Tag: blizzCon 2013

‘World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor’ Hits 1 Million Pre-Orders!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Activision Blizzard just held their quarterly earnings call, and while they announced the news that World of Warcraft subscriptions again fell slightly (from 7.8 to 7.6 million subscribers… still a huge number), they did reveal that the game’s next expansion, Warlords of Draenor has already received over 1 million pre-orders.

Pre-orders just opened on March 10th, so that’s a lot of people pre-paying for the next chunk of content.

SJ detailed the expansion during BlizzCon. Have you picked up your copy yet? What are you most excited for?

I’m pretty addicted to Hearthstone right now myself.

http://youtu.be/lB0IdIx7DLU

Heroes of the Storm Announces Beta

by S.J. Borger

Blizzard’s announced that their yet-to-be-released MOBA, Heroes of the Storm, will be in closed Beta testing in early 2014, and that sign ups for the Beta are now open on their website.

In case you’re not sure if Heroes of the Storm is something you’d like to play, below is the trailer.

Trust us, you want to play it.

Blizzcon 2013: Heroes of the Storm: The Nexus

by S.J. Borger

Blizzard Entertainment’s newest game, Heroes of the Storm, is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, where heroes and villains from across Blizzard lore are available to play in a variety of battle grounds.

You may be wondering in what world would Kerrigan and Thrall, Tyrael and Uther, Arthas and Zeratul co-exist? Well, it’s not a world, per se, it’s the Nexus.

The Nexus is a transdimenisional vortex that pulls together the greatest warriors and strategists of the Blizzard mutli-verse–and allows us to see who would win in a fight, Uther or Arthas?

See below for an in-depth interview on the making of the Nexus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L86h_2qD2k0

BlizzCon 2013: Hearthstone Fireside Chat

by S.J. Borger

Blizzard Entertainment’s newest offering, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a strategy card game played on a PC or Mac (and eventually an iPad, iPhone and Android) based in the Warcraft universe. The game features fast (10 to 15 minutes) matches of skill and luck and its beta has been the hot ticket to have for the past few months.

Hearthstone Announcement Art

Players can play as a Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, and Warrior (each class is its own deck), and Hearthstone allows players to play against the computer (helpful when learning the rules of the game) and against other players in a three different modes:

Play Mode: duel other players to level up heroes and complete quests. Matches are made through Battle.net and Blizzard swears they will make sure opponents are matched in skill and decks.

The Arena: A skills test mode centered more along deck-building knowledge. Players assemble a new deck from random cards and meet other participants for loot and rewards.

Practice Mode: Learn to play and test out new deck against an AI opponent.

Mage vs Warrior
A mage versus a warrior deck in Blizzard Entertainment’s Hearthstone.

Heathstone has questing for gold rewards, which allows players to buy more card packs or enter the Arena; cards can be disenchanted for materials to build other cards needed to complete a deck. Also, players will be able to contact people on their friend’s list to compare decks or play a friendly duel.

Hearthstone is designed for all levels of experience and developers promise that the game will teach players everything they need to know as they play.

Hearthstone is free-to-play, though upgrades to card decks cost in-game gold which can be purchased via Battle.net. Blizzard is hoping to release it this year (Christmas, anyone?) for PC and Macs, with a iPad, iPhone and Android app available in the future (with cross-platform compatibility).

BlizzCon 2013: Reaper of Souls Preview

by S.J. Borger

Buzz has been flying around about the new Diablo III expansion, “Reaper of Souls.” RoS will feature a new player class–the Crusader, a new level cap of 70, additional spells and abilities for each of the original classes, and a ‘fewer but better’ loot system and the introduction of Legendaries.

Players will also be able to update their toon’s appearance with the help of the new artisan, the Mystic, take on Bounties for objective-based challenges, and explore all the zone in Adventure Mode, where all the waypoints unlock.

Ten to twenty minute dungeons called Loot Runs will test player’s skills and an innovative social system, Clans and Groups, will allow players to connect in new and exciting ways.

Find more information on Diablo III here, and check back here (and follow us on twitter–@sjbwrite) for all the latest updates and breaking news.

But for now, check out the trailer below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aZEgGIgnnM&feature=youtu.be

BlizzCon 2013: ‘Warriors of Draenor’ In-Depth Details From The Floor!

by S.J. Borger

Blizzard Entertainment announced today their newest expansion for their MMO phenom, World of Warcraft. The expansion, title Warlords of Draenor, takes adventures back to the Outlands. Literally…players will follow Garrosh Hellscream, escaping from his war crime trial being held after the Siege of Orgrimmar, as Garrosh goes back in time to the Outlands of Grommash Hellscream, Blackhand, and Ner’zhul.

A sketch of the Nagrand from the Warlords of Draenor expansion. Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
A sketch of the Nagrand from the Warlords of Draenor expansion.
Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

New Level Cap, Insta-Level…and oh, A House

Warlords of Draenor will feature a new level cap–100–and will also allow a player to instantly level one toon to 90 (either a currently played toon or a brand new one rolled at 12:01 a.m. the day the expansion comes out), complete with level appropriate gear. In addition, Blizzard has also retooled current classes, updating their basic look while maintaining their essential, uh, Orcness. Or Night Elf-ness. Goblin-ness?  Anyway, slightly new looks so that everybody’s basically better looking.

Blizzard is finally giving its players a real home: Warlords of Draenor introduces Garrisons–strongholds built by the player (with some customizing available) in the zone of their choice. Once your stronghold is finished, players can begin to collect NPC followers who can perform various tasks–including gathering and questing for the player. It’s like the Sims, only nobody showers.

In addition to new dungeons and raids, including a retooling of the Flex raid and a new Mythic raid at a fixed 20-player raid size, there are also some changes coming to bags and inventory (heirloom and toy collections! sortable bags! crafting straight from the bank) and PvP, including a new world PvP zone with bonus random rewards, items and honor points, including BoE reward gear and a weekly quest to allow players to upgrade an item.

More details on everything that’s new later, as well as our opinion of the actual gameplay. For now, here’s a video of the new (but chronological older…)/old (i.e. Burning Crusade) Outlands to whet your appetite.

http://youtu.be/lB0IdIx7DLU