At last, BlizzCon 2018 is upon us. Tomorrow at the Anaheim Convention Center, every fan attending and every fan watching at home with the Virtual Ticket will be waiting with bated breadth as Blizzard unveils everything they have been keeping secret, as well as anything they have been tempting us with throughout the year. It’s been a long time coming, and the journey hasn’t been a perfect one, but the company has a history of keeping its fans happy, as their love and passion shows through their work each and every time. With this in mind, lets take a brief look at each of Blizzards franchises throughout the year leading up to BlizzCon 2018.
Warcraft: The Warcraft series has been through quite a lot this year. The Battle for Azeroth expansion launched for World of Warcraft during the summer to enormous success, but it wasn’t without its initial issues. Still, the player count has gone up, as the company now offers every expansion through Legion just by having subscription to the game. In addition, the much anticipated World of Warcraft Classic demo will be playable during BlizzCon this weekend, as the details were outlined earlier for it. An official release date is still missing, so hopefully we’ll get that during the Opening Ceremony tomorrow, along with another patch update for WOW.
Diablo: Perhaps no other Blizzard franchise has been in the news more than Diablo this year. The build up began when it was discovered that Blizzard posted numerous job listings pertaining to the series, as well as announcing that they were working on different projects. It continued when the Diablo III Eternal Collection was announced for the Nintendo Switch, in fact, the game and special edition bundle is being released tomorrow on the first day of the convention. In the fans eyes, this should inevitably lead to the announcement for Diablo 4. The anticipation was at fever pitch, and Blizzard themselves had to step in and state that the announcement they were hoping for might not happen. Regardless, we’re still due some Diablo news, and we might still see the Diablo II Remaster announcement, and the all but confirmed Diablo Animated Netflix show.
StarCraft: Despite being the 20th Anniversary of the original game, the StarCraft series has been relatively quiet for 2018. With the exception being some new bundles for cosmetics, StarCraft hasn’t had much of a productive year. Still, it’s possible that could we see more modes for the StarCraft II multiplayer announced tomorrow, or another new game in the series.
Hearthstone: Blizzard’s popular card-based game was given the usual treatment this year, with a new expansion, The Boomsday Project, and new balance update this month. Whether it’s yet another new expansion, or another patch, fans of the series should keep their eyes peeled for the Opening Ceremony for the upcoming announcements.
Overwatch: What can be said about the company’s famous shooter, Overwatch? Besides Warcraft, it was the most productive Blizzard series of the year. With multiple events year round, and new heroes, Brigitte and Wrecking Ball, Overwatch still produces high playing numbers, in and out of the game. Just like the Diablo series, the company made post saying that there won’t be any new maps announced at BlizzCon. However, that doesn’t rule out new hero announcements, which we hope will be revealed tomorrow along with some new game modes.
Heroes of the Storm: The company’s MOBA, which is an amalgamation of all the other Blizzard franchises, still continues to be massively successful. Similar to Overwatch, HOTS has had many events throughout the year, on top of releasing a plethora of new playable heroes, including Yrel, Mephisto, Whitemane, and Mal’Ganis. The company tends to save multiple heroes and map reveals for the Opening Ceremony, so it’s more than likely that we’ll see more announced tomorrow.
This event is the ultimate culmination of the year long trek for Blizzard Entertainment. With all of the speculation in regards to the upcoming Opening Ceremony, the hype is at an all time high, and the time for speculation is almost over. Come tomorrow 11:00 am PST, the suspense ends, and whatever awaits us is what we get. Who knows, we may have some awesome surprises awaiting us, and knowing Blizzard, they’ve definitely got something up their sleeve. The real question is, are we ready for it?
BlizzCon 2018 goes from Friday, November 2, to Saturday, November 3. You can check out the official schedule/map here.