Watching Blizzard: Spoooooky! (Patreon)

It's not really spooky unless you at least triple the number of O's in the word. I had a long internal debate over using "spooooooky" in the headline for today's Hearthstone expansion announcement, but finally decided it wouldn't be professional. But now I'm thinking I'm not all that professional anyway.

A note on the header image before we begin. I typed "spooky" into our image search and the first thing that popped up was the upside-down sinners in the Karazhan Crypts. I was looking for spooky, but that was too spooky. (And also more "spooky" than "spooooooky.") The above image is the second search result for "spooky," and I think it works better. The Irontree Woods is  spooky, but still fairly ridiculous. That's classic Warcraft-style spooky.

But Hearthstone? Hearthstone does nothing but spooooooky.

This is how Hearthstone expansions get made

• First, the devs went on a trip to the woods that seemed straight out of a horror movie.
• Then we got a found footage video of them finding Hearthstone cards in the forest, because they're adults and they can go hunt for collectable card games in the woods if that's what they want to do.
• And now we have a new expansion, the Witchwood. See? Game development is so easy. Expect it to launch by the end of next month... so I guess it must take quite a while to comb through the woods and harvest all of those Hearthstone cards.
• Oh, and there's a Hearthstone patch, too, adding in Arena changes and bug fixes.

Is the Overwatch League drama finally coming to an end?

• After a new round of fines, the Dallas Fuel has dropped xQc. But the internet loves its drama, and I doubt this is the last we've heard of him.
• For a different kind of drama, check our recap of the week's OWL action. The Gladiators defeated the Spitfire in a pretty serious upset... and with a lot of help from Fissure, who was on the Spitfire himself until very recently. Surprises like that are the kind of drama I'd rather tune in for.

Battle for Azeroth is just on the horizon

• Well... depending on how you define "horizon." But even if it isn't, there is an expansion Q&A this week that definitely qualifies as on the horizon. We'll be tuning in this Thursday to catch the latest expansion news.
• But the biggest Battle for Azeroth question remains unanswered: will the people who want a physical collector's edition ever be able to get digital pre-order bonuses? In some parts of Europe, physical game boxes can be pre-ordered with digital bonuses... but no collector's editions yet. Someone should ask Ion about that.
• Anne's continuing adventures in Zuldazar continue! Today's gallery ventures through Tal’gurub and Tor’nowa.

Get with the latest lore

• World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume 3 is coming... but we already have a huge preview to enjoy.
• But if you prefer current expansion lore, Anne has a writeup on the ghosts of Azsuna for you.

A fix and a nerf, all rolled into one

• A bug to Sonya's Tough as Nails talent is fixed and the Tough as Nails talent is nerfed, all in a single hotfix.

Closing out the day with cute

• His name is Jetpack Cat. His mission is to defend the world from vacuums.

That's all for today, folks. (Or for yesterday, considering the current time.) More news is no doubt headed our way on Tuesday, so tune in for the latest. Or at least to harass Mitch in the Queue. Whatever works for you.

This is Liz, signing out.