Special Feature: Blizzcon 2018 Announcements and Drama

Blizzard has habitually provided announcements that impress their fanbase at Blizzcon every year, a tradition that’s continued despite the company being acquired by the larger (and largely soulless, honestly) Activision. The company is known for the Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo franchises among their most dedicated audiences, though they only occasionally make new installments in them. Like several other developers, they’ve become accustomed to releasing games and updating them over years, especially if they’re dependent on online play. Specifically, those include Overwatch and World of Warcraft, but they’re also not hesitant to provide the occasional surprise — both good and bad.

It’s been around two-and-a-half years since Blizzard released Overwatch, an online multiplayer shooter including colorful characters wrapped in an appealing art style. More characters have been added at a good pace since its launch, and most (if not all) have been fun enough to play that complaints about character count and character depth have been minimal. Nearly all of them have significant backstories on the official website and in supplemental material like comics and promotional movies, to the point that you’d think they were anime characters.

This already applies to the newest character announced at Blizzcon, whose fanbase is already large: Ashe. Her full name is Elizabeth Caledonia “Calamity” Ashe, a 39-year-old thieving leader of the Deadlock Gang, which originates from the fictional Deadlock Gorge, Arizona. Ashe was born to a wealthy family, and appeared to have her future planned out for her, though her parents gave her little personal attention. Likely as a result, she chose a different path upon meeting Jesse McCree, and realized her true calling upon committing a string of crimes with him. She became an outlaw after experiencing the thrill of outwitting her targets and getting away with her crimes. It’s certainly a more interesting path.

Ashe primarily uses a semi-automatic rifle named “The Viper” for either quick shots, or more damaging and precise shots after careful aiming. She can also throw dynamite after a delay or being shot, which will set enemies aflame and drain their health. Her Coach Gun can also knock the opponent and her backward upon hitting, and she can have her trusty robot B.O.B. lay suppressing fire with miniature cannons. There’s no way to tell how formidable she will or won’t be from the info and current videos, but she sure sounds fun to play.

No release date was provided for Ashe, but the wait likely won’t be long. To hold fans off, Blizzard provided an introduction video, an origin story video, and an animated “Reunion” short that’s over eight minutes long. It’s more than enough to get acquainted with her before she arrives. The videos provide some stylized cowgirl entertainment while many play the newest cowboy game, though whether the timing was intentional is anyone’s guess.

It’s not just Overwatch: Heroes of the Storm is also receiving a new character with Orphea. She’s the “Heir of Raven Court,” and is the daughter of the Raven Lord who fights as a Hero of the Nexus, meaning she eluded the Raven Lord’s influence. She was released for free for anyone who attended Blizzcon, and will be available for everyone else in the next patch. She’ll also have a “Slacker Orphea” skin, which could be teasing another future event.

World of Warcraft is still getting more content fourteen years after the original game released. But for anyone who’d rather play the original interpretation with a new sheen, World of Warcraft: Classic will release in summer 2019. A demo is also coming, but will be time-limited. It will let players experience it for an hour, before waiting for a 30-minute cooldown period to log back in.

However, the Warcraft announcement that garnered the most attention is Warcraft III: Reforged. As the name somewhat implies, this is a remastered (or “reforged”) version of Warcraft III, the classic real-time strategy game from 2002. Its visuals will be polished to a sheen, and recreations of all the heroes, units, and environments from the original game will be included. The content from Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne will be included, meaning it will offer hours upon hours of missions and cutscenes regardless of the characters and races used. And that’s before getting into the player-created games and maps that will be available as options.

Reforged will release sometime in 2019, with a standard $29.99 edition and a $39.99 “Spoils of War” edition available. Cinematic and gameplay trailers were also released at the event.

Blizzard also revealed Diablo Immortal, the most controversial announcement of the show. It appeared to be a brand-new Diablo game that might have been an equivalent to a fourth mainline title initially, but to say it’s not what many vocal fans wanted would be an understatement. Immortal is actually a Massively Multiplayer Online Action RPG (MMOARPG — like that acronym needed another letter) for mobile platforms that takes place between the second and third games in terms of story, developed by NetEase Games. To no surprise, social media erupted with pissed fans, and the cinematic announcement video has been downvoted into oblivion on Blizzard’s YouTube channel. Some fan questions at the Q&A following the reveal also expressed smartass dissatisfaction to Blizzard directly.

Update: Immortal is also being criticized for being a potential reskin of Crusaders of Light, another game also from NetEase Games. The UI is indeed identical, though whether other elements are “borrowed” remains to be seen. It’s also not good that Blizzard is reportedly deleting some negative comments from under the YouTube videos, leaving the more venomous ones untouched, though this is tough to prove. Either way, this is a lot of upset that Blizzard has to deal with.

Despite that, I’m almost certain it will do well. The Diablo franchise name is big, and mobile MMOs are popular in certain parts of the world — Asian markets especially. The game appears to run well enough judging from the also-massively downvoted gameplay trailer, though framerate issues appear when too many characters perform flashy techniques simultaneously. No release date for the title was given, though it probably isn’t too far off if preregistration is already available.

Keep in mind that if you don’t like this, Diablo 3: Eternal Collection just released on Switch, and it’s reportedly a good port. This version includes all the content and expansions released for Diablo 3 over time, along with the Ganondorf outfit set, a Cucco companion, and a Triforce portrait frame from several The Legend of Zelda installments.

Sure, Diablo Immortal isn’t what most fans were asking for, but don’t let this arguably bad one take away from the good announcements. Blizzcon mostly delivered in terms of reveals this year, and it will be best for everyone if Blizzard keeps up a streak of keeping their fans mostly happy, despite having a corporate overlord ruling over them.