Blizzard recently concluded its annual expo event, BlizzCon and as usual there were a lot of new revelations throughout the event in regards to their IPs. Here are some of the announcements:
Overwatch:
Being the company’s latest and one of the most promising IPs, there were a lot of reveals for Overwatch as expected. First of all, Sombra (Yes, finally!). Two new maps have been revealed and also a new mode.
The first map which will be coming to the public test realm (PTR) tomorrow is titled Ecopoint: Antartica which will bring in a new mode called arcade and thus replacing the ‘Brawl’. This map will allow players to play a plethora of modes, even three versus three and one versus one. According to the lore, Ecopoint: Antartica is the place where the climatologist and ingame character, Mei was in cyro-stasis when a severe storm hit the base.
The other map which will supposedly be hitting the PTR sometime in December is ‘Oasis’, which is described as “shining jewel of prosperity surrounded by a lifeless desert,” and will be control / king of the hill type map just like Illios or Nepal. Also, Oasis would be the first map which will sport a jump pad, allowing players to jump up to higher locations at the point.
Also, Blizzard announced the much anticipated character, Sombra with a new animated short called ‘Infiltration’; she will be coming into PTR tomorrow with the Antartica map.
Other than that the panel also said that they are planning to bring hero limits to casual, just like the competitive mode, the team is apparently also working on a complete overhaul of the ‘Play of the Game’ function.
Diablo:
The widely popular series just completed 20 years of existence and Blizzard decided to celebrate the event by re-creating Diablo I in Diablo III. It will be brought in through a free expansion called, “The Darkening of Tristram” and will be hitting the PTR next week. Further ahead, the developers would be adding another summoner class to the kitty of playable characters and that is the Necromancer.
Hearthstone:
Dominating the genre of online card games, the company’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft got its latest expansion announced during the opening ceremony. Titled, “Mean Streets of Gadgetzan”, the expansion is based on the fabled desert outpost from World of Warcraft. It features three major crime factions, Grimy Goons, Jade Lotus and Kabal and have their own unique cards.
World of Warcraft:
So, what was in for the World of Warcraft fans?
A new raid termed ‘Tomb of Sargeras’ will be coming in and has a total of nine bosses. It will be accompanied by a four-boss dungeon called, “Cathedral of Eternal Night”.
Also, the upcoming 7.2 patch will allow players to fly around the Broken Isles as legendary mounts are coming for each class, all of which can fly. With it, the patch will also bring back Broken Shore marking the continuation of the Class Order Campaign, adding new quests and adding a new faction, ‘Armies of Legionfall.’
The patch should be hitting PTR soon and in the end the panel also hinted that the players will get to visit Argus, sometime in the future.
Heroes of the Storm:
Blizzard’s ambitious MOBA project, Heroes of the Storm will be getting two new heroes, Varian: High king of the Alliance (who is also the first multi-class hero of the game) and Ragnaros: The Firelord. Apart from this, the game’s first asymmetrical map was also announced, where in one team will defend and one team will attack. Here’s the description of the map:
“This Brawl is the first battleground to feature attack/defend style mechanics and introduces asymmetrical gameplay to Heroes of the Storm. On Blackheart’s Revenge, only one team has a Core. They must gather cannonballs, load them into the cannons located around the docks, and fire on the ship in hopes of sending Blackheart to a watery grave. Defenders must assist the ghost pirate in his siege by stopping the attacking team from collecting enough cannonballs to sink the ship before it reaches its destination.”
Furthermore, the company announced giveaways in the game. Upon playing 15 games between 15 November to 4 January, players will get the ‘Oni’ skin in Overwatch, an icon and the hero Zarya in Heroes of the Storm. Playing over will bring additional bonuses in the game with more heroes, the Orochi Hovercycle mount and a 30-Day Stimpack.
StarCraft:
The company announced new co-op missions and co-op commander for StarCraft II. The new co-op commander will be Alexei Stukov, the vice admiral of the UED Expeditionary Fleet and infested Terran captain. The third and concluding Nova mission for StarCraft II would be available for players from 22 November.