The Blizzcon Opening Ceremony just concluded! Here’s what Blizzard revealed (All cinematics are at the bottom of this post):
Destiny 2 will be free for all battle.net players, this offer is available to be claimed until November 18th
Starcraft 2 gets a new Co-op commander: Zeratul.
Heroes of the Storm gets its first new original hero character, originating from HotS itself: Orphea, daughter of the Raven Lord
Orphia is free for all blizzcon attendees and virtual ticket holders.
Heroes of the Storm will finally see the Janitor Leoric skin making its appearance!
The current World of Warcraft segment was a repeat of the patch 8.1 Tides of Vengeance announcement. What lays beyond patch 8.1 will be discussed in the What’s Next panel for WoW.
In addition to that WoW Classic will fully release in the summer of 2019.
Anyone with a WoW subscription will have access to WoW Classic!
This year’s WoW charity pet will be Whomper, a little yeti and the money goes to the organisation code.org.
A new cinematic for BfA “Lost Honor” was shown.
A new Overwatch animated short was shown: Reunion
The 29th Overwatch hero to join the roster will be Ashe, the leader of the Deadlock gang
Warcraft 3 is being remastered! It will be released in 2019.
You can order a spoils of war edition of warcraft 3, pre-ordering it will unlock bonuses for the other Blizzard games. This includes a meatwagon mount in WoW with a functioning catapult!
You can find more information here for warcraft 3 reforged: https://playwarcraft3.com/en-us/
The next Hearthstone expansion is the troll themed Rastakhan’s Rumble, with a snazzy new cinematic trailer!
Hearthstone will get a new keyword “Overkill”, this will activate if you deal more damage than the target has in health.
(Hearthstone) Each class gets a troll champion, a loa (troll god) and a spirit.
Rastakhan’s Rumble releases December 4th.
The next Diablo game will be a mobile action RPG called “Diablo Immortal”.
Diablo Immortal will take place in between Diablo 2 and Diablo 3.
You will have to defeat challenges for every wing. Completing each wing will give you a legendary card.
A new mechanic will be introduced “Discover”. This will present you 3 random cards from which you get to choose 1. It will be appropriate for your deck.
It will release later this month! Infact, it starts on Thursday!
Overwatch gains 3 new heroes: D.VA, Mei and Genji
Overwatch gains 1 new map: Hollywood
Overwatch will need to be bought. You’ll get all heroes and maps with it.
There will be a special edition: Overwatch Origins
This will have 5 different hero skins.
This will lprovide ingame bonuses like other collector’s edition games. WoW ingame pet, HS cardback, etc. (Tracer hero for Heroes of the Storm)
Origins edition will also be brought to XBOX One and PS4.
You can buy at buyoverwatch.com it will give you a pre-purchase widowmaker skin.
Overwatch will launch in the spring of 2016.
WoW Legion:
Gul’dan’s mission was to tear a hole in reality
Illidan will help the Alliance and Horde to defeat The Burning Legion
The WoW Token will be going live in the Europe game region on April 21 at approximately 5 p.m. CEST. The WoW Token will be available for 20 EUR (15 GBP) from the in-game Shop, and will be set at a starting price of 35,000 gold in the Auction House across the Europe region. From that point forward, the gold price will automatically fluctuate based on player supply and demand. To start we’ll be limiting the number of Token purchases from the Shop to 10 within a 30-day period, and the limit on Tokens purchased for gold will be set higher—though keep in mind these limits may be adjusted over time. While Tokens will be available immediately from the Shop, please note that there may be a delay before Tokens put up for sale on the Auction House become available for purchase with gold.
Using WoW Token Game Time with a Recurring Subscription
You can redeem WoW Tokens while you have an active recurring subscription—there’s no need to suspend your subscription or resubscribe. Your recurring subscription will automatically pause when your currently paid-for subscription period ends (e.g. for monthly subscribers, at the end of your current 30-day period), and all redeemed WoW Token game time will be applied next. Note that you can have multiple WoW Tokens redeemed on your account at any given time. Once any accumulated WoW Token game time expires, your recurring subscription will automatically pick up where it left off.
Region-wide Exchange
As discussed in our original announcement, each game region (Americas, Europe, Korea, Taiwan, and China) will have its own shared WoW Token exchange.
Once purchased, a Token can then be put up for sale in a region-wide exchange via a new Game Time tab in the Auction House. While the rest of the Auction House will remain realm-based, a region-wide WoW Token exchange will provide the largest possible pool of prospective buyers and ensures everyone has access to a vibrant, active Token marketplace. In the Americas, Europe, Korea, and Taiwan, players who purchase a WoW Token from the Auction House will be able to redeem it for 30 days of game time.
Going for Gold
Because the Token exchange has to start somewhere, we will be setting the initial gold value of the WoW Token ourselves. The starting gold value in each region will be based on several factors, including regional in-game economies, but ultimately our goal is to select a fair and reasonable starting price. After that, the Token’s gold value will be determined dynamically based primarily on player supply and demand. Simply put, if more WoW Tokens are being listed than are being purchased, the price will automatically drift downward over time. If people are purchasing Tokens from the Auction House faster than they’re being put up for sale, then prices will go up accordingly. As a reminder, to help make sure players can trade WoW Tokens confidently, once a Token sells, the seller will receive the amount of gold they were quoted at the time they listed their Token.
It’s been a jam-packed year for Heroes of the Storm, and now it’s time to rally your fellow heroes and get ready for battle, because the portal to the Nexus is about to burst wide open! We’ve just announced that Blizzard’s worlds will collide when Heroes of the Storm™ officially launches on June 2, following an open beta testing period that begins on May 19.
Heroes of the Storm will launch with more than 30 playable Heroes, over 130 Skins, 14 steadfast mounts, and 7 dynamic Battlegrounds, each with unique challenges to overcome—and even more Heroes, Skins, Mounts, and Battlegrounds are on the way! Over the last year we’ve also implemented over 430 different color Tints across our Heroes, Skins, and Mounts to help you customize your look so you can brawl in style. These color options will continue to be unlockable for free as you play your Heroes and seek to master them on field of battle. Rest assured that we’ll have even more exciting Heroes developments in the coming months.
Upcoming Launch Event
To celebrate the launch of Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard will be holding a live-streamed event on June 1 in London. Further information will be made available as the event draws near.
Heroes of the Dorm Championship
The Heroes of the Storm open beta test will follow on the heels of the epic finale of the Heroes of the Dorm™ collegiate eSports tournament. Students from more than 400 schools across the U.S. and Canada have bashed and brawled their way through the brackets, with more than $450,000 in tuition and other prizes up for grabs. On April 26, the final teams will face off at the Heroes of the Dorm championship match, which will be hosted at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles and televised live in prime time on an ESPN network and also accessible via WatchESPN—further details on the telecast will be announced at a later date.
For more information on this live event and how you can attend in person, please dive into our Heroes of the Dorm blog.
No Further Wipes
We will not be performing any further wipes, so any current progress or purchases you’ve made thus far during closed beta will carry through to open beta as well as post-launch.
Thank You for Your Continued Feedback
We’ve enjoyed sharing the Technical Alpha and Closed Beta with you, and your feedback has helped us make Heroes even more epic. Thank you, as always, to everyone who has shared their thoughts on the game with us thus far. We can’t wait to hear more from all of you as we move toward open beta testing in May, and the official launch in June.
Stay tuned for more updates, and we’ll see you in the Nexus!
We have a new feature coming in Patch 6.1 that’ll allow you to send out Tweets directly to your Twitter feed while playing World of Warcraft. It includes the ability to send out text-only Tweets; easily take, crop, and Tweet out in-game screenshots; and let your friends know about your recent accomplishments.
It’s easy to get started; all you need is a Twitter account! Under the Social section of the in-game Interface options, just check the Enable Twitter Functionality option, and then the Sign In button. You’ll be taken to a standard app approval page that will allow you to send out Tweets using the in-game UI.
Once you’ve authenticated the app, you can initiate a new Tweet by typing /share into chat, or by clicking the small share icon that’ll appear in-chat next to Achievement and item drop notifications. You can also add an Achievement or item directly to a Tweet with the Twitter UI open by shift+clicking the Achievement or item.
Tweets from within World of Warcraft are only ever initiated by you, and we will never automatically send out Tweets on your behalf—we’ve disabled Addons from sending them too. Our goal is to make it easier for you to Tweet while playing World of Warcraft, and more convenient to share fun moments with friends.
Of course if you don’t use Twitter or don’t want to see any of this stuff, just don’t check the ‘Enable Twitter Functionality’ box and it’ll stay out of your way.
We’re excited to see how people enjoy this new feature, and encourage everyone to jump on the 6.1 PTR to test it and provide feedback.
FAQ
Q: When authorizing the World of Warcraft app it says authorizing it will let you see who follows me, allow you to change my profile, and some other things; why do you need access to do all that? A: The Twitter app authorization system only has a few tiers of access that we as app developers can choose from, and the one we chose was the most basic with the least access required. It will list out a bunch of features this integration does not use, and have no plans to use, like those mentioned. The World of Warcraft Twitter app only exists to allow you to Tweet while playing WoW if you want to, and only you can initiate and send out a Tweet.
Q: So I’m going to see a bunch of Tweets in-game now? A: No, there’s no in-game Twitter feed; this feature just sends Tweets outside of the game.
Q: What if I don’t want to see anything related to Twitter in-game? A: If you don’t authorize a Twitter account through the Interface option you won’t see anything related to the feature.
Q: Are you going to start requiring Twitter use for in-game activities? A: No, we just think it’s a cool convenience feature for those who do like sharing their gaming activity on social media—if you don’t like doing that, no problem.
Q: Isn’t this going to cause a lot of spam, or issues with people sending out inappropriate content from the game? A: This doesn’t add any functionality that isn’t already achievable through Twitter. This simply makes it more convenient to link items and share achievements and screenshots while playing.
Q: Is there a separate login per-character, or is this account-wide? A: Your Twitter authorization is Battle.net account-wide. Any WoW license (as well as any characters) within the same Battle.net account will be able to Tweet from an authorized Twitter account. You’d want to sign out of Twitter through the Interface options before logging out of the game if you don’t want the authorization to persist between logins.
Q: My child uses my WoW account sometimes; will they have access to Tweet from my Twitter account? A: The Twitter authorization will remain active until you log out of it through the Interface options.
Q: I don’t use Twitter, but I do use some other social platforms, when could this be implemented for those? A: We’re starting with Twitter, but the /share functionality certainly could be expanded to other social platforms if you would find it useful. We’d appreciate your feedback and ideas on where we could go next.
Q: This seems cool but I haven’t tried Twitter yet, how can I get started? A: Twitter has a helpful guide to get you started, and we maintain a list of official and employee accounts right here that you can follow to start building your list.
Q: How moddable is this by Addons? A: The UI is fairly locked down to keep access to sending Tweets secure, and ensure that you—and only you—are choosing when to send them. Addons may still perform some light functions, such as helping to populate the chat field in customizable formats.
This contest ended on the 11th of february! Luckily there are a lot of other contests going on within the community!
We’re very excited to announce our very first beta key giveaway! Blizzard has provided us with 20 Heroes of the Storm beta keys to give away, and as such we’re going to do so via a contest! Check out the full details in the video below on how you can win.
In a somewhat surprising turn of events you can now buy access into the heroes of the storm beta! On the product page in the blizzard shop it says that Quantity may be limited, indicating that there might only be a certain amount of beta spots that can be bought. If you don’t want to buy beta acces, have no fear! Because blizzard is still giving out regular beta invites “at an even faster rate than before“.
The battle between your favorite Blizzard characters is getting intense . . . and you can join the fray right now with the Heroes of the Storm™ Founder’s Pack! This brand-new digital bundle gives you an array of exciting Heroes, Skins, and other in-game content to get you started on your path to victory in the Nexus, along with instant access to the Heroes of the Storm closed beta test.
A STASH OF GOLD: 2,500 in-game gold to help unlock additional Heroes and other content
ACCESS TO THE NEXUS: Immediate access to Heroes of the Storm, beginning with the closed beta test
You can get all of this content and jump into battle now for $39.99—all you need to do to get in on the action is fire up the Battle.net desktop app and click on the Heroes of the Storm icon, or visit the Battle.net Shop.
The Founder’s Pack gets you all of these Heroes and Skins at a discounted price, as well as the fierce and imposing Golden Cyber Wolf Mount, which can only be obtained through purchasing the Founder’s Pack or the in-game Battle Bundle (also priced at $39.99).
You can also purchase the Founder’s Pack in regions other than your own, but please be aware that all purchases, gold, player progression, and hero progression are tied to the specific region you play in and are nontransferable. Also, please note that Global Play has not been enabled for Heroes of the Storm yet, so you will only be able to play in the region in which you purchase your Founder’s Pack.
The ability to purchase the Founder’s Pack may be temporarily suspended at any time in order to ensure a stable testing environment for the game. If you need help or have a question, please visit our support site for more information.
There Are Many Ways to Join the Nexus
We’re regularly inviting more and more players to the Heroes of the Storm closed beta—in fact, we’re accelerating the pace! So if you don’t have access yet and would like a chance to receive an invitation, make sure you’ve opted in to the beta test through your Battle.net Account Management Beta Profile, and keep an eye on the Battle.net desktop app or your email for an invitation.
You can learn about other ways to get in on the action in our “Prepare for Closed Beta with Fighting Words” blog. We also have more exciting stuff in store, including another epic giveaway, so make sure to stay tuned to our official site for updates.
that’ll appear in-chat next to Achievement and item drop notifications. You can also add an Achievement or item directly to a Tweet with the Twitter UI open by shift+clicking the Achievement or item.
