Annual fan convention BlizzCon took place last weekend in Anaheim, California. BlizzCon 2018 featured two days of community panels, tournaments, and announcements for Activision Blizzard’s hugely popular series, including Overwatch, Warcraft, and Diablo.
Ashe is the newest hero added to online hero shooter Overwatch. She’s an outlaw gunslinger wielding a semi-automatic rifle and some dynamite. She slides into the Damage role and her complexity is rated at two out of three stars. Her Ultimate involves summoning her trusty Omnic sidekick B.O.B. to knock enemies into the air and lay down suppressing fire.
Following on the heels of StarCraft Remastered’s release last year, Blizzard announced a remaster of 2002’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (+ 2003’s Frozen Throne expansion). Warcraft III: Reforged will feature updated HD visuals as well as over four hours of ‘reforged’ cutscenes. Warcraft III: Reforged is coming next year.
Heroes of the Storm is getting its first original hero. Previously the MOBA had included heroes from other Blizzard franchises, namely Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch. With Orphea, HotS is expanding into original content, as Blizzard expands the lore of the Nexus setting. Orphea is a ranged assassin with a Venom-like monster at her disposal.
In Hearthstone Blizzard revealed the final expansion of 2018: Rastakhan’s Rumble. Play as randomly selected troll champions in the single player Rumble Run adventure mode. Overkill is a new ability on cards, triggering when you deal more damage than needed when killing a minion. Spirits are new minion types who enjoy staying in stealth the first turn they’re deployed. You can pre-purchase Rastakhan’s Rumble bundles until Dec. 4.
In celebration of its one year anniversary, Destiny 2, which is available on PC exclusively through the Battle.net Blizzard digital store, is completely free. You’ll need to claim it before November 18, but once you do it’s free forever. Blizzard is hoping you’ll then purchase the expansions.
A new content update is coming to World of Warcraft. Tides of Vengeance arrives Dec. 11. It includes a new Battle for Darkshore Warfront, new island expeditions, and a new nine-person Raid.
The marquee announcement at BlizzCon 2018 was the reveal of a new spin-off Diablo game built for mobile devices. It’s called Diablo Immortal. It’s developed in partnership with mobile developer NetEase, and is set between the events of Diablo 2 and Diablo 3. Diablo Immortal will feature touch screen controls and drop-in/drop-out co-op multiplayer, and six character classes.
Diablo Immortal will be available on both Android and iOS. Pre-registration is available now.
