This weekend, all flight paths lead to Anaheim, where Blizzard held its fourth quasi-annual convention, Blizzcon. The two-day celebration of all things Blizzard sported not only stations loaded up with upcoming titles Diablo III and Starcraft II, but also tournaments, a live raid, panel discussions, and tons of goodies to win or buy. Oh, and they officially announced World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the third expansion to Blizzard’s current money-printer, World of Warcraft. Pixelsocks.com’s own Katiegreen was on the ground, and provided this report.

The Games
Attendees at this year’s Blizzcon had to split their attention between three upcoming Blizzard titles, and anticipation for each of the games was high. Both Starcraft II and Diablo III had been announced and playable at last year’s Blizzcon, helping focus attention on the freshly announced Cataclysm, but that didn’t stop lines for all three titles to extend far past the “line starts here” sign. From both playtime and panels, there was a lot to learn about these upcoming titles.

• World of Warcraft

The big reveal was the announcement of the expansion, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. While there had been some speculation and/or leaking of this before Blizzcon, the official announcement came with a flood of information about the upcoming title.

The premise of Catacysm is that Deathwing, a corrupted Dragon Aspect, has finished licking his wounds on the elemental plane, and busts out to seek earthy vengeance. Azeroth gets a facelift as he rips a hole between the plane and Azeroth (Southshore gets flooded, Barrens are ripped into two zones). Thrall leaves the Horde to Garrosh Hellscream. The uneasy peace forged between the Alliance and Horde as they focused on the Lich King fades away as resources become scarce and Thrall’s cool temper is otherwise occupied.

A lot is changing in Cataclysm. In addition to the major points, highlighted in the trailer (level cap upped to 85, flying in Azeroth, Worgen and Goblins as playable races), provided here by G4TV, some of the more interesting points include:

• Story and gameplay emphasis on the Titans
• Path of The Titans unlocking new glyph slots.
• Dungeons at the bottom of the ocean, with transparent walls to let you see the sea creatures swimming outside during your bloodbath.
• Elimination of the following stats: Armor Penetration, Attack Power, Block Value, Defense, Mp5, and Spell Power
• Cutting out +1% to hit talents, “because they’re boring talents to take.”
• The unlocking of Mount Hyjal
• Eliminating mana for hunters, and replacing it with Focus
• Making fishing more interactive, with a move toward the Animal Crossing model.
• Allowing crafters to reforge items, moving stats bonuses around

Also announced were some upcoming changes for 3.3.0, the final content patch before Cataclysm. These included implementation of cross-faction LFG, with rewards for anyone willing to mark themselves as a leader. While they built the architecture to support raids, they are starting out with a matching system for 5-man content, seeking within battlegroups (when I’ll be able to raid with my friends on PVP servers, I’ll be even happier). The patch will also include the Icecrown Citadel dungeons and raids. While Arthas will finally stick around long enough to let us kill him, and will drop a legendary weapon, it won’t be Frostmourne. Instead, we’ll get Shadowmourne, a 2-handed axe.

Before that, though, we’ve got a whole content patch to go! In honor of WoW’s upcoming fifth birthday this November, Onyxia will be retuned for level 80s. She’ll drop loot with art assets matching her old Tier 2 drops, but with stats to match the level of her foes. She’ll also have a (small) chance to drop a mount of one of her brood. Anyone who signs in during the two-week birthday celebration will receive an Onyxia Brood Whelpling pet, who will try to Deep Breath, but sometimes just get smoke rings.

Tons of information was released at Blizzcon, and more continues to pour out as they can finally talk about their project. You can find more information at the official Cataclysm site and WoW.com. MMO Champion has a list of all the blue posts about Cataclysm to date in one handy post.

• Diablo III

The big thrill for Diablo III fans was the chance to play the new class: the monk. Designed with Street Fighter in mind, monk gameplay revolves around attacking with series of lighter punches instead of a single stronger attack. To emphasize this, the first one or two hits with several attacks do around 60% weapon damage, while applying damage over time effects, or building up to a 200% attack. While he has little trouble downing single enemies, strategy becomes more important as the monk faces a group of enemies. While the monk is only playable as a male, he sure does take hits like a little girl. Attacks like Radient Visage, which blinds enemies around him, and Impenetrable Defense, which turns your weapons into . . . well, an impenetrable defense. These attacks take out a heafty chunk of your mana, however; the strategy reached by many players was to Seven Sided Strike in, kick butt, and run out again, before your enemies knew what hit them. The monk is also armed with Exploding Palm, which can, when executed correctly, cause an enemy to drop health for your squishy self. And while it wasn’t open yet on the Monk in the demo, a skill further down one of the talent trees was Inner Sanctuary, an ability that made a patch of land impenetrable to your foes. It isn’t quite a Feign Death, but it’ll have to do.

• Starcraft II

RTS fans got a downer recently when Blizzard pushed back the release date of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty from this year to next, but got a boost at seeing the title again at Blizzcon, and finding out the voice of Kerrigan was taken over by Tricia Helfer, most recently noted for her role as Cylon #6 in Battlestar Galactica. The game both looked great and played smoothly. The demo levels showed off the new and persistent world that exists outside the battlefield, and the choice of which mission to take. The gameplay didn’t feel significantly different compared to the original game, but general consensus is that this is a good thing. They’ve added helpful in-game tutorials, and lines between buildings and their rally points, as well as a chart detailing which building unlocks which, and which unit can be produced there. The feel was that the knowledge Blizzard picked up making WoW more assessable came through and gave the core game a good grooming.

All told, it failed to disprove Blizzard’s argument that they are delaying the game for Battle.net’s release, rather than Starcraft II not being ready. For the first time, Blizzard will fight piracy by mandating an internet connection for its single player content in Starcraft II, and is using Battle.net to handle it (Battle.net conversion is going to become mandatory for WoW players in the near future, as well). Blizzard seems pretty pumped about what the service will do for customers. Blizzard Chief Operating Officer Paul Sams said, “Battle.net is going to be absolutely sick” While it’s still up in the air for Diablo III, Starcraft II users will not have to pay a monthly fee for the privilege of not being pirates.

Culture
Ah, gaming culture.

• The Guild

Blizzcon took some time out of its busy schedule of panel discussions by developers to feature the cast and director of The Guild. They showed the first episode of their upcoming third season (previously shown at Comic Con), and the world premier of the trailer to the season (featuring Wil Wheaton as the antagonist). They also showed their video, “Do You Want to Date My Avatar?”, during which Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo) proved onstage that he did could do his own backflip for the video by providing a live demonstration. Along with the videos, the cast held a Q&A session, which at least one con attendee confused with a T&A session. 50 DKP MINUS!!!

• Legend of Neil

Of course, Sandeep can’t, and shouldn’t, go anywhere without promoting his NSFW web series, Legend of Neil. Season 3, Episode 3 was just released–go watch! Well, unless you’re at work. Or easily offended. Or don’t like things that are hilarious.

• Also sighted:

• A 3 hour wait for a chance to win a spectral tiger code at the Loot Elemental
• Dance, look-alike, and sound-alike contests
• A population pretty much matching the CDC’s description, whether we like it or not.
• ”Free” face painting, gyroscope rides, and temporary tattoos.
• A lot of people with iPhones

My first trip to Blizzcon provided a great chance to play some Blizzard games coming out next year and learn about the upcoming WoW expansion, as well as a time to hang out with some guildies I rarely get to see in person. At the same time, I have a hard time recommending it unless you’re both going in a group and can easily afford the price of the ticket. With Blizzard selling out in under 10 minutes at the current price, they have to be aware that they can jack it even higher and still sell out in the future.

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Tags:   Blizzard · Blizzcon · Cataclysm · Diablo III · Legend of Neil · Starcraft II · The Guild · WoWNo Comments

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