Watching Blizzard: Happy Tuesday?

After wishing you all a happy Monday yesterday, we are left with the eternal question… can a Tuesday really be happy? Sure, it’s not the first workday of the week, but it’s the day when it really hits home that you have a long slog of four whole workdays until the weekend. How discouraging.

But it is one day closer to the weekend, and one day closer to the return of Overwatch League when we can see who the heck will be in the Dallas Fuel’s starting lineup after Rascal was cut from the team, Effect returned home to South Korea, and Taimou had a brief stint in the ER. I’m not even a fan of Dallas, but I confess curiosity as to how the team will play with so many shakeups over the past week.

But what are we still doing here just chatting about games (and drama)? Let’s get to the day’s news.

The Battle for Azeroth beta is here!

• While it isn’t open to all just yet, a lot more invites have gone on tonight, so check your inbox (and your launcher) to see if you’re in.
• Alongside the beta, we’re getting a new dev Q&A this Thursday, so be sure to get your questions in for Mr. Ion Hazzikostas. (Who, I’m afraid, is no Ben Brode. Yeah, I’m still in mourning. Sorry.)

All hail the Lorenado

• Deckard Cain is now live in Heroes of the Storm and all you need to know is that one of his heroic abilities is actually called Lorenado.
• In other Heroes news, Lead Hero Designer Matt Villers recently took to the forums to talk about how mana works as a limiting factor for the game’s heroes. It’s a bit inside baseball, but it’s still pretty interesting to see just how the developers think about mana use in the game.

The Witchwood meta is starting to shape up

• Ted rounded up a few of Hearthstone’s most competitive decks — and, yes, there are some budget options in there for those of us who are card-challenged. After a lucky streak opening Witchwood packs, I’m not terribly card challenged, but I am still just bad at the game. Maybe these decks can help.

StarCraft 2 now offers paid community-made custom games

• When was this feature originally announced? Like a decade ago? Let me check my calendar…. Okay, not quite a decade ago: Blizzard announced paid community-made mods would join the game in 2009, so that’s only nine years. My mistake.
• But, ahem, I digress. These mods sound really cool, and they’ll be an interesting change of pace for StarCraft fans. The first to be released are ARK Star, a turn-based tactical RPG, and Direct Strike, a tug-of-war wave assault game mode. I’ll at least be checking them out.

For anyone wanting to toss some extra support our way…

• Purely because people have asked me about it before, I’ll point out that we’ve just updated our page on how to support the site with a list of affiliate deals. If any of them interest you, just click ’em via our link and we’ll get a tiny kickback. And if they don’t interest you, please carry on with your lives as is.
• And to those who have asked me about Amazon affilate links, I will say that it is technically against Amazon policy for me to tell you to go to Amazon and buy things using our link. However, there are a few Amazon links on that page you can click, and if you happened to click them and then buy something totally different, Blizzard Watch still gets a cut.
• Your support on Patreon, PayPal, or through any affiliate deals is very deeply appreciated. It all goes towards paying our writers and keeping the servers running, and I’m so thankful that you’re all here helping us out. (Okay, I’ve gotta stop now before I tear up.)

And that’s all for today, dear readers. I’ll be back tomorrow when it will finally be Wednesday and we are officially half-way through the week. Whew! What a slog.

Until then, this is Liz, signing out.