BlizzCon 2013 Day 1 Report
Sean Gibson / Nov 9th, 2013 No Comments
The Anaheim Convention Center was jam packed once more after a two year hiatus for BlizzCon, the convention for all things from Blizzard Entertainment. Fans of the WarCraft, StarCraft, and Diablo franchises gathered for huge announcements, hands-on time with upcoming yet-to-be-released games, and the camaraderie that goes with joining 20,000 other passionate Blizzard fans. BlizzCon 2013 is a two day event held in Southern California, just miles from Blizzard Entertainment’s headquarters in Irvine, California. Gaming Illustrated was on-hand at the event to take in all the new announcements, crazy cosplay costumes, third party vendors, and other amazing things to see and do at BlizzCon.
World of WarCraft – Warlords of Draenor
World of WarCraft: Warlords of Draenor Announced at BlizzCon 2013
As widely rumored, World of WarCraft is getting its fifth expansion set. Dubbed “Warlords of Draenor” the crowd at the opening ceremonies exploded when Chris Metzen made the official announcement. In this expansion to the wildly popular MMORPG, players will get to visit a brand new world – Draenor. This planet was home to the Orcs and the Dranei and is rich with backstory. They will travel back before Draenor was shattered into what is now known as Outland and experience conflict with iconic figures from WoW lore, such as Grommoash Hellscream and Ner’zhul.
“Warlords of Draenor gives players a chance to take a commanding role in one of the Warcraft series’ most crucial conflicts,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “This expansion also includes features that make it easy for anyone to jump right into the action, whether they’ve played WoW at some point in the past or are just setting foot in Azeroth for the first time.”
It was announced that the expansion will allow players to insta-boost one character to level 90, including a newly created character for the game. In addition, players will be able to construct their own Garrison, which is the WoW concept for housing. Garrisons will be expandable and house followers, who can go on missions for players and progress while they are offline. The level cap will be moved up to an even 100 and include new zones, dungeons, raids, scenarios, and battlegrounds. To keep World of WarCraft sexy, Blizzard also demonstrated new character models, which they say have been “fully revamped” for both the models and the animations. No released date was discussed at the convention.
For more about Warlords of Draenor, stay tuned for an upcoming preview of the expansion in the coming days here at Gaming Illustrated.
Blizzard MOBA: Heroes of the Storm Goes to Beta
The highly anticipated MOBA from Blizzard, Heroes of the Storm, was fully unveiled and playable by everyone at the convention. The game is a free-to-play team brawler (note that Blizzard never used MOBA in their press materials) that features many iconic Blizzard heroes including Diablo, Kerrigan, Arthas, Jim Raynor, and many more. During the opening ceremonies, the crowd went wild for the teaser cinematic for Heroes of the Storm which you can watch below:
In each match you will select from a plethora of Blizzard heroes and villains to battle against enemy players. The ultimate goal is to destroy the other side’s base. Players control one hero but play with other heroes on their side plus standard low-level CPU-controlled helpers. While each hero has their own unique core strengths, talents are unlocked as the team gains levels. Yes, you read that right – teams progress up levels in Heroes of the Storm, not individual players.
Blizzard is hoping to bring a new take to the genre. Each hero has a divergant talent tree to choose from that adds to the overall meta-game for players trying to figure out the best way to beat their opponent. There’s a wide range of battlegrounds, with each holding “secrets” that can change the tide of the match. There might be a pirate ship in the middle of the map that might start firing on someone, or there might be a treasure chests with coins that allow you to gain buffs.
Heroes of the Storm features 18 heroes, but Blizzard has stated that there will be more as time goes on. New heroes will be unlockable through gameplay alone. The game will be free-to-play but a yet-to-be-announced financial (aka micro-transaction) model is expected to be revealed in the coming months.
Gaming Illustrated did get hands-on time with Heroes of the Storm and will be writing up an official preview based on the build that was playable at BlizzCon 2013 in the coming weeks. Stay tuned! If you want to learn more about the game and how “The Nexus” (which is what sucks in all the Blizzard heroes into the game) and more facts about how the game has come together, watch the video below:
Hearthstone on Full Display
Hearthstone was on full display at BlizzCon
Hearthstone was also playable on the show floor, although many attendees have already been playing the game since the beta opened up some time ago. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a free-to-play digital collectable strategy card game that Blizzard hopes will attract a whole new set of gamers. Players will choose one of nine Warcraft heroes to play and take turns playing cards from customized decks. The game plays in the same fashion that other combat trading card games do, such as Magic: The Gathering. Blizzard’s big announcement about Hearthstone was that the game will play on tablets and be accessible on iPhones and Android devices.
If you haven’t read it already, make sure you check out Ethan Smith’s hands-on preview of Hearthstone from September 2013, and his Hearthstone beta update article from October 27. Be sure to check in later for more on the game as our preview coverage ramps up later this month.
Although Hearthstone is still in limited beta, the game play is extremely polished and should bring in a whole new type of gamer to Blizzard
Amazing Costume Contest
The amount of work that went into many of the costumes on display from the attendees at BlizzCon blew away all expectations. Once again, the fans that attend the event exceeded expectations and the costume contest was bigger and better than ever. We grabbed these photos and will have MUCH more, including some video, for our Day 2 report. Enjoy!
Welcome to BlizzCon 2013
Crazy good Diablo Costume at BlizzCon
How Can You Kill That Which Has No Life?
BlizzCon Costume Contest
All of the Costumed Guests. Click to get a 2560×1440 Wallpaper Version!
How many of you grinded rep to get this fisherman?
Your humble author with a gorgeous Dranei
Amazing BlizzCon Costumes
Orcs and Humans
The one on the left ended up winning Grand Prize of the costume contest
A Male Elf
Three Great Costumes
The Whole Costume Group at BlizzCon 2013
Sean Gibson
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tags: blizzard , Blizzard Entertainment , blizzcon , diablo , event , Hearthstone , Heroes of the Storm , starcraft , world of warcraft
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