Breakfast Topic: What was missing?

by Zach Yonzon Oct 12th 2008 at 8:00AM

So BlizzCon's over. It was a packed two-day affair, with some real treats to come out of the convention, but the general consensus seems to be that there simply wasn't that bombshell announcement that people -- perhaps unreasonably -- expected. Sure, StarCraft coming out as three separate games, with one epic campaign for each race, was probably huge, but other than that there was very little news. Specially World of Warcraft-related news. The announcement of a new class, the Wizard, was for another game.

So what were you expecting that didn't come out of this year's BlizzCon? I was secretly hoping to hear World of StarCraft as the next-gen MMO, but Blizzard dropped hints that it might be a brand new property entirely. Some of us were expecting the Emerald Dream to be announced as the next expansion, but Blizzard said it could even be a Caverns of Time-style time traveling expansion. If anything, this BlizzCon left us with more questions than answers. What announcement did you think was missing?

Tags: BlizzCon, Breakfast-Topic

Filed under: Breakfast topics, BlizzCon

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

jjtwalton Oct 12th 2008 8:11AM

Meh, 11-Point Protadin Talent...

Stupid Hobbits hides is from ussss!!!!

We hates them!!!

To be honest, I think a lot of WoW-related stuff will happen between 3.0.2 and Wrath, so i'm not disappointed about that.

WoW is the first BLizzard game i've played (Except for Rock 'n' Roll Racing - lol) so I'm not overly concerned about anything else. I do hope people get what they hope for though.. The Emerald Dream would be nice, but I'd like of like WoW to finish within the next year so we can move onto a new game.

StarWars MMO, or something else.. Maybe StarCraft, I hear that's shít hot.

Jasmeralia Oct 12th 2008 8:19AM

Why would Blizzard abandon their prime cash cow of 10+ million subscribers when they've already stated that they have plenty of ideas for the future?

It doesn't make any sense from a business standpoint or that of any other MMO. I mean, look at EverQuest 1-- one of the oldest MMOs out there still making money-- they're not making major redesign changes to the game at this point, but they are still doing incremental updates and releasing around two expansions a year. And EQ1 came out in the mid-to-late 90s.

WoW has a long future ahead of it, I wouldn't worry about that. They may do another MMO in the future, but I wouldn't expect that to happen anytime soon. They want to focus on revitalizing their existing IP (StarCraft, Diablo, WarCraft) before moving on to something new. Maybe after SC2 is released and D3 is on the near horizon, maybe we'll hear something at that point.

Caustik Oct 12th 2008 8:25AM

My bet on a Warcraft4 episode (featuring 4 *amazing* stand alone edition for each campaign) to be on shelves at the end of Wotlk.

Navitron Oct 12th 2008 9:23AM

I find it funny that people say that blizzard doesnt want to harm its own biggest property. I remember a press metting blizz had about diablo 3 where someone asked if they thought that it would take away subscribers from WOW. The blizz employe responded "Well there still going to be playing blizzard games". A new MMO probably is down the line but look at blizzards development cycle, D3 has been in production for 5 years and its not even near completion. Lets be realistic, all the hype about warhammer where is it now? people have already forgotten about it, at this point the only MMO that can kill Wow is a blizzard title its self.

dAnixx Oct 12th 2008 11:05AM

WoW's graphics are kinda old, and we'll get out of content after 1 or 2 more expansions... I think blizzard will need to make a new Warcraft rts to advance the timeline... (sry about possible bad english)

asgaroth Oct 12th 2008 1:57PM

I think Blizzard is trying to move away from having Blizzcon to be the "News Flash" resource mine that it has been in the past. According to MM, he felt this was the most special Blizzcon because its an arena that unites so many people together with a common interest. Everything negative in the world goes away for a couple of days and people have fun. IMO, thats better than any "news flash."

Dalrec Oct 12th 2008 8:15AM

Bet they wish theyde saved pve>pvp and a few of the other things theyve announced in the last month.

Althrough it looked a blast to be there,as you said there was no mindblowing news about wotlk or future content.I was hoping to hear about what the next xpac could be like,and maybe hints at what hero class there working towards next.

Sallix Oct 12th 2008 8:20AM

to be honest, I wanted a WoW lore panel.

clawhammr Oct 12th 2008 8:31AM

Same here, I was really disapointed that wasn't any.. then again i played WoW cause liked wc3 cause of the story (not very good at rts') but with wow is more butchering lore and just endless grinds.. suprised why i've even played this long and this seems to support that kinda that with lore going downwards

Blog Oct 13th 2008 10:39AM

A lore panel definitely would have been nice.

One of the coolest things about Wrath, for me, are some of the upcoming changes to old storylines like Dalaran moving and the return of the Stormwind king (which makes me wonder what's going to happen with The Missing Diplomat questline).

Having said that, it's a HUGE disappointment that there isn't any new content opening up in Old Azeroth in Wrath like Karazahn was opened in Burning Crusade.

I love the dwarven lore and am particularly looking forward to learning more about the Titans. Seems like the perfect opportunity to open Uldum with a future patch.

But what I really want to see more of is the Wildhammer Clan and the opening of Grim Batol. Reminds me lots of the Mines of Moria.

Kudos to the developers for learning from past mistakes. But they really need to open more of the old world. As cool as Outland has been, nothing has come close to rivaling the attack of the Scourge, the opening of the gates of Ahn'Qiraj, or the coolest dungeons in the game--Blackrock Depths and Dire Maul. Places steeped with a history around them.

I'm probably one of only a handful of folks who cares about that stuff though. At least I've heard books are readable again in Wrath.

Kuri Oct 12th 2008 8:25AM

Although there were a couple of things, Dual-spec being in, and a suggestion of WHEN, Mounts not dismounting you because you got your feet wet, and the new Diablo 3 class, there was less than I was expecting of BlizzCons usual "OMG! DID YOU HEAR?!".

One month to Wrath though, and a couple of day before 3.0, so I guess I'm just going to have to settle.

The Hammer Oct 12th 2008 8:25AM

I'd like to stress the "convention" part of "Blizzcon." The idea is to get all the fans together with the developers, and have a great time. The reveals are just added bonuses.

Laynne Oct 12th 2008 9:13AM

I agree. Be happy you even got to go, unlike so many of the rest of us.

Dightkuz Oct 12th 2008 8:27AM

Something about the Diablo3 release date or system requirements. Just the announcement of a new class didnt seem enough

thaylo Oct 12th 2008 8:43AM

as a reply to the coment above by jasmeralia im fine with blizzard to keep going for a while... but if they keep going too long its like you have to go from lvl 1 to 150 to do any of the cool high end stuff:)

Sean Oct 12th 2008 8:45AM

I was expecting a date for the SC2 beta and even perhaps the off hand comment "SC2 is looking good for Summer 09" or something to that effect. Ah well, I'm sure both are forthcoming and the wrath release will bring news as well.

Ticklefist Oct 12th 2008 9:06AM

It was my understanding that Blizzcon was not an annual event. There was no Blizzcon in '06 because there was nothing to announce. Every other Blizzcon or Invitational event has had a new product announcement of some sort, not just highlighted features of existing ones.

In short, Blizzard, don't charge folks for half the show you've been giving them. We learned very little that hasn't been read in blue posts over the last few weeks. We want big news, not "shadow priests are gonna do more dps," ok?

Kadathwack Oct 12th 2008 9:13AM

I guess I wasn't really expecting another game to be announced. They've already got three games (well, two games and an expansion), which is plenty to keep track of.

At the most, I was expecting some dates and info.

tehvoid Oct 12th 2008 9:37AM

Expected more info about Battle.net 2. Only thing we got is that it we be "monetized". That and "3 stand alone campaigns" made Starcraft 2 from day 1 purchase to "I'll think about it when SC2 Battlechest release".

madhat1 Oct 12th 2008 9:40AM

So I live in London and didn't have the opportunity to go across the pond for Blizzcon but did get to the WWI. Although Blizzcon didn't have any huge announcements it had some really awesome things:
- An SC2 tournament
- The DVD Prod. Panel (total respect to these guys, I really really love their work, especially the Angrathar cinematic).
- Playable D3
- Some really really wicked loot (QQ nub tissues, pala bubble beach ball, a copy of Ashbringer comic!, not to mention an SC2 beta key and polar bear mount!)
- Much more polished machinima and costume contests.
- An appearance from the Guild
- Didn't have annoying presenters who translated everything into french ^^"

On the other hand the WWI had some pretty huge exclusives:
- The jaw-dropping D3 announcement in the opening ceremony.
- First time playable SC2 and Northrend and Deathknights, although the latter two were pretty buggy
- Annoucements for PvP and PvE that were actually news to us like the new dungeons and arenas.
- The Wrath beta key, dwarfed the vanity pet in its awesomeness.

All in all just be thankful Blizz could pull together a Blizzcon at all as they must be extremely busy and stressed with Wrath! Just my two cents