BlizzConline Thread [Discussion]

[crewskater]

Wow - Details on 9.1 and the future of Shadowlands
Classic TBC - Release date announced and beta going live asap
Diablo 2 - Remaster officially announced. Release date TBD
Diablo 4 - Possible release date? New info
OW2 - Official release date

[Makabreska]

I dont expect anything beyond ow2 trailers, 9.1 info, diablo immortal release date and the trillionth hs expansion

We DEFO getting more D4 info, new class reveal at least.

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Saw their pressentation of diablo immortal? It already flopped. No one here cares for mobile games. Pretty confident about that. Let alone the comments on every diablo immortal posts on wowhead for example. Its pretty cringe.

Diablo crew: You guys dont have phones lol?

It didn't flop. All the people who don't follow drama, AND asians will play the hell out of it. Especially when beta reports paint it as a competent game with pretty mild micro transactions.

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Well, PC have always been Blizzard's main focus, so PC games' opinion will always matter to them.

Times change. Majority of gaming revenue comes now from mobile market. Doesn't mean Blizz will abandon PC's.
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My point exactly.

But to your question.. why even show it there if the target audience realy matter?

Its pretty rare to flop that early on, but it was kinda hilarious.
I mean cmon your whole room is full of people who want a pc version.

Yes, Blizz release fuck-up is undeniable. Shame that because of that so many people instantly deemed the game as trash, w/o even trying it.

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bright side is, the way is open for a truly passionate company to take the reins...

the oppurtunity is there, just needs the right people to grab it..

They are alr here, just don't expect big budgets.

[AcidicSyn]

All I'm hoping for is some insight into the whereabouts of D4 and/or the (highly likely, so far) D2 remaster.

This for me as well. Not expecting much information beyond what others have said, but I'm hoping for the Diablo (sans immortal) stuff.

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Well, if you would ask me.. they need some realy flashy wow news. Wow content, flow, things to do and the lore are all quite hollow atm.

If 9.1 ends up being: NEW WORLD QUESTS, NEW DUNGEON , NEW REPUTATION. I will probably stop playing alltogether.
These things just add to the mountain of chores and add nothing new to the game. They seriuesly need to look at reward structures, end game and the horrible pvp burst meta no one seems to like. A new dungeon do shit in the end.


/rant.

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Saw their pressentation of diablo immortal? It already flopped. No one here cares for mobile games. Pretty confident about that. Let alone the comments on every diablo immortal posts on wowhead for example. Its pretty cringe.

Diablo crew: You guys dont have phones lol?

And they (Blizzard) don't care about the people here (in the west) lol Immortal isn't for us, its for the Asian market, who are THRILLED about a mobile Diablo game.

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I have recently started playing SC2 and following the scene 20 years since its inception or sth! and i would love to see some new IP based on that Universe.

I would get emotional over a new SC announcement. I remember when Nova came out and it was supposed to be just the first of many stories taking place post-epilogue. I'm sure they'll announce a few new paid commanders, but that's it. A new SC universe game entirely would be amazing.

[qwerty123456]

I have recently started playing SC2 and following the scene 20 years since its inception or sth! and i would love to see some new IP based on that Universe.

A few months ago they announced they were ending development on SC2 so its safe to assume they will announce a new Starcraft universe game within a year or two.

[Makabreska]

A few months ago they announced they were ending development on SC2 so its safe to assume they will announce a new Starcraft universe game within a year or two.

What could that really be? RTS games just don't seem to be profitable enough. And does Blizz really need a new title with those they alr ahev in production?

[Maljinwo]

Im only interested in information on 9.1

And new customization options like troll beards and more for allied races

[det]

It seems that after WoW's success anything less than 6 million or so is considered a "dead game" by some people

In reality, most games are chugging right along with more than healthy enough playerbases to support them. If they're not profitable, they inevitably shut down.

Well...even WoW is "dead" every x-pac even with 3-4 million sales on release. Latest thread about covenants cited a source that claimed they sampled 6 million players (not characters)

Yet I wonder..does SWtoR that made less in its lifetime than WoW during WotLK get "game is dead" forum threads? Across all x-pacs, WoW surely has sold..what? 70 million and more copies? 8 million Classic, 10 million TBC, 12 million WotLK, 10 million cata, 10 million MoP, 10 million WoD..and even if it all went tits up during WoD there are the above mentioned "release day sales) of around 4 million during Legion, BfA and SL.

[qwerty123456]

What could that really be? RTS games just don't seem to be profitable enough. And does Blizz really need a new title with those they alr ahev in production?

I don't think they announced anyone switching projects so I assume Starcraft 3 but I don't know how big the team was when they announced the stop. RTS don't make as much as as some lootbox game but they do make money.

[Makabreska]

I don't think they announced anyone switching projects so I assume Starcraft 3 but I don't know how big the team was when they announced the stop. RTS don't make as much as as some lootbox game but they do make money.

Problem is, Acti/Blizz is full frontal MAX MONEY now. Don't think they would make a big budget game w/o being sure of a big revenue.

[qwerty123456]

Problem is, Acti/Blizz is full frontal MAX MONEY now.

They also like cross promotions and keeping their main ips talked about. I don't see them doing another mmo while wow is going unless they decided to to a subscription bundle and I don't think they would make a F2P MMO since it might draw players away from wow. It's possible they revived Starcraft Ghost or are trying to do a Starcraft Battle Royale but considering how many are out that are floundering trying to get that Fortnite money I don't think they would. Maybe they would put that mode into Overwatch 2 but I doubt they would build a game around it considering how trying that with HOTS turned out.

Starcraft2 was still making money from the new heroes and skin packs and shit they were releasing so to stop making money from it and not firing everyone/transferring em all means they got something up their sleeves.

[rrayy]

My point exactly.

But to your question.. why even show it there if the target audience realy matter?

Its pretty rare to flop that early on, but it was kinda hilarious.
I mean cmon your whole room is full of people who want a pc version.

You are aware that the room of people were not the only ones watching right? You are also aware that the news goes out to the internet as soon as they say it right? NOT Blizzard's problem that PC gamers are entitled babies mad because they didn't get what they wanted. Blizzard will get the last laugh on that room when it is a massive success.

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Well, PC have always been Blizzard's main focus, so PC games' opinion will always matter to them.

I never said they didn't. All I said was that BLizzard was not going to scrap a mobile game because some PC gamers got their undies in a wad.

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Saw their pressentation of diablo immortal? It already flopped. No one here cares for mobile games. Pretty confident about that. Let alone the comments on every diablo immortal posts on wowhead for example. Its pretty cringe.

Candy Crush automatically proves you wrong. I mean LOL citing Wowhead as proof nobody cares. It has in no way flopped adn there will be plenty of people who will check it out.

[sirethas]

I expect:
- Burning Crusade servers announced + beta announcement
- 9.1 patch news
- D4 news (new class, I don't think we will get release date yet, maybe alpha/beta date announcement?)
- Some hearthstone, OW2 and hots news
- Possibly D2 remaster announcement with no release date? This is a very tough topic since the W3 remaster fail and D2 is in very high regard of playerbase, and fucking this up will be very bad. Imo they should just leave this be and make D4 as good as possible
- As for Diablo Immortal, afaik there was some beta testing by influencers/streamers (more like marketing than beta testing), I guess they might announce open beta and possible release date

[Izzyfurious]

9.1 Deep Dive, probably some future stuff and the Official Announcement of TBC Classic with Beta Start times etc and release date for that.

[Utrrabbit]

Are people still playing OW? I don't see the need for a sequel..

And Diablo Immortal??? Wasn't that scrapped years ago, after the epic fail of a pressentation, where they outright refused a PC version?

Immortal will be huge. What people do not umderstand is that it is designed for the asian market, not the NA or EU market. Phone games are much bigger in asia and a diablo mobile game has been asked for years on the asian market for years before they evem announced it.

[Makabreska]

Immortal will be huge. What people do not umderstand is that it is designed for the asian market, not the NA or EU market. Phone games are much bigger in asia and a diablo mobile game has been asked for years on the asian market for years before they evem announced it.

I mean, rest of the world will also play it. Game is reported to be quite good.

[Utrrabbit]

I mean, rest of the world will also play it. Game is reported to be quite good.

This is true, but my point waa more for "wht" they are going to make it. Not "who" will play it.

[Makabreska]

This is true, but my point waa more for "wht" they are going to make it. Not "who" will play it.

And I don't even see it being designed especially for Asians. They just love mobile gaming in general.

[Chilela]

Don't really have any hopes for it myself. I think the announcement of WoW Classic a few years back is gonna be the last true Blizzcon "Hype" moment, at least for me.

As for what I'm expecting:

WoW (Retail)
9.1 patch trailer and release date. Outside of the obligatory new raid tier, I'm expecting some refining of current systems. I could see more renown levels being added, and some updates for Torghast, and a patchwork M+ currency, akin to the Badges of old. Nothing super incredible, but still good enough.
WoW (Classic)
With Naxx rolled out months ago, there's two logical outcomes for this: 1. TBC servers, which I'd say are by far the most likely, or 2. Classic+, where the game is effectively designed around the Vanilla world. As fun of a mystery box as the second may be, I can't say I trust Blizzard enough to actually keep Classic-faithful philosophies in new content. There's also the slim possibility of no major announcements, but Classic was successful enough to warrant continued support. I'd wager new TBC servers would be added, Classic players could transfer characters to them, and Classic servers would start to see some merging to counteract the declining population between general server decay and TBC servers.
Diablo Immortal
We're far enough into the development cycle where I could see a release window being announced, perhaps with a gameplay trailer. If we're lucky, a specific release date. Either way, expect the crowd to go mild.
Diablo 4
In contrast, I wouldn't expect much here. A rough release window at absolute most, and some concept stuff. But it will at least hold over the "Core" Diablo base for a bit. Next year will be the big year for this.
Starcraft
Might get a small panel at most. If they surprise-announce a new title, that would probably end up stealing the show. Don't count on it, though.
Heroes of the Storm
Probably will get a brief announcement of a new hero or something. With a skeleton crew working on it, I wouldn't expect much at this point.
Hearthstone
Obligatory new expansion trailer. Nothing else to see here.
Overwatch
Overwatch 2 gets a cinematic trailer and a release window. Still feels more like a glorified expansion than a sequel proper. Expect a decent amount of focus on this to compensate for the relatively underwhelming amount of stuff elsewhere.
Other
-Political grandstanding, as that's apparently the cool thing for corporations to do nowadays, apparently.
-Official Lord of the Clans release NEVER EVER
-Despite being fully online, they somehow manage to pull an out-of-touch-with-their-audience moment, akin to "You think you want it but you don't" or "Don't you guys have phones".
-Chat stream heckling that's more amusing than the actual stuff being streamed

I'm probably most "excited" to see where they're going to try to go with 9.1. Cynicism aside, there might be something interesting there that throws me off guard.

[Stardrift]

im at a point where i almost dont care about anything anymore.

wow is shit since bfa and shadowlands is on the same level of shit
sc2 has been shit ever since heart of the swarm came out and they just recently pulled the plug and killed it officially


the other blizzard games i cant even take serious and together with all the negative news about the company itself over the past few years i find the self-congratulatory annual event embarassing

I second this. Blizzard doesn't even have a lineup of games anymore lmao

They've treated their own IPs and fans with so much disrespect, all around interest has died. People will tune in to see what's new then dip. Viewership for anything else will be dead.

[AcidicSyn]

As this is a free mid-February event after everyone has been WFH for months, I'm not really expecting a ton here. Somewhat surprised they are even having it, hard to imagine them making a massive announcement without a crowd there to get super into it.

WoW - 9.1 content preview, alongside some info on 9.1.5 & 9.2. I suspect they will handle this like they did for BfA a couple years back and try to lay out the WoW plan until we get to next November or so.

WoW Classic - TBC Announcement. Discussion on how TBC realms will work with current Classic realms. Not really a ton to discuss here.

Diablo - Some D4 discussion. Diablo: Immortal release date. Perhaps some D2 remaster talk, but that may just be an announcement and nothing else.

Hearthstone - Yet another expansion with some new card gimmick and several more decks getting antiquated. Basically another day for them.

Overwatch - New hero, some small discussion on OW2. If the rumors about it being behind schedule are true, don't expect much here.

SC/HotS - Maybe an acknowledgement they exist, but they may not even get that.

Small correction on the bolded bit: Addition of 1 - 2 new paid allied commanders for sc2. Available in the blizzard store "RIGHT NOW!"