BlizzCon Thread

[BloodOmen]

Post BlizzCon stuffs here (if anything)

 

[ECA]

y tho.

 

[BloodOmen]

y tho.

Why not? we normally have one for E3 etc. Saves multiple threads on Overwatch, Warcraft, Starcraft, Hearthstone etc.

 

[BloodOmen]

So far


Starcraft2 - going Free to Play - the most sold PC game in history (apparently) - you only get Wings of Liberty for free but that grants you full access to Multiplayer and Co-Op

Heroes of The Story - 2 new heroes - Hanzo, Alexstrasza

Hearthstone - New single player adventure which is 100% free and a new expansion - Kobolds and Catacombs (clearly a silly version of Dungeons & Dragons)

Overwatch - New Map and 1 new Hero - Moira

 

[BloodOmen]

World of Warcraft Classic Server announced

 

[ECA]

World of Warcraft Classic Server announced

Oh god, I know at least one friend I won't see again for a year.

 

[BloodOmen]

Battle for Lordaeron

• Horde burns down Teldrassil
• Alliance attacks Lordaeron
• All out war sets up for Horde controlled Kalimdor and Alliance controlled Eastern Kingdom
• No external threat, so war against each other becomes focus

Kul Tiras: Alliance Continent

• Ancient human kingdom
• Powerful nautical empire
• Rules by four houses
• 3 main regions

Tiragarde Sound

• Capital of Kul Tiras
• Led by Katherine Proudmoore, Jaina's mother
• Monster hunters
• Trouble with pirates
• Playable demo for area on show floor

Stormsong Valley

• Ruled by House Stormstrong
• Provide ships to Kul Tiras
• Dark forces invading
• and quillboars!

Zandalar: Horde Continent

• Ancient Troll Empire
• Powerful naval force
• Continent in turmoil

Zuldazar

• Capital of the Zandalari
• Ruled by King Rastakhan
• Investigate an uprising
• Stop blood troll invaders

Nazmir

• Festering swampland
• Enlist powerful Loa
• Uncover titan secrets
• Playable on show floor

Vol'dun

• Foreboding desert
• Criminals exiled here
• Befriend the vulpera

Main Heroes

• Thrall
• Sylvanas Windrunner
• Anduin Wrynn
• Jaina Proudmoore
• Explore story of Vol'jin

Zone Flow

• 6 zones spanning 2 continents
• Level up in your faction's zones
• The rest of the world opens up at 120
• Epic "War Campaign" arc woven throughout
• World Quests and Emissaries at 120

Allied Races

• The lines of battle have been drawn
• Bring a new ally into your faction...
• Void elves, Lightforged Draenei, Dark Iron Dwarves for Alliance
• Nightborne, Highmountain Tauren, Zandalari Trolls for Horde
• Quest chains unlock new races
• New racials for the allied races
• Begin at level 20
• Level to 110 as an allied race to unlock Heritage Armor to show off your achievement
• 6 Allies races at launch, more planned
• Heritage Armor works for all armor types

Leveling Improvements

• Expanding zone scaling to all zones
• Zones have level ranges with caps
• Flexible expansion order
• Burning Crusade is 60 - 80
• Northrend scales from 60 - 80
• Applies to dungeons as well
• Beginning in 7.3.5!

Heart of Azeroth

• Heart of Azeroth: Artifact Quality Medallion, A gift from Azeroth herself to the world's protectors
• Artifact weapons are getting a proper send off
• No huge trait tree, serves as a power source
• Azerite levels up the amulet, empowering armor
• Access tiers in a hierarchy of abilities on expanding rings

Island Expeditions

• Explore uncharted isle across the Great Sea
• Horde and Alliance skirmishing over resources
• 3-player cooperative gameplay, role agnostic
• Complete varied and dynamic objectives
• Race against advanced AI opponents
• PVP mode also available!

Warfronts

• Large scale conflict on the homefront
• Fantasy anchored in Warcraft 3, RTS roots
• 20 player cooperative faction raid vs NPC armies
• Build structures, research upgrades, lead troops

 

[BloodOmen]

 

[BloodOmen]

I summon @Delket

 

[Deebs]

World of Warcraft Classic Server announced

Cannot wait for this.....

 

[BloodOmen]

Cannot wait for this.....

Going to make a thread with loads of Vanilla info in for people who never got to try it like farming spots etc... excited myself, I knew they'd cave in eventually and the fact they make Brack announce it is even better.

 

[BloodOmen]

One other thing I think they're doing @Deebs

Notice how they added the Legion scaling tech to TBC and WOTLK? I think they're planning ahead for the classic server to get 'new' content once people are done with naxx etc but maintain the Vanilla rules, it would essentially mean we can go to TBC and WOTLK and raid while remaining at level 60 with the Vanilla rules... obviously thats looking far ahead but the legion scaling tech heavily implies that's what they have in mind (which I'm totally fine with, Vanilla WoW rules in TBC and WOTLK? fuck yes.)

 

[Himse]

I think even the new expansion looks good.

I recently started up WoW again and am really enjoying it. Story whilst questing is kinda fun.

 

[Deebs]

Going to make a thread with loads of Vanilla info in for people who never got to try it like farming spots etc... excited myself, I knew they'd cave in eventually and the fact they make Brack announce it is even better.

Yeh making You think you do but you don't make the announcement was a classic, think it shows humility toward the player base. When I was watching the announcement the highest cheer was for Classic, hell, check everywhere and it seems more people are excited for Classic over BfA.

One other thing I think they're doing @Deebs

Notice how they added the Legion scaling tech to TBC and WOTLK? I think they're planning ahead for the classic server to get 'new' content once people are done with naxx etc but maintain the Vanilla rules, it would essentially mean we can go to TBC and WOTLK and raid while remaining at level 60 with the Vanilla rules... obviously thats looking far ahead but the legion scaling tech heavily implies that's what they have in mind (which I'm totally fine with, Vanilla WoW rules in TBC and WOTLK? fuck yes.)

I think you are right, the breakthrough Brack mentioned was to do with using the same infrastructure and processes they currently use to host Classic. I am hoping that they use the latest client but somehow patch it with the old models/spells etc and let the server tell the client if they are on a Classic or retail server and act accordingly. Thing is though, this is a way off which is a shame but I suspect they have been working on this since Nost visited, they also stated (Blizzard) that they have spoken on several occasions to the Nost team since then, hopefully those guys will be offered jobs.

For me, I really enjoyed Vanilla, TBC and WOTLK, my interest waned after that and for the first time ever I actually pressed the cancel my sub button a few weeks back as I just got fed up with Legion. I felt like I was in a rat race compared to the slow pace of Vanilla and the exploration.

 

[Ctuchik]

Vanilla was only slow paced a bit after release because there weren't much (any) end game content. But once the raids started up it went pretty fast. The actual slow bits only really started with TBC when they expanded on those godawful daily rep grinds...

Think i'm the only person playing WoW that do not have a single reputation mount. Not one..

One thing i miss though is the old hunter pet system from TBC, you know when what pet you had actually made a difference other than how it looked..

I really loved my Ravager...

 

[BloodOmen]

Yeh making You think you do but you don't make the announcement was a classic, think it shows humility toward the player base. When I was watching the announcement the highest cheer was for Classic, hell, check everywhere and it seems more people are excited for Classic over BfA.



I think you are right, the breakthrough Brack mentioned was to do with using the same infrastructure and processes they currently use to host Classic. I am hoping that they use the latest client but somehow patch it with the old models/spells etc and let the server tell the client if they are on a Classic or retail server and act accordingly. Thing is though, this is a way off which is a shame but I suspect they have been working on this since Nost visited, they also stated (Blizzard) that they have spoken on several occasions to the Nost team since then, hopefully those guys will be offered jobs.

For me, I really enjoyed Vanilla, TBC and WOTLK, my interest waned after that and for the first time ever I actually pressed the cancel my sub button a few weeks back as I just got fed up with Legion. I felt like I was in a rat race compared to the slow pace of Vanilla and the exploration.

Aye the old models and spells would be great... it won't be a deal breaker if they can't do it tho, I think the main thing is just getting Vanilla back me and the wife are quite happy for it, we'll be going Alliance as a Paladin and Mage (we played Horde during Vanilla last time) - I can't see them releasing Classic until BFA has been released as it may damage purchases if they released Classic first.


And I agree, Classic definitely got the biggest crowd reactions - this video was shot in another hall from the main one

 

[BloodOmen]

Some additional info by Eurogamer who sat down with Brack after the announcement @Deebs - also going to be a Q&A at 4PM their time about it and BFA.

And I suppose you're not ready to talk, in any detail, about how it'll work?

J. Allen Brack: Some of the reason for why we're not ready to talk about that is... we actually don't know yet. The important announcement today was: we're doing this. We've heard the community, we've heard our own internal teams, we've heard all the comments over the years. When it comes to the details, we don't know all of the answers just yet.

There's also the fact that now we've announced this, we might want to partner with the community on some of those answers. WOW changed a lot in the first two years, before The Burning Crusade came along, and so, how exactly should it work? Those are questions we need to talk about, for sure.



Anything jump out at you that you'd forgotten about old school World of Warcraft?

J. Allen Brack: Yeah, I'd forgotten that whenever you buffed one of your party members with Intellect, you had to actually sit down and drink after that. Then you stood up, buffed another party member with Intellect and then you had to drink again. It's a much slower pace. There's a lot of prep time.

It's an interesting part of human memories, right? I think we like to remember the good parts, but the bad parts sometimes go away over time.



Do you think there'll be a line to walk for the team, then? Somewhere between creating that authentic experience that people have asked for, while also figuring out what doesn't make sense anymore? For example, with the Intellect buff, is it important to you that players do need to drink after casting it?

J. Allen Brack: Yes. That's part of the level 60 experience. Our goal is to recreate that classic 1-60 gameplay. Some things changed as time went on, with different patches. How does that get manifested? That's one of the outstanding questions. But yeah, the goal is to recreate that exact experience, for better or for worse.



Are these going to be separate development teams? One working on Battle for Azeroth and one working on WOW Classic?

J. Allen Brack: Yeah, so it was really important for us to be able to answer the community honestly. How many raids is this going to cost them in Battle for Azeroth? The answer is zero. We're going to hire people specifically for this effort. We already are.



How are players going to pay for WOW Classic?

J. Allen Brack: No idea.

 

[BloodOmen]

Few extras for Classic WoW

They're going to fix all of the old bugs so its not a total mess (pretty obvious this one I guess)

They need to speak to the community however as they don't know when to patch it, they're stuck between "Do we add the old 10+ player UBRS or the 5 player one that happened just before TBC launched?"

Few extras from BFA

we'll get 6 new character slots due to the new allied races and if you have an autheticator attached to your account you will get a bigger starting bag.

They're also going to do another stat squish and also this time an item level squish, demos shown at BlizzCon had 110 prot warrior at about 20k Health and his item level was around 183.

 

[Billargh]

I'll probably renew WoW to try the vanilla server like.

 

[Ctuchik]

Yeah i'll trust that they will release a true vanilla wow when i'm online and actually playing it.. Until then i will assume that it'll be a horrible mess of compromises all in the name of trying to please as many as possible.

Added bug fixes are fine. Added content vanilla wow never had no matter what it is, is not fine..

 

[SilverHood]

Could be interesting, but leveling was fairly horrific in vanilla, as was getting anywhere in a timely fashion. Can you imagine riding everywhere, rather than relying on own flying mount?

There was also a huge imbalance in gear and PvP. Once you got those weapons from BWL, AQ40 and Naxx, you were a massive cut above the average grunt.

Will be interesting to see how raiding is handled. It was very unforgiving of idiocy, something that hasn't applied since they added the raid finder and made raids super easy.

 

[BloodOmen]

Could be interesting, but leveling was fairly horrific in vanilla, as was getting anywhere in a timely fashion. Can you imagine riding everywhere, rather than relying on own flying mount?

There was also a huge imbalance in gear and PvP. Once you got those weapons from BWL, AQ40 and Naxx, you were a massive cut above the average grunt.

Will be interesting to see how raiding is handled. It was very unforgiving of idiocy, something that hasn't applied since they added the raid finder and made raids super easy.

It was horrific but at the same time it really made your character worth more than current game, current game you just get spoon fed everything and nothing outside of progress raiding really feels rewarding... I think that's what attracts me to Vanilla more the current game, when you get to 60 on Vanilla, its like wow..long journey, met some friends a long the way (since theres no dungeon finder) and had a blast, really learned my class - current game doesn't offer any of that for me hardly because its so fast to level, everything just passes you by.

I will try Battle for Azeroth but I don't think I'd commit to it, more just a time sink while waiting for Camelot Unchained and Classic WoW.

 

[SilverHood]

Yeah, in the Warlords expansion, I started a new account and leveled character from 1 to 90 in like 20 hours. With heirloom gear, you could probably do it in 10 hours. It's a shame, I didnt get to see the Panda or Underwater zones, apart from maybe the intro quests. But then making me level the whole thing as per normal, I would never have hit 90.

 

[Yoni]

Sorry but I think you have forgotten all the issues in classic... I have played since day 1, every expansion, they all had / have good points and bad and I can tell you I had two memories of vanilla

1) real friends who stayed together even when raiding progression was slow... and those asshats who jumped ship
2)the reputation grind for a piece of gear that was obsolete once you funished it.

I thank Bliz for 10+ man raids it meant that for us we are still going over a decade later (c.13 years).

Lfr opens content to all.... Nor / Heroic for smaller groups and Mythic for those that have the time. Additionally there are custom raids so you can set one up yourself should you want to meet people and play ourside of the raid.

WoW should be accessible... If you have 10 alts you dont need to relive all the content super slowly (i levelled 8 during invasions )

 

[Hawkwind]

What I remember of classic was 20 min queues for PvP matches, it was horrible. The grind after Lvl 20 was also pretty horrific.

 

[BloodOmen]

What I remember of classic was 20 min queues for PvP matches, it was horrible. The grind after Lvl 20 was also pretty horrific.

It was also dependent on what class you played, if memory serves Warrior and Rogue were the 2 worse classes to level hands down, other classes werent too bad.

I think Paladin, Hunter, Mage, Warlock were probably the easiest ones.

 

[Raven]

Classic WoW was horrific.

 

[Syri]

I think I preferred the first two expansions to classic. They refined it a lot more, and had some great new mechanics, without totally ruining things. Raiding became more accessible but still a challenge, dungeons were a great way to make new friends on your server, and levelling was tweaked to be just about right across the board.
I think the thing that makes people think the most fondly about the past though is the community they had around at the time. I know that a lot of my fond memories of the Burning Crusade era were from the guild I was in, rather than the content itself (though that was pretty good too). Without that community, it might still not live up to the memories.

 

[BloodOmen]

Classic WoW was horrific.

It wasn't 'that' bad, the worse part was always farming consumables/repair bots etc for raids... especially black lotus for flasks, fuck those things.

 

[Deebs]

Sorry but I think you have forgotten all the issues in classic... I have played since day 1, every expansion, they all had / have good points and bad and I can tell you I had two memories of vanilla

1) real friends who stayed together even when raiding progression was slow... and those asshats who jumped ship
2)the reputation grind for a piece of gear that was obsolete once you funished it.

I thank Bliz for 10+ man raids it meant that for us we are still going over a decade later (c.13 years).

Lfr opens content to all.... Nor / Heroic for smaller groups and Mythic for those that have the time. Additionally there are custom raids so you can set one up yourself should you want to meet people and play ourside of the raid.

WoW should be accessible... If you have 10 alts you dont need to relive all the content super slowly (i levelled 8 during invasions )

Sorry but I have to disagree. I have played since day 1 and have good/bad points.

1. Real friends have still stayed strong. People have to leave for legit reasons
2. The Rep grind gave you a sense of achievement

I thank Blizzard for the opportunity to play with 39 other people. End raid content was not on my radar when I started but when given the opportunity I fucking loved it.

LFR destryoyed communities, along with cross-realm sharding. I remember looking for particular chars on vanilla as I knew only they could do what I wanted, also I remember the shitlist mod, for those fuckers who killed me all the time.

I personally cannot wait for Classic Wow, back to the original roots, rather than a variant of Diablo which we now have. I want a sense of achievement, not a 5 min AOE fest to earn something.