any of the latest discussion of video game lore.

The Lore Watch podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. If you’d like to catch up on previous Lore Watch podcasts, our weekly Blizzard Watch podcast, or our ongoing TTRPG podcasts, check out our podcast page. You can also search for any of these programs in your favorite podcast player to subscribe and be notified when a new episode is released.

And finally, if you subscribe to our Patreon Tier 2 or above you can listen to the Lore Watch and Blizzard Watch podcasts early and ad free!

Have lore questions for Matt, Joe, and Eric? Email us at podcast@blizzardwatch.com to get them answered!

Thanks for listening and enjoy the show!

Please support us on Patreon by subscribing or increasing your Patreon tier. 

]]> Blizzard Watch What’s the fastest way to Stormwind or Orgrimmar as a Skyborne in WoW: Forever? https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/14/skyborne-stormwind-org-fast-wow-forever/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:00:39 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216417

If you’re just starting a new Skyborne character in WoW: Forever and, for whatever reason, don’t want to level on Zephras Isle or just plain want to set up your newest bank alt, you’re gonna want to head to your faction’s capital city. And while veteran WoW players can probably find their way to Stormwind or Orgrimmar with relative ease, Zephras Isle is a brand new, and so are its transportation options.

you can never get too much of a head start in your journey toward the mainland (right?)

Whether you’re familiar with the game world or not, here’s how to get to your faction’s capital city as a new Skyborne in WoW: Forever.

How to leave Zephras Isle

No quests are required to actually leave your starting zone, so no matter which faction you’re playing, your first step in getting to your capital city is to hoof it to Valanaar on the southeast side of Zephras Isle. Running the whole way from Thendal Village to Valanaar will take you roughly 10 minutes, but you can take advantage zephyrs around the isle to make your journey a hair faster. Horde players can also use their Skysight racial to gain extra movement speed.

Once you’re in Valanaar, both factions will need to find their respective boat docks to leave Zephras Isle. And while both paths are relatively similar, the journey to your capital city diverges depending on whether you’re playing a Windshaper (Horde) or High Order (Alliance) Skyborne.

How to get to Orgrimmar (and Thunder Bluff) as a Horde Skyborne

After you’ve reached Valanaar, you’ll want to find the Horde boat dock located on the southwest side of town. As of the beta, the coordinates for the Horde dock are ~58.1, 80.3 — but you can also identify the skycutter dock by the Horde banner and the presence of the Windshaper Dockmaster.

The skycutter, however, does not take you directly to Orgrimmar; you’ll find yourself dropped off on a cliff just across from Thunder Bluff. Thankfully, you won’t have to worry about any sort of death jump or corpse run to make the gap: Blizz has conveniently placed what is effectively a landing pad directly across from where the ship dropped you off, and thanks to the shared Skyborne racial, Walk on Air, you’re easily able to activate the ability and glide on over to Thunder Bluff.

From there, make your way to the central tower, go inside and all the way to the top, and talk to the Flightmaster, who will off you flight directly to Orgrimmar. Note, however, that you’ll need to pay 50 copper to take the flight, so you may want to attack a few things or complete at least one quest before you find yourself short change one step from the finish.

How to get to Stormwind (and Dalaran) as an Alliance Skyborne

The Alliance, like the Horde, must look for a boat dock in Valanaar: The Alliance’s skycutter is located in northeast Valanaar, at coordinates ~65.7, 83.2.

The Alliance’s skycutter also takes you to a city that is not your faction’s capital, instead sending you to Dalaran City. But there’s a quick transportation option to Stormwind: from the skycutter landing dock, the Alliance portal to Stormwind is nearby and hard to miss; once the sky boat comes to a stop, head forward into the building directly in front of you, veer just a bit to the right, and a portal to Stormwind will be right there.

Eventually, both factions will have portals set up in Dalaran City and will be able to hop aboard the Skyborne ship for a quick port to their faction’s capital. But if you’re just starting out as a Skyborne, the above should get you where you need to go relatively quickly!

]]>

If you’re just starting a new Skyborne character in WoW: Forever and, for whatever reason, don’t want to level on Zephras Isle or just plain want to set up your newest bank alt, you’re gonna want to head to your faction’s capital city. And while veteran WoW players can probably find their way to Stormwind or Orgrimmar with relative ease, Zephras Isle is a brand new, and so are its transportation options.

you can never get too much of a head start in your journey toward the mainland (right?)

Whether you’re familiar with the game world or not, here’s how to get to your faction’s capital city as a new Skyborne in WoW: Forever.

How to leave Zephras Isle

No quests are required to actually leave your starting zone, so no matter which faction you’re playing, your first step in getting to your capital city is to hoof it to Valanaar on the southeast side of Zephras Isle. Running the whole way from Thendal Village to Valanaar will take you roughly 10 minutes, but you can take advantage zephyrs around the isle to make your journey a hair faster. Horde players can also use their Skysight racial to gain extra movement speed.

Once you’re in Valanaar, both factions will need to find their respective boat docks to leave Zephras Isle. And while both paths are relatively similar, the journey to your capital city diverges depending on whether you’re playing a Windshaper (Horde) or High Order (Alliance) Skyborne.

How to get to Orgrimmar (and Thunder Bluff) as a Horde Skyborne

After you’ve reached Valanaar, you’ll want to find the Horde boat dock located on the southwest side of town. As of the beta, the coordinates for the Horde dock are ~58.1, 80.3 — but you can also identify the skycutter dock by the Horde banner and the presence of the Windshaper Dockmaster.

The skycutter, however, does not take you directly to Orgrimmar; you’ll find yourself dropped off on a cliff just across from Thunder Bluff. Thankfully, you won’t have to worry about any sort of death jump or corpse run to make the gap: Blizz has conveniently placed what is effectively a landing pad directly across from where the ship dropped you off, and thanks to the shared Skyborne racial, Walk on Air, you’re easily able to activate the ability and glide on over to Thunder Bluff.

From there, make your way to the central tower, go inside and all the way to the top, and talk to the Flightmaster, who will off you flight directly to Orgrimmar. Note, however, that you’ll need to pay 50 copper to take the flight, so you may want to attack a few things or complete at least one quest before you find yourself short change one step from the finish.

How to get to Stormwind (and Dalaran) as an Alliance Skyborne

The Alliance, like the Horde, must look for a boat dock in Valanaar: The Alliance’s skycutter is located in northeast Valanaar, at coordinates ~65.7, 83.2.

The Alliance’s skycutter also takes you to a city that is not your faction’s capital, instead sending you to Dalaran City. But there’s a quick transportation option to Stormwind: from the skycutter landing dock, the Alliance portal to Stormwind is nearby and hard to miss; once the sky boat comes to a stop, head forward into the building directly in front of you, veer just a bit to the right, and a portal to Stormwind will be right there.

Eventually, both factions will have portals set up in Dalaran City and will be able to hop aboard the Skyborne ship for a quick port to their faction’s capital. But if you’re just starting out as a Skyborne, the above should get you where you need to go relatively quickly!

]]> Blizzard Watch The Queue: Here be dragons https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/13/the-queue-here-be-dragons/ Tue, 13 Oct 2026 18:00:27 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216520 Map of the Dragon Isles

This is The Queue, our daily column where you ask us the questions and sometimes we have some answers but sometimes the questions are just out there, man.

KALCHEUS

Q4tQ Why do you think 12.1.5 didn’t get an official name? It’s the first patch of the expansion without one

Our Answer:

Blizzard has made a push for including these and I think it’s a little bit weird. I forget when they started doing it, but I remember having several “is this a thing now, that they’re doing?” discussions. Even as someone who thrives on SEO, I don’t think I could name any of them this expansion other than Curse of Ula’tek off the top of my head.

KALCHEUS

Q4tQ what major NPC’s death would piss you off the most, maybe even causing you to quit WoW?

Our Answer:

Yes.

It’s weird because Blizzard was so known for like, grimdark edgelord stuff going back in the day. With Diablo it’s inescapable just on the setting. Demons, heaven and hell, possession, soulstones, gore, worms. Even the innocuous stuff is gross and awful. With StarCraft they’re clearly leaning back into those roots, and though the scifi core means people could have plot armor, very few people or entities actually do (basically just Raynor).

But having a grim setting is a double edged sword. If everyone is dead or dying, and the stakes are therefore impossibly high, then everything we’re doing is meaningless and inconsequential. If everyone dies, why do I care about these people?

They did that a few times with the Warcraft universe early on. The Culling of Stratholme and Arthas’s heel turn felt consequential because it was one of very few, and the whole thing is kind of catalyzed as a single event. They turned away from the hyperbolic violence in WoW and I feel the story is better for it. Killing your bestie in the Death Knight starting area felt bad. Runas’s death felt awful. And while some people, particularly in our social media comments, bewail the fact that everything is a carebear paradise now, I feel like the few times they actually do kill someone it stands out, rather than just being one death in a sea of them.

Except Arthas. Please stop bringing his ass back from the dead.

VENERABLE EIC LIZ HARPER

Q4TQ: What would you recommend from this week’s Steam Cooking Fest? (A real thing that is really happening this week)?

Our Answer:

First of all, I just have to compliment the person who made this cute drawing of a frog who is apparently a quite skilled professional chef for the Steam Cooking Fest 2026 promo banner.

Venba, which is literally less than 4 USD right now. It is such a beautiful narrative about home and culture, and how food can contribute both to feeling included and feeling alone. The art and sound design makes all the food phenomenal and feel familiar even if you, like, me, grew up in an aspics and raisins culture rather than the less violently depressing one portrayed in the game.

Creature Kitchen doesn’t have a particularly steep discount, but it’s still just over $6. The whole premise is that you’re a person who lives in the woods trying to attract vermin by feeding it its favorite food, and honestly, goals.

Good Pizza, Great Pizza is $5. I’ve played it a bit on mobile, and it’s an older game, but it has a unique hidden strength. It was recommended to me not as a fun game per se, though it is decent, but the localization and translation is excellent, and it offers a fairly wide array of languages, making it a great choice for someone who is just beyond a baseline “the boy eats the cheese” level of learning, et je peux l’apprécier.

CORY

Which Dragonflights would you put the other BW writers into?

Our Answer:

Liz H. is Lizdormi because she tends to have a relatively tenuous, fleeting grasp on the time it currently is. She will plan in advance and have everything set, but oh wait, that was all due tomorrow? Oops.

Liz Patt is Lizagosa because she tends to be a little quiet but when she shows her stuff she’s a freakin magician. Kalchegos, too (though technically he isn’t on the staff anymore).

Coryius is a green because he’s Canadian and they’re obviously all Nature dragons.

Some of our writers have defaults because their names sound odd otherwise. I think Eric would make a good Green but Ericius? Bleh. Phil doesn’t have any good options. I do feel like it’s kind of a major limitation of dragonkind to only have this set of themes. They were cooking with Time and Magic, but Life and Nature has significant overlap, as does Nature and Earth — Earth of course being “the bad one” so I’m not naming people that.

Personally, I would be Annastrazsa because I like wearing too much jewelry and running around in my underpants.

Oh, and Red is a Red. His name is Red. It’s fine.

]]> Map of the Dragon Isles

This is The Queue, our daily column where you ask us the questions and sometimes we have some answers but sometimes the questions are just out there, man.

KALCHEUS

Q4tQ Why do you think 12.1.5 didn’t get an official name? It’s the first patch of the expansion without one

Our Answer:

Blizzard has made a push for including these and I think it’s a little bit weird. I forget when they started doing it, but I remember having several “is this a thing now, that they’re doing?” discussions. Even as someone who thrives on SEO, I don’t think I could name any of them this expansion other than Curse of Ula’tek off the top of my head.

KALCHEUS

Q4tQ what major NPC’s death would piss you off the most, maybe even causing you to quit WoW?

Our Answer:

Yes.

It’s weird because Blizzard was so known for like, grimdark edgelord stuff going back in the day. With Diablo it’s inescapable just on the setting. Demons, heaven and hell, possession, soulstones, gore, worms. Even the innocuous stuff is gross and awful. With StarCraft they’re clearly leaning back into those roots, and though the scifi core means people could have plot armor, very few people or entities actually do (basically just Raynor).

But having a grim setting is a double edged sword. If everyone is dead or dying, and the stakes are therefore impossibly high, then everything we’re doing is meaningless and inconsequential. If everyone dies, why do I care about these people?

They did that a few times with the Warcraft universe early on. The Culling of Stratholme and Arthas’s heel turn felt consequential because it was one of very few, and the whole thing is kind of catalyzed as a single event. They turned away from the hyperbolic violence in WoW and I feel the story is better for it. Killing your bestie in the Death Knight starting area felt bad. Runas’s death felt awful. And while some people, particularly in our social media comments, bewail the fact that everything is a carebear paradise now, I feel like the few times they actually do kill someone it stands out, rather than just being one death in a sea of them.

Except Arthas. Please stop bringing his ass back from the dead.

VENERABLE EIC LIZ HARPER

Q4TQ: What would you recommend from this week’s Steam Cooking Fest? (A real thing that is really happening this week)?

Our Answer:

First of all, I just have to compliment the person who made this cute drawing of a frog who is apparently a quite skilled professional chef for the Steam Cooking Fest 2026 promo banner.

Venba, which is literally less than 4 USD right now. It is such a beautiful narrative about home and culture, and how food can contribute both to feeling included and feeling alone. The art and sound design makes all the food phenomenal and feel familiar even if you, like, me, grew up in an aspics and raisins culture rather than the less violently depressing one portrayed in the game.

Creature Kitchen doesn’t have a particularly steep discount, but it’s still just over $6. The whole premise is that you’re a person who lives in the woods trying to attract vermin by feeding it its favorite food, and honestly, goals.

Good Pizza, Great Pizza is $5. I’ve played it a bit on mobile, and it’s an older game, but it has a unique hidden strength. It was recommended to me not as a fun game per se, though it is decent, but the localization and translation is excellent, and it offers a fairly wide array of languages, making it a great choice for someone who is just beyond a baseline “the boy eats the cheese” level of learning, et je peux l’apprécier.

CORY

Which Dragonflights would you put the other BW writers into?

Our Answer:

Liz H. is Lizdormi because she tends to have a relatively tenuous, fleeting grasp on the time it currently is. She will plan in advance and have everything set, but oh wait, that was all due tomorrow? Oops.

Liz Patt is Lizagosa because she tends to be a little quiet but when she shows her stuff she’s a freakin magician. Kalchegos, too (though technically he isn’t on the staff anymore).

Coryius is a green because he’s Canadian and they’re obviously all Nature dragons.

Some of our writers have defaults because their names sound odd otherwise. I think Eric would make a good Green but Ericius? Bleh. Phil doesn’t have any good options. I do feel like it’s kind of a major limitation of dragonkind to only have this set of themes. They were cooking with Time and Magic, but Life and Nature has significant overlap, as does Nature and Earth — Earth of course being “the bad one” so I’m not naming people that.

Personally, I would be Annastrazsa because I like wearing too much jewelry and running around in my underpants.

Oh, and Red is a Red. His name is Red. It’s fine.

]]> Blizzard Watch It’s an extra-long maintenance day for the launch of World of Warcraft patch 12.1.5, but all servers are now back online! https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/13/extra-long-maintenance-day-launch-world-warcraft-patch-12-15/ Tue, 13 Oct 2026 14:00:20 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216522

It’s patch day for Midnight servers, and that means extended maintenance for World of Warcraft. Modern players face a full eight hours of downtime for the rollout of patch 12.1.5, but WoW Classic players are safe with just the standard hour of downtime.

Here’s the WoW maintenance schedule for Tuesday, October 13:

  • Midnight: Offline from 7am – 3pm pacific (10am – 6pm eastern)
  • Mists of Pandaria Classic: Offline from 7am – 8am pacific (10am – 11am eastern)
  • WoW Classic (including Classic Era, Season of Discovery, and Hardcore realms): Offline from 7am – 8am pacific (10am – 11am eastern)
  • The Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary realms: Offline from 7am – 8am pacific (10am – 11am eastern)

All World of Warcraft servers are now back online!

Patch 12.1.5 is a minor patch, but has quite a lot of content with a new one-boss raid, a new invasion event, new “mega-delves” called Labyrinths, additional levels of gear upgrades with Ascendant Venomstones, and some good quality of life improvements, like making Legion and Battle for Azeroth reputations Warband-wide. They’re good improvements… except for a new invasion event in which we are swarmed by insects, something that literally no one wants… but it’s still somewhat light content to be excited about with World of Warcraft: Forever launching in early November, something that literally everyone wants.

But whether you’re playing Midnight or Forever, you’re staying subscribed, so Blizzard (and parent company Microsoft) should be happy. And we have games to play, so we should be happy too.

Meanwhile in Classic, The Burning Crusade Anniversary realms will be upgrading to Phase 3.5 next week, which adds the Zul’Aman raid. The phase rolls out next Thursday, on October 22, but it’s possible TBC servers will get some extra maintenance next Tuesday in advance of the phase. There’s nothing on the agenda for any other Classic realms this week or in the future.

Classic servers are already back online, so if you need to kill time while you wait, take a restful vacation in Classic, or give the WoW: Forever beta a spin. While I imagine Forever will be joining this maintenance recap soon, for the moment it’s doing maintenance later in the week, usually on Thursdays.

Whatever you play, I’ll keep you up to date on the current WoW server status right here, and let you know when the servers are back online.

]]>

It’s patch day for Midnight servers, and that means extended maintenance for World of Warcraft. Modern players face a full eight hours of downtime for the rollout of patch 12.1.5, but WoW Classic players are safe with just the standard hour of downtime.

Here’s the WoW maintenance schedule for Tuesday, October 13:

  • Midnight: Offline from 7am – 3pm pacific (10am – 6pm eastern)
  • Mists of Pandaria Classic: Offline from 7am – 8am pacific (10am – 11am eastern)
  • WoW Classic (including Classic Era, Season of Discovery, and Hardcore realms): Offline from 7am – 8am pacific (10am – 11am eastern)
  • The Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary realms: Offline from 7am – 8am pacific (10am – 11am eastern)

All World of Warcraft servers are now back online!

Patch 12.1.5 is a minor patch, but has quite a lot of content with a new one-boss raid, a new invasion event, new “mega-delves” called Labyrinths, additional levels of gear upgrades with Ascendant Venomstones, and some good quality of life improvements, like making Legion and Battle for Azeroth reputations Warband-wide. They’re good improvements… except for a new invasion event in which we are swarmed by insects, something that literally no one wants… but it’s still somewhat light content to be excited about with World of Warcraft: Forever launching in early November, something that literally everyone wants.

But whether you’re playing Midnight or Forever, you’re staying subscribed, so Blizzard (and parent company Microsoft) should be happy. And we have games to play, so we should be happy too.

Meanwhile in Classic, The Burning Crusade Anniversary realms will be upgrading to Phase 3.5 next week, which adds the Zul’Aman raid. The phase rolls out next Thursday, on October 22, but it’s possible TBC servers will get some extra maintenance next Tuesday in advance of the phase. There’s nothing on the agenda for any other Classic realms this week or in the future.

Classic servers are already back online, so if you need to kill time while you wait, take a restful vacation in Classic, or give the WoW: Forever beta a spin. While I imagine Forever will be joining this maintenance recap soon, for the moment it’s doing maintenance later in the week, usually on Thursdays.

Whatever you play, I’ll keep you up to date on the current WoW server status right here, and let you know when the servers are back online.

]]> Blizzard Watch World of Warcraft: Midnight patch 12.1.5 is now live — here’s what’s in the new patch https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/12/wow-patch-12-1-5-release-date/ Mon, 12 Oct 2026 19:00:27 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=215202

Like a snake, or maybe like a raid full of snakes, time slithers ever-forward — and with the march of time, comes a new patch for World of Warcraft. No sooner had Midnight patch 12.1 and its treasure trove of scaly goodies dropped into our lap like a bundle of joy horror than it was time for patch 12.1.5 to make its appearance on the Public Test Realms. We’ve handled our little snake problem, now it’s time to get back to hunting for the Void, a fact that certain snake-averse editors-in-chief will no doubt be thankful for.

Blizzard has been extremely consistent with the eight-week patch cadence, but it seems like maybe this one needs an extra week to get ready to release — almost like Blizzard had some other major event during this eight week cycle that impacted development work. Go figure. Anyway, Blizzard has announced, World of Warcraft patch 12.1.5 launched October 13, 2026.




What’s in WoW patch 12.1.5?

We have a rundown of what we know is in the patch in detail, but here’s the quick summary of patch 12.1.5:

  • A new story campaign chapter, The Promise of Tomorrow
  • A new one-boss raid, The Unbinding of Kith’ix
  • Aqir Invasion public events in Eversong Woods and Zul’aman. Good news: it’s not snakes anymore, it’s bugs!
  • Ascendant Venomstones, the successor to 12.0’s Ascendant Voidcores, here to help you push the power level of your weapons, trinkets, and necklaces a little further
  • Warbind-wide reputations for Legion and Battle for Azeroth reputations
  • A whole bevy of updates to classes, as usual
  • Housing, Prey, and UI updates
  • And possibly the most exciting, the game’s first Labyrinth! You may remember these were announced as a sort of “megadungeon” version of Delves; 12.1.5 brings us the first one, the Labyrinth of Kindo’jan

This patch is no slouch, and whether you’re looking to pick up some neat gear from the one-boss raid, power up the stuff you already have, or dive into an enormous labyrinth, patch 12.1.5 appears to have you covered.

Originally posted September 9, 2026. Updated October 13, 2026.

]]>

Like a snake, or maybe like a raid full of snakes, time slithers ever-forward — and with the march of time, comes a new patch for World of Warcraft. No sooner had Midnight patch 12.1 and its treasure trove of scaly goodies dropped into our lap like a bundle of joy horror than it was time for patch 12.1.5 to make its appearance on the Public Test Realms. We’ve handled our little snake problem, now it’s time to get back to hunting for the Void, a fact that certain snake-averse editors-in-chief will no doubt be thankful for.

Blizzard has been extremely consistent with the eight-week patch cadence, but it seems like maybe this one needs an extra week to get ready to release — almost like Blizzard had some other major event during this eight week cycle that impacted development work. Go figure. Anyway, Blizzard has announced, World of Warcraft patch 12.1.5 launched October 13, 2026.




What’s in WoW patch 12.1.5?

We have a rundown of what we know is in the patch in detail, but here’s the quick summary of patch 12.1.5:

  • A new story campaign chapter, The Promise of Tomorrow
  • A new one-boss raid, The Unbinding of Kith’ix
  • Aqir Invasion public events in Eversong Woods and Zul’aman. Good news: it’s not snakes anymore, it’s bugs!
  • Ascendant Venomstones, the successor to 12.0’s Ascendant Voidcores, here to help you push the power level of your weapons, trinkets, and necklaces a little further
  • Warbind-wide reputations for Legion and Battle for Azeroth reputations
  • A whole bevy of updates to classes, as usual
  • Housing, Prey, and UI updates
  • And possibly the most exciting, the game’s first Labyrinth! You may remember these were announced as a sort of “megadungeon” version of Delves; 12.1.5 brings us the first one, the Labyrinth of Kindo’jan

This patch is no slouch, and whether you’re looking to pick up some neat gear from the one-boss raid, power up the stuff you already have, or dive into an enormous labyrinth, patch 12.1.5 appears to have you covered.

Originally posted September 9, 2026. Updated October 13, 2026.

]]> Blizzard Watch The Queue: Stuffed https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/12/the-queue-stuffed/ Mon, 12 Oct 2026 18:00:04 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216498

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m thankful for the amount of turkey and gravy I was able to eat. I’m also thankful for all of you here reading this right now! You all rock.

While I go take a post-turkey nap, it’s time for our daily question-and-answer column — The Queue!

WHEN I LOOK OUT MY WINDOW MANY SJHAWK TO SEE

I was going through my wallet today, whilst standing at the photocopier with our latest trainee. I noticed something that I have held in my wallet(s) now for 30-35 years.

My old library card from my hometown.

QftQ: What is the oldest thing in your wallet, and how old do you think it is?

Our Answer:

Well, since my wallet was stolen, anything that was truly old has gone away. I don’t even remember if there was anything truly old. Maybe an old school ID from a decade ago.

Luckily, I got my new wallet from my favorite person, and it has an old MTA card from when she was in school in New York, so I’ve got that going for me.

AND WHEN I LOOK IN MY WINDOW SO MANY DIFFERENT ARTHONOS TO BE

Q4tQ: Since Skyborne are adding a “pretty” race to WoW Forever, should the next race added be something more monstrous? Would you want something like the OG broken Draenei found in the Swamp of Sorrows, something from Modern yet not playable like Sethrak, or something brand new like a tribe anthropomorphized alpaca people?

Our Answer:

I know you’re joking about the Alpaca people, but that’s not a terrible idea. They could get a tailoring bonus and free cloth every day. Maybe some sort of aura around them that improves campfire buffs because it’s just so calming hanging out with an Alpaca. Of course, so many of them would be named Alpa Chino or something like that, so maybe not as reassuring overall.

I’m always in favor of more monstrous races, though. Let’s just give both factions Gnolls and make retail players really jealous. Gnoll Hunters, Warriors, Rogues, Shaman, and Warlocks could all work pretty well. I don’t see them being as Mage-y or Paladin-y, but a Gnoll Paladin could be funny. Toss them a giant Hyena for a racial mount, and we’d be set.

The best part is that anything that they add to Warcraft: Forever could be added to retail without too much trouble. Some of the racials would have to be adjusted, but that wouldn’t be super hard. I know that players have wanted to play as a Gnoll forever — just like Ogres, and so many varieties of other monsters. Now could be the time!

RED, THEY’RE STRANGE, SO STRANGE

Q4TQ: What’s the collective noun for gnomes?

Our Answer:

An imagination of Gnomes? That’s the best that I came up with; everything else was too silly or didn’t quite fit. Like, a chaos of gnomes is fun, but they’re not that chaotic. Sure, sometimes people wind up turned into chickens, but that gets fixed pretty quickly.

WHEN I LOOK OVER MY SHOULDER (WHAT HAPPENS THEN?) WHAT DO YOU THINK I SEE? ARTHONOS

Q4tQ: would you rather play Modern Forever, Modern Classic, Classic Classic, Classic Modern, Forever Modern Classic, or Forever Classic Modern Forever Modern Classic?

Our Answer:

Playing FCMFMC sounds like a full-time job in itself. That’s all the things!

They’ll have to come up with a better naming convention if they’re going to keep adding new Warcrafts. I know that we’ve all settled on Retail to talk about the mainline game, but it lacks a certain panache. Modern is closer, but I still don’t like it as much as I could. Maybe we should call it Unbound since players are unbound by gravity or by being on Azeroth. I’ll keep noodling on it, but I like it.

SOME OTHER TELWAR LOOKING OVER OVER HIS SHOULDER AT ME

QftCraftyQ: How hard is foam to cut reasonably well?

I want to make some foam dividers for my Magic cards so they don’t flop around in the long box. I see I can get that at Michael’s/Hobby Lobby, but want to make sure I don’t need anything weird or complicated.

Our Answer:

Nothing is that hard to cut as long as you have an appropriately large knife! But yes, you should be able to get some cheap foam inserts and just use a large, straight-edged knife to cut it nicely. If you’re not worried about aesthetics, you could always cut it with a serrated knife, but that’s going to leave a jagged mess.

Sometimes, when you take pictures of a black cat, all you get is an outline of a cat. Sure, Bacardi’s white spots help him stand out, but if he’s loafing, just a void. Like a character that hasn’t been unlocked yet in a video game. If you can find his nose to boop him today I’m sure you’ll get some good rewards!

Would you rather

Pumpkin Pie

Or

Apple Pie

Today’s Anna Earworm™: Season of the Witch

I hope you all eat as well as I did this week! Leave Anna lots of questions for tomorrow so that her Queue is easy peasy.

]]>

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m thankful for the amount of turkey and gravy I was able to eat. I’m also thankful for all of you here reading this right now! You all rock.

While I go take a post-turkey nap, it’s time for our daily question-and-answer column — The Queue!

WHEN I LOOK OUT MY WINDOW MANY SJHAWK TO SEE

I was going through my wallet today, whilst standing at the photocopier with our latest trainee. I noticed something that I have held in my wallet(s) now for 30-35 years.

My old library card from my hometown.

QftQ: What is the oldest thing in your wallet, and how old do you think it is?

Our Answer:

Well, since my wallet was stolen, anything that was truly old has gone away. I don’t even remember if there was anything truly old. Maybe an old school ID from a decade ago.

Luckily, I got my new wallet from my favorite person, and it has an old MTA card from when she was in school in New York, so I’ve got that going for me.

AND WHEN I LOOK IN MY WINDOW SO MANY DIFFERENT ARTHONOS TO BE

Q4tQ: Since Skyborne are adding a “pretty” race to WoW Forever, should the next race added be something more monstrous? Would you want something like the OG broken Draenei found in the Swamp of Sorrows, something from Modern yet not playable like Sethrak, or something brand new like a tribe anthropomorphized alpaca people?

Our Answer:

I know you’re joking about the Alpaca people, but that’s not a terrible idea. They could get a tailoring bonus and free cloth every day. Maybe some sort of aura around them that improves campfire buffs because it’s just so calming hanging out with an Alpaca. Of course, so many of them would be named Alpa Chino or something like that, so maybe not as reassuring overall.

I’m always in favor of more monstrous races, though. Let’s just give both factions Gnolls and make retail players really jealous. Gnoll Hunters, Warriors, Rogues, Shaman, and Warlocks could all work pretty well. I don’t see them being as Mage-y or Paladin-y, but a Gnoll Paladin could be funny. Toss them a giant Hyena for a racial mount, and we’d be set.

The best part is that anything that they add to Warcraft: Forever could be added to retail without too much trouble. Some of the racials would have to be adjusted, but that wouldn’t be super hard. I know that players have wanted to play as a Gnoll forever — just like Ogres, and so many varieties of other monsters. Now could be the time!

RED, THEY’RE STRANGE, SO STRANGE

Q4TQ: What’s the collective noun for gnomes?

Our Answer:

An imagination of Gnomes? That’s the best that I came up with; everything else was too silly or didn’t quite fit. Like, a chaos of gnomes is fun, but they’re not that chaotic. Sure, sometimes people wind up turned into chickens, but that gets fixed pretty quickly.

WHEN I LOOK OVER MY SHOULDER (WHAT HAPPENS THEN?) WHAT DO YOU THINK I SEE? ARTHONOS

Q4tQ: would you rather play Modern Forever, Modern Classic, Classic Classic, Classic Modern, Forever Modern Classic, or Forever Classic Modern Forever Modern Classic?

Our Answer:

Playing FCMFMC sounds like a full-time job in itself. That’s all the things!

They’ll have to come up with a better naming convention if they’re going to keep adding new Warcrafts. I know that we’ve all settled on Retail to talk about the mainline game, but it lacks a certain panache. Modern is closer, but I still don’t like it as much as I could. Maybe we should call it Unbound since players are unbound by gravity or by being on Azeroth. I’ll keep noodling on it, but I like it.

SOME OTHER TELWAR LOOKING OVER OVER HIS SHOULDER AT ME

QftCraftyQ: How hard is foam to cut reasonably well?

I want to make some foam dividers for my Magic cards so they don’t flop around in the long box. I see I can get that at Michael’s/Hobby Lobby, but want to make sure I don’t need anything weird or complicated.

Our Answer:

Nothing is that hard to cut as long as you have an appropriately large knife! But yes, you should be able to get some cheap foam inserts and just use a large, straight-edged knife to cut it nicely. If you’re not worried about aesthetics, you could always cut it with a serrated knife, but that’s going to leave a jagged mess.

Sometimes, when you take pictures of a black cat, all you get is an outline of a cat. Sure, Bacardi’s white spots help him stand out, but if he’s loafing, just a void. Like a character that hasn’t been unlocked yet in a video game. If you can find his nose to boop him today I’m sure you’ll get some good rewards!

Would you rather

Pumpkin Pie

Or

Apple Pie

Today’s Anna Earworm™: Season of the Witch

I hope you all eat as well as I did this week! Leave Anna lots of questions for tomorrow so that her Queue is easy peasy.

]]> Blizzard Watch Blizzard Watch Weekly: Looking forward to Labyrinths https://blizzardwatch.com/2026/10/12/blizzard-watch-weekly-looking-forward-labyrinths/ Mon, 12 Oct 2026 14:00:08 +0000 https://blizzardwatch.com/?p=216490

World of Warcraft patch 12.1.5 launches this week, and I’m looking forward to checking out the first Labyrinth, the Troll tomb Kindo’jan, when it goes live on Tuesday. Even though this is a “minor” patch, it’s pretty packed with new features, including a new one-boss raid (interesting), a new invasion (yawn), a new story chapter (okay), and more. Unfortunately with great content comes great maintenance, so expect modern realms to be offline for most of Tuesday.

That’s the big news for this week, but while we’re here let’s catch up on what’s been going on in Blizzard games over the last week, and what’s coming up this week.

What happened last week?

What’s happening this week (and beyond)

Other things we’re playing, watching, and more

We didn’t do a new episode of The Séance of Blake Manor this week, and our alternate game stream has not been posted yet due to technical difficulties. But look for our indie game stream to be back this week: you can watch all of the episodes of Blake Manor (so far) on YouTube or catch us streaming indie games live Thursday at 8pm eastern (and follow us on Twitch to get notifications).

As for other games to play, this week is LudoNarraCon, a celebration of narrative games presented by Fellow Traveller. It includes sales on a broad mix of games that feature a strong narrative focus, as well as panels hosted on Fellow Traveller’s YouTube channel. I’m personally looking forward to seeing Tonda Ros talking about Blue Prince later today. LudoNarraCon runs through October 15, so pick up any game sales before then.

For more discounts, there are two free games in the Epic Games Store this week, the casual citybuilder TerraScape and the unusual horror FPS Out of Sight. Grab them both before Thursday to get them for free!

Our latest podcasts

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

]]>

World of Warcraft patch 12.1.5 launches this week, and I’m looking forward to checking out the first Labyrinth, the Troll tomb Kindo’jan, when it goes live on Tuesday. Even though this is a “minor” patch, it’s pretty packed with new features, including a new one-boss raid (interesting), a new invasion (yawn), a new story chapter (okay), and more. Unfortunately with great content comes great maintenance, so expect modern realms to be offline for most of Tuesday.

That’s the big news for this week, but while we’re here let’s catch up on what’s been going on in Blizzard games over the last week, and what’s coming up this week.

What happened last week?

What’s happening this week (and beyond)

Other things we’re playing, watching, and more

We didn’t do a new episode of The Séance of Blake Manor this week, and our alternate game stream has not been posted yet due to technical difficulties. But look for our indie game stream to be back this week: you can watch all of the episodes of Blake Manor (so far) on YouTube or catch us streaming indie games live Thursday at 8pm eastern (and follow us on Twitch to get notifications).

As for other games to play, this week is LudoNarraCon, a celebration of narrative games presented by Fellow Traveller. It includes sales on a broad mix of games that feature a strong narrative focus, as well as panels hosted on Fellow Traveller’s YouTube channel. I’m personally looking forward to seeing Tonda Ros talking about Blue Prince later today. LudoNarraCon runs through October 15, so pick up any game sales before then.

For more discounts, there are two free games in the Epic Games Store this week, the casual citybuilder TerraScape and the unusual horror FPS Out of Sight. Grab them both before Thursday to get them for free!

Our latest podcasts

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

]]> Blizzard Watch