Blizzcon 2017 has come and gone and with it, we got a slew of new announcements around all thing Blizzard. From World of Warcraft's new expansion to new characters appearing in Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch, to the latest Hearthstone reveal, we'll break it all down for you below.
In what is the biggest World of Warcraft news we've received in since the Legion expansion reveal in 2015, Blizzard gave fans not one but TWO major announcements this year. First off, they have finally begun work on their own Vanilla WoW servers, in an effort they're calling World of Warcraft: Classic. No other real information is available as of this writing, but it is said that they are still in the very early stages of development and to not expect concrete information for a while yet. Still, the announcement that Blizzard is indeed working on this idea is a welcome one and personally has me excited to trawl the Azeroth landscapes just like my 14 year old self did once upon a time. You can view the announcement trailer for this below and take a cinematic fueled trip down WoW-memory lane.
Thats not all, Warcraft fans! Blizzard also gave us the official reveal of the next expansion, World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth. The expansion takes us back to what made WoW great in "the good ol' days", bringing us back around to the central fight between the Horde and Alliance. The uneasy truce between the two is over and they're back at it once again, fighting to bring all of Azeroth under their control. The new expansion of course brings new leveling content, with an increased level cap to 120, two new continents to explore, new dungeons, raids, and for the first time, new Allied Races join the game. These are playable races that players will first meet in game, learn more about through questing, and then gaining access to play as those races yourself. More information on the Allied Race system will be coming soon, and thats something we're really excited about here at Senshudo!
Overwatch is also receiving some pretty exciting updates. A new support/healer hero, Moira will be joining the playable characters sometime in 2018. We also got a new Reinhardt cinematic that is absolutely enthralling and its something you have to witness. A new map, BlizzardWorld is coming soon as well and it looks like an absolute blast. It basically seems to be if Blizzard went Disney World and it sounds like a great addition to the Overwatch lineup.
Heroes of the Storm is also getting a new update, Hanzo and Alexstrasza are coming as new playable heroes. A new way of matchmaking, based on performance and skill is coming (finally), along with voice chat and new camera features. Laning improvements, a stealth rework, and new battleground mechanics were also announced but not detailed during the keynote.
Hearthstone's latest expansion was revealed during the opening ceremonies. Kobolds and Catacombs will see a host of new in game features and new cards enter the game. Dungeon Run is a new, free single player expansion to the game and for the first time, legendary weapons will be available for all classes in the game. As a freebie, starting today, all players who log in to the game will receive a Marin card! Blizzcon attendees and Virtual Ticket holders will get a gold version of the card as well.
While its great that we got a bunch of updates on these great titles, it did feel a little weird that Diablo got no mention at all and that Starcraft II's only real announcement was that the game will be going Free to Play across the board, with certain limitations given to free to play characters. Here's hoping the Starcraft and Diablo franchises are shown a little more love next year with some amazing announcements.
What did you think of the announcements coming out of Blizzcon 2017? Are you excited and energized for the releases or did they leave you wanting more? Let us know in the comments!