BlizzCon 2017: Massively OP’s complete coverage

Check out all of our coverage of this year’s BlizzCon, before, during, and after! We’ll be liveblogging five of the larger World of Warcraft-related panels: On Friday, we’ll be liveblogging the opening ceremony at 2 p.m. EDT, the “what’s next” WoW panel at 3:30 p.m. EDT, and the WoW gameplay panel at 7 p.m. EDT. On Saturday, we’ll be liveblogging the WoW art panel at 3:45 p.m. EDT and the WoW live Q&A at 7 p.m. EDT. Check back here as each post goes live!

Here’s what is in this year’s BlizzCon goody box - Whether you're attending BlizzCon or not, you can be the proud owner of this year's BlizzCon goody box. Physical attendees get $10 off a box at the convention (which makes…

World of Warcraft confirms a next expansion reveal at BlizzCon in new video - Let's be fair, World of Warcraft's recap of 2017 doesn't outright say that the game's next expansion will be revealed at BlizzCon. But if you don't want to take a…

The BlizzCon schedule is out, and it sure has some World of Warcraft panels - Again, we caution our readers, as we did yesterday, that there is not any official announcement of an announcement regarding the next World of Warcraft expansion, except that you can…

British alt rock band Muse will close out BlizzCon 2017 - Blizzard's going old school once again with its band selection for this year's BlizzCon: UK alt rock band Muse. Here's the spiel: "Widely renowned as one of the best live…

Here’s the in-game swag you’re getting with a BlizzCon virtual ticket (including WoW mounts!) - How many of you buy the BlizzCon virtual ticket as much for the in-game swag as for the actual streams? Even if not, you're still getting the loot, and Blizz…

New datamining points to potential World of Warcraft subraces for the next expansion - First of all, a disclaimer for those who need it: Using datamining to figure out what's going to be in the game in the future can be a mug's game…

BlizzCon 2017 is almost here, and the lineup is set - Guess what, folks: It's almost that time again. BlizzCon 2017 is almost here, featuring all the stuff Blizzard has to discuss about World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Heroes of the…

The Daily Grind: What would surprise you from BlizzCon? - There's a difference between predictions and hopes. Predictions are what you think is actually going to be there. Hopes are what you'd like to be there. So I have my…

Massively Overthinking: Hopes and fears for BlizzCon 2017 - Tomorrowday, BlizzCon will be upon us, and this year we're expecting a full reveal of the new expansion for World of Warcraft, still the most lucrative MMORPG in the world.…

The Daily Grind: What would Blizzard need to do to get you back into World of Warcraft? - In last night's Massively Overthinking on hopes and fears for BlizzCon - which kicks off this afternoon! - I laid out my thoughts on Blizzard's MMORPG meta, my worry that…

BlizzCon 2017: Massively OP’s complete coverage - Check out all of our coverage of this year's BlizzCon, before, during, and after! We'll be liveblogging five of the larger World of Warcraft-related panels: On Friday, we'll be liveblogging the…

BlizzCon 2017: Opening ceremonies liveblog - True confession time: The original version of this post was just the lyrics to Lindsey Buckingham's "Holiday Road" with a poor phonetic transcription of the song's guitar riffs. But apparently…

BlizzCon 2017: Hearthstone announces Kobolds and Catacombs expansion with single-player dungeon run - [AL:Hearth]On one of the best BlizzCon stages to date, Hearthstone Game Director Ben Brode stole the crowd's collective candle with an announcement of the card game's next expansion. Coming soon…

BlizzCon 2017: World of Warcraft what’s next panel liveblog - So let's be honest with you, folks: We are writing this before we actually know what happened in the BlizzCon 2017 opening ceremony. We know that in all likelihood, this…

BlizzCon 2017: World of Warcraft ‘Classic’ finally delivers on legacy servers - World of Warcraft delivered a jaw-dropping surprise to its loyal community with an amazing announcement at this weekend's BlizzCon. Blizzard took to the stage with a surprise reveal of World of…

BlizzCon 2017: Overwatch’s new BlizzardWorld map, support toon Moira - During this afternoon's BlizzCon 2017 opening ceremonies, Blizzard announced an epic update for Overwatch that you may not have seen coming, given the paltry number of Overwatch panels on the…

BlizzCon 2017: World of Warcraft announces Battle for Azeroth expansion - Enough of World of Warcraft's two biggest factions palling together on adventures across time and space -- war has come to this game once more. Blizzard announced World of Warcraft:…

BlizzCon 2017: Everything you need to know about World of Warcraft’s Battle for Azeroth expansion - Blizzard made several major announcements for World of Warcraft today that you probably need to know about if you're a current or even a former player who's been trying to…

BlizzCon 2017: World of Warcraft gameplay and systems panel liveblog - The gameplay and systems panel is always very important to World of Warcraft. You found out long ago (well, a few hours ago) about the existence of World of Warcraft:…

BlizzCon 2017: World of Warcraft’s classic server will be a ‘massive effort’ - In the process of picking yourself up off of the floor following Friday's announcement of World of Warcraft Classic at BlizzCon 2017? As your mind grapples with Blizzard's surprise revelation…

BlizzCon 2017: World of Warcraft art panel liveblog - Remember how last year, we got an enormous amount of art discussion during a panel that really should have been about systems? Or was it the year before? These things…

BlizzCon 2017: World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth expansion live Q&A liveblog - Ah, here we go again. It's time for our final liveblog of BlizzCon 2017, and it's the World of Warcraft Q&A. And they're live questions, which means that there are…

The Daily Grind: What did you think of BlizzCon this year? - I am writing this on Tuesday. This means that the version of me writing this has no idea what has been revealed at BlizzCon. But I don't really need to…

One Shots: The drinks are on us - Last week's (last) call for tavern and inn images seemed to bring out the nostalgic in all of our readers. It certainly didn't take much for people to share their…

The Daily Grind: Will you be buying World of Warcraft’s Battle for Azeroth expansion? - In last week's Daily Grind about what it would take to get you back into World of Warcraft, a whole lot of our commenters said an expansion. Any expansion, really.…

BlizzCon 2017: Check out Overwatch’s rejected heroes - A cat sporting a rocket-powered backpack. A hang gliding alligator. A flamethrower-sporting monkey. A decked-out hockey player. A bowler. A flaming head. These were among some of the (thankfully) rejected…

WoW Factor: Understanding World of Warcraft’s upcoming Heart of Azeroth system - The release of World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth is going to bring with it a lot of core system changes. This is neither surprising nor unwelcome. We've also been…

BlizzCon gamers react to, reflect on Overwatch toxicity - Toxicity in online gaming is easily one of the biggest stories of the year, particularly in Overwatch, where Blizzard has been focusing its anti-toxicity efforts with such persistence that it's…

BlizzCon 2016: Where’s the love for Diablo II and Warcraft III? - We were all prepared for the lack of Diablo III news from BlizzCon, in spite of the franchise's huge following. But what we we didn't anticipate was the demand for…

The Daily Grind: Will you be playing World of Warcraft’s Classic servers? - I think it's safe to say, after all the Nostalrius and legacy server drama from last year, that Blizzard has surprised a lot of people by actually keeping its word…

World of Warcraft Classic announcement sends shockwaves through the vanilla emulator community - As the World of Warcraft community grapples with the surprise BlizzCon announcement of a classic server, one subset of players in particular are feeling the impact of this statement more…

Overwatch brings Moira to the test server - Fans of certain Blizzard games are going to be waiting a while - possibly even a year - to start playing the cool stuff revealed at BlizzCon. Others will have…

Massively OP Podcast Episode 143: BlizzCon strikes back - Justin and Bree discuss BlizzCon, WoW's Battle for Azeroth expansion and legacy servers, Marvel Heroes' drama, the fate of Motiga and Runic, DCUO, WildStar, Kritika, and Wild West Online, with…

World of Warcraft Classic starts hiring for its team - It may be a ways away, but World of Warcraft Classic is on the road to becoming a reality. Blizzard posted at least two job openings for project team members…

Global Chat: World of Warcraft BlizzCon reactions - Whether you play it now or not, chances are that your paths have crossed with World of Warcraft in the past. This is true of pretty much every MMO blogger…

The Daily Grind: What’s the funniest MMORPG? - During last weekend's BlizzCon opening ceremonies, nothing got me like Hearthstone's expansion presentation, and it's not the first time Blizzard's card game has done so. Maybe it's the kind of thing…

Massively Overthinking: The best and worst of BlizzCon 2017 - Last weekend, even Massively OP was obsessing over BlizzCon, and we thought it would be fun to poll the writers, including those who watched from the sideliness rather than diving…

StarCraft 2 unlocks free-to-play options, but it’s not completely free - First announced at BlizzCon earlier this month, StarCraft 2 is now free-to-play for anyone who would like to engage in Blizzard's hit real-time strategy title. This is free* with an…

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth sets a world record for its diorama - Turns out that World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth is already setting records well before it releases. How? Well, it had a very nice diorama at BlizzCon. A very nice,…

The Daily Grind: Are you thinking of WoW Classic as a totally new MMO? - Early on in all the WoW Classic hoopla, I'd been thinking of World of Warcraft legacy servers as the sort of gimmick servers that a lot of older games put…

MassivelyOP’s 2017 gift guide for the Blizzard fanatic - With the new expansion, official vanilla servers, and all of the other news from BlizzCon this year, it's a great time to be a World of Warcraft fan. But Blizzard…

Perfect Ten: The biggest MMO stories of 2017 - One thing you can say for the MMO industry: It never ceases to surprise all of us. No matter what predictions we may make at the beginning of a year,…

Hearthstone: Kobolds and Catacombs is live today with free card packs - [AL:Hearth]Today, Hearthstone players across the world will, indeed, take candle. Blizzard's popular card game launched its newest expansion today, Kobolds and Catacombs. First revealed at this past November's BlizzCon, the…

WoW Factor: Reconsidering the next few months of World of Warcraft - There's a lot of information coming out about patch 7.3.5 at this point. Not everything, of course, and a lot of it is based more on datamining than actual stuff…

What are the odds that Blizzard is making a Diablo MMORPG? - Over at MMORPG.com, one of the writers has formulated an intriguing theory that Blizzard is actually in the process of creating a Diablo MMORPG which will be announced next year.…

Michele Morrow calls out BlizzCon gender pay inequality - Michele Morrow, one of the most recognizable faces in gaming thanks to her long career as a show host and actress and World of Warcraft player, has seemingly accused BlizzCon organizers…

Overwatch’s BlizzardWorld map and skin bonanza are live - As I type this, my husband is sitting in an Overwatch queue grumbling over "unexpected server error occurred": Yep, it's a Blizzard patch day! Assuming you folks can defeat the…

World of Warcraft Classic progresses: ‘This is the right decision’ - Desperate for some World of Warcraft Classic news now that the BlizzCon high has faded? Forbes has an interview up with Blizzard Executive Producer J. Allen Brack and Senior Game…

BlizzCon 2018 has a date: The weekend of November 2nd - Blizzard fans, this year's BlizzCon has a date, and that day is November 2nd and 3rd, almost three months after the launch of World of Warcraft's Battle for Azeroth, meaning…

Blizzard teases ‘multiple Diablo projects in the works,’ with reveals ‘later this year’ - It's not exactly a secret that Blizzard has been working on something Diablo-related for a while as we've been tracking the company as it posts job openings for new Diablo games…

Gamescom 2018: Blizzard’s Overwatch D.Va animated short and Busan map, Diablo comic, and Hearthstone Puzzle Lab - Blizzard's been busy at Gamescom this year. As promised, the studio delivered the Overwatch goods bright and early this morning for the Cologne audience: It revealed both the new Shooting…

Perfect Ten: Anticipated MMOs I want to know a lot more about - One of the most exciting parts of covering the news here at Massively OP is that we challenge ourselves to stay on top of the most cutting edge announcements of…

RuneFest 2018 doubles its length and grows its capacity (to party) - Didn't get tickets to BlizzCon this November? There's an arguably better and more passionate MMO convention waiting for you over in the United Kingdom -- and you still have a great…

Star Citizen partially reverses CitizenCon streaming paywall decision after community erupts - Note: We've updated the end of this post with the latest developments since the article went live Friday morning. The Star Citizen subreddit has been positively ablaze overnight thanks to…

Overwatch League signs on six more teams for its 2019 season - If Blizzard were to stop adding new things to Overwatch, it would die, like some sort of new content shark. That's already a known truism when it comes to characters…

Diablo III’s 15th season, Boon of the Horadrim, launches September 21 - Holy crap, Diablo III is up to season 15. I think the last one I actually played through was 7. Maybe I'll be rectifying that, what with all the current…

Massively OP Podcast episode 189: Time traveling to 2004 - Justin and Bree discuss WoW Classic, WildStar, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Maplestory 2, Age of Conan, Fallout 76, Guild Wars 2, Star Wars Galaxies, and Trove, with mailbag questions…