Blizzard Watch Weekly Wrap-up: A big week for Dragonflight news

It’s been a big week World of Warcraft news, including a patch 10.0.7 release date, a preview of patch 10.1, and patch 10.1 going live on the PTR. That’s a speedy turnaround for WoW patches, but it’s the pace Blizzard will have to keep if it wants to meet its own 2023 roadmap. But if you don’t play WoW, don’t fret, because I’m pretty sure next week will be nothing but Diablo 4 hype.

Here’s what’s going on in the world of Blizzard games this week.

Now live

• If you haven’t checked out WoW’s Dragonflight expansion, now’s the time: from March 9 – 12 you can play Dragonflight for free. You can head to the Dragon Isles and explore the Waking Shore, the expansion’s first zone, or play the new Dracthyr Evoker class through its starting zone in the Forbidden Reach. If you have some free time this weekend, it is well worth the price of $0. If you aren’t sure where to get started, Blizzard has a guide on how to jump into the game, whether you’re a returning player or brand new.
• If you want a preview of the latest WoW content, the Dragonflight patch 10.1 PTR is now live. That’s a lot sooner than I expected!

Coming soon

• This time next week, anyone who pre-ordered Diablo 4 will be able to enjoy early access to the beta! The first beta weekend starts at 9am pacific on Friday, March 17, and ends on Monday, March 20, at 12pm pacific. The open beta will be available to all the following weekend.
• Hot on the heels of that Diablo beta weekend WoW patch 10.0.7 will launch. The patch goes live on Tuesday, March 21 and will let us explore the Forbidden Reach and the Zskera Vaults. We also got a new cinematic for patch 10.0.7 to enjoy.

WoW patch 10.1 is coming our way, and it’s a big one

• We got cross-faction instancing at the end of Shadowlands, but Dragonflight 10.1 is bringing us cross-faction guilds. I thought we might get this at some point, but definitely didn’t expect it to happen this soon.
• Explore Zaralek Cavern, a new underground zone where we’ll team up with the Black Dragonflight to learn more about Neltharion’s secrets. The zone also features the new Niffen NPC race and the return of the Drogbar — and snail racing! Check out our gallery for a sneak peek at what this zone will look like.
• Dragonflight Season 2 will start shortly after patch 10.1 launches — usually it kicks off a week later — adding the new raid Aberrus, Neltharion’s hidden laboratory. As you might guess, we’ll be fighting some of Neltharion’s abandoned experiments as well as a shade of Neltharion himself.
• Good news everyone, I’ve perfected the plague! you’ll be able to fly in Zaralek Cavern! Immediately, with no pre-requisites or unlocks. I intend to enjoy crashing face-first into stalagmites instead of crashing face-first into trees for a change.

And a tiny bit of Hearthstone news…

• Buddies will be returning to Hearthstone Battlegrounds, and I for one am looking forward to it. This mid-Season shakeup changes the way Buddies work: you’ll now buy them for gold rather than earning them by pushing through a progress bar. This should give you more control over summoning your Buddies, which brings some extra strategic choices to the game. Though we don’t have a release date yet, I expect this will be live in the next week or two.

And that’s all for this week. Take care and have a good weekend, everyone!

— Elizabeth Harper, Editorial Director