It is a very exciting time of the year for those of you who fall into the Blizzard camp of followers.
If you have every played Wow, Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo or another of the long list of Blizzard titles you can appreciate the level of quality and thought that goes into each game they create. Blizzcon 2013 is currently going on!
As a quick taste of the action going on out in California I thought I would collect all of the newly released trailers and announcements from the con right here.
Linkage
Heroes of the Storm (http://us.battle.net/blizzcon/en/)
Heroes is the new MOBA game that blizzard is planning. Similar to other games such as Dota 2 and League of Legends this game will feature famous heroes and villians from the BIizzard franchises. That means you are likely to see some sick replays of Arthas defeating Diablo and then getting the tower deny!
Beta signup is now available through the main site and through your Battle.net preferences. Hope to see you in game!
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor (http://us.battle.net/wow/en/)
WoW is celebrating its 10th year in the hands of eager gamers. This year at Blizzcon they revealed their plans for the next major expansion (possibly the last?). Warlords has the players travel back in time to Outland before all of the bad stuff with the Burning Legion happened which at this time is known as Draenor. This as many know is the homeword of the alliance race the Draenei. The major plot revolves around the Orc Clan battling the Draenei on their homeworld. As someone who has been out of the WoW scene since just after WotLK I can’t really say I know much more than that.
The big news with this expansion comes in the form of updated character models. Unfortunately they only are seeming to get an update to about 5 years ago’s standards. Blizzard will also be allowing players to instantly boost a character to level 90 in order to jump right into the new content. As someone who has stared down the daunting task of trying to catch up to a 10 year old game with 4+ expansions I can see this being a very strong draw to new and returning players.
Also of note, the trailer briefly mentions some form of upgradable player/guild housing. Neat.
Hearthstone (http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/)
Hearthstone is Blizzards answer to the recent up-cropping of digital card games. From MtGO:Online to Soulforge many gamers on the go are getting their hands on a quick fantasy based strategy fix. In Hearthstone you take on the role of one of the icon World of Warcraft classes and battle your enemy using collectable digital cards.
The big announcement for Blizzcon 2013 surrounding this game is that Hearthstone will be coming to Android and Apple stores as well as the PC. I bet I am not the only one excited to hear this.
Warcraft (Movie) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803096/)
There are lots of rumors circulating about this film, set to be released in 2015. Some big names actors (Colin Ferrel) have apparently signed on and for us nerds this has potential to be a great film. At Blizzcon 2013 they did a whole panel talking about their upcoming motion picture!
The biggest takeaway that I gained was that the famous digital effects studio Industrial Light and Magic will be doing the visuals for the film. ILM was created as a necessity for the original Star Wars in 1977 and since has been responsible for some of the most innovating and ground breaking effects in the industry.
