Nerd Mentality

Blizzcon 2009 Overview

Posted August 25th 2009 by Frankie Aguilar.

Blizzcon is an annual event put on by Blizzard to release information about their intellectual properties. What started as a vehicle to promote The Burning Crusade expansion to World of Warcraft in October 2005 has become a monster convention for all things Blizzard. Along with WoW, information about the Diablo and Starcraft universes are always in high demand. 2009 represents the fourth year of Blizzcon, and with the number of attendees more than doubled from the first Blizzcon, the only thing bigger than the crowds this year were the reveals.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

The biggest news from Blizzcon this year was that the newest expansion to the World of Warcraft, Cataclysm, will be released sometime next year. Although most of the information regarding the expansion was leaked to the Internet earlier this month, it didn't take away from the impact of hearing it from Blizzard themselves. There will be two new races for each faction: Goblins for the Horde and Worgen for the Alliance. There will be 11 new Race/Class combinations, broadening the playability of each race considerably. Cataclysm will raise the level cap to 85, which is 5 levels higher than it is currently. This is different from the previous two expansions that increased the level cap by 10 each time.

Cataclysm is more than just a title though, it will be a game wide event that not only introduces new heroes and villains, but completely re-shapes the entire World of Warcraft. The terrain will be broken and transformed. Areas that were once fertile and beautiful will be riddled with craters and magma fields, while lands that were desolate will be filled with new life. The Cataclysm will also opens areas in game that are currently closed to players.

People have been skeptical about Blizzard's recent patching. The idea that the game is being made too easy for newer players, and that the path from 0-60 is no longer important, is being substantiated by lowered level and gold requirements for things veteran players slaved over. That, plus the lack of solid end game material in these new patches, and the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, has led vets to lambaste Blizzard at every chance. Hopefully the addition of new races with new Race/Class combinations, and the opening of the previously closed areas will will re-invigorate the WoW faithful.

Battle.net

A lot of noise has been raised about how Battle.net would be revamped for the coming games and while the news pertaining to it was scarce at this year's Blizzcon, key issues were addressed. Battle.net is a gaming service provided by Blizzard inside of its online multiplayer games since 1997 when it was released with Diablo. There hasn't been a major overhaul of it since 2003 and although there was a migration of WoW accounts into the Battle.net system earlier this year, the platform is set to be recreated when Starcraft II comes out. The biggest issue concerning the Blizzard faithful is the price. Battle.net accounts have been free throughout its existence and with Diablo III and Starcraft II launching with a new Battle.net, many feared they'd have to pay to play. But it has been made clear that the payment plan will remain the same as long as you comply with the end user agreement.

Starcraft II

Most of the info for Starcraft II was game play related. While the panel promised a deeper story, the focus was on increased and varied upgrade possibilities in-game. Another part of the panel was a display of developer created mods. With the success of the Warcraft III mod community, Blizzard threw together a few of there own to show off the depth of the Starcraft II map editor. Displaying a gigantic Zerg, a Galaga inspired Protoss attack map and a homage to the failed Blizzard action game in the form of a third person mod aptly named Starcraft: Ghost, the mod community is going to have a field day with this game. The developers talked about the ease in which all these mods were made and promised some form of support for modders. Battle.net users will be allowed to file complaints about anything they find offensive and if Blizzard agrees with the complaint the mods will be yanked off Battle.net. Blizzard has yet to change its stance on a LAN based multiplayer function for Starcraft II. Blizzard has cited anti-piracy as the reason for not putting an offline LAN multiplayer function into the game.

Diablo III

The biggest news from the Diablo III camp was the announcement of a new class in the from of the Monk. This is the fourth confirmed class for Diablo III along with the Barbarian, Wizard, and Witch Doctor. This class will represent the brittle yet powerful warrior that is found in almost every Blizzard RPG. Much like the Assassin from Diablo II, the monk will be a close combat warrior that uses speed and multi-enemy attacks to win battles. Combos also seem to be a big part of the Monk's offensive repertoire much like World of Warcraft's Rogue. But the focus wasn't narrowly on the new kid. The Barbarian, Wizard, and Witch Doctor were all shown to have updated attacks.

But not all the news could be good news. If you are a Blizzard fan, you are more than familiar with there M.O. that a game is done when it's done. Because of the intensified focus on Cataclysm and Starcraft II development to have a 2010 release dates, Diablo III has been pushed back to sometime in 2011. Blizzard's track record speaks for itself, and the continued excellence of their games makes it well worth the wait. But maybe in the future Blizzard could get farther into their games' productions before releasing information about it.

Another Blizzcon has come to a close, and like all before it, just as many questions as answers have come from the convention. Why does another WoW expansion take precedent over Diablo III as far as development goes? Will we really see Cataclysm and Starcraft II in 2010? Will the changes in Battle.net allow it to continue to be as fantastic as it has been for over ten years? Regardless of all the doubts, Blizzard continues to set the bar in game quality and fans will be itching for any scrap of information in the months to come.

Tags: blizzard, BlizzCon, Starcraft II, Diablo III, World of Warcraft

Posted in: Gaming, Features

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