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And Blizzcon, it be Finished!

And it’s over as fast as it started. This year’s Blizzcon was definitely disappointing for players of WoW with little to no real “new” information. It was definitely Diablo 3’s year this year.

The news that Starcraft 2 was being split into 3 campaign releases was an unexpected (and boo-inducing) announcement, the game itself still looks great though. It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out.

When it comes to WoW news though there wasn’t much. Patch 3.1 finally having ground mounts that can swim rather than forcibly dismount was noteworthy, as was the fact that the upcoming dual-spec system will remember your keybinds and glyphs meaning you won’t have to constantly keep re-purchasing glyphs each time you respec.

But, as I said in the previous post, there wasn’t really much Blizzard could announce without lessening the impact of Rash of the Itching. It’s just a tad disappointing when there has always been a “BIG” announcement at Blizzcon.

The panels were interesting as always though, even if there wasn’t much in the way of news, it is always nice to hear the devs thoughts and reasoning behind changes.

WoWRadio will have downloadable archives of the panels HERE over the next few days.

Tags: blizzcon, diablo 3, starcraft 2, wotlk, wow

Diablo 3…

Diablo 2 is one of my favourite games of all time and I’ve been playing it again recently. It’s amazing that it was released in 2000 but still has a hugely loyal community around it. The franchise is still hugely popular.

The Battle.net ladder for Diablo 2 was reset as recently as last June. As I write this blog entry there are 52662 people playing 33706 games of Diablo 2 on Battle.net.

So why hasn’t Blizzard announced Diablo 3?

Honestly, I have no idea, but I wouldn’t be blogging about it if I didn’t have some thoughts on the matter!

Rumours have been doing the rounds for years about Diablo 3, one of the most recent ones being that Blizzards “Project Hydra” is actually Diablo 3. Another is that the “Next-Gen MMO” Blizzard are working on is going to be Diablo-based.

Those are just that though, rumours. I’d like to think that Blizzard are working on the next instalment already, and I’d like to think they won’t be turning the Diablo franchise into an MMO. While Diablo has many elements of an MMO, the experience grind, loot and gear progression to name just three, my favourite dynamic of Diablo 2 is that it’s a community-based solo game.

By that I mean the game is a great, rewarding solo game that has great multi-player draw due to it’s design. The rareness and randomness of certain gear gives the player a certain amount of respect within that community, simply due to the effort/perseverance that it takes to obtain certain gear. Diablo’s multiplayer developed into a complex trading post and boss/area running mechanism, with more emphasis on meeting people to trade and helping each other. The multiplayer element is there if you want it, but you aren’t forced to group.

There are so many things about Diablo that just work as a solo, community multi-player game that just wouldn’t as an MMO without pretty major changes. This is why I hope that Diablo 3 is more of a revamp than a reset, most Diablo 2 fans would be pleased if they stayed with 2D art and upped the resolution to 1280×1024.

I personally hope they stick with the isometric viewpoint and turn everything 3D like Titan Quest (hitting rag-doll based enemies is just more satisfying), It’d be nice if we could get to defeat the two lesser evils that haven’t been seen in-game yet, Azmodan (Lord of Sin) and Belial (Lord of Lies) but to be honest I’d be happy if they just brought Diablo 2 up to modern standards.

Diablo 3 should happen, Blizzard would be crazy not to. Now I wonder if they’ll announce it at the Blizzard Invitational in June…

Tags: battle.net, diablo 2, diablo 3, wow