Diablo Immortal

I usually start these reviews with World of Warcraft but its hard to do that this time around with the spectacle we got this year with Diablo Immortal. There has been a lot of talk over the last few years about how Blizzard has lost touch as a company with the fans of their games but this year was the first time I agree to a point. That was just not a good idea or a good way to announce this game. Not to this crowd. I was amazed it got through to that point and no one at any point of the presentation asked if it was a good idea to go about it like this. Me watching from home and the audience in attendance where stunned that this is what they were going to close the opening ceremony on. Even the presenter could tell on stage that it did not go over well from the dead eye expressions looking back at him.

A truly legendary moment in Blizzard history. Even as we speak the backlash of the announcement of a mobile Diablo game with still no real word on a Diablo 4 is going strong. All this being said the nerds rioting on the internet now will play Diablo Immortal first chance they get. Personally speaking I don’t mind it. I can’t say I’m a huge Diablo fan. I like the lore and the style of the game but I cant say II’m and avid fan. Diablo for sure isn’t my World of Warcraft. I just play the story and enjoy hardcore mode and coop. So Diablo Immortal is something I am looking forward too. But to the fans of Diablo this was the equivalent of a kick to the balls and spit on your face. I cant even imagine how upset I would be if something similar would happen to World of Warcraft. Just the thought gives me a sinking feeling in my chest.

World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth

Naturally there wasn’t too much to be said about WoW this year. We are in the middle of an expansion so there was just talk about the new content and some zones. Some balancing and mounts coming to time walking. Probably the most exciting thing for me being the Zandalari Trolls coming out with the next big content patch. Its also cool they can be Paladins. I mainly want to make a Zandalari Druid because their Druid forms looks amazing. Kulturen Humans also seem to be really cool. Also big surprise their mounts a horse. Alliance really gets the short end of the stick with this stuff. There wasn’t much else said here overall. We seem to be going down the roadmap smoothly.

World of Warcraft Classic

I said it before and i’ll say it again I don’t think Classic is the answer. Make the current game more old school don’t remake an “old” version of the game. As a Virtual Ticket holder I get to try the game out and it is not Classic it is straight up old. People really need to take the nostalgia glasses off and smell the roses here. I would be surprised if this game does well in this day and age. Most of the people who asked for this game were the annoying private server trash or people who barely played the game in the first place and stopped playing years ago. Like you are literally pirating a mediocre version of the game and complaining and demanding things from Blizzard. Crazy thing is it worked. Thats like going to the guy who pirated all the Marvel movies and being like what do you want to see in the next Marvel movie?

The other annoying crowd thats been asking for Classic is all the people who stopped playing altogether way back when. Why are we listening to these people too? People who are playing World of Warcraft want World of Warcraft to be better. We don’t want to go back to a time when choices mattered. We want Blizzard to make choices matter again in World of Warcraft right now. I don’t know people, I’ll keep an eye on this. Form what I played there were for sure things I missed and would like to see worked into the current game and there was a lot more I’m glad is long gone.

Warcraft 3: Reforged

Easily the biggest well received announcement of the convention Warcraft 3: Reforged. I cant say I’m the biggest original Warcraft fan but this does look like a cool game. I wish we got Warcraft 4 instead but it really looks like they are testing the field with this to see if the fans will take the bait. If it works they will probably jump on announcing Warcraft 4 the year following the release of Reforged or the year after that. Overall very cool and long asked for.

Overwatch

Very lackluster compared to last year. Just a new hero announcement really. Ashe does look cool and the fans of Overwatch do seem to be happy with this. But Overwatch fans are like loyal dogs. Whatever their master Blizzard gives them they will eat it up and say thank you. If Overwatch Immortal where to happen you would see these guys going on about how it’s a revolutionary idea and mobile is the future and such. The funny thing is Overwatch would translate well to mobile. The gameplay is simple enough and it already has loot boxes. Something for Blizzard to think about. Overall I don’t care here and the fans seem happy.

Starcraft 2

If Diablo didn’t exist I would say Starcraft 2 is the game Blizzard hates the most lol. There wasn’t much to talk about here. They announced a new commander and mostly tuning changes. As someone who’s not a Starcraft player it was as lackluster as the Overwatch coverage maybe even more. From what I saw of the tournament though it was fairly interesting. I cant say if the fans were happy or indifferent here. Wouldn’t say they seemed to be upset in anyway which is a good sign. But if Blizzard is looking to piss them off I recommend Starcraft Immortal.

Hearthstone: Rastakhan’s Rumble

This was extremely weird. I don’t now what the Hearthstone player demographic is but all the coverage of this game this year felt like it was made for a kindergarten class. Like the same kids who are into Fortnite would have loved this coverage. I couldn’t watch it with the sound on and even found myself looking away due to how cringey it was. It was like they thought I was an idiot and but they were the dumb ones. I really don’t know. Im kind of worried and cant say I’m excited or care for Rastakhan’s Rumble. Before it seemed light hearted and chill like hanging out in a cabin and talking about Hearthstone and now its like Twitch TVs most annoying cringe streamers present Rastakhan’s Rumble. I can see why most of the people I know who were really into Hearthstone are jumping off into Yugioh and Magic The Gathering.

Heroes of the Storm

We got a really cool new hero Orphea announced. Our first Nexus Heroes of the Storm exclusive hero. I really like her look and play style. Looking forward to play her in the future. Other than that they mostly talked about balancing and tuning and for the most part I like the direction they are going with the game. The idea of making mercenary camps a bigger deal is something I’m interested in. I can see it leading to more in jungle fights over camps. Overall similar to Overwatch here I just care about this and don’t care about Overwatch.

Closing Thoughts

Overall it was a legendary Blizzcon and a very mediocre one at the same time. Im just happy to have been apart of it all as it happened. I wonder how things will turn out in the long run. I think most of these games will have their ups and downs and people will accept Diablo Immortal eventually. I mean even back when Hearthstone got announced as a World of Warcraft fan at the time I was openly disappointed in the game. But really enjoyed it for the following years. I mean not anymore but it was good during the time Blizzard still had ideas for the game. I would say Diablo Immortal will probably go through a similar process in the future.

P.S. Im posting this as the closing ceramony is happening and I never herd of this band (Train) but damn they rock. Im going to downlod all their albums.

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