Blizzard Entertainment

The soft snows of Winter Veil are misting over the tavern once again, so get cozy by the hearth and sip some hot apple cider while you join us for festive Hearthstone fun! Exchange seasonal greetings with worthy opponents as you battle under snowy rooftops in Stormwind and Orgrimmar. Then, grab your favorite ornaments for some decorating in Dalaran!

Beginning 10 a.m. PT on December 11, until 10 a.m. PT on December 31, this year’s Winter Veil celebration calls upon you to decorate the magical spires of Dalaran – rewarding your gingerly-bred mayhem with the Winter Veil Treat Card Back!

If you’re feeling in the spirit of gift-giving, bolster a friend’s collection (or your own!) with the Winter Veil Wonder Bundle featuring the new Druid Hero, Dame Hazelbark...

The next Heroes of the Storm patch has arrived! The update brings a new Hero, Deathwing the Destroyer, new Experience Globes, new bundles, new skins, and much more! Dive on in for more information.

NOTE: Orange text indicates a change between PTR and Live notes.

Quick Navigation:

• Nexus Anomaly
• General
• New Hero: Deathwing
...

As Overwatch players around the world take on Mercy’s Recall Challenge, there’s no time like the present to look back at Dr. Ziegler’s past and explore how this iconic hero became who she is today.

Heroic Inspiration

Years ago, when we were exploring ideas for what would eventually become Overwatch, one of the areas the development team had been focusing on was the concept of a class-based online shooter—an idea that stemmed from an unannounced game that had shuttered, codenamed Titan.

"We had a class meeting, where [lead hero designer of Overwatch] Geoff Goodman said something tha...

Greetings! I’m Tian, a Senior Data Scientist on the Hearthstone team, and I’m here to talk about some science behind your rating in Hearthstone Battlegrounds!

After your first round of strategic tavern purchases, methodical minion placements, and triples upon triples, you’ll note that you’ve either earned or lost rating points based on your finishing place. After seeing this number change, you may ask yourself: what does this rating actually mean? And how did my rating get decided alongside my opponents?

I’m here to answer those questions - and more! – to help demystify the inner workings of your Battlegrounds rating.

What does this rating number mean?

Your rating in Hearthstone Battlegrounds is more than just a number. The value of your rating represents your skill level in Hearthstone Battlegrounds (with a higher valu...

HELP US DECORATE!

Season’s Greetings and Best Wishes from the Overwatch team!

Since the dawn of Overwatch, the community has flooded the Internet with amazing fan art, entertaining videos, and incredible cosplay. Your talent never ceases to amaze, and we love being surrounded by your creations. With the holidays upon us, we're hoping that you'll be part of our celebration once again.

EXPERIENCE FESTIVITY

For the last three years, we've trimmed our tree with your handmade ornaments, decked the halls with your art, and enjoyed a seemingly endless supply of holiday cards. The community always comes through, and the forecast for this festive season is looking… EPIC!!

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) ...

Just in time for the holidays, you can save 50% on Ba...

The Year of the Dragon may be rapidly flying toward its conclusion, but the dragons themselves have only just begun to descend upon the tavern. Beginning at this year’s BlizzCon, we’ve parted the clouds on the Descent of Dragons set, unearthing three of the five Legendary Galakrond cards that players will receive for free once Descent of Dragons touches down. We’ve also begun to explore some of the other sidequests, shiny sky mechs, and scaly sky serpents that will be available to collect after the expansion launches in a few weeks.

But, of course, BlizzCon was only the beginning, and even more cards have been unleashed across the frozen wastes of Northrend. We’ve gathered some of the high-flying highlights below, and you can always track the newly revealed and upcoming cards ...

Senior game designer Alex Neyman’s excitement about Experience Globes is obvious in the way he moves his hands. First they’re in the air, outlining shapes as he speaks; then they’re karate-chopping the table to emphasize a point. He’s talking about the massive armies of minions that often materialize in late-game Heroes of the Storm, and how Experience Globes make vaporizing those stacked-up waves more satisfying than ever.

“It used to be a little bit of a chore,” says Neyman. “But now, you’re like, oh! Honestly, psychologically, it feels so good to see all those minions die and all the globes go—”

(He makes a sound effect along the lines of “shwoop shwoop shwoop,” and mimes picking up Experience Globes with his fingers.)

Nine months ago, the Heroes of the Storm development team began experimenting with ways to make gathering experience more intuitive and fun. That exploration culminated in Experience Globes, the first in a series of seasonal gamep...

Our next Heroes of the Storm patch has just hit the Public Test Realm and will be available for playtesting until the week of December 2, PST. As always, if you encounter any bugs during your PTR play sessions, please stop by the PTR Bug Report forum to let us know about your experiences.

Quick Navigation:

• Nexus Anomaly
• ...

Heroes of the Storm has just been updated with Hero balance changes! Read on for details.

Quick Navigation:

• General
• Heroes

General

Generic Talents

• Seasoned Marksman
  • Cooldown reduced from 60 to 30 seconds.
  • Attack Speed bonus duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds.

Developer Comment: Since its removal on many H...

The final clash between our heroic Explorers and E.V.I.L Villains is almost here – but before we officially take to the skies with Descent of Dragons, Pre-Release Fireside Gatherings will give you the chance to bust open your packs early and get a first taste of the aerial mayhem!

Attend a Pre-Release Fireside Gathering

Pre-Release events will take place the weekend before Descent of Dragons goes live, December 6 – December 9. Gather your crew and find a nearby tavern to join the fun, or come solo to make some new friends! Fireside Gatherings with the Pre-Release badge will also have unique items you can obtain from giveaways or activities – limited edition Galakrond Hearthstone pins, a Descent of Dragons poster, and various other Hearthstone goodies!
 

...

Blizzard Entertainment’s university relations and World of Warcraft development teams are proud to present the ninth annual World of Warcraft Student Art Contest! We’re calling on college and university students to submit original artwork or animations that would be a great fit for World of Warcraft.

Share with us your creative vision of something we’ve never seen before that still fits within the World of Warcraft universe. You can view previous winning submissions here.

Check out the previous ...

Below you will find the patch notes for the most recent update for Diablo III, Patch 2.6.7a.

Last updated November 20 @ 10:00 a.m. PST.

PATCH 2.6.7a

Table of Contents:

• Items
• Bug Fixes

Note: All changes apply to all versions of Diablo III, including PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC unless otherwise indicated.

Items

• ...

Bob the Bartender has been hard at work keeping the tavern tidy for Hearthstone’s heroes, and it appears that the news has started to spread. Hearthstone Battlegrounds is about to add some extra chaos—and a few Explorers—with a new update coming to the mode today.

Sindragosa, Elise Starseeker, Brann Bronzebeard, and Sir Finley Mrrgglton are the latest heroes to enter the Battlegrounds. Each one comes with a new hero power to give you more options to push toward a first-place finish. Read on for details on these new heroes, as well as some additional updates coming to Hearthstone Battlegrounds.

Please note that these updates do not require an additional download.

Heroes Entering the Battlegrounds

The following Heroes have been added:

• New Hero: Sindragosa...

Get ready to put your skills to the test in WoW Classic. The PvP Honor system and world raid bosses Lord Kazzak and Azuregos are now available.

Lord Kazzak

Gather a group of your best trackers and fighters to venture into the Blasted Lands. Lord Kazzak resides deep in the Tainted Scar and patrols the area, ready to smite all who dare cross his path. Prepare yourselves for a fast and furious battle against time and watch out for his Shadow Bolt Volley, which causes massive amounts of raid-wide damage.

Location: Tainted Scar—Blasted Lands
Suggested Level: 60
Players Suggested: 40
Associated Quests: Priest—While players have a small chance to get the ...

Greetings! Now that BlizzCon is behind us and the post-show patch looms, we’d like to take one final opportunity to examine some tweaks we could make to our initial proposals. As we’ve received generally positive feedback on the direction of the changes we’ve proposed, we intend to make these tweaks as small as possible while we wait for games to play out that will showcase these changes—for instance, at HomeStoryCup XX next week. Below is the list of final changes we’d like to make:

Lurker

• Lurkers affected by Blinding Cloud will now only fire to melee range.

Previously, Lurkers under Blinding Cloud could not target enemies outside of melee range, but their spines would still fire to maximum range if they attacked a unit at melee range. After this change, Lurkers will effectively only shoot out a single spine if an enemy is within melee range. As a result, we believe Ultralisks will become a more competitive option i...

The realm of Azeroth ties many of us together, across languages, continents, and across Hearthstone, Warcraft, and World of Warcraft. For the past 25 years, we’ve experienced countless stories and victories brought to us by these games, and now Hearthstone would like to join in on the anniversary celebration.

                                                  

Beginning 10 a.m. PT November 13, and lasting through 10 a.m. PT November 27, players who log into Hearthstone will be able to claim two free Golden cards inspired by the epic struggle between Horde and Alliance.

Be sure to log in before November 27^th! We’ll see you in the tavern!

Below you will find the patch notes for the most recent update for Diablo III, Patch 2.6.7. Changes from the PTR have been highlighted in RED.

Last updated November 12 @ 10:00 a.m. PST.

PATCH 2.6.7

Table of Contents:

• General
• Seasons
• Items
• ...

Fly into action and take up the mantle of the Valkyrie in Mercy’s Recall Challenge! Bring the new Overwatch short story, “Valkyrie” to life with story-inspired content available to unlock for a limited time.

From now until December 2, players will be able to earn a player icon, 8 sprays, and a legendary Dr. Ziegler Mercy skin, for a total of 10 new rewards.

• DR. ZIEGLER - Learn how to unlock brand-new Mercy rewards
• ...

Prepare your minions, coins, and heroic bravado – early access to Hearthstone’s newest game mode, Battlegrounds, is now live! Starting 10 a.m. PT November 5, and continuing until 12 a.m. PT November 12, BlizzCon attendees, BlizzCon Virtual Ticket holders, and players who have pre-purchased a Descent of Dragons bundle can jump right into the fray!

Battlegrounds Brawl:

We’re also celebrating the upcoming launch of Battlegrounds with a special event that starts today – welcome to the Battlegrounds Brawl! Join up with your favorite streamers in a quest for tavern glory while earning Card Packs along the way. The event will conclude on Thursday, November 21 with an epic finale—a $200,000 Battlegrounds tournament live on the Inn-vitational stage! We’re splitting this event into three phases: