Watching Blizzard: We are not actually meteorologists (Patreon)

Okay, we admit it. Despite our name, we are not actually experts on the weather. All we can say for sure is that it's cold outside, which means you should stay indoors and play video games this weekend. It's non-meteorologist approved entertainment!

But what is there to play? Let's run down the day's news.

Mercy nerfed (again)

• Surprise! Blizzard still hasn't quite figured out what to do with Mercy, and our favorite healer has more changes on the Overwatch PTR.

But at least there's some good news for WoW players

• It looks like Allied Race unlocks will be account wide — so no need to worry about making a new character to grind reputation if you wanted to a new, opposite-faction character. So get ready to roll your Nightborne or Void Elf.

Free stuff? We love free stuff!

• Fire up the Battle.net launcher to grab three free Kobolds & Catacombs packs in Hearthstone.

Cow level? There's no cow level... maybe

• The Darkening of Tristram event is on in Diablo, and a new hotfix means you can once again get this adorable bovine companion.

You aren't imagining it: Heroes of the Storm games are shorter

• But Blizzard plans on fixing it.

Looking back on 2017, and ahead to 2018

• Today, Rossi talked about his 2018 lore wish-list for StarCraft and Diablo.
• Earlier this week, Anne recapped the mountain of story we saw in WoW over the past year.
• And just in time for New Year's, we ran through everything Blizzard has done in 2017. (The real question is... what's next?)