Blizzcon 2016

[lupi]

Blizzcon dates this year are 11/4 and 11/5.

Virtual ticket available again and they've just released details of the in game goodie bag.

https://blizzcon.com/en-us/news/20288667

If you're so inclined, they also have the at the door bag available for purchase by VT buyers.

 

[lupi]

Schedule and map up. Doesn't look like much effort this year to catch up on the VOD, They've removed one of the panel areas for more tournament gameplay so only 2 discussions happening at a time.

https://blizzcon.com/en-us/news/20314053

 

[lupi]

Weird Al announced as the closing musical act.

 

[Aikouka]

Weird Al announced as the closing musical act.

Hm.. that could be fun. I wonder if he'll work up a Blizzard-centric song just for the closing concert?

 

[Majes]

As a Diablo fan... What the actual heck?

 

[Sonikku]

Disappointed that they opted to delay the vanilla servers announcement. Guess we'll hear more once Legion is a year old, content slows to a crawl and Bliz needs a stunt to retain subs.

 

[Craig234]

As a Diablo fan... What the actual heck?

That's not a good question, with no info what you are talking about.

 

[Majes]

It wasn't really a question, more of a reaction. I'm just floored that they are doing zilch with the Diablo franchise. It's hard to even find Diablo on their Blizzcon schedule.

 

[sweenish]

It's not hard at all. There's just not a lot.

Each game is its own color. Finding the Diablo events is easy. Going or watching just for Diablo will be disappointing.

 

[Aikouka]

Well, keep in mind that Overwatch, their latest game and latest eSports push, only has a single game-related panel. There's one for the cinematics and I think another one for the voice actors, but I believe that's it. All the good announcements come during the opening ceremony anyway!

 

[Craig234]

That is too bad for Diablo fans - when I went years ago Diablo was one of the 'big three' franchises, with WoW and StarCraft.

 

[lupi]

They redid the schedule to include stream and nonstream together. sad to see all the little art/cinematic/voice stuff lost to video now that they've expanded the esport crap even more.

 

[Majes]

Blizzard is in a strange spot right now. Their big names (Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo) are all on the decline in one way or another. Whereas Hearthstone is rocking the market and Overwatch has done pretty well. I have no idea how Heroes is doing as LoL and DotA own that market.

It's not like Starcraft or Daiblo would be difficult to revive though. Each game just needs regular content updates. A new unit for each race in Starcraft every six months to a year would be amazing. Diablo could get a new character every 6 months to a year and new items bi-monthly. They've got to keep people interested.

Both games have stagnated a little though and don't really seem to have any direction to them. That was fine years ago when there was significantly less competition, but there are 2-3 ARPG games that are better than Diablo 3 at the moment and while Starcraft has no RTS competition it is losing the esports battle slowly even though it's still my favorite game to watch.

 

[Aikouka]

there are 2-3 ARPG games that are better than Diablo 3 at the moment

I don't think that's necessarily true. Yes, games like Path of Exile are definitely far more like earlier ARPGs (such as Diablo II) than Diablo III is, but that doesn't necessarily make them a better game or even the more appealing game. I think one of Blizzard's goals, much to the chagrin of some of their fans, is to make the games more appealing to the majority by removing some of the more punishing aspects. An example of this could be how the previous Diablo games did not allow for respecs, but Diablo III allows you to change it on the fly.

I've been playing their games since StarCraft, and I'm fairly mixed on their approach. To a degree, I think some of the quality of life changes are quite good, but in other cases, I find them to focus on the ultra-casual crowd that is more likely to drop the game on a whim unlike the more hardcore fans. In other words, "caterin' to casuals" may get you people that aren't as dedicated.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I played Diablo 2 for over a decade straight and when they announced D3 was going to be online only, they lost a fan. To this day I still have never tried the game and now that I have a house with very good internet, I haven't even thought about buying D3. Their direction they went with SC2 only further solidified that they wouldn't be getting my business anymore. It's pretty sad to see such a giant be pushed into somewhat of a niche category now.

 

[Majes]

I don't think that's necessarily true. Yes, games like Path of Exile are definitely far more like earlier ARPGs (such as Diablo II) than Diablo III is, but that doesn't necessarily make them a better game or even the more appealing game. I think one of Blizzard's goals, much to the chagrin of some of their fans, is to make the games more appealing to the majority by removing some of the more punishing aspects. An example of this could be how the previous Diablo games did not allow for respecs, but Diablo III allows you to change it on the fly.

I've been playing their games since StarCraft, and I'm fairly mixed on their approach. To a degree, I think some of the quality of life changes are quite good, but in other cases, I find them to focus on the ultra-casual crowd that is more likely to drop the game on a whim unlike the more hardcore fans. In other words, "caterin' to casuals" may get you people that aren't as dedicated.

I'd put Path of Exile and Grim Dawn ahead of Diablo 3. (Marvel Heroes doesn't quite make it)
Both those games have respec systems too

I could write comparisons for hours but it's really easier to just explain what I play... I played Diablo 3 seasons 1, 2, 4, and 6 for about a week each time. Ive played every Path of Exile season for at least a month. I play Grim Dawn on and off, but I've put in over 10 hours in the past 7 days. I also regularly level heroes in Marvel Heroes. While Diablo has a lot of decent stuff, there just isn't anything new and really hasnt been since the expansion.

 

[lupi]

90 minutes till opening.

 

[Majes]

Get pumped! (Just kidding, I'm watching Doctor Strange tonight instead)

 

[lupi]

Pretty cool doc style trailer for the opening.

Fel kitty pet in Wow coming as this years make-a-wish event.

 

[lupi]

lol @ overwatch launch trailer. Thought my stream was going bad for a moment. And then they use it to intro the new character.


Can we have those big mechs in game?

 

[lupi]

Be interesting to see how she plays in game.

 

[lupi]

sombra and 2 new maps on ptr next week, third map in december.

 

[lupi]

11/22 final nova mission pack for SC2.

Alexi mission pack coming next.

 

[lupi]

google rep talking?

blizz opening star craft to external AI developers.

 

[lupi]

They made a heroes of the dorm doc and early release tomorrow during conn, worldwide release next week.