UPDATED 13:35 EDT / NOVEMBER 11 2013

NEWS

BlizzCon 2013 Round-Up: World of Warcraft gets makeover, Heartstone updates, Starcraft 2 getting tweaks

After a year’s hiatus, BlizzCon 2013 kicked off on November 8 and 9 in California. Blizzard Entertainment returned to the Anaheim Convention Center this week to host the 7th BlizzCon fan event. BlizzCon is the event for the game lovers but it is also a place to get the latest Blizzard’s games iteration. This year’s keynote was no different, as Blizzard’s finest took the stage to announce a new World of Warcraft expansion, new platforms and details about Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and more.

Expansion for World of Warcraft

Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime provided the opening keynote where he announced as the latest expansion for World of Warcraft, and beta sign-ups went live for the firm’s Heroes of the Storm MOBA.

World of Warcraft is getting a new expansion that raises the level cap to 100. The expansion revealed is known as Warlords of Draenor. Warlords of Draenor is the fifth expansion of online multiplayer RPG from Blizzard Entertainment, and takes players to the world of Draenor at a crucial moment in history: fight the brutal past legends of Warcraft and beside them. Players must roll an inhospitable land in search of allies to help mount a desperate defense against the machine conquest of the old Horde–and the bloody history of the continent will be repeated.

“Warlords of Draenor gives players the chance to assume a commanding role in one of the crucial conflicts in the Warcraft series,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “This expansion also brings resources that anyone can get into the thick of the action, whether you have played World of Warcraft at some point, whether you are putting your feet in Azeroth for the first time.”

To help new and old players to respond to the call of arms on Draenor, the expansion will allow them to bring a character of level 90 instantly with a newly created character, so they can enjoy the latest content with friends. Warlords of Draenor also have models and character animations completely updated for many of the playable races in World of Warcraft, including orcs, humans and several ancient inhabitants of Azeroth, which stay with the same quality standard of the younger races, but keep their identity and unique style.

With some other new features of World of Warcraft, players can enjoy new content as they head to the new level cap 100, including new zones, dungeons, Raids, Scenarios, Battle Fields and much more. Warlords of Draenor also introduce improvements in missions designed to encourage exploration and unpredictability in the adventures.

Heroes Of The Storm steals BlizzCon

Dustin Browder, vice president of both StarCraft 2 and the new MOBA, announced Heroes of the Storm, a title that also pays a nod to the player created titles like Defense of the Ancients. Heroes of the Storm is Blizzard best-foot-forward foray into the well-established world of MOBAs that currently includes such giants as League of Legends and DOTA2.

The game allows you to play as one of many Blizzard IP characters from across the board in a game of 3-lane 5v5 combat. Blizzard is making a strong effort to ensure that when Heroes of the Storm releases it’s at the same level of quality as its other products. The project aroused strong interest among players.

Hearthstone coming to iOS and Android

Blizzard also showed the progress of Hearthstone, the company’s free-to-play online card game that’s been operating in a closed beta state for months. Rob Pardo, the firm’s CCO said iPhone and Android versions of Hearthstone are in development and slated for release during the second half of 2014.

Hearthstone is a first for Blizzard in a lot of ways,” said Pardo. “It’s our first free-to-play game, our first tablet game, and the first game we’ve announced and made playable in the same year.”

Pardo added they are going to be cards that absolutely change the meta game, because we’re paying attention to that a lot and will make sure that these cards are going to shift the meta game. But they’re not going to be cards that specifically have crazy new mechanics in them just yet. Those we’re saving for the expansion side.

Starcraft 2 getting tweaks

StarCraft 2, the videogame that’s become a sport in parts of the world, is getting a tweak. Tony Hsu, senior producer of the game, during the event said there will be increased support for customization. Player-made extensions will be added to every map automatically and game soundtrack would be enhanced by taking the original soundtrack from StarCraft 1 and Brood Wars.

Exclusive features of Diablo 3 for PS4

Blizzard announced that The Ultimate Evil edition of Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls for Sony PlayStation 4 is getting handful of features exclusive to the console version of the game. One of the feature is called Avenger Kills, which offers opportunity for friends to connect, even if they’re not playing cooperatively at the same time. The PS4 version will have few other improvements including higher monster density, better graphic shaders, shorter loading times and touchpad support for navigating your inventory.


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