Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was, “Oh no, not again.” Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the Universe than we do now.
-Douglas Adams, The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
It’s that time again, dear readers, a time of listening to staff members from Blizzard talk about the company on stage at the newest annual BlizzCon! And because everyone seems to enjoy it when we liveblog these ceremonies every year, it seems like we might as well do that again.
Of course, this year there are things we’re not really expecting. No one expects to hear about the next World of Warcraft expansion, for example, even if you might like to hear about one. And we’ve already had our expectations thoroughly lowered by various pre-convention non-announcements, so it seems as if the overall messaging is not to be too excited about this ceremony. But we’ll be here, updating live in the comments, with our BlizzCon Bingo card in hand; if you need to catch up, we’ll be summarizing just below. The Grand Magistrix still has power over time.
2:13 – The show is clearly starting late, but there was a big preshow announcement for a different Activision game: Destiny 2 is free for everyone until November 18th on Battle.net; claim it now and you keep it forever.
2:15 – Finally starting. Video montage of lots of Blizz game cinematics.
2:18 – Mike Morhaime on stage. Bittersweet, as he’s retiring as president.
2:23 – J. Allen Brack coming on now as the new president.
2:27 – Recapping Blizzard’s stuff from 2018. Battle for Azeroth. Hearthstone expansions. Overwatch, HOTS, StarCraft II get a nod. Diablo III on Switch (out today, in fact). The record-breaking Pink Mercy charity event.
2:31 – Esports esports esports.
2:33 – StarCraft II time. Celebrating its 20th franchise this year.
2:35 – Heroes of the Storm time. Talking up 2018. “Our love letter to our favorite Blizzard characters.” Gorgeous cinematic starring Orphia, who is a free character for all attendees and virtual tix holders.
2:42 – World of Warcraft time. John Hight coming up. Talking up Tides of Vengeance.
2:48 – Reiterating that WoW Classic is playable on the show floor. WoW Classic Releases summer 2019 as part of the WoW sub.
2:50 – Charity supporting code.org
2:51 – Talking up mythology – new Lost Honor cinematic. It looks like Anduin and Saurfang are gonna be war buddies now.
2:55 – Hearthstone up. Unfortunately, no sound.
2:56 – Cutting over to Overwatch.
2:58 – Recapping Overwatch in 2018. New animated short: Reunion.
3:11 – Turns out Ashe is the new Overwatch toon! Bob is her ultimate! LOL.
Introducing Ashe—leader of the Deadlock Gang and rebellious gunslinger who's not afraid to get her hands dirty.
Learn more @ https://t.co/XhKgOJGPNV pic.twitter.com/GoZXm0JbZt
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) November 2, 2018
3:14 – Warcraft III is getting a remaster as Warcraft III: Reforged, launching next year but playable right now at BlizzCon.
3:22 – Hearthstone is back! With sound now! Looks like the rumors about the expansion were legit: It’s Rastakhan’s Rumble, a Stranglethorn troll-themed expansion.
3:33 – Diablo time. The Diablo franchise is getting a new mobile game. A “full-fledged action RPG you can play everywhere with everyone.” It’s called Diablo Immortal!
3:43 – Diablo Immortal demo is live at BlizzCon.
3:45 – And that’s a wrap! Stay tuned; we’ll be back with another WoW liveblog at 6:30 p.m. EDT!
