BlizzCon 2019 Opening Ceremony
by Its_Immanis - 4 years ago show comments
The time has come for the BlizzCon 2019 Opening Ceremony and we’re about to get the first look at all the information being revealed throughout the jam-packed weekend of panels.
Early speculation leading into the event has a new Warcraft expansion announcement, a new Diablo announcement (this one for PCs), and a new addition to Overwatch.
Stick around and keep refreshing as BlizzPro brings you the latest from the opening ceremony and beyond!
Before the opening ceremony J. Allen Brack came out and discussed the recent situation with Hearthstone champion Ng Wai “blitzchung” Chung, acknowledging that he personally as well as the company did not handle the situation in the way they should have. He reminded us that Blizzard and BlizzCon are about bringing the gaming community together and restated their commitment to doing so both over the course of the weekend and throughout the year.
DIABLO
First up on the docket for new reveals is Diablo IV.
Luis Barriga came on stage and discussed the upcoming game. Diablo IV will return to the series darker roots. This game will also put more of a focus on the world of Sanctuary than previous entries in the series, including friendly and unfriendly NPCs and PvP zones where players are able to fight each other as well as the inhabitants of Sanctuary.
The first three announced classes are the Barbarian, the Sorceress, and the Druid. Playable demos will be available on the show floor during the convention.
No release date was announced but the game will be available on PC, Playstation, and XBox One. No Mac or Switch versions were announced at this time.
STARCRAFT II
After the Diablo reveal, J. Allen Brack announced that in the Blizzard Arcade players would be able to pit themselves against Deep Mind, the AI that has been taught to play SC2. He also announced that Arcturus Mengsk would be the next commander added to the game.
HEROES OF THE STORM
Following up on the announcement before BlizzCon, Deathwing will be the next hero added to Heroes of the Storm. Everyone who attends the convention or purchased the Virtual Ticket will receive Deathwing for free when he is added to the game.
WARCRAFT III: Reforged
Everyone who purchased the Virtual Ticket or attended the show will have access to the multiplayer beta starting Tuesday, November 5th.
WORLD OF WARCRAFT
After the conclusion of the speech from J. Allen Brack the stream transitioned to Ion Hazzikostas on the World of Warcraft stage. Ion discussed the 15th anniversary of World of Warcraft, how meaningful it was for the game to reach that milestone and recapped some of the announcements have been made leading up to the convention.
He also announced that November 12th the PvP Honor System and World Bosses would be released to WoW Classic.
Another announcement is that the Make-A-Wish foundation as well as We.org will be the beneficiaries of a new charity pet coming to the store soon: Dottie the alpaca pet.
Coming back to the Battle for Azeroth, the World of Warcraft 15th anniversary event will begin in-game. Events will include a new battleground, as well as new returning raid bosses which will allow players to earn a mount that looks like Deathwing. Any players who log in during the event will also earn a Little Nefarian pet.
There will also be an in-person celebration at BlizzCon for players to toast the 15th anniversary of WoW as well as the 25th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise.
Finally, he moved onto the future of Azeroth after the completion of the Battle for Azeroth by announcing the upcoming expansion:
WORLD OF WARCRAFT: SHADOWLANDS
In the reveal cinematic we watched as Sylvanas destroyed the Helm of Dominion and opened the barrier between the living world and the afterlife.
More details will be announced during the Warcraft: What’s Next panel later in the day on Friday, but Ion did state that the upcoming expansion will be available for prepurchase starting later today.
HEARTHSTONE
Transitioning over to the Hearthstone stage we got our first look at Descent of the Dragons, the next expansion for Hearthstone. In Descent of the Dragons players with classes who are part of the League of Evil from previous expansions can replace their Hero with Galakrond, the Nightmare. Galakrond brings with him a new type of card: Invoke. By invoking Galakrond players upgrade his powers to bring more destruction upon their enemy.
Classes who are not part of the League of Evil will each have their own Legendary dragon associated with their class. The Druid champion will be Ysera.
This expansion is available for prepurchase today and will release December 10th.
As a final announcement for Hearthstone, the team revealed a new 8-player mode called Hearthstone Battlegrounds.
OVERWATCH
Jeff Kaplan came onstage after an Overwatch recap cinematic and talked about 5 years ago when Overwatch was first announced. He described it as one of the most special moments of his life.
He said the Overwatch team has been working on something special and a new cinematic started, officially revealing Overwatch 2.
Overwatch 2 will include Story Missions, Hero missions, the ability to level up heroes and select new talents, customizable abilities, a new PvP mode: Push, new PvP maps, and new heroes.
One of the core focuses for the team when designing Overwatch 2 was to maintain the core 6v6, team vs team gameplay from the original Overwatch. This will be the mode used in competitive play, including the Overwatch League.
As a final announcement Kaplan stated that all the PvP components of Overwatch 2 would be available to owners of the original Overwatch game, including new maps, heroes, and art updates. However, players who choose to purchase the Overwatch 2 update would have everything from the original Overwatch game (skins, icons, sprays, etc) carried over to the new system and available for use.
We’ll have more details on all the updates on each franchises main page throughout the weekend so stay tuned and thanks for joining us!
