Tomorrow marks the start of this year’s BlizzCon, Blizzard’s own expo to showcase the developer’s games from the long-running World of Warcraft to newer properties like Overwatch, which recently celebrated its first anniversary in May.
The event will be at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. on Nov. 3 and 4, which has been home to the two day showcase since 2005 (except the two years Blizzard did not put on the convention, 2006 and 2012). This year, the main scheduled attractions revolve around Diablo, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, StarCraft II and World of Warcraft.
BlizzCon will kick off at 11 a.m. PDT with an opening ceremony ushering in the variety of panels and esports matches over the convention’s two day period. Each of the mentioned titles, with the exception of the Diablo series, will have an esports component, while the panels will detail the future for some of the developer’s series.
On a day to day basis, Friday is when Blizzard will release information about what players can soon expect for Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, Starcraft II and World of Warcraft. Another similar panel will discuss the latest social tools coming to Battle.net. Saturday will focus on the final matches of the weekend’s five tournaments and presentation’s on how Blizzard crafts games through story telling and design.
While tickets to physically attend BlizzCon are sold out, a virtual experience of the convention, presented through stream broadcasts, is still available for $39.99. In addition to live, high definition video, the digital ticket offers on-demand replays, BlizzCon exclusive items for games, and access to the convention’s contests and concert. English rock band Muse will end the weekend’s festivities the closing ceremony scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start time on Saturday.
Viewers who only care about the tournaments can save their money as the digital pass is not required to spectate the action. All matches can be viewed on the BlizzCon site or Twitch for free. Anyone who wants access to replays, however, will have to purchase the nearly $40 ticket.
A full schedule can be found here.