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Blizzcon 2015: Day 1 News Highlights

Blizzcon: Day 1 News Highlights news header

For those of you who haven’t been following, Blizzcon is this weekend! Anything and everything Blizzard related is going to be discussed this weekend, from Overwatch to Starcraft. Mike Morhaime came out, gave a rousing speech and got everyone hyped, Linkin Park I guess is going to be there. . . Not going to lie, that’s probably my least favorite part of the event. Cool items and digital swag went to people who have a virtual ticket, and all told, we received big news today, even if some of it was previously spoiled by Gamestop!

Here’s a taste:

Starcraft:

  • Co-Op Mode: “Now we can partner up. . .and share the blame for losing!” – Mike Morhaime, 2015 [Archon Mode]
  • Legacy of the Void will be stand-alone, so you don’t need the other expansions/base game to get into it. Good idea, it was ludicrous to have so many damn games to stay relevant.
  • Blizzard will be releasing “Mission Packs” in the future, probably to alleviate “expansions”.
  • Nova: Covert Ops is coming out in Spring 2016! (DLC for SC2)

Warcraft Film:

Some of the cast were announced/appeared:

  • Toby Kevil as Durotan
  • Ben Foster as Medivh
  • Dominic Cooper as King Llane
  • Plancy Brown as Blackhand
  • Daniel Wu as Gul’dan
  • Paula Patton as Garona

Heroes of the Storm:

  • New Mode: Arena Mode.
    • Heroes can be chosen randomly.
    • Some heroes with different heroic abilities.
    • Can also be All For One.
    • Think of it as taking from Smite/League.
  • Cho’gall will be playable, requires two players to use him.
  • Greymane is coming as well.
  • Lunara the Dryad is coming!
  • Headless Horseman is getting a map (Towers of Doom).

Hearthstone:

  • New Hearthstone Adventure: League of Explorers
  • Several new cards announced:
    • The League Explorers are also cards.
    • “Discover” effect: presents three cards not from your deck.
    • Shuffle the Golden Monkey: When played, replaces your hand and all minions in your deck with Legendary creature cards.
    • Only way to get it is by playing a minion, drawing the card the minion placed in your deck, then drawing that card and playing it – which puts the Golden Monkey in your deck, then drawing the Golden Monkey

Overwatch:

  • More Characters and more maps!
    • Almost 30 as of this writing!
  • Will not be f2p, requires purchase of the game.
  • Origins Edition: 5 skins, backstories for characters, skins are relevant.
    • Destiny Wings (Diablo 3)
    • 6 Portraits (SC2)
    • Overwatch Card Back (Hearthstone)
    • Baby Winston pet (WoW)
    • Access to 21 heroes
  • Tracer will be HOTS hero.
  • Simultaneous Release: XB1, PS4, PC! Now I don’t know what I want it for. . .
  • Prices: Standard (39.99), Origins (59.99), Collector’s Edition(???): Spring 2016

World of Warcraft:

  • Release of Legion: 2016 (Summer)
  • Illidan Stormrage is coming back! And he’s pretty pissed off. Black Temple was probably a setback.
  • Artifact Weapons shown off! Floating Skulls, Fists, the Scythe of Elune, Claws of Ursoc, all fitting to spec/lore.
  • Broken Shore: 40 person scenario. Holy damnit that’s a lot of people in a scenario!
    • 20 Horde vs. 20 Alliance.
  • Flying Demonships! ‘nuff said.
  • Demon Hunters start at 98.
  • New demon types (Sensing a pattern yet?):
    • Imp Mother
    • Jailer
    • Inquisitor
  • Lots of stuff we’ve never seen before!
  • Legion Constructs buildings.
  • Illidan gives DH’s a unique epic mount.
  • New Zones!
    • Emerald Nightmare spills into the world [Val’sharah]
    • Black Rook Hold is around [Think War of the Ancients]
  • New models [Satyr, Nightmare Dragons, MOONKIN, Naga, Sea Giants]
  • New Dragonflight: Storm Dragons
    • Blue Dragonflight is still around too!
  • Four Level Up Zones that scale flexibly:
    • Azsuna, Highmountain, Stormheim, Val’sharah
  • Outdoor World Quests: Reward various cool things [Think Diablo’s Horadric Cache]
  • Replacing Dailies/Objectives with Garrison Missions
  • Profession missions, unique outdoor objectives to gain materials
  • Emerald Nightmare: Stop Xavius and fight through seven bosses!
    • Cenarius is here!
    • Pestilence Dragon!
  • Gul’dan is at Suramar! Gotta kick his ass!
  • 5 “level-up dungeons”, 5 “max-level dungeons”
    • Endcaps for zones
  • Legion Challenge Mode Dungeons: Upgrade your keystone when you complete the challenge. Higher difficulties and better rewards the farther you go. New modifiers each week.
    • Alternate path to raiding
    • Challenge Affixers:
      • Enemies enrage at 30%, periodic damage over time, extra enemies, enemy corpses explode shortly after death
    • Loot Chest at the end of each run
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