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BlizzCon 2016 has a Little of Everything

Every year Blizzard Entertainment hosts their own game event for the fans. This has been a banner year for Blizzard with the release of Overwatch and World of Warcraft: Legion. BlizzCon was hosted in Anaheim, California and fans could’ve watched the event if they paid $39.99 for a virtual ticket. Blizzard came out with more announcement than I thought. Just about every Blizzard game has something new to give very soon.

Diablo 3

The rumors coming in to this event were involved and active. The Diablo 4 rumors were coming in hot, a lot of gamers believe that it was going to happen because of the 20th anniversary of the franchise, but it didn’t. Instead Blizzard is going to remake parts of Diablo into Diablo 3 in a free update called “Darkening of Tristram”. That, I think is better than releasing another sequel. With how the release of Diablo 3 went, I just want Blizzard to iterate and make Diablo 3 the best game it can possibly be. The update will feature 16 dungeon levels with four boss fights from the original game. Frank Pearce (Blizzard Co-Founder) wanted the update to feel and look like the first Diablo. To do that they’re adding visual filters to make it look more pixelated. And character movement will be locked to eight directions. This free update will go live sometime next week.

There is also a new class that will be introduced to Diablo 3 – The Necromancer. “The Necromancer is inspired by Diablo 2’s version” and” will take full advantage of everything Diablo 3 has to offer.” Says Frank Pearce. The new class will come to Reaper of Souls in 2017 as part of a “character pack”.


Images from” The Darkening of Tristram” update


Hearthstone

Hearthstone, the biggest success out of a digital card game isn’t walking away from BlizzCon without something new. A fourth expansion called, “Mean Streets of Gadgetzen” will be available early December. The expansion will come with “Tri-class” cards and three new factions, Grimmy Goons (Hunter weapons), Jade Lotus (Stealthy/Assassins), and Kabal (Brew potions). Tri-class cards can be used in multiple decks. Example, Kabal can place mage, priest, and warlock and be played with any one of those decks.


For more information about “Mean Streets of Gadgetzen”


Heroes of the Storm

Blizzard’s MOBA division is still new and of course there will be new announcements for Heroes of the Storm. There will be new heroes, which are Varian Wrynn and Raganros. Varian is a hybrid class that can tank as well as do massive damage. Varian will be in the public test servers (PTS) next week, and Raganros will come in December.


Overwatch League


Overwatch was the biggest story during this event. I expected a lot of interesting news, and man did they deliver. Let’s start with the Overwatch League. Blizzard is the first to get into the e-sports scene with starcraft, now they want to change the way e-sports is presented. Each team is city-based, also you need to be invited by being a high rank overall, or placed high in small amateur tournaments. Once accepted you must fight because the team that plays the poorest will get booted from the league. There will be teams that are holding permanent spots so that owners, partners, and sponsors will have confidence in their team.

Blizzard wants each season to be short and exciting.  The first abbreviated season will begin in 2017 and aimed at a full season in Q3 2018 during spring and summer. They are also choosing to have an off-season for players during fall and winter. During the off-season players, can get invited to an Overwatch combine to show-off what you got to owners and sponsors. Now the big question, what is the prize pool? Well there isn’t any. Blizzard would like to make it a contract salary with full benefits. This is all too familiar.  
For full details of the Overwatch League.

Arcade mode

There’s a new mode called Arcade. Arcade mode will give players more ways to play and more loot to unbox. This mode will take over weekly brawls, but is a mix of other modes. Mystery Duel a 1v1, best of 9, small map that randomly chooses your hero. Elimination is a 3v3, best of 5 match, the catch is you can’t change your team composition during a match. And No Limits speaks for itself. Play as any hero no matter how many doubles. While in Arcade you can earn up to three loot boxes per week, you earn the loot boxes by winning any Arcade matches.

Sombra

Last but not lease, Sombra the newest hero. This rumor was going on for many months, even before Ana was released. Finally, Sombra is here with electrifying abilities. She is an offensive hacker that has the ability immobilize her enemies. Her basic attack is a machine pistol, a short-range attack. Her first ability is Hack; she sneaks around her enemies and stun them in place. Another ability is Thermoptic camo, it increases her speed and grants invisibility. For quick getaways Translocator is the ability to use, she throws a device and can zip back to that location. And last, Sombra’s Ultimate EMP will disarm everyone around her. Sombra will be open to the PTS only on PC next week.



What a packed year for Blizzard, with Overwatch being an immediate massive success. Bring players back to World of Warcraft with Legion. And now fans can get excited for all their other games because of the news from BlizzCon. This was a way for Blizzard to give back to the fans and as a fan I couldn’t be happier with everything Blizzard puts out. I hope next year is as good as this year.

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