Blizzcon 2019 needs 1 massive announcement to win back the love (prediction)

[RobertMugabe]

Blizz has a lot of cleaning up to do come Blizzcon which is just around the corner. Blizzard will probably announce WoW 2.0 or a Diablo MMO but like WoW

tbh Blizzard's only true problem is how they're sucking up to China and its customers (which also includes all micro-transactions)

[horbindr]

I think there is some space for a CRPG that is less about politics, romances and gritty ethics and more about Tolkien fantasy tbh. I mean in AAA titles we either get Bioware fantasy with a bit of romance, Witcher with gritty ethics or on the other end Elder Scrolls which is too themepark. A more structured story like the first Dragon Age or the old Black Isle games with modern graphics would work well.

but would you really want blizzard to make it? i hope one of these days one of them companies that makes the isometric crpgs announces a 3rd person/open world one.

this reminds me i haven't googled elden ring in a while.

[Soimu]

A new original story driven RP singeplayer game would be awesome. Like Witcher 3 but Warcraft universe instead.

I hope they don't bring another new "original" game because it would most likely be some stupid asian based game like overwatch considering blizzard's orientation towards china lately.

[RyudoTFO]

I see that many of you list existing titles again and again hoping that this will change anything in community relations with Blizzard. I'm typing "community", not "Blizzard playerbase" on purpose.

As a Blizz fanboy, but also a marketing specialist, I'm thinking for quite some time about what would I do, if I ended up working for Blizzard today. With all the mess that Blizz is going through.

The only solid thing that comes to my mind is kinda radical, but beats all the above.

Blizzard should announce that they detach themself from Activision (just like Bungie did).

Only this would change "community" to playerbase" again.

I agree with you, that this would probably make a lot of hardcore Blizzard fans happy, I doubt though that such a move is financial possible for Blizzard by now. They are far beyond a simple cooperation with Activision and I doubt that even if they would want to leave, they would be able to. Letting Bungie go was probably seen by Activision as letting go of a dead weight, as Destiny 2 was underperforming money wise (due to decisions made by Bungie itself though, not only the publishers) and was probably seen as a failure by the company.

[brt2pp]

Blizzcon wasn't the platform for announcing a mobile diablo game either, so there is still a chance.

...why tough?

I hope they don't bring another new "original" game because it would most likely be some stupid asian based game like overwatch considering blizzard's orientation towards china lately.

overwatch ... asian ... XD

my expectations:
- teasing new expansion

no, it will be full featured announcment, not just tease, we WILL see cinematic, along with expansion content roundup, they have never in history of blizzcon just said "yea, we are doing new expansion, here is logo"

[tikcol]

A new original story driven RP singeplayer game would be awesome. Like Witcher 3 but Warcraft universe instead.

I'd love that but Blizzard writers couldn't pull it off. It would end up a story about cheese

[Zuben]

I wonder how bad they really have it, though. Case Blitzchung feels like a massive PR catastrophe, but does it really take that much from Blizzard's revenue and product interest? No, I think apathy saves them in the end, like it does so many other companies stumbling with optics. People may support Hong Kong in principle, but most won't act with anything of consequence. Even Blitzchung himself is rather chill about the whole thing according to his posts, mostly being concerned about the casters receiving punishment for something he did. So I can see attendees just enjoying Blizzcon as usual (save for a couple of wiseguys asking about human rights in Q&A) and the rest of us chugging up the announcements and news.

Anyway, controversy or not, there's looking to be some big ones this year. A new WoW expansion, obviously. Overwatch 2, which is sure to be huge. Maybe Diablo 4? I myself don't care about that, but a lot of people do. Then a release date for Warcraft 3: Reforged.

[protip]

my expectations:

- wow classic phase schedule
- 8.3 deep dive, including story and new mechanics/systems
- teasing new expansion

Good news for you on that one, we have already have an 8.3 deep dive and it's on the PTR, so the WoW panel at Blizzcon will definitely be focused on the new expansion and its features.

[brt2pp]

People may support Hong Kong in principle, but most won't act with anything of consequence..

that's why it's gonna cost blizzard, canceling sub/ shitposting on internet/boycotting blizzard is the definition of "not doing anything of consequence", i mean, it's a goddamn games company. do those people really think they are helping ? or just want to take moral highground on issues they know little to no about besides "hk good because democracy"

[Doffen]

my predictions for this year:

0.5) j allen brack trying to calm people down like mike morheim would have but failing miserably. "you think you want free hong kong, but you don't."

LOL!! You sir made my day.

[Augusta138]

They also don't need a big prediction to win back the love.
Blizzard acted on the HK matter and either way would have cost them subscribers.

In matters like that there is no right or wrong answer. They simply enforced T&Cs they drafted up around said event and acted accordingly.
You can agree or disagree with said actions but in no universe are the actions illegal.

My opinion is: wrong time and place to be taking up that debate about the HK situation by the player of the tournament.

Blizzcon will have big announcements but none of them are in either way dictated by their actions in the above mentioned matter.

[melzas]

My wild guess for the Blizzcon would be.

WoW: Deep dive into 8.3. A lot of 'the story so far' talk and hints to where it will all lead to. Announcement of the next expansion, revealing the name of it and some core features like level squash or the new class if there is one to come at all. Rest of information to be revealed soon(TM). So most likely more a teaser than a real expansion reveal.
Then they will probably talk a lot about WC3: Reforged.

Diablo: They will be pretty dumb if they at least don't official announce D4. Then a lot of talk about Diablo Immortal, they will probably announce some cross game unlocks for other games for playing it. Maybe even a "you can download it starting NOW and play it while you experience the Blizzcon" PR stunt. I also think they will port it to the Switch.

Overwatch: Maybe a new Season or Character. Not interested in it at all so I have no clue what's going on over there.

HotS: I hope they figured out what to do with this game at all by now. But not awaiting any new important news.

StarCraft: That's a tough one. Maybe a new SC game. But I have the feeling they want to concentrate on Diablo and Warcraft for now, untill they get the fans on their side again.

Hearthstone: Don't expect any new Info at all. They will probably talk a lot about the new stuff they just released for it and play down all the political stuff.

So basically your predictions are 3 days of snooze fest. I don't think this is plausible at all.

They wouldn't dump all 8.3 content on PTR 2 weeks before blizzcon if that was all they wanted to cover there. Not a slighiest chance they won't announce 9.0.

[Soimu]

overwatch ... asian ... XD

not asian as in final fantasy but the style, the look of the characters, the animations have asian roots and if you don't notice that it's sad.

[Gravity2015]

My predictions for this year:

0.5) J Allen Brack trying to calm people down like Mike Morheim would have but failing miserably. "You think you want Free Hong Kong, but you don't."
1) start off with a giant apology for Diablo Immortal. "Yes, its still coming out, but we're sorry we feel we let you down"
2) Cut to "NOT EVEN DEATH CAN SAVE YOU FROM ME". BAM Diablo 2 Remastered
3) Warcraft 8.3 cinematic trailer, teasing 9.0 expansion maybe
4) Overwatch Shit
5) "we have something we've been working on for a while, and this goes with what we started the show with." Tristram Riff on guitar, a giant 4, and "Stay a while... and Listen"
6) Thermonuclear explosion over Diablo 4 Hype

Holy lord jesus, your lips to my gods ears - i pray for this to be #valid haha <3 - - - the tristram rift on guitar, /goosebumps!

[TheProphetLord]

This Blizzcon is going to have a lot of announcements. But it will be tainted/overshadowed by the Hong Kong situation.

[PenguinChan]

1. 8.3 Deep dive
2. Expansion trailer
3. 9.0 overview and quick explanations of the new things (Like always)
4. Warcraft 3 Reforged news / release
5. New HotS Hero (and maybe maps)
6. New Overwatch hero (And maybe maps)
7. New Hearthstone expansion reveal
8. Diablo Immortal update / release
9. Diablo 2 Remastered announced (Possibly)
10. Diablo 4 Trailer (Almost assured)
11. Starcraft 2 Commander (Maybe?)

Is there anything else that's worth talking about in terms of 'new'? I don't personally care at all about eSports on any of these games, so I don't chalk those up as new things.

[brt2pp]

not asian as in final fantasy but the style, the look of the characters, the animations have asian roots and if you don't notice that it's sad.

i think you distort reality in your mind just to fit your worldview, i understand that "hk good blizzard bad" but for the love of god, have some dignity, if anything overwatch artstyle is pixar inspired, in fact it was major joke when announcment of it came out

https://orig05.deviantart.net/9314/f...13-d86krx9.jpg
https://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acc...032cf6de02.jpg

OvErWaTcH HaVe AsIaN ArTsTyLe GuIs, where is my catgirl trap then ? where are my overdesigned or underdesigned armors ? (armor that consists of 900 belts or suit from 70' playboy, there is no in between for asian artstyle), where is my oversexualization of everything ?(including animals). as i said, you talk out of your ass

[RyudoTFO]

So basically your predictions are 3 days of snooze fest. I don't think this is plausible at all.

They wouldn't dump all 8.3 content on PTR 2 weeks before blizzcon if that was all they wanted to cover there. Not a slighiest chance they won't announce 9.0.

You mean a snooze fest like the last Blizzcon? Basically yes. I think they will announce the new Diablo game and the next WoW expansion as the next big things. But I doubt they will tell much about them. Also, spoiling the transition into the next expansion, which will be 9.0, before even the next raid was cleared once, will unlikely happen. They will talk about gameplay features for sure, but no story content. So better get your pillow ready.

I'm not a leaker or a farseer though. My predictions are purely based on information I gather on the net and observation of former events. I might be right, or might be wrong. We'll se come Blizzcon.

[Coldfrostzero]

A new original story driven RP singeplayer game would be awesome. Like Witcher 3 but Warcraft universe instead.

Every single time they've attempted this, with any of their IPs, they've scrapped it due to "not meeting expectations."

[Itori]

They need to do something thats for sure, me and several of my friends havent been excited to see a blizzcon since wrath was announced and they showed love for their players. The diablo immortals guy was a giant slap in the face to their player base and told us "fuck you, we know better, shutup and pay us"