-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Blizzcon schedule released, panels detailed
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Rösti;181159922 said:
I suspect it's going to be exactly what they showed at Gamescom, but in more detail.
I don't think they'll try to address the fundamental business model of World of Warcraft until they've failed to solve their subscriber situation with "a good expansion pack" at minimum.
However, it's hard for me to imagine them offering much more than Legion is, especially given their reduced development time.
SentryDown
Member
"a tale of adventures yet to come!"
= New adventure for Christmas please
= New adventure for Christmas please
maniac-kun
Member
Hopeing for some Wacraft RTS love in the opening ceremony.
Balmung421
Member
Agree as well; those sub numbers will be padded by legion's beta start and release date window too. Also, they will most likely hype the WoW movie as being something that will bring back subs as well. We will see a new trailer for it at blizzcon, afterall. Most likely in the opening ceremony.
If the beta hasn't started on/near Blizzcon for Overwatch, I will be dissapointed.
But Fall 10th is this saturday though...
I just really want the updated versions of Warcraft 1,2 and 3.
king grimlock
Member
It seems when blizzard said fall for the overwatch beta they meant fall 2016.
xDUMPWEEDx
Banned
D3 could really use 1 more exp. 2 new classes and a new act would be amazing and would certainly suck me back in for a few more years.
I'm expecting a date or at least month at Blizzcon.
They meant "fall between now and the heat death of the universe".
Dog Problems
Banned
The event is a month away and it's already ruined. Oh well.
Pewpewlazors99
Member
Damnit. I want the next Diablo 3 expansion, or Diablo 4 so much! Its amazing how I hated the game just a year ago, but what they have done to it has made it one of my favorite games.
QuixoticNeutral
Member
Interesting: this year it isn't clear at all what the likely candidates for a fresh product announcement are (not that we need one either, as there is already so much content coming down the pipe, and we're now looking at a six-series Blizzard at full blast rather than the three-series one we used to know). The next big Hearthstone update is a given, but other than that, who knows; before this I would have expected a Diablo expansion, but it's true that the game is now finally in a good place where patching in more systems at level 70 makes a lot more sense than pushing another gear reset and raised level cap, as one would expect of a second expansion pack. That the CG cinematic panel this year is dedicated to Legion rather than LOTV suggests to me that we may see a full cinematic for Legion beyond the excerpt they've already shown. I think an incoming beta for Legion is a given, and I still expect a release in Q2. No idea how far off Overwatch is, as I haven't been keeping up with it.
Post-launch plans for LOTV are the main thing I'll be watching for (I continue to maintain that SC2 is Blizzard's best game, even accounting for the complete debacle of the custom maps side of things) but I'll be keeping an eye out for class/spec/profession changes in Legion as well, as I'm likely to return to at least give the expansion a try. I thought I'd pass on Draenor, and when I finally relented, I found it refreshing to go in knowing nothing and looking up nothing, so beyond class mechanics I am not thirsty for information.
Post-launch plans for LOTV are the main thing I'll be watching for (I continue to maintain that SC2 is Blizzard's best game, even accounting for the complete debacle of the custom maps side of things) but I'll be keeping an eye out for class/spec/profession changes in Legion as well, as I'm likely to return to at least give the expansion a try. I thought I'd pass on Draenor, and when I finally relented, I found it refreshing to go in knowing nothing and looking up nothing, so beyond class mechanics I am not thirsty for information.
Most played game for me in 2014/2015 and not stopping.
Playing a Vyr Wizard now is so fucking amazing.
VanquishUK
Member
Have they ever officially addressed the stuttering in Diablo 3?
ShinMaruku
Member
I just want 1 thing from Blizzcon. A warcaft game NOT a mmo or an rts. A diablo type thing in that IP. Gimme dat Blizzard.
Because outside of that and maybe Overwatch, nothing outside of diablo they have appeals to me. MMOs are dead to me, never liked RTS. But if not, I can always walk away. I did it to wow pretty easily.
Because outside of that and maybe Overwatch, nothing outside of diablo they have appeals to me. MMOs are dead to me, never liked RTS. But if not, I can always walk away. I did it to wow pretty easily.
Given the amount of stuff in the last patch update, I think you are right.
That's also kind of the thing. They're 1.) giving out major features for free in patches that you'd normally expect in an expansion pack and 2.) some of these features are pretty end-of-the-line types of stuff, like Kanai's Cube.
I wonder if they were working on an expansion pack, decided to just move to Diablo 4 instead, and started giving out the features that would have been in the expansion pack for free.
That's probably because the Act 1-4 story is hot garbage.
I still get goosebumps from Diablo 2 cinematics.
SAD DAY.
Rubberbanding and latency is a big problem for all Blizzard games, it basically comes down to their craptastic AT&T network and how it never plays nice with Verizon FiOS or any other provider. The handoff nodes bottleneck like no one's business.
HarryDemeanor
Member
It better start the week or so after BlizzCon. Otherwise.... ugh
VanquishUK
Member
I don't think the stuttering is a networking problem though, I think it's more to do with the performance of the game itself. I even stutter while walking around in town.
Palette Swap
Member
Honestly, I'd be okay with them leaving D3 in its current state and moving on to D4, riding on that momentum and using their current D3 experience as a basis for D4 design.
My biggest worry with a newer entry would be any change in the pricing model, I don't want Diablo to go F2P. Then again, AFAIK, they've been pretty happy with the results of that packaged model over the various iterations of D3.
My biggest worry with a newer entry would be any change in the pricing model, I don't want Diablo to go F2P. Then again, AFAIK, they've been pretty happy with the results of that packaged model over the various iterations of D3.
This is exactly what I want.
QuixoticNeutral
Member
The biggest systems-side feature that screams for an expansion rather than a patch or sequel would be additional classes, and that's not enough to hold up an expansion by itself.
If we do see a second expansion I would expect a new class or two, plus an Act VI that mainly serves as an excuse to give Adventure Mode new zones and bosses while putting a cinematic on top, but systems-wise the game already feels close to finished with the course of development in RoS, from Adventure Mode to the patching in of seasons and GRs. (Are people still clamouring for some form of PVP?) So the problem, if there is another boxed expansion in the works, is how to make it feel substantial enough to be worth a separate purchase without simultaneously slashing up the time investment that people are already encouraged to put into RoS with the same escalating pattern of planned obsolescence that we see in WoW. I think a level cap bump to 80 would likely be a mistake, but I could see its negative effects mitigated by upgrade/collection systems that keep the current level 70 sets and legendaries relevant (the way that the cube dealt with sub-70 legendaries), so in the event of an expansion they might just go ahead and do it.
Dog Problems
Banned
Let's say Diablo IV is the next major step for the franchise rather than a second expansion for the third game, what would be a realistic time frame for its release? Two to three years?
Personally I'm projecting a Blizzcon 2016 unveil targeting a Fall 2016-Spring 2017 release.
They're pretty productive these days and are presumably using upgrading Diablo 3's technology base to use the as a foundation (and have a stable team unlike the Blizzard North situation), but I get the sense they were working on another expansion pack at one point and major game development generally takes at least three years these days.
There damn well better be.
Roll on the gaming event of the year!
If Warcraft 4 is announced I'll come and lick the pee of your chair.
Interfectum
Member
I'm curious how Blizzard is going to handle Diablo 3 and Diablo 4 at the same time. As these games become more and more of a service it's hard to justify outright sequels over updating the existing game. I'm assuming most D3 players are going to jump right over to D4, especially if it goes F2P.
While they've been doing experiments with the Asian markets (all these new vanity items/pets/etc and the menus that go with them are for microtransactions in the region), the game did sell 30 million copies between Diablo 3 and Reaper of Souls, so I'm curious to see how they handle the direction of the company versus the astronomical success of Diablo 3 as a boxed product.
I'm thinking Diablo 4 itself will probably be a boxed product, though I'm curious to see if they forego the expansion route and just put in microtransactions to go with it. They can always make the base game f2p at some point down the road as well if it works out, or simply release an expansion pack if it's not.
Id expect another xpac , could of sworn they said it will have 2 maybe 3 when they first launched the game.
Diablo 4 doesnt need to be taked about for another 5 years IMO. Patch and toss an expansion or 2 at D3 and it will be fine.
R
Rösti
Unconfirmed Member
From the gamescom press release about World of Warcraft: Legion:
And from the schedule:
I just hope this doesn't turn into a scenario similar to what happened with Warlords of Draenor where people expected beta to begin by the end of 2013 but it took until June 27, 2014, for it to actually start.
And from the schedule:
I just hope this doesn't turn into a scenario similar to what happened with Warlords of Draenor where people expected beta to begin by the end of 2013 but it took until June 27, 2014, for it to actually start.
Dog Problems
Banned
If that turns out to be true then it's much sooner than I expected.
Since their franchises have long gaps in between new entries I really thought they would push Diablo III for a lot longer, with at least one more expansion.
They did bother to switch the "Diablo 3" section to "Diablo" on their job page while leaving "StarCraft II" as "StarCraft II".
Rösti;181173278 said:From the gamescom press release about World of Warcraft: Legion:
And from the schedule:
I just hope this doesn't turn into a scenario similar to what happened with Warlords of Draenor where people expected beta to begin by the end of 2013 but it took until June 27, 2014, for it to actually start.
My guess beta will start after Blizzcon or at least a bit later but the game release it self will come in 2016..so damn late really they will lose a lot more subs this way.
KojiKnight
Member
a reminder, just like every year the esports events will be free to steam for everyone. So if you want to see the finals for sc2, heroes, wow, or hearthstone you don't need a pass for them.
Rösti;181173278 said:
Legion needs to blow me away at Blizzcon, because I don't think I'm up for just another average expansion. I mean I'll buy it regardless, but I'd love to play past the first month or two this time.
Really surprised that they don't just let WoW die at this point. It was a terrible eSport in its prime, and it's a terrible eSport now.
R
Rösti
Unconfirmed Member
At time of writing, the Saturday schedule appears to have been removed: http://us.battle.net/blizzcon/en/event-info/schedule/saturday
I'm getting a 404 error anyway.
I'm getting a 404 error anyway.
Tertullian
Member
Yeah, Diablo 3 has sold, what, 30 million copies, many of them for $60? I can't see a world in which they go free-to-play with the very next entry in the series. A tiny percentage of whales is not gonna give you more revenue than 30 million people forking over $30-60 each for the game.
HellBlazer
Member
Any chance for a new Rock 'n' Roll Racing?
No?
Oh...
No?
Oh...
Interfectum
Member
Any chance for a new Rock 'n' Roll Racing?
No?
Oh...
Closest you are going to get is a RnR Racing hero in HotS.
I really wouldn't want the game going F2P for this reason- it'll result in a smaller budget.
QuixoticNeutral
Member
With SC2 accounted for (other than post-launch support, whatever form that takes, but it's not like that requires substantial engine work, tools development, and all the other stuff that keeps the RTS team busy), the next Blizzard RTS is likely already in the engineering and proof-of-concept phase. If memory serves, SC2 was already in that phase not long after The Frozen Throne was released, although it was years before production was in full swing and they didn't have anything public-facing to show until 2007. (Browder came aboard to take the lead in 2005, I think.) But as with D3, when SC2 was first shown you could tell that a ton of the core engine work was already finished in much the form we still recognize today.
I severely doubt WC4 will be set for announcement this year, but Blizzard now has a freer hand than ever to work on it, and RTS engineering staff have probably been moved off SC2/Heroes for a long time now anyway, apart from a skeleton crew for refinements and optimizations. LOTV campaign has been in the can for a long time now, and we don't know what their RTS campaign scenario designers have been working on other than the co-op missions, epilogue campaigns, and maybe the mysterious post-launch stuff we haven't heard about yet.
All speculation on my part, of course; it's hard to tell what goes on internally. For the longest time it looked like a ton of SC2 staff had been moved to Heroes, but then they came out and said their team has never been bigger, and they are in fact still hiring for it.