BlizzCon 2009 – Recap & Review

BlizzCon 2009 – Full of Announcements

In addition to the announced Warcraft expansion and the SCII release, we were shown the new Diablo III class for the first time, The Monk. I was able to play the monk class but it was my least favorite so far, which is a shame because the lore behind the monk is one of my favorite. Perhaps I just need more time to play it and develop the character. WTB Beta Key!!

BlizzCon also provided us with much more entertainment than just their future game release news. They had over 1700 computers set up at the Anaheim Convention Center and allowed the 20,000 plus in attendance to play the new WoW expansion, SCII, and Diablo III.

The many developer panels gave us insight as to how the process of game development unfolds behind the walls of Blizzard. Each panel provided a Q&A at the end so people could ask the questions that the developers missed, such as why so many Ret Paladin nerfs!!!

The attendees could also visit the many booths from the hardware vendors that make the Blizzard gameplay so great. Merchandise vendors were set up in every hall. The lines for the Blizzard store were much smaller than in previous years thanks to the early sales set up by the Blizzard Store. And to end it all, Ozzy Osbourne, the real Prince of Darkness rocked Hall D.

The SC, WCIII, and WoW Arena competitions were also very exciting. I mainly watched the Warcraft Arena tournaments and the matches were pretty intense at times. There were so many times were the 3v3 ended up in a 2v2 because both the healers, usually Paladins, ended up dying within moments of one other. In fact, the finals between the USA/Canadian team TSG and the Korean Team ShipIt had one such match. The crowd went crazy but in the end, it was TSG that took home $75,000 in prize money. With over $250,000 in prize money at stake, it was no surprise the competition was so great!

This years BlizzCon allowed me to meet a bunch of my Warcraft guildies. They too were very excited about the news Blizzard dropped on us regarding their games. They were all very excited about Cataclysm. Even though WoW is the main game we play, we are all equally excited for the release of StarCraft II as well as Diablo. The new Battle.net system should make it easy for all of us to play together and stay connected even when not in Azoroth. I cant wait for BlizzCon 2010. Hopefully StarCraft II will have been release by then and Diablo III and World of Warcraft Cataclysm will be just round the corner.

Keep Gaming!