New year for us, new year for gaming

It's 2026, and the more things change, the more they stay the same. We start off with a new Hearthstone gatcha promotion, and follow it up with yet another splinter version of WoW Classic -- this time, WoW Classic Anniversary is splitting into WoW Classic Burning Crusade Anniversary and WoW Classic Classic Era Anniversary. Legion Remix is definitionally a rehash, but it's coming to an end relatively soon.But it's not all old news! Immediately thereafter is the Midnight pre-patch, with a lot of new events and features, and a prepatch event. A new Diablo 4 expansion was just announced with a release date in the new year as well, even if it sounds very similar to the previous one, even if it does add Paladins. We also talk about all the new games we're looking forward to in 2026.Plus, since Cory was a cohost, there was another edition of the Heroes of the Storm hopium corner. New year, same old us.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're looking back at the events of 2025, with our special guest Phil Ulrich. Rather than going at it chronologically, Matt consults a D8, which means we discuss one of our favorite things from the year which actually happened last: player housing! But there were a ton of things that happened in all of Blizzard's games this year, from Plunderstorm's return to Legion Remix, three Hearthstone expansions, and a ton of Diablo 4 seasons (though who can tell the difference between them). We also met new friends like Valentina, the lizard that was a part of a Hearthstonemarketing campaign we would die for, and King Krush, also a Hearthstone-based lizard. Probably a coincidence.The In Memoriam section this year is Warcraft Rumble. May it rest in peace.Then, all the other games that had us in a chokehold. But honestly, it's mostly the player housing.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Santa Rossi is visiting us this week with player housing-related delights, like the upcoming Night Elf and Blood Elf house exteriors! But beware, if you're naughty, Joe will tell you the tale of how healing, and especially resto shaman are shaping up on the Midnight beta -- and that's a ghost story that would kill a Victorian child. Liz also has a few dire predictions for transmog future, but this month's trading post fits the theme with a blood elf-styled red and gold theme.Plus, The Indie Awards takes a hardline anti-AI stance, which puts Clair Obscur front and center again, but in a way that would put coal in anyone's stocking.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week our usual hosts were joined by our Diablo Maven Liz Patt to talk about the announcement of Lord of Hatred, the next Diablo 4 expansion. Lord of Hatred was announced at The Game Awards -- though it was not related to The Statue -- and we have a ton to say about the details we have so far. Liz Patt preordered the expansion, and so therefore got to play one of two new classes, the Paladin, hands-on, and chats about it with us a bit. The other class remains a mystery, but our cohosts had some ideas for what they think the class may be, as well as what they wish it was.We also talked about all the various winter events we're experiencing over the next few weeks in all Blizzard's games. They're only here for a short while so get your holiday fill while you can.Plus, we ran down a bunch of little tips and tricks we've seen for player housing. We also wrote about these on the website but they're so charming we just had to get them out there twice.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're still immersed in Player Housing, but just a little bit of the shine has worn off, mostly as we've tried to chop down enough trees to decorate the houses of our dreams. Maybe our power level is so high we're just out here decimating every tree we encounter into matchsticks. But not everything is Player Housing. Some versions of WoW are also Classic, and MoP Classic just hit its final phase. We also have some news on Legion Remix, but because Matt is playing a Mage, they're not necessarily very nice.We're waiting on some announcements for Diablo 4 which will be exciting but perhaps not too exciting. It seems like they really learned from the disaster that was the Diablo Immortal announcement (though we contend that it's actually a fun little game).Plus, Overwatch 2 has a new season, which is nice and all, but that also means the Winter Wonderland event is back too, and that's really the headline.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We very wisely started off the podcast this week with all the other news. There's a new Hearthstone Battlegrounds season that just started, with a fun new mechanic which is actually pretty similar to Trinkets, if we think about it, but we can play as Chromie so everything else is irrelevant. Plus, there's an upcoming Diablo 4 season, and a potential announcement for the franchise at The Game Awards, with a bizarre statue in the California desert.And then, we finally got to talking about the most anticipated patch to hit WoW, perhaps ever. It wasn't without its foibles -- as our guest host Flan noted, some of these decor items are weirdly expensive in old mats, like arcanite bars. It's even more expensive in lumber, which had our hosts going all over the map to collect. And for each little item you want to place, you need to collect more and more of these things. It's a wonder they had time for the show this week.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our intrepid hosts dragged writer Phil Ulrich along as we spent another show discussing transmog changes. As it turns out, making transmog very much more expensive last week, and then retuning it this week so that it's merely much more expensive like it's a gift hasn't really made our hosts happy. Purchased slots are warband wide now, at least, so that's better, but everything else remains awful (but slightly less awful).As a sliver lining, Player Housing comes out next week, yay! However, we're reminding you that all those oddball little currencies from expansions past are now suddenly, horrifically relevant again to purchase themed decor. Hope you hoarded some Apexis Crystals!We're also talking game awards, and how the "indie" categories seem to encompass a whole range of games with a lot of different levels of financial and personnel support.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We start off the show this week talking about WoW Classic, namely that Burning Crusade Anniversary realms were announced and are coming in January, perhaps concurrentish with the release of Midnight. It's fine, it's not like we have lives outside of this one video game or anything. Then, we pivot to the changes to transmog coming in Midnight, and it seems like every time we look at those changes they get worse and worse, much like the gear we had to wear right at the beginning of The Burning Crusade.While we're excited to see Vendetta, the new Overwatch 2 hero coming soon, it's kinda weird she calls herself a term used in both Italian and Spanish slang to mean "lady of the night." She does have a big sword, and she seems neat.Also, we're coming to the end of the year, so it's game awards season. Lots of awards have been announcing their nominees, and the lists aren't without controversy.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week our hosts Liz and Joe were joined by Cory as the Midnight beta officially launched, with access for people who have preordered the Midnight epic edition. It was a little bumpy, per usual, but we made it. We would be testing, but transmog is unavailable until next week, so it's literally unplayable. BlizzCon was announced and early bird tickets were already sold out, but you can buy full price tickets next week. (They did not actually talk about Battlestar Galactica. I was memeing).We have a round of bad news from the other games, because NetEase pulled funding from a lot of indie studios. But it's not all bad, because Steam has an event highlighting games that feature animals, so our unplayed list just keeps getting longer.Plus, Hearthsteel. We're trying to speak positively about this new paid currently specifically earmarked for decor, which you apparently have to buy multiples of like every other decor. So. yep. Positive.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cory is our guest host for the Blizzard Watch Podcast this week and, spoilers, that means there's Heroes of the Storm news again. The PTR opened up for people to test Player Housing again this week, but it was already down again by the time they recorded the podcast. Liz was thrilled with this chance to collect more data though, because her house in the alpha is currently haunted. In other WoW news, the trading post means a ton of new goodies -- perhaps literally, if carrots fit your definition of goodies. Also, getting some of the Artifact appearances in Legion is busted.Beyond WoW, there was a new Hearthstone expansion this week to discuss, plus a new cinematic for Overwatch, which got us feeling a little nostalgic and sentimental. And yes, Heroes of the Storm. We couldn't have Cory on without a little dose of hopium.Plus, we have a contest running on Bluesky and Mastodon where you can enter to win a free key for an Epic edition of Midnight. All you have to do is tell us which housing plot where you'd recommend our realtor take her well-earned vacation (and also, please follow us because that will let us DM you if you win). We'll draw the winners on Monday.If you have a few minutes, please fill out our survey to tell us what you think about the podcast. This data is collected by our podcast host, Acast, and will be used to help us improve the show as well as attract potential sponsors. Your answers are completely anonymous. We appreciate your help!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.